Hey fam (week 41)

Hey guys loved your letters this week as always. Dad I’m letting you know you really are the king of puns and like it’s not even close with anyone else. Mom I’m happy to hear that you had so much fun with your sisters. Oh and mom yes I know Mansfield. I don’t know him that well because he was never my zl but he was my AP so I had like 1 division with him and saw him for the menos like 1 time every 2 months.

So I’m writing you late today because I had to go to the capital for my comp today. He had to sign the visa papers. We left our area at 2 and got to the cap at like 8. It was a crap school bus so I couldn’t sleep at all haha. The cap was good though and I finally saw the temple for the first time. I have never seen the temple in guat so I wanted to see it so I asked our driver if he could pass by the temple and we did even though it was like a 45 min detour from where we were. The cap was fun though and I’m glad I’m not there but I like seeing so many people. I love cities I don’t know why. I would rather serve my mission though way up in the hills in some far away town and it’s funny because that’s exactly what I am doing haha. Ya so crazy my comp has a change. Usually training is 2 changes but he got a change and is going to the office of the mission. So I am going to get another kid and start training him all over again starting Wednesday. It’s going to be good and I’m excited to have another kid. My kid is from the republica just like rojas but that’s the only thing I know about him. Cubulco is great but as usual I need all the prayers I can get for my area. We still have some good fechas and some good potentials but we’ll see what happens and see what the lord has in store for them. Let me just say though that I am sad my comp is leaving. We would laugh and work so hard together. I thought for sure we were going to have for the menos like 3 months together. Puchika it kinda blows but that’s alright and he is going to be in the office of the mission so I can call and annoy him every day about stuff if I want. I love the mission seriously. It’s the best like its freakin nuts when you think about it. The pres just dropped me off in this random town with nothing and said well start trying to baptize people haha. Seriously we have only 1 active member in our area its nuts haha. It’s such an adventure and like what we did today too was an adventure. It’s the best adventure and I doubt there will ever be better experienced than the experiences I am having right now in my entire life. Ben start preparing for a mission now because it’s the freakin best and you don’t want to lose this opportunity. Love you all fam and have a good week!

elder call

elder mansfeild and i on divisions like a year ago

barcalona is better then real as you can see

we saw this man with his cow that didn't want to move so we asked if we could help him so ya we ended up pulling this cow for like 2 miles. a couple times the bull charged me and i dodged it like a pro really got the adrenaline pumping

Our family is the best! (week 40)

Let me just start off by saying the subject of the letter again… our family is the freakin best and I’m serious. I wouldn’t trade our family for anything. I can’t believe that you parents have been married for 23 years. That’s freaking weird and I can’t believe that I’m 20 like what the heck? I loved your letters as always and I’m glad Charlie turned out normal…haha. No broma, Charlie is the best and I love him for who he is and I can’t fathom the fact that he is 7. When the people here ask me stuff about my family I always mess up. They ask how old are your brothers and sisters? I always say that Ben is 14 Ella is 10 and Charlie is 4. I know that age 4 for Charlie doesn’t make sense but that’s the age I think of them all as being…haha. Then I tell the people I messed up and they tell me that I don’t love my family because I can’t remember how old they are haha. Also they asked what Charlie’s full name is and I couldn’t tell them I forgot. It’s Charlie something Call but what’s his middle name? My comp won’t stop bugging me about that because he can’t believe that I forgot his name haha.

This week in cubulco was good…well kinda. We found a lot of new investigators in our area and a couple of great families that are really showing the desire to progress. The fechas that we had for baptism all fell. We had a date with 2 kids 14 and 12 years old but they can’t get baptized because their dad is in the states and he won’t give them permission. How sad is that? I have never seen such a desire from kids to do what is right and they can’t do it because of their dad. Maybe if their dad lived here in guat it would be different but it doesn’t freakin help that he is in the states. Ya so that is a real disappointment. Our other fechas couldn’t go to church because he had to travel to some place with his wife but they had an excuse. So we just have to work hard to get them to come to church and to recognize that they have received an answer and that they just need to listen to the spirit. So pray for me that I can help them and pray for them as well please. I’m looking forward to a lot this next week. I am going to work as hard as I can to bring more people to the knowledge of the truth. The mission guys is the best. It really is and I am learning so much about myself and about life. I’m really trying to be like Christ and it’s the happiest I have been in my entire life. It’s weird trying to forget about myself in the work when just about all of my life I only focused on myself. It’s great though and I can feel the joy of Christ and his love in my life every day. The church is the best and it is true without a doubt in my mind. Do what he wants and not what the world wants. I had to tell an investigator that this week because she didn’t want to drop the catholic church. She knows this church is true and has received an answer and felt the spirit. I gave sincho and I said so you fear man more than god we’ll see where that gets you haha sincho. It felt great ya so do what is right always and you will be happy. I love you all!

