Cubulco (week 36)

Hey guys loved your letters as always and good to hear that everyone is safe. Happy birthday Ella!!!! I can´t believe that you are 12. That freaks me out. I think of you as like a 7 year old like Charlie haha man crazy. Love you and have a good week Ella. Mom you are so lucky about the beach that is the best. I love it there. I would love to swim right now but can’t haha. It’s freakin hot as heck where I’m at now. Not as hot as Peten but still really hot.

Ok so this past week was nuts. Tuesday night we left Coban in a bus to go to Salama the capital de baja verapaz. My hijo is elder Fitzgerald de Nicaragua. He’s great and we get along great and we work super hard. We didn´t get to our area of Cubulco until Thursday night because we didn´t have a house or anything to put in the house. Ya so we moved in Thursday night. The area that we are opening has been closed to missionaries for 10 years. So there is nothing literally nothing in the area. We have no active members and have to travel by bus to get to church in Rabinal like 45 mins away over a freakin mountain. Oh Ya to get to Rabinal from Salama is over the very top of a mountain el viaje es tan feo. Dad if you could translate that thanks because I don´t know how to say that in English. Ya but I luckily don´t get car sick. Ya so Thursday night after we moved in our beds, fridge, stove, and microwave, we left to hit the streets to get to know our area. Our area is a really old city I think. There is a huge church in the park and it’s big and abominable. The area is tucked up next to the mountains and is soooo beautiful. Like the town is just tucked up against the mountains and I mean mountains like taller than mount diablo creo. They are hugggee. Ya so the area is really pretty but it’s also really hot. Ya so like I told you we don’t have active members. The nearest members are like 45 mins away by bus. We have a lot of less active members that we need to reactivate. That’s going to be our biggest job reactivating members so we can open a branch here in Cubulco. Ya so as far as good investigators we don´t know if we have any because the only thing we can do is contact and visit less actives because the less actives don’t give us references. We are going to start working with the less actives a ton. Oh and when I say less actives it’s 2 families so we are really literally just starting from scratch. I need your prayers more than ever right now because we have nothing to work with. Ya so that’s the situation with our area. We still don´t have desks, tables, or dressers in our house or a phone so I can´t even call my district. I have to use a phone at a teinda and I have used like all the money I have haha. I’m trying my best though and that’s what matters and my comp and I are working and studying hard. I love this challenge the lord has given me because I’m only going to grow from it even though I have no doubt these will be the hardest changes in my mission. What’s harder than opening an area with nothing in it, training, and dl. Not much in the mission. So ya pray for me because I’m only going to be able to do it with the help of the lord. Oh and mom I’m happy so don’t worry. I love it here even though it’s tough as heck. So don´t worry everything is fine. Love you all and hope you have a good week!!

Oh I forgot to tell you about church. We had 26 members in church yesterday. Nobody in the presidency showed up so I presided and directed the meeting. We planned sacrament meeting in 5 mins. My comp and the other 2 elders in the branch gave the talks. I had to announce that the kids couldn´t take the sacrament because there were only 21 cups for the sacrament which is a miracle because that’s how many we needed. We couldn´t get the other cups because the pres didn´t come to church. I also gave the class in priesthood so ya the missionaries did everything in the branch. This branch needs our help and needs your prayers. I just thought that was funny my experience yesterday haha. Thanks for everything love you all!

elder call

my favorite family in my last area. i love this family sooo much i was so sad i only got 1 change with them

hermanita in my last area. she loves the missionaries and we lived in her house she is the best in the entire world i love her soooo much.

the last photo i took of me and my comp elder bonilla and 2 other elders in the area right next to us. we just sat at a table this day and played cards this p day it was awesome.

my last day hermanita decorated the house for me and made a bunch of signs for my goodbye dinner.

30 seconds after i met my kid

my kid and i on top of the elders house in salama

the mountains we have to go over to get to rabinal which is where we go to get the bus to go to cubulco

we climbed up a giant mountain to see our area after lunch at a menus activos house. this mountain is tiny compared to the mountain behind me in this pic

my comp and I walking

taking one of the members home from after church haha with this elder in my district. haha this elder has 1 week in the mission. how can i have almost a year in the mission. i feel like i am in my first week also. 

my comp and i crossing a giant hammock bridge

the church in our area