Hola!

So this week has been interesting.

Last Monday we hiked up to this place called la piedra de nuestros compadres. We went with my district and took a picnic. It was fun and there was an awesome view of the valley and mountains/vocanoes all around. Wednesday we had divisions. We went to Chiquimula for district planning and then Hermana Torres came back with me to Esquipulas and my comp stayed in Chiqui with Hermana Guerra. I was feeling sick that day, but also excited because of divisions because Hermana Torres is pretty much amazing. So it was one of the best days I have had out here. Even though I felt like I was going to collapse, throw up, or pass out for pretty much the whole day, I actually felt like a missionary and like I contributed and learned! She gave me really great feedback and did the training with me. We ended up with 5 new investigators at the end of the day and a baptism date!! So basically for the past few days I have been back and forth between laying in bed and going out to teach and then regretting going out haha. On Thursday I got in bed at 3 and was in and out of sleep until 10! it was insane. Everyone thinks It´s dengue because I have had a fever and it feels like someone beat me up.
Yesterday for pday though, we went to Ipala with my zone. We hiked up to a water volcano! It was awesome. It was an hou hike up so I was pretty beat when I got to the top. I layed in the grass basically the whole time and talked with some of the other nortes. I probably should have stayed home but if one companionship couldnt go, then nobody could go. It was really fun though. My zone is so fun. We have 13 nortes and 11 hispanos. It´s crazy!! Usually we have a lot mor hispanos than nortes. Anyways, that´s all I have for this week really. It hasn´t been too exciting as I have been laying in bed for a good part of it. We have another baptism date for this month though. The lady walks an hour and a half to get to church each week. Her ¨husband¨was coming with her but he just left her last week. He actually has another family somewhere so she thinks he went to them. She said that he was talking about his family after one of the sessions of general conference. So who knows, maybe he will make things right with his family and still find the church wherever he is out there.
Anyways, I love you all and thank you for your love and support and prayers!!!

Love,
Hermana Bender

Ipala:

Jungle Hikes

Hola all!!

Time is flying by, it is unreal!

This Saturday we had 5 baptisms between the Elders and Me and my Comp. Last Saturday we had 3. So the most recent Saturday was awesome because we had one of our new investigators come to the baptism! we planned it for 4pm so naturally here in central america, it started around 5:45 haha. During the waiting time our investigator, Jessica, came up to my companion and was like, hey, can I have a Book of Mormon? So we had a mini lesson and asked her to read about when Christ came to the Americas and pray to know if it is true. She said yes because last time she prayed to know if we were messengers of Christ and she had her answer in a dream. In the dream me and my companion were standing and holding a streamer I think between us and in the center was the heart of Christ. Kind of weird because she talks about the heart of Christ a lot but awesome because she was like I know that where you two are, there is Christ also! So cool.

So last Pday was so great. We planned to go to a waterfall with one of the recent converts in the branch, Freddy. So we left at 7am in case it was going to rain in the afternoon (which is usually does since it is the rainy season). So we hiked for about 2 1/2 hours in the most beautiful Jungle basically. Then some people told us that we were on the wrong path for the big waterfall. We didnt want to turn back so we kept going and made it to some small ones. It was really fun. We brought lunch and hung out and took pictures. Then Freddy ended up slipping on a rock and hurt his foot pretty badly. He could barely walk and we were out in the middle of nowhere so there wasnt any transportation until we got closer to town. so the 2 1/2 hour hike back was actually 3 1/2 which was actually really great because it as a lot of steep up hill and down hill so it was nice to walk slowly. Came back into town just as the rain came down so I was soaked, had some nice blisters, scrapes, and bug bites, and it was AWESOME!! Totally worth it.

On the way back we stopped and talked with this lady who works out there taking care of the coffee plants. She lives day to day and was crying because someone told her that the missionaries go out there sometimes and to look for them. (which is weird because the missionaries dont go out that far). I gave her a Plan of Salvation pamphlet and we invited her to come to church on Sunday although we didnt think she would actually come because it is so far away. But. Sunday morning in she walks with her ¨"husband" (hardly anyone is married here). They want to come to conference this Sunday too, Yay! Just goes to show us that the Lord is hastening his work. Miracles happen every day here, and it is amazing to be a part of it.

