Week 4 Report - Guatemala MTC

I was ready for Joseph's first email this morning, I was able to do a few back and forth with him. He said that some of the other missionaries there in the MTC got packages with the MayanXpress, which is what I used to send him a package, so I'm trusting it did get there and is just waiting for him at the mission office. Too bad he didn't get it early though, that would be nice if he were able to write and send more. But as always, it was good to here from him.

A cool thing from this past week is that one of his BFF's Scotty got his mission call to Lima Peru, which is where he did a Humanitarian EFY trip this past summer. So it's cool that the three of them are all Spanish speaking for their missions, Joseph in Guateala, Talmage is leaving for Quito Ecuador on 19 September, and now Scotty to Lima Peru on 31 October. So fun. Joseph said "Words cannot express how excited I am for him!" Here's a picture of Joseph and his buddies, aka the Three Amigos

That was posted on Talmage's instagram in May, the caption was cute, the hashtags too - #tallesttoshortest

So anyway, back to the mission - here's Joseph's weekly report. He has just two weeks left at the MTC:
______________________________________
    Subject:   Obedience                                     

Okay what a week!! Where do I start.

Well first I forgot to say last week but there was some sickness going around the CCM. 145 kids in a building all day helps disease travel quickly. Nothing too serious and luckily it wasn't that bad and I'm grateful for the rule we have to wash our hands before every meal. I only had a little bit of a fever, runny nose, and sour stomach. Elder Mendez threw up. That was great haha and it is really hard not to get sick when your around a sick person literally all day. But thankfully I never threw up and the sore throat and stuff only lasted for a couple days. Elder Mendez also had to blow his nose a lot when he was sick and was trying to run himself dry so instead of us both having to get up and go to the bathroom to get tissues every 20 minutes I decided to keep a stash of napkins with me in my back pocket. I used them too but I started carrying them with me for him. I'll talk about that more later.

Highlight of the week was we went OUTSIDE the CCM to CONTACT!!! Like this was it, we were actually gonna be teaching people and oh my it was soo coooool. We started off a little rough and didn't know who to talk to because we just went up the street to the temple and so like there were a bunch of members and other people walking but we placed 2 Books of Mormon (Book of Mormons?) and like 10 pamphlets. With one guy you could like see the light in his eyes when he realized what we were saying and it was amazing. I can't wait to get out there and do that sort of thing 24/7. Funny thing too is the next day we did it again but I think I needed to be humbled because the day before I wished we had more Books of Mormon to give out so the second time we went out I brought like 6 and the people we talked to were just not interested. This once guy selling stuff on the side of the road would't accept anything but the Bible and turns out some other elders had already given him a Book of Mormon. So yeah I didn't give away a single thing and it was a bummer. First taste of rejection on the mission was good for me though. Our purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ not force it down their throats.

The way sacrament meetings work here is every week every missionary is supposed to prepare a talk on one of 6 topics that are all in our purpose statement. faith repentance the Atonement Baptism Gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. Then since everyone should have one they just call people right then in sacrament meeting and you have about 5 seconds between when you find out your speaking and when you start speaking. So this week they said "Next we'll hear from Elder Wride and he is going to the Guatemala City South Mission." And then I was giving my talk. It was on repentance and they only need to be like 5 minutes and it went well. I definitely had help from heaven though in pronunciation and other things I hadn't planned on saying. It was a great experience.

This Tuesdays devotional was with President Christensen (3rd pic down), who is the President of the Guatemala City East Mission. There are 5 guys in my district going to that mission and the devotional was sooo goood. It was all about obedience which they seem to keep talking about. There's more I want to share on obedience but don't have time to so I'll just share this that he said. That everyone can be 100% obedient. The mission rules are not that hard. Just obey and you'll be blessed and you'll set patterns for the rest of your life because missions are a mini life. So be perfectly obedient guys. Both before during and after your missions. And I'd like to tie that in to this quote my mom sent me from Elder Ebert who got home in my ward last week. "Every challenge you face, every hard thing you confront, every bad thing that happens to you, every unfairness, every conflict, every sadness, tragedy, every disappointment and heartache, every temptation and every opposition happens for one purpose only: to give you opportunity to respond by applying in your life the teachings of Jesus. As you do so you are changed to become more like Him." (from the talk "The Fourth Missionary" by Lawrence E. Corbridge) We're supposed to obey because we need to prove to God we can be trusted because life is a test. We have the answer key in front of us, all we need to do is follow and obey it.

