Aprendizaje de Elder Ochoa

Hna Merrell and I at the monument Salvador del Mundo (the back side)

Hola, buenas dìas, familia y amigos!!!

This week we went to a GREAT multi-zone conference with Elder Ochoa (a member of the Central America Area Presidency), our mission president and his wife. Hna Merrell and I received so many new ideas to put into practice in Cojutepeque. Personally, I learned a ton that will help me be more converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ as well. We talked a lot about the Atonement (the sacrifice Jesus Christ performed for every single person on earth), a lot about diligence, and a lot about faith.

I left the meeting really buoyed up by the Spirit, and that evening and the following days in Cojutepeque we had some of the best, most spiritual lessons I`ve ever had in the mission. We`re excited to keep going strong this week, despite a sad phone call when one of our most `golden` investigators suddenly told us he doesn`t want us to come teach him anymore. We will respect his wishes, trusting him to God, and continue in our ever-going search for the people God has prepared for us to teach.

I love being a missionary. I`ve learned so much about myself, and about the Savior, in the time I`ve been here in El Salvador. I know I`ll continue learning a lot throughout my whole life, because I`m only just beginning to understand how much I still don`t understand. I don`t understand God`s perfect love. He loves His children even when we make terrible mistakes, or do awful things to one another. He sees us as works in progress, and He will give us every possible chance to change our lives and draw closer to Him.

God is real. I know He is there. He continues to work miracles in our daily lives. His Son Jesus Christ is actively directing my mission, and this Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The fulness of His gospel, as well as His divine authority, are found only here. I invite you to learn more, and ask God for yourself. If you really desire to know and do His will, He will be more than happy to give you the answers you seek. I`ve seen it happen not only in my life, but time and time again with my brothers and sisters in El Salvador. Just ask Him.

In what ways have you seen God`s hand touch your life this week?

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Henrie

Making pancakes for dinner last night

Hna Garcìa and Hna Cano were also at migraciòn! Our thumbs are blue because they take fingerprints. :)

We asked permission to take photos in front of the government immigration building.

In front of the statue Salvador del Mundo (the front side)

Bendiciones

My new companion, Hna Merrell! We took this foto in the mission president´s house because we had another conferencia de hermanas this past week. It was GREAT.

Dear family and friends,

Wow, have I been blessed this week. Top of the list is the following news:

THE LAST MEMBER OF THE ROMERO FAMILY IS GETTING BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!

To remind you, the Romero family is from Apopa. I had the privilege of teaching them, and seeing Hna Rosa and her daughter Hna Celina enter the waters of baptism. While we were together for a conferencia de hermanas misioneras this week, Hna Infanzon told me Rosa´s husband Ismael has accepted a baptismal date, too. (Mom, prepare yourself now, because we will be attending a temple sealing in El Salvador in approximately September 2015!) I love this family dearly. I am grateful beyond words for the privilege to have been one of their missionaries. They are making important steps that are bringing them closer to God, and qualifying them to return to our heavenly home.

This news renewed my determination to share this beautiful, restored Gospel with everyone I come in contact with. Stay strong, family. It is hard sometimes to make consistent correct choices, but with our Savior Jesus Christ on our side, it is very possible. And when we make mistakes, because nobody is perfect (last of all me), He gives us hope for forgiveness.

I love being a missionary because it´s so easy to remember what life is all about. I remember that before the mission, all the tasks I had to do every day often distracted me. But I now understand that true strength to press forward comes when we remember who we are: children of a loving God. Every time we sin, it´s because we´ve forgotten that divine nature. I promise the only way we can find true peace and lasting happiness in this crazy world is by holding tightly to the values and teachings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I love you all! Take care!

Hna Henrie

Rainstorm in Cojutepeque, there was hail too, we helped bail out the house we were in. Fun stuff! :D

Cambios in Cojutepeque

Notice the subject of the email is NOT `Cambios FROM Cojutepeque.` Read on.

Dear family and friends!

