5/23/18 Robbed, protected, baptism

Hello Everyone!

Pues la semana pasada muchas cosas paso. Primeramente nos  robaron...en la iglesia durante
P day. Como 6 misioneros. Nos quito mucho dinero la persona que nos robo. Tambien patojos
entraron el bano de las mujeres cuando mi companera y yo estabamos cambiando. nos
molesto eso un monton. Tambien hubo fuego en la estufa de la cocina. Yo lo apage. rapido.

Pero aun mas importante que todo eso, fue que tuvimos el bautismo de Adonis! Todo salio
muy bien con eso. Estamos muy felices para el. El es muy pilas. Tiene un testimonio muy
grande de la iglesia. Vamos a seguir trabajando porque queremos bendecir a las personas
mas. Amo esta obra mucha.

Well, last week many things happened. First, they robbed us ... in the church during P day.
Like 6 missionaries. The person who stole us took away a lot of money. Also, patojos entered
the women's bathroom when my partner and I were changing. That bothered us a lot. There
was also fire in the kitchen stove. I turned it off. Quick.

But even more important than all that we had the baptism of Adonis! Everything went very well
with that. We are very happy for him. He is very piles. He has a very great testimony of the
church. We are going to continue working because we want to bless people more. I love this
work a lot.

This week was awesome! We had the baptism of Adonis, so thank you for the prayers and
support with that. He is doing very well and is so happy. I feel so privileged to have been a
part of his story.

I've still not been feeling super well but it's ok because I still feel well enough to work every day. And, that's all I want. Is to be able to work every day.

We just had a returned missionary in our ward come home so that's been kind of exciting here.
The day after he got home we were invited to eat lunch with the family so that was kind of an
interesting coincidence. :P

We knocked doors all day yesterday and nobody was home. But it's ok because my companion
and I are happy to knock doors all day if that's what it takes.

Also, it rained super hard one night this week. with thunder and lightning also. We got wet.
But it's ok because it was so fun! We also had a power outage that night in all the city so that
definitely added another element of feeling to it.

Lately, I've really been focusing on putting myself in the shoes of the investigators. It's really
helped me to teach a little better when I can relate to how they feel.

I love the work of the Lord. I feel so privileged to be here every day.

Con mucho Amor,

Hermana Larimer

Baptism!

A picture of the market from the second story

5/16/18 Football, baptism next week

5/16/18

Hi! I love you all.

But the two biggest things are:

We are going to have a baptism this week! Adonis is getting baptized and it makes me so happy to see that he chose to make
this covenant with his Father in Heaven.

And, after that, is that I'm still here in Jalapa in Minerva with Hermana Sowards. This is the first
change in the mission that I haven't changed areas.

Love you all, and I am praying every day for your lives and your testimonies.

Love,

Hermana Larimer

Me and my comp in Jerseys that we bought with our names on the back

Me and my comp at a multi-zone conference where we both wore our flower dresses!

5/9/18 Travel to the Capitol, investigators, singing in church

5/9/18

Dear Amigos y Familia,

Woww

How fast does time fly? Super fast! I hope everything is well with everyone.

First of all, keep praying for Adonis! His baptism is scheduled next week. We are hoping and
praying that everything goes well. We also have transfers this Sunday so we are going to see
if I'm leaving or staying. That makes me nervous, but everything will be good because
Guatemala is awesome.

We had a few fun things happen this week:

We traveled again this week to the capital. We heard an apostle of the 70. His name is Elder
Dennis Pineda. That was so awesome. I learned so much from him and feel so privileged to
have these opportunities here in the mission of hearing from members of the 70 and apostles.
(apostolic only once not as often as members of the 70)

My companion and I ate pizza for lunch for lunch from dominos one day with cheese filled crust.
so that's worth mentioning because it was heaven on earth and its food even if it was super
expensive. :P

we gave a tour a tour of the church this week to two investigators and the spirit was so strong.

We also ate fried platanos. they are a fruit like bananas but sweeter and bigger. That was super
good.

My companion and I did a musical number in church. She played piano and I sang at the
microphone. I was super nervous but I think it went ok.

Also here's something super fun: we were looking for a reference in the market and one of our
old man friends found us and played his recorder for us. He also loves to talk to us in 
English so that always makes us laugh because he is so cute. I really wanted a video but lots and lots of people were watching us so I didn't take a video because I don't want my camera to get stolen. But this little man is so cute. We think he's a little crazy but that's 
ok. He's mostly really cute. We always share our food with him and he always helps us and we always invite him to church.

