Rosie's mailing address

It is coming up on the Christmas season and I wanted to give you Rosie's address so that it would be handy if you were inclined to send her something. I know that she would love to get cards or whatever from people back home.

The best address to use for mailing anything to her is:

Hermana Rosemary Julia Baratta Romero
Mision El Salvador San Salvador Este
Apartado Postal #3362
San Salvador, El Salvador
Centro America

Thanks,
-ma

11-17-14 We need love, not likes.

To my dear family
and friends (or whoever reads these letters!)

What a great week! We learned a lot in our zone conference Friday, and stake conference Saturday/Sunday. It was incredible. An area 70 [regional leader] came to visit because they reorganized the stake presidency. His name is Elder Alonso. He was an incredible speaker. After the Saturday session and the Sunday session in which he spoke, we came home saying that we felt like we needed to repent right that very moment.

Favorite line, which he said about social media: "We need love, not likes." It made me realize that the computer is a big waste of time and that it's more important talking face to face with people (and talking to those we love that are distant).

I wanted to share an analogy I heard a few months ago. There was a man, that God commanded to go to a mountain and push a huge rock with all his might. This rock was so big that he couldn't make it budge. Every morning, bright and early, he set out to push the rock and didn't go home until the sun set. After a few months of such labors, the man began to complain saying, "Why did you send me to push this rock? I'm never going to move it!" God responded, "I didn't send you to move the rock, only to push it with all your might."

What the man gained wasn't moving the rock, it was the strength he gained in struggling with all his might. We have so much to gain in striving to achieve hard and even impossible tasks. For me the mission has been a hard experience. Actually, I think if you ask anyone, it's hard. (One investigator put it this way: If it were easy, everyone would do it). But it has been an experience of incredible growth. I am grateful for every moment of it, even the hard ones.

Like my companion said to me this week, we wanted more faith, so we were given more trials. Every experience, bad or good, happy or disappointing, work together in God's great plan for our benefit. May you be granted the perspective to recognize how you can learn and grow in every moment and may we all be guided on the path of happiness and eternal salvation.

Love you all!
Hermana Romero (Baratta)

11-10-14 It sure is fun writing home in a cyber

...because they're always playing reggaeton or American music. Either way it's distracting! But it's all good, we're back to having an hour plus of computer time so I can't complain here. :)

This week hmm was pretty special. Haha that's what my companion and I say to each other when the people reject us and/or aren't in their homes. It's pretty hard to teach the Gospel and find people that want to repent and be baptized if you don't have anyone to teach. But in spite of the work being pretty special (I feel like I'm just gtting a little taste of what missionary work is like in the States), we've found some incredible new investigators this week.

Examples:
-we spent like 3 hours trying to contact people, and we couldn't find ANYONE to teach. So we just kept knocking doors etc. in faith, and one misdirection led us to a super awesome lady who had had member neighbors before but had never listened to missionaries. Turns out she's been passing for trials in her life and really needs the Gospel in her life. Then we went to look for another reference, and in the path found another family. I love being a missionary because I see sooo many little miracles like this. I've really been learning to be more grateful.
-Idalia, who accepted a baptismal date in the first lesson, and told us that she'd had a lot of problems in her life but now was looking to put everything in order and to have a closer relationship with God. The next day, we visited her again, and she said she was already seeing the blessings in her life.

Other good news: we had an excellent meeting with the bishop, stake president and several other leaders of the ward this week. We read D&C 109:22* together and talked about the importance of everyone working hard and doing what corresponds to them. The stake president gave a comparison of a bunch of gears...it doesn't matter how much energy you put into the system, if they're not lined up right, it's never going to run well. I love this because, sometimes I just want to work super hard, but it's important to work effectively and as a team. I think these ideas are going to help the ward a lot.

Today we made baleadas, a Hondurenean dish SO GOOD they taste like Indian naan. I think I've pretty much mastered it to bring home and make for yall.

Wow this letter is really long. And I forgot to include a funny story (there's always a ton of those. Here's a short one: We showed up early for a lesson appointment, and the investigator said, "Ustedes quieren ir al cielo ya" ("You want to go to heaven already").)

Love,
Hermana Romero


*v. 22 And we ask thee, Holy Father, that thy servants may go forth from this house armed with thy power, and that thy name may be upon them, and thy glory be round about them, and thine angelshave charge over them;

11-3-14 Back in Monte Cristo

Dear fam sauce

Sooo we had transfers this week, and I returned to my second area! Well, not exactly. I'm in the same ward, but working the other half of the area because the ward is divided between two companionships of sisters. It's a bit like Belmont (in the sense that the people here are pretty well off and there's a lot of "all set" Catholics), but in spite of that, we've been able to find people that are willing to listen to our message. And hopefully, as we work with the members, we'll be able to help them come to church and to the waters of baptism.

I'm with Hermana O, from Honduras. She is so awesome - a hard worker, really focused, hilarious, really converted and obedient (I love obedient companions. They are the best, because we can just focus on the work and not on the rules!). God knows exactly where we need to be and with whom.

My trainer, Hermana I just finished her mission this past week. She's from Pennsylvania, so I'll be able to see her after the mission. Yay!

I don't have anything else super huge to share this week. Much love to all!
Hermana Romero


Photos: Hermanas from my zone (the zone with the most hermanas in the mission. Soo excited!)



Hermana Romero with her trainer - Hermana I
who just went home to Pennsylvania last week

Hermana Romero with her new companion,
Hermana O