And the work goes forth

We have more than 100 investigators! now our job is to get all of them progressing to baptism :)

Dear wonderful family and friends,

I love hearing about your personal missionary experiences. It´s a sure sign of true conversion when we want to share the restored truths which we are so blessed to have. I encourage you to continue being a light and example. Look for opportunities to share your testimony, even a short and simple one. Remember who you are, and you are righteous sons and daughters of a loving, living God. :)

This week was pretty tranquilo in comparison to last week, but at the same time it was one of the busiest weeks of my mission. From the intercambio with our hermanas líderes last week, we learned to plan in a more effective way and are already seeing great results. As it says in Preach My Gospel, a great day starts the night before, when both missionaries sit down to plan the day´s activities. When we have a vision of where we want to go, then make specific goals and plans to accomplish it, we can work MIRACLES. Think to yourself: what do you want from your life? Where do you see yourself in (choose a specific time frame, like a week, month or year)? What can you do now to bring yourself to that goal?

It really is the small, simple, daily decisions that determine our destinies. The enemy wants you to think you are too busy to read your scriptures, go to the temple, attend church meetings; too tired to say your prayers; etc, etc. I know your lives are busy with school and work and social events, but remember, you will never regret making a little time to do the ´little things.´ It´s so simple it seems silly, but it really makes all the difference.

We are all so excited for General Conference here. It´s a great opportunity to focus on our ultimate vision: to live with our families in the presence of God and Jesus Christ for the rest of eternity. It´s possible, through the grace of Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice. Shoot for it! Don´t settle for less.

This week we had some great lessons with investigators. One of my favorites was a little earlier in the week when we taught Anita, a young woman in her twenties, about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She was quiet for a moment after we read Joseph´s Smith experience praying to know which church to join, then said, ´I´ve always had the same question as Señor Smith. There are so many different churches around here.´ The Spirit was strong as she slowly said that to us. We shared our testimonies of prayer, and she humbly accepted our invitation to make her own prayer to ask God if Joseph Smith was His prophet. We have high hopes for her.

I love the Lord. I love being a missionary. I love El Salvador, for all its many faces. I love being engulfed 100 percent in the work of the Lord. I will not be the same person who left home eight (gulp, eight?!) months ago.

May all of you see God´s blessings in your lives in the coming days... especially in General Conference! :) :) :)

Much love,
Hermana Henrie

Hna Infanzon y yo in front of the other hermanas´ house

 

3-4. a very beautiful part of our area :)

I LOVE EL SALVADOR.

An eventful week :)

Our kitchen and mini fridge. Sound cue: aww. Can you spot the missionary?

Hello, family and friends!

I have a good story from this week. It made me laugh. I hope it makes you laugh, too.

Hermana Dumay (my sister leader) and I were on the bus Saturday morning on the way to meet up with Hermana Winters (my `twin sister` and now my other sister leader!) and Hermana Infanzon after having intercambios. I took a seat next to an older woman and started a friendly conversation. We hit it off pretty quickly as she recognized me as a Mormon missionary and told me she had received visits from other missionaries years past. The conversation got more involved as I pulled out a pamphlet explaining the Restoration.

As we talked, a preacher sitting in the seat in front got to his feet with Bible in hand and started to shout at the people on the bus. This happens quite often in El Salvador (usually it`s not a preacher, but there are almost always vendors who go up and down the aisle calling out their wares) and I didn`t pay any attention. His words and actions became white noise as I strove to hear the woman I was talking with.

After Hna Dumay and I got off the bus, she asked me if I heard anything the preacher said. I said no, and she started to laugh. `He was warning people to beware of false prophets,` she told me, `and he was standing right over you and that woman reading the pamphlet yelling `FALSA PROFETA.` You really didn`t notice?`

I started to laugh too. I hadn`t noticed a thing. I was completely oblivious. I think the woman was too. :)

Yesterday was eventful too. Trying to teach a lesson during the soccer game Barcelona v. Madrid was fun. More than half the pasaje had their TVs on, volume up, doors open, and it was like walking/sitting in the middle of surround sound. Plus when their team started winning, the hard-core fans started setting off fireworks that went BOOM! and made me jump every time. haha we had some good lessons anyway.

Hna Infanzon and I sang a song in la reuniòn sacramental ayer. We sang `Joseph Smith`s First Prayer,` the first two strofas en inglès and the last two en español. I felt the Spirit very strongly, and several people told us after church that they did, too. It was a real privilege to be able to do that musical number. Hna I has a beautiful voice. I was nervous at first because when we started to sing, I saw a wave of confusion fall over the faces in the congregation, but as we continued, I got to watch the confusion turn to wonderment, then peace, and finally (as we went into Spanish) understanding. :) Music has power. (Now, if we could just get some investigators to church... We`re doing everything we can think of to help them, but it is our number one challenge right now.)

I have learned a lot about repentance this week. We`ve been studying this topic as a mission, and I`m realizing more than ever that the only thing God asks of us is to trust Him enough to follow His way. If we just take His hand and let Him lead us (we do this as we follow the commandments with exactness), we will achieve much more than we ever could on our own.

