My First Parasite!

Well family it has been a whirlwind of a week. I wish I could tell you its been a good week, but its been quite difficult to be honest. This week will be better though.

First off I didnt have cambios. Im still here in the area of Espino and Im still with Hna Estevez. The only change is our zone split. So now instead of being in the zone Ahuachapan, Im now in the zone Gloria. The next cambio is only 4 weeks. so it is going to fly by.

At the beginning of the week I was just feeling super tired and weak and i didnt know why. This was the first week that I didnt have a huge motivation to work hard and I didnt know why. My stomach kind of felt a little weird, but nothing terrible. But my companion told me i probably have a parasite. I didnt believe her though cause it wasnt anything terrible, but we went to the doctor and had examens and yes i have a parasite. Ive been taking medicine so hopefully that takes care of everything. Its just been made tired and ive felt like i couldnt work like i wanted to.

Afterwards though at the end of the week ive been feeling a lot of anxiety. I think being sick from the parasite just made me really stressed and now ive just been struggling with anxiety. I received a blessing from Hno Trejo and that helped a lot. I understood the whole blessing it it was definitely what I needed. I still feel anxiety and im still struggling though. I know that Christ knows how I feel though, and I know that through him and his atonement I can receive strength.

So yeah this week has been kind of tough. Anyways we didnt really find new investigators this week cause it was a rough week. But weve been working with our investigators from last week. We have a baptismal date for an 8 year old dayana. We we were hoping her mom would be baptized too, but she says that she is not interested right now. they are related to the bishop so the girl has a lot of support in the church. Dayana is always smiling and she loved learning and she is excited to be baptized and go to church.

We have some other investigators too, but I dont really have time to write today.

Weve still been visiting with Alba. It was fun to make pupupsas at her house this week. Her son was baptized a few years back and he is inactive now, but he was visiting with us the other day and hopefully we can get him to come back too. Her husband is always away from home working. He was there when we were making pupusas but he was gone the rest of the week and on sunday. So it is kind of hard to work with him, but hopefully we can continue to talk with them.

This week I finished reading the Book of Mormon. I think this is my third time in my life personally reading it. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and I know that every word in it is true. Im seriously so grateful for it in my life and the guidance I can receive from the scriptures. Now im starting to study the new testament and hopefully i can start reading jesus the christ.

I really didnt get much time to write today but I will write more next week. I know this week will be better. I love you all and thank you so much for your prayers. Im grateful for the opportunity to be out here.