Also during the devotional his wife started to cry during her talk and he gave her a tissue and she said that that's true romance right there. The fact that he always had a tissue for her. When she said that I looked at Elder Mendez and his face was priceless hahahah. That's all for this week. Remember to be obedient

Week 3 Report - Guatemala MTC

Well, that wasn't nice. ...Wouldn't you know, on the one night this month that I am actually making a meal for dinner (j/k) and I miss Joseph being online! I was washing potatoes, going to make the delicious Ethiopian Cabbage dish, and I couldn't find the written recipe, so I come up to get my phone so I can look it up and I see that Joseph was online an hour ago and is just finishing up! What is he doing online on a Tuesday night?!? I thought tomorrow was p-day! They need to give us parent's a heads up if they're gonna play a trick like this, cause that's mean! We missed being online at the same time as him, drat. We shall have to try again next week. From his email, it appears the reason why was that today they all had to leave the MTC for a "bulk cleaning" (deep cleaning?) so I guess they had today be their p-day - they got to leave the MTC! He went to the zoo and he got to go to Wendys for food! He said it was the "best Wendy's I've ever been to". I know how good the familiar tastes of home can be when you're in a different country.

So, it was nice to see an email from him in our inboxes. There were no pictures as expected, blah. I shall be patient - once he gets out of the MTC the real fun and correspondence can begin. I sent him a package on Saturday with the AlphaSmart 3000 that should be delivered to the mission office tomorrow, although he won't get it until he's done a the MTC, so hopefully he'll get it with that first assignment, fingers crossed, and then we'll get more detailed letters the week after that.

As for this weeks letter, he shares a good story, I've done the google researching and added pictures, links, and some editorial comments, etc. So here's this week's report from Elder Wride:

Subject: Placentero nos es trabajar

Well it was a great week!! I want to share more here than just the normal routine stuff but I'll still put some of that. First thing

Placentero nos es trabajar. (Translation: How Pleasing It Is To Work") It's a song in the spanish hymnbook that's not in the English hymnbook. Yet. President Hill is sure it will be added in the standard hymnbook they're accepting contributions for because it's the most beloved hymn in all of Latin America. And for good reason. 

Here's the story about it but I might not have all the details right and I can't remember a lot of stuff so try and research the history about it yourself on google because I'm just going off of memory about the story. 

Andrés C. Gonzáles was one of the first missionaries in Mexico and I don't know where he was from (I think Mexico) and I don't know what year. It was like earlier in the church though. (He was born in 1887 at Nadadores, Coahuila, Mexico, served his mission from Aug 1910 -1912)  He was sent as a missionary there and like I said he was one of the first missionaries there in Mexico but they weren't being received very well.   

The music to the song in the title was the music to like a methodist hymn that he liked and so one day on the street him and his companion were singing it and the methodist people or whoever were like hey that's our song you can't sing it so they got him thrown in jail. He didn't actually think he was going to make it to see his wife and kids again and that he would be shot. So that night in jail he couldn't sleep and decided to rewrite the words to the song. So now they were his lyrics. They were released basically told to not sing the song again because it wasn't their song. After a few blocks he started singing his lyrics to the song though and they were like "hey that's our song" but he was like "nope they're my lyrics" and so they couldn't put him in jail again. 

I think it was a little while later something happened where some police like had him against a wall and were going to shoot him. Yeah I know that escalated quickly but that's one of the parts I can't remember. (See my notes at the end of this post for correct details) Point is somehow he ended up against a wall and they were about to shoot him and you know what came to his head? Abinadai! He was likening the scriptures! He said "Wait you can't shoot me! I have a message for your president!" Well the cops were like oh no what if he really does have a message for our president so they took him to the president of Mexico! The President of the Whole COUNTRY!(Francisco L. Madero) When they started talking the president was just asking them questions and stuff and found out that Andrés' dad was the presidents teacher in high school. Not only that he was his favorite teacher ever. The dad wasn't a member at the time I think but still made a really good impression of the president so the president is like okay let me hear your message and they ended up talking for like 2 hours! I'm not sure if the president kept taking the discussions or not but it was because of that that he made a law so that no one could persecute the missionaries anymore and it really opened up missionary work in mexico. Now there are like over 10 I think Temples in Mexico and it all started with Andrés C. Gonzáles who likened the scriptures and kept going with faith even when he though he was going to die. Super cool story and sorry for any details I messed up and whatnot but hopefully it was uplifting. That song is in my top 5 right now with come thou fount (obviously), Amor de ti, Called to Serve, and I Believe in Christ. I'm not listening to music here because I didn't bring a speaker or a usb with music (some other guys did tho) but mostly it's just hymns for meetings or singing in my head haha but so if you're about to head out bring a little speaker and a usb or something to hold the music. 

