Dear Family and Friends,
Saturday we had changes and guess what...I'm here in San Igancio with Sister DeLeon again. One more change baby! This will be our third change together and we've definitelyon worked hard to get our investigators where they're at now and I know with faith in the Lord that we will see the fruits of our labors this change.
As for our investigators, they're doing well. We're still teaching the 11 year old boy and he's progressing really well. We're working on getting permission from his mom so that he can get baptized so please pray for him. You want to know something cute? We had testimony meeting and he got up and bore his testimony about how he knows the things we are teaching him are true! That was definitely a happy moment! We are also teaching a lady and her two kids and they really love church and they want to continue to learn more. We're hoping they'll continue to progress and become baptized this month.
Since last Friday was the 4th...HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!! For the fourth of July we had a breakfast at the Rinderknecht's house and Sister Rinderknecht made a delicious American Flag cake. For dinner that night the service group Health International invited the missionaries in our branch over for a true American dinner. The leaders of the group are from Utah and they visit our branch each week. We had fun chatting, taking pictures, and eating an all American meal. We ate hamburgers, hotdogs, an American Flag cake, french fries, potato chips, and we made rootbeer floats. So I can't complain, I had a pretty great 4th of July, in Belize!

I hope that you all are praying for a way to serve your neighbors and for an opportunity to find some one to share the gospel with. We are all missionaries for the Lord and we should do our best to help his children back into the fold. I hope you have a wonderful week!
Love,
Sister Ontiveros

Silly San Ignacio:
So I was riding my bike the other day and my skirt got caught in my bike. So I angrily got off my bike and tried to detach myself from my bike. While I was doing that this car stops right next to me and this guy rolls down his window and says "Hey your tire is flat." I looked at my tire with confusion and then the guy says "Haha Just kidding!" and drives away. What the?! ha

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Dear Friends and Family,

The 11 year old boy is great, he's so smart, the only thing is his mom is in the states right now with her daughter because her daughter is pregnant and the dad won't sign the paper unless the mom says yes so we're trying to work with the family so that he can get baptized. I'm so happy that those sisters called you last week that's awesome! I can't believe that I'll be coming home in three short months, what the?! So we had interviews this week and I told president how Sister DeLeon and I had a week where nothing was going right and how I had ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA what to do and I got down on my knees and plead with the Lord to help us out because everything was going wrong and we weren't finding anyone new. I began to cry as I told him that story and he just looked at me and said "Sister you're a great missionary and I don't want to discourage you, but you're going to have a difficult future and this mission preparing you for that." All I could think was "It's because I'm an Ontiveros!" So that comment took me off guard, but I kind of figured that that's how my future is going to be because well nothing has ever come easy for me, I've always had to work at it. ha The interview over all went really well and he asked me if I wanted to go back to El Salvador, and honestly I love Belize and I wouldn't mind staying here, but I told him that I'd go where the Lord needs me. He told me how he's very grateful for all of the work that I've done and how I've always had a good attitude and I've done everything that he has asked of me, "I don't even know how many daughters you've had." is what he said. haha So we have changes on Saturday here in Belize and we should find out changes in the next couple of days so we'll see what happens! I've been like a crazy nervous, stressed, emotional person these last couple of weeks because I've come to the realization that my time on the mission is ending and I just want to know if I'm staying here or going home, and ah it's been crazy. ha Well for the fourth were going to have a bbq with "Health International" they're an american group that travels the world to help out kids in schools and the invited us to an the bbq so I'm excited(the counselors are mormon and have been attending our branch. they'll be here till august). That sounds like fun, a booth. Where is the booth going to be at? Are you guys going to stadium of fire? Who is coming to stadium of fire this year? I can't wait to see you guys soon, I'll get my plane plans at the end of August...ah so crazy! Well I love you so much and I can't wait to see you soon. Talk to you next week!
Love,
Ash :)

