7 months - First Week in Jutiapa

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                Subject: Me golpiò                             

Hey all!!

So this first week in Jutiapa has been really great! The people here are super awesome and the ward is super great. It has only been a ward for about 5 years and the bishop is the first bishop. They are really super supportive and it's a really strong ward. We worked a lot this week trying to find inactive members from the ward registers and found a lot of them! A lot we didn't find because there aren't always addresses outside the capital so that made it a little harder but we did find a lot of people! The president of the area of Central America, Elder Uceda, came to the mission when I had 3 weeks in the field and talked to us in a multi-zone conference and a big part of what he talked about was getting references from less-actives and recent converts. So that has been a big focus in the mission since then and we are trying to focus a lot on that here because this area has a TON of potential.

The Hermanas (meaning sister missionaries) in our area (because our area in humungous. Actually it's the biggest area in the mission. I'll include a map later) had a baptism and so on Saturday we tried to get a lot of people to that. There are these 3 kids who the hermanas started teaching but they live in our part of the area so now we are starting to teach them. They've come to church a couple times and also came to the baptismal service! Their names are Mario, Aaron, and Angel. We are going to go teach them tonight with our ward mission leader and really hope they can keep progressing. They are super awesome kids. We are also working a lot with someone named Jonatan who is the younger brother of someone named Kevin in our ward. Apparently he also got baptized a while ago (like he passed the interview and the font was filled up and everything) and then he decided not to. We aren't sure why but he is enrolled in seminary now and we are teaching him and he is also really progressing! We were hoping that he and the 3 boys would come to church and they did... but they got there after sacrament meeting. But they came so that was great and we're gonna help them get to church a little earlier now.

Also something interesting that happened this week that makes a super good story is that I got punched in the face this week by a crazy guy! Don't worry though everything is fine but the crazy guy is still out there. He was following Elder Aquino and his last comp a few weeks ago and so when we saw him on Friday walking towards us in the park as we were walking through Elder Aquino told me that he was crazy and to not stop to talk to him. He was wearing a giant overcoat though which when I first saw him I thought was weird since its super hot here. He was walking towards us, from the direction that we needed to go and Elder Aquino was able to get around him but when I tried to pass him but he was standing right in front of me and like pushing me and making it so I couldn't pass him and he told me to give him his hand and held his hand up like he wanted to shake my hand. Looking back I really shouldn't have given him my hand but it all happened so fast and so I shook his hand hoping he would leave us alone and he grabbed it super hard and threatened that he would punch me in the face and then he did! It was crazy!! He hit me right in the upper lip and didn't do it that hard so it didn't bleed or anything but he definitely did hit me. Haha I should have told him that my sister hits harder than he does but just used the opportunity to get away and we just kept walking for a little bit and called president. So then on Saturday someone who is in charge of all the security for missionaries in all of central america came and we looked for the guy and couldn't find him. But we did find out more information about the guy. He is just this crazy guy. Un loco. And we are not the only people he has bugged before. Apparently he does this a lot and the police have dealt with him before so we just need to avoid him. And if he follows us again apparently all we need to do is threaten to throw water on him. So that is hopefully the end of that story and so far that is the craziest thing that has happened to me on my mission. And other than that guy Jutiapa is super tranquilo and super safe.

Here are some pics of the apartment!

It´s pretty small but I like it. There are 3 rooms. Our kitchen is in the same room as our desks and our closets, and then the bathroom, and the bedroom.

And another view where you can see part of the desks and the kitchen and the closets

The sink for the bathroom is right outside the bathroom

which is right next to the bedroom

Our house is like behind the house of some members so we have to go in a door by the garage and then walk down this alley thing where the door to enter the house is.

Also for a little perspective to my area now compared to my area before. In the captial the areas are a lot smaller because there are a lot more people in a smaller area. Here is a map of the mission. The green border is the stake boundaries and the red border is our area. And you won´t be able to see it unless you zoom in but I marked in blue my last area.

So just guessing I´d say that our area now is more than 100 times bigger than my last area, which I though was also pretty big. And our area goes all the way to the El Salvador border but I haven´t been there yet. And neither has Elder Aquino in his 3 months here. So there is a lot of work to do but I know that the gospel will roll forth and spread throughout all the world however impossible the odds may seem. For God nothing is impossible and I am so greateful to be part of such a great work! The Lord needs us to be the best missionaries the world has ever seen!

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6 months - Jutiapa Baby!

