Well, i cant believe another week has passed, it seems like i was just sending an email last week. There is a saying out here on the mish that says the days go like weeks and the weeks go like days. Thats exactly how i feel, the days are full of work and constantly doing something and never having enough time to everything and they last forever, and then you get to the next p-day and its like wow, where did that week go? Its pretty crazy and this past week has been full of different things i dont think i have ever been more tired in my life day in and day out.
Well first i just want to say that this week has been a tough week for me. Adjusting to the new surroundings, culture, food, people and missionary work has been really hard and taken its toll. its been hard not to miss home at times and feel overwhelmed by the prospect of being here for 2 years. I just want to say that all your love and support and prayers are a real source of strength for me and your emails are awesome! I am trying to work hard and be the best missionary i can be, but it is really difficult at times and it can feel lonly, but thank you for your encouraging words. Just in the past two weeks i have learned so much not only in spanish and everything else, but about what i am doing here as a missionary, and i am beginning to realize that i have just started to scratch the surface on what i am here to do and what i am here to learn and to teach to these people. Living in these humbling and trying circumstances i have already gained a huge appreciation for family and everything we have back home in the states. We dont realize how good we have it back home and how incredibly blessed we really are.
This week has been really busy and full of work, i have taught and born testimony more times than ever and probably more times in Spanish than i have ever done in english haha. Elder Clyde thinks my spanish is really good, so he has started to give me more opportunities to speak and to teach, to the point where he makes me start whole lessons and teach whole principles in visits. Let me just say that i have seen miracles and the gift of tongues in action for myself. The other day, i had to teach a whole lesson to some inactive members on prayer with pretty much no preparation, and i taught a condensced version of the restoration to a catholic woman in her house by myself. i know that throught the spirit i have been able to do things i would have never thought possible i could do just 2 weeks ago. it really is a miracle how much i can speak and how much i am able to do with just 2 and a half months of spanish. Yesterday i felt impressed to give a woman a book of mormon, and i was able to introduce it to her and explain it and bear my testimony of it with almost no language problem, i felt the spirit so strong and i know that i was blessed to be able to say what i could because that is what she needed to hear. Another really cool experience this week was that on saturday, elder clyde and i decided to fast for our investigators that they would be able to come to church because we have had a problem with getting people to church. So we fasted and tried really hard to get the people that said they would go to church sunday morning, but as it turns out, none of the people we wanted showed up. but a woman whose family we are teaching whose husband said they couldnt go showed up by herself without us even asking. and then afterwards, we went to Franklin and valesca's house (a family we are teaching and trying to get married and baptized) because they didnt show up to church like they said they were, and we were talking, and it turns out valesca who has had some doubts about joining the church straight up said she wanted to get married and baptized this week. This is after weeks of being taught and not commiting, and just when we fasted, she makes the discision that she wants to be baptized and married. so we are getting them married this week and baptized afterwards. this just showed me the blessings from fasting, and like always God answers our prayers in different ways than we thought or expected.
Anyway there are several other experiences i have had, but i cant fit them all into this letter, but our fasting experience was the best. on a not quite so spiritual note, i got soaked 2 or 3 times last week because of rain which is an interesting experience in trying to contact and teach in the rain haha. and i also ate cow gut soup this week as well. it actually was not as bad as it sounds or as bad as i thought it was going to be, it was just really chewy and kind of slid down the throat, not the best thing i have ever eaten, and probably not the worst, but it was definately wierd.
Anyway, i have been praying the hardest i have ever prayed in my life and always striving to work hard and to have the spirit with me. I love you all and miss you all a lot, but like i say every week, i know this is where i need to be although it is challenging and at times its hard to go out and knock that one last door or teach that one last lesson because i am tired or i am feeling lonely, i am here to serve and show the lord i am willing to go and do what he commands. Continue to send your emails and letters (ill put my address below) and you are in my prayers always, and i love you all and the lord! Keep strong and carry on! Love you all!
Con amor,
-Elder Henderson
My address =
Capilla de la Iglesia Mormona
Boulevard Centenario, Zona 2, Salida a Coatepeque
Apartado Postal No. 26
Retalhuleu, Guatemala
C.A. 11001
Im pretty sure this is the same address in the packet i left home as well, but this address is what you use to send me letters and packages.
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