Cow Tongue is delicious!

Hiking to a volcano (FOGGY volcano) and waterfalls for a District pday! Bonding, yeah!  This plant is called Poor man's umbrella or something like that. Huge little bugger haha

Selfie with the Guatemalan!

Me, with fog!

 

Me with the first waterfall

Some weird little waterfall thingies

Me with the 2nd waterfall

The District!

 
Cow tongue is delicious! I didn't know it was cow tongue until I tried it. I was like, holy cow (no pun intended), what is this meat? It's so good! So I asked the lady and it was cow tongue. It is seriously tasty stuff!

This week has been pretty good :) I hope all of you are well and safe and healthy too!

This week has been a lesson for me on patience.

Starting Monday, we were just injected with the spirit. We were feeling so great! Elder Guirola and I were dedicated to start doing better. And we did!

We were more obedient, including running to the house to get there before 9:00 (and we arrived at 8:59 on several occasions). We saw the fruits with a GREAT Monday and Tuesday (and maybe Wednesday too?)

Then the challenges came. Even though we were improving, we just saw all of our appointments falling through! It was really frustrating. What were we doing wrong?! Well, obviously, a lot of things, but if we were improving why weren't we seeing the fruits?!

I've come to realize that, sometimes, God doesn't give us the reward right away. Of course, he helped us know right away that we were doing what was right, but then he gave us a little trial to pass through.

God wants us to really improve as people! He wants his teachings to penetrate us to the very core of who we are. But sometimes, to do that, it can hurt a little bit. I like to think of it a bit like a dentist, giving me a filling. On the other side of the whole ordeal, my tooth will look a whole lot better, but first the dentist has got to drill drown and get rid of all the junk.

In 2 days, Elder Guirola and I found that obedience is important. But had we really learned our lesson? With a full week of trials, really "drilling" out all the gunk, obedience with exactness is something that's been well applied into who we are. And it's a whole lot better than just using it because it seems to work! We have a firm testimony that it's true.

The analogy of a refiner's fire is often used in relation to our mortal experience, because that's just how it is. Following all the commandments doesn't mean that all our problems are going to go away. Look at Jesus Christ! He was the perfect example, and never disobeyed our Heavenly Father, but he had to carry the greatest burden of all!

This purpose of this life isn't to look for excuses and slide on by. It's a time of probation, a time to really refine who we are through experiences, challenges, and actions. Just like refining a metal can take a little bit of time, our challenges might last for a little bit. But, in the end, that's all this life is! A little bit of our existence as children of God. All that's required is that we put in our effort! That we accept Christ! That we 'refine', or sanctify, ourselves, little by little. Christ has paved the way for us, and he's there to help.

To all of you who are in times of trial, be patient. Patience doesn't mean just suffering through it, but accepting the Lord's timing over your preferred timing. Keep on refining yourselves! This trial has a purpose. Take it week by week, or day by day, or hour by hour. As you break it down into tasks, you'll find that you have the power to overcome it. As 1 Corinthians chapter 10 says:

 

There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make away to escape, that ye may be able to bear.

Don't worry about overcoming the challenges. You have the promise of God that there is a way to overcome them. Just worry about finding that way, and putting in your effort to do it!

I love you all so much! Have a great week this week :)

-Elder Henry 

This church in Grecia totally looks like a gingerbread house

 

 

Selfie!

This is the volcano crater...with fog

Lessons in Repentance, or "I'm a Goofy Goober"

Adios, Tatiana! She's headed out for the mission this week!

You can see why this place is called Valle Escondido (The chosen Valley)!

Super beautiful views.

Fun fact, cocowate (not sure how it's spelled) means something like goofy in Spanish. So in the Spongebob Movie in Spanish, the song is Soy cocowate si, Eres cocowate si, Somos cocowates si, coco-cocowate!
Things you learn from Latino companions :)

This week has taught me alot about humility and repentance. Elder Guirola and I aren't two peas from the same pod, and we have a lot of differences. We had to settle a lot of those differences this week, because they were causing problems in our companionship. As we both, mutually, humbled ourselves and set goals, we've been able to gain confidence in each other, in the members, and now we know that the spirit's with us.

I'm not really going to write about Monday through Wednesday, because they were not good days, and not important.

Jessica's baptism!

Thursday was a strange day. After a long, long talk with my companion, we went to the baptism (Jessica was baptized!!! =D ) and then to an activity in the church. everything felt better after talking, but not exactly joyful. But then, as we put goals together Thursday night, we felt the unity that we should feel as a companionship. As we started to work towards those goals, we became less and less two companions and more and more one companionship, how it should be. We're getting along beautifully right now, and for our repentant hearts the Lord is blessing us with success.

