Abel Gets Permission to be Baptized!

Hi everyone!

After this email only 2 more! Yikes! Ok anyways, we are doing ok here in Muluá. Actually this week had a few big disappointments, because around Wednesday we were feeling good, we had put baptismal dates with 5 people, 2 families, but then Thursday and Friday everything fell apart and got canceled or postponed...so that’s not fun when you have 2 weeks left, because there is NO TIME to postpone the baptisms! Agh! But that’s how it goes. Me and hna. Argueta's motto is "We can’t do it all!" ha-ha, because we can only try our best. But anyways, some good things did happen this week, here’s what went down:

1. Permission for Abel! YAY!   So we have been teaching this kid named Abel, he’s 17, for a few months now. He’s been going to church for about 4 months and has wanted to get baptized and everything, but his parents are super evangelicos and wouldn’t give him permission para nada. But he is such a great kid! He goes to church every Sunday, gets there on time, goes to the youth activities, and even went on the young men’s campout last week. He’s been praying and has even fasted so that his mom would give him permission. He really likes the church. The whole time I’ve been here we have been trying to figure out the best way to get permission from the mom...at first she wouldn’t really talk to us. But a few weeks ago we had a good chat with her about her son, the church, the youth programs, etc. to make her feel better about the campout. We came up with a pretty good plan, got Abel to write down his testimony on a piece of paper, and on Sunday went and had a nice experience with the mom and in the end she signed and gave him permission!!!!!  Abel was SO HAPPY!!!! And so were we! He’s been going to church here since way before I got here, and he is finally going to be able to get baptized! We of course are hoping for this Saturday, we haven’t really gotten to talk to him about it yet, but I’m sure he'll want to. We are so excited for him, and I know he is so happy. I really think that he'll make a great missionary someday soon! 

2. Familia Martinez -- Well I don’t know if yall remember familia Martinez. They are the family where we made grilled cheese and all that. Well we are still working with them, but it’s been really hard and discouraging. I don’t remember everything I’ve written about them, but basically the hno. Hermelindo is super awesome and wants to get baptized really badly, and his wife, Pati, is crazy and super stubborn and won’t budge! Agh! I’m not even going to explain what her deal is.  Last Monday we had a super special experience with them when Presidente Maravilla, the mission president, invited them for a family home evening at the church. We thought that would surely do the trick! And it almost did because on Wednesday we set a baptismal date with them and we were so happy!!!!! I was overjoyed because they are such a special family for me.  But then on Thursday everything fell apart again. We had brought the fixins to make hot dogs with them and celebrate a bit, but everything exploded and Pati said that she had decided to never get baptized ever and she is just crazy! Her husband was soooo sad :( because he had been so excited about getting baptized. He can’t get baptized without her because they aren’t married and have to get married first. And he doesn’t want to do it without her. AGH!!!! So we are kind of giving them a break. We will hopefully go this week, because I still have a little hope because I have to have hope, but it’s looking slim. Ahh ohh well, we seriously have done EVERYTHING with them, and if EVERYTHING isn’t enough, there is nothing else we could have done. But yea, that was a HUGE GIANT bummer for the week. 

We are still excited about Abel’s baptism (hopefully). And we have another girl whose husband is a member who will probably get baptized on Saturday too. So we are working hard and I am really hopeful for these guys!

Other than that I’m feeling good! I’m getting super nervous about going home, but it’s exciting at the same time! I love being a missionary and am so grateful for the time that I’ve had here. I love the gospel and know that it’s true. I’ve been studying the Book of Mormon a lot because President asked us to start over and read it again. Even though I’ve read the first chapters like a thousand times, they are great! I’m learning so much in 1 Nefi! I know that the Book of Mormon is true. And therefore, I know that the church is true. I love the gospel and my family and all the blessings that the Lord has given me. 

Have an awesome week! This week is thanksgiving, right? Everyone be thankful for AMERICA! It is the BEST. Thanks for everything!

Love,

Hna Gilland    

Family Martinez Killed a Chicken for Us!!!!!

Hey guys!!