In other news today was the day all the latinos left because they're only here for 3 weeks. Except for the ones learning kekchi. I really don't think that's how you spell it but it's some native dialect that 4 latino elders are learning and they're here for 3 more weeks after us nortes leave in 3 weeks. We would sit with latinos at lunch to talk in spanish to them and funny side note, and I can send you pictures of them when I'm out in the field, but a bunch of the latino elders started calling me steve rogers or elder rogers. They called me that because they thought I looked like steve rogers. I was like oh sweet captain america ya I'll take the compliment but then they said that I looked like him before the injection. So apparently I look like scrawny steve rogers from brookyn who can't do much but has a really good heart. 

Haha it was kinda funny. Also i told this to my district and then one of the Elders was like "oh my I was thinking the same exact thing!" 

By the mouth of two or three witnesses shall everything be brought to pass (something like that) so I guess I really do look like Steve. But Chris Evans is a good looking guy so I think I'll still take the compliment.

Today was also a bulk cleaning day for the CCM so they had to get all the elders out of here for a cleaning company to come. So we went to the Zoo and then Wendy's. Best Wendy's I've ever been to and the Zoo was really cool too. I'll talk about that with pictures in a few weeks. Here it's not a 4 for 4 though, it's a 4 por 32 Quetz. Not quite the same ring to it. Especially when you say the numbers in Spanish. 

Sunday night we watched a devontional with elder Rasband which was SSOOO good. It was a video of a devotional from the provo MTC like 2 months ago and I saw Jeff Soulier in the choir!! So if someone can tell Sarah Soulier that for me that's be great. Review President Nelsons talks from this past conference! Seriously do it. Kk I gotta go now. Love y'alls!

________

So - lucky for me I have the internet and time to look this stuff up, and I'll send this to Joseph. This link tells more about Andres C. Gonzalez's family history with more pics and stories. And here's how they met the Pres of Mexico (source is the link above) - The Madero Revolution began in 1910, and in the mission field Andres had many faith promoting experiences. At one time while laboring between Mexico City and the State of Morelos, he and a companion were captured by the Zapata rebels and were released. Later the same day, they were seized by some of Madero's troops on the same charge. The missionaries were then taken to Mexico City to await their fate at the hands of Francisco L. Madero himself, President of Mexico. The Revolutionists expected the President to deal harshly with these spies, but when he learned that Andres was from Coahuila, Madero's own home state, (known in Mexican history as the Queen State of Mexico) and further discovered that Andres was the son of Professor Juan Francisco Gonzalez, whom he knew personally, President Madero embraced him and bade the accusers to leave. 

Week 2 Report - Guatemala MTC

Last week Joseph emailed as soon as he was online and then composed his email for friends at the end, and was kinda rushed as he tried to collect his thoughts for that. Today he did that first and then started to write us. No personal photos this week, he said the MTC President, "President Hill said we could send pictures but then he found out that they like mess up the computers or something so we can't until we get out of the MTC." So no more pictures until August. It's ok, we'll get through this!  He was able to forward this photo that they took of the new missionaries the day he arrived. Two weeks done, we're a third of the way there.

Two photos, Joseph is in the first picture, middle row, 3rd in on the left side - close up:

His companion Elder Mendez is same row, 2nd over on the right side. Other than that, no clue who any of these Elders of Israel are. Here is another picture of more missionaries that I'm assuming arrived that same day.

From Elder Wride:
Subject:     Week 2 - Taumaturgo

Heylo!! So last weeks email was kind of all over the place and random. Sorry about that. But now you know kinda what my journal entries are like. I also wrote it at the end of our email time instead of the beginning and was really rushed. 

Anyways the topic was Its a Great Day to be a Missionary! (except in spanish) which is a phrase the MTC President (Pres Hill) told us to say every time things start to get hard because it's so true! It's a great day to be a missionary. Taumaturgo is a word he said not a lot of people know in spanish but that it means miracle worker which is also what we're doing as missionaries! We're gonna be working miracles in peoples lives and I'm so excited to finally get out of the MTC and teach some guatemaltecos. The fact that I feel trapped in here is probably the hardest part right now. The food is great, my district is great and Elder Mendez is really funny but I'm counting down the days until I get to go out and actually do this thing. I think it's especially hard since my mission is literally right outside the CCM gates (and past the armed guards). 

But that brings me to one of the biggest highlights of the week. I got to leave the CCM to go to the migration office!!!! Ahh it was so nice to go outside and I felt a little bit like Rapunzel. All we did was sign some papers at the Guatemalan migration office and come back but I needed it. It was also weird because we had to wake up at like 5:45 to get ready because the van that took us there left at 6:30 and we had to get a bag with a little breakfast in it at 6-6:20. Anyways so that was fun to have a bit of a change in routine since things are very scheduled around here. 