elder call

Oh I almost forgot that I had my first baptism interview this week. It was great hearing this person give their testimony for the first time in the interview. The spirit was super strong and it went great and he got baptized.

i'm poor look at me in my nylon the only thing protecting me from the rain

my comp and the elders in rabinal all in the hamaca

the caves we went to today

I'm 20! (Week 39)

Let me just start off by saying that I’m 20.  Does that number sound off to you? I feel like 20 is just a whole other ball park. Like I don’t act like I’m 20 at all I don’t think and I’m an old man. I should probably invest in life insurance or something. 20 freaking years old wow. Yup so I really haven’t even thought about my birthday at all. haha The only dates I really remember are my baptism dates of my investigators haha. I’m serious though like I didn’t even really think about it until today. I’m glad to hear that the fam is doing well and everything. I can’t believe that ben is in high school.  That freaks me out. Dad I’m so freaking proud of you! I can’t believe that you just run marathons like it’s nothing. I didn’t even know that you did it and I feel like just yesterday you guys emailed me about the marathon relay that you did on highway 1. Like literally feels like yesterday sitting in that crap internet cafe bar sweating like crazy. Crazy…dad that’s freaking nuts. Oh happy birthday and oh by the way I ran a marathon. That’s not normal. haha You’re a stud. haha I know where I get my athletic skills from and mom I’m not forgetting about your marathon either.

Ya so this week we put some more fechas with investigators. We have like 4 fechas right now. None are like for sure but all 4 of our fechas came to church which proves that they are making steps towards the goal of baptism. It’s an absolute miracle that we have people progressing and going to church because we don’t have members in our area. Only 1 active member and all the others are drunks or gays. That’s not a joke. That’s the truth and also the church isn’t in our area. Our investigators have to load up on a bus to go 45 mins away just to go to a church. I know that the lord will bless them though for exercising their faith. Ya so pray for them because they need to receive an answer to their prayers to go through with baptism. I love my area even though it’s tough because there are not members. I love the branch as well even though it’s the smallest branch I have been in. My comp is the man and great. He is trying really hard to learn English so he can study at byu so I teach him English every day and we talk in English lots of times a day too. Life is great and I’m so grateful for the church book of Mormon and a prophet. I know that the church is true and the book of Mormon is true. You all need to read the book of Mormon every day. That book will make you such a better person and I’m so grateful for this church really. For example pretty much our only active priesthood member in our ward is the first counselor hermano roberto. He was baptized about a year ago and is the most Christ like man I know. His wife told us yesterday before he joined the church he was a drunk. He would come home to his house everyday hammered and beat his wife and kids. He let the missionaries come in and they changed his life. Now he plays with his kids and treats his wife like a queen. Like I said he is the most Christ like man I know. Yesterday I made the mistake of saying I liked his tie. I say it was a mistake because he gave me the tie afterwards. I like the tie but like he has 1 other and he is super poor but that didn’t matter. He knew I liked it so he gave it to me without looking back. We can all learn something from Roberto. The only thing that matters is family and loving god and serving others. I literally feel privileged to know this man. It’s people like him that give me the desire to talk to every person I come in contact with. Love you all and have a good week!

elder call

hermana maria the one active member in cubulco

the day after the celebration of my birthday

eating lunch at a members house

some drunk guy that says that I'm satan because i don't think lazerous was resurrected by jesus. he was brought back from the dead haha

church activity for el dia del nino

winnie the pooh and i 

the missionaries in my branch and i took a pic of the funniest guy in the branch nicco he just sleeps during everything haha

the hermanas in my district bought me a cake then freakin smacked my head into it haha. it was the best cake i have had here though but isn't as good as my peanut butter cake

Fam (week 38)

I loved getting your letters this week unlike last week haha. Yes, I got all your letters this week and the last week. When I don’t hear from you I can’t help sometimes to think you are all dead haha. Dad I’m praying for grandma day and night. I love grandma call and the example of her family for me and how I want my family to be. I feel like there are hardly any problems in your family and that is just something that is not normal. Man I’m glad uncle john went to the hospital I’m soo glad that he is ok. I thought it was so cool how you mentioned that you gave him a blessing. The priesthood is real and we have it. When we try to live worthy we are worthy to use it although we are still not perfect. I’m soo grateful for the priesthood and I gave a blessing today to a sick sister. Wow I can’t believe that ben is 16. Happy birthday! I didn’t forget I just forgot to say happy b day last week. Let me add my comment by saying I am literally not even surprised even a little bit that it is already broken haha. Sorry ben but you really should consider getting an otter box.

