In exactly one week from now, I will be in Honduras. Is that crazy to anyone else? I feel like I've been here for an eternity, but at the same time these past 5 weeks have gone by quite fast. TIME IS A FREAKY THING IN THE MTC!!! I cant wait to get out there and meet the people that are waiting for me!

Atleast once a week or so, we have practices teaching the Latinos the lessons. Its always so scary at first, but I come out of them with so much confidence. Somehow the Lord trusts me and loves me enough to give me the gift of tongues. It is slowly coming and I know once I get out in the field It'll be pretty scary, but somehow it doesnt worry me too much. I just know the language will come and that if I keep the spirit with me, the people WILL be able to understand me. The spirit speaks Spanish!!!!

This week was good.

We do this thing in our district called the "silla de suave" or cool chair where one person sits in the chair and we all go around and say what we love most about them. You can probably all guess what was said about me. Funny, SASSY, charming, motherly, kind, down to earth. But yes they all talked about how sassy I am. HA! I feel like thats what'll get me through this stuff.

My companion also had her turn this week. It was so good to hear all the good qualities that everyone sees in her and it was so good for me to be able to express the things I really do admire and look up to her for. She really is so amazing and so strong in the gospel. Even though sometimes she drives me nuts, she's someones favorite missionary. Or multiple people's for that matter.

JACOB!! I want to publicly thank you for helping me find 3 Nephi 5:13. I've memorized it in english and it has gotten me through ALOT this week.

On Sunday we watched a devotional from Quintin L Cook (His wifes name is Mary by the way.) And my favorite thing he said (before I knew about Marys passing) was this "Regardless of what's going on at home, you are where you ought to be." I felt so comforted in that moment and even more so now reading your emails about Mary. How great it is that we have the knowledge that our family WILL be together forever and that we have the plan of salvation. FAMILY: I love each of you so much. Thank you so much for everything.

Friday was the ONE MONTH MARK!!! SO CRAZY. And hello? Thursday was the ONE YEAR MARK for Niels. So cool. FRIENDS: I love all of you so much and seriously would be dead without you.

I got letters this week from BAY, TANNER, MOM, CRYSTAL, and LIZ. Seriously thank you all so much. Your letters keep me sane. As much as I hate to say it, hold off on letters for now if you havent already sent them. I dont want to risk them getting stuck here at the MTC forever! I dont really know when I'll get to email next week since I'll be in the field, but I'm sure theyll atleast give us a couple minutes to say that by some miracle we made it there alive. (Quinn, you will understand this reference most.) I told all the girls going to Comayaguela to wear panchos on the plane ride because I WILL BE PUKING.

Life is good. Sometimes this is really hard, but I know it will be worth it. I cant even express how much I love you all and how much you mean to me. More importantly, GOD LOVES YOU.

The Gospel's true everyone. I promise.

-H Ludlow

I'VE BEEN HERE FOR ALMOST A MONTH!

 

Time for the semi-weekly group photo. Looking freaky as always right in the center, and my companion is the blonde right next to me. (Hermana Mathews)

I'VE BEEN GONE FOR ALMOST ONE MONTH! WHAT???? ALSO, ONLY TWO MORE WEEKS HERE AND THEN WE FINALLY GET TO GO TO HONDURAS!!!

Well, this week happened, so that´s good. Some days I am so ready to get out of the MTC to be honest. Even though I know I still have a long way to go, I can't wait to get out of these gates and meet MY people!!!!

-I forgot to tell you guys about last Tuesday!!!
We had a devotional from Elder Ammado from the 70 who is just about the nicest cutest ever. Our district sang "Abide with me, Tis Even Tide" in spanish and then the last verse in English/parts. It was so spiritual and so amazing. Not to mention his talk was so motivational. He told us to be 3 things. 1) The kind of missionary your mother thinks you are 2) The kind of missionary you think you can be and 3) The kind of missionary the Lord EXPECTS you to be. So awesome. He also said "The best thing you can do for your loved ones is secure for them their promised blessings and get to work. I miss all of you, everyday, but you deserve these blessings and I need to work hard so that you can recieve them. So great.

P.S. He had forgotten his scriptures in english, so I held mine out for him to use and he just called me up to read the scripture for him. No big deal, just shared the pulpet with an apostle. That's all. HA!

