Endure It Well!

Wow, what a roller coaster of a week! The first half of the week was rough, we were not having any success, we couldn't find any investigators, even the people in the street didn't want to talk to us! Nobody was progressing... nothing nothing and more nothing. We were so frustrated and just in tears! But we had a zone meeting that totally changed our minds, it was the best zone meeting ever. They talked about Jesus' life when He was here on the earth and how people rejected him and everything. They changed how I think about the mission, really missionaries get a taste of what Jesus went through, with the preaching, searching for people, and being rejected. It was a lot better than this really sad summary, it helped us a ton! But after that we turned our frowns upside down and we're finding people, they're opening their doors to us.. not that they listen with both ears, but they listen! And we have a baptism date for a little 11 year old girl named Rebekah, she's a sweetheart, her dad is a less active and her mom is investigating the church. We want her and her mom to be baptized on the same day, but the parents aren't married and the dad doesn't want to get married.. men. But she's our little angel! There's a lady in the branch that was pregnant and she gave birth and her baby died right away, so sad, but how lucky for the little guy, he was so righteous, he only had to take a breath and he got to go back and be with Heavenly Father! Anyway, I had never been to a funeral here, so I didn't know how they work. The Zone Leaders told us to be at her house at 5, so we were there at 5, I was thinking we'd be done at 6:30, oh no. They didn't have light, so they were running electricity all while we were sitting there looking at the tiny little casket sitting on the table. At 6:45 they were still running power with no sucess.. I was getting antsy so we decided to sing some hymns. At 8 we were finally given the okay to leave, finally other people were showing up. Funerals here last a full 24 hours, who knew? Well that's about it for me! I hope you all have a fantastic week :) I love you all so much! AND Happy 21st Birthday Elder Del Toro!! You're oficially a full grown man!!! :)

Love, Hermana Brems

Jenna promised a bunch of photos next week!!!

What a grave sight...

Yoohoo hello family!

I hope everyone had a wonderful week and a great Halloween! Hermana Portillo and I worked super hard this week, but we still have a long way to go for the area to progress and to have a baptism.. people don't want to come to church and that's kind of a requirement! haha But we're doing great, happy and working hard :) We had a different but fun weekend, so Halloween here is celebrated November 1st and it's called Dia de los Muertos, but there's a bar close by our apartment and they celebrated Halloween October 31st. Let's just say we didn't sleep because of the music, we did however learn a few dance moves, we practiced during planning... hahahahaha! But Dia de los Muertos, nobody was home so a few companionships went to the cemetery and we did some service. I love being in a different country for holidays to see the different cultures and traditions. Here they paint and decorate the tombs, which are like little houses. They decorate them with flowers and other things, some people also leave food and drinks for their dead. They believe that in the night time the spirits will eat the food. We ate lunch, changed, then went back to the cemetery and had an activity, we passed out pamphelets, Books of Mormon, Proclamation to the Family, we did that for 3 hours... and then that was the day! But it was a lot of fun, we got a ton of references so it was totally worth it. This week we're anxious to contact the people we met in the cemetery and start teaching them! 

Shout out to Ethan for his mission call!! CONGRATS! Mexico loves the Del Toro's that's for sure! And Happy Birthday on Saturday Grandma, love you :)

That's about it for me, make it a fantastic week, love you all and thank you for all of your love and prayers :)

Love, Hermana Salchicha

                                         It rained a ton this week...

                                                         Kissy kissy!

                                                    In the cemetery!

                                                        The cemetery

                                                 Painting in the cemetery!!

                                       Night time in the cemetery ;)

                              Lions Club Eye Hospital!! Dad wants to come visit!!!

                                        All the Hermanas in the zone!

                                               

Hermana Brems, como las Salchichas...

Why hello everyone!

