Hermana Park said: "Hermana Gaitan (is) awesome and says she´ll show me one day to make gallopinto, the traditional food of Nicaragua.  Last week, Monday was training for the greenies, tuesday was our meeting and internet, Wednesday I showed hermana Gaitan the market (mercado) and we cleaned the house and she slept for a couple of hours.

I don´t know about the traditions here,(for Easter) but Sunday there were fireworks. This week is the Semana Santa, or Holy Week. Many will be leaving, there will be more fireworks, and processions. I don´t know what else. This friday we will have a zone conference. This will be the last zone conference that President and Hermana Baldwin will have here. They leave in June with half of the mission. I will let you know about that next week"

And her email:

Family and all,

So with that, it may be possible that my shoes will be worn down at the end of the mission. I run, walk, sometimes get jabs of rocks in the bottom of my shoe that hurt my feet. Ouch, but still my shoes are living. Just my feet feel hot sometimes with all of the blisters and pricks of pebbles.  It is fun to hear about all of the adventures you all are having. Here there are adventures, but sometimes I wonder if they nearly kill me. For example, this week all went well. Friday we had a zone meeting and at the end played a game called animals, which is like the game signs. If I remember it, I´ll have to show you all. It is funny because each person has the sign of an animal, like elephant, frog, crocodile, flea, giraffe, and so on. If someone messes up in the rythm that goes with the game, they have to be a chicken in front of everyone. It was funny.

 

I am not the only one I´ve discovered that has had the protection of dogs. Other missionaries have said that while walking through dark places there are dogs that will walk along until they reach a safer place. It comes to show that each missionary has angels attending them daily, but sometimes they come in a variety of forms. Sometimes they come in the shape of dogs. 

 

With those beautiful experiences, the weekend came, and I am pretty sure that I have never had a more stressful weekend in all of my mission. We walked and walked, and hurried and hurried, and waited and waited, and gathered and gathered to bring people to church Sunday, but our attendance was less than any other week. Sunday we went to gather several people in a half an hour in two separate sides of our area, and waited for one of the families for more than a half an hour. We were late to Sacrament meeting and missed the Sacrament, arriving in time for the last talk and closing hymn and prayer. And after we had set appointments so there was no time to rest really. 

Then later we visited some recent converts which have had troubles lately and I realized that perhaps I am better off and shouldn´t give up. I also thought of (my friend) and her trials, which she wrote about in a letter to me and I came up with a poem (writing poetry helps me often). Here is the summary of my mission in poetry form that each person can apply to their own life as well.

 

They told me that I´d never be great, but I took the climb

They told me I´d never reach the top, but I made it up just fine.

I grew breathless at a couple of points but I enjoyed the sights,

At times it rained until I was soaked, and I didn´t sleep well each night.

My muscles were sore and I felt ill. I nearly wished to give in,

And it made me discouraged to think about how their faces would each hold a grin.

Their mocking and laughter would bring me to tears as they tell me I shouldn´t have tried,

And they´d point and laught at my attempt as I stood there and cried.

With a prayer in my heart I remembered all that God wanted me to be.

I put one foot in front of the other and ignored all that could happen to me,

And with a smile on my face I kept walking. Determination played on my mind.

Though it was painful I kept hiking and I continued trying to make the climb.

I honestly tell you that it was hard. I wanted to give up many times.

But though they said I couldn´t do it, I indeed made the climb.

 

So there is my poem, no one steal it, ha ha. For each of us there are difficulties and problems, trials and pains, but I know that if we place our trust in God and remember who we are, we will make the climb at the end and God will give us the determination to finish what we´ve begin. I love you all and testify that the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true and living, that we have a prophet, and that our Heavenly Father loves us. Hasta Ver, or Hasta escribir,

Love Hermana Destinee Park

Dear Family,
For the changes, Hermana Elvir left for Antigua, San Pedro, with the house that is very pretty because it's like a large cabin with mirrors all over, a nice patio, huge beds... Yeah, I know it. I received as companion Hermana Gaitan, who came from San Pedro. She has 5 months in the mission, a twin sister, and there is no one but she and her twin who are members of the family. She is from Nicaragua, Managua. There were two missionaries that left for their houses: Elder Romeros and Elder Tux. Nearly one half of the mission was there in the changes it appeared, and President Baldwin shared with us of the anniversary of the church, or rather the organization of the church. The Church began with 6 members and now, as I looked around in the meeting of changes, each of the many missionaries represent a family of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is beautiful to see and receive insights like that.

