More Golden Than the Plates

We are just having a blast here.  Hna W is so positive and happy all the time!  She is learning so fast and never complains.  She is such a good example to me.  It's great!  It's fun being with someone fresh out of the states because she points out to me all the things that are now normal to me...like how gross the dogs are, how different the doors are, how horribly I speak English. We're always talking about funny things and laughing at ourselves.

 Funny quotes from this week...

'Where's that scripture about the stupor of thought?' me while teaching a convert about the Holy Ghost.

'She's more golden than the plates!'  Hna W when she was so excited about our golden investigator that's getting baptized on the 11th.

'Hurry!  We need to do a scorpion check!'  Last week we found a scorpion in our house and ever since then I've been paranoid that there's somehow going to be a scorpion in my bed.  So now we have to do a scorpion check before we turn out the lights.  It's just part of the routine now.

'We have to take the cake!'  Our District Leader started a competition last week to see who could get the most lessons with member and most investigators at church.  The winner would get a cake. All week our motto was 'Take the cake!'  And we did!  It was delicious.

We had a pretty fun P-day yesterday.  Nothing too exciting to non missionaries but it was just what we needed.  We started off by getting ice cream donut sundaes.  It's a giant sundae on top of a donut.  Why choose donut or Sundae when you can just have both!  Then we went and I bought a new backpack (my third one.  I actually let myself spend a little more on this one so it better last!) and a new watch.  Then we went and got Buffalo wings, which were soo good.  Everyone thought we were nuts because it's super spicy to them (Someone here once described Ranch dressing to me as spicy.  It's so funny!).  But it was delicious.  

We had another successful wedding this weekend.  Thankfully each one gets less and less stressful.  The members helped us out SO much!  This is seriously probably how Zion is.  The Relief Society and Presiesthood and Primary and YM / YW all had something to bring.  Then on top of that we had members calling us and asking what else they could do, if they could make a dress for the bride, if they could lend a suit, if they could help in any way.  It was so cool!  Everyone was so excited for their boda and baptism and the whole ward was involved in everything.  It didn't matter how much time it required or the sacrifice they'd have to make.  The members just gave what they could.  It was so cool to see!  All the members were thanking us for helping this family come into the church.  But the truth is that we couldn't have done it without them.

Heavenly Father keeps blessing us.  When we're not sure who we're going to baptize next He leads us right to the people who are prepared.  We have high goals again this month and He is already helping us be successful!  We are so blessed!  And it's all because of the help of the members too.  There are always little trials, but they just help me be that much more grateful for all the miracles that we see.  We have a lot of investigators that are more golden than the plates right now.  Heavenly Father loves us!

Thanks for all your love and prayers!

Hermana Haymond

J's baptism!!!

He was supposed to be there at 5:30 on Friday and didn't show up until 6:30.  He doesn't have a phone to call so needless to say we had a heart attack.  But he showed up and got baptized and confirmed Sunday.

J & P's  Boda!!!!

Each wedding get less and less stressful

F and P's youngest daughters.  C and G.  They are so cute!

Baptism of F & P!  yay!!

Another sister found them in December.  She kinda stopped teaching them because they weren't coming to church.  But we kept with them when I got here and they started coming to church and Love it!  He's a pro soccer player from Honduras and they have 6 kids.  Their daughter in the picture was baptized a few weeks ago.  Another one is getting baptized the 11th.  They're an awesome family.

I survived Semana Santa

I want to make that into a T-shirt for every missionary that has served here.  Semana Santa was a adventure.  Everyone was out of town.  And the people who were in town weren't from here.  But it turned out to be a good week!  Almost every single night there was a procession.  And they decorate the streets with really pretty colorful designs.  Everyone goes and looks at them before the processions late at night.  I should have taken pictures but I didn't. Dang.  There are processions for each part of the Holy Week when Christ was taken to be tried, when he was taken to the tomb, when Mary was looking for Him, and when He raised from the dead.  It was pretty interesting.  They also have a tradition on the Friday of Semana Santa where they make giant dolls (kinda like a scare crows) that are super ugly and scary to represent Judas.  They go around trying to sell the dolls like Judas betrayed Christ.  Then at 6 pm Friday everyone burned their dolls.  The traditions here are so interesting!  Totally different for an Ester Bunny, egg hunt, colorful baskets kind of day.  But two of my converts are so sweet adn are always thinking of me.  They found a little plastic egg and gave it to me.  Inside was a little bracelet that says "Sister Haymond".  Ah! I can't explain how much I love these people.  It was a fun little taste of an American Easter.

