What a Week

Hola, my dear family and friends!

First off, I hope all is well with you. I love you. I know God will care for each of you. As you do your best to follow Him, you can have complete trust that everything will work out to your good.

The wedding didn`t end up happening, but the two baptisms did! It was truly a marvelous experience to see two of the people I`ve come to love a LOT enter the pila bautismal para hacer convenios con su Padre Celestial (baptismal font to make covenants with Heavenly Father). As Hermana Winters said, `I LOVE baptisms!` It`s completely true, and it`s not because we`re counting numbers. Each baptismal record represents a treasured person. Alma, one of the prophets in the Book of Mormon, wrote my favorite description of how I feel about each and every person we teach. I think it`s in chapter 31 of Alma: `their souls are precious.`

So far, I have successfully, sincerely made friends with each person that we visit on a regular basis. The mission is a great place to meet people from all walks of life, and I know one day I will return here to visit everyone.

I testify the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true. It is the same iglesia (church) that Christ Himself established on the tierra (Earth).

Much love,
Hermana Henrie


We learned to make balloon animals from a menos activos (less active) member we visit.

Things I never thought I would do on my mission...

We made cinnamon French toast this morning! Delicioso (Delicious). :D

Hola familia y amigos queridos,

I have been richly blessed to remain in Montecristo with Hermana Gonzalez and Hermana Winters for another six weeks. The three of us were overjoyed to hear the news, because we will be able to see two major fruits of much labor...

WE`RE GOING TO HAVE A WEDDING! AND a baptism! On the SAME DAY! There is no way I can express in a carta how much joy I feel to write these words. Hna R. and her niece are getting baptized!

The rest of the work is going well. This cambio marked an interesting change in all the mission. We now have full-time missionaries in Montecristo whose main focus is to reactivate less-active members. The new movement is called the rescate, and I`m super excited to see what milagros will happen as a result of this inspired change.

Hnas G, W and I are still `regular` missionaries with the same focus as before, on finding new people to teach and baptize, but our area has doubled. President wrote in his letter this week, and I`ve felt the same, that something big is coming for this mission. We are going to see even more milagros than we have already, and I can`t wait!

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY. Don`t worry about me. The Lord takes care of me, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Truer things have never been spoken.

Time. :P

Con mucho amor, Hermana Henrie

The zone leaders chartered a microbus to take us to President`s house last Monday for our super p-day! Hooray zona Ilopango!

My companions and I with the view from President`s house in the background. He lives close to the temple and a volcano.

Plan B & C

Hola familia and amigos queridos!

We had a crazy week. Crazy meaning lots of plan A`s fell through and we ran around accomplishing plan B`s and C`s. Saturday in particular was very busy. On Friday night during daily planning, Hna Gonzalez, Hna Winters and I planned to clean the patio of a member`s home Saturday morning. Then the zone leaders called and said we were having a zone service activity painting a children`s hospital, so we scratched out our plans and put theirs. Saturday morning we all arrived at the children`s hospital to find out the member that had all the paint wasn`t home and the hospital didn`t need any more help other than with that. Everyone split up except for the Hnas and I, Hnas Bowers and Walstrohm who live in our casa with us, and our district leader and his companion, Èlderes Best y Teyul. It was with this group that we went to the member`s house and cleaned their patio after all. I love this member family. They`ve been a huge help in la obra misional, inviting their friends to noches de hogar, going teaching with us, to do. They`re an example to me of selfless service.

After that, we had a ward mission activity where we opened the capilla for guided tours. Each organization (Young Women, Young Men, Relief Society, Priesthood, Primary) decorated inside the room they meet in on Sundays and explained their organization to the people we (the missionaries) brought. It was amazing to see the unidad del barrio as they set up their rooms and bore their testimonies about the inspired organizations of this Church. We had several investigators and less active members attend.

After the activity, we went teaching as usual. We did a lot more standing on Saturday than we usually do, and all three of us slept like rocks that night.