I was studying today in Alma 5, and I found some things that I really loved that related to this experience. In this, the prophet Alma (the Younger) is talking about what how we need to be ready to meet God.

 27 Have ye walked, keeping yourselves blameless before God? Could ye say, if ye were called to die at this time, within yourselves, that ye have been sufficiently humble? That your garments have been cleansed and made white through the blood of Christ, who will come to redeem his people from their sins?
 28 Behold, are ye stripped of pride? I say unto you, if ye are not ye are not prepared to meet God. Behold ye must prepare quickly; for the kingdom of heaven is soon at hand, and such an one hath not eternal life.
 29 Behold, I say, is there one among you who is not stripped of envy? I say unto you that such an one is not prepared; and I would that he should prepare quickly, for the hour is close at hand, and he knoweth not when the time shall come; for such an one is not found guiltless.
 30 And again I say unto you, is there one among you that doeth make a mock of his brother, or that heapeth upon him persecutions?
 31 Wo unto such an one, for he is not prepared, and the time is at hand that he must repent or he cannot be saved!
These verses really hit home to me. He noted 4 things specifically. He asked if we are humbled, if we are stripped of pride, if we are stripped of envy, and if we mock or brothers, or persecute them.

All 4 of these things are things that are frequent problems here in the mission. Comments like "Oh I wish I was in that area, that area is so much easier" or "Have you heard about so and so when he did this and that"? Are frequent.

Pride strips away our accomplishments, making us lust after more instead of realizing the good works that we may have done.

Envy makes us dissatisfied with the many blessings from God that we have.

Mocking our brother, or, in more modern terms, Gossiping, destroys our faith in them, takes the spirit away from us, and lowers the chances that the recipient will be successful in whatever they might be doing.

We should be quick to repent. I realized, as I was reading this chapter, the significance of repenting of our sins today. When is says in verse 29 that the hour is soon at hand, and he knoweth not when the time will come, it puzzled me for a second as I thought about how this was written more than 2000 years ago. But then, I realized that in our personal timelines, the hour is close at hand. We never know if we'll be here tomorrow. Often times we take this time of probation, this life that we've been given so that we might repent, way too lightly. It's a gift of God, and we ought to be taking advantage of it to repent of all our sins. If we're not repenting, we're not progressing. Repentance is our (literally) god given right to improve our own situation. It is our chance to achieve Eternal Life. It is our only hope of salvation from our sins. I have felt the joy of repentance this week, and it's a feeling which I would like to feel every week for the rest of my life. I know that as we repent, we will all feel better, and so, for that, I invite all of you to accept Christ in your life, and give him your sins.

I love you all so much. I really hope you all have great weeks!

I got to baptize somebody in Grecia this week! All their priesthood holders were gone or busy, so we traveled up there to baptize her.

With the Sisters from Grecia, Hna Hales and Hna Canales.

Went to teach a lesson in this house/farm dealio, which was good fun. TONS of animals!

A big pig!!

Two big pigs!

Man vs Body

This week has been an interesting twist to the normal pace of missionary work.

First off, I had an ingrown toenail. There's some pictures floating around in some place of the operation haha. I didn't want to go to the doctor and have the whole nail removed (I wouldn't be able to play soccer for like 2 months or something like that), so Elder Conisds, our District leader, a Guatemalan with like one semester of schooling in Medicine, injected me with some painkiller in my toe and then removed it with Nail Clippers, tweezers, and a rather large pocket knife. That lasted about an hour and a half, and hurt like a BUGGER. Hahaha. At the same time, this whole week I've been sick (since last Tuesday). So I was barely eating and basically felt like junk the whole week.

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So Friday was the 'operation', and then Saturday we had an appointment really far away in Concepción. There's only like 5 buses in the day that go out there, and from the (final) bus stop it's like 3 or 4 kilometers of walking. But, lucky for us, a member was going to drive us there!

So, we're going to meet this member in the church at 4:30. We get there 10 minutes early like good missionaries, but they decided to pass by the mall so they get to the church at about 5:20. That's alright, no biggie.

We start going and like half a mile in the car dies. Oh dear. The last bus has already gone out there, so we're not gonna be able to get out there without this car! But, luckily, it starts again.

Then dies again. Then starts again. Then Dies again. This goes on and on until it dies a Little more permanently, in a Little 2 lane windy road when we were going up a hill. Oh dear.