Love,

Hermana Groneman

Transfer week

Wow I cannot believe that I have made it through my first six weeks here in El Salvador! How crazy! Cambios are in two days (on wednesday) and we dont know what is happening yet. We were supposed to find out this morning...but then for some reason they are waiting until tomorrow night to tell us. I dont think that anything is going to change for me or my companion but you never know. My companion has been here for almost six months now... but I think she will finish my twelve week training before she gets switched. This week went by super quick again. So for Pday there arent really a ton of like tourist sites to see so we usually just kind of hang out around the city, sometimes shop around, just whatever. We write at different times so it just depends on what time our district gets assigned. Last week we wrote super early and afterwards we went to an area called Ataco. It is seriously SO beautiful there. I guess that is like the dream place to serve for all of the hermanas, or i guess at least in this zone. It is more touristy with the shops, but it is just really pretty and also the city is just really calm. I bought a few things, but not much. I tried to remind myself i have my whole mission to buy stuff haha. but that was the first time i had been around a touristy area. This week we got to teach some English classes. It was SO SO SO weird to be in a place where i was supposed to be speaking english. I kept wanting to speak in spanish and my spanglish was just weird. It was funny. I dont know if we will keep going to the English classes or not, but it was kind of fun. So like last week I think i mentioned I was quite stressed about areas because I felt like we didnt have people to teach and we needed to find nuevos investigadores. So this week we went out into a different part of our area that we hadnt contacted before. I dont know why we waiting until now to go out into that area, but im glad we did. The problem with this area is we cant go there at night because there isnt a lot of a light out in that area and its kind of dangerous, so we can only work there in the afternoons. But it is out of the city and out in the field and it is SO gorgeous in that area. I dont think i have really said much about beautiful it is here in El Salvador, but it really is. Literally so beautiful and so green! Anyways but I really like being out in the country area of our area. And the people are much more receptive out there. we found quite a few new investigators out there. That really helped this week and I really enjoyed working out in that area. I dont think I have talked much about Dia de Reposo, but keeping the sabbath day holy is really a big problem with the people we teach here. Basically at least half or three fourths of the people you talk to either own a small store out of their home, work somewhere in the city, or make pupupsas or torillas out of their homes. So it is really hard for people to accept that. yesterday was probably the best day out of the whole week. This weekend was stake conference here in ahuachapan. They had a special meeting yesterday from 9 to 10 for recent converts or investigators. We had 5 investigators in church which was really great! Also guess who i saw at the stake conference. President and hermana Peterson! I talked to them for a little and they took a picture with me! So maybe she will send it to you on facebook dad. Anyways after church we headed out to the far part in our area and we had a lesson with a woman named Yessenia and her daughter Dayana who is 8. They were a referral from people in our ward and they came to church yesterday. But we hadnt taught them yet. But when we taught them yesterday we learned that she has talked with the missionaries many times and almost was baptized but for some reason she didnt. But yesterday we invited her to baptism and with a baptismal date and both her and her daughter accepted. I think it helps that her daughter is now 8 so they can baptized together. They were both super positive and we are going to work a lot with them this week. Also after that we went and visited a woman named Ana who we knocked her door the other day. She hasnt really talked with the missionaries before but she has heard a lot about mormons. She is evangelic but she really is interested in learning about mormons. She was quite positive. and she has two boys one who is 8. So we are going to work with her a lot this week too. one of the other investigators who came to church yesterday is named william. His wife wasnt very interested because she already goes to a church, but he was and we are hoping to work with them too. So anyways yesterday was just full of great things that happened. And Im really glad we are starting to find some new people to work with. Alba is doing great still. We had a Noche de Hogar at her house last week, and it was great to see her kind of direct the night at her house and have her share her testimony. It is really great to see her at the church activities. Tonight we are going to her house and we are going to make pupusas!!! Im super excited! Im still trying to work more on following the spirit. I really want to be a missionary who works through the spirit and it is something im working on. I felt like we had some good experiences knowing which doors to knock this week. We do work with the members, but I want to continue working with them more. One thing we have been doing is going to members house and showing them these videos and then reminding them of Elder ballards invitation at conference to share your testimony with one person before christmas and also to kneel in prayer with the missionaries. i really have a strong testimony with kneeling in prayer and fasting with the members. I truly believe that is how we had the two baptisms we have had in this area. So i invite you to invite the missionaries over to the house and kneel in prayer with them for their investigators. Also to share your testimony with one person before Christmas. I love you all so much! Thank you for your prayers as always! Hermana Groneman

