Howdy!

Hey guys, this week was hot!  Our house is pretty small so it really heats up.  One thing we don't have here in Guatemala is air conditioning.  This week was pretty crazy because we were supposed to have a babtism!  We had put a babtism date for our investigator Lupe for this Saturday.  We were pretty excited and so was she.  The only thing is... she had her baby on Friday!  Haha not the best timing.  The good thing is that her baby is healthy and everything.  Her dad came to church with us and he really liked it.  This family is super smart and I love being able to teach them.

Well this week we had a missionary activity.  We watched "17 miracles" and gave everyone popcorn.  It was a success, we had like 40 people come.  During the movie, I put our cellphone in my pocket.  I had a thing of Super Glue in my pocket, and, somehow, it exploded and covered our phone!  That was kind of a bummer, but we went and changed it out today.  

This Sunday Edwardo blessed the sacrament and he did great.  His family is doing super great and they are pretty much the nicest, most devoted members in the whole branch.  One year and they are going to the temple! 

We continue looking for more investigators, but its been really tough.  Our area is pretty burned over, which frustrates me.  We are doing our best though.  I love being a missionary!  Its so great.  Ive been kind of tired lately, haha really tired.  Serving a mission takes a lot of energy, effort, attention, etc.  But it changes us and makes us better.  God lives!  I know there are prophets that recieve revelation.  I know the church is true, this is Gods work, and that we can ALL live again.  

Edwardo entered the water!!

Hey guys, well this week was awesome because we had a babtism!  After 4 months of teaching, reactivating, an extortion attempt, and lots of prayers, we babtized our investigator Eduardo.  It was pretty much the best day of my life.  Him and his family have changed so much.  They are so great.  We held the babtism on Saturday at 5.  President Smith came and gave a talk about the Holy Ghost.  He said something that impacted me: "The Holy Ghost is the best gift that God has given us."  He spoke for like 10 minutes and the spirit was so strong.  Then Eduardos daughter bore her testimony and we performed the babtism.  It was so amazing, the spirit was so strong.  This family went from inactive to a totally active, tithe paying, commandment keeping family.  Their next goal is the temple and we will help them get there!

Now we are looking for new people to babtize... we did have Lupe and her dad come to church.  They are the smartest guatemalans that I have ever met.  They are pretty poor, but have read like 100 pages of the Book of Mormon and understand everything we teach.  The dad even says he likes the Book of Mormon better than the bible because its more clear.  The only problem is that Lupe is pregnant haha and is about to have her baby like, this week.  The dad though could possibly get babtized on the 9th of May, which would be sweet.

Other than that Ive been trying to help my companion a lot.  He cant speak Spanish too well and Ive been helping him teach better.  Its been really humbling, when we pray aloud he always says things like, "Help me be able to know how to use the computer and speak spanish better.  Thanks for letting me become a member of the church..."  Hes a good guy, Ive learned a lot.

Well thats about it!  I love you guys and I love America haha.  The church is true, thats something Ive learned each and every day.  The principles of the Gospel help us be happy.  If we follow them, we are happy.  If not, we are sad.  Its that simple!  Peace!

Edwardo, my companion, and President and Sister Smith

My Zone! 

San Mateo 

Pepto Bismal!

Hey guys this week was pretty cool!  Im going to change up how I write my emails, hopefully they will be more interesting and understandable haha.  Here are my highlights of the week

Highlight 1: Edwardo is getting babtized!

After 3 months of teaching our investigator Edwardo is finally getting babtized.  They are really so great, just a great family.  He wants to go to the temple with his family and be sealed forever, which is just about the best thing ever.  Ive loved teaching him and his family, the babtizm should be awesome, Ill let you all know!

Highlight 2:  I got sick! 

Yes, this week I got a little sick.  It wasnt anything too bad, but I had a fever and stuff.  Being sick in the mission is not fun, but luckily it went away after 2 days.  Now I feel good and healthy, Ive started working out a lot more in the mornings.  Hopefully I get some huge muscles!

Highlight 3:  Branch conference

Next week we have branch conference here in San Mateo.  We helped invite all the less active members and my comp and I met a family that we didnt even know.  This week we are going to go visit them and hopefully help them come back to to herd. 

I love all of you guys!  Its hard to express just home much I miss back home, but Ive come to love Guatemala.  It certainly is different, with tons of corn, mayan dialects, and my favorite Guatemalan song (maybe the only one haha) the "Cerrucho".  See you guys!  Anchor yourselves in the Gospel, never let go.  If you want to be happy, be obedient.  See you all later!

8 Meses!

8 months down!  Its crazy just how fast the mission goes by, I still have a lot to learn, but I have learned a ton.  This week was pretty good.  Its super hard finding investigators in our area, but last monday something cool happened.  We felt impressed to knock a door that we had knocked about 5 times.  This time a bulky guy shook our hands and told us that he was babtized.  He served with the stake, went to the temple, everything.  His wife too, the whole family was super active but for some reason they fell away.  They are super nice and I hope we can help them back to the chuch.

Edwardo is on fire right now, him and his whole family is doing great.  They are doing family home evening and scripture study.  We taught him about tithing and accpeted it without any problems.  I feel the spirit really strongly with him and his family, they are just great.  Plus, he sells chocholate and after the lesson yesterday he gave me a Snickers so thats always a bonus

We had stake conference this weekend.  Edwardo and his family came, so did Rosa.  Rosa is doing well, but she has to get divorced and itll cost like 500 bucks.... which is about as much as most people make in 2 months.  Haha why do divorces cost so much!  Its kind of frustrating but we will just have to see how things turn out.

