Where Did Julio Go? (week 80)

i am serious though when i write that subject where the heck did it go? i thought we had just started it. crazy. loved your letters and you guys just live the dream and i loved hearing about your adventures as a family and that is just what it is all about.

My week was fantastic. to be honest i really can't think of anything that happened other than the baptism of ocavio y claudio. solo para que sepan.. they did get married on friday and baptized on saturday. it was a miracle to see where they have come from. i just don't think writing it over email does it justice. they have changed completely. the wedding was very humble haha because my comp and i organized it and we basically did it last minute because we didn't know if hermano octavio was going to be home this weekend.  so once we found out we put a little thing together. they were very thankful and i think they enjoyed it. i just tried to explain to them that this is not the important wedding but the next one when they are in the temple. they are the best. saturday afternoon they were baptized at three in the afternoon. the baptism was a lot better planned because we had more time. probably the best baptism service i have had in my entire mission, the spirit was just so strong.  we had a friend of theirs give a talk in the meeting and everything it was the best. hermano octavio wanted me to baptize him so i did and my comp baptized claudia. i also baptized zaida.  overall probably one of the best weekends and overall weeks in my entire mission. the lord has blessed my companion and i soo much these last 3 changes we have had a lot of success.  i just cant wait for you all to meet the familia villalobos sanchez. they are not a normal guat family so you guys are actually going to be able to meet them over a video call. they have internet in their house which is the equivalent of having a ferrari in danville haha. ya so they are just the best and the change they have made in their lives gives me sooo much joy i just want to scream. zaida is great as well even though she only has 10 years she has made just a great difference in her life as well. she is very different now and after her baptism then how she was when we first met her. they were all given the holy ghost in sacrament meeting. oh freak i almost forgot after the baptism of octavio and claudia they bore their testimony's and that was just the besttttt. they basically said that when we knocked on their door they felt like jesus christ was with us and how we are their guides and stuff. it was the best and i cant wait to tell you it all when i get back because it was the best. today for pday we went to my old area of san cristobal and climbed a mountain it was dope. overall just a fantastic semana.  I think about  you all every night and pray for you. remember that this life is very short and we need to make the best of it right now. we need to constantly repent and improve. oh i almost forgot we had zone conference with the the president as well this week and it was super spiritual. i was able to feel the spirit soooooo strong and that is just the best. i have a grand testimony of this church and that jesus is the christ. i love you all and i hope you all have just a great week.

Elder Call

octavio and claudio after the wedding eating the cake.

pic of the baptism

Great Week (week 79)

Well i am so happy that you are all just loving summer.  i love seeing the pictures of the fam going to bi rite and just doing the funnest stuff in the world. i am convinced that i have the funnest family in the world. i love the family and i am soo blessed to be able to go back to the states to such a great family. oh and just soo you all know i am going to be back home the 30th of october. just letting you all know and yes i am baggy haha. no i am kidding i am not baggy because i am enjoying every second of the mission.

Well let just to let you all know i am soooooooooooooooooooooo happy because octavio and hermana claudio se van a baptized this weekend. they are going to get married on friday and are going to get baptized on saturday. i cant even describe how happy i am and i wish you could just see them and see the progress they have made. they just want to follow christ and to have their family forever. they have so much faith and just love life. they love church. i just really don't know what to write i am so happy it just doesn't do it justice to write it. they are just such a great family. they are well educated and have good work and i know that if they stay faithful in the church they will be leaders. that is just the type of people they are. jefferson and edson their kids received the aaronic priesthood and passed the sacrament this week in church. their mom was so proud. it is just the best seeing them come to church in a white shirt and tie and pass the sacrament. ya we are also going to baptize syda a girl who is living with a member. so we are going to have 3 baptisms this week. the lord is blessing my comp and i so much right now. i love this mission its the best. i love the people here of guat soo much. even after 20 months i still think about how crazy it is that i am here in guat. i am speaking another language so far from home and i live with some guy that i didn't even know 12 months ago. its the best though and i love seeing the lords hand in my life daily. i just cant believe that that family is going to be baptized i am so happy. ya so that is all i have to say today sorry but i am not focused at all and i have a million things going through my head right now. just know that i love you all and i pray that you are all keeping the commandments.  strive daily to have the spirit with you. when you think about it we couldn't have a better gift than that. i love you all and hope you all have a good week.

Elder Call

Una Semana Buena (week 78)

I loved charlies baptisms story that was just the best. i wish that happened to my investigators when they get baptized haha.  I'm so happy that charlie chose to do that on his 8 birthday. i was thinking about charlie all day and i even shared the story of him getting baptized with some of my investigators. it was great. that's so fun that you got to go to the city and stay in the apartment. that sounds like a blast and i would love to live in the city as a young couple. have a family there would be tough unless i was loaded and could afford the good schools haha but that would be so fun.

