A Wild, Weird Week

Wednesday, July 27, 2011 6:47 PM

This has been the weirdest week of my entire mission life. I’ve had 3 comps in one week (not including the 2 I had for only 1 day each), returned to my second zone again, I’ve haven’t worked in practically 2 weeks, the last 3 days have been spent more or less in busses, an area 70 came (Falabella) which I sang an incredibly high solo for and until now.. Wednesday.. I haven’t been able to get to internet.

At changes I was told that I would only have my comp for 4 days, and that I was to introduce her to the area and the people and get her prepped there before I was going to be changed. Weird, random, never happens. But they didn’t want to take both sisters out of 2 areas so they did that since everyone was to be changed. So yea. I am now in Managua, Bello Horizonte zone again, but in a different area this time. I am neighbors to my old area, which kind of stinks cuz I know I’ve got all my family and converts just 5 minutes away and cannot visit but you know, whatever. I will wait till P-day. Or till they need help with Retention and we do divisions.

My comp right before she ended her mission. She is happy and has already met up with my other old comp who ended the mission, Hna Avila, over there in Guatemala.

My comp for 4 days, Hna Winter. She looks white and stuff but she´s from Guatemala. Hahahaha. Poor kid. Everyone thinks she´s gringa.

Just in case you didn’t see my awesome boots. I’m now InViNcIbLe!!!

Last night of fellowshipping with my branch in Esteli. Love these guys. Lots of great spirits there.

Raul and Yader - the two priesthoods I was able to teach and baptize there!

. Demon Chicken on the mirror

We ate it!!! Mmmmmm...............

The choir with President Falabella

One favorite thing about Nicaragua is the sky. It’s pretty.

The choir solo and other songs turned out very well. We received beautiful compliments. We were able to attend both days of the conference, which was really great because it turns out that even though it was planned to be the same topics in each conference, there were very different things taught in each, and only the traveling choir got to participate in the fulness of the spiritual feast. I learned in our conference with Falabella that I need to study Spanish more - hahaha he cut the North Americans pretty bad about stopping to study after we can get by. I learned how to apply more effectively the personal talents that God gave to each and every one of us to the mission work. I have been able to do that in my mission through my major of organizational communications, event planning, floral arranging, hair styling, graphic design and especially through music. It’s fun. I learned also more about our important role and power as missionaries and the special role that we fulfill and the privileges that come with it. Learned new techniques to help retain people and to help them to progress. Received personal revelation on some things I could do better. And the importance of things we develop in our missions, and more about the life to come after the mission. Sorry about how vague that all is. I learned a whole lot of other stuff too but.. there isn’t time or mediums sufficient to be able to communicate them well here.

Conversion - what is it? How long does it last? It is a change of heart, and I’m pretty sure it lasts the entire eternal life of a person, but a good indication of a conversion is the presence of the spirit. If a person is moved to put into practice and live the gospel of Christ and to change constantly for Him and continually progress, even though it is hard, that person is a convert.

The Lord lets us take our own steps - He just guides us and corrects us, if we let Him. Remember that when you go your own way, and not according to what He desires, your options become very limited.

Picture Story

Seeing as how we now come to the end of another change (my 8th), I figure the best way to share with you guys this week is through pictures. Some are from this week and others from throughout this change that for some reason never got shared. So.. enjoy!!

My comp Hna Lopez & I - she goes home to Guatemala probably before this blog entry is posted. Fun fact - she would be a legal midget if she was in the United States.

Awesome view of the main city part of Esteli

The 4 sisters in Esteli – Hnas. Rippstein, López, Hawryluk, and Menéndez

We made a video up there for the mission president thanking him for his first year of completed service. We love him a lot.

None of the hermanas would touch the cow. I don’t know why??? Also don’t know what’s going on with the glasses there...

Let’s get a few views of my area in Esteli...

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........yeaaa it’s a beautiful area. Even though you can’t really get the full effect by my crappy photos. I feel sorry for you.

When we made pupusas - something delicious from El Salvador. It’s not complicated, but super delicious at the same time.

Hna Menéndez is from El Salvador. I’ve made these things probably 8 times now in my mission. Kind of addicted.

Fantastic 4...

Eating with the zone for a conference we had...

My first Nacatamale in my whole mission. The other sisters couldn’t believe I have 13 months in the mission and still hadn’t had one. They are ok. The more rice and chicken the better.

Food is kind of a big deal for us hahaha. This night was fun; the branch prez gave us food cuz we threw a rockin’ workshop for the leaders.

