Friday, April 25, 2014

Semana Santa (week 66)


Hey familia loved your letters from this last week. I am soo happy for you guys and how much fun you had over the break. I’m jealous about your trip to Six Flags… that is just the best.  Sooooo fun and Tatsu is just sooo dope. I love that ride haha.  Easter dinner also is always one of my favorite meals of the year and lamb is soooo tasty haha. You guys are soo lucky.

Ok as for me this week was nuts.  It’s crazy being in a new zone again but it’s fun though because you get like a new start with a bunch of missionaries that don’t know you and that’s fun.  Well I got to Coban Tuesday morning and I did nothing for like 10 hours. I just knocked president’s door when he was doing interviews all day and it was sooooo boring haha. The good news of that though is I was with my best friend or I guess now my companion. It has been sooo funny this week because we just look at each other and say, what the heck are we doing together because people are going to see that we are on illegal divisions and then we just laugh and say oh wait we are comps haha. It’s so funny and I just don’t get how it’s possible that he ended up being my comp haha.  Ya so the better part of this week was spent walking around our area and getting to know it. Then we would leave with members that would show us where other investigators live and where members live.  It was good. It’s funny because at the start of the week we would get lost like 6 times a day. It would take us soo long to get to our house because neither I nor my comp knows where it is.  It was funny.  We didn’t end up finding the investigators houses but we did end up having some leccions. We also found a couple great new investigators. We were getting to know where the menus activo members live. We went to this one house and met a less active named Roxanne. She lives with like a ton of people in her house so we invited everyone to listen to us. Roxanne now goes to another church that isn’t the church of ours.  Man let me tell you big mistake. I don’t want to talk bad about other churches but if you guys could see the churches here you would be shocked about the things they say and do and it is ridiculous… pure apostosia.  Well we had just a killer lesson with that Roxanne and other members of the house. Just fantastic and the lesson started shaky a little bit because my comp and I are not used to teaching together but it ended sooooooooooooooooooooooo well. The spirit was sooooooooooo strong. One of the more powerful lessons I have had in a while. It was great. We talked about the BOM and its importance and later about the resurrection.  It was a long lesson but they kept asking us questions and the spirit was just soo strong that you could touch it haha. Ya it ended up being great. Apparently that less active sister wanted nothing to do with the church and wouldn’t affiliate with it at all. She is more interested now and I think we will reactivate her and hopefully baptize the other people in the house. We went back the next day for another lesson and we watched the restoration video with Joseph Smith and it was just another super powerful lesson. Sooooooooooooo strong the spirit was. Wow that was like Yoda but ya it was soo strong.  I love lessons like that and for lessons like that I love being a missionary.  I look forward to working hard with my comp in this area even though we don’t know anyone here haha. My comp is great. The ward was good as well. Yes I said ward. I am in a ward for the first time in my mission. I call the bishop, president always and I feel bad but I have never said bishop in my entire mission and it’s weird. I love my new area, new zone, the coldness of Alta Verapaz. I’m looking forward to this change a lot.  Love you all and have a good week. Oh freak I forgot to tell you that we had a baptism too. It wasn’t really ours because the elders before us left it but still we had a baptism which was great. Her name in Natividad and she is a saint. She speaks pure Kekqi so we had to get an elder who knows Kekqi to do her baptism interview. It was great. Ya so love you all and have a good week!

Elder Call


some things on the street for semana santa

hermanita and i. remember her she was like my favorite member and i lived in her house in san cristobal. i saw her on tuesday and i have to go to her house tmrw with my comp to sign a contract. love that lady. so ya its great san cristobal is in my zone so i am going to be able to go back and visit.
 

my comp and i eating churrascos

some funny statue

my comp filling up the pila bautismal because the water pressure was super slow that day so we had to fill up a good part of it by hand haha

natividad she is just great and soo happy haha

alfredo kike and i from the house of peter in salama when i had to despedirme sunday

we were in the plaza or like the mall here in coban when a mormon exursion was going on. i don't know if  that how you say it in english but whatever. ya so there were a ton of mormons from the cap and they bought us like 2 gallons of ice cream and 10 cones haha

today at pizza hut with like 70 missionaries


Saturday, April 19, 2014

I Got A Change (Week 65)


Hey I loved your letters this last week. I know that I say that at the beginning of every letter every week but I really do love your letters!!  haha. I loved the pics of the beach that is the best. I know I say this just about every week as well but I just absolutely love where you all live like it is just one of the most beautiful places in the world. Oh quick random question is there a lot of garbage in the streets where we live or no? Oh and are there a lot of stray dogs I just can’t remember haha. Ya so I hope that you all have a great week and remember the importance of this week as well.

