Today we went on the most beautiful hike type thing up to a new zipline here in Xela. We could see 3 of the biggest volcanoes from the top. It was so so so fun! The zipline is the longest one in Central America (600 meters). We got to be with the new hermanas that came into the zone this week and they are so great. Hermana Call is training again :) So proud of her. This is a great zone and we are working hard.
It has been a good week. just wish you could all hear these people sing hymns. They are so great. It is such a special, wonderful spirit and sometimes it makes me cry. Other times, I cannot help but laugh. This week we went to find some inactive ladies that live by the chapel. One is 90 and blind and the other is her 60 year old daughter, Gloria, that got offended many years ago and left the church. We got there and they let us in and after chatting for a while we asked to sing some hymns. They said that was okay and Gloria went to get their hymnals. When she came back she had these enormous glasses on and she looked like that Profressor Trelawney from Harry Potter. I was trying not to laugh. But then the blind lady asked if my parents are giants because I am so tall. hahahaha I could not sing the hymn after that. I was biting my tongue so so hard. And the worst part was that the hymn was Dear to the Heart of the Shepard and it is all minor and nobody knew it that well. Oh such good times.
We had a family night with that family that can to church last week but lives in the other ward. The Elders invited us and so we went. Hermana Gonzalez went to a different family night we had planned in divisiones and I was with the elders in the house of an hermana from our ward. Everything went so beautifully and the lesson was powerful. At the end they asked each of us missionaries to sing the national anthem from our country. So the first Elder sang his from Peru with a lot of verbrato. The next from Nicaragua sang the parts he could remember. And then I had to sing in English and they kept interrupting saying that they couldn´t understand and asking me to translate it and sing it. hahahaha it was the best thing ever. And in church someone asked me for a bobby pin and put it in their ear. I was so confused. All the suffen he got a bug out of his ear with the bobby pin... hahaha I love these people.
I am grateful for dreams. I feel like Heavenly Father speaks to me sometimes through dreams and I love waking up and writing them down and studying what he is trying to reveal to me. Elder Oaks has a great BYU devotional message about the different ways that Heavenly Father uses to speak with us or reveal things to us. I love studying that. It helps me know how I can help the Lord´s children understand their answers to prayers and have more intrest in reading and studying the scriptures and words of living prophets. This week we were teaching the one of the references we recieved a few weeks ago, the girl my comp met in another one of her areas. Her name is Esmeralda and she is gold! We went to her house and her boyfriend was there, he is a returned missionary. We had the best lesson on the Restoration and at the end we invited her to be baptized. She said ¨Well I have been thinking about it but I am still not sure... but last night I had a dream.¨ Love that. The Spirit came so strong and she that in her dream she was in a room with a bunch of people dressed really nice and some were tall and white (that one was me) and others short and tan (the rest of this country and its ward members). She talked to them and they told her that it was her choice but if she was ready she needed to go forward. Her friend helped her change into all white. She walked into another room and it was the most beautiful place that she had ever seen in her whole life. She felt such peace and joy and happiness even though she didn´t completely know what was going on or where she was. Her boyfriend related it to how her life will change for good after her baptism and all the blessings that she will recieve. It was such a special lesson. She is praying a lot right now and trying to decide what to do.
Esmeralda also said ¨every each night I read the Book of Mormon and if I miss a night I feel like I can´t sleep and that my heart is missing something.¨ I loved that! The Book of Mormon brings the best spirit into the lives of our investigators. And our own lives. We were talking to our Bishop this week and he is so so smart concerning things of the gospel. He told us how whenever General Authorities come to Guate they always focus on teaching in the capital and here near Xela (and Huehue) because these are the specific areas concerning the promises in the Book of Mormon. These people are so special and we are doing all we can to bring to pass those ancient prophecies and promises. I love being a missionary!
I was reading in Mosiah this week and I learned so much. Alma and his people are being mocked and persecuted by so many to the point that they can´t even pray out loud. After suffering much affliction-
13 And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord came to them intheir afflictions, saying: Lift up your heads and be of good comfort,for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and I willcovenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage.
14 And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon yourshoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, evenwhile you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand aswitnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety thatI, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.
That is what I want to do. If I can´t pray out loud, pray in my heart. When the burden placed upon my shoulders feels too heavy to carry, I will let the Savior be my strength. When people tell me that what I believe isn´t true, I will testify with boldness and then leave it in the hands of the Lord. Verse 15 makes me think of the covenants that we make in the temple and the power that they have to help and support us. We must always turn to Jesus Christ. He is my strength and my joy and my hope. But if we stop recognizing the hand of the Lord in our lives, He will stop recognizing our need for it. I love doing prayers of pure gratitude. I put up a gratitude poster here in my apartment and it helps me remember how blessed I am. I love fasting and taking the Sacrament. It really does cleanse us each week if we come with a broken and repentant heart. I love and live for that promise. The gospel is everything to me. I want to be so much better than I am. But I am also so grateful for all that I have become. Heavenly Father loves each of us. We are his precious children and we must bring our brothers and sisters to the gospel light. I love doing it. And will forever serve the Lord.
All my love and prayers,
Hermana McGill