So I have a new companion!  She's from Utah and is so awesome.  Fresh out of the CCM!  She is doing great!  Ten minutes into our companionship I made her contact a bus and she id it like its no big deal.  She contacts like crazy and is always diligent.  It's great!  I am learning so much and being pushed to be better and better.  She is learning so fast.  her Spanish gets better every lesson.  It's going to be a great change.

We have suffered a little though.  This weekend we got food poisoning.  We're both fine now but man it was a rough weekend.  For a solid day and a half we were throwing up in the middle of lessons and in members houses and calling the nurse a million times.  Ah, We suffered and smiled through it.  That's just what ya do in the mish.  But it was a good bonding experience.  And a good way for her to get to know the members really fast.  And we didn't even have to throw up at the same time.  Count your blessings : )

The suffering on the mission never goes away.  There's always something going wrong.  But you just get used to it and learn to love it.  It's all for your good.  I really am happy.  I've never lied in my emails saying I'm happy when I'm really not.  You just learn to be super thankful for the crazy things in life.  We are doing super well with our goals and our investigators are doing great.  We'll have lots of baptism pictures next week!  I know that it's all because we've been able to learn form our challenges we had this weekend.

I love Easter. I know that Christ lives.  I love telling people that he Lives and directs this Church.  I know that he atoned for our sins and sorrows and afflictions and sicknesses and weaknesses and everything we could ever feel.  I know that He chose to do it because He loves us.  I  know that He rose from the dead and that we will too.  I love the meaning of Easter because Easter wasn't the end of Christ's life.  It was the beginning of our eternal life.  And I wish everyone could feel the joy that comes from coming unto Christ through repentance and baptism.  I'm so thankful to be his representative.

Hermana Haymond

My hija. She is from Orem Utah.

Say hello to Herman W.  Straight from the CCM!

LOOK WHO'S IN MY DISTRICT!!!!! I AM SO EXCITED I ALMOST CRIED WHEN I FOUND OUT.  I have been companions with every sister in my district. District meeting today was a party!  (Hermana G trained with Alexis and then when they were done training their trainer left them and they were left together as companions.  Alexis loves Hermana G)

Gross bug that flew into our house.
'They make huge and make really loud  wierd noises. Its like its from a movie.

Semana Santa

I cant believe Easters already here!  Easter here is a week long.  There aren't any bunnies or peeps or eggs.  It's more like Spring Break.  No one has school all week and everyones traveling.  The only Eastery thing is that there are lots of processions.  So thats interesting.  People love hearing about Easter in the States.  They think it's be so much cooler to have an Easter Bunny.

Speaking of Easter Bunnies...we've had a visitor at our house.  I went outside one morning and there was a HUGE bunny in our patio/backyard pila area.  Its really cute.  Definitely someone's pet.  We have no idea how it got there because there are huge solid walls on all sides of our patio and the ground is concrete.  But it got in somehow. When we got back that night it was gone.  No where to be found!  That same night when I was sleeping I woke up to thumping sounds on the roof, but went back asleep thinking it was the wind.  In the morning we were outside doing exercises and Hna V freaked out and noticed the bunny on our roof!  Ever since then we see it every once in a while on our patio.  We can't have pets so we don't know what to do!  We didn't invite it or anything.  We feed it corn flakes and bananas whenever we find it.  We have no idea where it came from or where it goes or how it gets around.  But I'm convinced it's the Easter Bunny visiting me from the States.

