Week 64: Reflection of Gratitude Towards God

Hi Family!

This week was a good week! Seeing lots of progress in the area is the best! I now officially know that I will get home Thursday April 13th for those who wanted to know!

Something I have been learning this week is how my relationship with the people that surround me is a reflection of my gratitude towards God. Sometimes as human beings (or maybe it´s just me) we have this tunnel vision that only permits us to see the here and right now.. We get frustrated quickly, we criticize easily, and sometimes we call our complete withdrawal from conflict "patience" rather than proactively untangling the mess of misunderstandings. This change I have had multiple opportunities to learn from misunderstandings from my companion. And I have realized that after God has patiently and lovingly allowed me to make mistakes and learn from them overtime, I owe it to Him to allow the people I work with time and love as they work through their mistakes.

Something funny that happened last night was that right before entering a family´s house, the city´s power went out (when the power goes home at night we have to go straight home) and our house was a little far away so we were scared to leave, and the guy kindly offered us a machete for the walk home haha. We decided to save our machete skills for another day and call a member to accompany us home :)

At the weeks end I am happy, we are still safe even without machetes, and my body is in the process of converting into a life size frijol.


Sending love from Honduras!

Hermana Bernal

Week 63: "Righteous desires will be granted"

Hi all!

WOW these couple of weeks have been jam packed. At the Christmas celebration I casually won a prize for doing an 8:30 min plank (which let me tell you was pure adrenaline, I´ve never gotten past 4 minutes in my life), ate a BILLION torrejas (Honduran style french toast, a Christmas tradition), and nacatamales, traveled to district meetings to do the health presentations (the purpose being for them to be self sufficient in knowing what over the counter medication to take like Acetominophen or Tabcin instead of calling us to say that they have a cough haha) This calling has really helped me learn to listen carefully and attentively to what people are going through. In my life I have been blessed to have a very healthy body, I rarely get sick and minor discomforts usually go away quickly. However in the mission I have realized that not everyone has had the same opportunities or education of personal health and I need to be sensitive when someone calls to say "I have asthma and I have trouble breathing". I can´t just say, "Tough luck the mission is hard, drink some water and you´ll be fine" haha. On the other hand I have also learned to ask questions to understand if something is really as serious as someone describes.

 
There was also the week of transfers, and it was really fun teaching the newbies the basic "10 Health Commandments", things like always using pure water, not eating street food, etc. It´s always fun to interact with new missionaries, pobrecitos they have no idea what they are getting into. Just kidding the mission is the best. 

 
In the past 3 weeks a lot was happening in the Nursing end, but on the working in our area end I was starting to fall into a pit of frustration, oops. With limited time in the area, I feel an extra push to use our time effectively and take advantage of every moment we have to teach in hopes to find someone with the curiousity and humility to actually ask God if what we teach is true. One of my main goals that I have had on the mission is to help every person I meet understand what is UNIQUE about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. You would think this would be a simple task right? There are churches of all sorts Catholics, Protestant, Evangelicals, Jesus Te Quiere, Dios es amor, they are innumerable and all with their private interpretation of the scriptures. The most common belief is that all talk about God, therefore they are all the same. We are very scarcely denied entering a house because to all "whoever brings the word of God is welcome". It is a HUGE upside, because we are able to share the truth wherever we go, and it will be heard. Will it be understood? That´s a whole other story.. 

A couple examples: A member takes us to her neighbor´s house named Jorge. He is very kind, offers us a seat, and we ask about his family and beliefs, and then we share about how he can find the gospel as Jesus taught it, with no missing pieces or discrepancies. Jorge, are you willing to ask God to know if it´s true? He responds, Yes, I already know it´s true, I have my answer, I accepted Jesus into my life and that´s all I need to do. You said you´re from the United States right? Thanks Jorge. 

 
Another example, we watch the Restoration movie with a recent convert and her dad. After watching the video, he shares how he is moved by the truthfulness of the confusion of the millions of churches, and the need for a Restoration. The end result of this lesson was him saying that he doesn´t need to go with his daughter to Church because he already attends another group much closer to their house.
The church video, interactive examples, homemade puzzles of the church as Jesus Christ called his 12 apostles, giving them the power and authority to act in His name and receive revelation ...and at the end sometimes I am not sure if they are still confused whether I am a Jehovah´s witness or a Mormon. 

 
In a priesthood blessing I received before the mission, I was told that my heart would be broken when people did not accept the plan, but blessed to know that my heart would repair quickly. Recognizing that being ignored or disregarded was always a part of the mission, my companion and I came up with a phrase, "we may not have found any prepared people, but we sure prepared a lot of people". Maybe next time God offers them the truth they will recognize it.

I continually turned my frustration to the Lord, setting new goals and trying to apply what Dallin H Oaks taught when he visited our mission in November (oops ya that also happened, I was sitting in the first row!) that our personal goals should not be dependent on the agency of other people. I prayed for a long time asking to send us to someone who was willing to open their ears. "And whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you" (3 Nephi 18:20) The promise is clear, whatever righteous desire will be granted. Timing always depends on what God sees fit for our spiritual progress, but if it is right, it will be granted.

 

New Mission Address!

The New Direction to the Mission Office is: 

Col. Palmira Av. Juan Lindo Fte Embajada

App: 556 o 3539

Tegucigalpa M.D.C ; Honduras

Week 60: Merry Christmas!

Hello!

Christmas on the mission is funny because you get all excited about a 40 minute video call that just ends up being an hour of google call/skype confusion, internet buffering, and if it´s my family 10 people trying to talk to you at once in spanish and english, and it all just being another reminder that all you really wanted was a hug and there´s no chance you´re getting that. I love you guys. I already lived this once last year so this time I decided that I would turn my thoughts to something a little more important...

