Christmas Festivities-Making Tamales :: December 26, 2016

Tamales, tamales and more tamales.

Most households spend all day Christmas Eve making tamales. At midnight, they eat tamales and drink a cinnamon, fruit drink named Ponche. They dance, light fireworks and spend time as a family.

This year, we helped make about 30 tamales with some members. It was really fun!

I love Guatemala!!!

I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas!!! Ours was full of fireworks, tamales, humidity and beautiful Guatemalan customs and people. I love being on a mission at Christmas and being able to share Christ's love with others and learn from the best teacher to have ever lived, Jesus Christ. Through all of our life experiences, He trains us and molds us into who He needs us to be.

On Thursday, I was feeling more tired than I had ever felt before and I did not think that I would be able to do all the things I needed to. I was going to be in another sister's area on exchanges and I really wanted to help everyone have a good experience. I was tired, but I tried to lean on the Lord. I remembered something my little sister told me in an email that Lord does not call the qualified. He qualifies the called. So, I knelt down and prayed and asked for strength. Afterwards, I can't describe what happened, but I got up and was able to go throughout the whole day. I didn't just go throughout the day, but the day was an amazing one! I felt the spirit literally pick me up and carry me.

Through this experience, I learned that the Lord loves us and does not expect us to be perfect to be his servants. When we are diligent, faithful, obedient, and are striving to do our best, the Lord's grace steps in and through the Spirit, we become better. The Lord sees our efforts and wants to bless us.

I am learning that many times, we think miracles have to be giant appearances or events, but really, every little moment can be a miracle as we recognize it. I am learning about how the Holy Ghost should be the greatest gift we strive for. We receive the spirit by our obedience. As we are obedient to God's laws, are baptized and receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost, we can always have the spirit with us as we strive to be better every single day. I love the Spirit. I know it was sent from God himself because He cannot be here. The Spirit makes the daily occurrences into miracles.

On Christmas, we saw many miracles! We were able to talk with many about the Gospel and share our testimonies. In church, our members fellowshipped and brought our investigators! We had many share food, testimonies and hugs with us. It was just really fantastic. In the evening, I talked to my family on Skype. That was amazing! I had really missed them. I am so grateful for my family and all they do for me!

I testify that Jesus Christ lives. He loves us and is always here for us. Prayer is powerful and the Holy Ghost will be with us to carry us as we do our best to do what the Lord asks of us.

Love you all. Hope you have a great week!
Hermana Jessop

Making Tamales

MERRY CHRISTMAS :: December 19, 2016

I am very grateful to have the opportunity to spend another Christmas here in Guatemala. It is a beautiful country with magical people and means even more to me because I have found my Savior's love and learned so much about his plan of happiness serving here as a full time missionary. A mission is something sacred that goes by so quickly. I cannot believe how fast 2016 has gone. Even though there have been trials, I hardly remember them. The Lord is molding us constantly!

This Christmas, I want to testify to all of you that I know my Savior lives. I know He loves me. I know He is always here for every single one of us. He died for us and was resurrected so we could have the hope that there are always new beginnings. I love the Atonement. It strengthens me every single day as I go to my Savior in prayer and pour out my heart. I know that because of the Atonement, we are able to forgive and be forgiven of every sin we have ever committed. I love the Plan of Salvation and the hope I have of becoming like my Savior as I live the life He needs me to live.

It is interesting that even as a missionary, where we are preaching the gospel all day long, we can still become very distracted by the little unimportant things, like taking pictures and having parties, etc. etc. I have been reflecting on what is really important and at this Christmas season, I hope we can all remember the most important things... our Savior Jesus Christ, the many blessings we have, and the love we can share with all around us! Jesus is joy, peace, love, and tranquility.

I love you all and hope you have a very merry Christmas!
XOXO
Hna Jessop

I love being a missionary!

We did a skit and dressed up in cultural clothing. 

Christmas Devotional

Sister P Day Activity

Finally got some birthday packages from August!

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

Ano Nuevo :: January 18, 2016

Happy New Year!

2016! Yeah!

My email is a little later (or a lot) but I wanted to wish you all a Happy New Year! Good luck with school and work and all everyone is up to. Our Christmas and New Year were filled with a lot of tamales ( I ate 12 within 2 days) and so much fun with members and investigators.

Things have been busy here, but so amazing. Every day I am just so grateful to be a missionary. I get to delve into people´s souls every single day and practice extreme love and teach and study the gospel!! It is the best calling to have!!! We have seen so many miracles. Some of you have been asking for some stories and the truth is there are just so many to tell and I don´t even know where to begin. Missionary work is incredible and I am so grateful to be a part of it.