I can hardly believe another week has passed and it`s Monday again. I`m sitting here in Ilobasco (we`re having another activity as a zone) writing you all with a brand new companion sitting by my side. Hna Abadillo was transferred out of Cojutepeque on Wednesday (she wound up in my first area, Montecristo 2!) and I am now with an hermana I knew from the CCM... Hna Merrell! She was in Graig`s district in the CCM, so I don`t know if I`ve mentioned her before. Maybe he has. She`s 21, from Idaho, and I`m really excited to be working with her. In less than a week, she`s transformed the area by upping our finding efforts a lot. We feel really blessed because, although several important teaching appointments fell through this week, we found more very prepared people. It`s funny how a new companion helps you see your old, familiar area with new eyes. I know she`s going to help me reach my potential in some ways that I was lacking a bit, and I feel I have some things I can teach her as well, so we`re going to be a great team!

News from investigadores: Edwin finished the entire first book of Nephi and is starting Second Nephi. He wasn`t able to come to church yesterday but has committed to attend a church activity on Friday and also the church meetings this coming Sunday.

One of our most positive new investigadores from this week is a young woman in her twenties named Graciela. She has several friends who are members of the Church and says she has noticed something different about them. She was on the edge of her seat when Hna Merrell asked if she wanted to know what`s different about her LDS friends. We explained that after we`re baptized we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, and this gift helps us live good, clean lives as we strive to follow the Savior Jesus Christ. She accepted a baptismal invitation and will prepare for a date in September. She was really excited to start reading the Book of Mormon.

Also, our investigator Gilberto, jr., is all set for his baptism at the end of this month! His testimony has grown so much since the first time I met him six weeks ago. It`s incredible. It`s come from his efforts to read the Book of Mormon every day, from praying every day, and from attending church faithfully every Sunday. While I was studying for him the other day, I came across a part of Preach My Gospel that I LOVED. It was basically a testimony that as we each strive to keep our baptismal covenants and live the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives, we grow in our understanding of Christ`s Atonement, which gives us faith, hope and happiness even during the trials of life.

The Church is true! It is directed by Jesus Christ Himself, through a modern prophet. It contains the fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Its teachings are pure and divine, because they were restored by God.

I love you,
Hna Henrie

I am a happy missionary :)

Last p day with Hna Abadillo

Dear family and friends,

We had a great finding week. Last week when Hna Abadillo and I were on splits (meaning we worked with members in different sides of our area, her in Concepciòn and me in San Nicolàs) she found an incredible new investigador and I got to meet him this week. His name is Edwin, and in less than 24 hours after we gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon he had read all the introductory pages (which include an explanation of what the book is, where it came from, what it`s about and who wrote it) and the first two chapters of Nephi. He is very interested in the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and wants to be baptized when he receives a confirmation from the Holy Spirit that this Church really is the true Church of Jesus Christ here on earth.

During this same week we also met two new, young families who were also very impressed by the message of the Restoration. We are focusing on working with the members to help these new investigators realize that ´Mormons´ (the correct name is Latter day Saints) are normal people just like them, and to learn more about the Church.

I love being a missionary. I love the people of El Salvador. I love all my companions, current and past. I`m so grateful for the privilege God has granted me to serve Him here, full time. As Hna Boren often says, God is good. :) He truly is guiding every one of our lives so that we have every possible opportunity to grow, to find peace in this life and to have eternal happiness in the next.

I know that what I teach every day is true, because I feel the Spirit testifying to me of its truthfulness every time I teach. Let us carry on in faith!

Con mucho amor,
Hna Henrie

Baptism!

Dear family and friends,

We had a great week. Hands down the highlight was the baptism of Hermano Teodoro. It was kind of a crazy service. Because of a youth activity Saturday afternoon, we planned the service for 10 in the morning so we wouldn`t conflict. The member that had committed to bring Teodoro to the baptism fell through at the last minute and we had to go get him ourselves in a taxi (he has knee problems, which is why he couldn`t just walk). I almost wound up giving the discurso (talk) as well because it didn`t look like the member we had asked to talk was going to be able to come. But, as is true with all pruebas in life, we just looked for solutions to every problem and kept going. We started the service at 11, and it was beautiful. Hno Teodoro took another step closer to his Heavenly Father.

I love being a missionary. I love you all and hope you`re doing GRRREAT! Remember the Lord has a plan, and nothing will frustrate it. Just look for solutions to your problems and be patient in finding the answers. They will come in His time, in His way.

Con mucho amor,

Hna Henrie

Conferencia de hermanas!