Ok so as you can tell by the title yes I got a change. President called me Sunday in the afternoon telling me that I am going to be going to the zone of Alta Verapaz.  We are going to be reopening the area meaning that my comp and I are going to both be new in that zone.  Kinda crazy but I’m super excited for the challenge. It’s going to be a little tough though I think because I don’t know Coban at all haha. The best news though is that my comp is going to be my best friend in the mission. I think that I have talked to you guys about him before. His name is Elder Brito he is from Bolivia. I have sent pictures of him home before. We were together in the branch of Rabinal together. I was in Cubulco and he was in Rabinal. When the president told me he was going to be my comp I just about screamed when I was on the phone with him haha.  I did scream but it was after I had ended talking with him haha. I’m soooo excited.  I’m super excited. That’s one side of course there is the other side as well. I’m sad because I love Salama. I love the people here sooooooo much. Like it’s the best and saying bye to everyone was the worst and I really hate it. Like it’s the absolute worst.  I just cannot believe that I have been here in Salama for 5 months. That was the fastest 5 months of my entire life.  I just cannot believe that I was here in Baja Verapaz for the same amount of time that I was in Peten. Just think remember when I opened Cubulco well in that amount of time until now it’s been 5 changes ago… think about how fast that was. Now to think that I will be home in 5 changes that scares the freakin heck out of me…like how could that be possible? I don’t want to go home. Not even a little bit haha. Well just to see you guys then I want to come back and be a missionary again. I was just thinking the other day about it. We went to some missionaries’ area to do a baptism interview and I was just talking to the mom of the girl afterwards just cracking jokes and talking to her. I was just thinking how much I love the people here and I cried a little bit. haha It was horrible but it’s true because I love the people here so much. Ya but saying bye to the people here in Salama was hard. I just did not like saying bye to my convert here as well. I love her and she is doing great and that just makes me so happy.  Saying goodbye to peter and the patajos is going to be the worst. I’m going to do that tonight though I haven’t had to do it yet. I feel sad about leaving this area and all of the investigators I have. Man it’s just the worse especially when the people cry.  I’m super sad but at the same time happy to have something new.  Another thing that I cannot believe is that peter is going to leave on his mission. He is getting ready to go to the temple. Peter is soooo pilas and I love him sooooo much. I cannot believe that he is going to be a missionary in 15 days that is just nuts.  So as far as our area this week was good. We were able to put together 3 fechas this last week with Haiti, Sucy and her aunt Maria. They still have a long way to go to be baptized but at least they are preparing and are willing to have the fecha.  That was the best thing that happened this week. Also the new senior missionaries came down here on Friday and wanted to get to know the area and all the leaders here because president has assigned them to this district because it just never grows. That’s a long story but ya it was fun to go around with them all day in their car showing them the areas of the zone and the leaders of the district. They have just fantastic advice and I can’t wait to see them and put it in action with the leaders here in Baja Verapaz.  Oh man I forgot to say how sad I am to leave my comp. I don’t think that I have talked about him a lot in my letters but he is just the best and he is turned into one of my best friends in the mission. I love the guy we stay up sometimes until like 1 talking about random things. He is the best and I’m soo grateful that I had the chance to be with him. He is hilarious and I just love the guy. Ya so I think that’s all I have time for to say for this week. If I could put everything I want to put in this letter it would be the size of harry potter. Sorry it’s horribly written with a mix of Spanish and English words and a mix of Spanish English grammar. I just don’t have time to make it organized and pretty but I hope you get the point haha. Well that’s all I have time for this week. Love you guys and have a good week! 

Love,
Elder Call

Pic of me with my new comp by the way



Thursday, April 10, 2014

General Conference (week 64)

I loved getting your letters this week and hearing that everyone is safe and happy.  I loved your inspirational words for me for the tough week I had last 2 weeks ago.

