19 months - Una Fe Excepcional

____________________________
  Subject: Una fe excepcional     

Boa tarde!!

Well it's been an eventful week!

The best part of the week was that Claudia got baptized on Saturday!

But things got a little complicated because on Friday, the day of her interview, we got a call from the Assistants saying that we needed to be in the house at 6:00 every night until Wednesday night. The new government is doing these investigation things to cut down on crime in Guatemala and we don't know much about it but because of that we always have to have our passport copy with us and if we don't we cannot leave our house. And even if we have our ID we have to be inside the house at 6:00. They are doing the investigations by the different municipios (which are like counties) of the capital and last week was Mixco which is where most of the capitol areas of the mission are so last week they all had to be inside their house at 6. Our zone, named San Cristobal, also has a part of it in Mixco, but where we are in Peronia is actually part of a different municipio named Villa Nueva. So last week when they did the investigation thing in Mixco it didn't affect us at all. But this week they did it in Villa Nueva so we have to be in the house at 6 every night. And our district is literally the only district in the whole mission that is in Villa Nueva. So it's been a little hard because from 6 to 9 are our most effective working hours but we have been making the best of it.

But for Claudia's baptism we had to get permission from President for a member to take us in their car from the chapel to the house after her interview on Friday, and after her baptism on Saturday.

And this is Claudia next to her brother-in-law Marcos (who is the primary president's son and isn't coming to church right) and his wife (here they say concuna for the wife of your brother in law) Faviola and it was funny because when the Relief Society President gave the welcome to Claudia after she got baptized she was like "And now its the next daughter-in-laws turn to get baptized" when Faviola was right there. Pretty funny. But we are working with them.

 

Also there were changes. Elder Saxton is no longer my companion. But the good thing is he is not going that far away. Actually all he has to do is switch beds. Now he is in the other area that is of our same ward, reopening that area, and we are both training!

My new companion is named Elder Presbitero (Elder Priest) and he is from Brazil and has a strong accent. I am trying my best to understand him but need to work up my portuguese.

Also this week we bought some eggs from this one lady we are teaching and they are ginormous! They look like Dinosaur eggs! A lot of them also have two yolks in them, so it's always fun when we make food and it's a 2 yolk egg.

This week we also had a Multizone and a mission leadership council and had a visit by Hermano Corbitt again and it was SO awesome. We learned a lot about faith and how we overcame Satan in the Spirit world, and how we must do it here. Give Revelations 12:7-8, 11 a read and meditate it really hard, putting everything into context and its pretty cool.

_____________________________

18 months - La Boda de Claudia y Jairo

Last week Joseph said he wanted to talk to Ethan this week. Ethan's Google hangouts wasn't working, but eventually they got connected via skype, and it was so funny to listen to them talk. Ethan talking about Ferb-Latin and trying to teach Joseph to speak it, and Joseph trying to take that random teen thing and turn it into a gospel topic about the gift of tongues. Also, Ethan was sharing some gospel parallels between bowling and reading your scriptures, how after you get a strike (or read your scriptures) you think you can relax the next day (next frame...) but NO - it's even more important to get a strike again/read again, and if you do get a strike again, it's even more important to get it AGAIN. It was funny. Ethan also shared how my dad's parents were bowlers, and so it's in our blood, and Ethan said he is like Luke and Mel and Joseph are like Leah and don't realize how the bowling force is strong in our family, so they have not recognized the power of bowling yet, but yeah. It was funny to see Joseph trying to relate/understand but also wanting to shake their shoulders and say that that bowling doesn't matter, just the gospel! It will be fun to see Mel and Ethan experience a mission and then they'll understand Joseph better and why he doesn't care about what movies they watched and how awesome they were. Anyway... short letter from Joseph this week - but he's in good spirits as always.
________________________________
  Subject: La Boda de Claudia y Jairo     

Well this week was awesome!

The best part was Claudia and Jairos wedding!