Dear Family and Friends, First off I want to wish my dad a Happy Fathers Day, and I want to thank him for everything he has done for me. I love you dad so much and I want you to know that I miss you and I'm so greatful for the example that you've been to me and for the love you've always shown me. I love you so much dad! This week over all went by really fast, and it really was a good week. We've been teaching this woman and her two daughters about the gospel and her daughters have gone to church before, but finally she went for the first time yesterday to church and she really did like it. We're working to help them become baptized, and we're working on serving them because they're going through a really rough time right now and as missionaries its our job to not only teach the gospel, but to  live it. We've also been teaching this young adult from Nicaragua and her boyfriend about the church and the importance of families(they're expecting a baby in July) and they're both really positive and she was actually taught by missionaries before so I would like to thank those missionaries who well prepared before. She's really nice and they do want to get married so we're working to help them become a family for eternity and be baptized. We were also fortunate enough to find a less-active member. President Hintze always asks us to visit 25 or more less-actives/recent converts each week because it's the best way to find investigators and to help them become strong members who will help build the branch. Less-actives need others to show love to them so that they can come back and feel needed. SILLY SAN IGNACIO: 1. Crazy enough I got stung AGAIN but this time we were teaching about the plan of salvation and I was holding a picture and was in the middle of saying "and so the celestial kindooooooommmmmouchhhh!"  when it stung me in the armpit! Who knows how the bee got there, but yes I had never before my mission been stung by a bee and now I've been stung twice within one week! 2. Contacting in Belize 101: I don't know how other missions contact but here in Belize we contact people in the streets, through references, and by yelling "good (time of day)" outside thier house. So this week we found a house who is surrounded by houses on both sides and whose house sits all the way to the back and there's a fence in front that surrounds the house. So the only way to contact that house is to yell really REALLY loud. So, without planning or anything, at the same time Sister DeLeon and I threw back our heads and her in Spanish, me in English, yelled "GOOD EVENING/BUENAS TARDES!!" It's a good thing that the person didn't come out of the house because DeLeon and I looked at each other and then just busted up laughing! One house that did happen to respond to our yelling actually ending up as a debate. The first thing that the man said to us was that the missionaries never come back to his house because he just fights with them because the Bible is the only true book, and it's not right the we worship Moroni and Joseph Smith. Um...what?! So Sister DeLeon and I testified and taught The Restoration to this man and when we would prove our point, he'd then find other excuses as to why our we are "preaching false doctrine." For example, he said that we shouldn't worship a prophet who had many wives and then he proceeds to ask us "Did Moses have many wives?" I told him I honestly didn't know and then asked him the same question and he said to me "You shouldn't be asking me I should be asking you!" Then he said that it's not right that we do baptisms for the dead because we should do it in the name of Jesus Christ not in the name of the dead person. An my all time favorite, "The true church is The Church of Jesus Christ." So we said "We are The Church of Jesus Christ brother, read our name tags!" He then read them and said "No you changed the name because you guys were The Mormon Church before! You're teaching false doctrine and we'll see who's right in the last day!" So I don't know about you guys but...I thought it was definitely an interesting contact experience! haha   My thought this week comes from Bonnie L. Oscorson who said "As we act upon the doctrines of the gospel and put them into daily practice, we will become converted and we will become the means of doing much good in our families and in the world." As missionaries and members it's important to not only share the gospel, but live it as well. Before we convert others, we need to first convert ourselves. We must pray often, read our scriptures, have faith, repent, remember our covenants we have made, go to the temple, and go to church, so that we can build and strengthen our own testimony so we "will become the means of doing much good." Love, Sister Ontiveros

ear Friends and Family,
Well this week was a week of ups and downs because our most progressing investigators decided that they're too busy, or don't want anything to do with the church any more. So that was dissapointing and we've been working hard to find positive news, but it hasn't been the easiest thing in the world, the Lord has definitely tested our faith and patience this week. The good news is that we were able to find a part member couple, and thier friend who is from Nicaragua and they are positive. The girl from Nicaragua said that she was going to get baptized, but her mom wouldn't let her, but she really wants to learn more about the church so hopefully all will go well with them and they will be able to progress towards baptism.
Silly San Igancio:
1. Well this week we went with a member to visit some investigators and while we were contacting we found this old lady and she was sweet and told us that we could come in and share a message with her. So we went in her house and I kid you not, it was all full of stuffed animals and baby dolls! There was not one shelf or corner where there weren't stuffed animals or baby dolls. So we were like okay that's kind of creepy, and she was actually holding one of her baby dolls so we started joking about how many times she feeds here baby and what not, but she though we were serious and she gave us serious answers. Then we asked her a simple question such as "Do you believe in God?" and she said of course she did and then she began to tell us a story. She said that she knows God exists because he protects her. There was these guys in the middle of the night that entered her house and pulled her by the hair and pinned her against the wall. She said that when they did that she pulled out her machete and fought them with it! We then told her that's great how she has seen how God has protected her and then she said "God does protect me because one night there were men who came into my house..." and she started the SAME story over again. She did that about ten times during the lesson and then she would tell us about her dolls and oh man...we definitely had to try out best to not bust a gut during the lesson.ha After we left the member asked us if he could go visit with us again because he wants to visit the crazy lady again! lol

2. Yesterday we were teaching our investigators and a couple of her friends outside when all of a sudden I saw something fall to the ground and I felt shooting pain go through my thumb. Guess what happened? A bee stung me! Who knows where the bee came from or how it got attached to my thumb, but that was the first time I'd ever been stung by a bee in my whole life so I was praying I wasn't allergic to it! Luckily I didn't have an allergic reaction to the bee, but it did hurt like no ones business.