Wow another week already has gone by! how crazy! Literally this week went by so quickly so I cant even imagine how fast the mission is going to go by in a few months. This week we had quite a few good activities and things that helped the week go by quickly. So on tuesday we had the baptism of Alba (I will try to send some pictures= It was so neat. I feel like I made a little more of a difference in helping Alba to be baptized then I did with Kevin since i didnt teach kevin much before his baptism so it was neat for me. She was a little nervous at first I think. After the baptism though all the people there were congratulating her and giving her hugs while she was sitting in her chair...and after most of the people were done her husband who was sitting behind her gave her a hug from behind she just started crying. Her husband isnt a member but we hope to eventuallyto teach him. But it was neat. Also before the baptism we were asking her little girl if she wanted to be baptized, she is only 7, and she said no.....but after the baptism i asked her again and she was like yeah i want to be baptized when im 8! haha it was cute. One of the other times we visited with them later in the week we were playing jacks with alba and her little girl, it was fun. Thursday we had another multizona so that was absolutely great! I really love multizonas, and i wish we had them more often. They just remotivated me and help me to work hard. and always seem to help me with the things im struggling with. Thursday night when we got back to our area, because the multizonas are at the mission office, we had a talent show night with the ward. It was super fun and it just reminded me how much this church is centered in families and I wish that more people could enjoy the blessings of the gospel with their families. Friday was super fun because hermana hunter who came here the same time as me, came with us for the whole day because her companions are sister training leaders and they had a meeting. That day was just super fun and I want to have more days like that where we have fun but also work hard. We contacted some girls in the street who were jump roping and we played with them for a minute or two. It was great. Ive mentioned the familia Trejo, Rene Trejo and Isabel Trejo. Our ward mission leader and cook. But Hno Trejo got realized as ward mission leader and I am SO sad. Plus Hna trejo is having a baby in like a month so we dont know how much longer she will be our cook. But they literally are our parents here. Yesterday they were just giving us advice and I always feel better after i leave their house. I really cant explain how grateful I am for them, and I wish I could express it more to them...I always say thanks and stuff, but I dont think they understand just how much they mean to me. I have had kind of a stressful week though. Im struggling balancing the stresses. I feel so stressed about the area and our investigators, and also stressed that im not becoming the missionary I want to be, or that im not learning to be the right kind of missionary, or stressing with the language always, or stressing about not knowing the lessons well enough. I know I need to be patient, so its just hard to deal with all of the stress. But Im learning. I try to just take it one day at a time. My spanish the past two days has struggled. Generally ive done pretty well understanding people. But Saturday and sunday for some reason i just feel like I wasnt understanding anything. its so discouraging. But yesterday i bore my testimony in church and Hno Trejo later was telling me how great my spanish was and how fluent it sounded and also another member we ate dinner with was saying how beautiful my spanish was. Literally those two comments were answered prayers to help me feel better about the language. I honestly cant even explain to strength I have received through prayer here in the mission. It is incredible how weak and inadequate I feel. But with Gods help, somehow I am doing it. I am so grateful for prayer. Our area really needs new investigators. It is really difficult to find new people. Tons of people here are catholic or evangelic and that is part of why im really stressed about the area, because im just learning but yet we need to step it up. I dont know. Also Im trying to have experiences where I follow the spirit, but i have to admit dad that i havent had many experiences yet where I felt like we have really followed the spirit. I am trying to work on that more because I know that it is only through the spirit that we will find new people. It was great to hear from you all again and I am so grateful for your support and your emails. I cant even explain how much it means to me. I love you all and thanks for your prayers as always. next week will come fast! Hermana Groneman

