Week #34 Because I'm HAPPY!!

Members of the LDS church are often asked the question,¨Why are you so happy all the time?"  A lot of things make me happy. For example,I love to cook, play soccer, play the piano, snowboard and hang out with my friends.  These are all things I really enjoy and when I scoare a goal, learn a new trick, or master a new song, I am truly happy!  Every one has things that they love to do and  although these things bring happiness there is something more that brings eternal happiness and  joy. That is faith and hope in God and in his plan for us. Putting our trust in God and believing that we are here on this Earth for a purpose brings confidence and true happiness. If we exercise faith and hope in Gods plan all of the temporal things dont matter. Because the temporal things that I love to do can also bring sadness, maybe I fall down on my snowboard, or choke in the middle of a piano piece or kick the goal wide. I can ejoy these things because they are good but we have to be carefull not to put all of our happiness and self esteem in these these things that are temporal. My mission president says ¨We are sad because we put our hapiness in things temporales but if we put our hapiness nd confidence in God we have no reason to be sad.¨I know this is true. I know that our happiness comes from our confidence in God. ¨Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea even a place at the right hand of god, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works being led to glorify God.¨Ether 12Ñ4 Our happiness should not depend on others, our hapiness should be found in God and His plan for us. I know that knowledge and hope in the plan of salvation is what distinguishes Mormons from religions. The book of Mormon talks about Gods plan of salvation. It also talks about our purpose where we came from and where we will go. You can search the entire bible and not find the word ¨Plan¨. The bible lost the precious plan of salvation. I am so thankful for the Book of Mormon and  that it restored the knowledge of the plan of salvation. I have a firm faith and hope in this plan for me. I have faith in a better world after my life here. And this gives me faith hope and asurety.

 

Faith is to put our trust in things that we can not see. When we have faith in God we can have hope that even in difficult circumstances, everything will be okay. We have hope that we will be saved, that we will be delivered from our afflictions. In Isaiah 42 it says ¨Fear thou not, for I am with the be not dismayedñ for I am thy Godñ and I will strengthen thee yea I will help thee yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.¨ God is always here with us and he wants us to find joy in this life. In fact, the whole purpose of his plan is that we find Joy. "Adam fell that men might beñ and men are, THAT THEY MIGHT HAVE JOY."  Ironically, in order to obtain this joy we need to be tested and  to experience saddness as well. On my mission I have had the beautiful opportunity to bring the knowledge of this plan to so many people and I have witnessed how it changes their lives. It is a beautiful experience to be part of.

In short, there is a difference between happiness and joy. Happiness is what we feel when we do the things that we love. Like snowboarding and playing soccer. But Joy is something much more profound. Joy is the happiness we find in the love of God. 

Love you all!

See you next summer!

Hermana Huish

Week #33 The gospel is good and so are S'mores!

 

Missionaries have to get creative for fun on their missions.  I decided we needed to have a campout since my Companion Hermana P has never had a s'more before. We made a tent and plugged in the hot plate for the fire, hahaha!

Our marshmallows actually turned out perfect

 

 

Enjoying the finished product.

Dear Family!

Its amazzing how the Gospel blesses families! Hermana Pintado and I have been teaching the family B for about 2 months and the gospel is changing their lives, it is so cool to witness this transformation. The first couple lessons we had at their home were crazy! R is a single mother and  she has had a really hard time raising her children alone. She has to work all day and finds it difficult to discipline.  Last week we had a family home evening at her house and everyone was calm and attentive!! Two months ago we couldn't get the family to sit still for 2 minutes together. Its is wonderful to see the progress that they have made. We watched a video and they all paid attention and then they automatically new what to do for the prayer. We all knelt down and J the oldest even helped R the baby kneel down and cross her arms for the prayer. Going to church and lessons with us has really helped R and has  blessed her family with a new found peace and focus. It makes me think of how blessed I am to be born in a family that has the gospel.

The Gospel has affected my entire life. As a child I was able to learn good virtues and values, and I was able to remember those throughout my teenage years. Decisions as a teen were so much easier to make because I learned when I was a child. So when the time of temptation came I was able to stay away and CHOOSE THE RIGHT! I know that the decisions I made to choose the right will bless me in the future as well. I know that my mission will bless me. That I can raise my own family with good virtues, and valores. I'm so thankful for the gospel in my life. If it were not for the Gospel of Jesus Christ I wouldn't be in Peru dedicating my life to God. My mission has been one of the biggest blessings in my life and I am so grateful to be here. I'm  glad and thankful that I made the decision to serve a mission. 

