Marlen's Baptism {Coatepeque} :: April 25, 2016

Hi Everyone, 

Wow, it has been a crazy week! There is not a ton of time to write but I wanted to send some photos. This always seems to be a crazy time of year.

My companion is named Hermana Meza and she is from Lima, Peru. She has always wanted to serve a mission and is the yougest of 5 kids who all served in different parts of the world. She is just starting her mission and so excited. She is incredibly hardworking and an amazing teacher. I am learning so much from her. We have a lot of fun together.

Marlen Esmeralda was baptized this week. She is 15 and she has wanted to get baptized for a few years, but she lives with her aunt and uncle and they do not approve of her baptism. Her mom passed away so they are her legal guardians. They are members of the Evangelical Church. She has read the entire Book of Mormon and has a strong testimony of the gospel. Finally, this week, they gave her permission to get baptized. She is absolutely amazing and a strong example to me of faith, courage and unshakeable confidence! I want to be like her!

The rainy season started this week. It is sunny all day but around 2 or 3 in the afternoon, it usually rains- more like torrential downpour. Our area has a lot of hills and rocky roads, so we walk through little rivers when it rains. It is an adventure every day!

Some highlights of this week- I saw a guy with a University of Utah T-shirt on the street (I miss it like crazy), the rain has started, we had a tri-zone P-day today where we got to play games all morning, and I got a package from my family!

I have attached photos of our area, Marlen's baptism, and some rainy day photos we took together.

XOXOXX,
Hermana Jessop

Dalmacia :: April 11, 2016

Hi Everyone!

This week has been a great one. I am feeling adjusted to my area and really happy to be here. Coatepeque, Guatemala is beautiful!!!

Some experiences from this week:

One day this week we were about to head home for the night and we were feeling a little discouraged. As we were walking down the street, someone said hi. It took us a minute to realize that this person was talking to us in English. We stopped for a moment and started to talk to them. Right before us was a family of 7 - the mom, Ingrid and her daughters Jacquie, Amy, Ingrid, Ingrid, Alondra and Heidi. It turns out that the family moved here in October and they are going to be here until October of next year but they are from Florida. The little girls are 3, 5 and 7 and the older girls are 13, 17 and 21.

My companion and I were especially missing America that day and it was like a gift from Heaven to be able to sit down with them and talk to them. God has a way of giving us these tender mercies. I cannot even imagine how difficult it would be to have to move to a different country for a year. They go to school here and are on soccer teams and everything. They hardly speak Spanish so they were happy to talk to us too. We taught them about the Restoration in English which was a lot of fun! On Sunday, they came to church with us and I was able to have the opportunity to translate the meeting from Spanish to English. It was so much fun! They are a beautiful family and we are excited to be able to teach them about the gospel. It makes us feel at home too.

This Saturday, we also had an activity for youth where we brought young men and women from our areas to learn about missionary work. We all had 2 or 3 mini-missionaries with us. We were able to go out and teach about the gospel and contact people in the streets. It was a lot of fun!

It was a good but simple week.

Also, I am looking forward to going to the temple for the first time in my mission next week!

I love you all!
Hermana Jessop

Me with one of the ward members who reminds me of my grandpa - and my sweat towel from the Ankenman Family!

My Mini Missionaries

The Missionary Youth Conference

Our friends from Florida all ready for church

New Land! :: April 4, 2016

Hi Everyone!

I hope everyone had the opportunity to watch General Conference. I watched it here in Guatemala and learned so much. I especially loved Duncan's talk about forgiveness.

I had changes this week and had to say goodbye to my family in Las Flores, Mazatenango. Everyone there will always be a huge part of my heart. It was really really hard to say goodbye, but I also felt ready to go to a new area.

I was transferred to Coatepeque in an area called Dalmacia. We are just opening a new area that had been closed for 8 months. The ward assistance is not very high but there are a handfull of really cool, active members. There used to be elders here so it is not an area for sisters necessarily, but I am excited for the challenge! The are is HUGE with a lot of trees, hills and houses on the outskirts. I love that because I get to feel like I am hiking all the time. There are even mountains. There is a lot to do here and I am really excited to get started! My companion is named Hermana Tebbs and she is from Layton, Utah!

I've attached some photos of saying goodbye and my new area. Enjoy!

