really though ya me voy (week 93)

got your letters guys and i cant wait to see you all. love you all and see you thursday.

Family (week 92)

ya casi family. wow another week that flew by and just like that i am going to be home. i can't believe it. just know that i loved your letter this week mom and it was almost my favorite of my entire mission.  again nothing crazy happened this week. nothing that i need to tell you right now that you cant wait for next week. just now that i love you all and think about you always. i am going to do everything i can to forget you all this week though and just kill it my last week in my mission. until next week love you all!

elder call

Thank you for the Birthday Wishes (week 91)

hey loved your letters again this week. they are the best and i cant wait to talk to you all in person haha. ya so i only have 2 more weeks and it sucks let me tell you. yesterday in church it actually hit me that i am leaving. i bore my testimony all normal and everything and then when i was walking back i sat down and it hit me that i'm leaving.  i just sat there and cried next to our investigators and everything haha. i think i scared them but really i just bawled for like 30 mins. i'm so sad i cant believe that it has come to an end almost. it sucks it really does. i love everything about guat everything. the people the culture everything.  man its just going to be horrible to be back in the states. well good and bad but let me tell you i have almost never been so sad in my life. i would love to tell you everything that happened this week but to be honest i'm just going to wait until i get home because i'm tired. today we went to yaxcha another big ruin it was super cool. well i'll send you some pics because they say a picture is worth a thousand words haha. love you all and see you soon!

elder call

Nicholas celebrated his 21st birthday on October 15th.

I got these pictures sent to me from someone in his mission but I am not sure who.  They made me beyond happy and I felt like I had not missed out completely on this special day.  We watched the video like 10 times and cried laughed the entire time!

Happy Birthday Nicholas!!!!!!

I love you!!!!!!!

Peten (week 90)

Loved your letters this last week as always as they always give me animo to work harder and to endure till the end. let me tell you all that you are the best and i cant wait to see you all. Ben and Ella happy birthday once again.

So this week was pretty good. we didn't have a baptisms so it wasn't the best. this week my comp and i had to go to the capital. i swear my comps are always sick and i always have to go to the cap with them haha. from peten that is a freaking a 10 hour bus ride and it's soo tiring. we left thursday night and were there all day friday and left friday night to be back here in peten at 8. really just a long journey but it was the best because i was able to go to the temple. we had like 10 hours from when we got to the cap until his visit with the doctor so we went to the temple. let me tell you that that was the best. i haven't been to the temple since provo and did it feel good to go back. if it wasn't for this trip then i would have never of entered the temple here in guat. that was the highlight of the week. general conference was good as well. i always just love it. i loved the talks of christofferson and uchtdorf the saturday morning session. those were probably my favorite talks of the conference. i have such a strong testimony of the gospel and of living prophets.  as far as investigators go we only have 1 pilas family. the missionaries have been visiting them forever and they never wanted to get married until they had enough money to buy rings. well my comp and i watched a short powerful video about jesus that invited the spirit so strong then we just gave sincho with amor. man we are talking boldly. that is just so fun as a missionary and to be so full of the spirit and to do it with so much authority. it's one of the best feelings as a missionary. well they said that they will get married the 20 of this month which means that they might get baptized my last saturday in the mission which would be the best. nothing is for sure. right now we have to visit them again but that was the best lesson we had this week. Being a missionary is the best. i'm sad that i am ending my time as a full time missionary but i'm happy that i don't ever have to stop being a missionary. i have come to love gautemala sooo much and the people here as well. they are just the best. nobody is better though then you guys. i love you all and i hope you all have a good week.

Elder Call

me on a granizada bike

this is some jungle animal named a tepesquintle that we are going to eat tmrw

the worrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrsssssssssssssssssttttttttttttttttt computadora (week 89)

well team let me tell you that i have got the worst computer ever and i have like no time to write you guys because it gave me a virus that almost ate all my fotos. ya i'm ticked. love your letters though and that carmel house vacation looked like just the best. that's awsome. and let me say HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELLA AND BENJAMIN. you guys are the best and i really mean that. i cant wait to see you all in 4 weeks! its going to be the best. i hope that your birthdays were the best ever. i think that is just so funny that you all talked to sister bake. what more did she have to say? haha. i told her to look at your blog as well and she said that whoever wrote it is very gifted. well whoever it was i hope that you don't get more cocky than you already are haha. man you are all the best.

ok so this week was a good one. we baptized aroldo and his wife dorris. they are the greatest. the person who did the interview for aroldo said that he has done over 70 interviews and the one that he had with aroldo was the best yet. he is sooooooooooooooooooooooo pilas. like right now he knows more than  most of the members and he has only been going to church for like 3 weeks. dorris in sunday school answered all the questions perfectly in the class. my comp and i taught. i'm serious they are such good converts i'm not kidding when i saw that aroldo is going to be a leader in the church in the next couple of years and don't even get me started on chalio... he is soooo pilas. yesterday he left to visit with us all day. he wants to serve a mission and is going to bless the sacrament with aroldo not this sunday but the next. ya they already received the aaronic priesthood yesterday in church. they are great. the lord has blessed me soooo much in these last 6 months with soo many good converts. all of them are still in church and all of the men have received the priesthood. they are such good converts. the lord has blessed me sooo much i'm serious. its great you guys are going to know them as well because i told them all that when i get home i am going to skype them haha. ya so that is about all the important things that happened this week. oh and it was changes and i am staying here in the same area with the same comp. the last change flew by so i cant even imagine how this one is going to fly... if it is only 4 weeks. I love you guys and i am praying for you all always. thank you for the support you have given me my entire mission it has helped me a ton. thanks to you guys it has never even crossed my mind once to return back home early. really and that is something that missionaries think about more than 1 time in their mission. i have never thought about that because the mission is just the very best. although hard at times it is the best. i am going to live it up these last couple days. you are all the best and i hope that all is well. don't forget what i told you guys to do this next week. go into the conference with a question and let the lord help you to answer it. he always will. Love you all and have a great week

elder call

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