3. We found a couple to teach and while we were talking about the Holy Ghost the wife asked us if we believe in gifts of the Holy Ghost? We told her of course we do and then she told us how she has the gift to see the future. She said that she has lines on her head that make the sign of the cross, as well on her front teeth and she believes that they are marks from God that give her this gift to see the future. I should have taken advantage of that and asked her who I'm going to marry one day and if I'd be a millionaire. haha

Well my spiritual thought for this week comes from M Russel Ballard. He says "The gospel and doctrine of Christ give all who will accept it power to achieve eternal life and power to find joy in the journey." I hope that we can all find joy in the journey of life and remember that the Lord is always with us.

Love,
Sister Ontiveros

Four months To Go

Dear Family and Friends,

First off, yesterday I finished 14 months on the mission can you believe that? I feel as if I'm in some kind of time warp, as if I'm not really living in real time because I'm in this missionary bubble which seemed to go SO slow at first, but now it's going by so fast. I've definitely had some great experiences in the mission which have helped me to really gain an understanding of the importance of the gospel in my life and to realize how I need to change to become more like Jesus Christ. 

This week was a bit challenging because our best investigators have digressed, but we're still working hard and luckily we've been able to have some good lessons these last few days, with members, and we've been able to find some new investigators. We're working with a mom and her two daughters and they're really positive. The two daughters have really enjoyed the activities and coming to church and they really have a desire to follow Jesus Christ. We're also working with a 19 year old girl and we taught her about The Restoration and The Book of Mormon with a member and the member gave such a powerful testimony about her own conversion which really helped to bring the spirit to the lesson.

This last Wednesday for FHE we had a hot-dog-hoedown! We shared a message about the importance of working and then we taught the members and investigators how to "Boot-Scoot-Boogie"! At first they were really hesitant about participating, but once we started teaching the kids the adults joined in and it was a lot of fun to see everyone getting a little taste of country culture. And afterwards we ate hot dogs and had fun chatting with everyone.

Silly San Ignacio:

1. Monday we went contacting and we got to this one house and started to introduce ourselves. "Hi we're missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints." and then we started to talk about the importance of the gospel and the happiness that it can bring us and then the fun began. When she realized that we were from the "mormon church" she then began to tell us how we're wasting our time preaching false doctrine and how everything that she needs to know she can find in the Bible. We then told her how we preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and we use the Bible and then she told us that we're wrong because we worship Joseph Smith and that it doesn't talk about him anywhere in the Bible. So then we began to explain to her how we worship God and how Joseph Smith was called to be a prophet to restore the true church and we began to teach her lesson one. We tried to finish the lesson, but she stopped us and said "When I see you at judgement face to face, you will then realize that you are teaching false doctrine and I have all I need right here in my bible." And then she got up and walked away. Oh humanity...haha

2. So I went on interchanges this last week in Santa Elena and while we were there we went to give a lesson to a recent convert/less active. Well we planned out what we were going to teach him and we  went in and well we spoke about 20 words in total because he wouldn't stop talking for the life of him! After about an hour of sitting there listening to whatever thing he could think of to say I had finally had it and said "Okay brother thanks for letting us come over and we'd now like to close with a prayer. Would you be willing to say it?" As we're walking out the door he then says to me "You're a very outspoken person. What is it that you want to go into?" So I told him medicine and then he says to me, "You'll do well in that." and walks away. Um...thank you? ha

3. So Sister DeLeon were doing some street contacting last week and while we were there we noticed this cute little girl that walked out of a tortilla stand. She looks up at the sky and then stands  on her tiptoes and shouts to the world "This girl is on fire!" Sister DeLeon and I looked at eachother and then busted a gut laughing. It was one of the cutest things I had ever seen. Alicia Keys would have been proud!haha

4. Well our lock on our outside door was giving us trouble and we couldn't enter the house so we had to call the owner and the Rinderknechts to come and help us open it. So what did Elder Rinderknecht do? He decided to kick the door open! He says "I've seen this happen in movies all the time, I can do this." And with one solid push from his leg, he kicked our front door open! haha 

Well my spiritual thought for this week comes from the April Liahona. President Dieter F. Utchdorf said "The Lords way is not to sit at the side of the stream and wait for the water to pass before we cross. It is to come together, roll up our sleeves, go to work, and build a bridge or a boat to cross the waters of our challenges." I've always loved talks by him because he's so wise. There are challenges that come our way, but if we do our best to work hard and we put forth an effort to find a solution, we will overcome them and we will be able to move forward in life.