On Christmas we celebrate the birth of the Savior, but the real question is what does this even mean? What affect on the world did Christ have at His coming, what would the world be like if He never came? If Christ never came, feelings like regret when you know you have messed up big, would have no escape from your conscience. The kinds of feelings like when you wish you could rewind and remove from your life moments of extreme frustration or anger, as seen in the "chew it over with a Twix" commercials. Feelings like when something you want so bad just seems to always be out of your reach could never be calmed. 

If Christ never came, the mind battle of just wanting to be happy when the satisfaction never seems to last would have no end. There would be a lack of purpose in what we do, I mean why work so hard to have a good life if WWIII is already coming up and we´ll all soon be turned to dust?

It is normal, to relate to one or more of these examples. However the regret, the frustration, the dissatisfaction, the lack of purpose, has an end, which end can only be determined by you. When Christ came He made it possible to be free from our natural weaknesses and incapabilities, and made possible the hope for change. He lived, died, and then lived again, opening doors to life after death, giving us a reason to use our time wisely here on Earth. He is a source of strength, relief, stability, and peace. However our access to His strength depends on our willingness to change our current habits and thoughts and consequentially we are allowed the peace of being free from the weight of past decisions and experiences. 

 This Christmas you´re invited to celebrate as if Christ really did come to Earth, take a moment to see what it is in your life that might be worth letting go of, and enjoy the hope of a brighter future full of better choices. 

 
Merry Christmas Eve! Love you all!

Also, my companion says Feliz Navidad... enjoy some photos from the Mission Christmas party and my lovely companion <3

Hermana Bernal

Week 59: Light the World

Hi!

It´s been a great week, and my new companion is really sweet, her name is Hermana Nuñez and she is also from Mexico! To get into the Christmas spirit a little bit we have been sharing these two short videos that are really awesome- watch them both! 

This is the Church´s link to the video "Lighting the World" https://www.mormon.org/spa/navidad/ilumina-el-mundo

Love,

Hermana Bernal

 Also here are a couple of photos from the day of transfers!

 

Week 58: A Broken Heart & Contrite Spirit

HI FAM AND FRIENDS,

This week was a fun week, we have recently been teaching this young teanager girl named Areli, and she has a heart of gold. Her learning rate is super slow, every concept that we teach about the gospel takes about 10 minutes for her to understand; but one thing that I have learned from Areli is what God means when he asks for "a broken heart and a contrite spirit". Since the day we started teaching Areli, she has showed up by herself to every church meeting and activity, and has anxiously been praying to know if what we teach is true. She has even started inviting her friends to get more involved in some of the service activities. Any good thing that she is asked to do, she does it. It just made me realize how it doesn't matter how much we know or understand, to be able to live with God again we must be able to live the basic principle of obedience. By no means does that mean that learning is unimportant. The glory of God is intelligence, and all the knowledge that we obtain in this life we can take with us after, but Areli has been example to me of what truly is a willing heart.

Have a great week!

Hermana Bernal

Week 57: "I'm going to be a mission nurse!"

I missed a week on October..probably because I was so exciting that Izzy was going to be a mission nurse. Here is Hermana Bernal's e-mail. -Adrianna

The past couple of weeks have been a wild ride. A couple special moments that have been very special to me these past couple of dayzzz...

We were teaching the parents of a little girl who was baptized, the Mom`s name is Alma, and up until receiving us had not had any experience with any church or anything. We left the pamphlet for them to read about the Restoration of the gospel, but we just left the first page as her little homework for the next visit. When we came back, we asked her what she thought, and she responded saying, "My favorite part is when it says... then skimming the page again she read "God is our loving Heavenly Father, He knows each one of us individually". It was as if she was reading a new scientific discovery, something she didn`t understand before and then all of a sudden it just clicked. It made me remember the small moments when I have felt that way, when I have just known for sure that God knows me personally and cares about who I am. Something so simple and something I often take for granted, it was a treat seeing somebody discover it for the first time.

In another occasion we taught this OLD OLD man named Asuncion, he is 80 years old, and we thought it would be a good idea to introduce him to another old man who is a member so that they can be cute old friends. It was another cool experience to hear Raul`s (the member of the church) testimony and wisdom from his 88 years of living. One thing that stuck with me from what he said was that the two most important things in life are to 1. Repent from ALL the bad that we do, no matter how big or small the mistakes are, if we change our ways we can become completely clean, and ultimately free. 2. We must ALWAYS forgive, even when other people have just been the worst to us, even when we have done nothing, when we forgive and PRAY for the people who have offended us, those feelings of anger and frustration are converted into peace. Cool huh? It sounded cooler coming from an 88 year old man, sorry guys.

This week was a really hard week. We talked to a lot of people, we visited a lot of members, we contacted a lot of references, and.... nothing was to be found. Even a member that we thought was super on it with going out on visits with us hadn`t been to church in three weeks. In Sacrament meeting I just felt super super low. But as the tray of bread passed by me, I looked up and saw that the young man that had passed it to me was an inactive that we had been visiting, and in that moment I just was hit with the feeling that even though I hadn`t felt like my energy was helping anyone, it helped someone. At least one joven.


Today we received cambios, and even though I have only had 6 weeks here, I have changes! I am going to be companions with the Mission doctor, so I will be a missionary nurse. I`m excited to learn a lot, I`m hoping my one year of nutrition will do some good. WOOHOO ALL OF THE MISSION TEGUCIGALPA IS GOING ON A DIET!


Have a great week! 

 
Hermana Bernal