-On Thursday this week we got a new "investigator" (our other teacher Hermana Melgar) She turned out to be an inactive member which threw us for a loop because we've been learning to teach investigators this whole time. Being here has really taught me a lot about myself and my testimony of this gospel. Aaaaannnnnd we taught at CRE which is TRC in spanish. My companion and I had a real non-member! Like for real this time! His name is Carlos and he lives here in Guatemala. We did the whole thing in spanish AND gave him a book of Mormon.It was so scary, but so awesome!!! We told him about Moroni's promise in Moroni 10. He said he'd read it and pray about it. Such a niicceeeyyy!!!

-That same night we had Estudio Asesorado (Study Assesment) with one of our teachers Hermano Montes (Our first investigator who we thought was real) who pretty much whipped us into shape and humbled us completely. To be brief, it was a rough night for sure. The hardest, worst part is, is that they never tell you straight up what youre doing wrong, but give you some scripture that makes you teach yourself. Its intense, but always a learning experience.

-We had a health lecture yesterday which was probably less then benificial for my companion. Anxiety level back through the roof. She probably took about 6 pages of notes, which really freaked me out. But its fine. Her biggest struggle is stuff like that and germs and mine is PATIENCE. For some reason, I'm really not too worried about getting denge or puking my guts out. I feel like it'll be part of the adventure.It freaks some of the girls out how NOT freaked out I am. Maybe it should freak me out more than it does, but whatev. I got this. Bring it on Central America! Hermano Montes told us that only the "real missionaries" serve in Central America. -No car -Hotter than hell (his words) -Dirty -No electricity or running water etc. It takes the real missionaries to come here. I GOT THIS. I CAN DO HARD THINGS.

-Hermana Melgar also taught me a life changing experience in a moment of serious doubt and self destruction. D&C 93 12-14. The Savior himelf learned grace by grace. I will learn spanish, and I will feel confident in the scriptures and gospel principles. She also opened up to preach my gospel in the Christlike Attributes section (which is what I've been studdying in my personal study a ton) and pointed to PATIENCE and simply said "with yourself too". She didnt even know that thats what my focus has been, but she was lead by the spirit to tell me that. I know that for sure. She is seriously so awesome!

I have my moments where I think this is too hard and that I cant do it, but I know it'll be worth it! And MALAYNA, I dont know if you'll ever read this, but THANK YOU for telling me about that Jeffery R Holland talk entitled "Missionary Work and the Atonement." Its been my life saver. SO AMAZING. You were inspired girl. I love you!

"He will bind up your broken heart, dry your tears, and set you and your family free." -Elder Holland.

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH. Keep writting. I dont have a ton of time for emails, so letters rock.

Ben Scoma (And also my family) - We quote Nacho Libre non-stop and it reminded me of you!

Tanner, Soren, Anna- Send me some letters my loves!

Kent- I sent you a letter so I hope you get it soooooon!

Bayley-You are my wife.

Moab Crew- LOVE YOU ALL! Send me letters and tell me how the first few weeks of the season have been!
Liz Diz- GOOD LUCK THIS WEEK. YOU GOT THIS. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

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Rebekah Ludlow	May 8 (1 day ago)
to me, striderquest

Last Tuesday: PDAY!!!!

-We went to the market and it was awesome! I looked for Leah Damrons grandparents, but no luck. Its ok though. It was so nice to get out of the MTC for a few hours to be quite frank. Being in the culture reminds me why I'm here and how much I already love these people. The freaky raw meat hanging in the doorways was great too.

Wednesday, we moved rooms from the second floor down to the first floor which was super stressful because we had like 10 minutes to do it with no notice. Good times. There were way more elders with the new shipment so they need the second floor because its bigger, and waaayyyy nicer not to mention. Ha. Its all good though. Prep for Honduras is what we like to say around here. Really it wasnt bad at all though. You just get used to being moved and shuffled around all the time that it doesnt really phase me anymore. Its so tiny here and there are so many of us! Its crazy, but awesome! Speaking of there being so many of us. I have some kinda sad news. I WILL NOT BE ABLE TO CALL/ EMAIL/ SKYPE ON MOTHERS DAY. So I would like to take this moment to publically tell my MOM how much I love her.

MOTHER, You are the craziest, strongest, bravest, funniest, most loving woman I know and I dont know what I would do without you. Youve always been there for each of us and you are one of my very best friends. I love that I can tell you anything and have always been able too. Youre the best. Happy Mothers Day (I'm sending you a little letter in the mail too, but It'll probably get there late. ALL MY LOVE, Bekah

PDAYS are also great because we get to go to the temple. Which we did yesterday and last week. I love to pour my heart out in prayer in the Celestial Room. Seriously I have never felt closer to God than in those moments and I love each and every one of them.

