2 weeks left...

Okayyyyyyy I only have two weeks left here. Time has seriously flown by!! I absolutely LOVE Guatemala! Its gorgeous here, it's so green and when it's sunny, theres nothing better! This week has flown by and I honestly don't know where my time goes! 37 of the Nortes are leaving and we get a new shipment of Elders and Hermanas on Wednesday so it will be interesting to see how many more Nortes we will get. It's crazy cause the group thats been here the longest only has 4 Hermanas so we are overruled. haha its all good cause we are all best friends. This week has been crazy. We taught 4 lessons one day and after I felt like I was on top of the world. Teaching is still really hard but when the spirit is there, it makes everything worth while. You kinda just have to go with the flow here. One day we will be studying in class and my teacher will say. Follow me and bring your scriptures! So we follow him and then he says, you guys are teaching inactives right now. Good luck! They didn't turn out to be actual inactives but it's funny the way they try to trick us 80 times to think we are teaching real investigators or inactives. After every joke our District says CHEESECAKE!! Because in espanol the word is Chiste. Its pretty funny.

 

Yesterday we watched a movie about the Book of Mormon and the geography of it. SOOOO COOL! Of course they don't know for sure, but theres a big possibility a lot happened here in Guatemala. The people here have stories of their ancestors seeing Christ and it has been passed down to them. It blew my mind. They are making a movie about the Guatemala CCM and I may or may not be in it! Legit.

 

On Sunday I was a little frustrated because every morning the Latinas in our room wake up at 5:45 or 6 with their really loud alarm and I was getting impatient, but we had a lesson in relief society about our different cultures. It helped me appreciate all of the people here and to think from their perspective. I am in their country and budging a little won't kill me. Sometimes its hard not wanting to do everything my way and the way it is done in America, but i'm not in America anymore. Ha The Latinos will always put people before things. They dont put silly distractions like electronics or food before you. They will always make you feel welcome and at home. I can learn a lot from them. The people here are hilarious. During deportes we played volleyball and basketball. I haven't laughed so hard in a while. Even though there is a language barrier, I have become really good friends with some of the latinos and I love them!

 

Ok one day, my district was walking back from our classroom which is in this amazing house by the temple, and the traffic here is nuts. No one follows the speed limits and no one cares. All of a sudden there was a blind man trying to cross the street in the craziest part! All of the cars were slamming on their breaks barely missing him. My stomach just dropped and I had no idea what he was doing. A couple of our Elders ran over to help him but another Brother that was walking from the temple went in the middle of the street to stop all of the cars so he could cross safely. We have angels watching over us from each side of the veil :)

 

I'm still having the time of my life and couldn't be happier. If we center our faith on Jesus Christ, we can't have a stronger foundation when the winds of trials and sorrow come our way. I don't take being a representative of Jesus Christ lightly. I'm grateful for this calling and for the opportunity to devote these short 18 months to the Church of Jesus Christ. I wouldn't want to be doing anything else. The Church is true!

 

Love,

Hermana Sherman

 

Hola!!!

 This is a picture of my district!!

HOLA!!!! 

This week has been amazing!! Last Tuesday we got to go to a field at a church with the entire CCM (which is only like 100 of us now) and we played a ton of games. Then we headed to walmart and a mall to eat food. The bus ride there was CRAZY!! People just drive however they want and we were doing a U-turn and our bus just cut in front of everyone without warning. I was screaming and digging my fingernails into the Hermana next to me cause I was right by the window. The other cars just casually slammed on the breaks like it was normal. We made like a 85 point turn and made it safely. The entire bus was clapping and cheering after we made the turn. It was hilarious. About a third of the CCM left last week and they were mostly Nortes (North Americans) and we got 4 new districts of Latinos! I think they are changing this CCM to Latinos only so we are the last Nortes that get to enjoy it here!

