We had a baptism this week again!

We had a baptism this week again! Way awesome! With each baptism, I know the person a little bit more. Its such an awesome feeling to be part of this change in peoples lives. Her name is Estefany, and she's 8 and super great. She lives with her grandparents and who are members and the family is super awesome. I gave the spiritual thought, which was obviously way scary, but every time I do stuff like that I feel a little bit more confident. Un paso a la ves (One step at a time). Its such an awesome feeling when these people come up out of the water and search for your face to give you the hugest smile. LIFE CHANGING.

We have two awesome investigators right now. Norma and Isaias. Both come to church and want to be baptized! It is so awesome to see the Lords hand in preparing these people for us!

I love you all so much. I pray for you and think of you all every day. I don't have a ton of email time, so even though it takes longer, letters are great too.

Leah (sister) I love you. How are you feeling?

Family, WOW LOVE YOU ALL AND PRAY FOR YOU. Thank you for everything.

Bay, WHEN are you getting your call? I'm dying

Friends on missions, I love and pray for all of you everyday!

Kent, Love you. You are theeee best!

Soren and Anna, write me brats! HA. Love you

Chris, You know I love you. I'll write you a letter today of course.

Tan, How's everything? Have you gone through the temple yet?

Springville friends, WRITE ME

Moab friends, I love you all!!!

Everyone... I LOVE YOU.

2 Nephi 22 (verse 3) Therefore, with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. (aka the pilla where we get all our water.) Photos to come...

D&C 31 was written for me. WOW.

Second Week!

Sorry my email didn't send last week. I'm still trying to figure this whole computer in Spanish thing out.

This week has been nuts. 

WE HAD A BAPTISM ON SATURDAY!!! It was so cool. The little boy in the pictures name is Luiz. He's 10 years old and is just about the best thing ever. His mom is less active, so his excitement has made her start coming back to church more. Plus, his little brother (also in the picture) who turns 8 THIS MONTH wants so get baptized too! So awesome! It was awesome and made me think about how excited I am to be there for a baptism where I was there from day 1. I can´t wait. 

I also cant wait to understand Spanish. What the heck?! I'm just here in Honduras where everyone speaks a different language than I do, but they all understand each other just fine! GAH! Its so frustrating. I feel like its the biggest thing holding me back. KENT! and LYDIA! You are so lucky! I'm so jealous that you guys get to just jump into things. SO AWESOME! I'll get it eventually and this'll all start to be worth it. I just try to stay positive and not get discouraged. 

I sent a letter in the mail because we hardly have time to write that talks more about where I am, (Mom, feel free to add anything from that to the blog when you get it.) but my area is called Talanga. Its all dirt roads and small houses varying from real floors to dirt. Its a lot what I expected. SO HOT HERE. Like you have no idea. The people are ready and humble though. I love them and want so badly to be able to communicate that with them! 

I'll hand write a letter again today for lack of time, but I love all of you more than you can imagine! My address will be the same from here on out so send away!!! The church is true! Love youuuu and miss you all a ton ton ton ton!!!

Mom, Thanks for sending that song of Jacob! Cried like a baby! Try to send it on a CD maybe so I can listen to it? 

Jacob awesome I'm dead!

Bay WHen do you get your call!!

Chris Love you so much buddy! 

Everyone write me letters!!!!

 

Hey Everyone! I'm here and alive! Sorry I didn't get the chance to email last week. I was at the presidents house, which was awesome. You guys, I had the most amazing experience. When we pulled around the corner onto his street, I knew which house was his. I felt an overwhelming feeling of warmth and peace, and like I had been there before. You guys. That was amazing. It was a confirmation to me that this is where I'm supposed to be. Because honestly, some days those feelings are hard to come by.

We have been teaching people since Wednesday which has been awesome, but scary and hard because I don't speak a ton of Spanish. It'll come though. We have a baptism scheduled for this week so hopefully it all works out.

 

 

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