I'm in mission Coban (week 19)

as you can tell by my subject i’m in mission coban. yesterday was changes and i didn´t get one. this is going to be my 4th change in san jose and i am really excited. yea, this change decided what mission i am going to be in. wherever you are at the end of this change is where you are going to be when the mission splits. i am thrilled i am so happy. i’m sad that i am not going to be with president watts and hermana watts but thats ok because i am convinced i am in the coolest mission in all the world. my mission is straight jungle wherever i go. i am also happy i am getting a mission president that will be my mission president my entire mission. president watts is going to finish like 4 months before me so i wouldn’t have my exit interview with him and it would be with some other guy i barely know…so that is a plus also. yea, mission coban is dope. im serious, every area in the entire coban mission is better than the areas in the cap. the only negative is i really like pres watts and hermana watts. i also would have liked to know the cap at least for 1 change in my mission but that is a sacrifice that i am willing to make ha, ha. yea, so basically i am so freakin pumped. as far as being in my area again i’m happy but would have been fine to leave too. our area has nothing going for it right now…it’s really slow right now. we have a baptism not this saturday but the next but besides that its pretty dead. we don’t have anybody progressing right now. we have no problem finding people to teach but getting them to come to church or commit to a bàptism date is hard. por ejemplo, we have taught 40 new investigators this last month but none, i mean none, are progressing. everytime we find someone that is perfect they have work or school or something on sundays…its terrible. but the positive is that at least i am teaching people and people are learning more about our message. my comp and i are praying sooo hard right now to help our people progress or to find people who can progress. it’s a real trial of faith but that’s just part of the mission. we think we also need to try to get more references but we have hardly any members in our area too ha, ha. so pray for me and my comp so we can have success. the coolest thing that happened this week though is we had district conference and elder amado came. he is a 70 and he served with grandpa. hermana watts was telling me that its possible that her dad served with granpa too because he was a 70 and knew an elder call. i talked to her about that like 2 weeks ago and then sunday when i saw her she told me that her dad served with eran call as well and that he possibly served with elder amado too. so after the meeting sunday i bulldozed my way through everyone to ask him if he knew grandpa and he did. he said he served with grandpa and that he knew him really well. it was super cool and i felt like i immediately had a connection with him like we were good friends or something ha, ha, it was really funny. dad, ask your dad about elder amado and let me know what he says. that’s something i was like tripping out over…like that is so cool. the conference was really good by the way and elder amado is hilarious. he looks super serious, like he just wants to give everyone sincho, but he had everyone dying laughing like 15 times during the meeting ha, ha, it was so funny. i mean it was funny, the jokes i could understand, then the other times it was funny watching other people laugh ha, ha. as far as my spanish goes, i have a really good grip on it right now. they say learning a language is really hard at first then after a while you just start to feel it and you grow a ton. that’s what’s happening to me right now. i can understand dang near everything people are saying which is cool. its super helpful too because if i can understand them then i can learn grammar from the way that they speak and just copy what they are saying. im not perfect at spanish or anything but right now i am learning a ton and my spanish is getting a ton better. loving the mission right now and im thrilled about mission coban. love you all and hope you have a good week

pic 1 - fantastic picture of me and a crazy guy in my area. he is like a genius and he knows everything. well, that’s also the problem because he wont listen to what we have to offer. this is the guy that gave me mud to put on my face and said it would help. he also gives us massages for free and cracks whatever thing we want him to crack. he cracks our back, neck, ankles, and everything…its hilarious. he is also a genius with plants. he has an incredible garden and he makes his own compost and stuff. he has gringos staying at his house all of the time. they come to stay at his house and he teaches them how to plant and stuff and they give him money and food ha, ha, this guy is nuts. he grows coco in his garden and makes chocolate with it and i bought some ha, ha, it was really good. yea, so this guy is the man except he wont really accept our message.