The good news this last week is that it wasn’t as frustrating of a week as 2 weeks ago. This past week on Tuesday we had concilio with the president and his wife in Coban. I love that meeting and it is always soo special. President talked a lot about the Book of Mormon and how powerful it is.  He said that our testimony will not grow unless we are reading the Book of Mormon every day. That book is the key to our happiness in our life. In it we can find the solutions to our problems and find so much peace through the teachings of Christ. I loved that because it’s so true… my day is always better if it starts out with a good study sesh in the BoM. I loved sharing that with the zone as well. I hope that you are all studying the BoM daily as well back home.  Wednesday we had interviews with the president and with the entire zone as well. I mean I know I say it in just about every letter but president is seriously the best. I love him and his positive outlook on everything and he is truly just such a great example for me.  We continued throughout the week visiting Haiti and Sucy and we also started teaching her aunt as well. They are all receptive and are still progressing. They are our investigators most pilas right now but we still need to find more investigators. We still have a lot of work to do.  General conference was awesome as well. There were three talks that really called my attention.  The first talk was by Holland Saturday morning session. I loved that talk… absolutely loved it. The other 2 talks were during the priesthood session.  Uchtdorfs talk as well as Eyring.   Both of those talks impacted me so much.  I could feel the spirit sooo strong and I just loved them. I could listen to those men talk all day.  I loved Uchtdorfs example with air force one and I just died laughing with that.  It’s so funny because before the mission I really didn’t care for general conference. Now I have been in the mission I look forward to it.  I love it and just think of the blessing that it is. We have prophets today that receive revelation for us… for each and everyone one of us. God still talks to his children and the heavens are not closed.  He has called prophets today to help us with our daily trials so that we can make it back to his presence. I don’t know about you guys but I’m soo grateful for that. I mean that just makes soo much sense to me. God is my father and wants me to return back to his presence so of course he is going to call people in these days to help us make it back to his presence. I feel like anyone that is a Christian and doesn’t believe in that needs to think a little harder haha.  I love conference and I can’t wait to get all the talks in the liohona to be able to study it a little more.  This Saturday is also changes. I think I am going to have a change. I have no idea where I will be going but I think I will have a change.  I love the mission and I love all of you guys.  Read the Book of Mormon and pray daily. I love you all and have a good week!

Elder Call

Pic of dope mineral pools that we visited today for our zone activity…we left super early this morning and got there at 8 so ya I’m sooo tired but it was a lot of fun.










Sunday, April 6, 2014

Coban (week 63)


So as you can see by the subject I’m in Coban again. We left his morning at like 4:30 so my comp could visit his old area in Tactic and so we could eat breakfast there. It was sooo early in the morning I just about died of being so tired.  We didn’t even get to bed until 12. The good news is that we didn’t have to get off the bus halfway there to go to the bathroom.  Ya so we are in Coban again today and tomorrow because we have concilio tomorrow.  Ok as far as this past week it was a tough week for us. All of our fechas that we had fell…. all of them and they are all because of family members giving them sincho because they were listening to our message as missionaries. Sucks but that is the mission. Now the good news is that we found 2 new good investigators. Something that we do to find new investigators is use the simi to find members who haven’t been to church in forever. We use that to find menus activos. If we find menus activos we can lots of times find people that live in the same house but are not members. So that’s how we found these 2 great investigators. Their names are Haiti y Sucey.  We have only visited them 2 times but they live in the house of a less active member.  Everything that we have left them to do they have done. When they read the things that we leave them to read they read it but they don’t only read it they understand it. They could explain to you the entire plan of salvation. That is just not something that happens very often. Usually you would have to explain it like 20 times to the average investigator but we didn’t even have to explain it one time to them. It was great.  One of the most satisfying things at least for me, is if people ask you questions it means that they actually want to learn more and care. When people have 0 questions about the resurrection after we teach it then that means they didn’t understand anything or they just don’t care. These investigators ask questions and it’s the best. Ya so as far as right now they are the investigators most pilas that we have.  This week we also did divisions with the elders in Santa Barbera. They went great. I was with Elder Frandson. He is from Wisconsin and has like 5 months in the mission.  I learned a ton that day.  Elder Franson struggles a lot with his Spanish but he is soo humble and doesn’t get down on himself for it at all. He has the spirit when he teaches and that’s the most important thing.  Love Elder Frandson and I need to remember always that the spirit is the very most important thing. It’s the same for you guys back home.  You should all strive always to have the spirit with you at all times. Just think that god has promised to give us the Holy Ghost always if we are living worthily and striving to keep all the commandments. I think that there are few things more special than that. I love you all and hope that you all have a good week!

Elder Call



These pictures are from when we went to go eat churrascos with peter and the patojos that live in his house. So fun I love them sooo much!!