XOXOX
Hermana Jessop

Do all things with great love and courage!

Our Savior - The Gift of Repentance :: March 28, 2016

Happy Easter Everyone!

March has been a crazy month but also one full of miracles. I am more tired than I think I have ever been in my life but also happier than ever. Missionary work makes no logical sense but it is truly the most beautiful and magical thing in the whole world. It is all the Lord. I feel like I haven`t really done anything. It is like the Lord has just allowed us to come along and see miracles as long as we are obedient and have faith in him. Missionary Work is amazing!

We have seen countless miracles this month. I want to tell the story about the Cadenas Family. We met them about a month ago. We were walking down a dark street at night headed for our house and they yelled out "Hey, don`t you guys sing?" (in Spanish, haha) and so we stopped and talked to them. They started asking us a lot of questions about things we believed and a lot of false beliefs that they had about the Church. They found us.

We started teaching them and after about two weeks, they wanted to get baptized. After we had their date to be baptized and they had visited the temple and were excited and everything, one day we went to their house and they were angry. They told us they never wanted to talk to us again. We were really hurt, confused and sad because in just a few weeks of visiting them every day, we had grown very close to their family and we hated the idea of not seeing them again.

We prayed and fasted a lot about how to help them and one day we felt that we needed to go back and talk to them. Basically, they had heard a lot of negative
things about the church and had a hard time with some of the changes they would have to make.

As they had their baptismal interviews, we discovered that there was a big family conflict that needed to be resolved. Again, we thought they were not able to baptized. As a missionary, you just want to help everyone be free of their sins and be able to feel happy.

Anyways, everything happened so quickly that I do not know how to explain it, but somehow we went to their house and resolved their doubts and I do not doubt that all of it was the spirit of the Lord, because from one day to the next, they went from being very angry to extremely excited and pleased to be baptized. We sat with them day after day as they worked through the repentance process and I have never seen people change so much.

Once again, I cannot explain what happened. But, I do testify that we saw giant changes in every one of the family members, especially the parents. Before my mission, one of my favorite people in the world, my brother-in-law, Braden, told me that on his mission, he learned how repentance can really change people. I am starting to actually understand what that means.

I testify that Jesus Christ lives and loves each one of us. Each day as I study the life of my Savior, I realize that I know almost nothing and I am such a small part of the big picture, BUT, I am an important part. Each one of us is. I am eternally grateful for the gift of repentance and for the opportunity to see the people around me change and repent of my sins and be clean again every minute, every hour, every day as I repent and try again and again. I love my savior with all my heart.

In Mazatenango, Las Flores, we saw countless miracles this month. Our zone leaders are awesome and everyone in our zone grew really close. I have never felt so unified with a group of people. With this unity and common goal, we were able to break the record for baptisms in our area, which is something that has not been done in years! We were able to go to the amusement park to celebrate after a month of hard work.

A mission cannot be explained, it just has to be experienced. Anyone questioning going on a mission, just do it! It is worth all the sacrifice and hard work. This is the Lord`s work.

Love you all!
Hermana Jessop

Xetelul :: March 28, 2016

We were able to make a mission goal so we were able to be one of the 3 zones to go to the amusement park!

Happy March :: February 29, 2016

Hello Everyone!

I have no idea where February went but I am grateful for all the miracles we saw. I want to share the story of one family in particular that has had a really big impact on me.

In my email last week, I shared a little bit about a someone named Alex. He was baptized this week.

Alex and his family live way out of the way in an area we hardly ever go to because it is by the river and there are no houses there. It is divine that we even found them. God found a way to help Alex and his family and I am grateful I was have been able to witness this and work with them. They call us their daughters and always make us feel at home, feeding us avocados and mangos and bananas from their trees.

First of all, his mother is amazing. All Guatemalan women are. I think about all the women in my life and I am grateful for all the strong influences I have, here and at home.

Alex's mom, Fidelia, gets up everyday at 5 to walk half a mile to the bus stop, takes a bus to the market, buys 50 pounds of corn, and takes the same journey home with the corn bucket on top of her head. There, she starts making her Mazza (corn flour) and has to cook it all morning. By noon, she takes it all from a giant pot and thickens it to make the actual flour to make tortillas. This takes 2 hours. Then, she spends all afternoon making tortillas. She makes 1,000 a day and leaves her house by 6 pm to sell them in the market.