Fun with graffiti in Esteli!! KUNG FU PANDA - there was actually a whole mural from that movie but I can’t find the other photos of it.

Esteli is the best I think when it comes to graffiti.. there is so much and it’s not just dweebs writing their names. This city is actually kind of awesome in a lot of ways.

This is Raul. Raul contacted us. He asked to know more about what we preach. He is awesome. The branch president invited him to the leaders' workshop even before he was baptized. And when he came he wasn’t shy, but actually went right ahead and participated. When we were putting goals for our branch, it came to his turn for comments and he got everyone pumped about doing a group fast. His reasoning was that we could put goals all day but a fast about it is something that would really give us hope in achieving them. And so we all did a 24 hour fast which is actually a huge accomplishment in a place where it’s hard to ask things of people.

A lot of the Elder´s Quorum came to support Raul at his baptism Friday. Fun fact - Raul was confirmed by the mission president at the district conference, in the presence of Elder Duarte who is an area 70 or something. Pretty neat.

Mosiah chapter 5. Read it. Love it. Apply it to yourself. Make any necessary changes.

Endure to the end.

A week of Reflection...

***NOTE from Mom: I headed out to YW Camp last week before I was able to make the weekly post to Courtney's blog. So here is her entry for Monday, July 11, 2011:

I am including photos of my area and some kids of a family of investigators. The older girl? She says that she can’t wait to be baptized because she feels in her heart that it will make her eternally happy. Pretty cool how the spirit testifies to children actually..

This week we had a huge disappointment.. We were teaching this amazing family we had found and everything was great and the wife said she knew it was true and passed her interview and everything.. we had a lot of beautiful experiences there and then comes the baptismal day and it turns out she had been lying about being prepared and doesn’t want to get baptized at all for a good amount of time and I feel really bad for my comp cuz she is leaving the mission in a week and she felt like she was finally going to see a miracle here in Esteli.. and right before she was to head home too.. it was supposed to be her final family miracle. And it fell through.. I felt so bad. But we will be baptizing a man this weekend named Raul who is super great so that is awesome. It was just so hard in the way of disappointment this week cuz we had been so thankful to God to be able to participate in a miracle and everything and then.... yea.

However, before you guys think I’m depressed I want you to know that we are now tranquil. At least myself because I know we did everything we could have done and I know that the spirit did testify to them.. They just had challenges that they couldn’t overcome. Everyone has agency.. my job is to invite people to bring a change in their lives to come closer to God... The objective of teaching is to inspire the person to think, feel and later do something about living the principles of the gospel. I am pleased to know that we could do everything that He wanted of us and we have worked really hard this change. Tangible fruits of the work are just hard to bring about here.. you have to look for a different type of fruit. I am strangely at peace with this place even though it is difficult. It is teaching me so many beautiful things. I am so grateful for a gospel that inspires a person to become better than they are and to always continue to work.. to only press forward and don’t give up. I’m thankful that Christ is the head of the church and for the fact that He guides us. I know He is our redeemer and friend.

Off in search of more work to do....

HaPpY AmEriCa DaY!!

Mon, July 4, 2011 8:12:52 PM

FIRST THINGS FIRST--HAPPY AMERICA DAY!!!
I hope you are enjoying your watermelon and fireworks. I was sick, and surrounded by Latins and a Canadian, so my America day was a little uncelebrated. But that is okay--I´m proud to be an American where at least I know I´m free, and I won't forget the men who died who gave that right to me! Nor the pioneers that died to give us the gospel in these days. Even down to Yader, who was baptized this week. He changed completely. The gospel works.

I was thinking the other day of how marvelous the church is and how great and loving God is. There are many folks in this world who profess to believe that God lives. They testify that He guides us still. And even that He is the same yesterday, today and forever. But there is a key that is missing way too often. We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to His kingdom. We believe that His ways are higher than our ways and understanding. We believe in prophecy, visions, revelation... we believe that men must be called of God by prophecy and by the laying on of hands by those in authority, to guide us in these days. We believe that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, everyone can be saved, by obediance to all the laws and ordinances of the gospel.. not just a select few. An apostle said in conference that the cafeteria method of picking and choosing does not and will not work. Life will not always be perfect or easy, and it is hard to walk by pure faith, but that is exactly what we must do. It is how we deal with what comes our way that makes the difference.