Anyways, always read the scriptures and go to church. Also Priesthood blessings. I love
priesthood blessings. They are awesome. They make me sure that if I do my part, that I really will receive blessings. I love everyone and thanks to everyone who emailed me this week! If anyone ever has any questions or doubts about the gospel,
do not be afraid to email me, please! I'm here to help.

Lots and lots of love!

Hermana Larimer

5/2/18 Enjoy life, soccer, investigator

Dear Amigos,

Lol, I literally have no time but I’m mostly alive and working really hard. I taught my companion that we have to enjoy life this past week and that really helped us a ton.

Anyways there's a group of teenage boys that wait for us every night to tell us goodnight and one night it was raining super hard and they still were waiting for us. We all are friends and I hope that they can see my example. Because they are really lost but they always are so nice and we always say hi and we've laughed a ton with them also.

Also, we went on run in the morning one day this week for our exercise. That was super awesome. I vote that Guatemala is the prettiest country especially at 6:40 in the morning.

The mission president came to our stake conference so that was a super fun surprise for the 24 missionaries in this zone.

I woke up with chills and hot flashes Sunday morning so that was super hard, but I still worked because my goal is to work every single day of my mission and not stay in the house sick a single day.

We have an investigator who put a date and time for his baptism and he is progressing so much. Please pray for Adonis!

I played soccer on p-day with the elders. So that was crazy. The elders are crazy but they are awesome.

Anyways, I invite all of you to read Alma 37:6-7 because it's the little things in life that matter. Reading a verse of scripture every day and saying our prayers every day are two little things but they are two things that we receive tons and tons of blessings for.

Love
Hermana Larimer

PS: Shoutout to everyone who's written me recently you all are the best.

4/4/18 New comp and new area outside The Capital

Buenas dias todos!

Espero que todos esten bien y que esten viendo muchos milagros cada dia! Yo tuve cambios otra vez! Yo estaba muy lista tener cambios. Vimos milagros alla en mi otra area pero me toco salir de alli.

Hello everyone!

I had changes again yesterday so another new area and a new companion! I learned so much from my other companion and the people in the area but I also felt ready to go. My new companions name is Hermana Sowards and she only has six weeks in the mission. Shes very new but shes also very wonderful! This is gonna be an awesome with her. I'm also now in an area called Jalapa. Its a stake here which is weird because it's outside the capital and lots of times they only have a branch! But its awesome! I'm ready to serve and ready to learn. 

Can I just say WOW, conference was amazing! I hope everyone learned something from conference because I sure did!  I can't believe the changes there are going to be but I know that they are inspired of the Lord. Also the temples! So many more people are gonna have the chance to go to the temple and to receive the blessings of the temple. I can't believe how fast the church is growing. A temple in Nicaragua and in Russia and in India (and in four other places)! My newest goal is to attend the temple in India. :) 

As always appreciate the prayers and support. ❤

Really I  just want to tell all of you the Lord answers questions and answers prayers. It happened in Conference and it happens every day because he hears us when we pray every day! There is never a time we cant pray. Prayer is powerful and I invite everyone to pray with a little bit more sincerity each day. Really talk with your Father in Heaven because he wants to bless you!

Con mucho amor, 

Hermana Larimer

Week #36 Halfway through my Mission

Hello Hello Hello!

This week was pretty good. We've seen some progress with the work so that's been super exciting. :) My companion is wonderful. We are really learning a lot from each other.

There are two big pieces of news that need to be announced:

1) We are having a change in the mission schedule like a HUGE change! P-day will now be on Wednesday instead of Monday! I am so grateful for this change and really feel like its inspired by the Lord. So I will write in 9 days!

2) I just need to take a moment and be grateful for my time here in the mission as I complete the halfway point in two days, 9 months. Its crazy how fast time goes and I still tell myself daily I need to stop dreaming and wake up. Being in another country is crazy and speaking another language is even crazier. :P but even more than the crazy, I'm grateful. Also, thanks for all the support I've been given. I really feel it, the prayers and the support. :)

I just want to leave you all with my testimony. I know that this is the Lord's work and I know even more important that this is the Lord's Church. He loves us and wants to bless us. The Book of Mormon is true and there is so much we can learn from it. Always learn and grow and strive to be better every day. Sometimes I feel lots of stress because I am such an imperfect person trying to do an imperfect person job, but I know and can testify that the parts that I lack the Lord can help me with, especially when I really strive to do my best.

Now an invitation: the invitation is that this week you can really try to grow your relationship with the savior. Pray more fervently every day and every prayer, read the scriptures with an aching to learn and attend church with a question because I know that you will receive an answer.

