Chalio (week 88)

overall it was a solid week. the week was pretty normal up until friday. friday we did divisions with the elders in san andres . it was the best to be in that area again. we did divisions so that the district leader could do the interview with chalio. ya so i obviously was treated like a king in san andres. that area just brings back soooo many memories. i just cant believe how long ago it was when i was there. like where has time gone? i literally don't get it. it's the best being there and i just know everyone seriously. although there were some People that didn't recognize me until i told them my name because they say i have lost so much weight. they actually told me i need to gain more wait that i don't look healthy. they exaggerated but ya its funny seeing everyone again. the best part of the day was visiting chino and visiting my converts delfina and daisy. chino is the menos activo he is still menos activo but he is starting to go to church again and is going to baptize his kid. that made me super happy. when i visited jorge delfina daisy and ruban it was a party. they knew i was coming so they went into the jungle and caught an armadillo and killed it to eat it with me. that's hilarious to me... a freaking armadillo? what is this russa who kills an armadillo? it was good though so i'm not going to complain.  it was just so unreal that i was there with them. delfina and jorge have a kid now. that's crazy because i was in their wedding when i was in san jose. ruban and daisy also have a new kid. their were a bunch of kids running around that house that i had never even seen before. that was just the best to see them. the next morning i woke up and went on a run along the banks of the lake. i literally felt like i was on vacation it was unhealthy. san andres is just ridiculous. then chino invited us to lunch and we went to his house to lunch with him and his family haha. that same day saturday we had the baptism of chalio. he is the man. he is a marero turned mormon. ya he has had a super hard life before. his parents basically abandoned him and left him with his grandma. he has progressed super fast with us and has just been great. he has a great testimony. last night we were talking to him and he said that he would also like to serve a mission. so that is possible as well and that he becomes a missionary in the future. with him it's possible that it happens but with marcia from coban it's for sure going to happen. she has already starting filling out here papers haha. ya so overall it was just the best week. san andres and the baptism of chalio. chalio is probably one of my only converts that i would hang out with like as a friend. i love all my converts obviously but chalio is like a friend to me like he is hysterical like i would hang out with him if that makes sense. i love all my converts but chalio is also the man haha. i don't know how to say that by email to not make it sound bad. like i love all my converts but at the same time talk about chalio haha. overall just a killer week and to top it all off we went to tikal today. it was just great. i am now very baggy though because i know the exact time i will be home but that will just last all today then tomorrow i will be back to normal and work just as usual. thank you all for just being the best and you have no idea how much i love you all. i can always count with your support in my life. my advice for you all this week is study the scriptures but think of a question you have and save it for general conference to let the general authorities answer it. you should always go into conference with a question. you still have 2 weeks to think about it but just so you can get ahead. i love you all and have just a great week.

elder call

My Last Change (week 87)

I loved your letters even more than usual today. i was just dying laughing the entire time dad with your story and mom with your stories. i mean seriously you guys have no idea how funny you are. well i take that back you are both pretty cocky about how funny you are haha. man that sf giants game sounded great. the office of the mission did call me to ask which airport i wanted to fly into. i told them oakland. i don't have my flight plans yet because they just send the info to salt lake and they buy my ticket. so we are still waiting on salt lake to find out when i get home exactly. they put though that i should leave at 8 here from guat so i should be home early afternoon. crazy i'm even talking about that.