Love y'all and see you next summer!

Hermana Huish

 

 

 

 

 

Week #32

Teaching my Capacitation, I am so professional

A package of inspiration from home!

One of our friends got a new puppy, aawwweee

 

Baptism day! I love this Family!

Hola Familia y Amigos!

Awww so much has happened this week!

Okay  first off we had a multi zone conference. It was awesome The president spoke about how to become the 4th missionary. What his message boiled down to is that as missionaries we need to let our personal desires hibernate for a while and let God lead the way. For example, we cant be thinking about home or school or experiences we may be missing with friends. We need to put those things in a box on the shelf for a season and open them back up after the mission. Instead we need to focus all of our energy and talents  on serving the Lord. Our president is super duper powerful he is awesome! 

 

I taught my first capacitacion! (this is a training meeting for all the missionaries in a zone) I taught our district about how to focus on the need of the investigatores! It went really well. I shared a couple stories from the scripture and then we read preach my gospel. I had little hand outs and in the end we  practiced. I was super nervous before it started because I have the sister leaders in my district. I was feeling the pressure to make it really good! And I think they were impressed so sweet! 

 

This week was also the week of family C L!  It was J's Birthday he turned 18 so hermana pintado and I went over to celebrate with them. We had cake and presents and we sang. Then on Saturday we had their baptism! Wahoo! Its was a beautiful baptism! Four people were baptized into our ward in Begonias! It was awesome! I litterally was just over joyed with this baptism because I have come to love the family C L we have helped them so much. Resolved their doubts, and guided them to find the truth. They are integrated in the ward and I know that they will be strong members. I am sure J will serve a mission and one day their family will be sealed in the temple. I can't begin to explain to you how rewarding missionary work is. It is honestly a different kind of happiness. It is not the happiness that you feel on Christmas morning, or on a birthday. It is a more profound, deeper joy to bring people to Christ.

I hope all is well back home! I know its going to be a strange, strange feeling to go back to the real world but thats a long way away so for now I am going to embrace and enjoy the mission expereicne! 

See you next summer,

Hermana Huish

Week #31 The Good Samaritan

The Good Samaritain

This week Hermana Pintado and I had a crazy experience similar to the Good Samaritian. We were walking down the street in between two appointments when we came upon a small crowd of people. We went over to see what all the commotion was about. We found a man who had fallen down hard and hit  his head. He was laying the the middle of the side walk motionless. It looked like a death scene. His arms and legs were splurged out and blood was streaming from his head.  The people standing around the man were just staring and doing absolutely nothing. Not a soul took out a cell phone to make a call to the police or assist the man with his injuries. I couldn't believe how passive the crowd was while this man was bleeding out of his head. Hermana Pintado and I came to the rescue. We had a phone with credit so we immediately called the police. While my companion was on the phone with the police the man started to twitch and regain consciousness! It was all so fast. The only thing that I could remember about dealing with injuries like this is what I learned at Girls Camp in "ALRET", accept this time it was real. I felt like I was the only one prepared to do anything to help this man nobody else knew what to do. So I went to work.  After calling the police and assessing if his neck or spine were damaged we turned him over and laid him on his back. He had a giant gaping gash on his head starting from his eye brow all the way to above his ear. We had no supplies so I took my little pocket knife that I always carry with me (thanks dad!) and cut off the bow on my skirt. It worked perfectly like a bandage. I put his head in my lap and tied the fabric around his head and pressured the cut to try and stop the bleeding. To keep the man out of shock I started to ask him questions. His breath wreaked of alcohol but we found out that he is very poor and sells little candies for a living. In his bag all he had was little candies and a couple of soles nothing more. We waited there for about 25 minutes for the police to show up. And when they finally did they didn't want to take him because he was drunk. But my companion who is strong with words convinced the police to take him to the hospital So from their the police took over. 

