God has a Purpose

Hey everyone!!

Sorry I wasn't able to write last week!! I didn't have much time. So what happened the week before last was that President Cluff had revelation for the whole mission and we all had divisions in each zone. So I went to Chimaltenango again to be with Elder Nieves (Costa Rica) for a couple days. At first I hated the idea of leaving my area and going to Chimaltenango and didn't understand why I had to leave my area. It didn't take me long to humble myself though and went without question. I thought, I cant be like Laman and Lemuel, they were always murmuring and never had any personal progress. I had to be like Nephi and humble myself. In The Book of Mormon it says that to murmur is to complain or go against the purposes, plans, or servants of God. In this case President Cluff is the servant of God and I was a servant of God who needed humbling haha. In D&C 25:4 it says that we should not murmur because of the things we have not seen. God had a purpose for these divisions and I was here to conform to that purpose. 

So the night we were finishing the divisions we went to this family's house. They are all investigators and they were all having trouble with the prospect of baptism. So we gave them interviews. I interviewed the two daughters and neither of them felt that they were ready. Elder Nieves was interviewing the son still when I finished with the last daughter and I came to the conclusion that it was because of the mother that they didn't feel ready. So I interviewed her as well. I was with her for an hour or more. I won't tell you all what she told me because its a little personal. But what she came to realize was that I WAS really guided by the spirit. She told me herself because she could feel it. She also came to realize that Joseph Smith WAS a prophet and that baptism IS the path she needed to go. We both came out of the interview edified and uplifted spiritually. I don't know what happened to that family after, but I can only hope that I helped in some part of their conversion. I love being able to help the people here, its fun and it helps me a lot in my own spiritual progress and conversion.

Now to this past week. We've been pretty busy trying to find people to baptize and its been very hard. I'm in the mountains right now and there is a big difference between the people of the coast and the people here. the people in the coast are a lot more accepting/willing to listen to us about the church or about God. The people here are a lot more hard hearted and less likely to listen to us. Right now we have 1 investigator named Deborah. She's been investigating the church for a few years now and the missionaries in the past haven't had any luck with her. Were hoping to baptize her this Sunday because she seems to be a lot more willing now. Other than that, not much else happened. Unless you count it raining so much here that we have to walk though flooded streets hahaha. That's always fun... 

But I hope everyone has an awesome rest of the week and that you all leave your comfort zones and talk to someone about the gospel!!! I LOVE YOU ALLLLLLL!!!!!

Hard Work and Sweet Souls

Hey everyone!! 

I feel like its weird getting close to finishing my mission. Not saying Im ready to finish my mission because Im not, at all haha. I love the mission and I love working here. We're working hard trying to find people that will accept us. Its kind of hard in a city full of Catholics because they almost always deny us. 

I feel bad sometimes because I know that we offer what is really called the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We know what Gods plan is for us. I tell myself everyday, time to save lives. I think of us missionaries as the superheroes of our day. Many people tell us that were angels sent from God, many people think were of the Devil. Haha how wrong those people are. Angels surround us everywhere we go. 

I've never had a doubt that the Lord is by my side at all times. He's my best friend and I love Him so much. One thing Ive learned here is that there are special people placed here that know when a servant of the Lord is in the room. 

I met a down syndrome girl here that is about 10 years old. She's the cutest ever and I'm pretty sure I'm her best friend. Last night we were with her and her family and she was just so loving! haha she kept giving me stuff and touching me and it was just the biggest display of affection haha, she didn't go near my comp. What really touched me though was when we were playing she came up to me, grabbed my cheeks and kissed me on the forehead. I was stunned for a second hahaha but I just felt an overwhelming love radiating from this child. 

Many don't know what sweet spirit these children really have. They are the closest people to 

Christ that I know. I love them and cant get enough of these special spirits. Any child is acceptable. I love you guys! I KNOW THAT JESUS CHRIST LIVES!!!!

Elder Whelan

This Week

Hello!

My new comp is good. His name is Elder Reyes. We have p-day tomorrow and were going to Antigua next Monday. Mom, you've asked about huipil and I can get huipil here. There are no huipil skirts here haha just shirts. 

We taught a lot of members because we're trying to make a good bridge with the people here so they give us references. I've learned that I'm pretty good at getting people to be happy and I'm good at getting to know people. It seems to come naturally and I've found that I need to use it more often. 