And she had a lot of friends help with the decorations and so it was actually the sweetest wedding I have seen in Guatemala. 

And the large majority of the people who came were not members of the church which means we got lots of references!! They are doing well and she is preparing to be baptized on Saturday! Keep her in your prayers!! 

At church we had Claudia and Sandi again! Sandi is doing really well too. She is reading a lot in the Book of Mormon and stayed after church to see a ward baptism. And her and Claudia both made comments about the chapters in Sunday School.

Remember that when we keep the commandments we are happy (Mosiah 2:41)

______________________________

18 months - Elder Wride's Birthday week

As I said last week, we didn't send Joseph a package this year for his birthday. But today I told him we'd give him some birthday money to spend. I asked him how much he wanted. He laughed and said "Whatever your heart tells you." Then he said that that is a saying he hears there a lot - "Lo que dice tu corazon". I thought that was cute. I'll see what my heart tells me. I also thought that now would be a good time to ask Joseph what he'd like for birthdays and Christmases going forward, so I sent an email asking that last week. I've been wondering what to do for kids that no longer live with us, and felt Joseph would be a good one to ask since he's got the proper frame of mind right now as a non materialistic missionary. Update: Joseph's sweet reply:
My birthday was really great and there is nothing I love more than doing what the Lord wants me to do and being engaged in His work.

We didn't talk long today, cause Joseph had a crazy morning. Their water got turned off. They had paid the water bill, but they hadn't taken the receipt by "the colony office", whatever that is, so it got shut off, so they had to go back to the place where they paid it, get a receipt, go back to the colony office to get it back on. Joseph said in disgust "It cost 75 quetz for them to turn it on! They just have to go and turn a knob.... 75 quetz!!" He also said he showered today using 6 bolsitas/little bags of water (about the size of a sandwich bag). It was funny and reminded me of some of our crazy experiences in Brazil, Costa Rica and Chile. Funny. So it was a quick call, but as always, great to see him and see how happy he is.

Subject: The Pirate of Jerusalem
Alright so here there are lots of people that just walk around in the street yelling stuff that they are selling, usually things that they are carrying on their backs in giant baskets. And literally that is literally like all they do all day. There is this one lady who passes in the morning while we are doing studies who yells "¡El pan!" over and over again but sometimes she yells it as a question "¿El Pan?". And it actually gets really annoying. Another guy who goes around selling bread hold out "El" for literally 10 seconds before says super quietly the word "pan". So it took us a minute before we figured out what he was selling.

Also there is a guy here who hangs out a lot by the bus terminal who is literally the Guatemalan equivalent of Jack Sparrow. It is kind of hard to describe but if you saw him you would know what I meant. He normally has a lot of old clothes on and a weird sash with a bunch of old ties and belts on it. he also has a couple ties and belts around his legs and old hat on. He is known as "the pirate of Jerusalem". But only missionaries know him as the Pirate of Jerusalem because some missionaries a while back started referring to him as that. I have never talked to him before but I think it would be really interesting to hear his life story. So anyways this guy is already a kind of funny looking character and the other day we were on the bus waiting for it to leave to go to a meeting and we saw him but he had a new sweater on. And it was a Christmas sweater that said "All My Jingle Ladies". Combined with what the sweater said and who was wearing it, it was pretty hilarious. And he still has that sweater on and probably still has no idea what his sweater says or what it is referring to but Elder Saxton and I had a good laugh.

This week was really great though! I turned 20 and my little baby brother turned 1! Happy Birthday Peter!!

Elder Velasquez made some chocolate chip pancakes and we put some candles on it to celebrate. 

Not sure if it says Birthday Happy or Happy Birthday.

But we are really happy about the people who are progressing. Claudia is going to get married this week and baptized next week! We were a little worried because at first there was hardly any opposition but in this past week it started coming a bit but she is still on track and is exercising a lot of faith. We had a Home evening her and her husband Jairo along with the bishop and their family and the lesson was on families and how to achieve happiness as families. It was really good and I think they both really needed to hear it. So if you can keep them in your prayers that would be amazing because they need a lot of support, but they are really seeing the blessings.

