26 Noviembre 2012
Hey family.

   I hope you are all doing well.  Love you a lot! pray for me please and write me a note if you have a minute.  Good luck with your dissertation thing tomorrow, Kevin.  Thanks for the letter mom and dad  

Hi Mom and Dad,

   Thanks for your letters.  They always encourage me.  

First is a picture of Alex and Valeria, they got baptized two weeks ago.  Isn´t it a nice picture?  It turned out a little dark, but they really liked it and I like it too.  Here 

 

Hna real is decorating the tree.  We still haven´t put up the lights but it looks really beautiful.   

hey family,

   Mom, I just have a little bad news... I think the packages got broken into.   One of them only has one thing in it and the list that you wrote outside has several things listed.  But that´s okay.  I think the other packages are intact.  Just one of them.   Our bishop is great Um... I love you all a lot. 

  Keep praying for me.   I actually feel more homesick now than before.  I think that it`s the christmas season and everything.  

Anyway.  Love you all a lot!  Kevin, I know you`ll do great! 

Love, hna tew

19 Noviembre 2012
hey everyone!

 Hope you´re doing well.  

Mom sorry I forgot to wish you happy birthday last week.  I remembered on Thursday.... too late :(  Hope you had a good birthday! 

Nani happy birthday to you too! 

Tanner, thanks for the email. 

Email me please!  :)  I only got one email.

love, hna tew

Thanks mom.  I love you a lot!  I wrote you a letter more than a month ago and I still haven´s sent it, so I´m going to type it up.

Dear mom, 

I know that I´ve written various letters to you on my mission, and in this letter, I mostly want to say thanks.  I liked what Elder Perry shared in his talk about the letter he sent to his mom, and I wanted to do something similar.  Maybe for your birthday? I don´t know when you´ll get this (sorry I'm a chambona, mom)   

   Thanks for teaching me all things with patience. I´m kind of amazed at how much patience and love you have.  thanks for not getting mad whenever I did something dumb.  Thanks for waiting for me to learn some things on my own. 

  Thanks for your example of love.  You really love people and serve them.  Thanks for teaching me not to judge others or say bad things about them,. (Your name is safe in our house)  That has been a big influence for me.  Thanks for always including other people and never being offended by what others might have said or done.  thanks for always saying that those who seem to deserve it the least need it the most.  

thanks for always having love in your heart.  I ALWAYS felt that you loved me.  I NEVER doubted it.  And you probably don´t think that´s a big deal, but it is a big deal, because a lot of daughters don´t always feel love from their mom, but I always did. 

  Thanks for all the laundry, games, meals, everything .  I am grateful for everything you did and do for me.  And I hope I can be as good of a mom as you are.    Well it´s Nov 5th now.  I just want to say thanks.  I love you a lot, Mom. 

Love, your daughter

Okay, love you a lot mom.  Don´t get too trunky.  Practique su Español!  Hable con mi papá! 

Love you a lot mom, 

Hna tew  

Hey family, 

Kyle, have fun in Colombia.  Sounds like you´re having a great time.  

Kevin, Good luck with your dissertation!  It sounds like you are doing great!  Congratulations on everything! 

Cheryl, sounds like you´re enjoying life!  I hope everyone gets to feeling better.  and good luck with gall bladder surgery.  I didn´t know you were sick from that.  

Mom, hey hope you had a great birthday and that everything is going well with the Christmas plans for the activity and all.  Tell Irma that I eat pupusas Salvadoreñas here and that I always think of her. :) 

Dad, hope you are doing well and that work is good and that the stake is doing well.   

Dani, hope you´re doing good!  

Dougie, hope you´re doing good! 

Pablito, Seguí adelante!  Y que bueno que vos estás comiendo bién.  Te me cuidás.  That´s my practice for speaking in vos for the week.  Hope that´s right.... Love you! 

There are way too many things to tell you all.  Carlos is doing great.  He´s reading the BoM and he really liked Alma 7.  He was just a little confused about the word Zarahemla. :)  We´re going to have an FHE with him and his wife in the Arroliga´s house tonight.  So that should be great!  The ward was so nice to them.  Yesterday the classes were so good and spiritual and it was a good Sunday. It ended kind of low but that´s why you have a companion  to help you feel better when the families are getting torn apart by Satan and they don´t even realize it.  