Joseph has been transferred from Lo De Coy to a new area called Jutiapa.
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      Subject: Jutiapa Baby                     

So this past week were changes-tranfers!! And late Sunday night we got the calls saying where we were going. And they told me that I was going to Jutiapa 2 with Elder Aquino!!

But not my trainer haha there is another Elder Aquino from Fortaleza Brazil who just barely finished his training and he is my new comp! And we are in a place called Jutiapa. Also mom I know I look super red in this photo I will start using the sunblock you sent.

Here is a little context for my new area. So most of the zones in the south mission are in the capital. There is one stake and there are 2 districts outside the capital whereas there are 10 stakes inside the capital. The large majority of Guatemalas population lives in the city. Not sure how many but most of them. There are around like 16 departamentos (departments, like states basically) in Guatemala. Jutiapa is a department. Guatemala is also the department for the capital. Mixco is a municipio of the departamento of Guatemala in the capital where I was at before and has 4 stakes in it. Now Im in a ward that is a huge part of a departamento. So I am covering a LOT more square footage than before and am WAY outside the capital. But I am sooo excited to be here. Been here less than a day now and it's hot. About 2-3 hours on bus to get here and the whole time I thought the suitcases were going to fall off the top of the bus but they didn't! Also Jutiapa is pronounced Hu-tee-ah-pah. The people are a lot more receptive here and we're gonna be hitting the pavement here. Also exciting news is that Jutiapa, which is part of the Jalapa stake, and used to be just one zone, is now its own zone! So there are 6 areas here in the zone. Me and Elder Aquion, the Zone leaders, and 4 areas of Hermanas! So the zone leaders are also the district leaders of one district and I am the district leader of the other one. Jutiapa is also really big so there are Elders and Hermanas here. And the Hermanas here are also Sister Training Leaders so that's cool. The other Hermanas in my district are in a place called Monjas (which means nuns so I thought it was a little fitting that there are Hermanas there) which is a tiny little branch, a ramita, about an hour away from us in bus. So yeah it's super exciting!! Jutiapa is a ward though and the area is huuuge. I haven't been around much of the area yet but on the map it looks ginormous, whereas Lo de Coy is this tiny little thing. So lots of long bus rides and walking coming up! Jutiapa is a ward though and even though we are way outside the capital it is fairly developed. For instance there is a Wendys here!! We are going there for lunch. There is also a pizza hut, a Dominos, taco bell, and a dollar city which really surprised me. And a Dispensa! Which is a store that has american food like peanut butter. So we aren't exactly roughing it but it does feel super good to be outside the capital.

So Monday was spent saying goodbye to a bunch of members. I was in Lo de Coy for almost 6 months and especially with how many divisions I had to do recently with members we were super tight. Monday night I ate pizza and crepes with Junior, my MTC teacher, and it was soooo good. I'm gonna miss that ward and when I come back to Guatemala am for sure going to go visit. them all.

Here is me and the obispo (bishop). He is super good guy. Jonotan.

Me and Ronal

Me and Gerardo, Miguel and Emily from a super awesome family in the ward

And me and junior

He has been with me literally my whole mission so far (including the MTC) so its gonna be a little weird now without him.

Then early Tuesday morning Junior dropped us off at the stake center and a few hours later I was in Jutiapa.

I don't have many pictures yet and the funny thing is I actually have to go back to the mission offices tomorrow for District Leader training but I'll send more pictures of the area and the house in the coming weeks. We're gonna have to wake up at like 3 to get there in time. That will be fun.

Elder Aquino 2 is also super sweet!! He is a convert and speaks really good English!! Yesterday he invited me to be baptized probably 20 times in English haha. And it would also be cool to learn Portuguese from him.

Here is a pic of him in front of the church building

Outisde the cap things are a lot more chill. Guys walk around with their shirts pulled up so their belly sticks out, haha not sure why they do that. And everyone is super receptive from what I've seen so far. Also the ward mission leader here is super awesome!! So exciting things coming our way here in Jutiapa!

Here is a picture of the new zone

In the back we have Elder Sanchez (who was a District Leader Training in my last zone) from Ecuador and he is my new zone leader along with Elder Grant next to him. Elder Grant is from Las Vegas and seems super cool. He also just finished training someone. Then Elder Aquino and I. On the bottom row we have all the Hermanas. Hermana De los Santos, from The Republica Dominicana who just entered the mission field yesterday. Also that is the best last name ever for a missionary because the church in Spanish is la Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Días. Then Hermana Toledo, her trainer from Mexico, then Hermana Mendez from Guatemala mismo, then her comp Hermana Solar from Santiago Chile. They are the Hermanas in my district in the area Monjas. Then the Sister Training Leaders Hemana Mosquedo (paraguay) and Hermana Turner (colorado), and then Hermana Modesto (lima peru) and Hermana Sorenson (kearns utah). Don't know much about any of them yet but they seems like great missionaries and the new Zona Jutiapa is about to take off!

