Feliz Navidad a todos!

Feliz Navidad a todos!  I cant believe we are just 3 days away from Christmas.  Last Christmas was quite a bit different haha but Im excited and ready for the 25th.  

This week Elder Duncan, the area president of central america, came and spoke to the mission.  He taught us a lot of really cool and useful things.  We talked a lot of how our mission could improve and babtize more people.  One thing he taught was to only have 25 minute lessons so we can teach more people.  Ha it was so funny, right after he said this he asked an Elder if he had an appointment that night.  The elder said yes, then Elder Duncan asked how long the appointment would be.  The elder said "An hour and a half?" haha and our mission president just shook his head and Elder Duncan had to be more clear with this elder.  I really liked another thing he said: "Lo minimo o lo maximo?  El senor quiere misioneros sin limites."  The Lord wants our best!  After the meeting they gave us some honey glazed ham... that is some good stuff.

When I got here to San Mateo, there werent any investigators.  I kind of figured that the other elders werent really doing too much and, after talking to a few of them at the meeting with Elder Duncan, I figured correctly... At least now we have a few investigators, we are even teaching two families.  Work ethic is a problem in our mission and Elder Duncan made sure everybody knew it.  Nevertheless, I feel like my companion and I are doing the best we can with what we have got. Everyday we are learning more, getting better, growing, and doing our best.  

Final thing... Christmas is coming!  There have been a lot of concerts, parades, and parties all week here, its kind of crazy.  My companion tells me the 24th at midnight everyone goes into the street and lights firecrackers... yay!  Its kind of different being away from home but Im excited.  Ive been reading a lot in the New Testament this past week and challenge you all to do the same.  Remember why we have Christmas, have a good week!  

5 months in Guate!

Hey guys, this week I will have been here in Guatemala for 5 months.  Crazy how fast the time goes!

This was a pretty good week.  We taught quite a bit and looked for new investigators.  Mission work is, well, a lot of work!  I enjoy every day and love being here.  San Mateo is a beautiful area with amazing members.  Its tough to find investigators but there are quite a few people here and I love talking to everyone.  

This week we taught 7th Day Adventists and Jehovahs Witnesses.  These people are usuallly really nice but, whew, though!  Through being friends with them, regardless of what happens, we can plant a lot of seeds for future misisonaries and, hopefully, help some come to the Gospel. 

This Sunday was the Christmas Devotional, but the internet in the Chapel died half way through.  I feel kind of bad for the sisters because they had an investigator with them and once the interenet died he wanted to leave!  We had a less active member with us and, even though the internet went out, we still had a really good time.

Ive been reading from the New Testament a lot lately.  Its really cool to learn about the life of Christ and all the things He did.  A lot of people called Him crazy and possessed, but He only ever tried to help people.  As missionaries, some of the people make fun of us or say bad things but we are just trying to helpe the people here.  I love being here in San Mateo, the members are super awesome and always help us out.  Adios!

Hello San Mateo!!

Hey guys!  Well, this week was absolutely insane!  I had my first change this week.  We woke up at 330 to catch a bus to the changes so we got there a little tired.  Anyway, my old companion went to open an area in Huehuetenango in a super far away aldea haha poor guy...  My new area is called San Mateo and, well, lets just say its a huge improvement haha.  We are about 15 minutes from the temple, we are just a little sub urb of Xela.  

I like it here a lot!  The members here are really, really nice.  This area is one of the more wealthier areas in the mission, so we have a lunch schedule for every single day which is super awesome.  We share this area with two sisters which... well... yeah   Just kidding, they are both from Mexico and they help us a little and we help them a little.  Oh, this area is pretty much the evangalist capital of the world.  These guys, what the, only one word... duro!  They go to church 5, yes, 5 days a week.  And a lot even go 6.  That will definitely be a challenge for us here, these guys are something else I tell you what...

Nevertheless, Im doing a lot better here.  Our house is super nice and Ive been eating healthier and better food.  A lot of these guys here in Xela dont know how nice they have it.  My companion, Elder Yataco, does because he has been in 4 of the hardest, most mountainous areas in the mission!  He is 25, from Peru, and knows a TON of scriptures.  I like him a lot better than my other comp, hes a lot nicer and will actually listen to me.

The other day we were at an investigators house to show them a video.  Near the end, they handed both of us a huge cup of coffee... Oh geez haha we just put it on the floor and after the prayer quickly left.  Thats about it from here, we are working a lot more here but its going to be hard.  Im ready to get stuff done!

Attachments area

Heading out of Choqui in the back of a truck!!  This is how you travel in the moutains! 

Guatemalan Fish Fry!

My bed on the left

A map of San Mateo

My house is the pink one on the left-really nice place!