   Jefferson, our RC started to drink.  He comes home on Saturday and goes off to the Billiards parlor.  We talked to him on Sunday (he spent the night on the floor in his brother´s house.)  He´s kind of adopted by a part member family we´re working with, and the mom told him to leave if he was going to start drinking again.  And Jefferson is the adopted brother of Henry, who is the Catholic 15 year old that hopefully is getting baptized this Saturday... with FAITH!   So we told Jefferson that we would be at his house on Sat at 5:00 and that we´re going to watch a church movie or something with him at the church.  We visited with Henry and Henry started crying because Jefferson was getting kicked out of the house.  And Henry loves Jefferson a lot but he´s never told Jefferson how much he loves him... It was so sad because their family really struggles.  Henry finally has the desire to get baptized but he´s afraid to get baptized because of what his family might do to him because they want him to be a Catholic Priest.  Anyway, we cried a little with Henry and told him to tell Jefferson que le quiere, and oh está, todo bién.  Jefferson didn´t end up getting kicked out.  Also, Brother Molina went to visit Jefferson with us and told him that he would pass for him on Sunday to go to church.  AND JEFFERSON, who is shy and doesn´t feel love from anyone and has a lot of difficulties, told Brother Molina to come on Saturday at 5:00 too.  

   One effect of being a missionary is that when someone talks about their problems, Jesus always come to mind.  There is always a good answer to every question if he center our thoughts on Christ.  Brother Molina shared with Henry the story of when Jesus was leaving his apostles and how he left the comforter.  Now when I think about my problems and the problems of all the people here I think a lot more about Jesus.  

   Last night after all this had happened we went to visit the Bishop.  Bishop Espinoza.  He´s such a good bishop! :)  We shared a message about charity and telling people that you love them and we told them that we love them (the whole family was there). It was a good experience.  We always learn a lot. ´

   Um...Everything is good here.  Every companionship is getting 250 cordobas this Wednesday to spend on something special for THANKSGIVING, I mean, Dia de la accion de gracias.  250 is live 10 dollars and you can buy quite a bit with 250.  I was just talking to Hna Real about what we are going to do, but we just ate 3 pupusas and fresco de cacoa and jamaica so we decided that we can´t think about food right now.  haha 

By the way, I never told you all about changes.  Hna Vasquez got transferred to Masatepe, but to a different area than the one I was in.  So now it´s just Hna Real and me.  And this is the last transfer for Hna Real.  Transfers are 26 of December, but the missionaries are going home a week early.  There are three hermanas that go home in December, and one is in the neighboring area, so I´m guessing that I´m going to be with her companion for the week before transfers.  It´s a lot better to just have one companion.  We speak English in the house all the time.  Hna Real worked in a Call center before her mission.   So... it´s almost for certain that I´m going to stay here in Miraflores!!!  yay!!! I really love this area.  it´s a great place to be.   

Inspired analogy of the week to Henry who is using crutches.  A broken foot is the apostasy.  Crutches... the reformation. It´s great, but it´s not the same.   Healing... the restoration.   

Mira...flores  Mira...cles. 

Love you all!  

12 November 2012
hey folks.

  No one said anything about the elections, but I heard that Obama won.  Bummer.  But.... Alex and Valeria got baptized this Saturday with Danilo.  this week was the trial of our faith.  Seriously.  Alex told us he wasn´t getting baptized like 7 times during the week.  But when he was all dressed in white and hugging Valeria (all in white too)  my heart kind of melted.  They are such a beautiful family.  A lot of members helped us to go visit them .  The elders and a member from Texas who served here went with us.  Danilo was really happy too. After the baptism a recent convert, Javier, walked Danilo home.  It was so sweet.  The bishop went to pick him up for his baptism.  Everything´s so much better when the members love the investigators.  Alex and Valeria came with Alex´s mom.  She went to church with us on Sunday.  There were so many miracles and so many angels this week that I can´t count them all.  But it´s because God loves his children and wants them to get baptized.  also, we had a lot of faith, even when Alex told us a billion times that he wasn´t going to get baptized.  We prayed so much for them.  Prayer is powerful.  

   Um... this Wednesday is transfers.  We have no idea of what´s going to happen.  I think I´m staying here because I´ve only been here three weeks, but who knows.  Since we´re in a threesome, and we don´t know how many hermanas are coming we don´t know if we´re going to stay together or not.  But I´ve enjoyed being in a threesome.  It´s kind of weird, but great.  The Bishop here is fantastic.  He is really smart, and has a lot of faith.  Hna Real always says that we´re the bishop´s consejeras.  haha.  Basically.  he trusts us a lot.  maybe too much... but he´s wonderful and VERY supportive.  And VERY RELIABLE.   

   We are teaching a kid named Henry.  Hopefully he gets baptized this Saturday or the next.  He´s really with it.  He loves church, he finally agreed to read the BoM.  He loves the missionaries. But he says that every time he asks God if the BoM is true he gets a bad feeling.  So we´ve talked about that a lot.  We´re going to have an FHE with his family tonight.  Pray for him!  Yesterday the RM that teaches Gospel Doctrine was surprised to hear that Henry isn´t baptized.  He was just called to be the YM president.  And he was like, I want to baptize him!  Let me baptize him!  It was cool.  Most of Henry´s family is members.   