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6 Months - Super Crazy Week!

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      Subject: If it can go wrong, it will go wrong      

So this week was SUPER crazy.

Maybe you remember last week I talked about my new companion Elder Flinders how he had some medical problems so they moved him from way outside the captial to here with me so he could be closer to the hospital. Well yeah so I basically just had a companion for my birthday which was super sweet but he also is back home now. We were companions for less than 72 hours. He's gonna come back out and finish his mission though. Whether here or in the states I don't know but he's gonna finish his mission. So from Tuesday to Friday last week were probably the craziest days of my mission so far. On Wednesday after pday was over we mostly street contacted and also had ward council so not nearly as much walking around as we normally do but all through out the night his spasms were getting a little more frequent and he was feeling light headed and was having a little bit harder of a time speaking. So after we got home he called Hermana Shumway and the new symptoms kind of scared her so she got a taxi called and we were on our way to the hospital at like 10:00 at night. So Thursday we spent almost all day in the hospital and it was super boring. It's a nice hospital though. When we finally ended up being able to leave at about 5 it was because we were going home to get all of his stuff packed (and my stuff packed to go back to Nueva Vida) because his plane took of at 9:00 the next day which was Friday. So we got our bags ready and were able to do one visit that night but only because the bishop went with us and gave us a ride. When you're traveling it feels like everything that can go wrong will go wrong. And this isn't to complain but that was totally the case with us. When we got home the lights wouldn't turn on. That's when we noticed a little yellow paper that said aviso de corte on the ground.

So turns out we forgot to pay for the light so they cut the electricity from the house. So we packed in the dark with flashlights hahah. Elder Flinders put a flashlights in a headband so he could pack with both hands.

This is what it looked like

And this is what it looked like with the flash

So we finished packing and the next day had to wake up early to go to the migration offices. We planned to waken up at 5 because the taxi was going to be there at 6 but we slept in until 5:50. So I didn't have time to take a shower but I was okay with that because it would have been in the dark and the water would have been super cold anyways because without electricity we don't have hot water. We also couldn't charge the phone so it had low battery. So we got in the taxi with our suitcases and headed to the central american area offices where we were meeting up with other missionaries and going from there to migrations. But traffic was SUPER bad. We were supposed to be at the offices at 6:30 and were running super behind. So we called the secretaries and he told us to just head to the migration offices now and we would meet the other missionaries there. He also told us that we were supposed to leave the suitcases at the Lo De Coy house. My bad. So we get to migration at about 7:15 and are both a little stressed because we had a super tight window. The flight did get pushed back though. It used to be leaving at 9:00 but they pushed it back to 2:40 so we would have time to go to presidents house so Elder Flinders could have his final interview. For international flights you need to be at the airport 3 hours early so he was supposed to be there at 11:40. The migration offices opened at 8 and so we went up there and waited for a while. The other missionaries came and left but we hadn't gotten our papers back yet. Oh while we were waiting I talked to this mennanite guy from Canada and tried talked to a guy from China but he didn't speak Spanish or English so we didn't talk that much. We were there at the migration offices for like 4 hours in total because they messed up on his papers a couple times and so they had to go back and redo it and it reminded me a lot of when my family was trying to leave Chile a few years ago  (Part 1 and Part 2 of that crazy story!). Anyways eventually we were leaving a little after 11. But remember how my phone didn't have much battery left? Yeah so it had died at about hour 3 at the migration offices. So I used the phone of some other missionaries that showed up to tell the secretaries that we were done so they could call a taxi. The taxi that all our stuff was in went to the mission offices so the suitcases were taken care of. But since it took a lot longer than we planned to go through migrations and get his passport we were running super behind. After we finally got out I used a public phone to call the taxi guy (it's this guy named Rolando that always drives missionaries places for stuff like this) and when he got there we went straight to presidents house. We got there at 11:40, 3 hours before flight time. He had his final interview and I ate a bunch of cookies that Hermana Shumway made and then we headed to the airport. At this point it was a good thing that we came with the suitcases that morning because there wouldn't have been time to go all the way back to the house to get them. They sent Elder Flinders' suitcases in another taxi that followed us to the airport but they forgot to put some stuff in so they had to send another taxi with the stuff they forgot. So we got to the airport, helped him get through and sent him off. Then I went with the secretaries, who had been with us since we left presidents house, to the mission office which is where my stuff was and guess who I saw there! My trainer Elder Aquino!!! So that was cool. 