The temple here is sweet, Ive never seen a prettier temple on the inside holy cow.  In the creation room is a mural of the Guatemalan mountains and Lake Aticlan, which is where they think the waters of mormon are.  I havent felt such a peace for a long time.  I had a really spiritual experience in the celestial room.  I was bent over praying when I felt like someone was behind me with their arms around my shoulders.  Ive never felt something like that, but I sure could feel Gods love.   I think we should all go to the temple as much as we possibly can, and all you who live in Pleasant Grove dont have any excuses!  We live so close to the temple, but I know the before my misison sometimes I wouldnt make the time to go.  The temple is literally Gods house, go as much as you can!  Satan wants to keep us "busy" so we cant recieve blessings.  The blessings are free, so make time to recieve them.  

Well my comp goes home this week, which will be kind of sad but a nice change at the same time.  Im kind of hoping I dont train because then I would be here almost 8 months haha thats a long time to be in one area.  I just want to see Edwardo get baptized, hes such a good guy.  Our area is freaking hard but if nothing else at least he will get baptized.  

Thats about all I have this week, I love you all.  Thanks for the support and prayers, missions are awesome, the church is true and I love being here.  Pongan su fe en Dios y el les ayudaran!

Our "condo" complex where we live

Me and my comp and two drunk guys who love us

At the temple!

4 meses in San Mateo!

Well this week was a great week! My birthday was this week and is was different haha but its all good.  This week we had a zone conference with our mission president.  We talked all about Joseph Smith and the Resturation.  It was super awesome.  I love how the gospel just makes sense!  We also watched part of "Meet the Mormons" which was super cool.  There are so many amazing members in our church and so many cool people.  I started having flashbacks because at one part theres a kid preparing for a mission, going to Mr. Mac, getting dropped off at the airport.  In reality the mission goes by really fast so we just have to do all we can!

We talked with Edwardo this week and he wants to get babtized in April!  I was really really excited for him and his family.  I know that he will be really powerful in the church and do a lot of great things.  His whole family is super happy and they are now praying together and reading every night.  Yeehaw!

This week the Jehovahs Witnesses have been going crazy here!  There have been like 10 of them knocking on doors, they even came to our house haha.  They knocked on our door and when we came outside kind of looked around and got scared.  Its better to just let them do their thing and not try to fight with them.  

We also have been reactivating this family of 3.  The mom is signing up for byu idaho online and is super happy.  Ive had a lot of other good experiences this week and have been feeling the spirit really powerfully each and every day.  My companion goes home in 2 weeks and always says hes tired haha, but we are still doing quite a bit.  I love you guys!  The church is true! 

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Marzo!

Hey everyone, this was an interesting week!  We moved houses, which was a ton of work.  We had to take everything out by ourselves, clean the whole appartment, and unpack everything in our new house.  Our new house is a little condo, its actually pretty nice.  Our other house didnt have any windows haha so things now are a lot better!

This week I had divisions with the zone leaders in San Juan.  In San Juan pretty much everyone speaks Mam, which is one of the Mayan dialects.  Its crazy!  We taught a ton of lessons and we basically put 3 babtizm dates which was sweet.  Its always nice to learn from other elders and what they are doing in their areas.

Well the other day we were teaching a less active named Angel when his brother walked in.  He introduced himself as a Jehovahs Witness and I was like, "Ahh great..." He then started talking a bunch of nonsense about men not being able to see God... then I shared with him a few sciptures about men seeing God haha he got super mad!  Its best to never fight with anyone, all we can do is bear our testimonies and invite others to hear our message. 

Sunday we had an awesome lesson with Pamela and Edwardo.  I kind of thought they would never accept us again because they hadnt come to church for like 3 sundays and "didnt have time" for us during the week.  To my surprise, they walked in to the chapel just after the sacrament and were super happy.  We taught them after church and, wow, they have really progressed!  They were listening to MoTab and watching "The District" when we came over.  We challenged Edwardo and it was pretty much a yes.... but he says he wants to fast and pray.  We are going over Tuesday to see what his response is, so please pray for him!  I know God lives and that this is his church.  Mission work is super hard, but awesome.  I love the cold nights, endless tortillas, and crazy Guatemalan buses.  But most of all I love the people and the chance to serve.  Adios!

God never forgets!

Hi everyone!  This week was fairly good, my companion and I are working better than ever before.  There are always a few problems here and there, but we are moving right along.  

I just read Mckayla Dibbs letter about her mission in Guatemala City.  She said that the people lie a lot haha and thats kind of true!  The people are really nice, so they dont want to offend us.  They say things like, "We dont have time," or "My mom isnt home,"  which is frustrating at times.  At least the people here are pretty nice, I know there are parts of the world where people slam the doors and yell at the missionaries.  Luckily, that doesnt happen here!

Well, this week we have a pretty cool experience with Hermana Rosa, remember her?  Her husband is a less active member and we have been teaching his wife.  Wow, she reads the Book of Mormon like crazy.  She also had a dream of her and her husband happily married and just really joyful.  She is starting to see that the Gospel is what makes us happy.  Next week she is going to come to church and hopefully tonight we are going to challenge her to be babtized.  All of these changes, all of this happened because two weeks ago we felt a small impression to offer service to some people we didnt even know.  Always follow the Spirit, it always helps us out!

Every day I read the Book of Mormon I am more and more convinced that Im serving among the Lamanites.  Its super crazy, if I ever get discouraged I read in Alma and his challenges while serving this people.  I love the Book of Mormon, without it, people are just so confused.  It is such a great book and I know it is from God.  I love the Church and I love being a missionary.  Adios y que Dios les bendiga!