We have been teaching a lot. Up to 3 lessons a day and we teach the other districts a lot too. We are in rooms and there are cameras where our teachers watch and listen to our lessons. We also teach the Latinos who don't speak any English every once in a while and our first time teaching was pretty intimidating... We had to teach a trio and they were so understanding and nice when it took me about 30 seconds per word haha,  Also every Sunday we have splits with the Latinas and me and my latina companion were laughing so hard trying to figure out what each other were saying. I have gotten really good at charades, let me tell ya! Baby steps. I can understand a lot more spanish. I love it though, it's so fun when you actually know how to say something. 

We committed our second investigator to Baptism! He is our teacher but it still was exciting. 

On Sunday my district had an opportunity to sing at a Baptism for an 8 year old and a 13 year old. The Spirit was so strong! Even though the language is different, the spirit is the same. OH MY, there was also this latina baby at the Baptism and my heart MELTED! Oh my cuteness. Seriously, I love babies....

The four Hermanas that arrived when I did, are singing in sacrament meeting our last Sunday here so it will be awesome, I'm  really excited. 

My district is basically my family. We are all really close and by learning and growing together makes us even closer. Last week I was a little sick so they gave me a blessing. It was so touching to have these young men be so in tune with the Spirit. After we all took turns receiving blessings and for a lot of the Elders it was the first time giving blessings. I am grateful for the priesthood in my life and being able to witness the miracles from it. 

We had a devotional yesterday by Elder Amado! It was soooo good! I also got to shake his hand...he had very soft hands. He spoke a little to the Hermanas and my favorite thing is hearing all of the blessings that come from serving a mission. This will be my highest calling and I want to make the best of it. Missionaries are disciples of Christ and the only higher callings are the General Authorities and the Prophet. I'm really trying to cherish my time here and learn and grow as much as I can. 

Ok let me tell ya... THE FOOD!! I can't get over how good the food is here. Our District asked the CCM President if we could have a scale haha. He approved it so we can make sure were not all doubling our body weight haha. We finally had tamales for the first time last week and they were on steroids. I couldnt get enough! Anyway, I'm doing awesome and couldn't have been more blessed. I love my teachers, I love my companion, I love the weather, I love the Spirit here! The Church is TRUE!!

A quote from one of my Maestros

If you cant fly, then Run

If you cant Run, then Walk

If you cant Walk, then crawl

if you cant crawl, then just keep moving forward

Love,

Hermana Sherman

2nd week...

This week has been CRAY CRAY! I have no idea where the time went! 

I love all of the Sisters here, especially the 3 other sisters in my zone. There were only 4 of us that arrived on the 26th and we are all really close. There's Hermana Olelare, Price and Hoffmanner (Mi Compañera) They have the same sense of humor as me and I'm so grateful and privileged to be here with them! Every meal we are all crying laughing so hard while telling stories and I'm still working on trying not to laugh so loud. Literally, everyone gets silent in the cafeteria and just looks at me after I laugh. I will be better. 

The weather has been pretty crazy. During our deportes tiempo (Sports time) It has POURED everyday. We get to play in the rain and it's way fun. There's also times when it's perfectly sunny and like 70 degrees when we study out on the grass. I LOVE IT HERE. I couldn't dream of going to another ccm. The people are hilarious and the food is the BOMB!

We have added another investigator so we teach 6 days a week! I'm so grateful for the opportunity to teach often because every lesson we've taught, I've learned so much from it. I learned how to study more efficiently. Last week I was trying to cram in all of the spanish i could. I would read my scriptures in spanish during personal study time and also during language study. I realized that I need to study the gospel and its doctrine first so that I may have the spirit with me, then the language will come. This week I think I learned twice as much because I focused my time on the gospel so that I may be truly converted before I try to convert others. 

