5 Months in Guatemala - Caminamos un monton

On Sunday we got this video from Hermano Sazo of Joseph having dinner with them, and trying cow stomach. He handled that better than I did on my mission...

He remembered that I had it once: "It was really goey and weird but not horrible. Didn't you say you ate cow stomach on your mission and that it was disgusting??"
My reply: "Yeah, they called it 'menudo' and it was like in a soup. I thing I mostly could't get over the visual look of it, with all the little follicle thingys" So maybe it wasn't really that bad, I just didn't give it a chance based on outward appearances.

So today, we had a few emails like that back and forth around 11:30, I was still waiting for the big email update to everyone, and 2 hours later it still wasn't in my inbox. I know they only have an hour to do stuff, so I was a little sad if we were going to have to wait another week to hear from him - so I logged onto his account to see if somehow he missed sending it to us. I looked through all his sent mail and there was nothing. So I started to compile the emails he'd sent individually to people and figured I could post that here for this week, and then I remembered to look in his drafts. Sure enough, there was an email all composed with greeting, pictures and a closing, but not sent. So, since I assumed he would not be getting back online later, I hit send. I wrote him and let him know I was snooping around his mailbox. So here's his letter (I'm glad I have his password!)
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     Subject: Caminamos un monton     

Hola familia y amigos!!

So this week was awesome! We have worked really hard and walked a ton! The best part of this week was sunday where we finally saw some fruits in church. Mario came to church and even though he got there way late he stayed for the whole 3 hours! He finally came to church with us which we were super excited about. By a miracle he got sunday as his day off at his second job instead of monday which meant he could come to church! And the familia Martinez also came to church!! They are super awesome. They only stayed for sacrament meeting because they had to go to their grandmas birthday or something like that but we were super happy they came and are going to keep working with them, hoping they can get baptized on the 22nd of December but we'll see. We're also going to try to take them to the temple before changes.

Also about changes, it looks like I will be here in Lo de Coy one more change making my first 6 months in the same area! Hey also speaking about months in the mission, 5 months ago yesterday I arrived at the Guatmalan CCM! It feels like it's been way shorter than that and also way longer than that at the same time. I've forgotten a lot of things about what I used to spend my time doing and now that I think of it probably could have spent my time a little wiser because I did not sleep well before the mission. Also I wish I'd kept a steady journal.

But anyways back to changes. And by changes I means tranfers. Everyone refers to transfers as cambios (which translates to changes) even though there is a word for transfers which is traslados. But that's just the term everyone uses here so when I say changes or cambios I mean transfers. We are in the 5th week of the change which means that in 2 weeks I will have a different companion. Elder Gadea has been going to physical therapy for his knees and he has 10 sessions to do. We are going to the 5th one today. He is going monday, wednesday, and friday so that he will be done with all 10 sessions before changes. And depending on how it all goes he could stay here but what is more likely is that he will go to an area super plano (flat), likely outside the capital. In which case would mean that I would have to quedar (stay) in the area. Which I am fine with because we have the Familia Martinez and Mario who are super probable baptisms in December. So if that's what happens I'll be here until January 22 meaning I'll hit my first birthday and Christmas in my first area! So that is probably what's going to happen but we'll know for sure by Sunday December 9th.

Funny story is that Elder Stewart, our newest zone leader, has an infected toe and it got operated on and cleaned out last thursday but he couldn't go out and walk on it all day. So he and Elder Bywater had to stay in their house a few days but when monday came and we had consejo de zona they asked one of us to go stay with Elder Stweart so that we could have at least 1 of our zone leaders in the meeting. Elder Gadea was going to stay with Elder Stewart but then he asked me if I could stay so I was ready to just read and study and get to know Elder Stewart better. But about 30 minutes after they left Elder Bywater called us because he forgot the key to the family history center so Elder Stweart just wrapped his toe us nice and good and we went to the stake center too. We set the goal of baptisms in december for 14 which is high but totally doable. There are a ton of families we are teaching and if just in our area the martinez family and mario get baptized in december that will be 7. So we're gonna be working super hard and be exactly obedient and are exercising a lot of faith and I believe we'll see a lot of miracles in December!

Also this week we switched our bedroom to what used to be the exercise room. 

