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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