Last night we had one of the most spiritual family home evenings (noches de hogar) I`ve ever had. We met with la familia Parada, and we did not follow our preplanned lesson por nada. Hna Winters felt what we had planned wasn`t what they needed in that moment and on the fly shared a scripture about how the Lord strengthens His people in their trials. The Spirit came immediately, boom!, one of the strongest times I`ve ever felt it. We asked the family how they had felt the Lord`s support and bore our testimonies about how He has strengthened us in our own lives. It was a beautiful experience.

The Lord has taken good care of us this week. We have cambios (transfers) on Wednesday. We`re all terrified we`re going to leave. I had no idea cambios were such a big deal, but I think my companions have run through every possible speculation. haha by this point, I just want la reunion de cambios to be over. I know President Glazier will put me where I need to be. I have complete trust in the Lord even though I don`t want to leave this area. But I don`t like speculating about an uncertain future. Drives me crazy... whoopee.

I know Christ lives. I know every trial and difficulty that we experience has a purpose, that God doesn`t allow His children to suffer needlessly. I know that He is always there with an outstretched hand, more than ready to strengthen and help us if we only ask. It`s important to remember, sometimes He provides a solution to our problems when we pray for help and sometimes He only consoles us and guides us to find our own solutions. (What better way to learn?) But He is always, ALWAYS there.

Con mucho amor (with much love), your missionary (and His),
Jessica

The inside of our fridge. My food is on the bottom right. :) Fatten up before the mission, my foot. Haha I don`t starve por nada.

At Pizza Hut with her Zone

Heaven sent

We made s`mores on our counter stovetop. :)

Dear family and friends,

La Conferencia was literally heaven sent, wasn`t it? The Hnas and I worked super hard to get as many people as possible to see it, knowing there would be something in it for each and every one of them. We made about 30 paper invitaciones, handed out every single one, and invited a few others just by word of mouth, and as a result we had seven investigators at one or both of the reuniones on Sunday.

It was amazing to see those seven there, even though I wish all 30+ had come. It was a true miracle to see one hermana in particular. Hna Gonzalez has been working with her family for awhile, but she hadn`t really progressed because she had never come to church. She has a phobia of large groups of people. Knowing the power of the Libro de Mormòn to touch hearts and change lives, we started to read it with her together and over the weeks we`ve seen a change in the atmosphere of their home, and she came to the morning session of General Conference yesterday!

When we got to the capilla, she started to feel uncomfortable, seeing all the people who had gathered to hear the prophet and apostles speak por medio del televisor. We found two of èlderes and went into a quiet room where they her a priesthood blessing of health and comfort. Then Hna Winters and I walked upstairs with them, dropped her and Hna Gonzalez off in the chapel and went downstairs to the English room. Hna G said she did great, watching all two hours of the meeting surrounded by people.

 Another milagro pasò last night after. There`s a family in Montecristo that Hna G and the hermanas before her have been working with for awhile (since February-ish, I think). Much like the hermana with the phobia, we`ve been seeing a change in her family over the past several weeks, and it`s because of the Libro de Mormòn. The mom, Hna Reyna (I`ve told you about her before; I love her and her family so much) is developing a very powerful testimony and love for the Libro de Mormòn. We`ve invited them to baptism repeatedly and Hna Reyna keeps saying she wants to, but `only God knows the date.` She went to Conference yesterday and last night she said she feels the time has come, and she set her own baptism date for her birthday, the 25 of this month! Not only that, but she said she`d been thinking about and planning for that date for a little while, she just didn`t want to tell us until we got closer to the date.

This is an answer to many heartfelt prayers and lecciònes. We know it`s a modern-day miracle! Dios es misericordioso de verdad.

I know Christ lives. I know He is our Savior. I know we can and must be permanently changed by His love and Atonement. I know this is a lifelong process filled with challenges, but I also know there is no greater joy than what can be found within this Gospel. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has the fulness. It has the priesthood keys. It is directed by Christ Himself por medio de revelaciòn a su profeta y sus apòstoles. I invite each one of you to investigate this church a little bit more, to pray to God and ask if it is true, and to act on the response. It will bring lasting happiness in this life and eternal joy in the world to come.
Much love,
Hna Henrie