Luckily, my companion's worked in automobile engineering! Sweet! So he checks the car out. Turns out, there's a rather large hole in the radiator. Like, it's completely busted. So we run to the only 2 houses there are nearby (we're out in the boonies by this point), and ask for wáter. 12 liters of wáter later, the radiator's got wáter in it again. That is, after my companion pulls off the cap that says that we should 'never in our lives under any circumstances remove this cap while the car's warmed up'. Luckily, he didn't get any 3rd degree burns because there wasn't any wáter.

So, the car gets going up this hill to find somewhere a Little more flat with sickly old me and my companion running behind it, and it's just leaving a river in it's path. ALL the wáter is spilling out! But, it gets to the top eventually. And there just so happens to be an engineer there! He takes a check, finds the same problems that my companion found, and we toss some more wáter in that radiator. He also hotwires the ventilator, because the fuse blew because the car was so hot from not having wáter. The wáter barely lasts until we get to the people's house that we're going to teach, and now it's a Little after 7 PM. Everything nice and 'calm'.

We get in the house and I realize that I'm not feeling so hot. I ask them if I can use their bathroom, and 20 minutes later I'm feeling a Little better. We start the lesson, and it went well, and we ended it and everything went well. Except that there's no way to get back. The last bus passed approximately 2 hours ago. So we have to wait for a taxi, which takes about 30 minutes to get there, and we head back to the house at about 8:40. All in all, it was about 4 and a half hours.

It was an interesting day :)

But really, with that and everything else that happened, this week was tough. I've never liked doing anything when I'm sick. I felt like I was being barraged on all sides by sicknesses and accidents and toenails and just everything. But the Lord has a plan for us. Everything turned out OK. I'm better now, the car's fixed, and the toenails gone. All they are now are fun stories to tell!

Really, in all moments of our lives, we're going to pass through tribulation. It's how we face that tribulation that makes the difference. If we're willing to be stopped by a Little bit of tribulation, then Satan will always have a Little bit of tribulation to put in front of us. If we wait until calm waters to progress, we'll find that we never move out of our stormy seas. We have to take a leap of faith, run a Little faster than we think we can, and we will always find the support we need. We can always trust in our Savior and Redeemer, Jesús Christ, to help us in whatever situation we might come across.

We can be debilitated by our circumstances, or we can choose to grow and overcome them. All it is is a choice, but only one choice will let us progress in this life.

Adam fell that men might have joy. But that Joy isn't free. As we push ourselves to follow the Example of Jesús Christ a Little better, that joy comes along. Let us all endure through whatever problema we might have, growing instead of shrinking at the sight of trouble.

I love you all! Have a great week :)

-Elder Henry
We had to take the other Elders' clothes to the cocinera (cook)'s house at the same time, and I had to bring like 3 kilos of rice and some other things, so I was pretty well loaded up for that walk hahaha

This car is the funniest thing I've ever seen. Oh my gosh. Hahahhaaha. it is TINY! And it tries so hard to be a van or something like that but it's just tiny... hahaha

 

I was nice and comfy on our long bus ride back from La Paz haha

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Happy New Year from Costa Rica!

Spencer said he really enjoyed several delicious Christmas dinners with members =)

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With Elder Guirola

Temple Trip just before Christmas

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Skype with the family on Christmas Eve =D

His English is quickly going away! He spoke Spanglish and couldn't remember some English words haha

​We invited his best friend over too.  Coby will be serving in Texas beginning in March, Spanish speaking!

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In 2 days, I have the opportunity to dedicate every single day of a whole year to the Lord.

I've been reflecting a lot lately. And learning a lot.

I thought this week was really rough, but then I realized 2 of the days were Christmas (24th is super celebrated here) so I guess it was just Thursday that I was really down. But I was really, really down. Our numbers were low, we weren't seeing miracles, it was tough.

Friday, that changed. We saw miracles as I was willing to do things against my nature, and against 'my way'.

Saturday followed with miracles. Sunday as well. Yesterday too.

I want to focus on Thursday, and Friday. I was feeling so down, just unworthy to be training Elder Guirola and I felt like I had too much responsibility. I felt burdened down.

The Lord has made my burden light. Actually, it's a scriptural promise that as we follow his will, he will make our burdens like and our backs strong enough to carry them.

In Mosiah 24, there is a people who Followed Alma into the waters of baptism. They had been living in peace for a little while, when the Lamanites came and took overpowered them. The man who was, specifically, in charge of the People of Alma outlawed prayer, with the penalty of death.

This people, who had left their lives behind to follow the Lord, were now being constricting in their ability to praise that very same Lord. I can not imagine a burden harder to carry. In verse 12, it says:

And Alma and his people did not raise their voices to the Lord their God, but did pour out their hearts to him; and he did know the thoughts of their hearts.