My week was good. we found a couple great new familes that i am really excited to start teaching. they were references from the other missionaries. they are really receptive and just want to go to church. the only problem though is that the husband works so that is chafa because he works on sunday. his wife and there cuñado are going to go to church with us though this next sunday.  it was a really powerful lesson with them though and it was great. they are a young couple and just got married a few months ago. they love their little family and want to be with them forever. we were asking questions to the parents and what they want to be and how they want there kids to be. i told them about how great my parents were in teaching me to follow christ. i almost started crying in the lesson because i am soooooooooooooooo grateful for your examples. i am grateful for they love you gave me and all the things you have taught me.  i promised him that if he was living the gospel with his wife and applying the teachings of christ in their home that everything was going to turn out fine. maybe not perfect. there family was not going to be perfect  but they will be alright. they will be happy and one day if one of their kids turned into a rebel would remember the example of his padres. i wasn't a full out rebel but i was in high school and i will always remember the impact my mother and father had on my life and for their outstanding examples.  ya so i shared that with the family and the spirit was just soo strong. it was a fantastic first lesson.  another kind of good thing that happened this week happened with daniel. he wants to get baptized in rabinal and wants us to be at his baptism. we told him that we cant go to rabinal. he said he wanted to talk to the pres and ask for his permission haha. so he had an interview with pres and well turns out that he lives like 1 block out of our area so we not only can go to his baptism in rabinal but we cant even baptize him in our ward. he is going to have to get baptized in the the other ward here in coban. it sucks. i don't feel that bad for me though because it was with us that he accepted to be baptized and accepted the gospel but i'm sad for him because he is going to have to go to another ward to get baptized. the good thing though is that the pres said that if he gets baptized here in coban we can go to his baptism. so that was sweet and sour. he is going to get baptized but its kinda bad news because he has to go to another ward.  those are just about the most important things that have happened to us this week. it was a good week but a little crazy because of mundial but thank goodness that is over and we can teach like normal. i am just so grateful for your example mom and dad and for everything that you have done for me. i will forever be grateful and i love you both so much. charlie you are the best and i cant wait to see you in less than 4 months. ya i hit 20 months today not that i am counting. love you all and have a great week.

sorry there are no fotos this week my computer blows haha

The Fourth of July (week 77)

Let me start by telling you all that our country in by far the best in the world. there is just no place like the states. i mean thailand and guat are great haha but the states is on another level. i am so prideful to be an american. the states is great and i celebrated the 4th by wearing my u.s. flag tie almost the entire day. the thing is before lunch we left to go work and i forgot it was the 4th of july so i had to go back to the house and change my tie so i could celebrate the states birthday. i am so happy to hear that not so little anymore charlie is going to get baptized. that makes me so happy. your 4th of july sounded like paradise really and like that is a dream day for me. im so happy that you all had a good week.

Wow as for me it was a good week. i don't have a change so that's good news. that means i'm going to have a 3rd change with my best friend in the mission like how does that happen haha. i'm happy and ready to kill it with him again. the funnest thing that happened this week is when my comp and i went to the cap to get some medical examines. we left at like 2 in the madrugada and got there at like 7. we got there early so we took advantage of the time and headed over to walmart. sketchy mom if you had a 100th of a clue what happens in the capital you would have never let me come to this mission hahah. i will have to tell you some stories when i get back haha.. pure lamanites. ya but walmart was quite the adventure and i bought a couple of treats that came from the states and i was happy. the hospital where we were at was right behind the temple and it was just the coolest view of the temple. we left to come back to coban thursday. so we had to spend the night on wednesday and i saw my friend that i really wanted to see as well. i was thrilled. ok so that was the funnest part of the week because we were left free to roam the cap haha. now the most satisfying part of the week was sunday. daniel came to church which was fantastic as well as the brother of marcia. marcia is soooo pilas still. she visits with the sister missionaries always and reads the book of mormon more than i do haha. love her. ya so her brother just came back from the cap. he went to church with us. that afternoon we taught him and put a baptism date with him. he is going to get baptized the 2nd of August. it was awesome and i thank the lord daily for the blessings he gives my comp' and i. that's basically a sure baptism because he is super motivated to get baptized and his sister marcia just gives him sincho using the book of mormon and the scriptures that she has read recently. its fantastic. marcia is going to be a killer missionary.  now we also talked with daniel after church. we answered his doubts. we also put a fecha for the 26 of this month with him. he is so pilas as well. like it is so funny because he answers all the questions in the classes during church and comments and stuff like that even though he isn't a member and he is just learning. he is so pilas its awesome. so the work this week was great. overall just a great week. i'm kinda sad though because one of my good friends is leaving to go home but i will see him at byu so thats ok. just know family that i love you all so much and i pray for you all.please please please just choose the right even though it can be hard. you will be more happy and will enjoy the blessings god will give you.  pray always and always read the scriptures. love you all and have a great week

the temple 

some valcano in thecap

elder lauritzen my freind in the cap

A note to Charlie....