I put in the subject that this is my last change right now because my last change really is only 4 weeks but right now i lack 6 weeks to get home and the changes in the mission are always 6 weeks. so it's as if today i was starting my last change. i can't believe how fast time goes. i mean i really don't even understand it even a little bit. next thing you know i'm going to be 40 if god allows me to. that is one thing the chapins always say and it's sooo funny. but also a little annoying at times when your investigators say it. hey will you go to church next week and they answer if god allows me to or they say if i'm alive or they say god first. it's like what does that have to do with anything hahaha. its so funny. so normal it's so funny. ya so that was my little guat culture.. day in the life story for the day. this week flew by. basically the better part of the week was helping the bakes get situated in their house. they are the new senior couple that came in. let me tell you that they are the best. they just love my comp and i soooo much. we decorated their house and stuff for when they got here to  guat. we moved furniture luggage and went shopping with them for just about every morning since they have no idea what they are doing in this country. we had to show them around and stuff. they are really the best though. sister bake is soooooo funnny she is from puerto rico but has lived in the states her whole life... well married life. she speaks perfect english and spanish and she has a great personality. elder bake is more quiet and shyish but is great as well. he served his mission in argentina. ya so wednesday we helped them move in and stuff. thursday we ran all over town buying a ton of stuff for their house and friday we did house inspections in some of the areas in our zone. the bakes are our neighbors too so they have invited us to eat at their house several times. we are super spoiled with them there. they just buy so much stuff too because they are still thinking in dollars instead of quats so they just buy everything and say wow this is so cheap haha classic.they also took us to the best restaurant on the isla de flores that is right on the water looking over the lake as you can see in the pic. that was dope. and it was so good. ya so we were with them basically every morning this week but saturday monday and tuesday. the one day that we were not their to help them go shopping was saturday and the hermana bake tripped on a rock and fell right on her face. its a miracle she isn't dead. really she got banged up. she has a huge black eye fat lip and  a huge cheek. probably the worst injury i have seen in the mission. pòor thing but like i said she is the best and she was just telling everyone that it's a new makeup she is trying called sidewalk of peten. its so funny. today we just hung out with them all day my comp and i. we did some errands and stuff then they invited my comp and i to lunch. other than hanging out with the bakes my comp and i worked as usual nothing really different happened this week with investigators. we are still trying to find new pilas investigators but we are having a hard time finding people who even read so that's a bit of a problem. we are going to have a baptism this weekend of chalio. he is the the man and is soo ready to be baptized. during our lesson he said that he knows that the church is true and that he needs to get baptized. so ya he is prepared. aroldo and dorris are still doing great. they are going to get baptized the 27 of this month. they are also doing great. the mission is the best.i know that i always say that but i really mean it. its the best. it really is. i kinda don't want to go home at all. when i think about it i just think how different it is going to be. on top of that the bakes told me how crazy the world is back home and how i am just soooo sheltered here in guat. man i'm not sure if i'm ready to go home at all. the bakes kinda scared me a little bit to be honest haha.  well that's all i have to say this week. keep being pilas family. do your family nights and family prayers and all that good stuff. i'm so grateful for a good family because i see a ton of screwed up families here everyday. i love you all and i hope that you have a great week.

elder call

here are some pics

Una Buena Semana (week 86)

i loved your letters this week and let me tell you that you are right about that being the perfect weekend. that is just fantastic! man i am so happy that you went and ate pizzas there where i have been before. that place really is just a little piece of heaven. i love that place so much. i still can't believe jared is back... that's nuts.

Ya so my week was a good one. haroldo and dorris got married finally. that was the highlight of the week. that haroldo is a miracle and how he has decided to change his life. man his wedding though was great. very humble. it was just in his house and there were like 2 families from the church that went as well. it was great though because them getting married was the first big step in changing their lives. they are now no longer living in fornication and are keeping the commandments especially that one which happens to be maybe the 3rd most important commandment. they are going to get baptized the 27. ya so i cant remember if i told you this but haroldo has to get re baptized because the church lost his record. so he and his wife are going to get baptized the 27. they were going to get baptized earlier but there were a couple of problems with the next 2 weekends. they good news is that they are going to get baptized. chalio is still progressing well and he is going to get baptized not this weekend but the next. the reason that he isn't going to get baptized this next weekend is because it's the weekend of the independence of guat so its going to be nuts and we are not sure if he is going to have to desfilar or not. we don't know if he has to parade or not so that's why we are better off leaving it for 2 weeks longer. the good news is that those guys are progressing... the bad news is that we are having some trouble finding good new investigators. i really want to find new pilas investigators because man i want to baptize my last month in the mission. i am truly loving the mission though it's just the best and i love it. i love having time everyday to study and read the scriptures as well. it's just the greatest. i'm reading jesus the christ right now for the second time in my mission and that book is just the best. there is just not a better book than that one. absolutely incredible. well family that's about all i have time for this week. just know that i love you and think about you all the time and i hope that you all have a good week. love you all hasta pronto