Mucho Amor,
Hermana Larimer

Fotos!
Don't know if I sent this photo or not but the Calls in my ward came to visit me so that was super fun for me! (with permission from the wife of the mission president)
There are wild horses outside of our house sometimes that run by and this is one of them!

Week #35 Kitchen Flood

Week #35

This week has been pretty good. Nothing super exciting happened this week so sorry about that.

I've been learning a lot about integrity. I've been reading some talks that the whole mission has been reading so that's been helping me a ton. The work is super good still. I've really been learning a ton from Hermana Buntin. Thank you for all the prayers because i really can feel them. They give me strength and energy. And lots of help basically. Also fun fact this week one of our water pipes broke so we had an ocean on our kitchen floor. :P

I just want to leave you all with my testimony. This work is the Lord's work. I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to come on this mission. To meet the people here I’ve met and to work on myself to be better but more importantly to bring souls closer to Christ. We aren't perfect but the gospel is. Read the Book of Mormon every day. Pray every day because Heavenly Father wants you to talk to him. I know that this church is true. I'm grateful I get to learn Spanish. I'm grateful for trials and struggles that bring me closer to Christ and give me opportunities to learn and grow.

Mucho Amor,

Hermana Larimer

This photo is one of the members here. They were gonna eat iguana so that's what I'm holding in the photo. How cool is that?

Week #34 No Companion, Calls Visit, Baptism

Hello Everyone! 

I don't have a ton of time. So sorry! :P

Highlights in one sentence!

We had a baptism!

I have transfers! It will be my fourth area in 8 months. And I'm going to be with a gringa or someone from the United States. :) My first companion from the states in all the mission. 

I saw the Calls they came to visit me! The Calls are a family from my ward. So that was super fun!

For 5 days this week I've had a member as my Companion so that was kinda stressful, because I had to do everything by myself. But It was good, because I learned a lot. 

Time!

Lots of love and fondly!

Hermana Larimer

Ps: The computer is stinky so we´ll see if I have the chance to send more fotos next week. 

Week #33 Teeth Trouble and Taxi rides

Hello Everyone! Espero que todos esten bien. Estoy orando por cada uno de ustedes y espero que sepan que les amo!
Lo siento por no haber enviado un correo la semana pasada. es porque mi correo no funciono. Lately I´ve been kinda struggling with feeling like I'm not doing enough and I’ve been pretty stressed because of it.
But I've ultimately come to the conclusion that if we do everything that we possibly can the Lord will do the rest. Also the past week I went to the dentist because I was having constant pain in my jaw but the dentist just told me
that he thinks Im grinding my teeth and its because of that that i was in pain. But now I don’t have any pain.
It’s all better. He also told me I have the teeth of a 40 year old so that was fun to hear. The Lord loves us and watched out for us. I can tell you this because it's happened to me over and over and
over again. Whenever I am about to feel discouraged the Lord always lifts me up! And I promise he can also
lift you! One of the miracles that we saw this week was our taxi driver. He told us that he had been receiving the
missionaries and that they haven't arrived at his house for awhile so we asked him where he lived and he
lives in our area! so we got his phone number and we are going to visit him and his family again. He also
gave us the ride for free which was another huge blessing because I had almost run out of money for the day.
But don't worry everything is wonderful. :) We also had the baptism and wedding of Carla, so that was super cool. My fourth baptism of the mission.
i'm still receiving blessings and even more importantly planting seeds. I know that I will be blessed if I am serving
with a smile and willingly the people around me. Everything is wonderful. I’m here working super hard and learning a ton from this area, and from my companion.
I am of the opinion that if we aren't learning, we are wasting time. So I plead with you guys, always try to learn
something every day. Mucho amor y bendiciones y oraciones para todos, Hermana Larimer

Week #31 Learning and loving you

1/22/18
Hello Everyone!
This week was good. Not a ton happened. My companion and I still get along wonderfully. I am learning so much from this area. My companion is named Hermana Mendez and She is from guatemala. She is so bright. I don't have a ton of time because I’m going to send pictures. I hope every one of you has been doing well and as always I send my love!

Espero que no olvido mi espanol cuando regreso de la mision. En esta semana alguien me dijo que no tengo mucho accento de gringo y eso my ayudo mucho! siempre necesito trabajar en mi confianza y en mi fe. Espero que no olviden que fe sin obras es muerto. Oren y van a recibir una respuesta. Muchisimo amor!

One of these pictures is a member in our ward who has 6 dogs! One of them jumped up on top of the car and it was so cute.

Amor and love
Hermana Larimer

Week #30 New area is dangerous, but we are fine

Jan 15, 2018
Hello everyone!