How was your week? Mine was pretty good here in Salama, it was a little bit of a roller coaster, but that's the mission life :) We'll get the bad news over with, our baptism that we were going to have can't get baptized, his mom won't sign the baptism papers... so sad. We're going to work with her a lot, he really wants to be baptized and I know with faith and lots of prayers she'll come around! Changes, I am staying in my same area with Hermana Portillo!!!!! Wooooohoooooo!! I'm pretty excited :) Hermana Benavides is going to Peten, she's not so excited, but that's where the Lord needs her, so how can she complain, right?! This week we taught a family, well, boyfriend/girlfriend. She's a less active member and they've been dating for 2 years. But holy smokes, he wants to be baptized, get married legally and in the temple!! He definitely has his eyes on the prize- eternal life!! Hahaha it made me so happy! They've visited the temple in the Cap and he has a picture of it. Hopefully we'll be able to get them married soon and him baptized so they can start for time and all eternity soon :) The funniest thing happened Saturday morning at 4am. I was sound asleep and all of the sudden I hear Hna Benavides say, Hermana Brems someone is trying to break in!! I leaped out of bed (with pinky in hand) grabbed the phone and had the zl's number ready. Then I came to my senses and went and looked what was going on.. the wind was making the door to the room shake a little bit, that's all! But we have been laughing about it since then, my heart was racing so fast!! haha About the title, I never realized how hard 'Brems' was to say until I came here, but luckily there' a brand of salchichas (hot dogs) that is Bremins, so that's how I introduce myself now, the people get a kick out of it everytime :) hahaha Well, that's about it for me, have a wonderful week everyone! I love you so much, thank you for your prayers and support! 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Love, Hermana Brems

                                                     Dyed chick! So cute right?!

                                  The water here in Salama is great huh?

                                                         Bus ride!

Let it Go, Let it Gooooo!

Hello everyone!

Another week down, the time is flying by right?! We have transfers next week.. I can hardly believe it. It's kind of a good thing that this change was a shorter one, being in a trio is tough... We had to have companionship inventory twice this week. Comp inventory is when you and your comp talk about whats going on, what we're doing well and what we need to improve on, usually it includes lots of tears... But we're good now, I'm just trying to remember that patience is a virtue, it's hard living with 2 Latinas... but other than that we're doing well. 

One reason we had to have comp inventory is because our area is not progressing, one of the hermana's does not like letting people go, even when they haven't progressed in months, so we had to talk about that. Finally we're down to the last week of 'this is the last time we're going to visit them.' haha! But we have a date for a baptism! His name is Jonathan, he is 14 years old, missionaries have been teaching him for like a year, but he's finally ready now! We just need to track down his mom so she can sign the paper so he can be baptized. I have faith that Heavenly Father will help us if we put in our best effort!

So we had a miracle happen yesterday, we called a ton of people before church to see if they were going to come, one of the hermana's said she would come but asked for us to wait for her in the park. Our church building is about 20 minutes away from our area so we take a bus, we got there at 12:25, she said she'd get there at 12:30... we waited until 1:15 in the park, church starts at 1. We walked in with our heads down realizing that they had already started with the talks.. we were so sad, hna portillo started crying, we had missed the sacrament.... We decided to check one more time to see if the hermana was outside and sure enough, she and her husband were just standing outside not sure whether or not to come in. We brought them in and the Elders said they hadn't passed the sacrament yet because they didn't have bread and they'd do it at the end. How blessed can we be? Well that's me! Have a great week everyone! :)

Love, Hermana Brems

                                                My umbrella is big enough!

                                                                :)

                                                             Salama!

                                                  We went for a hike today

                                                  I think I tired them out!!

                                                          Nice place for a pose!!!

Hot Dog

Well this week was kinda funny, I got burned twice and a dog got stuck in my skirt during a lesson. How is everyone doing?! My little trio and I had a great week, we worked hard as always and had fun, I'm really really enjoying the mission! We also had Zone Conference, it was fun seeing lot of familiar faces, lots of people were excited to see me back in the field! President gave a good talk, he likened the Mission Coban to the Book of Mormon, how there are so many wars and battles in the BoM and right now in Coban, we're in a war. He also said that we are in the world, but we're apart from it because we're set apart and we need to recognize that always, I had never thought about that! We really are different, in a good way :) This week we visited a few less active families or families in the ward just to share a message, they were SO appreciative of our visit. All of them told us that they had had problems this week or last week and were struggling and our message totally changed their frame of mind. All of them said that, it really made me realize how much the Holy Ghost guides us and directs us, all we need to do is listen. The funny thing was, all of those families, both of the parents were returned missionaries. I know life after the mission will fulll of happiness, but there will always be trials to face, but trials always make us stronger :) All of the less active families that we visited this week came to church! It was so fun to see them, everyone was super welcoming to them in the branch and they said they felt so good to be in the Lord's house. Okay, burns... we were teaching a lesson and a toddler was putting a stick in the fire and things started to fall out of the fire and I didn't want him to get burnt so I grabbed his waist and pulled him toward me, he accidently but the stick that was on fire on my leg.. no big though, I'm fine! The next burn, a member family invited us over and wanted me to make them something american to eat.. my go to cinnamon french toast. I was flipping the toast and butter flipped up and burnt my hand.. it hurt so bad and it was really really red. Oh did I pray and pray and pray that it would get better because I was kinda worried. I woke up, completely normal. Never underestimate the power of prayer, never!! And we were teaching a lesson and a dog was walking under the table and got caught up in my skirt, good thing it was under the table because I struggled for like 5 minutes trying to release him! hahaha oh good times! Well that's everything, it's been a great week and we're hoping for another great one! I love you all, thank you for all of your support, love and prayers, they are so appreciated :) Love you!