I have been thinking about the beautiful words that Isaiah uses to describe the Savior: Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. The Savior has many names but one that has stood out to me a lot lately is "Prince of Peace." It has come into my mind frequently as I have thought about a theme I am very passionate about: stress management.

I have noticed that a lot of missionaries are stressed out. People everywhere are. But, I am pretty sure the Savior wasn't walking around the Earth all stressed out. All of the extreme negative feelings like hatred, envy, loneliness, discouragement, worry, malice, insecurity, etc. that cause extreme stress in our lives are holding us back from our greatest potential and are not of God. If it is not good then it does not come from God; it comes from the adversary.We don´t have to feel horrible, because we have the Savior, and we can literally use the atonement every moment of every day. Our Heavenly Father does not want us to feel this way. With the knowledge we have of the gospel and if we always pray for help and are obedient, we really can have peace all the time. The key is Christ. He is at the door waiting to give us peace, but we must seek it and accept the gift, knowing we are worthy of it. He loves us and He wants us to have peace, to always know that we are okay and that He recognizes every single step we make.

Update on members and investigators: The family we taught that got baptized a month ago continues to be active in church and they are really thriving. The dad, Hermana Rafa received the priesthood and is going to baptize his son. They are so happy and seeing them and feeling their energy from when we started teaching them to now is night and day different and so amazing. The gospel really does bless and change families. That is something that has really impacted me.

We have been teaching a 12 year old named Jose who is part of a family where all are members of the church, but they are not active. About a month ago, we were teaching a 9 year old, Daniel, who did not want to get baptized alone and was really worried because he didn´t have friends in the church, so we thought to start teaching Jose so and create kind of a support group night for young boys. It has been amazing to watch Jose, Daniel and 6 other boys grow closer in the gospel and those who are not members have learned about the gospel and want to be members! Baptizing and reactivating. Jose now goes to church on his own with his hair all slicked-back and his backpack, like a mini missionary. He received the priesthood on Sunday and told us it is his dream to serve a mission. He is the cutest. His family came to church for the first time in 8 months to see him pass the sacrament for the first time.

Anyways, there are a lot of stories to tell. We meet beautiful, amazing people every single day and I wish I could share every experience with all of you.

Thank you for your support and love. I love you all so very much!XOXO

Hermana Jessop

Photos:
Tamales
Visiting 3 sets of twins
The boys from the ward, including Jose

Merry Christmas! :: December 21, 2015

MERRRY CHRISTMAS!!!

I hope everyone is enjoying Christmas time! Christmas in Guatemala includes a lot of fireworks, tamales and parties. We are enjoying the hot Christmas in the tropics.

This week, we had a Christmas Devotional with President and Hermana Ruiz. It was really nice to be with other missionaries and feel so much love and feel like a big family. We had a lunch, games and some spiritual messages. Ihave attached some photos of my companion and I at the lunch. We got some gifts and celebrated and celebrated some of our achievements and made some goals as a mission.

We have been visiting people and teaching of Christ and seeing the miracles every day. I love singing Christmas songs! Being away at Christmas is weird because as amissionary, you feel so much joy and happiness to be part of the work but it is also hard to be away from family during the holidays. But, what is so cool is that we have the opportunity to look deeper for the Lord´s hand in our lives and really see that we have everything we could ever need. It is really beautiful. Gratitude changes everything and allows the Lord´s spirit to penetrate our lives and help us,no matter where we are and what we are experiencing.

I think of all the people who are alone at Christmas or who do not have family or are extremely afflicted and really, being away at Christmas for a season is a blessing so we can better understand others and have more compassion for ourselves and those around us. Some are with family but they feel very alone and are struggling inside. Some will never know what it means to have a family. Everyone is fighting some kind of battle. Life will always be hard in some way and that is the point, so we progress and learn, but because of the Savior we can always choose to have hope, love and to act in faith. Always. No matter what the circumstances are, we can choose how we react and how we will feel. I hope for everyone to have a Merry Christmas, to remember the real meaning and to enjoy where we are, the people we are with who God has given us to love and to just love every minute. We were made to have JOY, especially at Christmas because OUR SAVIOR LIVES!!!!

I just want to thank you all for your support and love, for the love you all give to the world. We are all on this journey together. I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who knows us and loves us perfectly. We are on the Earth for just a moment and He is with us every step of the way. We just have to ASK, and because our Savior came to the Earth and died for us, we ALWAYS have him, and He understands us perfectly.

I hope that we can all reach out to others this week during Christmas and always, remembering to judge less, love more, and live every moment, because that is what the Savior would want us to do with the great gift He has given us of His atonement. ENJOY!!!

Love you all!!!!! FELIZ NAVIDAD!!

Hermana Jessop