9 Months - Los Chorros

I'll update this with a screen shot of his smile later - for now, here is his letter for this week -
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                Subject: Los Chorros                            

No not Churros (although I do love churros). Chorros. Which I think translates to faucets but I'm not 100% sure.

So there is a little place called Los Chorros about a 30 minute bus ride from Jutiapa that we went to this morning.

That's what the actual chorros part looks like. Kinda like these giant faucets haha but there is also this super cool little watering hole right next to it and I think it would be a cool place to baptize in. Which was the first thing that came to my mind when we got there haha and the water was clean! Any rivers or big streams I've seen here in Jutiapa are kinda dirty and not deep enough anyways but it would be super cool to come here for a baptismal service.

My pants look kinda weird in this picture but it's because it was super windy. 

Aaaand no one really knows for sure but this could be "the waters of Mormon, in the forest that was near the waters of Mormon; yea, the place of Mormon, the waters of Mormon, the forest of Mormon" where the people "came to the knowledge of their Redeemer" (see Mosiah 18:30).

Ya know I actually doubt it was the waters of Mormon because that's supposed to be the lake Atitlan. Or maybe it was Amatitlan. I can't remember but there is actually a lake here in Guatemala and all the members say that that's where the waters of Mormon are. And it's fun to speculate but really the important thing about the Book of Mormon is what it teaches about our Savior Jesus Christ. Which is actually why it's called the Book of Mormon. Most of the time we say that the Book of Mormon is called the Book of Mormon because of the prophet-historian named Mormon who was its principle author. And that is probably right. But it was Moroni, Mormon's son, who named it the Book of Mormon. There is also the Book of Mormon inside the Book of Mormon which is named after the person named Mormon but I personally think that the Book of Mormon is named after the place of Mormon not the person. But even if it is named after the person Mormon and not the place, did you know that the land of Mormon is what Mormon the person was named after? Look at 3 Nephi 5:12

"And behold, I am called Mormon, being called after the land of Mormon, the land in which Alma did establish the church among the people, yea, the first church which was established among them after their transgression."

 Now what is so significant about the place of Mormon is that it is where Alma established the church after their transgression. Kinda sounds like an apostacy and a restoration doesn't it? Yeah it does. That's insteresting. Wait a sec what year was the Church of Jesus Christ established and restored in these latter-days? In 1830. Eighteen Thirty. Alright now go to Mosiah 18:30. Mosiah Eighteen Thirty. And do it in your paper scriptures and then what page numbner is it? 183. Hmm that's kinda weird. 183, Mosiah 18:30 and the year 1830.

And Mosiah 18:30 reads

"And now it came to pass that all this was done in Mormon, yea, by the waters of Mormon, in the forest that was near the waters of Mormon; yea, the place of Mormon, the waters of Mormon, the forest of Mormon, how beautiful are they to the eyes of them who there came to the knowledge of their Redeemer; yea, and how blessed are they, for they shall sing to his praise forever."

What is so significant about the land of Mormon is that it is where people came to the knowledge of their Redeemer. Which is the same reason the Book of Mormon is so important to us and it the principle purpose of the Book: to bring us to the knowledge of our Redeemer.

So I hope your mind was a little blown. Mine was when first heard about that too.

This week was really good! Last wendesday, thursday and friday were pretty crazy though. On wednesday afteernoon we went to the cap and helped the secretaries in the office with some stuff. Then in the morning I said bye to Elder Peña. Gonna miss that guy. Then when the secretaires dropped him off at they airport they also picked up my new companion, Elder Bingham. Elder Bingham went home for 2 months because he broke his foot but his timing for coming back could not have been better.

Thursday and friday were also multi-zone conferences and the plan was for Elder Bingham to just sleep on thursday and then we'd go to the multi-zone friday, meet up with our zone and head out to Jutiapa. But then we heard that one of the new zone leaders in my old zone Montserrat was sick and so that at least one of their zone leaders could be at the multi-zone conference we ran to the hospital and Elder Bingham stayed with the sick zone leader and I came back to the multi-zone with the other zone leader. The Multi-zone was SUPER awesome and I really learned a lot on how to improve personally.  Then after the multi-zone I met back up with Elder Bingham and we went on divisions with the financial secretaries. And then the next morning we woke up early again and went to Don Justo for the other multi-zone and then had to run back the airport to get Elder Binghams missing bag and then got on the long bus ride to Jutiapa. So it was a kinda crazy first couple days but I'm still here in Jutiapa and my new companion is Elder Bingham!

And I also saw my trainer Elder Aquino at the multi-zone! He finishes his mission in 3 weeks which is crazy to think! We have already decided that we're gonna meet up for the October 2020 general conference which is gonna be super fun. Hope you all tune in to conference this week!