Thursday when Elder Musick called us and I answered he said, "Que tal, Hermana Parquecito?" He said the same thing last night also. Funny funny. Well, at the end of this week I felt ready to crash. Due to this and minor illness we took a break sunday for a couple of hours to rest. 

How have things gone for everyone? I received some dearelders and a card today. I will send letters tomorrow, hopefully. Oh, we are writing today and had our meeting today because yesterday there was a training meeting for the new missionaries. Tomorrow will be our Pday. 

We haven't heard anything else about the mareros... but this reminds me of something funny. The sister that cooks our lunch told us that all of the stores by the main street have been bothered by the mareros, that the mareros always go to those stores to take money. After this we stopped at the store within our residence. I said to the young man of the store, "did you know that the mareros have bothered the storekeepers on the main street?" He misheard the first time and said, eyes growing wide, "Mareros? Donde?" We assured him there weren't any nearby and then repeated the question and if they had bothered him before. Within the residence the people are safe from the mareros it appears.

Well, I really can't think of much more to write... We don't have any baptisms prepared for this week, maybe for the week to come. I really would like to see a baptism each week.

I know without a doubt that this is the Church of Christ. He is the head of the church and has called a prophet to guide us. I love you. Write to you next week, and have a fun week. Love Desty



 

No email from Destinee today. I will post it as soon as I get one.  Hopefully tomorrow.

I indeed enjoyed conference. All of us north americans went to a separate room to watch conference in english. It was fun because several experiences happened, which were funny, especially when applying the talks. For example, one of the elders had cut pictures of girls from the liahonas and then we listened to Elder Scott´s talk, in which at the beginning he said missionaries should not waste time in idol pursuits.

That is so weird that kiana is nearly 16. Happy Birthday Wednesday Kiana! 

I have been sick as well with a cold. The weather changes terribly. In the night there is wind and it is cold, during the day it is super hot. I have been suffering here, but not in vain because I have been working. We found 8 investigators this week.

San Cristobal wasn´t too bad. We walked a lot. Before going there, I took part in a zone meeting of the zone Mariscal. 

Changes might affect me, well our companionship rather. Hermana Elvir has 4 changes here or 6 months, so she might have changes, but we´ll find out tonight. Who knows... Well, other than these things... Conference was fantastic. I´ll write some of the things I learned.

1) Sacrifice all that is bad to feel good and live better.

2) Be humble. Jesus comes first.

3)Take small steps on the path to discipleship. It is better to arrive late than never. 

4) Through Christ I can do all things.

5) I need to be self-reliant so that I can help others, especially those that suffer.

6) It is usually through others that God answers our prayers and meets our needs.

7) Our Heavenly Father always answers our prayers when we have faith but in His time and His way. We have the responsibility to keep pressing forward in faith and remain worthy to receive personal revelation.

8) What would I sacrifice to go to the temple?

9) We are many times ´cut down´ so that we´ll be what God wants us to be. God directs our course. 

10) Teaching is more powerful and effective than punishing. 

11) We should be like President Monson and let nothing get us down. 

12) Live the hightest law. This is not your way but His way. 

Well, that´s it for the writing part. Now I will be sending photos. I love you all. I testify that this is the church of Jesus Christ and that we have a prophet to guide us. The Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ and can help us receive answers to our prayers. Until next week.

Love Hermana Destinee Park  

And a picture from the mission blog:

Scorpions, Baptisms, and giving a talk

Last Tuesday we watched a movie as zones villa Nueva and Villa Hermosa (these two are not part of the capital), which was The Other Side of Heaven. 

(A family) had problems this day and the oldest daughter came to find us. She told us of how her step mom (she´s only daughter of the father) had been beating the second oldest daughter. (A child), of 8 years, ran to bring the police. We couldn´t go and do anything, we told her. Then later when we saw her again with her dad and two of her brothers, they told us of how this mom had caused problems before. They told us of how a cousin had violated the oldest son, who is 11 years old, and how the mom told her son to lie about the experience to the police. Oh, the ugly things we hear. Each day I see those little children, I wish there was some way I could help them, yet there is nothing really. They see us as a type of relief from their home life and when we visit them they are excited we are there. It is sad to see these things. 

Tuesday also, Hermana Elvir found a scorpion by my bed and sealed it in a box. Later we found a jar to put it in. It lived without oxygen for several days. Sunday the jar rolled off the table and broke, and the scorpion ran outside. Then Hermana Elvir killed it. 

March 26, Saturday, Maricella was baptized. 

baptism of Mari. Eduardo, mission leader baptized her. He has 22 years also, and his bday is 16 days earlier than mine. He has a twin. They served in Honduras and Nicaragua.