Charlie i just want you to know how happy i am for your decision to follow our savior jesus christ. i want you to know that i love jesus. i want you to know that i really try to follow his example. It makes me sooooo happy that you love jesus and want to follow his example as well.  If you can charlie right down how you feel after your baptism in journal so that you can one day show people in your mission how you felt when you were baptized. i love you so much and i wish i was there to support you on such a special day. I love you charlie and pray for you everyday.

your brother,

Elder Call

Changes on Saturday (week 76)

Hey family enjoyed your letters this week as always and i don't take them for granted believe me. i enjoy them and i am grateful that you all take time out of your busy days to write me something. mom those pictures that you took of ella diving into the pool are great those just bring back great memories. too bad that when i come home it will be too cold to go swimming  but that's alright.

ya so this is the last week of the change. i cant believe it. how has 6 weeks gone by so fast like where has the time gone. really i don't get it. how have i been out of Salama now for 3 months. when i think about it i just get confused haha.  this Saturday i will find out if i have a change or not.  i don't think i will... i think that if anyone has a change it will be my comp but i don't think that he will have a change either. we are having a lot of success together and our zone is doing really well as well. who knows though its hard to predict what the lord wants but this Saturday i will find out. if i do have a change though i think its 90 percent sure i go back to Peten. man i want nothing more to go back to Peten that would be the best. to be honest though i don't want to leave this area right now though not until we baptize Octavio and his wife Claudia. we had a great lesson with them this week. we taught the law of chastity to them and committed them to get married. when they learned that law they didn't even think about it they just said alright we will get married and we will let you know when. perfect so they are going to get married i just hope to death that it is soon. i really love that family so much like sooo soooo sooo much. they are just the best and they love us so much. that's also the problem though because if one of us has a change they said that they don't know if they are going to be able to trust another missionary. god knows though what will happen so i'm not too worried about it. they are progressing though so that's the good part. this Friday they also invited us to eat pizza. it was awesome. octavio said that ever since we started visiting them everything in their lives has gotten better so he said the least he can do is buy us pizza hut. it was awesome haha and that never happens here because almost everyone we visit lives in a dirt shack. he is the only person that is progressing that makes a good amount of money. he would be just a fantastic leader in the church. ya so i just love love love that family so much. edson and jefferson their kids went to the temple this week as well. they loved it and said it was awesome. that's just fantastic for them and they will not ever forget that. speaking of leaders i don't know if i told you this but christian and oneda who was one of the families we baptized in cubulco are still active. christian is going to get his patriarchal blessing soon and is president of the young men. basilio alverez the inactive that we found is president of the elders quorum. so ya the people that i found and taught are all doing great in cubulco. that includes adan and maribell and joselyn and reina y erik as well. the only one who isn't active is jose and it is because his parents don't allow him to go to church. at least that what he says it makes me sad but i cant do anything.  ya so life right now is great. love the mission my comp my mission president and everything else haha. i hope all is well at home.  remember that you all have the gift of the holy ghost. god has promised you that another god will be with you at all times if you are living worthily and i cant really think of anything better than that. be worthy repent pray and do whats right. eternity is a really long time.  love you all and have a good week

the best picture of these are some really ridiculous shoes that we bought in the market today because we are going to give them to elder garcia for his birthday haha so funny we always made fun of him before because he always put on like these crocodile shoes that are so ridiculous with a point on the toes that could kill dogs hahaha so its just a big joke and we are going to give him these shoes later tonight haha.  