Here’s what happened this week:

1. CHANGES! Wow so I was really sad when they told us that my comp. Hna Cuzco had changes and would be leaving...but I was so excited when they announced that HNA ARGUETA was my new comp!!! Hna Argueta is awesome! We knew each other from Mazate and always talked about how cool it would be to be comps, but thought they’d never put us together because even though she has a Latina name, she’s from California, and the mission never puts gringas together ever. We were shocked and so excited!! So whew, my last change here, and hna Argueta will be killing me, as we say.  I’m not going to lie, at first it felt so weird to be back with an American. I don’t know why, it was just really weird! I think that having hna. Argueta is going to help me make the adjustment to regular life in America, and I think that will be good so I don’t come home quite as weird. All yall have to be nice to me when I come home, even when I’m weird and just want to talk about Guatemala all day long. Ha-ha agh!!!!

2. Our 2 families....... man, I wish I could say that we made some progress with our families, but we are pretty much the same. They are both so close, but we don’t know what to do with them! I don’t even want to explain all the craziness because it’s just too complicated, but basically with Fam. Martinez, Hna Paty is crazy and we just don’t even know what to do with her. We are trying everything!! With Idelia, we have their wedding planned; we just have to help her want to get baptized too, minor detail. We are so stressed about everything, and at the same time trying to find new families, trying to help all the recent converts in this ward keep going (and there are about 20 that we have to visit every week), and just trying to keep going in our rough living conditions and all. Like my dad and tennis coaches all said though, I’m "leaving it all on the court" and trying to give it my all. AGH I’m freaking out.

3. Even though fam. Martinez is crazy and stressing us out, we still love them so much, and I just wanted to share the sweet thing they did for us. We had told them last week that maybe Hna. Cuzco was going to have changes and that Tuesday might be her last day. Well, without even knowing for sure, they planned quite the special dinner for us. Let me just remind yall, they have NOTHING at all! They killed one of their chickens that morning and made chicken stew stuff. That’s something really special. I was kind of asking how often they killed chickens or when they’d kill the next one, and they said maybe at Christmas. WOW right?! I just love the people here because they give us everything they have, and I don’t even know why. This family is so special to me and we just have to figure out how we are going to help them, now. AGH!

Well I can’t think of anything else very cool...sorry...but thanks for all of y'alls support and prayers, they are needed!!! We are working our hardest here!! Hope y'all have a great week!

Love, 

Hna Gilland

ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL LESSONS IN MY WHOLE MISSION

