Called to serve in the Guatemala Quetzaltenango mission

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Vamanos!

Hey everyone, this was a really interesting week for me here in Choqui.  First off, our district finished up the Mes de Milagros and guess what, we did it!  6 baptisms in one month for our zone, which is just amazing.  We were honestly blessed like crazy this month and my testimony really grew.

This week something sad happened in Choqui.  One of the members in our branch had their baby pass away.  We didn't know what was going on but we were walking as usual and saw tons of people coming to this house.  I was confused but we walked in and our branch president explained what was going on.  It was realy interesting, gathered in the house was literally 95 percent of the people of Choqui.  Investigators, non members, everyone.  We had a little lunch then went as a town to the burial.  They actually had me give a priesthood blessing over the grave which was something super unique and special.  As I stood there I looked around at everyone and thought it was really cool to see the whole town together.  Certainly a day I will not forget!

On Saturday we had English classes at the church, guess who came_  Hector Torrez, remember him_  You probably dont because we contacted him nearly a month ago but he brought his family.  We showed him all around the church and taught an amazing lesson about the Gosepl of Christ.  We challenged the family to be babtized and they seemed fairly certain that they would.  The Spirit was thick in the room and I knew the could feel it.  Really awesome experiecne.

Oh, and one more thing... BAUTISMO!  We held the babtismal service for Sixto on Saturday evening.  He is a really funny dude, we still have to work with him a ton but I could tell something different about him after his babtism.  I loved the service and could feel an amazing spirit in the room.  He comes from a family where the dad wants to be babtized but only after all the kids are.  Weve got 3 more, lets go!

Well, thats about all from here in Guatemala.  Its been a lot of hard work, lots of challenging times but babtizing and helping other people whenever we can makes it all worth it.  I love serving, its awesome!  Adios!

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

The Miracles Continue!

BAPTISM.  I´ll talk about that a little later but yes, we had our first baptism this week!  
Alright, so on Thursday we did another division with the zone leaders.  This time I went to San Francisco and Elder Telford, just an amazing missionary, went to Choqui to help push things along with our investigators.  San Franscico is insane!  They have a gigantic market in all the streets selling literally everything you could want, just tons of people, tons of clothes.  It was a lot different than Choqui but I really had a great time.  My companion tought me how to be a more effective teacher and how to really love people.  I loved the division, learned so much and had a lot of good food with the members.  I finally had Morcaf, a drink kind of like coffee but that´s alright to drink and it tasted pretty good. 
Another reason why Elder Telford was in Choqui was to do a baptismal interview with Yoselin.  She passed with flying colors and was totally ready to be baptized.  Yoselin knows a lot for her age and her parents are members, just not totally active.  Saturday we held the baptism for her in Patalup and I have to say, it went absolutely perfectly.  She wanted me to baptize her and wow, what an experience.  I´ve never baptized anyone before in my life.  As I changed in the bathroom, with ¨How Firm a Foundation¨ being sung in the backround I looked at myslef in the mirror and just thought, ¨Wow, this is real, this is literally an act of God.¨ It was really humbling and inspiring.  We entered the water, performed the baptism, then changed and had a little snack with the members there.  It was such an amazing spiritual experience, I can´t really descibe how I felt.  What a blessing.

The other day Sixtos came to church with us again.  He´s starting to make friends and likes coming to church.  Elder Telford actually set a babtism date with him for this next Saturday!  He can´t read and it´s hard for him to understand a lot of things but he is as ready as he´ll ever be.  He can feel the Spirit and knows the Church is true.  We´ll work a ton with him to retain him in the church but wow, we´re really starting to have success.  Where is this coming from?  Why is our zone, which hasn´t had a baptism in 4 months, which has only 8 missionaries, with 3 of them being new, on track to having 6 babtisms this month?  I know it´s because Heavenly Father is blessing us and opening the hearts of the people.  I love being here, I love the hard times and I love the good times.  Serving a mission has been the best decission I´ve ever made and it´s changed who I am.  I love you guys and wish you all the best!  Adios!

                                                               The view in San Francisco

                                 
                                Where I sleep in San Bartolo on Monday nights-I love this thing haha


                                     It poured the other day-this jacket is awesome-thanks mom

                                                                                  Baptismo!
               