Ya Me Voy (week 75)

Hey family loved your letter mom this week. I’m happy to hear that Benjamin and dad returned safely from their trip. I hope that it was as fun as the last high adventure.  So crazy that it is summer back home because it doesn’t feel like summer out here at all haha

This week was alright for us. We found a lot of new investigators but we don’t have a whole lot progressing. We have some good possibilities but they don’t want to accept fechas right now.  We had a fecha that was going to get baptized in a couple of weeks but he left to some aldea like 4 hours from here to work and is not sure when he is going to come back.  It’s tough but it’s ok because I know that the lord will help us to find more people that are willing to progress. We found a good family this week as well we only taught them lesson 1.It was a really tough lesson at first because there was just so many distractions it was crazy. There were kids running all over the place and finally they calmed down though and we were able to teach a good lesson. The guy, whose name is hector, told us that he just wants to join the true church but doesn’t know where it is. That’s a good sign haha but he just needs to put himself pilas read pray and go to church and he will find it out soon. He doesn’t like how in all the other churches the pastors are making money. He is like that is not what the bible says. Church shouldn’t be a paying job haha oh well hector good news nobody in the church is making money in their callings. I just loved saying that haha. The other good thing this week is that Daniel is reading his book of Mormon mucho and is praying, he says he has some questions that he needs to ask us. Also a good sign because he wants to learn more and actually cares.  Oh the other good thing that happened this week is if found out that in Salama they baptized somebody that elder Garcia and I found and taught a lot and also in San Cristobal. This Saturday the elders in San Cristobal baptized Rosa. She was somebody elder Bonillo and I found and taught but she never progressed so we left her but put a progress report in the area book. The elders of San Cristobal found that report found her and then like 2 weeks later she was baptized. That just gives me so much drive to work harder in this work. We never know what is going to happen with the people that we teach even know I taught here like 9 months ago.  I love the mission.  My comp is the best and is doing better.  Love you all so much. I hope and pray that you are all striving to obey the commandments. Keeping them is the only way that we can be truly be happy.  Whether that means not buying on Sunday or not telling little lies… it doesn’t matter. Commandments are commandments and we should willingly keep them because we love god.  Love you all so much and I pray for you every night.

Elder Call

we cooked breakfast as a zone today it was dope haha

Transfer 13 Week 4 (week 74)

Family loved your letter this week. I cannot believe that its summer in the states… that’s so crazy to me. Here it just rains and it is overcast all the days so it all feels the same. I saw the blue sky the other day and I forgot how beautiful it is.  I am super jealous about the high adventure trip. That was the best like so fun that trip. I will never forget it ever. I remember having my carnival at rancho as well haha I had it up the street at like some old house or something. Glad to hear everything is good at home.

This week was a good one. The work is good in our area besides the fact that mundial has started. Nobody wants to listen to us if a world cup game is going on.  We found a couple new investigators this week but we need to find more. We are focusing on finding the investigators that god has prepared for us to teach.  The best thing that happened this week was the baptism that we had Saturday. Jefferson and Edson are the best and I was so happy to see them get baptized.  We visited them a bunch of times this week to make sure that we had taught them everything and that they were ready for the baptism interview.  They did great though.  Another highlight of the week was when we were talking with their dad. I don’t know if you remember like 2 weeks ago he was so stressed that he looked like he was going to die. I have never seen anyone look like that in my life. He didn’t have work and he was on the verge of losing everything that they have. Well basically like I told you guys we talked with him and told him that he needs to repent and remember god not only in the bad times but in the good like Pres. Uchtorf  instructed us in the last conferencia general.  We promised him a bunch of stuff and told him that he would find work if he went to church and prayed and tried to follow the commandments. Well he did just that.  He has been gone for 13 days from here and came back Friday. We talked to him and he told us that he tried to pray more and remember god. He told us that like 2 days later he was offered 3 different works. He was offered so much that he had to choose. It was a complete miracle. When we talked to him he looked so happy. We need to help him realize that that was a complete miracle and he needs to thank god a lot. That was one of the coolest lessons of my mission. Such a testimony builder that god answers our prayers and cares about us. Such a miracle and that is just one of the reasons why the mission is the best. At the baptismal service Daniel also went. Daniel is the joven that we found last Sunday. He is super pilas.  He loved the baptism interview and said that he is now even closer to getting baptized. We just need to help him react on his answers to his prayers. He also went to church and loved it as well. Really just such a great week.  I love Octavio so much and his family. We need to baptize him and his wife now. The only problem is that we can only teach him like every 2 weeks because of his work.  Ya so pray for him and his family as well as for Daniel.  Love the mission so much and I look forward for every new day. The only bad thing is the days are going by soo fast. Oh pray for my comp as well he is having a really hard time right now. He just got diagnosed for an eye problem that basically means he is going blind. Not immediately but over the years he will go blind and his best friend died this week. So pray for him he needs it.  Love you all so much. I’m so grateful for the church and the things it teaches us. I love Jesus Christ. I love god for sending him to this earth to be humiliated spit on and tortured for our sins. Mom if you think it was hard to send me on the mission imagine how god felt. I love the teachings of Jesus and teaching them to other people.  The mission is the best. I hope you all have a good week. Love you all and stay safe.

Elder call