Hey everyone!
Before I tell about the week, right now I just had a wild experience reading my family’s emails. If my mom wants, she can cut this part out of the email, but it’s just a funny story that I think y'all will get a kick out of. So to use internet here in Guatemala, we go to public Internets with like 25 computers, and most of the missionaries use internet at the same time. I open my internet and check out who wrote me, open a few and get to my dad’s. My dad tells me that they are seriously thinking of moving to Utah, but this time really seriously. Well, all of y'all who know my family know that my dad’s been saying that since I was about 10 years old, so I was like whatever, next email. Then I open my mom’s email and she tells me "I haven’t told you anything because I didn't want to distract you, but we found a house in Utah that we really like and we are putting our house for sale on Wednesday, and if we sell in 60 days we are moving to Utah"... SURPRISE!  What?! I read the whole email a few times in shock, because that’s like the typical thing that happens to a missionary, right? Ha-ha. After halfway processing, I turn around and announce to the whole internet cafe, "My family is selling the house!" Ha-ha everyone was laughing. My family is crazy right?!   No one freak out too much, if everything works out they won’t be moving until June.  But yea what an email! (Mom you can cut this if it’s a secret or something...)
OK so back to the mission, things are moving right along here. Well, time is moving right along. Other things, not so much, but we are trying. We actually didn't have the most successful week. I was really hoping to have the wedding-baptism of Familia Martinez...but they still aren't ready. Mostly Hna Patricia isn't ready. We don’t know what to do with her! She tells us she wants to keep going to her old church. Like I've said a million times, the churches here are crazy and just yell and scream, so I have no idea why she wants to keep going to that church, by herself, while her husband and kids come with us to the beautiful chapel here in Muluá. But we are really trying to go about things as Jesus Christ would, with love and all. Whew. I just know they are going to get baptized, and you better believe that they’ll be getting baptized in the next month and a half. But we will have to work hard at it. 
We are also working with a young family where the husband, Ludwing, is an inactive member, but his wife, Idelia, isn't (I don’t remember if I already explained about them). They have a little baby girl. They are a special family and we really had some special experiences with them this past week. We've been going with them for like 3 weeks, but with little success until this past week. I really think that she’ll be getting baptized in the next few weeks. It’s a little complicated for a few reasons.  Idelia is like SUUUPER shy, super super shy. And from my judgment, she has some learning disabilities or something. She doesn't know anything about religion or God or Jesus or anything, or at least when we asked her she didn't respond at all. That’s kind of a rarity here in Guatemala. So we've got Idelia, who is the focus because we want to baptize her, and then the husband and his family who are all members, some active and some not. They all like to take over the lessons and talk a lot, and Idelia kind of goes unnoticed. When we try to focus on Idelia more, she obviously feels uncomfortable, and when we ask her a really really basic question, she doesn't answer. We are more than happy to wait patiently, to teach slowly (that’s the name of the game here in Guatemala), but the family all get really impatient, and the husband is like "just answer, just say yes or no, just say something, I can’t believe you’re not going to say anything, you just don’t understand"...etc. So as you can imagine, that definitely doesn't invite the spirit at all. And we had tried going to the house at different times, but there’s never any telling who’s going to be around. So we were really hoping and praying so much for the opportunity to have a nice, spiritual lesson with Idelia, without the whole family, just her and her husband or something like that.  The lord blessed us. We went last Wednesday, and somehow we got just Idelia and Ludwing. We sang and prayed.  I was praying hard in my heart for the right words to say. We ended up sharing what was one of the most basic lessons of my whole mission. My comp said that she was trying to imagine teaching her 5 year old nephew, but she had to be even more basic.  We just used a few pictures of Jesus Christ and talked about how much he loves us. We compared the feelings she has for her baby daughter to the feelings that Heavenly Father has for us. I guess you could say we were trying to help her to get to know Jesus. We asked some good questions, like "would you like to meet Jesus?" "Would you like to talk to Jesus?" and she said yes. I know that they say that yes-no questions are bad, and that everything we said wasn't totally doctrinally correct.  We had to teach that basic. We just simply explained about prayer, that she could talk to Jesus in prayer. Really what we said was so simple, but the spirit was SO STRONG. Oh my goodness!  And the husband, instead of negatively urging his wife to answer, was patiently listening.  He was captivated by the wonderful feelings in the room. His heart was totally softened and it was a miracle.   Not just right then - he hadn't gone to church in a really long time, and wasn't really taking anything in his life seriously.  By the spirit, the lesson gave him a hunger to go to church, to listen to us the next time, to start making small changes in his life.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ is that basic. My own testimony was strengthened a lot in the power of the love of Jesus Christ for us. This was one of the most beautiful lessons in my whole mission. Of course had nothing to do with us missionaries; we didn't say anything fancy at all. Spanish-wise I probably could have given that lesson in the MTC because we just talked really simply. But somehow the spirit was so strong. When we talk about baptism with her, it makes her really nervous.   I know that soon she will want to follow the example of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  It will be wonderful. I am just really grateful for that experience; it’s something I will always remember. I love the Gospel, and when a doubt creeps in, I just have to remember experiences like that. These things are real. God lives, His son is Jesus Christ, and He loves us so much that he suffered everything for us, to give us the chance to come to earth, learn, and to come back to Him. I know that these things are true! Have a great week!!
Love,

Hermana Gilland

I am Really Sad That This is Coming to an End!!!

Hey everyone!!

OK I’m freaking out because my flight plans came today in an email. I’m not baggy(trunky). I just want y’all to understand how I feel about everything and if I leave out big things, you won’t know how I’m feeling. Anyways, I cried a little bit (shocker right? I’m such a crybaby!) Just now,  I’m really sad that this is coming to an end. I still have a month and a half!! But yea... take a deep breath... OK. But yea, we had a great week!!! I’m excited to share what’s going on!

Familia Martinez Reyes!!!  I think everything I’m going to share has to do with this family. We are moving right along with them and had some great experiences. Where shall I begin? We pretty much have a secure baptismal date for this Saturday Oct 20. They have to get married right before, and baptized right after. It has truly been a blessing to meet these guys and teach them and everything, they’re really special and I love them so much! 