Love, Hermana Brems

                                                       My Desk

                                                       Our Beds

                                I changed the light, standing on a chair, on a table!          

             I was stuck in the tree, but my comps said I looked pretty in distress : ha ha

                              Coming home from zone conference, tired little soldiers….

                                                      3 musketeers!

           With a girl in the branch,her brother just got his mission call to Guadalajara East mission! and she's getting ready to go herself:)

                                             UofU!! Just for you daddy!!!

                                                        Room for clothes!

Devoted Discples!

Hey there!

Ahhh I'm shaking with excitement as I'm writing! The first week back in the field has been better than I expected, but of course a little bit of a roller coaster! I'm doing really well, I love my area, the people here are so nice, the members are always wanting to have us over and go on visitis with us! It's so nice! It's a lot cooler than my previous areas as well, thank goodness! I always thought that being in a trio would be awful, but I'm enjoying it a lot! My companions are Hermana Benavides from Nicaragua and Hermana Portillo from Honduras. Hna Portillo is being trained and has kind of been struggling, poor gal, (she's the short one). She told me the other day that her whole first change she had been praying that a North American would be her companion and that I am an answer to her prayers, how sweet right?! The house we live in is super nice too, we live on the 3rd story so there are 78 stairs, dragging my suit cases that all weighed 50 lbs was tough... but I really like it! How did everyone like conference?! It was really good huh? We used a phone from a member to listen to it in English, not ideal, but it's better than listening to it in spanish, so I won't complain! We had 4 investigators in the session when Elder Bednar spoke directly to the people that are not members of the church, it was perfect! I love that he said devoted disciples of Jesus Christ are always missionaries in every sense. Not his words exactly, but I had a hard time Saturday afternoon after conference, I was missing home, but I heard that and my way of looking at the mission has changed. I am a devoted disciple of Jesus Christ, whom I know is my Savior and Redeemer. My spanish is coming back, my comps like to help me... I don't understand a lot, but in the lessons I'm solid so that's all that matters, the Spirit can speak to the people, not me, right?! haaha! I'm doing pretty well with adjusting to the Latin life, just not moving SO SLOW.... ahhh patience hermana Brems... hahaha! But yeah, everything is going really well. Oh I have a new address for letters, it's Mision Guatemala Coban

Apartado Postal #34

3ra Calle 2-02 zona 3

Coban AV 16001

Guatemala C.A.

I love you all so much, thank you for everything, for your prayers, support and love! Talk to you next week!

Love, Hermana Brems

                  Hermana Benavides (tall one) me and Hermana Portillo (short one)

                                                My area…so pretty huh?!

                                            Just crossing a bridge

                                                      At Conference

Brace For Impact!

Oh Hi everyone!

I made it to Coban and I'm headed to my area of Salama in Verapaz pretty quick. I got to the airport and Hermana De Leon was there to pick me up, she heard I was coming back and since she's living in the cap came to the airport! I stayed in the CCM last night and woke up at 4 to make the trip to Coban, it took 8 hours because there was an accident. I know I'm in a trio, I'm going to be helping an hermana finish training, I guess she's kinda having a hard time.. I'm so excited to be back!! Hermana Curtiss gave me a big hug and said I was her hero. I haven't gotten to talk to her or the President yet though, we have a zone meeting next week. Oh and this change is only 4 weeks, so that's different too! Not only is it different being thrown back in the field (brace for impact) I had the bumpiest landing ever!! But we survived! I'm doing great, I just wanted to let you know that I'm alive and happy :) Thanks for everything! I love you all so much!