This week was good and the area is dangerous. Nothing has happened us, and I don't think anything will. Prayers are always appreciated. Also prayers of health, I'm worried I'm going to have a cough and a cold soon. We also spend a ton of quetzales every day. Its because our area is so big that we don't walk anywhere. It's very little that we walk. We take taxis, buses, tuctuc. All of which you have to pay for. It's also the area of hills and mountains. But the views are wonderful!
I'm in another small district of only four missionaries so that's fun. The work is good. We are here working super hard. There is lots of potential here. My companion is good also. We are still working on the obedience, but little by little.

Today I want to testify of the power of questions but even more important of answers and of asking with a sincere heart and real intent. The times that I've had my questions answered it has been because they have been tugging at my heart strings and hoping with every part of my being that I would receive an answer. It's because I have received a ton of answers this week. Really, believe me, he listens, he cares, and he loves!

We had a cool experience with two of our investigators this week. It's that they have desire to be baptized but the husband doesn't feel worthy to attend church because of some of his past mistakes. And, they have to have attended church in order to be baptized. So in this lesson I felt like a tape recorder on replay. Telling him that as long as we keep trying and repent sincerely that its like that that we can receive forgiveness. There, is also the problem of his work, which is that he works on sunday which is why he hasn't been able to attend church. We originally had plans that he was going to attend church three weeks continuously but then he it turns out he got called into work. 2 of the weeks that he was going to attend. So we were all sitting there not knowing what to do and my companion decided that we were going to pray and plan to the best of our ability and that after we were going to read the Book of Mormon. And we received the answer from the Book of Mormon. The conclusion was (exactly what I had said earlier but its ok) that if we do every single little thing in our power that its like that that we are going to see blessings and miracles. So that's what we are going to do! I'll keep you guys updated. :)

I testify of the Book of Mormon and the power that it has. If you need an answer pray and look in the Book of Mormon with faith that you will receive your answer. As a missionary I promise that you will receive the answer that you need. Maybe not the answer that you want, but the answer that is best for you.

Mucho Mucho Mucho Amor,
Hermana Larimer
This computer is sucky. I'll use a different one next week.  🤗☺

Week #29 Shooting, protection, baptism, transfers

Jan 8, 2018
This week was super good! We put a date for a baptism that we are going to have so that was exciting!
We also saw a huge miracle this week. So in our sector that's dangerous (called Nueva Amanecer) there was a shooting on a day that we were working over there. But we left 15 or a half hour before the shooting happened to go do some planning in our house, and we returned another 15 minutes after it happened. We heard about it after we had returned. The man was shot dead. Anyway, the miracle is that we left before the shooting because we originally had plans to be there all day but then we changed our plans in the moment during the day. Also the shooting happened in the entrance that we always use, but we left through another entrance when we were leaving and entered through the same entrance that we left on the other side. That was a huge blessing for me.
Also after a mere 6 weeks here, I have transfers! I'm leaving my beloved Venezuela. Tomorrow! I´m going to a place called Milagro, which is Miracle in english. It's a place of miracles. I´m also going to be the companion mayor (the companion with more time in the mission), but also the stepmom. The step mom is the second companion of a greenie, or a missionary that has only had one companion. I´m going tomorrow. I'll be specifically in las Margaritas. It also is dangerous, but supposedly less dangerous that where I am now. I dont know, I'll update you guys next week.
I´m in awe with my Father in Heaven and everything that I have been learning in the mission. There is power in fasting, before I didn't have a strong testimony of it, but really after this fast sunday I do.
Hermana Campos and I are so sad to be leaving each other. We got along super well. We really are truly friends. I've been friends with my other two companions that I´ve had but this level of friendship I haven't reached, only with Hermana Campos. She is the end of her mission and she goes home in three months. I am going to miss her but there are people to teach and things to learn.
Your Father in Heaven loves you and wants you to be happy. I testify that the church is true and there is power in the Book of Mormon. I love all of you so much and I hope all of you are well.
Amor,
Hermana Larimer

Week #28 Happy New Year: 6 months and it feels like a dream

HELLO AND HAPPY NEW YEAR! Feliz ano nuevo!

Fun fact! Here they burn fireworks for the new year and for christmas. But yesterday was even crazier than Christmas. I was sleeping peacefully in my bed and at 12:00 on the dot I was woken up by all the fireworks. It was definitely a struggle to get back to sleep. But eventually I slept.

This week was a week absolutely full of miracles. Really, I testify that this is the Lord's work, he is directing and leading and preparing and constantly working to save his beloved children. I can't even begin to talk about all the miracles we saw this week. But one that really stuck out to me I will share.