Dear family and friends,

This week we had a conferencia de hermanas! That means all the sister missionaries in our mission, from Apopa to San Miguel, traveled to our mission president´s house for a special meeting. Both pairs of hermanas lideres shared messages, then the assistants to the president, then Hermana Vasquez, and finally Presidente Vasquez. There are 29 sister missionaries in total. It was a beautiful meeting.

The other great news we received this week was that Hno Teodoro had a great baptismal interview with our district leader (he also talked with the mission president, but that´s another story) and is getting baptized this weekend! He´s very excited and plans to invite all his family and friends. We´re excited because he knows quite a few people in his colonia. He´s great.

Also, when I was at the conferencia de hermanas, I had a chance to talk to Hna Infanzon a bit about how our investigators there are doing. Remember Orlando? She told me he was all set to get baptized on Saturday! He is now one of the newest members of the Church, and all excited to go to the temple and start the process that will make his family an eternal one. She told me Orlando has been golden all the way. He was just waiting for LDS missionaries to knock on his door again and give him an invitation to be baptized.

I know this church is true. It is the only church on earth that is guided directly by Jesus Christ himself. It has the power and authority of God. Everything good in my life, I have thanks to Him. I will never tire of sharing this message. I encourage all of you who are reading this to take a moment and check out mormon.org. It explains everything. It will be worth your time.

Take care, all! I love you LOTS!!!

Hna Henrie

The ´daughters´ of Hermana Gonzalez. :) taken at the conferencia de hermanas. me, Hna Winters, Hna Dumay, Hna Foster.

enjoying Cojute

Hola, buenos días, dear family and friends,

First of all, error correction: Cojutepeque is actually in the departamento called Cuscatlan. (Any of you who tried finding it on a map perhaps already figured that out. haha) It´s Ilobasco, from where I wrote last week, that is in Las Cabañas. Fun fact: our mission zone also includes areas from the departamento Sensuntepeque. Which means our two zone leaders get to travel up to two hours every time they have an intercambio with the elders.

Hna A and I had another great week here in Cojute. We worked really extra hard yesterday to get Teodoro (remember I told you about him?) to church. And he came! He came, and he enjoyed it a lot. He´s committed to attending the district conference this coming weekend as well. (which, other fun fact, will be held in the departamento of San Vicente. I feel like I´m getting to know a lot more of El Salvador. haha) If he keeps this up, he will be super prepared for his baptism this month!

Also, we saw a miracle yesterday! There is an investigador named Gilberto Jr. that is the older brother of our branch mission leader. Hna Abadillo has been visiting him and teaching him for quite some time now, and he´s made progress in steps and bounds; going to church, reading the Book of Mormon, and praying. The challenge has been that he lives at military school during the week and is only home on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. He doesn´t have much free time at school which is why his progression has been one step here, a huge bound there. (¿Me entiende?) About the same time I arrived in Cojute, he started to be more constant. We invited him to baptism on two separate occasions but both times he said no, saying he wasn´t sure yet if it was what God wanted him to do. We turned our focus to recognizing answers to prayers. And yesterday, after two weeks of focusing on this, and having him be more constant in reading and praying, he told us: ´I know this is true.´ And he accepted a date for baptism, in August.

Just one last note:

President Vasquez had a meeting with all the leaders of the mission this past week. (It includes assistants to the presidents, zone leaders, district leaders, and hermanas líderes) Then we had a zone conference in Ilobasco on Friday where the zone leaders reported to us about their meeting. He is changing the vision of our mission from each mission companionship having at least one baptism a month (Pdte Glazier´s vision) to each mission companionship having at least one baptism every WEEK. As our mission president, he has authority to speak for the Lord, so really this vision isn´t his at all, but the Lord´s. And as the prophet Nephi says, when the Lord commands something, He always provides the way for us to accomplish it. (1 Nephi 3:7, Book of Mormon)

The Lord is hastening His work here! I feel incredibly blessed not just to be a full time missionary, but to be on the mission during this exciting time. This work is bigger than me. It´s bigger than all of us!

I love you! Hope you all have a great week!

Hna Henrie

Me by a fountain in Ilobasco 

(if you zoom in you should be able to see a plaque in the background that says ´Ilobasco´)

Countryside in Ilobasco. 

(The peaked mountain you see in the background is actually the volcano of San Vicente. Cool, right?)