Also Sandi and Gaby, two of Nancy's daughters, came to church on Sunday again! Sandi had been investigating a lot about the church and had read a bunch of stuff online but when she asked us her questions she also explained the answers she had found and she was spot on! So we are glad that she got those out of the way but are trying to help her learn with faith now and read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. Since Sunday she has read up to chapter 8 of 1 Nephi and we also went with a member of her same age last night who we think could really help her keep progressing. Also keep her in your prayers!

Also Jairo is doing really well and is still reading the Book of Mormon a ton! But the downside is that he started studying on Sundays so he can't come to church now. So we are working with him so change his schedule but it's a little complicated. He is understanding really well though and is even doing a lot of Come, Follow me. He is a stud.

We are still working with the other people I talked about last week but there are some challenges arising but we have faith that they will be able to overcome those. Yesterday we were on divisions with one of the Assistants, Elder Riffo my old companion, and it went really well. I have a personal goal to be a lot better in teaching by the Spirit and teaching people based on their needs, not just teaching lessons. But things are going really well and we are happy here.

Thanks for all your prayers! Love you all!!

18 months - The Sunday of all Sundays

Tomorrow is Joseph's birthday! Happy birthday Elder Wride! I didn't send him a package with anything this year, since he's totally in the mission mentality and I felt he wouldn't be missing home or wouldn't need that support unlike last year when we didn't talk every week. He's doing so great. He is happy and has lost himself in the work of the Lord.
__________________________________
  Subject: El Domingo de los Domingos    
Well this has been a really great week. And Sunday might have been literally one of the best days in the mission field so far.

Elder Uceda came to our ward! He is the Area president for all of Central America and he came to our ward this past Sunday. So we were really focusing on inviting people to come to church and listen to him speak and the Lord poured out His blessings. Last week we were expecting a bunch of people and then last minute they all couldn't come. Well almost everyone who we were expecting last week who didn't come came this week.

One of them is this kid named Jairo who is very smart. He came, and has been reading the Book of Mormon too. Besides the fact that a General Authority spoke it was also an amazing Sunday to have new people in church because the Sunday school class was literally on how we got the Book of Mormon and what it is, which is what we talk about as missionaries ALL THE TIME. Jairo was in the class with the youth and a counselor in the stake presidency told us that Jairo knew more than all the other youth, and he just got the Book of Mormon last week! But he has read a ton and understands really well and feels like it is true. He got a Come, Follow me manual on Sunday and told us yesterday that he spent like 6 hours studying in it! Who does that? And he also accepted a baptismal date for the 1st of February so we are working to help him progress for that.

I think last week I might have talked about a really awesome family that we started teaching. Well we have had a couple really good lessons with them and they also came to church! And they came with their sister-in-law Sara who was the one who introduced us to them. Sara has told us a bunch of times she will come and hasn't but this Sunday she did! We haven't been able to teach them again since Sunday yet because they have been working but we have still been in communication with them and the mom Nancy said she had some questions that got answered in Church. But from what we could tell they really liked it. They (and to be honest the whole ward) had a glow in their eyes after sacrament meeting and we are praying a lot for them that they will read the Book of Mormon, keep progressing, and look for answers in divinely appointed sources (aka not wikipedia or the internet). They are super awesome though and another funny story is that we were talking with a member named Martin, who taught the sunday school class about the Book of Mormon and we asked him if he had seen the new family that came to church (also props to him for teaching a class with a General Authority there) and he said he hadn't seen them. So then we started explaining them and he was like "Las canchitas? Yo pensé que venían de la Estaca!" Yep. he thought that they were from the stake, like stake leaders for the Relief Society Presidency or something like that. He might have thought that because they came in a car but to be honest with you Nancy and her daughters do kind of look like they are already members so that might have been another reason why. No Martin, they are not from the stake. Actually it was their first time in church. Also they have a crepe place in the  colony where we live that is SO good. I got a waffle this week and Elder Saxton got a crepe, along with oreo shakes.