I've learned that working with the members is the key in missionary work. I learned that there are a lot of bridges to build up again. 

Food here is good. I've eaten many things. We found this pizza place that actually makes good pizza! Tradition here is to put ketchup on the pizza with hot sauce haha. It's pretty good. 

Those pictures of the little boys playing on the beach and running in the waves were so fun! I can't wait to go camping with you guys again in only a few months!!

I love you guys! 

 

PATZICIA AGAIN

Hey everyone!! So I'm here in Patzicia again!! Some of you may remember and most of you will have forgotten but I was here more than a year ago but in a different area called Zaragoza. Anyway, I'm here with my new companion Elder Reyes from Nicaragua. He's cool and he's ready to work hard. President Cluff told the Assistants that the two of us will work really well together. I'm glad that president can trust in me, I'm district leader over our zone leaders and a pair of sisters.

We baptized this last sunday when I was in Amatitlan and it was amazing! The girls name is Sara Hernandez and she has just the sweetest little spirit you can find in a person. She's 12 and I'm totally her best friend haha. You'll see from the pictures we took together hahaha. At her baptism she shared her testimony and the whole time she was crying. Haha she made me cry too because of how sincere her testimony is. Shes going to be a super strong member when shes older hahaha. But I grew to love this family and all of the families that served in La Mariposa and Amatitlan.

I'm sad I had to leave but it's just another chapter that I have to write in the book of my life haha. I'm excited to work here in Zarahemla Patzicia and I know were going to baptize!!! The missionaries have not baptized here since February and we're going to be the first ones to do it in 7 months!!! WOOOOOOOOOOO WERE GOING TO DO IT!!! We already worked hard yesterday and we already have some possible people to teach! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY AND TEACHING THE LORDS SHEEP!!!!! AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH SO MUCH MOTIVATION!!!!!!!! Hahaha

I love being here and I love being trusted enough to teach and to testify to the children of our father in heaven.  THE FIELD IS WHITE AND READY TO HARVEST!!!!! I love you guys!!!

Elder Whelan

P.S. My brother got his mission call to florienópolis Brazil!!! 'Im soooo proud of him!!
P.P.S. See you in another 2 years Dalton!!!
P.P.P.S See you all in December!!!!!! -Except Dalton :)

VOLCAN DE PACAYA

Hey everyone!!

So yesterday for the first time in 20 months I finally climbed EL VOLCAN DE PACAYA HAHAHAHAHA (evil laugh, jkjk). Haha it was a ton of fun to be honest but I was kind of sad because my camera broke and I couldn't take any pictures.. Other than that it was a blast! We got to one point when we were coming down the volcano and there was a lot of loose rock and sand, can you guess what we did? Yep we ran/slid all the way down the face of the volcano hahaha. It was so much fun! But enough of that, we had two baptisms on Sunday!! Their names are Erick Sabala and Paola Cruz. 

So we found this family through looking for inactive members of the church. We were visiting this family and they came to visit that family too. We invited them to church not really expecting them to go and left the house. Sunday came and they showed up!!! Three weeks after that and a lot of lessons they got married and baptized! I love this family so much haha. I've always loved seeing families make the decision together to follow Christ and enter the waters of baptism. Its one more step to being an eternal family. I LOVE TO BAPTIZE haha. 

Were going to baptize 2 more this week im hoping, there names are Sarah Hernandez and Marily Sagastume. Please keep them in your prayers!!! They're both really great and have so much desire to be baptized! 

Finally, I'm coming home in 4 months but that has not changed how I see things in the mission. I';m still working hard and seeing the fruits of what I'm doing. Were reactivating a family right now and we had a lesson with them on Sunday. At the end I shared my testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel and the church and hows its brought me out of the deepest depths that I've ever been in. By the end, everyone was crying. It was one of the most powerful testimonies I have ever giving and the spirit was soooo strong. They are going to come to church and to be honest, I couldn't be happier than I am right now. I love finding the lost sheep and helping them back onto the straight and narrow. I love my savior and cannot wait to meet him in the not too far off future. 

Last but not least, OPEN YOUR MOUTHS AND SHARE THIS GOSPEL!! DONT BE SELFISH BY KEEPING IT IN!!! 

I love you guys!!!

Elder Whelan