Gracias por all of the birthday wishes from all friends and family!! I wish I had time to write to all of you but I dont, but know that I really appreciate it! The beginning of this letter might be kind of random, but im just gonna try and answer some of your questions. This week seriously flew by. I can´t believe Im already on my 5th week here in el salvador. Two more weeks and we have cambios, but I dont think that I will be changing or my companion. A little more about my companion since you asked. Hermana Estevez is from Honduras and she has been out for 5 months. She loves to joke around and laugh.. like all the time! She learned english in school so she can communicate pretty well with me. Her mom died when she was like 7, which makes me think a lot about you mom, but she is super super strong. The area I am in dad is in Ahuachapan and the ward is Espino. I think if you look up on LDS.org you can find ward boundaries or atleast the chapels. our area is by the Col. Ivu. Our chapel is Capilla frente de Ivu. One of the main streets is Col. Pacifico.... if that helps a lot. I dont know it is super hard here with addresses...cause there are just tons of small pasajes. I love my district and my zone! The people in my district are DL Elder Ibazeta (peru), Elder Bausserman (Ohio), and then me and hermana estevez, and then Hermana Harris (Utah), Hermana Hunter (Arizona) she came at the same time I did, and then Hermana Herrera (argentina). I love seeing them. We don´t have cellphones, only the zone leaders, but the phones at night sometime we get to talk, but we run into each other all the time. Ah...im trying to remember your questions... Surprisingly dad there hasnt really been anything for halloween or dia del muertos or whatever yet...so i dont know if they dont do that here or what. So this week. First off can I talk about food for a second? my favorite thing in the world after pupusas is chocobananas. they are great. Im addicted. haha. But also this week I had pizza and hamburgers and can i just say they were better than anything ive ever had in the states. So there is that. Also I actually had crab on saturday at the familia trejos house! haha. It wasnt the best though...because the crabs were so small that I could barely get anything to eat out of them, but it was still good to think of you guys and it was funny we had that so close to my birthday. This week we had our multizona reunion at the mission office on thursday. It was great! It was basically all day with two other zones. I didnt really see any of my other friends other than those in our zone, but it was still great. That was the first time I had seen president cordon since the first day. That night we also had the baptism of Kevin! Kevins uncle Hermano Marvin Orellana baptized him, which is pretty cool because Hermano Orellana is one of Presidente Cordons converts. It was so neat to know how clean he was when he came up out of the waters. We visit with him a lot and since he is a joven we really want to help him stay active and stay with good friends. Him and his cousins are hilarious though. We are always joking around with them. So yeah, first baptism was pretty exciting! Also tomorrow Alba Alvarez is getting baptized! I am very excited for her baptism. I feel like I actually got to teach her a little more than kevin. She has had many missionaries come to her over the years, but she never really accepted the lessons or progressed. It really made my day the other day when we were at her house and she asked if we had a camera because she wanted a picture with us so she could remember us. Obviously we are going to get pictures with her at her baptism and stuff, but that really made my day to know that she wants to remember me. Her son is a member but inactive. Her husband isnt a member and he said he was going to come to church this last sunday, but he didnt. But he said for sure he is coming to her baptism this week and then church this sunday. We hope that eventually he can get baptized too. And then hopefully in a year they can go to the temple. Alba is going to be a great member. She had problems accepting baptisms for the dead at first, but we are hoping she can get involved in family history work. Ill send more pictures next week of her baptism. The next investigators or the Lopez family. I talked a little about them. Katherine (like 16) is a recent convert (she had been going to another ward) but we have been talking with her all the time. And then the mom is totally inactive. And then Dalia (like 21 or 22) is who we are mostly teaching, and then the also have a younger sister karen who is like 10. The dad lives in US and is a member. Anyways they are awesome. Yesterday for my birthday they surprised me with pupusas for dinner! We didnt get to spend a ton of time with them because we had other appointments, but it made me feel really great. I have pictures Im sending of us with Dalia and Katherine. I realized this week just how much I really do love the members and investigators. Sometimes its hard to feel if the people here really do love you or not, because I cant really understand always and I dont talk as much as I would like to, but everytime we are in the house of our investigators or members I feel comfortable. In the streets I feel a little overwhelmed sometimes or out of place, but in the house of members and investigators there are no worries. Im really grateful for the people here. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be here serving in El Salvador. I know that sometimes its hard, but I literally owe everything I have to this gospel. Im so thankful that I was able to grow up in the gospel in a strong family. I know without a doubt that God has a plan for all of us and the Jesus Christ is my Savior. I am forever grateful for his atonement in my life and I only hope that I can help to share it with the people here. Im sorry I dont have time to write very personal emails to all of you, but know that I think about you all every day. Dad I always think of you with my spanish and your strong testimony and knowledge of the gospel. Mom I hope all is going well for school and that you are enjoying your students. Ryan and Courtney please give big hugs and kisses to Adelyn! Thanks for the pictures. And Janelle and Colby I hope all goes well for you in applying for schools, Im praying for you that things will go well. Janelle I loved your email about laughing at Colby. Love you all so much! Hermana Groneman