With this family I’m really learning about the importance and power of love. Very simple, right? I don’t know, I've opened my own heart up to this family so much, and the love I have for them motivates me (and my comp) to do everything we possibly can to help them. I just love them so much, and they have so many needs, economical, spiritual, etc., and I know that when they get married and baptized, obeying 2 really important commandments of the Lord, the Lord will be able to bless them so much. And I just want more than anything these blessings for this family. 

Something special that we did with them last week was that we made grilled-cheese sandwiches with them!! Ha-ha it was my idea, and it had a few flaws. People don’t eat grilled cheese sandwiches here, so I thought it would be a cool "cultural experience" for them and at the same time super easy for us. Making grilled cheese sandwiches with family Martinez first meant that Hno Hermelindo had to go chop firewood. Next we had to get the fire going. I’m going to try to describe the "stove" that lots of people who have nothing use. It’s a giant metal barrel filled almost to the top with cement, leaving about a foot of space empty. They then cut out part of the foot of metal barrel. And that’s about it. On top of the cement they have the fire. So we had to keep the fire going -- I was zero help in that (I really should have gone to boy scouts to prepare for the mission), everyone thinks I’m ridiculous because I can’t do things like kill chickens and light fires and make perfect tortillas and because I’m scared of wild dogs -- whatever.  So anyways, grilled cheese was tricky because the fire is really hot and burns the bread if you leave it on the skillet too long, but the cheese never really melted, so I don’t know ha-ha. It was quite the ordeal really.

When we had the sandwiches made, the 2 little kids (Jessica Fernanda 7 and Wilbur Fernando 8) were really hungry of course and we got right to eating. They had never eaten anything like a grilled cheese. They asked what the cheese was, what the bread was, and they ended up taking them apart and eating them all weird because they didn't know how a sandwich was eaten properly. Here in Guatemala they sell regular sandwich bread and American cheese slices at the grocery store, but they are luxuries that the 2 kids had never experienced. It made me sad to see. The kids are really skinny and small, really malnourished. They are in school, but their mom can’t read, so she can’t help them at all with their homework, and so they keep failing their classes. And here there aren't any special programs for kids who are having a hard time. If you don’t pass, you can’t move up, and eventually you just stop going. That is a huge giant reason why I want to help these guys -- because they need lots and lots of blessings!!!!

It’s been neat to teach Hno Hermelindo because he is so humble and teachable. With him it’s so "by the book", we start teaching him a principle, like baptism for example, he gives us his opinion and why he doesn't want to be baptized, we teach him with the scriptures, really simply and directly, he understands, he changes his thinking and wants to obey. I know that I need to be a little more like that, or a lot more like that better said. We just teach him principle by principle, and see changes in him. We were so happy bringing them to church on Sunday! We had to teach him well about keeping the Sabbath day holy, but in the end they understood. 

They are a wonderful family and I love them so much, and we are going to be working hard so that they can get married and baptized this coming Saturday! We've got to work hard, but I just know that it’s what they need and how they can receive lots of blessings. 

I really don’t know what else to tell y’all about this week -- We are working really hard and having wonderful experiences every day. I really love being a missionary. I just know that this is the true gospel. I know it with all my heart. I’m so glad for this chance to be fighting on the Lords team here. There is so much to do, so much we need to do better, and through the Atonement of Jesus Christ each of us can do better in whatever the Lord has given us to do. I testify that this is the true church of Jesus Christ, that he is at the head, that he directs it, and that all people need to hear about it. I love the gospel. And I love being a missionary. 

Have a fantastic week everyone! I really enjoyed receiving some special emails today and am really grateful for the time you take to write me. Thanks!!

Love,

 Hermana Gilland

I am Shocked and Excited About the Missionary Age Change

Hey everyone!

We are doing just great here and I LOVED conference! Whew!