pic 2 - me with a weird animal that wilmer and catorina caught out in the jungle

Last week of the change (week 18)

loved getting your emails as always family. summer at the house is always the freakin best. i mean i cant think of a place i would rather be. pool, fire, ping pong, basketball, man that is the dream. im so grateful for you guys and for making that backyard fun. i have such good memories of that house and never living there again is going to be terrible…like you said its like a vacation. i can go snowboarding, go to the city, the beach...man don’t even get me started ha, ha, but man i'm sad i'm never going to live there again. well, it just means i have to study my butt off and get a good enough job so i can live in alamo.

yea, so the life in guat is well the same as last week i guess ha, ha. yea, but right now it is sooooo hot the street bubbles because it is so hot. that isn’t a joke either. like there really are bubbles in the street. i think i am used to the heat though which is the good thing. i mean, as used to it as i will ever be. i am just used to sweating always. when i sleep, when i sit, walk, run, or talk…all day i am sweating. to be honest though, i don’t really think about it that much anymore. it doesn’t really bother me anymore. its just in times like right now when i am thinking about it is when i really realize how ridiculous this heat really is ha, ha. as far as the work goes right now its slow. we have a baptism not this saturday but the next and, depending if i have a change or not, i might not be here. if i’m not here then that is fine too. all that matters is that i helped her get to the stage of baptism, i mean that is what really counts. so we teach her like one time a week and that’s all. as far as our other investigators right now they are really having a tuff time progressing. its soo easy to get investigators and to teach them but it is really hard to get them to come to church. people think that all churches lead to god and which church you go to doesn’t matter…it drives me nuts. yea, so its kind of hard to get people to change that attitude when people have been telling them that for all their life. the only thing that can change that thinking is the spirit. they have to recognize that it is the spirit touching them and not just emotion. anyway, so that is the story of our area right now. today was a zone activity and we played soccer in a stadium where the team for all of peten plays. the stadium is actually in our area so the entire zone came to our area. it was kind of funny because the missionaries could not believe how beautiful it is here. people were like, how do you not just get distracted and think you are on vacation…ha, ha, good question. yea, but that isn’t really a big deal to me. our area is really incredible and beautiful but i know why i am here so that has never been a problem. this is the last week of the change and i am really nervous. if i have a change then it will decide what mission i am in when we split. if i don’t have a change then there is a good chance that i am going to be in mission coban…but who knows man. i’m nervous though, because this change could possibly decide where i am for the rest of my mission…in the cap or outside in coban. yup, that is the letter for this week. love you guys and pray always. god really does listen and answer su prayers. love you all and think about you every day. with schools almost out i especially think about you all in our backyard loving life. man, i’m loving life too right now but in a little different way ha, ha. love you all and take care. Love, Elder Call

pic – 1 i burned a tie for my 6th month mark…that is the tradition around here for 6 months

oh ya thats right mom a week late but happy mothers day and read the writing in the pic. love you your the best

Yo Yo (week 17)

hey, so it was freakin great talking to you guys last night and hearing your voices. you guys are the best. you really are and i am so happy for all of you and that you are all my family. tambien mom i am so happy you are my mom. i have no idea how i got so lucky to have you as my mom…either luck or i really knew what i was doing in heaven when i chose you to be my mom...if that is even how it works ha, ha. i just love you all so much and pray for you guys all the time.