Amanda in El Espino, El Salvador

Familia y amigos, Well Im happy to report that it has been a much better week. I really have a strong testimony of prayer this week. Not only were my prayers answered, but also I have felt your prayers. Every single day. Literally I don´t think I had one moment of homesickness this whole week (well maybe when I opened up emails this week a little bit) but honestly homesickness wasn´t distracting me this week and I was able to have a really great week. So thank you to every single one of you and your prayers. It really strengthens me to feel your prayers. Im sorry if my email last week was a little discouraging...maybe I shouldn´t write home sad emails...but thats how I was feeling last week. Also thank you to all who sent me encouraging emails. It meant a lot to me. So this week. Literally went by so quickly. and it was great. Tuesday we had one of the sister training leaders, Hermana Harris, come with us for the day and I loved that. She is from Salt Lake and she has about a 1 year into the mission. It was great to talk to her and she is a great example to me. Her spanish is amazing!!! literally sometimes people think she is latina. I hope one day I am as good as her at spanish. Wednesday was probably the best day of the entire week. We had to travel to San Salvador to do our paperwork for our visas and guess who i saw!? HERMANA GARBETT! Literally I dont think I have ever had such a great reunion hug with someone in my life. The minute I walked into the door of the office building and saw her we immiedately hugged and I was crying and blah blah blah but seriously it was the greatest moment in the whole week. Hermana Garbett and I are seriously going to be friends forever and I am so grateful for example in my life and her strength and love. She is doing great and we were talking how we only hope that one day we could somehow be companions again. Although that probably wont happen because hardly ever are two north americans companions together. But anyways that day was so great because I got to spend probably at least half of the day talking with her. Oh and we got wendys!!! This week we also had some really great things happen with our investigators. We are having a baptism this week! Kevin is 15 and I didnt really teach him much. He was mostly taught by Hermana Estevez and her last companion, but this week we happened to pass by his house and his mom was there too and we decided to ask her for her permission that he could be baptized (She wouldnt get permission earlier) and she decided to let him! I guess it really is a miracle for Hermana Estevez. We have been reviewing the lessons with him. So I dont know its not really my baptism but I guess it is cause Im in the area and we still have been teaching him. Also Alba Alvarez is progressing. She and her daughter came to church this week and also we had a really neat lesson with her this week. She said last week when she understands baptisms for the dead then she will be baptized. This week we had a lesson with her in the church with the zone leaders and then at the end our mission leader came in when the zone leaders left. At the end of the lesson we asked her to pray for a specific date for baptism. I couldnt really understand the prayer very well because of the spanish and there were fans on in the room so I couldnt hear very well. But I have never heard a more sincere prayer and by the end we were all crying. She didnt really necessarily accept the date for baptism but she wants to be baptized. I am really excited for her and I hope she continues to progress. Hopefully in the next few weeks she will be baptized. We also have a few other investigators but some of them arent really progressing. The familia Lopez is great, Dalia is our main focus, but she isnt coming to church so we dont know what is happening. Her sister Kathering (which by the way get on my FB and accept her friend request) is a recent convert, I could totally see her becoming a missionary one day. Anyways I love that family, they are always joking around with us. To answer some of your questions. We have district and zone conferences every thursday at the stake center. We also write here at the stake center. Except this week i think is a multi zone conference. We wake up at 6am every day...so a half hour earlier than most missionaries. Also Pday ends at 5pm which is an hour earlier as well. For christmas....hmmm. Mom I would love another dress or two or a skirt or something. I like my clothes here...but they are kind of too nice for this area and I would like something that could get a little more dirty haha. Or also I would like some church music on a CD or something (like the music on the youth.lds.org website). Other than that idk. Im wondering if I should get another memory card for my camera in case one gets lost or if I should get a thumbdrive I can save my pictures. I dont know I will think more for next week. Thanks everyone for all of the birthday wishes!! It is also our ward missionary leaders birthday so Im sure we will be doing something...and I know I will be taken care of here! I think that is basically everything. Really thank you so much for your advice. All of you. Sorry I dont have much time to write you all personally but know that I love you all. Thank you again for your prayers. I am so thankful for the opportunity to be out here in El Salvador. I know that nothing is going to help me become a better person than a mission. I know sometimes I get a little frustrated with myself because I know what kind of missionary I want to be...but I need to be patient with myself. Love you all! Someone go to Red Lobster and eat crab for me for my birthday! haha Hermana Groneman