elder call

teaching the pigs

this kid reminds me exactly like charlie like he is a latino igual its crazy. i cried yesterday talking to him because he reminds me soooo much of charlie and i miss charlie because he is the best

harolds and dorris and their two kids

Peten is the Best (week 85)

Loved your letters this week and i really really do love how you guys write me every week... it's just the best. i can't believe how crazy life has been at home. all the wedding stuff with the millers back and with school. mom that letter cracked me up. I cant even imagine how crazy things at home were during that week. your date to the city just sounded like the best. i met some guys here who have been to san fran a bunch of times and they say that it is one of their favorite city's in the world and they have been all over the world. man i just love the city so much. Dad your right though i will be home in time to go to some bens games.  man i just cant believe how time flies.

Right now i'm not in peten which is a relief because p days in peten in that crappy internet cafe with 1 little fan is torture. it's really just a really big sacrifice writing you guys because man its soooo hot in there and i always leave that place with a huge headache. haha ya so like i said i'm in coban and i'm soo baggy to be in coban. i love this place and i love how cold it is. its really hard for me to tell you guys what place i like best here in the mission but its really hard to beat peten. i love it up there. i just have so many memories of things that i did there and experienced starting like 18 months ago. its so crazy how time flies. i really feel like i have been here in the mission for like 5 months. i just don't get where time has gone. this week was a good one for the work in our area. we were able to put fechas with a family in our area. their names are haroldo and dorris. they are great and i love them so much. aholdo is like 25 and is a successful electrision for his age and is living with dorris. they have 2 kids. they are not quite married like i told you last week but they are going to get married this weekend. Ahoroldo says that he is a member of the church but we cant find any record of him so he is probably going to have to get baptized again. he isn't upset about that though because he is going to get baptized the same day as his wife.  haroldo is really making big changes in his life. the typical guatemalan who makes pretty good money and just drinks it all away. well that is what he has been doing for the last 7 years of his life. he has had really bad influences in his life. his father was a member of the church but he went very inactive and drank all the time. haroldo says the first time he drank he had 9 years and he was taking shots of whisky with his dad. ya i'm so glad my dad isn't like that. ya so he has been drinking all his life. ya he hasn't been drinking in like 15 days which is a record for him since he was like 9. i love haroldo and how is trying to change for his family. he says he has always wanted to change but has never been able to or been able to find the will power to do it but we gave him sincho and he is changing. i really love the people here in peten i just love them.  now chalio is also progressing a lot and he is soo pilas. his prayers at the end of our lessons are so good. i love chalio as well. oh and i havn't told you guys about my comp. so my comps name is elder tellez. he is from nicaragua and has about 13 meses in the mission. he is pilas. he was in cubulco as well.  He is a great guy and we have a lot of fun together and work hard. oh i haven't told you about my house either... i don't think. our house is soooo  nice its hilarious. its normally 3000 quets but its a members so we are living there for 1500 quets. our house is like a little cabin its made out of wood and has air conditioning. ya i wrote that right air conditioning i think we have the only house with air conditioning in all of guat haha i have never been in one at least until i moved into my house. and that goes for member house or missionary house haha. ya so i sleep like a babe freezing cold every night as if i were in coban. its the best haha i feel spoiled though because i remembered how much i suffered the last time i was in peten and i had to shower some times like 4 times a night because i couldn't sleep because i was soo hot. ya so that is a real luxury haha. that is all i can remember that happened this last week that is worth writing. i love you all so much. don't forget to always say your prayers and to read the scriptures. those 2 things when done with real intent are powerful. again love you all and i hope that you have a great week.

elder call