yea, so today we didn´t have p day and to be honest i was a little disappointed. we had the opportunity to hear from a member of the quorum of seventy, elder martino, the president of the central america area. notice how i said in the line above i was a little disappointed. Yea, im not disappointed now at all…it was incredible. the part that really impacted me today was when he talked about the atonement. the spirit was just so strong and was testifying to me the truthfulness of it. in the first place its incredible that we can be forgiven of sins and comforted in times we need to be comforted. 2nd its so incredible what christ did for us. when he was in the garden of gethsemane he couldn´t prepare for what he was going to experience. there is no way to imagine the pain he was going to feel. he was willing to suffer and willing to bear it why? because of his love for each and every one of us. we cannot even think of the pain he went through there is no way to imagine it…its impossible. now think how he said to his father not my will but thine be done. in every aspect of jesus’s life he never, ever, ever, ever, thought about himself. think about what the natural man would do in challenges he faced. being treated like dirt all his life even though he was the savior and had the power to create worlds but he still just took it. he could have obliterated someone for talking bad about him, but nope, he never even thought that. after he was in the garden of gethsemene one of his trusted apostles betrayed him for money after he took on the sins of the world to save everyone. then one of his apostles cut the ear of the roman soldier trying to protect jesus. then what did he do? he did the opposite of the natural man and healed the guy who was going to take him prisoner. not to mention all jesus did was ask his apostles not to fall asleep and to stay awake while he was taking on the sins of the world. what did they do…they fell asleep. its so incredible and i have a hard time thinking how he could have so much love for us to be a perfect example and be perfectly obedient. its really just crazy and really, really, humbling. it doesn´t matter who you are you need jesus christ to be saved. just algo incredible and something i was thinking a lot about today. it was really cool hearing from an apostle and i would listen to him again instead of having a p day no questions asked. love all you guys and can´t wait to hear from you next week.
love,
elder call

Almost Mothers Day (week 16)

hey family, loved hearing about your weekend and ben’s tough loss in the norcal finals. ben still has great hair though and that is arguably more important ha, ha. i still love thinking about the incredible weekend you guys had down in pebble that sounded like such a blast. so this week nothing really that crazy happened. we went to san pedro again this week but our luck wasn’t quite as good. we ended up walking like half the way there before we got a jalon. it was fun though but it was a really long walk. the work there was good. it was better then the last week and we have some investigators there now. they want to hear more about the gospel and are interested in it. we have a couple good families there that are interested in coming to church too. it’s just kind of hard because it is kind of far from the chapel. they are expressing interest though and that is what is important. also i think when the mission splits i think the new pres will put missionaries there and will try to really get the church started there. so the way i look at it is I’m just getting the church name out there so people know who we are. as far as our area goes it is kind of slow. the work is kind of slow right now is what i mean. the investigators that we have had in the past are not progressing at all so we are not visiting them that much or like we used to. this past week we spent a lot of the week trying to find new investigators and we do have some good potentials. we also have some really good families interested as well which is the best. this gospel is meant to be enjoyed as a family. just think about how it has blessed our lives and the blessings that are promised if we live faithful lives. we also have an investigator named delphina. we put a fecha with her for the 1st of this next month and that is like a for sure baptism so it will be nice to have another baptism coming up. her boyfriend is an ex missionary and he gave us the reference. they are getting married soon and so she wants to get baptized so she can get married in the temple. she knows the church is true which is awesome. she is great and i am really excited for her to follow christ’s example and be baptized. this church really is true and i am so grateful to be a part of it. i’m so grateful i can spend eternity with you guys if we live righteously. that is all i want and is the best blessing ever. i love you guys so much and can’t wait to hear from you next week as well. oh, and can’t wait to talk to you this weekend. love you all,

elder call

pic - a members moto ha, ha 

San Pedro (week 15)

family, i loved getting your letters. you guys are the absolute best and i can´t believe those pictures you sent me. how am i so blessed that monterey is only an hour and a half from our house? i’m not baggy at all but when i think about pebble beach and the family staying down there in a house overlooking the ocean and running big sur, yea, i’m going to get a little baggy ha, ha. baggy is a term we use out here that means you are ready to go home. but obviously, my head is in the work and i know why i am here. i’m just so happy that you guys had such an unbelievable weekend. and about ben’s hair, wow, it really does look good so he can be kinda cocky about it ha, ha.