They did all they could. All though they couldn't raise their voices to the Lord, they did pour out their hearts and asked, begged him for help. They shared their worries with the Lord, and asked for him to come and relieve their burdens.

In the following verses, it says:

And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord came to them in their 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 will covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage.

And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.

God does not forget his promises! He never leaves us alone. In whatever circumstance we might find ourselves in, we have his promises through obedience to his commandments. Later in the chapter, they were indeed delivered out of bondage through a miracle. But look at what the Lord says, look how he always gives us more than we expect, and look at why he gave them so much more. Verse 16 says:

And it came to pass that so great was their faith and their patience that the voice of the Lord came unto them again, saying: Be of good comfort, for on the morrow I will deliver you out of bondage.

Because the people were satisfied with what the Lord gave them, and willing to endure faithfully until he fulfilled this promise of deliverance, their day of deliverance was move forward. Because they were willing to sacrifice, they were blessed. this is a principle that we see many times throughout the scriptures. For example, Abraham. He didn't have to sacrifice anything (besides some time walking up a mountain), but it was his willing heart that qualified him for the blessings of the Lord. The Lord knows the intents of our hearts, and when we have learned what we should have learned from our challenges he will complete them.

They continued to prepare faithfully, and then were delivered. Once they safely arrived in their land, look at their response! They did not say "Finally, I can rest for a bit!" Or "Man, that sure was a hard trial!" Instead, they immediately gave thanks. Verse 22 says:


And they gave thanks to God, yea, all their men and all their women and all their children that could speak lifted their voices in the praises of their God.

They gave thanks. All their men. All Their women. All that could speak lifted their voices.

This scriptures is far more easy to apply in our individual lives then it seemed when I first read it. Even though we are only one person, we can give thanks to God for our blessing with all.

We can thank God with all of our thoughts, all of our actions, and all of our words.

Most of all, we can thank God by repenting of all of our sins. Small, Big, Serious, or Trifle, they are sins.

As we start a new year this week, we have the opportunity to set goals. Each of these goals (generally) is an action plan for repentance. Maybe it's to start reading the scriptures every day. That's repentance. Maybe it's befriending somebody we've insulted. That's repentance, for sure. Or maybe it's returning to what we know is true, but have long left. That's repentance.

Let us repent. Let us change. Let us follow through with our Commitments, our promises, to God this year. Let 2015 be the best year of your life, by giving your life to the Lord completely. By dedicating Every single day to the Lord.

I love you all so much. Have a wonderful new years. Remember that you are children of a loving God, and he's there to deliver you from your tribulations!!!

Sincerely,

-Elder Henry

I'm forgetting everything!

 

Elder Guirola got to meet his Grandpa!

We have matching suits! (what are the chances?!?!) (just different colors, both same plaid print haha)

Sorry there's not been many pictures this week, I have not had time to think to take pictures with getting used to being a trainer haha.

 

Oh man, I LOVE being a trainer. But it is really hard on my brain haha I feel so scatter brained. If I don't write it down then it's lost for eternity hahaha.

 

My companion, Elder Guirola, is AWESOME! it feels like he came pre-trained! hahahaa. Yeah he doesn't speak any English and already my Spanish has gotten soooooo much better. A lot more confident just conversing now and understanding is way easier! :) it's great. He's great. He's seriously the bomb. We went on divisions his first day haha because somebody needed a blessing. I was freaking out the whole time hahahaha. Also, don't know if you can tell in the picture, but we have matching suitjackets. WHAT!!! Hahaha. Just that his is brown but the design is the same.

Elder Guirola is amazing. He was baptized 3 years ago even though his family didn't want him to be (they were very catholic). He decided to go on a mission even though he was the only member in his family. Then, about 2 weeks before he left, his mom was baptized :) His (only) older brother is receiving the missionaries along with his dad. He's amazing and is out here on a mission for all the right reasons! :)

We have just been seeing a ton of miracles here in San Ramon. One that sticks out is an investigator. A friend of hers, Saida, who's a member, invited her to the Christmas devotional. While she was there, Saida took her on a tour of the Church building. When they walked into the baptismal font room, the friend felt a strong impression from the spirit. Even though she was catholic, she felt that she needs to be baptized. Then, after that, the Christmas devotional really touched her heart. The words spoken there rang true to her, until she was in tears. We're meeting with her to help her prepare and everything, but she has a baptismal date of the 3rd of January. Also, we're going to start teaching her family (3 daughter and one son in law). It's amazing that she's going to be baptized all because a friend invited her to a church activity.

A new video was published last week, called He is the Gift (I think, that's translating from Spanish). It's a beautiful video all about how our Jesus Christ the real gift and how we need to accept him into our lives, and that that's what Christmas is really about.