Fast Sunday was so great. I dont think I can say I've ever fasted with that much of a purpose before. GOD ANSWERS PRAYERS and he loves us all so much! My companion and I also taught the lesson in Sunday School about the Priesthood and it was awesome! I want to thank every priesthood holder in my life for the blessings I have recieved because of their worthiness to hold that power. I want to especially thank my dad. Remember that night I got home from the hospital and I was so sad and angry and confused that it became physical? Those were some of the hardest days to date in my entire life, but there you were to give me a blessing. Thank you so much. I love you.

Im learning so much about the gospel and the language is sorda kinda coming too. Itll come. Ive been promised that it will. FAITH.

I'm halfway done with being here at the MTC!!! CRAZY!!! Things are getting easier with my companion most days. God helps me have patience everyday.

Love all of you so much and love the letters and emails. I'm still trying to figure out how to have time to write back and email back to everyone. But just know that I love you all!!!!!

The Gospel is true and we are all so blessed.

I PRAY FOR ALL OF YOU. We are all being blessed from these experiances. God is so good.

Going into week 2

 

Ok I want to get a couple of things out of the way first off. 1) My
enter button is broken, so just get over it. 2) Use dearelder.com to
send me letters. 3) If you send me a package write HERMANA on it to
make it get here easier. Hermano Dubon who's incharge of the physical
workings of the MTC here said that the mail people are less likely to
go through my stuff if it says Hermana on it because then they know it
doesnt have drugs or anything in it because we're from the church. 4)
Ive noticed letters take about a week. So keep that in mind for when I
get closer to heading out to the field. ANNNYYYWAAYYY. The MTC is
good. I dont ever remember what I said in my last email, so sorry if I
repeat stuff. Its tiny here though! Compared to Provo! BUT TOMORROW WE
GET TO GO TO THE MARKETPLACE FOR PDAY! I'm so excited to get to get
out of here for the afternoon. Itll be great. Things are good though.
Turns out our investigator was fake. Which I shouldve known because
thats how they do it at Provo. But I was still surprised. He's our
night teacher now, so its pretty wierd that hes the one teaching us
now. I was way sad and confused at first, but he's been teaching us so
much! This is some hard stuff though. All these girls crammed in tiny
rooms and bathrooms? It does wierd stuff to ya. My companion drives me
buts, but I'm learning to be patient and have Christlike love for her.
I think thats what I needed to learn most, so shes here to teach it to
me. We also went the the CRE (not CRAY) house this week. That was for
sure a humbling experience. I have a long way to go and a lot of
spanish to learn. If anything it taught me to really rely on the Lord
more than I have been and more than I ever have in the past. That was
a harsh realization, but good. Last night we watched a broadcast from
Elder Holland speaking to the missionaries in the Provo MTC in January
of this year. It was amazing. I know we're probably not supposed to
pick favorites, but hes mine. My favorite thing he said was "I command
you to come home with atleast one convert, and it better be you!" So
awesome. Thats what I want to focus on while I'm here. I cant teach
it, if I dont have it so deep in my soul that its literally a part of
me. Hmmmm what else? I missed you so much yesterday DAD!!!!
Especaillay on Sundays, we listen to so many spiritually powerful men
and I always think of you and how much I look up to you! You are the
best, and I love you so much. Thank you for everything you have done
and continue to do for our family. LOVE YOU ALL! SEND ME LETTERS AND
EMAILS! THE CHURCH IS TRUE. Thats all that matters. -Hermana Ludlow

HEY EVERYONE!!!!

Attached is a group photo, one of the Hermanas, and one of the Elders. (Obviously) Im pretty much in the very middle, lookin freaky, and my companion (Hermana Mathews) is on the top right in the purple shirt with short blonde hair. Shes great, but I definitely think shes my companion because I need to learn and practice patience. She is constantly asking me if I think its ok to drink her water after her finger touched the lid, and if she touches the floor if she'll get a disease. Its a little taxing on my well being, bless her heart. Shes pretty intense and we dont have a ton in common, but I'm doing my best to love her, encourage her, and work well with her.