                                                 Yoselin and her family-she is on my left-she's 9

Me and Elder Andy at the Baptism

Monday, October 13, 2014

Mes de Milagros

Hola everyone, great week and Im excited to talk about it!  

Our zone has dubbed this month as the Month of Miracles.  Everyday we look for a miracle that happened in our area and report it to the zone leaders at night time.  Lets just say we had some pretty big miracles this week!

First off, one of our investigators named Sixtos came to church with us this week and wants to be babtized the 25th.  He needs help understanding things because he isnt too educated but he said he felt the Spirit and wants to come next week as well.  We still need to work with him but he{s a really good guy and everytime we teach him I can tell he want{s the Gospel.

We have a babtism this next week with Yoselin!  She lives in Patalup and is totally ready to be babtized.  I am just super excited to babtize someone into the Church, what an honor.  Its just such a blessing.

Que mas... OH!  Our wards attendence the other day was the highest it{s been in 6 weeks, just tons of stuff is starting to happen.  Yeah, we still have these moments everyday, companion things or whatnot but for the most part everything is going as best as possible in Choqui.  We{re running a little low on new investigators but other than that all is well.

To be honest, last week I was pretty frustrated.  Things just we{rent going right, I don{t know.  Elder Perry and I talked for quite a while about why we are here.  One blessing of being in an Aldea like Choqui is that it really strenghtens your testimony.  He told me, *I know a lot of great missionaries who{ve served in the cities but theres really nothing more powerful than a testimony of an Aldea missionary.*  Its really an honor to be where I{m at and to just do my best everyday.  I know the Church is true, goodness we are so blessed with all that we have!  I love you all so much and if any of you are going through hard times heres a scripture for you...

And not only so, but we GLORY in tribulations also[ knowing that tribulation worketh patience.   Romans 5{3

Adios!  
Elder Call

                                       HEre's a member named Ashley haha just like our Ashley!


                                   Here's Sixto, came to church.  Recognize the tie? haha


                         Here's me climbing up La Montana del Muerte-this is how we get to Patalup


        Here's my district and zone!  Smallest zone in all of Quetzaltenango and no girls because it's so tough but hey, I'm not complaining 

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

La Semana Loca

Hey everyone!  Wow, this was a pretty crazy week.  Tuesday night we got a call from the mission secretary saying I had to go to Guatemala City in the morning!  Apparently anyone from the States or another country has to go to Guate to fill out some Visa things.  We met 8 other missionaries at the mission office in Xela and guess who my companion was?  Elder Carter!  We talked the whole bus ride and it sounds like he´s doing really well.  

Well LONG story short, after two different hotels and a lot of driving we went back to Choqui.  We have a babtism date this month with a girl named Yoselin.  She loves the Gospel and loves having us visit her.  Celixto, remember him?, is still reading the Book of Mormon and everything but we still haven´t been able to get a babtism date.  Our other investigators are doing well for the most part and I hope we can help them continue to progress.

General Confrence was this week haha and let´s just say it´s a little different in Spanish!  I was lucky enough to hear priesthood session in English but everything else was in Spanish.  I thought it was really interesting having people speak in their native tongues.  When it was anounced that people would speak in Spanish all the members around me got really excited and payed a lot more attention.  I think it´s a great thing the Church did and I hope they do that more in the future.

Every week I wish I could say more but if I could say anything it would be to know that all is well.  Honestly, things are pretty tough sometimes.  Thankfully the tough times have helped me decide who I really am.  I´ve learned that no problems, people, areas, nothing can make me discouraged, only myself.  I know who I am and every day I work my hardest because I know how important the Gospel is and how it changes lives.  I know Christ lives.  Everything happens for a reason, there´s a great plan for all of us.  I know this is true.  Heavenly Father loves us, he really, really loves us.  I love all of you and know the Church is true.  Keep your eyes on what´s most important, don´t get too distracted and realized how blessed we are, adios!



                                           We saw this iguana outside our hotel in Guatemala City




                                           

                                                Me and Elder Carter from the CCM




                                           Feels like America-crazy nice McDonalds



                                            My companions fishhead-this caused some problems...



                                           The view from our porch-it's so pretty here!





                                        This is San Francisco, a town in our area



Me and Elder Haderlie headed to Guatemala City