Amazing days

Dear family and friends,

What to say about this week... We have had some amazing days. On Tuesday we had intercambios (exchanges) with the sister leaders, and for the first time I left my area for a 24 hour period to work with one of our leaders. I was a little nervous, but I learned a lot and ended up really enjoying Ciudad Delgado for the time I was there. While I was in Delgado, my companion and the other sister leader posted two new fechas bautismales (baptismal dates). So that´s exciting! :)

The young single adults of this ward are really pilas (sharp, or motivated) to help us in the work here. On Saturday a new jovencita (girl) named Anita started going visiting with us. She´s in her early twenties and wants to go on a mission. She actually lived in Houston for almost the whole of last year, so we´ve had fun talking about our favorite restaurants in the States. Haha I don´t know how much English she speaks because we always speak Spanish. (It´s weird for me now to hear or speak anything but Spanish. I don´t like speaking English anymore. Más bonito el español. (Spanish is so pretty.) Only in my journal and on Mondays do I ever muddle into English.) She´s been a really great help.

To any of you who are going through a hard time in life, or are worried for the future, remember Doctrina y Convenios 36:6: Look unto me in every thought- doubt not, fear not.

As John Bytheway says, ´This too shall pass.´

And 1 Corintios 10:13: The Lord is faithful, and with the temptation (or trial) provides a way to overcome it. Sometimes things are hard. But as the saying goes, when you can´t stand, kneel. And pray until you feel better.

Much love from me to you!

Hermana Henrie

And another week bites the dust

making french toast in a noche de hogar with family argueta

Dear family and friends,

Hello from El Salvador! I`m sitting here in the LDS chapel in Apopa, and loving it! Our week was pretty average. We taught lessons. We held family activities (noches de hogar, or family home evenings). We had a new investigator accept a date for baptism. ( :D !)

I received a new mountain of letters this past mission conference (we had another conference, this time with Elder Kevin Duncan of the 70. It was AMAZING. Powerful past two weeks, eh?) but finished them in a few days and am back to writing. I`ll have quite the stack of letters to send when Hna E and I go to the correo (mail) next week. I love sharing my testimony. Thank you for giving me that opportunity. I also love love LOVE reading your testimonies. Thanks for sharing them with me.

Se cuidan, todos. (Take care, all.) Sorry the letter this week is pequeña (short).

Con amor,

Hna Henrie

gecko in our house! :)

Hna e and I had a flour fight last night after we found gusanos (worms)in our flour. (we didn`t throw the gusanos, only the ruined flour.) haha we had to clean our house gooood today.

What a Week

Us with the member and his mom, who also happens to be our cocinera (cook). She`s a great cook and the nicest person :)

Hola family and friends,

I can hardly believe it`s lunes again, but here I am writing you (with six minutes to go on the clock, yikes!), so it must be P day. Thanks for all the letters and emails! I feel your love and your support. :) I also feel your prayers. Don`t worry if you haven`t been able to squeeze out a note. There`s still time. haha But seriously, I`d love to hear from you.

We had an amazing meeting with Elder Cook in the chapel next to the temple this week. All of the missions in El Salvador were there. I saw some people from the CCM in Mexico, including one of my roommates. The message was very inspiring. Elder Cook testified that we are where we are for a reason. Wherever we are, it is because we need to learn something or do something. I know this teaching applies not only to missionaries, but to you as well. He also left a powerful apostolic blessing that our missions will bless not only our lives, but the lives of everyone we love. I`m sitting here writing to everyone I love. I hope you feel blessed. :) If you don`t, look for the blessings. There is always something to be grateful for.

We had a baptism on Saturday! It was extremely special.

Take care! I love you all more than this email can express.

Hermana Henrie

A very special baptism. Cristian was so prepared to hear the gospel. He got baptized 3.5 weeks after we started teaching him. And the member that baptized him (the one that looks like a football player) is filling mission papers after my companion and I encouraged him to serve a mission.

Nothing big, just conquered some mountains

Eating pupusas. I realized I haven`t sent any fotos of the famous Salvadoran pupusas. Ahh, que ricas...

Dear family and friends,

I drew a comic this week during personal study about something that has been on my mind. I`ll have to send you a foto next week, I don`t have one on me now, but it looks like this: a stick figure representing a missionary walking on a beach. Underneath it reads, `The mission is like life. It starts smooth. (at least, it did for me) Everything looks bright. You`re not very stressed. You`re feeling good.`

The second picture is of a big rock. The caption says, `The first challenge comes, and it feels insurmountable.`

The third picture is of a giant mountain. It says, `Then you gain some perspective.`

The fourth and final picture is of a hand, marked by the print of a nail, reaching down to take the hand of the missionary. Underneath, it says: `It takes all of your faith and effort to climb over it and keep going. But you know you`re not alone. You know you can do it, because you can do all things which the Lord sees fit to ask of you.`

As my MTC teacher said, `Remember, this work is bigger than you.` And as Hermana Boren said, `There`s no going back. Going home is not an option. I will stay, and I will be who the Lord needs me to be.`

I will.

