Surprise, Hna Henrie!

Buenas dìas, querida familia y amigos.

We had a great week. We were able to bring three investigators to church :D and find some prepared people who expressed desires to prepare for baptism.

The most unusual thing that happened, happened yesterday. We were in Sacrament Meeting at church. The deacons had just finished passing the sacrament, and I was getting ready to go sit with my companion after having played the piano during the hymn. The bishop got up to announce the speakers, and I heard:

´Our speakers will be Hermana Henrie, followed by Elder Belk...´

I whispered as soon as he had sat down again, ´Es en serio, obispo?´

He only looked at me. ´Sí,´ me dijo. ´Elder Acosta no le avisó?´

...so I got up and shared a personal experience and my testimony. Hna Fuentes told me it did make sense, so hopefully somebody got something out of it.

Just goes to show, we should be prepared for anything! Make sure to eat your spiritual cornflakes today. :)

Love you!

Hna Henrie

88 degrees

Hna Fuentes and I are feeling the holiday spirit. :)

Hola, According to the thermostat on MyLDSMail, it`s 88 degrees and I`m feeling mighty fine. :)

I. LOVE. San Miguel.

We had a great week. A couple things that happened were... Yesterday afternoon, the ward mission leader accompanied us to show us a part of our area that we aren`t familiar with, which was a lot of fun. As Hno Edgar said, `Today we`re going to abrir area!`

...We had a POWERFUL lesson with an investigador on Saturday. Hno Ricardo, who was visiting with us, and also my companion Hna Fuentes both shared their conversion stories. It was very neat. I loved Ricardo`s comment that when he was with his member friends, he always heard the comment that `I know this church is true,` and he always wondered how those people knew. His desire to receive his own divine answer led him to ask God and skip a soccer game in favor of going to church, and he felt a powerful peace, unmistakably the Spirit of God telling him the answer.

I hope you all are doing well. Take care. Remember that everything God does is for our benefit. There`s a scripture in Doctrine and Covenants that says that with our mortal eyes, we can`t see the complete design God is making of our lives. Trust Him, and carry on!

Love,

Hna Henrie

Christmas in the mission rocks.

El volcàn Chaparrastique, a.k.a. el volcàn de San Miguel!

Still loving San Miguel

Dear family and friends, We had a funny experience this week. Hna Fuentes and I were sitting in the bus and a man got on waving bookmarks with Bible verses on one side and a prayer you can say to `accept Christ and be saved` on the other. He passed out his bookmarks and we didn`t accept them in the first go-around. As he was talking, Hna Fuentes (in the aisle seat) was fanning herself with a folleto of la Restauraciòn. I wasn`t really paying attention until the man stopped by our seats, snatched the folleto from Hna Fuentes` surprised hand, and offered us bookmarks again with a smile, saying, `Sabidurìa por sabidurìa. ¿Està bien?` (`Wisdom for wisdom. Okay?`)

It was hilarious, and well played. We accepted the bookmarks, stuck them in our mochilas, and laughed between ourselves.

San Miguel is great! My favorite feature of the landscape is the volcano sitting just west of our area. (Don`t worry, it`s not currently active. And if there were any doubts about an eruption, President would take us out of here, like he did way back in January with the missionaries when it looked like the volcano was going to erupt.) My favorite part of the area is the humility of the people. There are lots of things that remind me of Apopa.

My companion is great as well. Hna Fuentes had a very spiritual experience where she KNEW she needed to serve a mission. She`s a little older than the typical missionaries (she`s 25) but I really admire and respect her. She`s about to finish her mission in December, but she`s not in the least bit baggy, as we say here. We`re working hard together. I love her.

I know this Church is true. I know that when trials come, and challenges arise, God is right there by our side. He knows we`re strong enough to handle the hurdles that life throws our way. But there`s a catch--we`re only strong enough if we have Him to help us through. I think the biggest reason God allows us to be tried is to help us learn to trust more in Him.

Ohh, how could I forget? We had a BAPTISM this Saturday!!! It was beautiful. I felt the Spirit very strongly. The hermana that was baptized is my age. Her name is Saraì. She will be the first member of the Church in her family. She has a boyfriend who`s a member that came from San Salvador to support her in her baptism. We`re so excited for her!

I love you all!


Hna Henrie

I had cambios.

My new companion, Hna Fuentes! 

Dear family and friends,

So much to tell you. This past week was incredible. On Monday I had the funnest Pday of my mission when Hna Merrell and I both suddenly had ganas to buy some souvenirs (we weren`t baggy at all after writing to you... no... we just suddenly realized how unusual it is to be the companion of someone who won`t judge you for blowing $20 on souvenirs... In El Salvador, that is a lot). On Tuesday, ALL of our citas fell through, until the last one. And what a lesson that was. Her name is Maricela, and she is PREPARED.

Later that night, our district leader called. I had cambios. I`m so grateful that God allowed me to be in that lesson with Maricela, because I could leave Cojutepeque tranquila, knowing that Hna Merrell would continue teaching her. She`s definitely getting baptized!

As for the cambios, I am now in the hottest region of our mission where hermanas misioneras are sent. The city of San Miguel, in the departamento SAN MIGUEL. I am LOVING it!

One time in the CCM, I remember telling Hna Broadhead about my experience in sending my missionary application. As I waited for my call letter to arrive to tell me where I would serve, the only two things I asked God were these: PLEASE, let me speak Spanish. and PLEASE, don`t send me somewhere cold. Because of this very specific prayer, I always suspected God would send me to the hottest place possible in our mission. When I arrived in El Salvador, I discovered that place was San Miguel.

Elder Graigry Henrie is serving in Paraiso, Honduras. I like this map because it shows how close they are to each other.

When I saw my photo and name appear under `San Miguel` in the reunion de cambios together with my new companion Hna Fuentes (another Guatemalteca! and she`s wonderful. I`m so lucky), I just started to laugh. But when I got off the bus four hours later in San Miguel and got to work, I was filled with an incredible LOVE for this beautiful place and for these wonderful people.

Hna Fuentes is excellente. I`ll tell you more about her another time, but she`s already impacted me in grand measure.

God sure loves me. And I know He loves you, too.

I LOVE SAN MIGUEL! and I LOVE YOU ALL, too! Take care,

Hna Henrie

Hna Abadillo and me in the reunion de cambios. She finished her mission and went home to Guatemala. (Hna Infanzon, my companion from Apopa, finished her mission the same day, but the picture is only on her camera. I`ll have to get it later.) In the background: Hna Chom, who also finished her mission that day, and Hna Escalante, my former companion from Apopa as well. :)
On my last Pday in Cojute, I bought a souvenir shirt. Hna Merrell already had a cool shirt she bought in a different area. We took a picture together.
I really loved being Hna Merrell`s companion. She`s great. I`m glad we don`t live too far apart. Just a hop, skip and a jump to Rexburg...