Also something kinda weird is that I hit 9 months today! Kinda weird how the time passes but if there is one thing I've learned in these past 9 months is that this is the true church of Jesus Christ on the earth today, guided by living prophets and apostles. Preaching the gospel is the most important work on the earth today and brings the most joy and satisfaction into our lives.

Love you all!!

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8 months - Jutiapa

Another good call with Joseph today. Here are some of my screenshots of our call via my phone

Good news is that his companion is still with him, but bad news is that he is going home tomorrow.

Joseph looked great, but a few time I thought he also looked like his heart has been heavy and he could break out in tears.

I think he has been stretched again this week, and this seemed to be his first email where he was really testifying, which yeah, means to me that he's being stretched and thus learning the good solid truths of life. Those truths will carry him through future hard times.

One fun thing was that this week we were able to tell him of a little missionary work we've done here at home!

Corey met a cute cute family while he was at McDonalds with the kids on Saturday night. They are from Mexico and they came over to eat on Sunday night.

We were able to have a gospel conversation, but we're in it for the long haul, so we haven't given them the Book of Mormon yet, but did show them a few videos of the Tabernacle Choir and we talked about when we were missionaries and how we learned Spanish. Anyway, it was fun! I was glad we had something to report.

I can't remember what else we talked about, maybe I'll take notes next time. Bad thing about phone calls is that if you don't record them, they're gone forever. But still, so good to see this kids' face and see his smile. We sure miss him. He's almost been gone 9 months! That would be half way if he was a sister missionary! He'll be home before we know it.

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           Subject: Mucho Viaje                            

Alright so I have good news and I have bad news. Which one do you want to hear first? Alright the bad news is that Elder Peña is going home tomorrow for personal reasons. He comes from a very hard circumstance and has prayed about it a lot and we went to the temple last week but he still wants to go home and has a lot of things to take care of there. But the good news is that we don't have to close Jutiapa 2 because a missionary who had to go home a couple months ago for a surgery is coming back to the mission tomorrow and he'll be my new comp. Sooo yeah. You can imagine how I feel. It can be a little frustrating because I feel like I've sent more than my fair share of missionaries home and it's hard not to take it personally but I can honestly say that I have no regrets. I have tried my best to just love him and say and do what I can to help him to stay. But I have learned a lot this week and I have learned a lot that I wanted to share with you guys.

I'd like to start with an Elder Holland quote. "If it is important to you, you will find a way. If not you'll find an excuse." That is sooo true. If you are on a mission and it's hard and you're thinking about going home remember why you came out here. Remember who called you and that you are bringing the light of the gospel to thousands of people! Future generations will remember you for being the missionary that brought their grandparents the gospel. You are an instrument in the hands of God to bring people to the knowledge of their Redeemer. Elder Holland goes on to say "You only get one chance to serve a mission; it is your responsibility, your duty, to use it to the fullest; to give every last ounce of energy until you collapse in exhaustion at the end of it. All the hardships, all the tears, all the hard work will be looked back upon as the best thing you've ever done, not because you enjoyed it, not because you baptized everyone, but because you gave everything you had, even when you didn't think you could, and especially when you didn't want to. Live your mission to your fullest, work harder than you've ever worked before. Let people know that this is the most important thing in the world to you... If you do not run until you have nothing left to give, and then keep going anyways; cry and pray and work and sweat and plead until you are so drained that all you can do is turn to the Lord; if you don't do this, then these people will not come to this joy because of you - their failure to come to Christ will be partially upon your head. Come out of your mission proud of what you've done, and this experience will bless the rest of your life."

Serving a mission is just that. A selfless service to God and His children where we forget ourselves and get to work. And the joy it brings is indescribable. I promise you that it is hard but it is SOOO worth it!! Just stick with it and you will be so glad that you did. All these things will be for your good.

When things get hard I like to think of the early saints. They went through a LOT and their faith was so so strong. Also I remember that even then they had a ton of problems. I mean people in the first presidency and quorum of the twelve were apostatizing and leaving the church and then tried to destroy Joseph and the church. We all need to be disciplined and tried as Abraham was (DyC 101:4) and it is no coincidence that discipline and disciple sound similar. I promise you that if you trust in God like many of the early saints and turn your whole heart, might, mind, and strength over to God then He will make more out of you than you can on your own and you will be truly happy. 

So this week we went to the capital twice. Once on Thursday and once on Friday. Thursday was so he could have an interview and then Friday we went to the temple. So it was a lot of traveling (mucho viaje) and we are going back to the capital tonight.