Lately we've been bringing our recent converts on visits with us more often.  It's been a really awesome experience.  Their testimonies are so fresh and strong!  And their stories really help the investigators realize that theyre not the only ones to go through the conversion process.  I cant explain the joy that I have felt hearing my converts share their testimonies.  It's so hard not to cry when I hear them tell about how the Gospel has changed their lives to someone who doesn't quite believe yet.  Hearing them say that the church is true is so powerful for me.  I really can't explain it.  But I wish everyone could experience that feeling.  I'm thankful that I was able to help them get to the point of knowing those things.

Things have been really good.  People are progressing and we see more and more miracles every day.  Heavenly Father is letting me recieve a lot of blessings and I'm so thankful for it!  I'm thankful that I get to represent Jesus Christ this week.  Remember what He did during this week.  Remember that you are the reason why He did it.  I know that He died for our sins.  But more importantly I know that He lives and loves us.

Happy Easter!

Hermana Haymond

making fruit loop rice krispie treats with hna v.  shes so cute

Y got baptized!!!!

The family of Faustino and Patty minus 2 kids.

This family is so cool.  The dad was a pro soccer player in Honduras.  Their kids are so cute!  Faustino and Patty are going to get married and baptized the last weekend of this month.

It's a Girl!

Hna V! my mini mini-missionary

Yesterday I found out I'm going to be training next change!  I'm going to have my first hija.  I guess the mini missionaries are my hijas too.  They're like daughters that I have to give up for adoption.  But this will be different.  I'm excited to be a trainer, but I still have no idea how to be a missionary.  I'm sure I'll be the one learning the most.

Things are going way better this week!  We got back into the swing of things really fast after my not so funny April Fools joke.  My new companion is a hard worker and I'm so thankful for that! It's hard to be happy when we're not working our hardest.

I just love the people in my area!  The other day it rained really hard and we didn't have umbrellas.  One of the sisters in our ward saw us and made us change into dry clothes from her daughter.  It was funny because she wouldn't leave with us to go on our visits until we were in dry clothes.  There are lots of nice people here that take care of me!

Conference was awesome!  I got to hear it in English, which is always so nice!  Hearing Elder Hollands voice is good enough reason for everyone in the world to learn English.  You can't not believe that the church is true when you hear the voices of prophets like him.  I love going and teaching after conference.  We teach A LOT about prophets and how the church of Jesus Christ HAS to have prophets and 12 apostles.  It's the coolest thing ever to testify about a living prophet and say that I just heard his voice. 

It was also really interesting to invite people to conference.  We found a guy outside of his house on Saturday and started teaching him.  To start off I asked him what he would give to listen to a prophet of Jesus Christ.  He told me he'd give up his job to go listen.  So we kept teaching and explained the Restoration.  Then we invited him to General Conference and he told us he'd love to but he couldn't come because he had to work.  People are just funny like that.  But it's interesting to ask them questions like that, questions that really make them think.

What have you all learned from Preach My Gospel lately?  Today I was reading about Patience.  I really like how it says that Patience is when we have hope and happiness even though there are problems.  A lot of times we expect to be rescued immediately from our problems, but we fail to see that we need to exercise Patience.  It reminded me of President Uchtdorfs talk.  We need to be thankful people.  We cant just be thankful for things when life is good.  We need to be patient and be grateful when things are rough too.  That way we can really trust in Gods will.

Everything is going good.  Heavenly Father is always blessing us with pilas investigators.  It's such a miracle!  We had high goals in March, and we can't lower them much for April.  We keep seeing the hand of God more and more in the work.  There's no reason to take a break.

Thanks for all your emails and love and prayers!

Hermana Haymond

Not An April Fools Joke!

All this week I was trying to think of something witty to send you guys on April Fools.  Something about me having dengue, or getting sent to another mission, or baptized 12 people last weekend.  But it's been a crazy enough day that I don't have to make anything up.  Today's been quite a day, but none of it has been a joke.