It's a little smaller but it's not right next to the street like our old one used to be so it's quieter in the morning and less light gets in before 6:30. There are people that set off these fire cracker things (they call then cuetes) in the middle of the street at like 4 in the morning so now we hear less of those when we're trying to sleep so that's nice.

Something else super fun was that yesterday was Elder Bywaters birthday and the hermanas in Misco made a cake for him and Elder Erikson and Elder Gates bought a cake.

So we sang to him this morning and ate cake and it was great!

That's it for this week!!
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Of the sent emails I complied, I'll just share these two:

1) His friend Talmage (who is in Kansas waiting for his passport to Ecuador) asked him: "So what's your strategy for not getting discouraged? It's tough not to especially when you don't hit your goals." He also said there in Kansas there's a whole little corner of town full of people from Guatemala, they call it Guateville.

Joseph's reply: " hahaha yeah Guateville!! That language is whack quekchi or somthing like that. Tell them you have a friend who is in Guatemala and wishes that he was chapin.

Ya know just like keep working and really try your hardest to meet your goals but if you don't meet them don't let it get to you and make you think your a bad missionary. Just do better next week. And if you still suck the next week do better the next week. It's crazy to do things the same and expect different results is something Elder Bywater says a lot. So do some inventory and make sure you're doing the best you can and are guided by the spirit and keep working. I don't really know haha but just try and stay positive. If you have 12 people that are going to come to church and none of them come don't let it get you down just see the good and keep working and you'll see the fruits eventually. It really is tough especially when you have high hopes though.

Do you have a copy of the fouth missionary? It's another talk about missionary work that is so so so awesome."

2) Joseph wrote an email to thank a neighbor who has donated to his mission. And Joseph also asked him: "I hope all is well back there in the states and just wanted to write you and say thanks for helping to donate to my mission fund!! I really appreciate it and am working as hard as I can, really trying to make the most of the time I have here in the mission.  Do you have any advice about how to get someone who is really close to baptism but doesn't quite want to make the commitment to agree to a date?" Our neighbors reply was really great. He referenced this seminar talk by Elder Oaks:
"Much has been said about the purpose of missionary work: to teach repentance and baptize converts. “But,” he asked, “converts to what? “To Jesus Christ, our Savior and our Redeemer, to His doctrine, to His restored gospel, to His authority, and to His name. Conversion to the Lord Jesus Christ and His gospel should precede conversion to and membership in His Church. Teach that to your missionaries,” he counseled. “Teach them to seek conversion to Jesus Christ and His gospel. Conversion to membership in His Church will follow, and if it does not, we will still have blessed their lives.”
(Love it 💓)

Week 21 - Tonto Pero No Tanto

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    Subject: Tonto Pero No Tanto          

So I realized on Thursday that this title would have been PERFECT for the email last week. Considering that I kinda hurt myself getting out of the bus. By the way I am TOTALLY fine. Just a flesh wound. Oooh hahahah that also would have made a great title last week. Ahh that would have been hilarious! But my arm is totally fine and getting a lot better. I can move it just fine and am very grateful that I only got a scrape on my arm and I promise I  will not be getting off of any more buses until they are completely stopped.

Alright but so "Tonto pero no tanto"basically means dumb but not that dumb. It was something that this old guy we found last week told us about himself. He was actually baptized I don't know how many years ago and has an old triple combination of the church. He lives alone and his wife lives somewhere else but they're still married and see each other once in a while. He lives alone and it was kind of sad. He said he is happy though and he also said he was "tonto, pero no tanto" haha it was funny. He can't really get out much and basically told us he wasn't going to come to church but he was a nice old man. He's a little hard to talk with and wasn't very receptive but we will try to visit him again. Anyways so I really wished I'd used that title last week because of when we talked to that guy and also considering that I was a little tonto, pero no tanto.

This week was really good! I've really been learning how to be positive and not become desanimado (demotivated/discouraged) even when things don't work out like we wanted. Such as the 12 investigators we were expecting in church who didn't come. Actually more than that said they'd come but we were actually expecting 12 to be there. Well so yeah none of them could make it. It was way disappointing. The family Martinez is progressing a lot though and we left a Book of Mormon with the mom on Monday and she's gonna read it! They didn't make it to church because the kids had been with their dad and grandparents in another area since Friday and were supposed to come back on Saturday but came back on Sunday. But they said they'd come to church this next week so hopefully they do! We did have one in church though, who we didn't think would come but she did so that was really appreciated. She's Lorena's cousin! Lorena started working for a member family in the ward this week, cleaning and taking care of kids which will be really good for her and help her in the transition into being a member. But so Lorena brought her cousin who lives in another area to church with her and we are going to get the reference passed to the missionaries over there!