 

www.mormon.org/christmas

There is the link to the video. As I've watched it over and over again I've realized how precious it really is. There's a spirit about Christmas and it's one of the sweetest things I've found in my life.

This Christmas, I'm not going be to spending with my family. At first, I though that that I was going to be pretty sad on Christmas. Now, I know that's not true. As I've accepted Christ more and more into my life, as says the video, I've come to understand what Christmas is about. I'm going to spend my Christmas serving, just how Christmas should be used. It's not about receiving the gifts, rather about serving other, just like how Christ has served all of us, and given all of us the opportunity to live with our Heavenly Father again.

Families can be together forever. As we accept Christ in our lives, our families will become more unified on this earth and we will have the opportunity to be unified through the eternities.

I love you all. Have a great week! Enjoy your Christmas breaks :)

Sincerely,

-Elder Henry

Meeting Elder Guirola

A couple more goodbye pics

I'm having a baby!!!!!

I'm Pregnant! I'm having a baby!  Hahaha. In mission culture, whoever is the first companion of a new missionary is called his trainer but also normally called his "dad". So, I'm having a baby! It's a boy! Hahaha. I will get to know him tomorrow :) I'm super excited but super nervous. It's a lot of responsibility.
     So, these last few days have been basically purely goodbye parties with Elder Ritchie haha. It's been pretty wild, I don't think I'll realize that I've lost one of my best friends until Thursday or Friday.

Elder Ritchie's Goodbye dinner with one of the families they love :)

Last picture of our district before changes!

Andres had a nice goodbye surprise for Elder Johnson and Elder Ritchie haha (flour)

He didn't get away with it free, though!

 Goodbye dinner with one of our awesome families

One of our recent converts! 

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     I've had a pretty crazy last 24 hours. Yesterday we went to one of our investigators, who has 2 sons. We got there at about 5 PM and they were getting ready to leave with a taxi waiting. Turns out that one of the boys got in an accident and was in the hospital. They operated on him yesterday, but the mom told me that it looks like he'll be fine.
     Then, at about midnight, another of our friends texted us saying that her Father, who's been in a care facility, had a heart attack and was in the hospital. She asked us if we could go give him a blessing of health.
As a missionary, we have the opportunity to feel Charity, The pure love of Christ, toward a lot of people. I spend my days looking at people thinking of what they could become, what God wants them to become. I have a profound love for both of these people, and can not begin to explain how worried I am. And I am so grateful to be a servant of the lord and have these opportunities to love, and help others.
     These last 24 hours have put me to think a lot about the Truth that families can be together forever.
Mosiah 16:8 reads:
But there is a resurrection, therefore the grave hath no victory,and the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ.
     I love this scripture so much. As these family tragedies have been passing all around me, I've realized how precious the gospel really is to me. Death has no sting. The grave has no victory. It's really true.
     Today, I say goodbye to my companion Elder Ritchie. We've been companions for almost 4 months now. I spend more time with this man than I did with my siblings, than most married couples do actually. All day every day, we have walked, talked, and taught together. We've lifted each other up, we've made mistakes, we've supported each other. I love him so much. Words can't explain the connection we have!
And today he leaves me. He goes back to his home, his family, his friends, his loved ones. It's wonderful! But for me, it's a little rough. I'm not going to be able to see him for some 20 months still.
     Saying goodbye to somebody for a long time is difficult. It hurts. In Spanish, we would use the word "costar." It means to cost, like in the way a hill costs you a lot of energy to climb. Saying goodbye to Elder Ritchie for this time is going to cost me so much emotionally, it feels like I'll be losing a piece of me.
     But I'll see him again. We'll see each other again! And our joy will be so great in that day.
     Because I know the truth that all of us will be resurrected one day, I can say the same thing about my loved ones who have passed on. It's tough, it hurts, it truly costs me to think of how long it will be before I get to meet them or see them again, but one day my joy will be full as I see them. That is what the scripture means when it says that the Grave has no victory. It may hurt, and it may cost us to even go on, but I know without a doubt in my mind that we will see each other again after this life. That there is hope to change in this life, to become perfected in Christ, and to be able to live with our Loving heavenly Father and our Family, the fundamental social unit of our human experience, forever.
     Death has no sting. There is always a hope waiting for us to discover. As we get on our knees and talk with our Eternal Father, we will discover that hope. That's a promise from me, but more importantly, from an all powerful and all knowing God.
     Please pray for our friends who are in the hospital, that they can get better. Also if you can pray that I can find new investigators. Our pool is pretty small right now :(
     I love you all. Have a great week!
-Elder Henry

His Christmas tree ;)