ok, so the highlight of this week was going to san pedro. san pedro is another town that is in our area. its like 10 miles from where we live so we have to jalon to get there. oh, jalon means hitchhike. so one morning this week we decided to leave at like 8 in the morning for san pedro. we really wanted to go because the church doesn´t exist there and we have a dream of getting some members over there and making the church known over there. its super cool to think about this area because there is no church members there and missionaries haven’t been there in years because it is kinda a ways from our area. so we left really early in the morning for san pedro because we wanted to be back in the afternoon to teach all of our other investigators we have here in san jose. so we headed off for san pedro. you all know how much i like adventures and this was a total adventure. we either had to get a jalon or walk all the way there on this little road that runs through jungle. so we started walking to san pedro when after about 20 minutes of walking a school bus came our way. we desperately stuck out our thumbs and begged with our eyes for a jalon. luckily the bus stopped, but we were going up a little hill, so it had to stop on the hill. we hopped on the school bus and it was jam packed full of a bunch of petojos. i don´t know how to describe that word but its like little kids up to no good basically ha, ha. as soon as we hopped on the bus i knew we had made a mistake because all of a sudden the kids started chanting mormones, mormones, mormones. ha, ha, it was so funny i was dying. they were throwing stuff at us and the bus hadn’t even moved yet. the reason it hadn´t moved was because the bus couldn´t get up the hill because it didn´t have enough power once it stopped for us. so we had all of the kids mad at us and making fun of us and the driver swearing at us because he couldn’t make it up the hill. the next thing i know the driver starts yelling at all the kids and we all get out of the bus and start walking up the hill to drop some weight off the bus. ha, ha, we made it to the top of the hill and luckily the bus driver let us back on the bus and we headed on our way to san pedro with the all the kids still yelling and swearing at us. seriously, it was so funny but i had heard enough so we started talking to their teacher and we gave her a book of mormon. it was so funny because i turned around and yelled arrepientase to the kids and then I yelled gente iniquo arrepientase y lea el libro de mormon! i was dying ha, ha, it was so funny but i was kinda serious but they all were dying laughing ha, ha, it really was soooo funny. ha, ha, so we got to san pedro about 9:30 in the morning and we start contacting houses and talking to people. We gave out bom’s and pamphlets about our lessons. its a super cool little town and the people are really nice. we were there for about 3 hours and then we decided to leave to get back to our area. we joloned back to our house and got a ride with a teinda supply truck. they just put us in the back of their truck and closed the doors. kinda sketch but we made it back to our area safe and then they let us out. it was such an adventure and we want to go back 1 or 2 times a week to try to get some investigatores. so that was really fun and the highlight of the week. that is about all i have time for family. i can´t wait to hear from you all next week. remember to read the scriptures and to pray. love you all so much and enjoy the weather in cali ha, ha because it is hot as hell over here. i don´t think that is bad to say because in the scriptures it says “lake of fire and brimstone” so i can assume that hell is pretty hot ha, ha. love you all and miss you. oh freak, i forgot to tell you, i have a tarantula living in our house that i’m so freaking scared about. the other day we also found a scorpion in our house. there is a rumor that if you put a circle of fire around the scorpion it will sting itself in the head until it dies. so of course, i had to try it to see if the rumor is true. so i flicked the scorpion on the ground, got some hand sanitizer, made a circle with it around the scorpion, and then i lit it on fire. when i lit the hand sanitizer on fire the scorpion stung itself in the head and ran into the fire and died. so the mission rumor is true and i have a video to prove it. yes, as i’m sure you’re imagining, i was running around screaming like a girl because i was so scared to light the circle on fire because to light it my hand had to be about 3 inches from the scorpion…but it was worth it ha, ha. love you all

elder call

This is me in my area 

This is me in san pedro on the beach…its such a temptation to swim ha, ha 

This is me in san pedro

the scorpian way up high on our wall up there a torantula lives also

hitchhiking in the back of the truck from san pedro to san joe

I have a new comp (Week 14)