I went on divisions with Elder Gates this week, Elder Erikson's kid. He's super awesome but he doesn't understand a whole lot of Spanish haha. I remember feeling a lot like that in Chile. He has 3 weeks in the field and is from St.. George and is a great missionary. And once he can speak Spanish he'll be even better!

The highlight of the week by far was last night when we FINALLY went to the temple with Mario.

We have been teaching him for almost 3 months and he's come to church only 3 times... but one was general conference and the other two were in the ward closer to his work. So we've really been trying to get him to come to church with us and also get a date set for his baptism. So we had the tour around the outside of the temple with the Hermanas that work there and he learned a lot during that and we ended the tour (just like with Ronal) in the lobby of the temple where he could ask if December 2nd is when he should be baptized. He knows he needs to be baptized and knows that it's what God wants him to do. He has never felt prepared to set a date though because he doesn't feel like he's ready to be baptized and honestly he's not. He said that he got the answer not yet but that he does need to be baptized. He meets all the requirements, has all the lessons, has come to church the right amount of times, but he hasn't been coming to church recently because of his 2 jobs and he hasn't been reading the Book of Mormon on his own recently either. So we're going to set a goal with him, make sure he comes to church and reads everyday and hopefully he feels ready by the end of December. Hopefully I'm still here for that. But it was so awesome in the temple and he said there was only one other time where he felt the spirit that strong in his life. He also told the Hermana who gave our tour, Hermana Sowers, that he was going to be back here soon, but the next time inside. Mario is really awesome and is totally going to get baptized, it is just a question of when, which will be determined by if he reads on his own and comes to church. So we are really going to do our part and follow up and remind him to read every day. And remind him earlier than 8:45 to come to church because this week he was planning on coming but forgot about it and if we had called earlier he would have had enough time to make it to church. But I think the temple with him was really a turning point and he'll start to progress a lot faster.

Here are some other pictures from the temple.

I thought it was kind of funny he wore a jacket that said every thing for your pleasure to the temple.

It was also awesome because a member of the ward who got back from his mission 2 years ago took us to the temple. And the temple was packed! There were so many people there!

We also ran in to Elder Benson and Elder Saxton there! Elder Saxton is from my group an Elder Benson was my district leader first change and right now he's a zone leader with Elder Aquino! They happened to be on divisions that day otherwise I would have seen Elder Aquino there which would have been amazing. They were there with a family of investigators who also had the temple tour. Being there really gave me a better vision of what we're doing as missionaries. We are building the kingdom of God here on the earth! If we are baptizing just to meet a goal we're not working for the right reasons. It's important to reach our goals but we need to teach in such a way, and make sure they have spiritual experiences on their own, so that they are really converted and will really make the temple one of their goals after baptism. Baptism is really just the door to all the rest of the blessings our Heavenly Father has for us on this earth. I love the temple so much and challenge you to make the sacrifice of time to go to the temple this week and really as often as you can. After my mission I'm fijo going every week.

They also had this cool little nativity scene there for navidad.

The three wise men

Also if it looks like I'm not as skinny as I used to be it's because I'm not. Last Wednesday when we went to the mall for lunch on p-day there was a little scale where you could pay a Quetzal to weigh yourself. So I'm not sure exactly how much I weighed entering the MTC but before the mission I always weighed around 135-140. I'm not going to trust that scale at the mall until another scale that we know it accurate tells me the same thing because it told me I weigh 179.2 pounds!! There's no way I've gained 40 pounds! I know I've gained a little bit but 40 pounds?? I think it's because all the P90X I've been doing has built a lot more muscle and muscle weighs more than fat. That's the only reasonable explanation. Anyways I was a little sad to find that out and hopefully next time I weigh myself it's a little lower but I might have to cut back a little on all the food I'm eating and "bring it"even more during exercises.

Well that's it for this week. Adios amigos! Con cuidado!

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Week 20 - Lo De Coy - Practice Makes Perfect

In an email to me Joseph said a family in Guatemala is coming up to Utah next week, and he gave them some letters to deliver to us, so we're looking forward to that! Here's his letter this week.
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       Subject: Practice Makes Perfect            

Buenos Dias amigos!