Also it is super hot here in case I hadn't told you that already. I don't have a picture of it but almost every day I have an x mark on my back from my backpack. First it's just wet because you are sweating so much, and then the dust makes the x easier to see. I think they should call Jutiapa (pronounced Who-tee-apa) should be called Hotiapa instead.

That's it for this week!! Love you all!!

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He also sent this note to Elder Adams that he asked me to forward, I thought was good.
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Hey Elder Adams!!

Hope all is well up in Canada and that you're doing well and balling out and eating lots of bariletes haha. Things are going well here in the mission and I am outside the capital in a place called Jutiapa. It is about 3 hours outside the captial by bus and I think they should change the name to HOTiapa because it is hot.

I am writing this because I wanted to know how you're doing and also to thank you for being my companion. I learned a lot from you and you did a lot of good here in Guatemala that will bless hundreds and thousands of people for many years.

I don't know if you remember one day we were coming back from a colonia called Modelo, walking up to San Jacinto and we passed a side-street and decided to walk down it. We found a girl named Tatiana there who we went and visited a couple days later when her foot was broken and taught her, her dad, and little brother and sister the the plan of salvation and invited them to be baptized. Well a couple weeks later they came to church and then I got transferred out of the area. An Elder named Elder Conejo (Conejo means Rabbit) reopened Lo de Coy while training. I made sure that they communicated with members to find tatianas house and found out a couple weeks ago that she got baptized on February 23rd.

There was another person that got baptized that same day. A short little guy named Frank who lived in a house will a really strong smell. Do you remember him? Yeah well he got baptized on the same day as Tatiana.

I just wanted to let you know about them and let you know that I am (and I know they are as well) eternally grateful for the service you chose to give to help these people in Guatemala. Even if it wasn't that long you served and there are lots of people that have found the truth of the gospel thanks to that service.

Love you Elder Adams!! 

8 months - Training Elder Peña

Good talk with Joseph today. It was kinda hard to hear him though. He cupped his hands over the mic to try and block out all the noise in the internet cafe.

Joseph didn't send pictures this week, but here are some of the screenshots of our call -

We sure miss him. Corey was over at his parent's house, so they were able to join the call for a bit. Corey's dad shared a little with Joseph of some of his hard learning experiences.

Joseph is training again. His new companion, Elder Peña, who has just been in the field for one week, is ready to head home and says he has made his decision. He asked us if any of our companions ever wanted to go home. We gave what advice we could, and we understand why he might feel like blaming himself (this would be his 4th companion to leave for home) but really he has no control over what his companion decides to do. All he can do is love him. 

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     Subject: Decisions Determine Destiny          

Hello Everybody!!

Short email this week but this was a good week and we are super excited for some of the people we found! One of them is just a street contact and she came to church and brought her sister! Which NEVER happens! She is super receptive and we are gonna visit her tomorrow.

We also found a great family this week too that we think will progress and are super excited for their progress.

Also if you could keep my new companion Elder Peña in your prayers he needs some support right now. He comes from a very different situation than most missionaries and teaches really well but just has some family problems so if you all could keep him in your prayers and pray for a miracle it would really be appreciated!

This is the true church and preaching the Gospel is the most important work on the earth today. Just because it's hard doesn't mean it will be easier if you jump ship. Actually it will make it harder. We all need to tried like Abraham was (DyC 101:4) and how we respond to that trail will determine our future. Decisions determine destiny. Love you all and hope you have a great week!

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8 months - Tocayos por supuesto

Yesterday, the Church officially changed from using LDS.org, and now the Church website is ChurchofJesusChrist.org. The email for missionaries has changed too.
Joseph's old email: joseph.wride@myldsmail.net
new email: joseph.wride@missionary.org

Great email with pictures this week! And two new members of Christ's Church! Jonathan and Jhonattan! And Joseph has a new companion from Honduras, Elder Pena
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Tocayos por supuesto

Good morning everybody!!

So this week was pretty awesome. The best part was on Saturday when both Jonathans got baptized! If someone has the same first name as you then you are Tocayos, although I´m not sure how to spell it and it might be just a Guatemalan thing. So a lot of times as we are presenting ourselves and they see that we are both named Elder we joke that we are Tocayos. Because there are actually people here in Guatemala who have the first name Elder, Anyways but so Jonathan and Jhonattan got baptized on Saturday and it was a great baptismal service!! A lot of people in the ward came to support and they got confirmed on Sunday!

(From left to right) A guy in the ward named Nefi (yes like the Book of Mormon Nephi) baptized Jonathan (everyone in his family calls him Canche because his hair is a little lighter than most Guatemalans. Elder Aquino and I are also canche), and Elder Aquino baptized the other Jhonattan. Which was super cool because it was Elder Aquinos last week here!