Elder Mendez is really funny, and patient with me because he's always waiting for me. A story that shows both of these is I was finishing my dinner earlier this week and he had already eaten his, so had most everyone else, so we were one of the last people at the table and he said in his Morgan Freeman voice, which is actually pretty good, "And that is why they never left the cafeteria that night. Some believe they are still there to this day." Hahaha I thought it was really funny and he has a lot of those little subtle humor things. 

So yeah things are good. Life is good. But I cannot wait until I get to actually get out in the mission and actually apply all this stuff we're learning. But it's good and there is definitely a lot to learn here. 

We watched the Testaments and a devotional by David A Bednar on Sunday and it was so cool! The Devotional was when he debuted the song One by One which I got to play in Lyceum. So I'd encourage all of you to go to 3 Nephi and find all of the times it says one by one and think about it in the light of the Atonement and how Christ is far more concerned about the one. He cares about the individual. And that's our job as missionaries is to find the one out there who needs the gospel. 

Remember to read and pray every day!

Week 1 Report - Guatemala MTC

Joseph sent me an email at noon as soon as he was online. I heard they only have an hour, so Corey and I were both online and sending little emails back and forth with him about small stuff, talking about what to send in a package (we're going to give the "Mayan Express" a test run to see if it gets there safe and how long it takes) and about a few things he can't find and might have left here like his extra retainer. He said he wasn't going to bother with punctuation or correcting misspelled words, cause he only has an hour and it takes too long to find them on the keyboard (slightly different than here in the US) I thought that was funny (I corrected a few things in his email below and also added paragraphs) So we had about 10 emails back and forth with small detail stuff like that. Then near the end of the hour he sent this out to us and all his friends, and I was thrilled to see he sent pictures! Yay! I heard from another mom that they weren't allowed to send pics while they were in the MTC, so this was a real treat.

From Elder Wride:
Subject:    Es un gran día para ser Missionero!!

That means It's a great day to be a missionary if you don't speak Spanish.

Wow it feels like it's been a lot longer that a week! Like a lot lot longer. News flash, Missions are Hard!! Like actually haha I felt pretty ready but it is actually really overwhelming at times and I'm only 1 out of 6 weeks here in the CCM (MTC).

I'm in the Isaias district. Which is the best district. Actually though. I really really like my District Leader, Elder Amelang. He is 20 and went to BYU for 2 years before coming out here but he said that at 18 he was a very different person and would not have been able to do it. So I think he's kinda like Alma, and his last name kinda sounds like it too. Almalang. Our zone leader is also in my district, Elder Kirkby, but the latinos and teacher can't say that so they say Kirby.

My comp is Elder Mendez.

Me and Elder Mendez. I have another picture where he's smiling haha but that picture wont load without a google drive and I don't have time to do that

He was born in California, then lived in Utah, in Syracuse, but has been living in Grand Junction Colorado for the past 2.5 years. He's pretty funny and speaks good Spanish so I'm really glad we're comps because we can actually communicate since we're supposed to speak in Spanish all the time.

There is this weird fruit they have here and idk what its called but it tasted like a grape, but it also has a pit that tastes nasty if you accidentally break it open. (I googled to try to find what this little spiky fruit was called and emailed this info to Joseph - it's a rambutan, comes from a Malaysian word "rambant" which means "hair". The seed's oils and fats are used to produce soap and edible oil. Fun to know - grape on the outside, bittery soapy taste in the seed)

I thought my hair was already to missionary standards but unless you had a buzz they gave you a haircut so here is a before and after picture. Before:

After: 

That night I found out we can only take pictures on p day and a couple other times if we get permission.

But I got a picture of two of my meals before I learned that.

The first day here was the roughest but it definitely went uphill from there and after I got over the day 3 hump I was feeling the missionary vibe again, which I kinda lost after getting here because it was just so much stuff that they throw at you. Plus the fact that the first day wouldn't end. It was actually two days though, because the flight was only 4 hours from LAX to GUA and if you were lucky you got a couple hours but were still jet lagged and exhausted, and we had a full day of work ahead of us so Tuesday and Wednesday were one long hard day. But I'm feeling great now.

There were a TON of elders flying to the GUA CCM and they said its like the most they've ever had.

We've had some really good devotionals and THIS CHURCH IS SO TRUE GUYS!!!! I also forgot to get a list of emails before I left sent to my missionary email so my mom did it but she might've missed people so send this to other people who might want these but I don't have any more time now. Have a great week and seriously do all you can to prepare for you mission in PREACH MY GOSPEL. That and the Book of Mormon are the biggest things

_________

Two more of the pictures he sent~ Joseph's desk at home before he left:

Packing up at home:

And Joseph had 4 more pictures in the email but they didn't come through, I'll tell him to try and upload them again next week.