I know this Church is led by Jesus Christ, through His prophet Thomas S. Monson. We`re already getting people excited about General Conference here. I encourage you all to watch/listen to as many sessions as you can. It`s going to be great!

Much love,
Hermana Henrie

The outside of our house in Apopa :)

We have the best pasaje (passage) in the world. 

Todos nuestros vecinos son amigos. (All our neighbors are friends)

Tender mercies

Hna Infanzon and I :) in the back of the capilla

Dear family and friends,

I have had a fantastic week. Hna Infanzon and I have been working hard for weeks but having some frustrating challenges where members commit to go out with us and then cancel at the last minute. We are encouraged to have a member with us in every visit for several reasons but mainly so they can befriend our investigators so that they really feel included in the church. (It`s hard enough to start going to a new church where they maybe don`t know anyone, maybe trying to kick a bad habit at the same time, without feeling like you`re alone in the process. If you`re new and your only friends are the missionaries, it`ll be tough when those missionaries change to a different area.) The members` role is to provide testimony and true fellowship. But until this week, we`d been having a lot of challenges getting them out in the field with us. We worked, pulling out all the stops, day after day this week and have seen so many blessings from the Lord.

Maybe the most amazing blessing we`ve enjoyed (next to finding members to go out with us in key moments) is how many people we have found who want to hear the message of the restored gospel. We`re also teaching between 20 and 30 people each week in our English class in the capilla. It`s been a great way to bring people inside to see inside the church and feel the Spirit in this sacred, dedicated building.

I love you all. Watch for the `tender mercies` of the Lord in your life. Moments when you feel the Lord almost taps you on the shoulder to say, `I love you.`

Hermana Henrie

Me with Hna Campos and her daughter. They`re actually from another ward but we met them in the chapel and like to visit them where they sell in the mercado on P-days. This is from last P-day. Hna Campos always tells us, `Your mothers are far away. While you are here I will be your mom. Call me anytime, for anything. I have to take care of you for your mothers.` :) she`s the best. She has a daughter on a mission in Guatemala.

Teaching the game `this is a very serious and solemn occasion` to our zone today.
Hahaha I laughed until I cried...

Today the zone ate lunch all together. A member of barrio Apopa makes and sells pizzas grandes for $6. This is a foto of the hermanas with their pizzas. We`ll be eating pizza again for dinner tonight. :)

A very special baptism

How does time go so fast??

Dearest family and friends,
This week has been a lot of hard work. We`ve had some rejections and many miracles. Mostly I have really seen the Lord`s hand guiding us in our area and in my personal life.

My companion`s father got baptized on Saturday. We had permission from the mission president to watch the whole thing on Skype, and it was the most beautiful baptismal service I have ever seen. We spent the whole morning today sharing the stories of our lives, and it`s really something special to see how the Lord has prepared each member of her family. Her dad was the last one of her family to get baptized (the others have been active members for years now) and it`s really apparent how many of the trials they have had have prepared them for something better.

I know there is a reason for every trial God allows us to pass in this life. Remember always that He will do nothing save it be for the happiness of His children, and one day you will understand and even thank Him for allowing bad things to happen. They make us grow more than anything else. Choose to turn to Him. You will never ever regret it.

I love you all.

Hermana Henrie

9 minutos y contando...

Hna Infanzon and I :)

Dear family and friends,

This week I had a lesson in how God answers prayers. I`ve told you before about how our area is huge, including about 9 or 10 small colonias or pueblos over a distance of several miles. I don`t know how many, I just know we were always on the bus. Hna Infanzon and I had been praying to know how we could work more efficiently in our area, and late one night we received a rather abrupt answer when the phone rang and our mission president said, `Good evening, Sister Henrie. How was your day?`

He proceeded to explain that he wanted us to focus our efforts in the part of our area with the most Church members. That means we can`t use proselyting time to travel more than 15 minutes by bus, which meant we basically redrew our area boundaries to include only 3 colonias. I cried a little (okay, a lot) because it also meant stopping visiting several investigators and a few members in their homes. We can still teach them in the chapel, but it was a real lesson in faith for me to redraw our area boundaries. Many times, the answers we receive to our prayers are not what we expected or even wanted, but remember always that while God doesn`t always give us the things we want, he always gives us the things we need.

As we started working in our `condensed` area, we saw miracles in the way of finding a lot of new people prepared to listen to us. I know that all the work Hna Escalante and I did in Nejapa and all the other colonias we no longer visit wasn`t wasted. We were called to plant seeds rather than harvest them, and God will keep working with them until the day comes that missionaries walk those streets once again.

Keep the faith! I love you all!

Hna Henrie

We made Rice Krispie treats! with cornflakes and multicolored marshmallows. We intended to regalarles a los miembros but wound up eating most of them. haha

We ate lunch on the go last Wednesday. (Our cocinera works in the temple on Wednesday so we`re on our own for lunch)

A friend we made while eating lunch. We call him `Amigo.` Not very creative but it`s true.