He's comps with my first district leader Elder Benson who is also super sweet.

Then we met up with Elder Erickson and Elder Gates in Nueva Vida putting the trio back together once again. So all that happened on Friday and it was just an insane day. But we survived and that night we had dinner with some members and they gave us Ben & Jerry's!!

Also because I'll only be in Nueva Vida till the rest of the change, on the 22nd, we didn't want to move my bed and closet and desk again since we just moved them back over there. So I am using a random table they have at their house for studies and an air mattress to sleep on.

It's not guaranteed I'll be in Lo de Coy for a whole nother change but is totally possible. But if I go to a new area I'll know by next Wednesday. Either way though I am excited to have a companion assigned to me because going on member divisions all the time has been hard to do but I've definitely learned a lot.

Anyways so the people we are teaching right now include the Familia Castillo who are really progressing, Frank, Brenda, and Griselda. The Martinez family also came back from their trip so we are teaching them again now too. We are hoping to have a lot of people in church this next week. We also got a new ward mission leader named Samuel who is a super cool guy. He's left with me on divisions almost every day on divisions this week.

Also the Biggest news this week is that I have a new baby brother!!!! He doesn't have a name yet but just looking at the pictures I can tell he is going to be a great missionary in 18 years. He is kid number 12 and something funny is that my first name is Joseph and Joseph of Egypt was in Egypt and didn't know his little brother Benjamin (number 12) and I also am out of the country. So I think he should be named Benjamin. That's my vote.

Having gone out with the members so much more this week I am really learning how much of a difference member missionary work is. Both gong out with them to lessons and telling them about your friends and nieghbors and even inviting your neighbors who aren't members over to have a family home evening and then inviting the missionaries. I am convinced that if we do a better job with member missionary work more people will join the church and they won't go inactive. You have no idea how much of a difference members can make so that is your invitation this week. Do missionary work somehow and involve the missionaries. They will really really appreciate it. That's it for this week. Love you all!!

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6 Months - 19th Birthday

Happy Birthday Joseph! Here's his great letter for this week:
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     Subject: Cumplí años                                
Alright so this week has been super crazy!!

First off last Wednesday we went to the temple with Brenda (Ronal's sister) and she had the tour there and said she felt great and it was todo bonito but she didn't get an answer. So she still doesn't have a fecha (date) for her baptism but we're getting there. We are giving her and Ronal chapters from the Book of Mormon to read each night and I think it will help a lot! Also like every time we've stopped by to visit her or set up an appointment she hasn't been there or had to leave last minute or whatever but we're hoping she can progress. Here is a picture at the temple!

You might be wondering where my companion is. Well my companion that morning was Ronal. I made sure it was okay to have him as my comp but I did feel a little weird. And that feeling has been with me all week! The members have been helping a lot though and almost every day I have been able to work for at least a little bit in the area. I've been doing divisions like no other. It is honestly so stressful. So for all of you out there on missions or who are going to go I hope that you never have to be in an area without a companion. Really I'm in a trio and so we just meet up with members and I go with the member and Elder Erikson and Elder Gates go back to their area. But the thing is a few years ago both my area and thiers had two companionships. Meaning 8 missionaries! For the two areas and their area is gigantic. Now for our areas combined we have 3 missionaires! So it's really been a learning experience that's for sure.

Here is a picture of the trio.

Elder Gates'head got cut off though. Sorry Elder Gates.

Funny story. On Sunday a super awesome RM in our ward named Diego (he served in the Dominican Republic and got back  about 3 years ago) picked me up to go pick up people to come to church. Fun fact Diegos family visited Utah a little while ago and actually went and met up with my family on temple square! So that was cool. Anyways so we went to stop by some people and when we went to Emmanuel's house this other guy I've never seen before had just gotten off his motorcycle and was opening the door. I tried to get his attention to ask him if Emmanuel was home and as he turned around and saw us he put his hands in the air! He thought we were going to rob him! Hahah it was super funny. Although he might have just been messing with us because he did some other weird stuff too.