Hola familia! Well second week here has come and gone and its been a roller coaster. Few random things to start off though. When I come home I am probably going to eat everything with my hands so be aware. Also I probably am going to sing horrible. Everyone here sings the hymns all the time, in every lesson and every member has their own personal hymn book. But the members often dont actually know the tune, but bless their hearts they sing with all their might. But it makes me feel better singing because I used to never sing alone...but I wouldnt mind here because my tune is probably much better haha. Bugs....so we have lots of big ants in our apartment but im pretty used to them. So the deal with mosquitos is we have to wear OFF 24/7. there is a disease called dengue fever and if you get it you can be hospitalized. If a missionary gets it twice they send them home and then reassign them to the states once they recover. So just pray I dont get that. I dont have a mosquito net...and we havent done anything specific with our sheets buts im still figuring things out. I dont really notice the bugs biting me probably cause it is so hot...but then later I notice when the bites itch. The area I am in is probably like Springville style town El Salvadorian style. I have been in Santa Ana (we traveled there last week because my companion was a little sick) and it is like the city. But then also later this week we worked a little in another area because Hermana Herrera went home so we worked with her companion for a few days and we worked in both our area and her area. her area is definitely more country/jungle area. My area though has paved streets on the big streets, and lots of cobblestone streets, and then some dirt streets. There are some city areas and some not. One thing is it is always noisy here. Mom when you think the buses are annoying in the morning out on the street just be glad you dont have people yelling "LECHE" or "PAN" and honking little horns selling stuff at 6 in the morning. haha. I havent been sick at all yet since I have been here so that is good. Especially cause my companion has had a cold and stuff..but i havent gotten sick. Im staying healthy and hopefully it stays that way. We eat at the Trejo Families house. That is our ward mission leader. I literally could not be more thankful for anyone here. They are so kind and I feel so loved and relaxed in their house. Hno Tejo served in Honduras and he actually knows TJ Beach. I am loving the food. OH and i literally could live off of pupusas for the rest of my life and be completely happy. I rejoice everytime we get to eat them. We havent had much success here. I didnt realize how many people would be so religious here. There are a lot of evangelic churches here and catholics too. Other than conference, Herman Estevez said she hasnt had an investigator at church since august i think.. So its hard. I feel like if we had success I would feel better, but we keep working hard. We were hoping for a baptismal date with Alba Alvarez...but she wouldnt commit to a date because she wants to be completely sure before she commits to a date or something...but we will keep working. In all honestly I have really struggled this week. A lot. Ive been quite homesick so I would appreciate prayers that I can focus and not feel homesick. I feel completely inadequate in everything. I have realized this week that I have a strong testimony of this gospel, but I dont really know how to teach it. In the CCM in mexico they didnt do much to teach us HOW to teach the gospel, they just told us to teach. So I feel really inadequate in my teaching. I feel really inadequate in my spanish. I feel really inadequate in everything. Its honestly hard because we have to be happy all day long because we have to show how the gospel can make you so happy. But honestly its hard to hold in tears as we walk around sometimes. Or especially in the morning I really struggling with homesickness. But im just taking it one day at a time. I know that it will come. But it is hard to see the big picture right now. So I would appreciate some words of advice next week or something uplifting. Sorry this email was kind of short and random. I might try and add some pictures if I can. If you have questions for me put them all at the beginning of your email. Cause as I read I forget if you ask my questions in the middle of the paragraph. I will be looking forward to the package. I have heard it can take anywhere from 4 to 8 weeks to get here. but i dont know how you sent it. I dont care when it comes, ill be looking forward to it. I love you so much and I am so thankful for your prayers. Im sad I didnt get an email from colby today. I love you all so much. Hermana Groneman