  Um... it´s super hot here.  I sleep in shorts and a t-shirt.  No covers.  not even a sheet.  And the fan hits me (I put it about 1 foot away from my face) and one night this week I woke up because I was so hot.  So, enjoy the cold!  (I guess I should enjoy the heat!) :)  

   Dad, thanks for the update.  Sounds like the church is moving on.  Do you think that they are going to open new missions? When do they call new mission presidents?   

   Mom, thanks for the update.  I hope everything is going good in Gillette.  How was it to have a missionary in the house all the time? 

   Kevin, hope you´re doing well and that you´re getting everything finished for school. 

   Cher, thanks for the note.  I miss you and love you too!  

   Kyle, thanks for the note.  Have fun in Panama. I forgot what the word for cool is there. But I hope it´s great! 

   Doug, hope you´re doing well. your house looks cool from the picture Dani sent.  

   Dani, thanks for the note and the pictures (Thanks for thinking of me, Scotty :)) 

   Pablito, hope you´re doing well.  How is your Spanish going?  Do you practice with Kyle sometimes? 

   

Love you all, Take care.  I´m going to try to send pictures of the baptisms and everything next week

love love love, hna tew

5 November 2012
Hey family,

  just wanted to ask a few questions.  

I got my trunky papers last week and I have to put down if you are coming to pick me up or not.  Also, the airport nearest to my house.  But, I think that we could just put Salt Lake.  I don`t know what you all think.  I would like to go home, but I would also like to see Kevin and Cheryl and Kyle and Paul and Grandparents...  So I need an answer by next week. 

I´m writing a letter right now.  We went to the beach today and got back super late.  So... yeah... Pochomil. 

love, hna tew

Hey Family,

How is everyone doing?  I hope that everything is going well and that you are all enjoying some Christmas music! :) 

Cheryl, thanks for the note.  The kids look so cute.  I miss you all a lot!  We`ll be sure to hang out when I get back!!!! 

Kevin, sounds like there are a lot of job options.  Good Luck!

Dani, the kids look so cute!  And I loved the pictures of the munchkins.  They look so cute!  And Adam looks big!  I am excited to get to know David. 

Mom, thanks for the update.  I miss you a lot.  Don`t get too trunky. ;)  I`ll be beating you in Boggle before you know it. 

Tanner and Nani, thanks for the note.  Love you both! 

Dad, thanks for the note and thanks for always writing me!  Sounds like the politics are pretty tight. 

Um... it`s great to be back in my area.  I am really enjoying being with my companions.   

Some things I learned this week... 

    Every lesson can be spiritual if we meet the investigator`s needs and testify of Jesus Christ.  WE have an investigator that is going to be baptized this Saturday, Danilo, and we had to teach him the word of wisdom.  He`s a very humble man that has a lot of problems.  When we got there he talked about all the problems that he has had and it was kind of sad.  We started the lesson talking about how Jesus Christ gives us strength the overcome our problems.  Sometimes we pray for him to take our problems away, and that`s a possible solution, but sometimes we need to develop more strength.  So then we talked about how living the gospel gives us the strength, and we started into the word of wisdom.  Usually, teaching the word of wisdom isn`t a great spiritual experience.  (the wife complains about how the husband drinks, they ask about coffee...) but this time we had a very spiritual lesson.  And it was neat.  I`ve been feeling the spirit a lot more in the lessons lately, and I love that.  It happens when we testify of Jesus Christ.   

   We put four baptismal dates this week with families!  yay!  Hna Real puts fechas like crazy.  One cool thing that happened is that we were walking down the main street and passed by a less active`s house, and the sisters had been teaching the husband before.  We stopped to say hi and the husband was reading the bible.  He said, you know what, I`ve been thinking about when I get baptized if I`m going to wear some shorts or what I have to wear.  He was going to get baptized before but then he stopped letting the sisters come visit him.  So we were like, um... Can we share a message with you right now?  And his wife was actually pretty supportive.  His name is Ramon, and his wife is Daysi.  That was kind of crazy miraculous. :) 

   Alex and Valeria had a baptism date for this weekend, but they went on vacation for a few days and Alex`s family said a ton of things about how they have to baptize their 3 month old baby or Satan will have power over her.  We are praying a lot for them. 

   Lately I`ve been trying to develop charity.  And PMG says really awesomely how we can do it.  I am trying to work on diligence too.   I don`t take advantage of all the opportunities that there are sometimes. 

   Georgina and Martin are another family.  Martin wants to change.  he wants to stop drinking. And Georgina (member) is really supportive. 

   One night I was writing in my miracle book and the phrase came to my mind...These are days never to be forgotten.  During the day I think about all the beautiful experiences and feeling that have occurred, and I wish I could remember them all.  At night I`m tired, I have to write in the area book and wash a shirt or something, and I just don`t have time to write in my journal.  I hope God helps me out a little and lets me hold on to all the things that are happening.  

   This is a wonderful area. There are a ton of houses. 

Adios, 

Love you all, 

hna tew