Our district is great though! There are four sets of hermanas and 2 sets of Elders. All the girls are going to my mission besides one. (Hermana Ross) We love her anyway! She is so funny! Her and I are going to see if we can go the whole 6 weeks at the MTC without shaving our legs. So far, so good. HA! Theres not time anyway. We really all get along pretty well though. So thats good. I can already see each of us growing spiritually and learning the language. I'm getting the hang of Spanish a little more. I feel like I can understand it pretty well, but speaking it is a whole other story. It'll come though. Thats what they all keep promising us around here. Spanish will come! So I put my main focus in studying the scriptures. Our teachers name is Hermano Lopez. Hes a return missionary and served in Puerto Rico. Hes so great and knows the scriptures SO WELL! I cant wait to be like that. Our MTC president, Pres. Nycolayson told us we need to be our first convert, and I know I still have a lot to learn.

We taught our first real investigator though! The second day we were here!!! IN SPANISH. Well, spanglish, but we're getting there. His name is Albin and he is kindof interning here while going to school. One of the deals with the nonmembers who work here is that they have to take the lessons. The great thing about Albin though is that he WANTS to. He has already come so far in just a few days. He has prayed with us and on his own, read parts of the book of mormon, and wants to continue taking the lessons from the "real missionaries" since today is our last day with him. The best part is that while we are teaching him, he is teaching us so much in return. SO cool. We also went to La Casa de Cray today. I dont know what the Cray means, but anyway, its this house by the MTC where will be meeting with more real investigators. Today, we just practiced with some of the teachers that work here. But wow. It was amazing to see how much Spanish I knew without really knowing I knew that much! I dont know if that even makes sense.

Yesterday was PDay, which was so amazing. Something to definitely look forward to. And then email is Wednesdays from 1;30 to 2:30. But PDAY... we went to the Temple in the morning and did an english session. It was so great just to go there and feel calm for once. The temple is so beautiful and so so small. There isnt a chapel, you just go wait in the session room until it starts, and it fit like 20 people. Then we just had time to clean, do laundry and write hand written letters and NAP. Thank goodness for that nap!!!! Then, last night, we had a devotional by James B Martino of the 70. Such a powerhouse! He is amazing! He taught us so much! Go forth and serve, be obedient and open your mouth! His wife, Hermana Martino talked a lot about obedience. She said " obedience brings blessings, but perfect obedience brings miracles. (Like learning spanish in basically 5 minutes!)

The first day was so hard, and so long. The plane ride from SLC to LA was rough and I almost puked because I forgot to take that motion sickness pill. But I held it together. There were probably like 30 of us on that flight and then like 50 maybe from LA to Guatemala. We got here about 6am and just hit the ground running from there. It was intense and long and emotionally taxing, but I made it through. The girls here said "make it through the first day, and then the first week, and you'll be fine.) I am fine!!! Its still hard, and I'm still adjusting, but its coming.

The Gospel is True. I'm here for a reason. The Lord loves each of us. The spanish will come!

WOO!

Hermana Ludlow

PS we dont have our cameras because the missonaries before us were using them innapropriately I guess. But we get them when we go to the Marketpace in two weeks.

LOVE YOU ALL:

 

 



 

 

 

 

Hola from Guatamala

 

Normally I will have more time to write on P-Days, but today I just
have 15 minutes to check in. Just wanted to let you know that I am
here safe and sound.Our plane got into Guatemala City at about 6 am
and we hit the ground running. The MTC here is so tiny compared to
Provo but I love it. Honestly, I already know with confidence that
this is where I´,m supposed to be. When we were sitting in the LAX
airport (after a bumpy flight from SLC... No chunks were blown, though
it was a close call.) I just felt so at peace. My companion is so
sweet and nice. Her name is Hermana Mattews and I feel like she is my
little sister. We are so so different, but I feel like thats good
because we have so much to learn from eachother. Wow. This is the true
work. Today has been quite long, but it feels right still. "I´m tired,
but I¨m happy." is what Ive been saying all day just trying to soak it
all in. So far, basic spanish and orientations are what weve been
doing all day. The president and his wife are so great and he is so
powerful. I already love them. Miss you guys, but this is where Im
supposed to be. I dont have one doubt about that. Dont worry about me.
Im happy. Love all of you so much. (Sorry this is scatter brained)
-Hermana Ludlow

Entrusted with that small red box
I cautiously revisit its contents
And for a short moment
I no longer feel insignificant