I gave a talk Sunday. I planned one talk on being a master teacher- like a teacher instead of just a missionary, but gave another talk about faith. I astonished many in the ward because they didn´t think I could speak spanish, but I guess I spoke well Sunday.

Anyway, not much else has happened. It´s been a boring week really. There hasn´t happened anything about the mareros either. I´ll send pics now. Oh, we have divisions this week and I will be going back to San Cristobal for a day. And this morning in district meeting I gave the prayer in kaqchikel. 

I love you. Have a great week, and don´t forget about me and kade too much. We are still living, I promise. 

And send my greetings to Grandma and Grandpa and cousins and aunts and uncles and ward members.... Speaking of which, if there is time I will write something for the primary. Love Desty 

And some other tidbits from the reply to my email:

The funny thing about the foods is that they are made with things that are normal to us, but are more expensive. For example, platanos, beans, flour of corn. But they are fun to make and have a bit of a difference than what we are used to. Hermana Elvir showed me how to make tortillas easier. 

food we made, with fry bread, mango, avocado, fried yucca, and refried beans

Steven (last week's Baptism) is only 17 years old but he is already looking to the future and saying how he´s going to go on a mission, marry a return missionary, and all of his children and grandchildren will be members. It is cool to see how the gospel has effect on people.

Baptism...

Journal Entry

March 14, 2011

district meeting, internet to write family, lunch. We taught four lessons. The family Reyes´ kids were less crazy tonight. We found a new investigator. When we were teaching Steven Juarez we asked him when he wanted to be baptized and he told us this saturnday. Now hopefully everything will work out because he´s only been attending Barrio Petapa and not our ward. We taught about the word of wisdom and then Hermana Elvir asked if there were any of the five things (tea, tobacco, coffee, drugs, or alcohol) with which he had a problem. ´´Sí,´´ he said solemnly, ´´con fumar tobacco...´´. Then he apologized to him mom, and my heart sank. ´´Nah, es una mentira,´´ he added laughing. I felt relieved and his mom stood up to smack him with the pamphlets she had in here hand.

I learned how to make a food from honduras called Baleadas. It is basically like a fajita but instead of the filling fajitas have, one only puts avocado, egg, sour creme, and red beans. They are good when everything is homemade. Thursday we had a zone conference with Elder Falabella, in which was discussed:

1) Obedience is intelligence because someone more intelligent than us asks us to obey.

2) Willing and able missionaries are better leaders. ´´Almost all men can handle adversity, but if you want to test the character of man... give him power.´´ Abraham Lincoln

3) We need to form habits that will last a lifetime such as write down goals and the actions to take, and then the results; smile; try several solutions for one problem; lose fear to talk with others; Study with your comp, and listen.

 

Other than this this past week... Steven was actually baptized. I´ll send photos. The baptism service was really spiritual. We found 5 families this week. 3 is the goal of the mission, 4 for our personal goal, and 5 found. Yeah! Well, now the photos.

 

 

Love you all, and hope your week isn´t too boring. I know the church is true and that Joseph Smith really was called as the prophet to begin this last dispensation. I know that God protects us and watches over us, and that faith and works bring miracles. With Love, Destinee

 

stilos in Amatitlan

From the Guatemala City Central Mission blog

A sisters' lunch and a craft activity they can teach in
young womens and relief society in their wards.

The finished product - beautiful scarves!
A quick and easy project - thank you Hnas.
Lozano and Ralphs for teaching us this craft!

Everyone was talking about the earthquake and the tidal wave it caused. They said all of us in central america would be affected by the after effects but we only had a small tremor and nothing afterward. It was funny because we were studying and at 830 am everything began to shake. Hermana Elvir said ´´hermana, it´s shaking´´ but in Spanish. She was afraid, but I looked at the floor, felt the trembling, and then said, ´´sí´´.  It didn´t feel like hardly anything. We have colder weather due to it. 

So, Martes... um, Tuesday, we climbed a mountain in Amatitlan, saw the lake from a good distance, and saw fake ruins. Wednesday we taught one of the investigators, Steven, about the law of chastity and challenged him to keep it. He then and there took our an earring he was wearing (he hasn´t put it back in since) although he said it was important to him. We brought papusas, popcorn, and cocacola to the Family Reyes in the night and they were very excited because they usually don´t have dinner.

And from her journal:

Journal entry of Saturday:

March 12, 2011

This afternoon the zone leaders accompanied us for 2 hours. In the two hours we had one appointment and it lasted for about 1 hour. Nevertheless, it was a good lesson. At 5 we had to arrive at the church to fill the baptismal font. At 6:30 pm we had the baptismal services for Yoselin (18) and Manuel (9)... After, we went to the house of the Family reyes and I helped Teresa and Paula, the two oldest daughters, with English homework. This was fun.