So we met an investigator whose name is Rudy. The first lesson we had went terribly. He was asking us questions trying to better us (now if we think about it, a man with 40+ years trying to better two young adults who have twenty years of age really says something, good or bad, just think about it), had no faith and really just wanted to argue. He also told us he was reading the Book of Mormon looking for mistakes. But the second lesson was the miracle. At the end of the first lesson my lovely companion invited him to pray and ask if the Book of Mormon was true and we read Moroni 10:3-5 with him. We came to the second lesson nervous and if I'm being honest, i arrived dreading how it was going to go. But the second I walked into the house everything was different. The spirit was present and he actually asked us to share a message with him. The spirit was so strong I was able to invite him to be baptized. I didn't have words to speak because the spirit was so strong. I also asked him if the Book of Mormon was true and he said yes! So we are going to keep working with him and see how it goes.

I invite all of you to read again, the talk titled The Book of Mormon- A Book From God by Elder Tad R. Callister. The church is true and the book is blue!

No, but really every day I am here working and being lead by the Spirit. I´ve been in Guatemala 6 months and it still feels like a dream. I am so blessed to be able to serve my Father in Heaven.  I know the church is true, and I know that without a restoration we wouldn't have the fullness of the gospel. I know that our Father in Heaven loves us and always listens to our prayers. I know that Jesus Christ, our brother atoned for our sins. He died so that we can be made clean. The goal of life is to walk by faith so that we can return and live with our Heavenly Father after we have completed our life on earth. I know that my Father in Heaven has a plan for me and for each one of my brothers and sisters here on earth. I hope all is well, and don't forget to make and set goals in the new year!

Con mucho amor,
Hermana Larimer

Here's the link to the talk: Lea lo!

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2011/10/the-book-of-mormon-a-book-from-god?lang=eng

Week #27 Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! We got to skype with Hermana Jessica and we can all testify that she is astoundingly happy. She called us on 5:00 Christmas Day and we were fortunate enough to connect with Christian in India via Facetime so he could be in on the call. The Dahl cousins came for the last 15 minutes. It was glorious to hear from Hermana Jessica and even though there were thousands of miles between us, we were grateful to be together as a family for a few minutes on Christmas.

Week #26 Happy changes and dangerous sector gangs

Dec 18, 2017
Hello Everyone!
Estoy muy feliz porque tuve cambios! Estoy en mi segunda área, que se llama Venezuela. Mi compañera se llama Hermana Campos. Ella es maravillosa!
I am very happy because I had changes! I am in my second area that is called Venezuela. My companion is named Hermana Campos. She is wonderful! She is so happy, I knew her before in my other area because she was in my zone. The Cuilapa zone. I definitely left a part of my heart there, but I know this is where I need to be. The Nimajuyu Zone. Ni-ma-hu-yoo.
I hope everyone is well! Everything here is absolutely wonderful! We are reopening an area, which is super cool because for 30 years before there was only elders! Yay! We are the first pair of Hermanas in 30 years! How cool is that? We have so much support from the members and the stake president and it's awesome. They really want to care for us, and keep us safe. Which makes me super glad, because here we have a sector that has a gang. The sector is pretty dangerous. When we go we have to have two priesthood holders and a teenage girl who is older than 18. But the rest of the area is not dangerous, just one neighborhood. The neighborhood is on the outskirts of our area, we live far from it. But as always, I appreciate prayers for my safety and health. 🤗☺ We have just been getting to know the members here for the first week. But yesterday we had two miracles. First we had 3 investigators in sacrament meeting, and I had the impression to talk with one of our neighbors and it turns out he's inactive! But a member so we are going to try and begin visiting him. another one of our neighbors just had the unfortunate event of having his mom pass away, so we told him we want to visit him and he said we could! People here are pretty hard hearted. they don't really like to talk with us and they always tell us they don't have time. But its ok because it's Jesus Christ they are rejecting, not me. That was a little hard to get used to the first few days here, but now its fine. There are ten missionaries in my zone here, when in cuilapa there was 22. We are the only pair of sisters in the zone, so that's kinda fun. Lots of Elders that I am going to be able to serve for my time here.
I'm so glad my Heavenly Father gave me this chance to reopen an area. And to have my companion as a companion. I'm so ready to see what this area has in store. I am 110% convinced that there is no such thing as coincidences. Take time to look for the miracles in your life. They might be small but they exist. Remember that Jesus Christ loves you and is waiting for you to improve your relationship with him. If we feel like we are far it's because we pushed him away, but he will never stop loving you and wanting you. Merry Christmas, and Feliz Navidad!
Love,
Hermana Larimer
Ps: Im sorry theres no pictures, its because I forgot my camera cord to connect to the computer. Next week? :P