Want to know a few of the mountains I finally conquered this week? First, the letters. I finished the letters! Second, I gave my first talk in Spanish in sacrament meeting yesterday. I thought I had a short talk, but I wound up speaking about 15 minutes. Bastante. oops... haha I almost didn`t give my native-Spanish-speaking companion time to give her talk.

I also played a piano solo, of `God Be With You Til We Meet Again,` which in Spanish isn`t quite so goodbye-ish: `Para Siempre Dios Estè Con Vos,` or `God Be With You Always.` Several people approached me after the meeting to tell me they felt great peace while I was playing. I am very happy with how it went. I may not have given a perfectly timed talk, but I was able to soothe some troubled souls with music.

I love you! I know God is with each of you, always. Take care.

Hna Henrie

Hna E. and I with R. (white shirt and tie, miembro), C. (our GOLDEN investigator that`s getting baptized this Saturday), A. (another investigator) and J. (Z.`s daughter, in the wheelchair). Just wanted you to see more of the people I love. :)

La semana (The Week)

foto de un juego en una noche de hogar

(photo of a game in a family home evening)

Dear family and friends,

More prayers have been answered this week. We had a very inspired zone conference that spoke directly to me.

I love Apopa. The members are super great to make our investigators feel welcome, which is so important. I highly encourage all of you to look for new faces in church, and always have a smile for everybody, no matter who they are. It´s so important.

I also love Apopa for the investigators. Right now we´re teaching a young man who has had some really sad things happen in his life. We met him on the bus (he drives the microbus to Los Angeles) and is very prepared. He lost his job last week and we really capitalized on the time. He is ready and willing to make changes in his life and already is feeling the blessings.

I know our Redeemer lives. I know prayer works. I know God is always there for you. In your darkest moments when you wonder if He is there, He is carrying you.

A few weeks back I translated the story poem Footsteps into español for my companion, and recently we´ve been sharing it in lessons. It has touched many hearts. (Mom, if you know what I mean, maybe you could do me the favor of copying and pasting the poem on my blog. It´s good stuff.) Remember you are NEVER alone.

I love you all so much! God bless you.

Hermana Henrie

Footprints in the Sand

One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord.

Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.

In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand.

Sometimes there were two sets of footprints,

other times there were one set of footprints.

This bothered me because I noticed

that during the low periods of my life,

when I was suffering from

anguish, sorrow or defeat,

I could see only one set of footprints.

So I said to the Lord,

‘You promised me Lord,

that if I followed you,

you would walk with me always.

But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life

there have only been one set of footprints in the sand.

Why, when I needed you most, you have not been there for me?’

The Lord replied,

‘The times when you have seen only one set of footprints in the sand,

is when I carried you.’

-Mary Stevenson

New friend :)

New pen! A Christmas gift from a member. It is BEAUTIFUL.

Cambios (changes) are coming! Cambios are coming!

Hola familia y amigos,

I can hardly believe how fast this week flew by. We have change meeting on Wednesday, but I´m not expecting to have changes in our area. President pulled all of the missionaries out of the area affected by the volcano in San Miguel and placed them in other zones. We have a new hermana misionera here in zona Apopa due to that. I believe President has pretty much made the changes he´s going to, besides coordinating who is going to train the new misioneros coming in.

This week was a normal missionary week, besides the new year. We had permission to stay out working until 10 pm the night of December 31 as long as someone with a car took us home, and we took advantage of it. We spent the 31st with familia Argueta (the same family we passed la Navidad with) and some of our most beloved investigators. (I´ve never been so tired in my life. What a loooong day that was.) :)

Pictures will have to wait until next week, sorry, because there´s no time. In district meeting on Friday, the zone leaders handed me a big pile of mail as usual, and included within were a Christmas package from the Draper family (THANK YOU! I loved the letters, and I LOVE YOU!), a letter with the most beautiful photo montage I´ve ever seen from my familia propia (own family), and several cartas (letters) from friends and other family members. Thank you so much. I love you all.

I know the Lord is watching over you, as He watches over me.

Cuídense, todos. (Take care all!)

Con mucho amor (with much love),

Hna Henrie

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