She doesn't get home until about midnight and then she wakes up again the next morning to do it all again. Every single day with no break. Every time we visit, we ask her how her business was the day before and she always, whether she had a lot of buyers or just a few, she says "God has blessed me so much. Sometimes He gives a lot and sometimes a little, but He knows what we need." Her tortillas are the family´s only source of income and she cannot take a break because her family depends on her.

The day of Alex´s baptism, she got up 2 hours earlier to start her corn so that she could make time to go to Alex´s baptism. She said that they had prayed and prayed for help for their son, Alex becuase he was "in the streets" and was not making good choices. She and her husband, Elias, say that we are an answer to their prayers.

So, the day of Alex's baptism on Saturday, Elias and Fidelia and Alex's little sister, Elsa came to the baptism. They made sacrifices to be able to go and it was incredible to see how happy they all were there together. We are teaching his family too and we have the faith that they will be baptized as well.

I don't think we can fully comprehend the changes that have come about in Alex because we did not see him all day everyday, but his parents say he is absolutely, completely different. The Savior´s atonement changes all for us. Alex is preparing to serve a mission in a year.

Oh, and Guatemalans do not smile in pictures. But, look at Alex and his family! So happy and smiling! I love the photo of him and his family!!

God works in mysterious and beautiful ways. I am so grateful to be part of His beautiful work here in Las Flores. I know my Savior lives and I love Him with all my heart.

I love you all. Have an amazing week. XOXO

Hermana Jessop

Life in Las Flores :: February 22, 2016

Good Morning Everyone!

This week has been fun, crazy, challenging and everything else but overall so full of miracles. Hermana Powell and I have a lot of fun and are loving working hard and laughing all the time. I love being part of missionary work.

First, we found a few different new families to teach this week. The Lopez Family is especially so prepared and excited to learn about the gospel. They came to church and we are having a family home evening with them tonight. Over and over again, I am so amazed at every single miracle I witness and am humbled to know that this is the Lord´s work and I get to walk along to see the miracles. We are finding people, teaching them and baptizing. It is all so busy but really incredible. Alex, who is 17, is getting baptized this week. He has left behind a lot of old habits and we are all really blown away by the changes we have seen in him. He is amazing. I am starting to understand how the Savior's Atonement really does change hearts and lives.

Oh.. this week, I had lice. I had never had lice before in my life and I was pretty freaked out realizing that bugs were living and multiplying in my hair. But, I am grateful for lice shampoo, lice combs and a really amazing companion who combed through my hair over and over to get the lice out. Members helped too. I bought a bunch of lice combs and will be using them every day to double check my hair, haha. We also found a scorpion in our house and it was really cool to see one in person. A neighbor came and killed it for us. It was actually prettty cool to see a scorpion!

The different trials we had this week were kind of silly, but something I have learned is that the Lord's promise that He will qualify his servants is absolutely true. I feel Him carrying us every single day. When we are tired, sick, worn out, etc, the Lord carries us from house to house to teach lessons. I feel his angels around us bearing us up. It is all Him.

I know this is true with all of us. If we trust the Lord´s promises, He will carry us. We just have to let Him. No matter how silly we think something is, He cares about it because it is important to us.

Through all the ups and downs, my testimony of the Book of Mormon has grown. Reading and studying it everyday makes a huge difference in my day and gives the eternal perspective I need to conquer the day´s challenges. As a part of daily spiritual practice, the Book of Mormon brings a very real power into our lives. We need daily spiritual practice and the Book of Mormon and prayer need to be our center.

As humans, we are easily distracted and tempted and I have a strong testimony that every morning and night we need to rejuvenate our power source, which is The Spirit of Christ. Along with the Book of Mormon and prayer, we as humans need balance, brought about by exercise, deep breathing and relaxation exercises, good food, sleep, etc. These are our resources and they are here for us to take advantage of and use to have strength in body, mind and spirit. God has given us these tools to be the best we can be.

Thank you all for support and love. XOXOX


With love and good intentions,
Hermana Jessop

She caught a catfish in the river!

More photos:

• What we eat everyday: eggs and refried black beans
• What our feet look like at the end of everyday of walking around and visiting
• Beautiful Guatemala