Well this week was awesome. Well it's  getting better. Elder Gadea and I have really turned things around as a companionship and are getting along super well now. We are also making a lot of progress here in Lo de Coy.

Last Wednesday I went on divisions with Elder Bywater! He came here and we had a really great lesson with Mario. We also ordered pizza that night

We've been trying for a while to get him a date for baptism but he's not wanted to accept a date so with him we read from Mosiah 18 and ended the lesson with him praying to know if the 18th he should be baptized. It was just him praying in his head and after about 5 minutes he stood up and said that he would do the preparations. He has all the lessons and has come to church 3 times. One was conference and the other 2 were with the elders in the area panorama where the chapel is super close to his work. But the thing is we need him to come to church with us. Well he said he'd come this past week and we were also expecting Frank. Well neither of them came and we only had one in church again which was a bummer. But we have 9 that said they'll be coming this week. With Mario we have another lesson with him tonight and are going to put on another date for baptism and set a date to go to the temple with him so he can feel even better about his decision. of the 9 we have coming to church this week 6 are from the familia martinez who are super pillas! We also have a lesson with them tonight. They are the reference we had through merecen ser recordados and they are really going to progress a lot! Then the other 3 are from a family who aren't super pillas but they said they'd come to church this week and I really hope they can progress too. Haha funny story is that yesterday we were in a lesson with them and the door was open and some little kids passed by and said "los mormones!"and the lady Maribel said "they aren't the mormons"and we didn't quite know how to respond because really we aren't. We are missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. With Maribel so far we've only taught lesson 2 so we haven't mentioned the Book of Mormon yet. But so we just kind of ignored it when the kid said that and kept teaching. So if all goes according to plan we'll see those 9 in church, and hopefully Mario, Frank, and a guy named Emmanuel who is also really progressing a lot. He's reading the Book of Mormon and said that he really feels the spirit while reading it after just 2 chapters!

Practice makes perfect

This Monday we had to come to our district meeting early to practice singing! It's apparently something the missionaries in this stake do every year, singing in the malls and stuff as a way to light the world and do missionary work. So monday morning was the first practice and we had started with a warm up that totally made me feel like I was in Madrigals again!! It was so fun! We also practiced this morning before writing our families. We had to be at the stake center at 8:00 to practice and as we knealt to pray Elder Gadeas pants ripped and we were already running behind, and then I forgot something as we were leaving the colonia/residential we live in so we had to run back and were running super behind. We took a different bus than we normaly do to go to the stake center and had to walk a little further after we got off. But the bus didn't stop at the street that leads to the stake center so we were going to have to walk farther. The bus still wasn't stopping but was slowing down so Elder Gadea jumped off. All I am going to say is I believe it takes a little bit of practice to jump off a bus...

So I got a little bashed up this morning but we went to a tienda to get gauze and alcohol and some other disinfectant stuff and cleaned it up and wrapped it up really good. I'm gonna live.

It also ripped part of my pants by my pocket and my shirt pocket of the same shirt I fixed up last week! But on the other side so I'll have to stitch that up too.

 There apparently a very specific technique to get off a bus that is moving. Elder Gadea has had years of practicing getting off like that and said that the first time he did he was 10 and got bashed up worse than I am. He felt really bad though and feels like a bad companion for setting the example and jumping off the bus without asking if I knew how. My fall looked like the way I fell when I let go of the bar while barefooting at lake powell. But I feel super blessed because the worst part is my elbow and I didn't break any bones or anything! Just a deep elbow wound and a some scrapes on my knee. Really a miracle if you ask me. And we got it all cleaned up so really no need to worry. I'm just super happy my plaque didn't get scratched up!! But just a tip is wait until the bus is stopped before you try to get off.

And here's some pics of me and Elder Gadea with his first time ordering Dominos to his house in the mission!!

Have a great week!!