My change with him went super fast and I´m gonna miss him. He is in the capital now and Elder Erikson is one of his zone leaders! He´s a great missionary and as a goodbye on Monday we went to wendys with the bishops family and the ward mission leader, and the sisters because it was not only Hermana Turners last day in Jutiapa but her last day in the mission field!

And so yesterday we had to go to the capital to drop Elder Aquino off and for me to get my new comp and woke up at 2:30! Being outside the cap is great except for that on a day when we have to go inside the capital we loose almost the whole day. We got to the mission offices at about 7:30 and left to go back to our areas at around 11:00. And my new comp is Elder Peña!!!

He is from Honduras and I´ll be training him!! He is also a convert of not even 2 years! Which I think is super cool. A bus that the mission rented dropped us and the other missionaries going outside the cap off so we didn't go straight to Jutiapa but went up through Sanarate and then down through Jalapa before getting to Jutiapa. Those names might not mean anything to you but let´s just say it was a loooong bus ride. Very long. Like we left at 11:00 am and got to Jutiapa at 5:30 pm. But I´m not complaining because Elder Peña and I got to know each other better. He is super awesome and I´m super excited for this change.

And in the Jutiapa Zone we now have 4 people in their training! 3 of which this is their first day in the field! So this morning after we had zone council and set goals for march we took zone pics!

It´s a little off'centered so sorry about that.

On the front row is Elder Peña (Honduras), me (from Utah), Elder Gomez (from Idaho but his dad is from Guatemala), and Elder Sancez

The back row (from left to right) is Hermana Quiñonez (who fun fact is from the same ward as Elder Sanchez in Equador), her trainer Hermana Mendez, Hermana De Los Santos (which is an awesome last name for a missionary), her trainer Hermana Toledo, Hermana Mendez, Hermana Lopez, Hermana Modesto, and her kid Herman Huaranca.

It´s a super solid zone and we´re stoked for this change together. We started the month off strong with 4 baptisms in the first week of March and are gonna be working hard to meet our goals and help others to come unto Christ.

Also this week the church released those Safety Zone videos to teach missionaries safety and they are hilarious!! And also spiritual and instructive. Elder Aquino wanted to download them to watch whenever he wanted to. And a fun fact is that a lot of missionaries from none other than the Guatemala Guatemala City South Mission who were used in those videos! A lot of them have finished their missions already but there are quite a few who are still in the mission! So that´s kinda cool that they´re famous now.

And I wanted to end on a spiritual note. Yesterday waiting to receive the new missionaries I was talking to Elder Pulsipher who was also born in Lo de Coy and was the new District Leader in Nueva Vida which has Lo de Coy in the district! So I of course asked him how some people were doing and felt a ton of joy and a lot of sadness at the same time. He said that two people that I was teaching when I was there have gotten baptized! One was Tatiana who I miraculously found with Elder Adams. They live down this street that no one really pays attention to and then down the side of this mountain basically. Elder Adams and I were walking by and decided to go down that street since in my then 3 changes in Lo de Coy I had never gone down there and found that there were a TON of houses. Her and her family came to church once in my time and she got baptized 2 weeks ago! And they are working with the family and Elder Pulsipher, who did her interview, said she is super duper pillas! And also Frank, someone I found with Elder Aquino )my trainer= back in October also got baptized the same day! They had a ¨tarde blanca¨ (white afternoon) in the zone where almost every area baptized the same day. There are not words to know how happy I was to find out that they have joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latte'day Saints. I was asking about other people that got baptized while I was there and it sounds like some of them are doing great and progressing but others not as much. Lorenas (who works in a member families house) parents found out that she got baptized and are now not letting her go to church. Also Mario hasn't been coming that much. So today I called Mario and Ronal and talked to them. They are both going to institute which is awesome and Mario hasn't been able to come as much because he started working Sundays and enters at 4:00 in the morning. But it was a good talk with them over the phone and Mario feels bad that he hasn't been going as much and is going to get more involved because he will start to enter at 11:00 now. This is the most important work on the earth today. Bringing people to Christ. Converting them to Him. The thing is satan is also working and really tries hard after people get baptized to distract them and take them away from the only source of peace and joy in this life. That is why it is absolutely essential that we as members fellowship them and help them become fully participating members of the church (see One in Christ my Elder Soares from Oct 2018 conference). Especially the Ministering brothers that are assigned to new converts.

I love being a missionary and I know with all of my soul that Jesus Christ directs this church and He is our Savior and Redeemer. Joseph Smith was His prophet to restore the church on the earth and the gospel of Jesus Christ is the only way to return and live with our Heavenly Father. This is the most important work on the earth today and He needs us to be a big part of it. It is our duty to bring the gospel to these people who are only waiting to receive it.

Have a good week.

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