Also there is a kid named Cristian who also has a baptismal date for the 25th who came to church. He had a date for baptism before but wasn't progressing that much and he also came to church on Sunday! He came with his member friend named Beckham. He is great and loved to learn, but we are trying to help him always read the Book of Mormon because he is having some struggles with that but other than that he is great.

And about 2 weeks ago we had a Family Home Evening for Light the World with the Primary President and her daughter-in-law named Claudia, who is not a member. So then we started teaching her and she didn't come to church last week either after saying a bunch of times that she would go. Well this week we passed by in the morning to remind her and she had just barely gotten up but said she would hurry and get ready to come. Well church started and she wasn't there and the sacrament ended and she wasn't there, but she got there right before Elder Uceda started talking. And we heard afterwards that when they got there, on their motorcycle, they were waiting outside the gate talking. Her husband, also named Jairo, did not plan on going to church but went to drop her off on his motorcycle but then their kids wanted to go with him back home so he was said he would just go with her to church, but they couldn't figure out how to get in and almost left but right then the gate opened. And we don't know who pressed the button to open it. So that was also a cool little miracle. And later that day we taught Claudia with Evelin the recent convert and turns out they have been long time friends! And now Claudia is preparing to be baptized on the 25th! She is reading the Book of Mormon and wants to understand it more but from what she has read she really likes it. So yeah its been a really good week.

This week I realized that sometimes as missionaries we let fear rule us. We have fear of opening our mouths and dont talk with everybody, or we have fear to invite people to be baptized. But if are afraid to do those things then Satan is winning and he can not win. So we are doing those things a lot more and are seeing lots of miracles. Also we started improving our obedience in little things, like leaving the house before 10:30 and not 2 minutes late and blessings have just been pouring down.

Some of the things that Elder Uceda said that were really awesome were about the Sacrament, taking care of the "corderitos", how Christ is the Good Shepherd and the reality of President Nelson as a prophet of God. He shared some very cool insights from the Original Greek of the New Testament in John 21 where Christ says to feed my sheep three times. Well turns out he doesn't actually say the same thing three times, but changes it a little bit. The first time it is nurture the little lambs, meaning the new members, the less-active, the children and youth. He taught us how we really need to help those people most because they don't quite have their footing yet, but that we also need to take care of all the members. It was really cool. He also said "I have eaten breakfast with President Nelson. I have eaten lunch with President Nelson. I have eaten dinner with President Nelson. I have traveled with President Nelson by car, bus, and by plane. I know President Nelson. He is a prophet." It was legendary.

Sorry for the kind of really long email but it was a really good week. We also had a new years cookie baking fail even though we weren't even baking. We had to be in the house at 6 last week on the 1st so in the store we decided to buy some cookie mix to make cookies. Somehow we had to make them because we couldn't bake them because we don't have an oven. So we decided to fry them. I think it might have actually worked and I take full credit for the failure. In the cookie mix we had to put a certain amount of oil and the oil I used had apparently gone really bad and smelled weird. So it ruined the whole thing and we had to dump the batter.

We did try to fry it though and it was really gooey but the worst part was just how bad it smelled. And then Elder Velasquez, one of the other Elders we live with, decided to put it in the microwave to see if it would work. Well after about 30 seconds the whole microwave was filled with smoke. I am not sure if it was because of the batter or because of the plastic bowl he used but it made the whole house. We started off the new year right. We also did it with brownies on Saturday and they turned out a lot better.

That's it for the long email this week but I hope you all are reading the Book of Mormon every day! Look for some miracles in your week and don't be afraid to open your mouth and share the Gospel with someone.