Honestly after all of this was over I was so shocked and astounded and grossed out all at he same time. Being someone who is afraid of blood I could not believe that I was the one who had to help this man but we were the only people around willing to do anything. The mission is a bit crazy, saving souls and saving lives. Love you all! And hope that you can be the good Samaritan in whatever situation you find yourself. Always acting in the right way, willing to offer a hand and go above and beyond to serve others. Charity is the love of christ and one of the most important things we can posses. If we don't have charity we are nothing. Corinthians 13 and Moroni 7!  Always strive to be charitable and serve others!

See you next summer!

Hermana Huish

Week #30 Title of Liberty

Thanks for the sweaters MOM!!

I love my flat, check out the tile floor, luxury!

Pizza at the Mega Plaza

Hey Family and Friends!

This week we have been working really hard. We found a new Family to teach and they are so great. They are very open, ask tons of questions and always want to learn more. We also had success in an unexpected place. We stopped by a glasses tienda because my companion needed to update her perscription. We sat and talked to the the owner K for a long time and she invited us to come back because she wanted to learn more. We taught her about living prophets and challenged her to pray. She accepted our challenge and said that she needed to pray to see if this church is what she had been waiting for. How cool!  I can't wait to stop by and talk to her this week. Fortunately, we have a lot of investigatores and tons of discussions. WE are really happy in Begonias. Our ward is getting two more elders this week so the area is being split in half. I am a little sad because I love our entire area and every one in it, but it will be for the better because our boundaries are HUMONGOUS! 

I have been thinking about the sacrament this week and the covenants associated with it. When we partake of the sacrament, we promise to take upon us the savior's name, always remember him, and keep the commandments. Every week we hear the same prayer as the priests bless the water and the bread. So why is it even if we are reminded every Sunday of God that during the week we still forget him? Every one is guilty. There are many times when we forget about God. We get caught up in the day to day things we are doing. We get home late and are too tired to pray. We get busy and ignore our purpose. We forget why we are here.

Alma 46 is a beautiful chapter in the Book of Mormon. Its relays the story of the Nephites and how they digressed  from being righteous to very  wicked. The Nephites forgot their purpose. They got caught up in the their own things, their own thoughts and the started to forget their god and their purpose. Moroni is one of the great heros of the Book of Mormon. Moroni recognized that the people were falling into iniquity. He wanted to remind them of their purpose and of their God. "Änd it came to pass that he rent his coat and he took a piece thereof, and wrote upon it, 'Ïn the memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives and our children' and he fastened it upon the end of a pole.¨ Alma 46 12

I can just imagine Moroni with the ripped up flag of liberty waving it up and down declaring to the Nephite's that they were people of God and reminding them of their liberty and  their God. 

Reading this passage this week really hit me because it is true that it is so easy to forget our purpose. We get caught up in the small and trivial things that don't matter. So when I read this I decided to make my own Title of Liberty, and make my own promise to always remember my purpose.

Here is what I wrote this week:

I will serve my mission. I am here for the purpose to bringing people to Christ. Sometimes like the Nephites I can forget that purpose, but I will try to be quick to remember. I will be  steadfast and immovable in the gospel. This is a reminder that I am here in  memory of my God, my religion, my faith, who I was before, who I am now, and who I can become. I am here in the memory of my family, to make them proud. I am here for my future family to change who I am to become better. I am here for the purpose of changing the lives of others. 

"For thus were all the true believers of Christ. Who belonged to the church of God, called by those who did not belong to the  church. And those who belonged to the church were FAITHFUL, yea all those who were true believers in Christ took upon them, gladly the name of Christ or Christians as they were called because of their belief in Christ who should come." Alma 46 14'15

This is my title of Liberty I will be faithful steadfast and immovable. I will stand with God and always take upon me the name of Christ.

I made a little poster with my promise and signed the bottom. I'm not going to be like the nephites who were quick to forget.  I know that I can't do anything without God. We need him in everything that we do.

Lots of Love!!!

See you next summer!

Hermana Huish

Week #29 Future missionaries...What can you do to prepare for a Mission?

The Hermanas

I actually like it when our lunch appointments get canceled because then we can have a picnic in our room!