In church this week we had a family of 4! We found them two weeks ago and taught the kids again last night and the oldest is a 17 year old girl named Tatiana and we left a Book of Mormon with her and I really think she's gonna read! They loved their experience in church and said they would come back this next week! So we're super excited about them. Also it was weird because we were done with church by 10:00! We start at 8:00 now because we're sharing a building and the other ward starts at 11:00. To give us enough time to vacate the parking lot because otherwise there isn't enough space.

We also had interviews with President Shumway this week and it's looking like I am going to be in  Lo de Coy for this next change to reopen it. So I'll be here until march 5th probably. Which is crazy because this is still my first area!

Also here are some pictures of the Nueva Vida house.

Our 3 desks

The kitchen (which we didn't use that much because they have dinner almost every night with members) 

Where we sleep

Somehow we managed to get 3 beds in there

You can't see it that well but here are our three closets

And their house has a super nice view of the city which this picture does not do justice.

Their house isn't the cleanest but it's a lot better than it used to be. Also I never really unpacked. But I am glad I never unpacked because I got an early birthday present yesterday! I GOT A COMPANION!! So actually I'm officially back in Lo de Coy now. We got a call yesterday from President telling us that the trio is going to be broken up and we are going to reopen Lo de Coy full-time. An Elder Flinders, who used to be outside the captial working in tiny little villages, was going to have to be in the city to be closer to the doctor because he was WAY out there in his last area. So yeah I got a companion for my birthday this year!!

And when he showed up he had a surprise birthday package with him! So I also got a surprise b-day package from the fam!

The mission also sent a little birthday goodie bag and had some peanut butter m&ms in it. I don't know where the got those but they are my favorite. 

So yeah we are celebrating here and have a banner and balloons and everything (which came in the package). And a bunch of other candy and snacks were in the package and some socks and a tie and letters from the fam along with a bunch of other stuff. So yeah it has been an awesome birthday so far! And now we're getting settled in Lo de Coy again. But I might be back in the trio soon. Elder Flinders is here to be closer to the hospital because he has been having these spasms (it is super duper hot where he was before) and so we're hoping it gets better but he might be going home soon if it doesn't. He is also actually from Elder Adams'group which means he is about to finish his training. So we're hoping and praying he gets better. He is my fourth companion this change though, including the trio I was in. Elder Flinders is a super awesome guy and studied at BYU for a year before his mission. He grew up for a lot of his life in Logan but lived in Tulsa Oklahoma before he went to BYU.

Here are some other pictures from my birthday! 

Elder Erikson bought a cake and they sang to me and smashed my face into it hahaha it was funny

In the package there was also some cosmic brownies and other little debbie pastry things, some frosting, and little sugar letters that spell happy birthday so we put it together and made another little cake haha it turned out pretty good.

And here is Elder Flinders and I with matching ties. And I also have a ribbon that says birthday boy hahah

It feels good be back in Lo de Coy full time but most of all I am grateful to be part of the most important work on the earth today!!

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So, yay! That just worked out perfectly! I sent the package on Dec 29th, after seeing a notice on the Guatemala Mom's facebook page earlier that week from a lady who does a delivery service from Miami, that she was going to be in Salt Lake, and the packages she picked up would be delivered on the 8th, so it just worked out perfectly and I'm glad it was a surprise for him too! I won't tell you how much it cost to send, but the historian in me will report for record keeping sake it was over 16 pounds and $12.50 a pound (I thought it would be $8.50, oh well) plus a service fee. So, we probably won't be sending him big stuff until next birthday or his hump day,  we get to send him stuff, but they do deliver every 2 weeks, so that's pretty sweet. I do think it could be good to send small packages with letters to him through there, so maybe we'll do that. He's such a good kid, and we're so happy he has a companion again! :) He also said in his email to the family that his Mission President is fine if Ethan comes down to stay with the Gomez family over the summer, so we'll start working on that. Fun!

Birthday Boy on Wednesday!

Just for fun, a picture that Junior Herrera sent me today -

I think Hermano Herrera is Joseph's ward mission leader, and he was also one of his teachers in the Guatemala MTC. I told him that Joseph's birthday is on Wednesday, he'll be 19 - his last year as a teenager! Hno Herrera said that he will make sure he has a great day. I also told him that I sent a surprise birthday package for Joseph that I'm hoping gets there in time. The lady in charge of the shipping service I used, CTR Shipping, said she'd try to make sure it got there by Wednesday, but maybe I'll email the mission secretaries to see if they can make sure he gets it too. We sure love and miss this young man
💕

6 Months - Happy New Year!! I'm in a Trio

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     Subject: Feliz Ano Nuevo!! Estoy en un Trio - January 1st 2019      

First happy new year!! Guatemalans know how to celebrate with fireworks. Last night someone was lighting a ton of fireworks right outside the house for probably 30 minutes. A member here told us that he has seen firework shows in Utah and Disneyland and none of them compare to the fireworks here in Guate on Christmas and new years. So yeah there have been a ton of fireworks (juegos artificiales) recently.