Con mucho amor - Elder Wride

pics include

Cookie baking fail (above)

Brownie in a frying pan (above)

divisions yesterday with Elder Duron, and the other Elders that live with us

The amazing looking waffle with ice cream I ate on Friday night

______________________________

18 months - A New Year 2020

Joseph called today while Corey and I were both skiing at Brighton with Lily and Natalie. So I was a bit distracted and wasn't the best person to have a conversation with. Joseph said it was worse than when we "talked" to him on the beach. I asked "Worse cause you wish you were here skiing?" He didn't elaborate, or if he did I didn't catch it. But we'll try to do better next week. It should be better since it will be a week of life back to normal with everyone in school again. We are excited for the year 2020, especially to study the Book of Mormon this year as part of Come Follow Me!

Subject: 2020

Feliz año nuevo!

Welcome to 2020!

I hope you have all had some great new year festivities. We definitely did. We had to be in our house by 6:00. I actually missed the fireworks because I fell asleep and I am actually surprised the fireworks didn't wake me up but oh well, I woke up ready to start the new year feeling fresh! In the Multi-zone last week President Barneys counselor, Presidente Sazo talked about having 2020 vision for the year 2020. Also fun fact is that when I was in my first area he was the Elders Quorum president. And I am sure you may have heard about that 2020 vision thing but I think it's a super great way to look at the new year, with a perfect vision, and with faith that we can achieve our goals. And I can promise you all that if you put the Lord first in your life this will be a great year! Remember to read the Book of Mormon, every single day, constantly pray, go to church and regularly attend the temple and share the gospel with others! Especially now that we are going to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the First Vision! Get ready for General Conference everybody.

And speaking of the temple we took Evelin to the temple this week to do baptisms for the dead! We probably should have explained it a little better, because she thought she was just going to see the temple, not to get baptized for the dead, but she had a great experience still and loved the peace there. Here is a pic of us with the member family we went with, along with another recent convert and her mom. The mom is a bit less active but is coming back and after the temple she asked us what she had to do to be able to go inside and is going to prepare herself now! The temple is the best.

The Lord led us to an amazing family this week! We are teaching this lady named Sarah and she really likes us what we have been teaching her but is having a hard time keeping commitments. Anyways so we had an appointment with Sarah on Saturday night and when we got to her house she wasn't there so we called her and she told us to come over to a little crepe shop in the colony and she bought some crepes for us. So yeah super awesome because crepes are the best and we also got to know Sarah's sister-in law named Nancy and her kids who run the little crepe place and they are SO awesome! What was not so awesome is the fact that Sarah told us she was for sure coming to church this week but didn't come. When people don't keep commitments it reminds me of that one phrase in Madagascar from the Penguins that my dad quoted a lot, "don't give me excuses, give me results!". Anyways but we are still working with her and she loves the emphasis on family and was really surprised when we taught the law of chastity but she agrees that the world would be a lot better place if people kept it. Amen to that.

Anyways so on Monday we visited Nancy and her kids and they are so receptive! We taught about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and they just seem like they are so ready to receive the Restored Gospel! At the end of the lesson they offered us Coffee and we were about to say that we don't drink coffee but then they said that the coffee they made is this stuff called Morcaff which all the members use because its like coffee but cereals and so it's actually healthy. It's good stuff. AND last night when we were in our house, they called us and asked if they could bring us some tamales and we were like um yes! Also fun fact is that there are some members that have their same last name that live on the same street as them! But they don't know each other. And those members also brought us food. Kind of a weird funny coincidence.

Also I have gotten a little lax on the P90X because for a few months the area I have been in hasnt had a player for a USB or disc but here we do so we all did P90X this week and were so SO sore! After the Ab ripper X day my abs were so sore and during studies I had to sneeze and when I did it hurt SO BAD! Then my comp and the other elders start laughing, which made me laugh and also hurt because we were so sore. I hate it, but I love it. I also feel like I am started to understand Isaiah a little better after reading 3 Nephi 20 and 21. Give it a read, along with Isaiah 52. Remember to read the Book of Mormon every day and keep the commandments. LOVE YOU ALL!!