Mi Primera Navidad y el domingo de milagros (My First Christmas and Sunday miracle)

Dear family,
So much to tell you! This was a great week. It was amazing to hear your voices on the phone. When I heard my father`s voice, I started to cry. Then I got to talk to everyone! I`m pretty sure our reunion in heaven is going to be something like that. The moment we hear our Father`s voice call us by name will be a pivotal one, and along with Him we will be with all of our loved ones again.

We spent most of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with a family called familia Argueta. They are members that Hna E. helped reactivate in the Church recently, and they are the best! One of their daughters is a ward missionary and frequently spends entire days working with us. She`s incredible. She has a desire to serve a mission too, but as of now has not started the paperwork. She will be a wonderful missionary. :)

Yesterday was a milagro (miracle). One of the other ward missionaries (also joven (young) who will leave on his mission in February) always helps us bring our investigators to church on Sunday. Because our area is huge (it covers about 6-7 km, I`m not sure what that is in miles) we try to arrange for rides in a car, and it`s always this young man that helps us out. Except yesterday. Something came up last minute and we were left without a car at 8:30 am (church starts at 9). On top of that, two of our investigators called and said they couldn`t come to church anymore. We left to bring a recent convert that lives close-ish, thinking sadly that we would only have one investigator in church (an hermano who always comes on his own).

When we got to sacrament meeting, we saw a miracle: six of the members had brought friends, neighbors, or family members to the meeting. We had six new investigators in church! This was huge.

I know the Lord is blessing us for our personal sacrifices here in Refineria 2. A few days ago I had an Enos experience (see the book of Enos in the Libro de Mormon, it`s only a few verses, you can do it) where I literally felt a burden lifted from my shoulders as I prayed more intensely than I ever have before. And the very next day, miracles started to happen.

I know the very same experience is waiting for each one of you. Remember that effective prayer can`t be rushed. I encourage you to make your prayers with all your heart and soul. Tell your Heavenly Father everything. (He knows everything anyway. We can`t hide anything from Him.) Ask Him for help and comfort. He will give it. It doesn`t always come as quickly as it came for me this week (heaven knows I understand that), but it will come.

Cuìdense, todos. (Literally translates "beware all". I'm wondering if she means something like, "be careful") I love you so much.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! And Dad, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Write you again in 2014.

Hna Henrie

Opening Christmas gifts at 10:30 pm. It`s Salvadoran tradition to open the gifts at midnight on Christmas Eve, but I was exhausted and told Hna E that 10:30 is midnight for us. Five minutes later I was sleeping like a rock, through all the fireworks and music of our vecinos (neighbors). haha

Making Christmas cards for our 29 neighbors. Each one had a scripture, our picture and a brief message.

Eating tamales with family Argueta after I called you on the phone 

Chaparrastique volcano

Dear Parents,

No need for alarm, but many of you will have heard about the eruption of the San Miguel volcano today. All of our missionaries are accounted for and safe. We have evacuated San Miguel, Usulutan, and San Vicente to the capital for safety. All are well and safe. We felt the hand of the Lord in all that occurred today. The President felt that he should attend church in a city near the volcano. We saw it explode. We were able to reach San Miguel so quickly. All of the missionaries (54 of them) we were able to contact. (that is a miracle alone, because only 3 have cell phones, but because it was during church, we reached them all.) Our missionaries in Berlin (who were very close to the volcano) just “happened” to have the counselor in the mission presidency visiting. He had them in his car and on the way to San Salvador in a matter of 10 minutes. It was all such a miracle.

We are so thankful for your continued prayers. Please pray for the saints who remain in those affected areas. Pray that the missionary work will be blessed because of this disaster—that hearts will be softened and opened.

We are so thankful for your faithful sons and daughters. They were courageous, uncomplaining, and very obedient today. We are so grateful for their wonderful examples. They will all be writing you tomorrow of their adventures, but we wanted you all to know that they are safe and well and that God has truly blessed our mission this day, so that you, too, could offer Him a prayer of thanksgiving. How blessed we are! He is so magnificent. We are so grateful. God bless all of you.

Sincerely,

President and Sister Glazier

All pictures courtesy of Hermana Glazier (mission president's wife)

Note:  Jessica was about 60 miles from the volcano.  She was not part of the evacuation of missionaries.  She didn't even mention it in her weekly email home this week.  I have included this information on her blog because I thought it might be fun for her to look back on.

Feliz Navidad

As the first order of business, I feel an apology is in order. The truth is, I have a mountain of Dear Elder letters I haven`t read. In the beginning, I didn`t read because they made me homesick. Then I wasn`t reading becauase there was so much to do. Now I am working my way through the mountain, but slowly. I have on average 10 minutes to read each night, so I usually get through about 2 letters. Only 100 more to go, and that`s probably the opposite of an exaggeration. (I forgot, how do you say that?)

I feel your love each time I open a letter and read what each one of you so thoughtfully put together for me. I`m sorry I`m not returning the same amount of love. There`s a lot of catch up work to do. But that is why I haven't written some of you a reply, because your letter is part of the mountain.

There is a story in Exodus that I really like, when the Israelites are traveling from Egypt and God tells them He will give them the land of Canaan. Moses sends two groups of scouts into Canaan. The first group reports that the inhabitants are giants and the Israelites have no chance of taking the land. The second group, Joshua and Caleb, report that the land is very desirable and fruitful and it will be easy to take the land because the Lord is on their side.