So Sunday Hna C said she got bit by something.  And from there her foot kept getting more and more swollen.  We had talked with the mission nurse and we couldn't figure anything out to help her.  This morning Hna C woke up and her foot was huge!  SO big and red.  And she said she couldn't feel anything up to her hip.  So we rushed to the hospital.  I didn't have time to bathe or read my scriptures or eat breakfast or anything.  So we go to the hospital and it turns out she has a really bad infection that somehow got triggered Sunday.  She has to be in the hospital a few days.  She won't be able to finish her mini mission, which is so sad!  Yesterday she was really scared that she'd get sent home, but she cant walk so its better that way.  Poor thing!  Its especially sad because we had become really good friends.  Things were rough at first but it was so sad to say goodbye!  The Senior missionaries came and got me from the hospital and took me to a members house in the ward until I could find another companion.  When I saw the mom of the family I just hugged her and bawled.  It had been such a stressful morning and being without a companion is scary.  I just needed a hug from a mom even if it wasn't my own mom.  But its nice to know I have people to take care of me all over the world.

My new companion is Hermana Valenzuela!  She is an 18 year old from our ward here.  She is also a mini missionary, as of 2 hours ago!  She called her mom and asked 'Hey can I be Hna Haymonds companion until April 16th.'  Her mom said yes and now she's a missionary! I'm excited!  She's very cute and really excited.  She's sitting next to me reading Preach My Gospel as we speak.   Woo!  It will be a good adventure.  Hopefully Hna Cucinatii gets better soon enough to go on her own mission.

Before I forget...SHOUT OUT TO CHASE WHO GOT HIS MISSION CALL TO WASHINGTON!!! AHHH!!!!!!!!  I'm way excited for you.  And shout out to Grandma Suzie who's 40th birthday is today!  (April Fools!  I think she's actually turning 25.  :)   )

This week was rough.  The people who were going to get baptized this weekend aren't quite ready yet, and we didn't reach our goal of 400.  But we saw so many miracles and we have to be thankful for all the success that Heavenly Father has given us.  Its just hard not to look back and wonder what I could have done better.

I'm always having funny experiences with English.  The other day we were in a lesson with 2 younger guys and we asked if we could help them with anything.  One asked me if I knew English (I always tell them no just because I think its funny.  Of course I know English.  I have a terrible accent and I'm the only canchita here.).  He told me he had one of those bears that talks when you squeeze its hand and he wanted me to translate what it said.  He thought it said bad things and wanted to get rid of it if it did.  So I nervously agreed, because they were convinced that it said bad things.  He brought out a normal teddy bear.  It started talking about Teddy Roosevelt and how the teddy bear had been invented.  It was a 100 anniversary teddy bear.  I just started laughing and tried to explain that it talks about presidents from the US.  I never thought I'd be asked to translate the history of where Teddy Bears come from. 

Sunday we had the 3rd hour of church with all the adults.  Everyone was all excited because that doesn't happen very often.  We all wondered what we'd be talking about.  Turns out we spent a good hour and a half talking about how to clean the church.  We watched a bunch of videos with not so great acting about how important it is to clean the chapel.  There was a lot of heated conversation about how everyone needs to be responsible and clean up after themselves.  I just laughed to myself.  I totally felt like I was in one of our Family Home Evenings where we learn how to keep the toilet clean or how to pull weeds or how to caulk the bath tub.  Good times.

I'm glad I get to write home today.  It's been really crazy.  But I will never forget my April Fools in Guatemala.

Thanks so much for all the prayers!

Love you all!

Hna Haymond

There is no such thing as a good pictures of me anymore.  I look so gross today.  There was no time to get ready.  but I was also there supporting my comp.  She really was happy at this point.  She looks more miserable than she was.  Oh! I forgot to tell you the best part of my day.  I got to eat lunch in the hospital because I was the person who accompanied hna c.  and it was sooo good!  There was chocolate cherry cake and steak and really good baked potatoes and sweet potatoes..  Holy cow.  I almost died.