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