hey family, i loved getting your letters as always but the thing that struck me the most this week from the letters is how freakin sick ben’s hair is. i cannot believe that freakin hair. you should make ben cut his hair because of all the girls he’s going to get with that hair…i cannot get over that hair. well done ben, well done…maybe you should be a model ha, ha…wow, the hair is great. yea, so the big thing that happened this last week is i got a new comp. my comps name is elder rojas and he is from the dominican repuplic. he is gordo and a really big guy with really dark skin. i was going to say he’s african american but he isn´t american or african so like i dont know how to describe him. from what i can tell from this past week he is going to be a great comp. he is always smiling and in a good mood and he wants to work. i mean that’s all i need with my comps. he also has a positive attitude which is a must with me ha, ha. he has 20 months in the mission so he is probably going to die here in san jose. he is a reallly good teacher and loves teaching. he is a perfect example of how i thought somebody from the dominican would be. he is super happy all of the time and super lax. i don´t think he has a care in the world and he talks super, super, slow always. ha, ha, he is exactly what i think the people from the dominican are. yea, so i am really excited for this next change. as far as our area goes right now it needs work. not really any of our investigators are progressing so pray for them. we are asking everyone for references of people that we can teach. hermano wilmer is the dad of the family that we baptized and he is the best. he goes out with us at night all of the time to teach. he is so concerned about our work its the greatest. he asks why would we teach inactive members when there are families here in san jose that are dying to be baptized. i remember thinking wow, what a change in his life and we brought him that happiness. whenever i think about hermano wilmer and his family it just gets me motivated. if i can find people half as good as wilmer i will be a very happy missionary. you always hear missionary’s talking about how much they love the people they serve but its true. i love the people here so much and when i think about wilmer and his family i want to cry ha, ha…i love that guy. so earlier this week we were at wilmer’s house and a storm was coming in. all of a sudden it was like katrina hit here. there was wind like incredibly strong and it was pouring rain like i have never seen or been in my entire life. we ran into wilmer’s little house, which is sticks coverd in plastic with a tin roof, then all of a sudden the freakin storm blew the top of the house. we were getting drenched so we ran over to his mom’s house. so we were there with his family in this hurricane. we had to leave their house though because it was getting late and our district leader was going to call us for our stats. so we had to run home from wilmer’s mom’s house back to our house. it really was nuts because it was pouring really hard and there was a river in the street…it was like a flash flood. so we get back to our house and open the door and there is a lake in our house ha, ha and all of my comp’s things were soaked. my clothes were like 2 feet away from his on a dresser and it was like somebody took a hose and drenched his clothes. all of my clothes were dry and all of his clothes were soaked. we still have no idea how it happened but it was super funny to me but it was not so funny to my comp. but with his great attitude he just shook it off like nothing had happened. it was super funny and i will remember that wet run home for the rest of my life. i was super mad, for like 3 steps, when we started running home, but then after i was soaked i was like wow this is kind of fun ha, ha. so on our run home we played in the street river and in all of the huge lakes in the street as we ran ha, ha. that is what happened this week ha, ha, another crazy week. love all you guys and can´t wait to hear from you next week

love

elder call

elder rojas and i 

 us in the house of wilmer’s mom with his son who was baptized last saturday

us on the way home from wilmer’s running home in the rain…it’s a good thing i have a waterproof camera ha, ha

5 months (week 13)

hey family, i loved getting your letters as always. i’m always a little self conscious about reading them because i always laugh out loud and all the people look at me like i am crazy. mom, its great to hear that you are having a good time down in vegas with your sisters. its crazy, i talk to the people down here all of the time about the importance of family and how god blessed us with a family to learn and to have incredibly fun times. your being in vegas with your sisters is a perfect example of that and i feel the same way about my family that i have been blessed with. the masters finish sounded awesome and i can’t believe it was a year ago i was watching it at alex helegans house. its always great to hear from you guys and i love you all so much.