Anyways so I have some good news and I have some bad news. The good news is I are working a lot more with the members here! The bad news is that Elder Adams is now back in Canada. It's super sad and I was really praying he would stay but he is gone. It came as a big surprise actually. He went on Friday, and we thought if he left it wouldn't be until Monday. We got a call from President saying that we needed to go the migration offices and then a call from the secretaries saying that a taxi was going to be there in 15 minutes to take us there. So we went he got his passport and some other documentation he needed to fly out of the country and when we got back form migration I got a call from the assistants saying that because Elder Adams was leaving I was going to have to be in a trio with Elder Erickson and Elder Gates in their area. Elder Erickson is my district leader and they're both really great. I am in a different house now and will send pictures of their house once we clean it because it's kinda messy.

So yeah I am in a trio now and in order to work in my area I have to find and meet up with a member to do divisions meaning I have been working with the members a lot more and gratefully have actually been able to work in Lo de Coy for the past couple days. On Sunday I was on divisions with 4 different members. When one couldn't anymore we would go and meet up with another member who could go with me and then at night I met up with Elder Erickson and Elder Gates. It is a lot more stressful than I thought it would be being the only Elder and always having to coordinate with members. But people are really helping us and there are a lot of possible and probably baptisms for January! I think that the Lord is really stretching me though and I am really learning a lot through this.

Anyways last week on Christmas calling the family was awesome!! It was a really great Christmas. I called at noon (guate time) and we had a lunch and other stuff after that. Here are some highlights of the day.

Me with a chapin Santa Clause

By the way chapin just means Guatemalteco, like someone from Guatemala.

Shout out to my mom who sent me some Girhadelli brownie mix in the Christmas package. So we also made brownies and it was a hit.

And we had a gift exchange with the missionaries in our zone! I got Hermana Avilez )who is from Honduras and was baptized at 16 and used to be catholic which I think is super cool= and  gave this stuffed animal monkey to her. Elder Nelson, who is also from Canada, had me and gave me this sick belt that says Guatemala on the back and has like little mayan picture things on it too and is super cool. I forgot to take a picture of it but will for sure send that next week. And he also gave me the coolest Christmas sweater!

Isn't that awesome?! I wanted to put my magnet plaque on so that it looked like it was on the Santa but I can't find it. That would have been funny though. So yeah it was a pretty great Christmas.

And this week we really saw a lot of miracles too! First off there was this family called Familia Castillo that we found and I think they can progress a lot!

Because of the new year and because it's "vacaciones" for the people here a lot of people were out of town but we were still working hard to have a lot of people in church. We passed by a lot of people and none of them could come so I was kinda sad thinking we might not have any. And then as we pulled up (because I was with a member and he has a car) we saw this guy looking at the church from the street so we went over to talk to him and he asked what it was and we told him it was la Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Ultimos Dias and he decided to come in because he said he really needs to find some peace from what was going on in his life and so he came in and stayed the whole 3 hours! His name is Mauricio and he doesn't live  in our area but we are going to pass the reference. He is super receptive and really needs the gospel in his life. Well ya know everyone needs the gospel but he is very ready to receive it. And 2 other people came to church that we weren't expecting making 3 in total so I was stoked about that.

Oh one of the guys that came last week but couldn't come this week is named Gustavo and he is 16. Last week a guy who just got back from his mission gave him a Book of Mormon and when we met with him on Wednesday he had read all the way to 1 Nefi 18!! Just so you all know that does not happen. Like we are lucky if we can get people to read a chapter but he read a ton and had super super awesome questions. And then when we met with him again on Saturday he was in chapter 25 of 2 Nefi!!! Like wow. And he totally gets it. He is a super smart kid. His parents don't want him to go to church with us though and they won't let us meet him in his house anymore so that's gonna be a little hard but as soon as he gets his answer that the Book of Mormon is true he will be baptized. He said he wants to finish the book and then make a decision. And at the rate he's reading that will be pretty soon haha so yeah we are super excited about his progress.

That's about it for this week but I hope you've all set some good new years resolutions!! Oh and we had to reschedule the temple trip with Brenda (Ronal's sister) but we are going this Wednesday for sure! Love you all!

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