The Lord expects us to work towards uniting our will with His. Many assume that they can be in full harmony with the Gospel and His teachings and at the same time be out of harmony with the leaders in these days, as well as the counsel and direction that they give. But that is completely inconsistent because the guidance in these days doesnt only come from the written word, but also from continuous revelation (the key!). The Lord gives that revelation through His chosen, living prophets. But many profess to accept His gospel while criticizing and refusing to follow the counsel of the prophet. This is the key in these days. We dont have to solely cling to scripture, things that can so easily be taken to mean something different to everyone. The Lord works NOW as well. Please do not misunderstand me - the scriptures are extremely important and in fact vital to one`s personal progress and enlightenment and learning. However, the point I`d like to make is that the Lord set apart prophets, apostles and other leaders of the church for US. To guide us! For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, until we come in the UNITY of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. Why did He do this? So that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, but that we may grow up into Him in all things, Him being the head of the church, who is Christ (Ephesians 4:11-15). The Lord knew that people would take and mesh His doctrine (and His written word) according to their own preferences and understandings, and that is why He demonstrates His love for us by giving us leaders and prophets - so that we can continue to be guided in a path that is very straight and narrow. That is the only path that returns to Him, and He set it up.

When Christ ministered to the people in the new world, He taught them a good lesson: `There shall be no disputations among you, as there have hitherto been; neither shall there be disputations among you concerning the points of my doctrine, as there have hitherto been.´ Even though we are all different and unique, there is 1 way that we can be united, and that way is to seek the Lord and His righteousness, or rather, what He wants and not what we want or what is comfortable. The way to unity is for us to learn the will of the Lord and then to do it. As president Romney said, the major reasons for the world´s troubles today is that men arent seeking to know the will of the Lord who lives and actively guides in these days. Rather do they seek to solve their problems by other means, in their own wisdom and their own way. They seek to solve problems by what they know, not by what the all-knowing God who has the whole plan knows. The Lord marked this as one of the causes of the calamities He foresaw about us when He declared `They have strayed from mine ordinances, and have broken mine everlasting covenant; they seek not the Lord to establish his righteousness, but every man walketh in his own way.´

Our time here is a period of trials and testing to see if we will do whatever the Lord sees fit to command us. It is not always easy, convenient, or successful to complete in it all, but there is a power in consistancy and the Lord takes note of that. I think it was Elder Oaks that said `Changing desire to seek the things of the eternities is not easy. But remember, you get what you seek.´ In all of this, personal growth toward unity with Him is the objective. Because trials are meant to purify us personally, do not be surprised to find that the trials are personal to you. The Lord wants to make our weaknesses strong so you may find your trials come hand-crafted to hit you at your weak spots. In the midst of problems, its hard to see that blessings will well-outweigh the cost we pay for them. But all commandments are given to us to bless us and bring us joy (Read D&C 1:37-38 and 20:19). He blesses His obedient children with freedom from bondage and misery. I´d like to point out that these two things referred to here are not always consequences of outside sources. Many times we can create our own bondage and misery, which can suffocate us without us being fully aware of it. Even if we do get lost in self-destructive behavior or beliefs, the Lord watches us and does not forget us. He sends things to help us to come back - people, experiences, words of the scriptures... all we have to do is try to recognize the Lord´s efforts when He sends them. It is always possible to escape our trials, weaknesses and other periods of darkness. Because one of the sons of God came and his will was swallowed up in the will of the Father. Completely united, so much to say that they were one. The price was paid, and he learned how to succor this people. He experienced everything so he could help us individually.

For the record.. we knew it would be difficult. But we knew it was worth it to come here to be tried in our faith. The enemy says we are lost; the Lord says there is hope for all. We just have to work to conform ouir lives to the teachings and will of the Lord - completly. As we continue on the path to becoming true disciples of Him, the road becomes more narrow until we are in complete unity with Him. I am grateful that I dont live in a time of darkness without the authority in the earth. I am thankful for the knowledge that this Lord, who is the same yesterday, today and forever, lives and has not stayed silent, leaving us to our own devices. I know that the Lord had a plan. The Bible was translated, a nation was founded under the principles of freedom, and in that choice, blessed nation I know that the Lord restored His gospel through a living prophet, and that from there He continued to guide it according to His desires. I know that God not only lives, but that He speaks through prophets in these days, which is important because through them the Lord reveals those great and important things pertaining to His kingdom. I know that it is important to learn the truth of their words through prayer and I know that we can know the truth of all things through the power of the Holy Spirit. I`m grateful as well for the fact that the Lord expects more out of us, always. And I´m thankful for the guidance He has given me in my life. This I leave with you in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.