Working the streets of Begonias

Before my mission I wish that I would have prepared better...  a lot better! My mom makes fun of me because my goal before my mission wasn't to finish the Book of Mormon or read Preach my Gospel, my goal was to finish all 10 seasons of Greys Anatomy on netflix. I regret this choice a lot! And I'm here to warn anyone who is preparing for a mission to not waste your time. There are many things you can do to prepare. After being in the field for 7 months I have learned there are two basic steps  that will help you become the best instrument in the hand of the lord. The first is know the doctrine! The second is learn how to use the spirit. Of course there are a lot of other things to learn along the way, Christ like attributes, how to teach, how to give commitments. But if you can master the doctrine and the spirit you have nothing to be worried about! 

 

Mastering the Doctrine.

You cant teach what you don't know. You have to be an expert in all 5 of the mission lessons. "Seek not to declare my word, but first seek to obtain my word, and then shall your tongue be loosened then if you desire, you shall have my spirit and my word, yea the power of God unto the convincing of men." In my preparation for my mission, million of hours were wasted in front of the TV. I thought oh I have been a member my whole life! I've taken religion classes as BYU. I graduated seminary. I go to church every Sunday. Ya estoy bien,  Im in the clear I know the church. I was completely mistaken. When I got into the field I realized that Ï really didn't know as much as I thought about the gospel. For example, What is a dispensation? And even more importantly how do I explain a dispensation to someone who has no religious background!

Here is what you can do, Study chapter 3 of preach my gospel, memorize the bullet points in the back of each lesson and find scriptures that will help you teach each point. Practice explaining every point to your grandma in a way that she can understand. Use examples and experiences to explain that we are Gods Children, literally spirit children of a heavenly father. The points may seem basic at times but there is ALWAYS more to be said. Explain how you know you are a child of a loving God. There are a lot of people out there that think that God is harsh and punishing. How are you going to explain and make them understand the God loves them? If you are serving in a different language memorize the points in the language of you mission. I promise you that if you can be familiar with the main points of every lesson you will be better prepared for your mission. I promise you that you will be able to learn faster, and adapt to the mission quicker. You will never be wordless. Alma 17 explains the keys of missionary work. The first key is in verse 2 "Änd they had waxed strong in the knowledge of the truth for they were men of a sound understanding and they had searched the scriptures (and preach my gospel) diligently that they might know the word of God." Are you like Alma and the sons of Mosiah having a good understanding of the Gospel? What more could you study to understand the word of God better?  I'm going to be honest there are a lot of ignorant people, that are hard to teach. Either because they cant understand the doctrine or  they have a hard heart. You need to be a MASTER at the doctrine to be able to explain to these people the word of God. Because as a missionary their salvation is in your hands.

Okay so lets say you are a master at the doctrine. You have memorized all the points in the lessons. Do you think that's enough o be able to teach? If you don't have the spirit you have wasted your time. "Änd the Spirit shall be given unto you by the prayer of faith and if ye receive not the spirit YE SHALL NOT TEACH" ¨D&C 42.14  I testify that it is impossible to teach without the spirit. If you as a missionary aren't spiritually in tune with the Holy Ghost there is no possible way that the people you are teaching can be. You will choke on your words, you will say the wrong things, and your investigatores wont feel anything. Investigators get baptized because what they feel is good So my question to you is are you prepared spiritually for the mission? You have to learn to rely on God for everything that you do. Gods ways are always higher than our own ways, we need to be doing things the way he wants and the only way that we can do what God wants is by listening to the holy spirit. But what do we need to do to hear this still small voice of the spirit? In Alma 17.3 it says ¨But this is not all they had given themselves to much prayer and fasting therefore they had the spirit of prophecy, and the spirit of revelation. and when they taught they taught with power and authority of God.¨ To receive the spirit we need to be dedicated to fasting and prayer. When is the last time you prayed? How was your prayer?Was it under 3 minutes? In the mission you will learn to pray like Enos all the day long. I promise you that if you pray with real sincerity that you will receive the spirit. It is so extremely important to be able to learn how to listen and to use the spirit. To be able to discern what are your words and what are the words that God wants you to say. It is the only way that the work can be done. 

If you can master the doctrine and learn how to listen and discern the spirit you will be well prepared for you mission! Finish reading Alma 17 and highlight all the keys of missionary work. There is a lot of good advice! Even to dump your girlfriend alma 17Ñ24'25. Also I would challenge you to read the talk The 4th missionary by Lawrence E Corbridge. ITS AMAZING!