Saturday we get to go out to Chiquimula for conference and stay overnight with some of the sisters for Sunday conference too. I cant wait! Im pretty sure we nortes get to watch it in English too so that is great!!

Invite your friends to conference everyone!!!

I love you all!

Hermana Bender

Two families baptisms:

Our hike through the jungle:

 My District:

A cool castle thing:

A family found out Hillary's first name and named their rabbit after her because it is white and has blue eyes:

 

Buenos Dias!

Hello everyone!!!

First of all, shout out to my baby sister LIDDIE JANE who is turning 10 today!!! Welome to the double digits sista!!! I love you!

Im sorry if any letters got lost because of the other address or because the MTC here loses lots of letters apparently.

Time for an update on the past two weeks! Still adjusting to the fact that I live in Guatemala. It is so beautiful here. Every day is a new experience, and they always remind me that I am definitely not in the United States any more haha. I have never had to wonder if I would have power in the morning or running water. It has definitely made me more grateful. I am actually super blessed to live out here in Esquipulas. Our apartment is pretty nice and has warm water in the shower. The other hermanas in my zone were like whhaaat?! you have warm water?! haha. One of the hermanas from my district in the MTC said that they were living in a house for a week and a half that only had cold water, no flushing toilet, and it was infested with geckos.

So last Fridady was a zone conference with the mission preident Watts and his sweet wife. They are the BEST!! The meeting was really great and inspiring and gave me a lot of encouragement and all of the other hermanas were just really uplifting. Afterwards, hermana Watts gave us all cinnamon rolls that she made!! A little taste of home : ). Sunday Pres and sis watts came out to Esquipulas for church at our branch. We had a family that we have been teaching FINALLY come to church with us that day and also less active members galore!! It was awesome!

Sunday night we went to stay in Chiquimula because we had zone pday the next day and we were going to the Castillo which is 3 and a half hours from there so we were leaving at 5 in the morning. It is about 40km from the coast! It was so beautiful there and sooooo humid! I loved it! There is a famous singer that made a music video in the castillo if you want to check out where i was on youtube. The singer is Ricardo Arjona and the song is called Fuiste tu. One of the pics i sent last week is from the castillo.

We now have 4 baptisms set for this saturday. they are all cousins and from inactive/reactivated families. The oldest one is an 18yr old boy named Bryan. He never sists in onthe lessons with us so we were super suprised when he asked us if he could be baptized. He wants to go on a mission too so that is exciting.

Thursday was my comps birthday. we went to our commedor for breakfast which we usually never do, and the cook, mama lili, made us pancakes! And hot chocolate!! I thought she was asking me if i wanted my hot chocolate with milk so i was like YES! but she was actually asking me if I wanted avena con leche which is oatmeal-like stuff but better. Anyways, I would have said no because i was already so full but out she came with the avena con leche and I was confused at first. I said to my comp, that is for you right? hahaha nope. so I was soooo stuffed. Then for lunch we went to a members house with the elders because the family wanted to make my come a honduranean meal. It was a bunch of fried stuff and some root that they love which i forgot what it is called. They love this root, like they put it in fried dough and with salsa and in tacos. It is no bueno. Elder Davalos bought 3 huge strings of fire crackers so we set those off, it was pretty fun. He is crazy. He knows a little bit of english and he learned funny words when he worked in the mission office so he calls me cankles, flowers, stinky, fool, and grumpy. It is so funny to hear with his accent and nobody else has any idea what he is saying. That night we got pizza and cake and the Elders smashed my comps face in it so that was fun! hahaha.

Anyways, that is my life these days. We are having a workshop on Friday for the leaders in the Branch because none of them want to help us with the work and we really need to be united as a branch if we want to see success.

I am trying to take note of the tender mercies of the Lord every day. It is amazing to see his hand in every aspect of my life. I love the people here. I can hardly wait for when I can actually express everything I want to say to them in Spanish. It has been hard for me to stay positive in that aspect so thank you to everyone for your love, support and prayers. I am so grateful to have so many people that love and care about me. You all are wonderful!! 

Hermana Bender