ok, so this past week was crazy. i finally finished my training as a missionary which is 12 weeks. so i am done with training which also means i have 3 hours of study a day instead of 4….4 is just too long ha, ha. i just finished my second change and also hit 5 months on sunday. man is time flying. yea, so this week was a little crazy. the reason i am writing you today and not monday is because i had to go down to the cap and sign some papers for my visa as well as have an interview with the president. my comp had done some things that were against the rules so i had to talk to the pres about that monday as well. i can promise you i didn’t break the rules and i am doing just fine. i left to go down to the cap on sunday night and we hitchhiked down to santa eleana to catch a bus to the cap. the bus left at 9 and we didn’t get to the cap until 6 the next morning. the bus ride was good going down though because i sat next to another gringo and a friend, elder hill, so i just talked to him and slept for like 6 hours. so the bus ride down there was pretty easy. when i got to the cap the assistants sent a couple of taxis for us and we headed to the area office. the area office is the headquarters for the church for all of central america. from there we got on another bus and went to the immigration office to sign the paper for my visa. such a pain to go all the way to the cap to just sign one paper that takes like 5 mins. but its all good because i also got to talk with the pres and his wife a lot too. so yea, after signing the visa paper i headed to the mission office to talk with the pres. the interview went well and i absolutely love president watts he really is the greatest and i could talk all day with him. i also talked with hermana watts for like an hour. i took my family pictures down to the cap and was showing them to some other missionaries when hermana watts said she wanted to look at them too and she asked me to tell her about every picture. that was fine by me because i can talk about you guys forever and tambein i could talk with hermana watts forever. hermana watts is like my 2nd mother. this is no joke that woman is a saint. i have never felt such warmth around somebody other than my own family. she makes me feel so special and she has such a kind heart. yea, so that’s why i didn’t email you yesterday because i wasn’t here in peten. oh, i almost forgot, elder lloyd, who is one of the assistants to the pres gave me a suit. he found a ralph lauren suit at a paca and thought i would look good in it so he just gave it to me. it fits just about perfect too. that’s perfect because my other suit is falling apart. im really sad about that but it just can’t handle guat ha, ha. i was really happy about that and i have a couple pictures of me trying it on that i’ll send too. so after waiting around forever the assistants sent us by taxi back to the fronte norte bus station to wait for another bus to take us back to peten. the bus ride back was ruff and i mean really ruff. we got on the bus at 5 and i just had 1 other person with me. the bus they put us on was terrible too and the air conditioning wasn’t working for like 6 hours of the ride. after about 3 hours of being on the bus i felt sick…sick to my stomach. i didn’t know what sickness it was but i needed to use a bathroom but the next stop was not for 7 hours, the bus stop in santa elena. the bus was hot, i was sick, and the seats didn’t recline so i was in heck. it was really hard and i even let my attitude get a little negative. that doesn’t happen very often ha, ha. yea, so i didn’t sleep at all, i was hot, and i was sick to my stomach. i won’t go into details about my stomach but lets just say it wasn’t pretty when i finally got to a bathroom. the one good part about the bus ride is that i was sitting next to a little guat man and so i talked with him for probably 4 hours. yea, all in spanish. i could understand everything he was saying too and miraculously it seemed like he could understand me. that was a real confidence builder because i was actually not feeling that good about my spanish before leaving to the cap. i just figure i can understand just about everything now as long as i really listen and i can talk pretty well. it was really fun talking to that man. of course, i told him why i was there and about my mission. i told him about jose smith and gave him a restoration pamplet. he says he wants to talk to the missionaries more so i would say that it was a success. it really is just the best being a missionary and telling people about the lords church. oh freak, i forgot we had a baptism on saturday with the son of the family we baptized a couple of weeks back. the dad didn’t end up baptizing him because he wanted my comp to do it. i was a little disappointing his dad couldn’t baptize him but its all good because he still got baptized. i forgot my camera this week so i will send you the pics next week. another fun week here in guat. oh yea, i’m getting a new comp but i don’t know who but i am staying in my same area and my old comp is going somewhere else. i loved hearing from you guys and love and miss you. remember to always pray as a family and your personal prayers.

love elder call

this is my new suit looks good huh

love you guys