I hope this helped any one who is preparing to leave on a mission! I know there are tons of you making the decision to go out and serve the lord! I'm so proud of my generation for all the work that is being done! The field truly is white and ready to harvest! 

See you next summer!

Mucho Amor

Hermana Huish

Week #28
This week I really focused on the role of the spirit. Galatas 5.22.23 is one of the best descriptions of the spirit. ¨But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against there is no law... If we live in the Spirit, let us walk in the spirit.¨To have these feelings of peace we need to walk and live in the spirit. This week I really wanted to focus on how we can live in a home where we can feel this peace and tranquilidad.

   When i first arrived in my new area my companion showed me all the people we were teaching from members, less actives, recent converts, and investigatores. It was amazing that with out her telling me, I could predict which houses were members and which were not! The spirit really does reside in holy places.

 

How can we fill our homes with the spirit? 

 

    When guesssing if  we were in the house of a member or not there were always little clues. For example pictures of christ on the walls, peaceful music, but over all these houses had an indescribable feeling of peace and love. These homes had a strong spirit. By surrounding oursevles with uplifting pictures, music, etc we can make our  homes a place where the spirit can reside. In John 14.27 it says "peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you NOT AS THE WORLD GIVETH...¨ The spirit will bring us joy that the world can't give us. We live in a  time when there is a lot of technology, music, and distractions. We dont need to be completly shut out of  all of these usefull tools, but we can use them to our advantage to help bring the spirit into homes. By suroudnding our selves with good music and  pictures that remind of us the prophets and of the temple we invite the spirit in. Also the way we act towards one another either invites or discourages the spirit. Fighting drives away the spirit because the spirit cant reside in a place of contention. 

We have been teaching an investigator, R for several weeks. She has 4 kids who are always fighting. When ever we go to her house things are crazy!!! Her kids argue and there is alot of contention. Its really hard to bring the spirit into our lessons. R is working the hardest she can to make her home a place where the spirit can reside. We gave her hymns to listen to, and we gave her pictures to hang up. When ever Hermana Pintado and I go over to her house we do EVERY thing possible to try to invite the spirit. Sometiems its really difficult and we need more than just pictures and music. D&C 42.14 really hit me this week, "And the Spirite shall be given unto you by the prayer of faith¨ Its through our actions. We need to have a home of prayer and of faith. 

   D&C 88 119 says "Organize yourselvesñ prepare every needful thingñ and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God."

I love this scripture because it uses action words. Organize, Prepare, Establish. We cant just expect the spirit to be with us. We need to be the ones to take action to bring the spirit in. We need to be the ones that invites the spirit.

 I have found that bearing my testimony is one of the strongest ways to bring and fill a room with the spirit. I think that families need to focus more on sharing their testimonies with eachother. After doing family prayer and scripture, testify about what the scripture means to you, testify that you know the book of mormon and the doctrines in the book are true. Testimony is one of the strongest tools that we have and we can share. 

I know that the spirit is a very important tool on a mission and in our homes. Hermana Pintado and I can feel a huge differece when we are teaching with the spirit and when we are not. The Holy Ghost has a still small voice. So we need to be taking all the steps we can to be able to pay attention and feel the blessings of having the spirit with us. As members of the church we are blessed with the constant companionship of the spirit. We should always be taking  steps to invite this spirit into our homes. Its impossible to learn, teach, grow, recieve revelation with out the spirit. I know that God has given us this gift because he wants his children to feel his presence. It is through the spirit that we all know that God exsists. Becaue the spirit manifests these truths unto us. I know my heavenly father loves me.

 

Love yall!

See you next summer

Hermana Huish

Other things that are going on! We are splitting our area. The area that we are working in is HUGE! we have to take buses and moto taxis to get around our area and to all of our citas. So We are splitting the area and 2 more elders are coming into our ward. I'm excited for 2 more elders its always fun with 6 missionaries. I'm sad to be leaving our room because its big and beautiful but we are looking for another place to live hopefully we can find somewhere. 

Week #28 Cowabunga Bay Lima

 

 

 

I found the only water park in Lima,

Sorry Dad I couldn't be there for the opening of Cowabunga LV!

 

 

 

 

I am the only Hermana who is brave enough to play soccer with the guys

Our investigator David

Elder Naranjo's surprise party