Week 19 Report - Lo De Coy - Dia de los Santos

We got a special treat from Joseph this week - a letter just to our family. He said he's going to start writing us a letter apart from the mass email. He was a little more open and gave some details of the hard part. I'm not sure if he'd be okay with that posted here, but I asked him and will wait to hear from him next week yay or nay. If he's okay with is, I'll update with that letter. Part of Corey's reply to him was that he's had "little nagging feeling that this was a hard part of your mission, and I told your brothers and sisters so - and to pray extra for you. Does it give any comfort to know that I've had a little feeling that things were probably pretty hard?" Corey also said he was glad to hear some of the rough details, saying that it's okay to not be "all sunny/positive all the time - missions just aren't that way."  But Joseph is in a good spot and doing his best to continue to learn and carry on with faith. Here's Joseph's report for the week -
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         Subject:  Dia de los Santos          

Buenos Dias!!

So this last week was kinda hard but it's been getting a lot better. The hardest part was that Cristian, who had a set date to be baptized on the 24th, no longer wants to receive us. He's got some personal challenges but we're gonna try to give him a little space and then see where he's at but that was super disappointing. Also we only had one investigator at church this week which the bishop brought. But in our hardest times are when we can learn the most but it all depends on how we respond to those challenges. So since Sunday we've really been focusing on finding people and inviting them to church early in the week. And these past few days have been really good! We're also working more with Frank so that he can come to church on Sundays instead of work. He's a great kid and can really progress a lot.

Also this past thursday, November 1st was dia de los santos, day of the saints. I don't know exactly who the saints are for this holliday but I don't think they're refering the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Hahaha it's basically a day where everyone visits cemetaries to remember their ancestors and families. So because of this there is a program right now called Merecen Ser Recordados (Translated to They deserve to be remembered) that the JAS (jovenes adultos solteros or in english the YSA meaning young single adults) went and visited a bunch of the cemetaries in Guatemala and got references for people that are interested in family history! Super cool! So everyone was hoping to have a reference from the JAS because it would mean that it's actually a pillas reference! We got one for a guy named Jorge. So we called him first thing and set an appointment for monday. Monday we went and visited him to talk more about family history and he wasn't there but his family was! He got there after 20-30 minutes but it was a great conversation and they're super pillas!! Super receptive and said they'll come to church not this week but the next so we can introduce them to the family history consultants. So I'm super excited about that and we're going to visit them again tomorrow.

Also this week was stake conference so we got to see President and Hermana Shumway! And a 70 named Elder Cordón came and spoke and it was amazing! He talked about the difference between a job and a profession. I took good notes and will be sure to apply them after the mission.

Little update on the dog that bit Elder Aquino last Friday. Per Hermana Shumways instructions we went back a week later to see if the dog was alive still (because if it was dead or super sick then Elder Aquino needs to start rabies shots) and the dog had completely disappeared. So that's not good. We talked to the owners and they didn't know where the dog went. But we got the number of the mom and dad and sent that to Elder Aquino in his new area (boca del monte) and they called the mom and the mom said she found the vaccine papers. So then Elder Aquino called us and asked us to go back to get a picture of the vaccine papers but at that point we were already kinda far away from the place where the dog bit him (which is in campanero, the furthest part of our area) so we ended up taking a taxi back because if we walked we would've been late to our other appointments. So we got the pictures (on the little dinky phone we have), sent them via bluetooth to a member who emailed then the Hermana Shumway. So Elder Aquino is all good! And he doesn't need to get rabies shots. As we were getting out of the taxi though my bag caught on my agenda and pen in my shirt pocket and totally ripped it. SO I tried to resew it and I think I did a pretty good job! It's not perfect but I was happy with myself.

Over on the right was where it ripped but I sewed it up myself!! It took like an hour actually. I did 30 minutes one night and finished it a couple days later.

Also something exciting that happened this week was we got to go to the hospital!! Elder Gadea has some knee problems so we went to the hospital to get those checked out and he's gonna live! And he'll be able to stay in the mission. We were pretty worried that he'd have to go home because of it but he'll be able to stay so that's great. While he was with the doctor I read more of Jesus the Christ. That is a huge book and some of the words he uses I've never heard before but it's super awesome and I'd encourage you all to read it. Or at least attempt to read it.

And the invitation for you all this week is to work on your family history!! When we work on our family history we find out more about who we are and we offer a great service to our ancestors who are on the other side of the veil. Even if it's just making an account I'd encourage you all to get started and pretty soon you'll be able to find and take  your own names to the temple!

Well I don't have any more pictures this week but there is a lot that's going to happen this next week. We're going to try and put Mario on date for baptism and get Ingrid to come to church again. Mario has everything but just needs his answer that he needs to get baptized.