1. Wow the age change!! I’m shocked and so happy! I just couldn't believe it, it was the last thing I expected to hear in conference. I've always said that all the girls should just go even though they have to wait, and now I’m really saying it! Now there are hardly any reasons not to go, because really no one should be getting married at 18. GO! Ha, the first thing I said to the elders watching around me was "who are y'all gonna date when you get home now?!" Ha-ha! Actually one elder here who finishes at the same time as me said that his girlfriend just told him that she’s going now. But I really think it’s just great because I have learned so many things here, I have been able to help a few people, and while my "testimony" is about the same, my "conversion" is sooo much stronger, like in Elder Bednar’s talk I think it was. I loved what I think Russell M Nelson said that the mission would shape the whole destiny of the person. I’m pretty sure just a few family members read this, but if there happens to be anyone reading who is thinking of going, just go. Just fill out your papers and get the heck out of here. It’s the best thing you could do and you will never ever regret it.

I loved all of conference and the themes of repentance, service, missionary work, and how to make it through trials. Something I thought was cool was that they talked a lot about enduring through trials and serving. If we all are about to have a lot of trials, but we are all serving each other, everyone’s trials are going to be made easier by everyone. Isn't that cool? And apart from that, we will all be able to become a little more like Christ. I love that the Gospel works like that.

2. Missionaries love conference for a few reasons. One, because it’s an 8 or 10 hour feast on scripture just for us (and us gringos got to watch in English, the best!), and Two, because is 5 chances to bring people to church in one weekend! We managed to bring 2 families and a few others. I was really happy because that’s the most people I've brought to a conference. We are excited to have 2 families progressing now. We've got a few teenage kids who came and who've been wanting to get baptized, but their parents won’t give them permission yet. We are teaching a few other families here who are kind of progressing...we will see... But this area is so awesome, like I say every week, because there is so much to do, so many people to find and teach. It’s great!!!

3. Familia Martinez Reyes. I think I mentioned them last week, they’re the really poor family who cooked us a delicious meal, are progressing really well and I think they will be getting married and baptized in a few weeks. I have come to love them so much, and I want to help them because I just love them so much. They are so poor. They live in a tiny wooden-metal sheet house and all that can fit in their house are 2 beds. They cook outside on an open fire. And you know how I was complaining about having to take bucket showers? Well I shouldn't be complaining because at least we have a bathroom and a shower - familia Martinez Reyes just bathes out where the pila is, outside. But they are wonderful and I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is what they need to make their lives better. 

4. We had a cool little experience this past week that Id like to share, about my comp listening to the promptings of the spirit. On Friday we of course had a million things planned and were racing all over town going to appointments. I noticed that my comp packed a few copies of "The Family: A proclamation for the world" in her bag and I didn't know why because we hadn't planned to go over that with anyone. We went about our day, and our last appointment was a little meeting we had organized with a member family, familia Vasquez. We had asked them to invite some recent converts who lived a few houses away, and encouraged them to invite a friend or neighbor who wasn't a member. We were pleased to arrive and find that they had invited a friend, Rubenia, an Evangelica. One of the members of familia Vasquez was going to share a short message on, you guessed it, families. He started off by reading part of the proclamation and then we were discussing it as a group, to see what Rubenia thought about it. Most Evangelica churches around here teach that when you die, you go to heaven but you will no longer recognize your family, and you all just live as floaty spirits doing nothing, all together, but without family bonds. Isn't that sad? Why would you even preach that? Lots of people who go to Evangelica churches don’t actually believe that because it’s just ridiculous that that would be Gods big plan for us, but Rubenia is one who believes that when she and her husband die, they won’t know each other anymore. But anyways, it was a great little experience for me because the member had been prompted to talk about eternal families, my comp had brought copies of the Proc, and we were able to talk a bit about the Plan that God has for us. Unfortunately, the lady had to leave all the sudden, so we couldn't finish up what we were explaining, but we were able to send her with the proc and put another appointment. I have no idea if she’s going to progress, but I've just seen countless examples of the Lord arranging everything so that the investigator can have a spiritual experience, whether or not they accept it is up to them, but the Lord is always doing his part. 

My testimony has really been strengthened this past week by the conference. I just know with all my heart that what was spoken in conference is what we all need to hear and apply in our lives. All y'all in America are lucky that you have access already to the conference. I have to wait another month at least for the Liahona. Oh well. I know that this is the true church on the earth. It just has to be. There are so many things that prove that to me. I love the gospel. I’m grateful for the patience the Lord has for us. Have a fantastic week everyone!!

Love,

Hermana Gilland