Later in his life, Caleb faced another obstacle of the same scale of taking Canaan, and in his faith and love for the Lord, he said in total confidence, `Give me this mountain.` He had complete confidence that he would overcome this obstacle and triumph.

This is what I say about the letters: Give me this mountain! But I plead for a little more of your patience.

Second order of business, FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!! Mission life here is great! I LOVE Apopa. Each day I love it more. I have a great companion, amazing leaders and a very inspired mission president. He invited all 100 plus missionaries to his home every day this week to celebrate Christmas a bit. We got to go on Wednesday, and it was a blast. He and his wife say they want us to feel God`s love for us through them.

I challenge each of you, as your gift to God this Christmas, to help somebody feel God`s love for them through you.

We had two baptisms this week. The Spirit was very strong in both. But it`s not just baptisms that make life on a mission so great, it`s the privilege of having your focus 100 percent, absolutely on the Lord. Every minute of every day is for the Lord. Many of my worldly cares have been lifted from my shoulders so that I can bear the responsibilities and expectations the Lord has for His missionaries. This makes me happy. What a blessing it is to be a missionary. I hope to never take it for granted.

Thank you for your extra efforts to be rescuers and member missionaries. This is the most important work we can be doing... almost. The most important is what is taught in your home, to your family. May we be upright examples at all times, and in all places.

I love you all so much.

Hna Henrie

Christmas in El Salavador

Jessica's mission President invited groups of missionaries to his home for a Christmas party.  His wife took these pictures and shared them with the missionaries.

What it's all about

Dear family and friends,

I love this thought President Glazier shared with all the missionaries in his email today:

`Aunque nadie le gusta dolores físicas Dios tenía grandes propósitos en estos cambios. Pueden meditar en esto. ... Dios ha proveído un Plan con una manera para que yo pueda superar esos obstáculos. Y El tuvo que hacerlo ofreciendo el Sacrificio Último, o Máximo, el sacrificio de Su propio Hijo, El Perfecto Cristo.`

Although nobody likes physical pain, God had great purposes in these changes. Think on that. God has provided a plan with the way in which we can overcome these obstacles (of death and sin). And He had to offer the ultimate sacrifice, the sacrifice of His own Son, the Perfect Christ.

That`s what it`s all about. That`s what the mission is all about.

It is what life is all about: learning about, learning from and following Christ. He is the only way in which we can return to live with our Father in Heaven (God).

That`s what everything is all about.

We`re gearing up to have four baptisms (ojalà, hopefully) this Saturday! Life is good here in Apopa!

Love,

Hermana Henrie

glitter fight 

¡Apopa, Apopa!

This picture was not sent by Jessica but it is what I picture when she talks about the busses in El Salvador

Dear family and friends,

I hear `¡Apopa, Apopa!` shouted from microbuses every night as Hna E. and I take the bus home after a full day of wonderful missionary work. Just thought I would share that with you. :) Fun fact: there is no one company or group that runs the buses. Here, individual people find their own buses and then register with the government for which route they want to take. This means each bus has a unique personality.

We`ve been working hard, and Hna Escalante and her prior companions did good work here. We`re seeing fruits of our labors, and it`s immensely gratifying. We had seven investigators in the chapel yesterday, counting both la reuniòn sacramental (Sacrament meeting) and the Christmas Devotional. We have a baptism this Saturday! And two more next Saturday!

Life is good. I love being a missionary.

Thanks for your cartas and tarjetas (letters and cards). I know our Savior lives, and He is the only source of peace in a turbulent world.

Much love,
Hermana Henrie

Map of El Salvador drawn by Hna Henrie

I`m in Apopa, en el departamento de San Salvador still. It`s south of Ilopango, where I was before. Our area is from Los Angeles to Nejapa. It`s humungous! We spend a lot of time traveling. Too much time. I didn`t know how spoiled I was in Montecristo. But I love it here. I love my companion. She`s from Auchapan (I spelled that wrong, but it`s the departamento on the west coast of El Salvador. It`s a different mission.)

ay no, tres minutos (Oh no, three minutes)

Standing in front of Lake Ilopango with Hna W. and Hna G.
They got permission to do some sight seeing because they were about to be transferred.

Va a creer (You won't believe), but I only have three more minutes of writing time. Increìble (Incredible)...

My most important message I have to express is how much I love the Lord. He has really been supporting me every minute of every day since a late-night phone call from President Glazier Tuesday changed everything. I had been told that I would stay in my area with Hna Winters and that Hna Gonzalez had changes. We cried together and wrote notes to each other and started packing all of Hna G`s stuff to leave. At 11:00, thirty minutes after we were supposed to be in bed (we were just finishing up packing), we got another call. President told us that he had been making some last-minute changes due to a missionary going home sick and that I also needed to pack up because I was leaving the area too.

In change meeting, we found out that Hna Gonzalez is in Ciudad Delgado as an hermana lìder (leader), I`m in Apopa as a senior companion (but really my companion Hna Escalante and I are seniors together, because we have exactly the same time in the mission and she knows the area) and Hna Winters is finishing up the training of another hermana in Montecristo.

Look up Proverbs 3:5-6 and then Doctrina y Convenios 6:36. They will tell you exactly how I have felt these past few days.

The Church is true! God is real. And He will never leave us on our own.

I love you all!

Hermana Henrie