As we were returning home, Hermana Elvir began walking slower and after a minute or so said (whispered), ´´Hermana, ellos son mareros´´, meaning a group of men that was walking in front of us. Even though I thought of how I should be afraid, I felt at peace an the thought came to my mind, ´God can easily smaite man, but I know I´ll never see a man who can smite God.´

Well, that´s all of the journal entry. Not too much more happened this past week because it went by so fast. We have a few other baptisms on the way, so I believe I will be writing more about that. Maybe we´ll have a month of snow? I hope so. We only have a small problem with having one of the families baptized. Well, a big problem: they aren´t married and cannot be married until the hermano divorces with his ex-wife, which will cost time and money, and they do not have money... What can we do? Well, we will trust in the Lord that things will work out. I am going to send photos of this past week, so you can look for that. Love you all, and know that I am doing well. I am happy, and tired, and ready to ´´rock the socks off in Guatemala´´ as Noel (from work) would say. Thank you all for your support.

Hermana Destinee Park

Cinemark!!!

The lake Amatitlan

Walking across a bridge into the park

Zona villa Nueva (most of it)

Baptism

Baptism

The fake Ruins

Walking up the mountain and the lake from a distance

I just have to share

One of the moms of a missionary in Destinee's mission passed the following on to me this week from her missionary::

"Also Sister Park is in my district and you can tell her mother that she is doing amazing there because a lot of things changed when she got there and they are having a lot of success."

Proud missionary mom moment!  I love these moms who are so willing to share with each other.  For anyone who has a missionary out, there is no better suggestion I can give you than to be sure to join the missionary moms lists! http://www.ldsmissionarymoms.com/

To begin with, one day as we were leaving from the colony a guard called out ´´good night´´, but it was morning so I talked to him and told him what it means. He replied, ´´yo sé, pero él (pointing to another guard) no sabe Inglés. Estoy enseñandole como hablar inglés.´´

Saturday was scary. While in a lesson, and halfway through it we heard noises outside and people began screaming, especially a man. The woman we were teaching jumped up and said ´´they killed a baby´´. As she began to leave the house to see what had happened (this took place right outside the house) Steven, her 17 year old son, forbid her. Then Hermana Elvir and the member that was with us went to the window to look and Steven yelled at them to get away from the window (the both being females) and then he left to look. The baby wasn´t killed. The car just came really really close to killing it, and the father had began to panick. For this lesson we had arrived late. If we had arrived on time we would have been leaving by the time the car had lost control. Other blessings this week:

March 6, 2011 (journal entry)
Today I witnessed great miracles. 10 investigators attended church in our ward and 1 of them, making the 11th, attended in the Petapa ward. Of these 11 investigators there was a family that attended. Later as we visited and taught this family they said they´d like to be baptized. This week we found 11 investigators and four families. I feel exceedingly blessed. It seems that those investigators that progress have many difficulties. Lately I´ve related my experiences to gospel principles.

1) In a testimony meeting once, an elder leaving stood to bear his testimony. He said, ´´I am hungry.´´ Although physical hunger is uncomfortable it´s important that we always hunger spiritually. Says Enos, ´´And my soul hungered.´´

2) While riding on a bus to Antigua I was on the last step and had to hold tightly with one hand on the rail so that I didn´t fly out. In Lehi´s dream he saw a rod that led to Christ. Those that let go of the rod were flung to the depths of darkness. If we don´t hold tight we too will fly into darkness.

3) At the beginning of my mission I heard of an elder that had been electrocuted. He had been outside of the house where a cable was hanging. This reminds me that we should always stand in holy places without the sort of dangers that can harm us.

4) Once my companion and I were locked within the gates of the stake center in Chimaltenango. We had looked for a way out and found no visible solution. Finally I decided to pray. After praying, a man passed by and came to our rescue with ladders, and helped us escape. From this experience I learned how powerful prayer was and how important it is that we have faith.

Well, that is all about this past week. I have never been so happy and yet so tired. It seems that I go to sleep and then very quickly morning comes, but even with this and with running to nearly every place, I have sufficient strength to help me continue forward. Tomorrow we will be going to Amatitlan, so I will tell you next week how that goes.

I love you all and hope the week goes well. I know this church is the true and living church, living in that we receive modern revelation by a prophet of God. Rinwetaman chi re ri kajol ri ajaw nukolonel chuqa k´es. El Libro de Mormón es llenado con las palabras de profetas de antiguedad y de Dios. Tell everyone hi for me.
Love desty