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!!