Before every Sunday, we have to prepare a 5 minute talk and a Sunday school lesson. Every Sunday they pick 5 random people to speak and you don't know if they are going to pick you until they call you up to speak. They also do the same thing for the Sunday school lesson. Our first week here my companion and I were called to teach and it went pretty well for what we prepared. I also had a goal to know how to pray by the first Sunday I was here and had the opportunity to say the prayer in Sacrament that Sunday! I had a glimpse of what the gift of tongues can be like cause I was rolling my Rs out of no where and had a clear mind on what to say! Man I love this gospel

Yesterday we watched the Testament! That movie hasn't hit me so hard. I was carrying around a giant roll of toilet paper cause I've had a bit of a cold but I used more than half of it during that movie. A lot of times I have taken the atonement for granted and don't realize the importance of its blessing in my life.We also had an amazing devotional by Elder Bednar and he asked the question,"How can I tell the difference between the spirit and just me?" He said to QUIT WORRYING ABOUT IT! Just be a good girl or boy, keep the commandments, and press forward. He promised that we will not go amiss if we do those things. The spirit can't speak to us if we aren't moving forward.

I love you all and am grateful to be a representative of La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los últimos días! The church is true!

Love,

Hermana Sherman 

One week down!

Where to begin? I am sooooo HAPPY! Seriously I am. The CCM is smaller than I expected, there's only around 150 people! Im the only one going to the San Pedro Sula Mission but  there's a couple Hermanas going to the Tegucigalpa mission. Hopefully I'll get to travel with them to the mission. My district is the best! There is my companion Hermana Hoffmanner and I, and 7 Elders! We are like a family and laugh a ton. All of the Elders are 18 or 19 so I was a little curious at first how it was going to be but they are all spiritually so mature and great examples to me! There is a spirit here that is UNBELIEVABLE. When the whole CCM sings its so powerful and I'm grateful to be a part of this work!

 The second day we got here we had to teach a lesson to an investigator! His name is Daniel and it was in English so it was really easy and the spirit was so strong. Hermana Hoffmanner and I were so pumped after, we were ready to convert the world! Then on the 3rd day we were here we had to teach in Spanish! It was pretty crazy. That lesson didn't go so good just because we didn't have very much time to prepare. I learned that you HAVE to have a lesson plan to fall back on. We have taught Daniel everyday and he is progressing so well! My district takes turns teaching everyday so he progresses really fast! On Monday we committed him to baptism! It was so exciting. Our whole district had a private dance party for 5 seconds. We teach an investigator everyday except Sundays so we get lots of practice :) 

We got to go to the temple on Thursday for the first time as a missionary! I was the first one into the celestrial room and it was like hitting a wall. The spirit was so strong. I immediately knew my Heavenly Father loves me and knows exactly who I am. I know I'm right where I need to be and that this experience would change my life forever. I was overcome with compassion and love, I will never forget that. The temple is closed for the next two weeks so I'm kinda bummed about that but at least I'll get to go a couple more times!

The Latinos here are pure comedy. I have 5 Latino roommates and they are so funny! All of the workers and teachers here are the best. I laugh a lot! They are all so warm and welcoming its fantastic. Last night I found a cockroach in my bed and one of my latina roommates just casually picked it up and smashed it. I laughed so hard, half from embarrassment cause I screamed like a little girl.

Ok i just need to say... The food here is HEAVEN!! GOURMET! Seriously. On the first day I arrived here, I discovered this mango juice.... I drank 3 bottles that day and they aren't small bottles. Anyway, I found out that's no bueno but at least I got a lot closer with my companion... Haha We had bbq ribs the other day and fettuccine alfredo and the best tacos in the world, I have to work it off during our deportes (sports) We get an hour a day to exercise and play volleyball or basketball. Volleyball gets pretty intense and I was surprised at how many good players there are here.

I love all of you so much! The church is true! Here are some awesome quotes I heard this week!

"Sometimes Christ will let us sink so low that we will hit rock bottom, just to show us that He is the rock"

"Of all the titles of respect, honor and admiration that are given to Deity, He has asked us to address Him as Father"

Love,

Hermana Sherman

P.S Right when we got here they had to take away our cameras and mp3 players because there is a stealing problem! It's all good cause we will get it for P day in a couple weeks when we go to the market. So sorry there's no pictures.