Ya so general conference was great. I really look forward to learning and studying the things that are said. I loved one thing that was said and that is that our testimony will not grow if we are just watching conference. We need to actually work for it. Just reading the scriptures is not enough we must pray and study them. The church is soooo important and soo true but it is so easy to get off the straight and narrow path. Remember that the church is the only way to be truly be happy. This week in Cubulco was a good one as well. Not quite as good as the last week but we still managed to have a couple people in church. We spent the night at the house of the elders in Rabinal, like 45 mins from our house, because when priesthood ended it was like 9 so we couldn’t go back on a bus so we spent the night Saturday. Sunday morning I wanted to go to our area before conference because I wanted to try to bring people to church. My comp didn’t want to go and said that it was a waste of time because nobody was going to come because we hadn’t invited anyone on Saturday. I insisted and as his dad I have the final say. Wow, that’s nice, it’s like being the oldest child again haha. Ya but we went back to our area early Sunday morning to find someone to go to church. We really didn’t have anyone to bring to church but I suggested that we pray and ask for help. I just couldn’t help but think that our sacrifice would bring blessings. This was a sacrifice because it was a total pain. We were right next to the church building and to go to our area before conference then travel all the way back was a big deal. We did manage to bring some people to church which was a miracle. So cool because we had only talked with these people 1 time but we passed by their house and took them all the way back to the church before conference started. God answered my prayer and that strengthened my testimony. My comp and I also contacted a family in the street in between sessions and took them to church for the afternoon session also. Such a miracle… the mission is the best. My comp is great and my area is hard but great. I love prayer and always having someone who is listening. Pray for me and my comp Elder Fitzgerald by name just like what was said in a conference talk. Please remember to also pray for my investigators. God is listening and I need your prayers and our investigators need your prayers. Pray that they can feel the holy ghost telling them that our message is true. Love you all family and you are the best!

elder call

 eating tamales in the street soo freakin good haha

classic giving a drunk guy a word of wisdom pamphlet haha

Cubulco (week 37)

Hey guys, another good week in guat. Cubulco is great my comp is great and life is great. This last week was crazy. My comp and I worked soooo freakin hard. We had several miracles happen this week as well. Well first I was really nervous for my first district meeting I had to give. I was stressed out because I had no idea what I was going to talk about for an hour and a half but that all went well. I think I did really well in that. I was praying nonstop for god to help me and help my district and it all went great. I felt like when I was talking I was being guided by someone…probably because I was. I have no doubt that god was helping me out the entire time because that meeting was easy and I think my district learned a lot. Ok, another big thing that happened this week is we found a menus activo that wants to help us as missionaries. He can´t go to church because he has to go to school but he can leave with us during the day and give us references. It was an absolute miracle that we found him because we had nobody to help us but one other member named Maria and she can only help us on Saturdays. So what were we going to do? Contact all day every day and is just not as effective. So my comp and I were praying super hard to find someone that could help us and we found this kid. I can’t remember if I told you this last week or not but ya it was a miracle. His name is Francisco. He took us to 2 really great families that are super receptive. We had only taught them one time when Sunday came along. We passed by their house and they came with us to church. They are super poor and so that is a huuugeee sacrifice. They had to pay for 7 people on the bus and take the bus to Rabinal where the church is and its like 45 mins away. Ya and it was only our first full week in Cubulco and we had 7 people within the age of baptism there at church…2 priesthood and 2 families and it was incredible. Like that number is huuuugeee in the wards for the mission but for a little branch in Rabinal and to think they came from a little town 45 mins away was a miracle. I just hope they felt the spirit and want to go again. Like I said we have only taught them 1 time so this next week is important. That though was a freakin miracle. It was the best. Ya and it’s all thanks to Francisco who took us to their houses. I know that my comp and I really did nothing though it was all god. He knew that we needed something to work with in this town of Cubulco where we know nobody and don´t have many investigators. Yesterday was one of the happiest days I have had in my life. Ya so that was the best part of the week. My comp is the best. He is a hard worker which is so important. It’s weird training him because I feel like literally I have been out 2 months in the mission. Time is freakin flying it’s nuts. Well that’s all I’ve got to say. Love you all and have a good week!

elder call

lunch with the elders in my distric the hermanas live like 2 hours away

the waterfalls we went to today