Love,

Sister Ontiveros

Family and Friends, Well this week was a fantastic one because on Sunday I got to talk to my family for Mother's Day. I'm so grateful that all is well with them and that they are happy and that they support me in all that I do. I'm also very grateful for a wonderful mother who has always been there for me and has always shown me love and support.  Well some highlights of the week was our plan of salvation FHE that Sister DeLeon and I did with our branch. Every Thursday night the missionaries do FHE for our branch and this last Thursday was Sister DeLeon and I's turn. We played the game "Life" by using different doctrines from the plan of Salvation and we made a huge dice they they had to roll  in order to move spaces and the spaces had different scriptures on them that talked about the different stages of the plan of salvation. They really liked it, and it was a fun way to learn about the importance of "not procrastinating the day of your repentance," having faith in Christ, and enduring to the end. On Saturday we had a Mother's Day activity with the branch where people shared different talents, read Mother's Day poems, and we ate together. Us as missionaries were asked to participate so what we did was we shared three funny, and one serious, things that our mothers taught us. For example, one elder said his mom taught him how to shave his legs, and a sister said that her mom taught her that he brothers were not punching bags. The four things that my mom taught me are the following: 1. My mom taught me how to drive...after I about killed my dad one the first try 2. She taught me that we draw on paper not walls...thanks to writing my name on the garage wall and then denying that it was me. 3. Chocolate is an essential in life. 4. No matter what kind of mood I'm in, hugs are always needed. So there you have it, my mother has definitely taught me some great things over the years. Sister DeLeon and I are working hard to find news and to help our investigators progress. And as always there's always those obstacles that we have to overcome, but with the Lord's help anything is possible. We just have to trust in him and he will guide us."Go ye therefore, and teach all nations baptizing them in teh name of the Father, and the Son and the holy Ghost. I am with you always even unto the end." Matthew 28:19-20 This week I've had some really good study session that I've learned a lot from and I would like to share a couple of those thoughts with you. A: "Our destiny is not determined by the number of times we fail, but by the number of times we get up, dust ourselves off, and move forward."-President Utchdorft 2013 B: "Learn of me and listen to my words, walk in the meekness of my spirit and you shall have peace in me." DyC 19:23. C: "Teach them all things concerning things pertaining to righteousness, and exhort them daily, with all diligence." Alma21:23 I hope that we can all dust ourselves off and move forward and know that the Lord is always there to support us and help us in whatever situation He puts us in. I know that this gospel is true and I'm so grateful for the opportunity that I've had to serve him for the last 13 months as a missionary here in Belize. Remember that we are all missionaries and that we can all invite other to come unto Christ. Love, Sister Ontiveros  May 13, 2014

Family and Friends,
Well last Saturday I finished 13 months in the mission, can you believe that? It's crazy to think that I've been a missionary for over a year and to think about all of the crazy and wonderful experiences that I've had in this last year. I'm greatful for all of the help that the Lord has given me and for the chances he's given me to grow spiritually and to help others find the happiness that the gospel gives us. Sister DeLeon and I were talking about how blessed we are to have had the gospel all of our lives because it's helped us to make better choices, to know who we really are, and to see that our life does have a purpose, and that we've been blessed to have such wonderful families and we can be with with them for eternity thanks to the temples. I know that this is the Lord's church and I have seen so many blessings in my life because of the gospel. The mission has been one of the hardest things that I've ever done, but it's also made me realize how much I really do need my Savoir and how important the plan of salvation is.
This week we had a FHE in a members home with the two sisters that we are teaching and we watched a segment from the movie "Together Forever." We talked about the importance of making time for family and for the Lord and how when we do that, we will be blessed and we will have happiness in this life. The member testified of the blessings that she received from the gospel and the FHE was really spiritual.
Well this weekend we will have the chance to celebrate Mothers Day so I would just like to express how much I love my mother and how greatful I am for all that she has done for me. She has taught me so much and I'm so greatful that she has always supported me and given me the strength to do things that I thought were impossible. She has always cared for me and helped me to appreciate what I have. I love you mom and I hope that you have a wonderful Mothers Day.
Silly San Ignacio:
So funny story. We went to pick up one of our investigators to go to church with us, and it had been raining really hard during the week so there was mud everywhere. As we go to pick her up, I park my bike and then begin trudging through the thick mud. As I'm walking I go to lift my right foot and realize that I can't. I literally tried with all of my might and I was stuck, so I tried the other foot and the same thing happened. I was stuck and sinking in thick mud! No worries I finally managed to get out, but lets just say then when I did get out, I was now six feet tall with all of the thick mud that stuck to the bottom of my shoes! haha

Love,

Sister Ontiveros