My street

The bus to ride around town

I opened my Christmas package early-love it!!

Cambios

What an interesting week!  This Wednesday we had interviews with President Smith.  It turns out they are going to close Choqui for a time, which I feel like is a really good thing for the area.  We spent most of this week strenghening all of the members before we left.

I learned a lot from Choqui.  First off, I learned how to do HARD things!  Being in this area was very difficult but it helped me toughen up and always do my best.  I learned so much about humility, which is what I gave my farewell talk on.  Funny how that has been my biggest lesson in Choqui!  The people, the members are the most humble, most kind people Ive ever met.  They will give up anything, do anything to help the missionaries.  They have taught me we don't need too much to be happy and enjoy ourselves.

One last look over my area before we leave

Saying goodbye to some of the members

I learned to be patient, something I have needed to work on in my life.  If we are patient and leave it to the Lord, we can do miracles.  Not a lot of people have the patience to endure hard things.  Being in Choqui taught me to endure and to do my best in my situation.  

Saying goodbye to everyone the other day was hard.  One elderly lady, who we visited literally everyday yet doesnt speak any spanish, was really sad that we were leaving.  She looked at me and just said, ¨Hermano, hermano, adios!¨ Then gave me a big hug.  Such nice people, Im really going to miss them.

Well, we have changes in the morning.  All of the missionaries meet at the bus terminal in Xela and head out on the buses.  Im excited for a new start and to meet new people.  The church is true and we have so many blessing.  Through faith and hard work we can do anything!  Love you all!

Semana 11!

Hey guys,

Wow, I just finished my 11 week in the field!  Crazy how fast time has gone bye.  Ive learned so much about myself, others, the Gospel, pretty much life in general.  This next week training will be done and we have changes, which I have no idea what will happen but I trust in the Lord.

This week we had a baptism interview scheduled for Rodrigo, a 9 year old boy in Paxajtup.  His dad came up to us one day and asked us to teach and prepare his son for babtism, so we worked with them for quite a while.  Our district leader and Elder Andy went to do the interview but, as it turns out, Rodrigo was only 8 so he only needed an interview from the bishop.  I felt kind of bad for our district leader but the important thing is that we helped prepare Rodrigo for baptism.

Jackson and Killer the dog

Rodrigo and his family

I spent the day of the interview in San Bartolo with Elder Flake.  We had a great time teaching some less actives, contacting, and teaching seminary.  We walked up to an aldea about 30 minutes away and found this dog, just the biggest dog ever.  Some boy came out to talk to us with a little cast on his arm, the dog bit him that morning!  Apparently they call the dog, "killer", so I stayed my distance from that thing.  We contacted a little more, met some great future investigators.  To top it all off, a member gave us some chow mein after seminary haha which was really good.  San Bartolo is such a cool place, its a tough area but Its still really cool.

The next day we hiked to Paxajtup and performed the babtism for Rodrigo.  The members in Paxajtup are pretty much all one big family of like 80 people.  The chapel over there is gigantic!  The babtism was amazing and I had the chance to confirm him a member.  Rodrigo was smiling so much and so happy to be babtized afterwards.  Great day.

Well, wish we luck on this next week.  Theres a chance I could train somewhere but I dont know if or where, but I should know this next Thursday.  Wednesday we have interviews with president which will be really great to have a one on one with him.  Thats about all from here in Guate, adios!

Utz a wach!

Utz a wach everyone!  Thats Quiche for How are You.  Ive been learning a little bit of Quiche little by little, hopefully some day I can get it down.

Well this week, statistics wise, wasn't our best. We looked for a lot of service this week, a few days ago we helped Sixto carry some wood up the mountain.  Now, Im a decent sized guy, so he gave me six good sized logs.  We put it on our backs and strap a piece of rope to the tops of our heads haha its crazy.  We did two loads and after that my companion and I were exausted.  Sixto tells me that usually he takes, get this, 15 to 20 logs every time!!!  The Guatemalans are super strong people.  Hauling wood definitely will not be my future career path.

The other day we were walking past a church and I recognized the scripture they were reading out loud.  Si alguno de vosotros tienie falta... James 1' 5!  I wanted to walk in there and tell them about the truth! 

The other day we had District Confrence.  The mission president, nurses, tons of people came up to Choqui for the first time.  They kept saying that my area looks like a work out, thats right!  President Smith talked about tithing and family home evening and gave some really great stories.  We talked to him for a while and he gave us some great advice.  After the confrence I had the opportunity to baptize two 8 year olds named German and Elmer.  Baptizing is such an amazing experience.  Most the branch was there and it was just a great experience.  This next week we have another babtism of a 9 year old boy in Paxajtup.  Good stuff! 

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!