Week 17 Report - Lo De Coy - TAMALES

I've heard that the pouch mail to Guatemala doesn't work, but I tried it anyway and sent Joseph a letter about a month ago, then another the week after that. Today he got one, I'm not sure if it was the first letter or the second, but yay, I told him I'll start to send a weekly letter to that address for him, just for fun, and we'll see how many he gets.

"Hey Mom I got your letter!!!!

"I would LOVE to get pics in letters as well. It is preferable. I can download the pictures you send onto a USB but I haven't yet because I normally run out of time and the best I can do is take a picture of the email and the pictures in the email. The letter arrived at the mission offices (both yours and Annies!) and today during interviews Hermana Shumway gave them to me. They don't see that a whole lot and I know that pouch hasn't worked with other missionaries because Elder Dustin in my zone was like "WHAT?!"when she gave it to me but I'm super happy they got here. I like the physical copies a lot more too."

I did send some pics in one of the letters, I think the second, so maybe this was the first. I am going to write him again, you can write him too! I'm sure he'd love to hear from you, and if it actually goes through and gets to him, well even better, he'll have such a nice surprise! Here's Joseph's report for the week -
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         Subject: TAMALES           

This week was great!! Lots of miracles and lots of tamales. And one of those miracles happened because of some tamales.

First off though I hit an important milestone this week. I went through my first pair of shoelaces!!

Elder Erikson said it wasn't a milestone it just means I have bad shoelaces hahah because he has a year and is still on his first pair of shoelaces. He also leaves his tied all the time. Anyways so I was excited about that. 

Last thursday was basically p-day part 2 because we woke up early to go to THE TEMPLE! It was amazing as the temple always is and right after that we had our interviews with President Shumway. Sadly I didn't get a picture of either of those but I did get a picture when we went to krispy kreme.

Also I got stung by a wasp on my finger this past sunday and it hurt SO BAD for like 30 minutes and was really red but then it was fine. I felt something on my neck so I went to scratch it and then I touched the wasp and it stung me. 

Now a little bit about the miracles happening in this part of the Lords Vineyard.

So yesterday we had a TON of appointments and were running super behind. We had lunch 2 hours late and had to go twice that day to Campanero which is like the furthest part of our area. But all our appointments fell through so we went from super busy to not having up plans for that night so with an hour until we had to be home we had no idea where we should go. We were sitting on this piece of cement outside a little gated community. Not a bench necessarily but just this giant slab of cement that happened to be there haha who knows why. So were sitting there looking though our agendas and the phone for who we could visit. Then a lady, probabaly about 30 years old or so came out of the little gated community we had just been in and asked us if we wanted some tamales. Of course we said yes and she seemed super nice. Actually at first glance I would have guessed she was a member. Elder Aquino was kind of suspicious though because in his last area this happened to him and that lady was loca. But I felt good about it so we went she gave us some tamales. We met her dad and her husband and as she was finishing up the tamales she was asking us about who we were and what we do and so we talked about how we're missionaries and we talked about the restoration and the Book of Mormon and she was SUPER interested in the message. Normally I only carry 1 Book of Mormon with me but that morning I felt like I should bring 2. One we gave to a guy named Luis earlier in the day and I now know why I was supposed to bring that extra Book of Mormon. We told her about what it was and about John 10:16 and 3 Nephi 15:21 and she wrote the reference down so she could find it later. She is evangelical christian or something like that and is called Jessica. She was also asking us about when we have church so that she could come! She has family that are members and that live in Utah but she's never really talked to the missionaries. The more we said though the more interested in the message she got. And we took the tamales home to eat and they were delicious.

Just to put it out there this kind of stuff literally never happens, ESPECIALLY in neighborhood with pisto (money) which this one was. When we contact in parts like this no one wants to let us in, let alone come up to us and ask if we want tamales and then ask for a Book of Mormon. The first chance Elder Aquino and I had when she wasn't looking we made eye contact with a look that said "what in the world is going on??". So we left a Book of Mormon with her and are going to visit again on Thursday. So yeah double miracle because we got a super pillas contact AND dinner.

That day we also found a super pillas family that will progress A LOT. So stay tuned to hear about them.

Also Lorena passed her baptismal interview this past Sunday! She's scheduled to get baptized this weekend. She's now come to church 3 times and I think it's a little soon and personally wish we could teach her a little more but the only days we can are Sundays and last Sunday she called us saying that she received an answer that she should be baptized so this past Sunday we taught all the lessons. Like I said I wish we had more time to teach her and I hope it sticks but she wants to be baptized before Elder Aquino leaves. This is Elder Aquino's last week with me by the way. Lorena has made a lot of friends in the ward though and every Sunday has come by herself. It's hard to believe that in the early days of the church people were baptized literally the same night the missionaries found them! And then left everything and moved to Utah. That is a lot of faith. Like the John Tanner movie and also the movie Only a Stonecutter.

The tamales we ate yesterday was the second time we ate tamales this week! Here are some pics of the first time haha

In total this week I ate like 5 tamales. Just getting ready for Christmas where apparently you eat un monton de tamales.

Anyways so the work here is going GREAT and next week I'll have a step dad.

Invitation this week is to listen to Ted R Callister's talk about the Book of Mormon. It is not only the keystone of our religion but can also be the keystone of our testimonies so make sure you really have a testimony of the Book of Mormon before you leave because people really try to rip it apart in the mission field.

Also here's a pic from weeks ago when we had lunch at our ward mission leaders house who lives on the top of a mountain.

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So I watched the John Tanner story several times, I showed it to Corey and the kids this past Monday - really neat. And I've started to read the Ricciardi letter, that's good too. Our homework for this week, I'll put the link here again, is Tad R. Callister's talk on the Book of Mormon given at the October 2017 General Conference. GREAT TALK, I love that one, it was just packed start with "it's true or it's not" from the beginning (and it's true!) so go listen to that one if you haven't. I'm grateful to know the Book of Mormon is true, which also lets me know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet, and that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is true and led by Christ today through is living prophet. It's all true, and no one has to take anyone else's word for it - we can each know for ourselves. God can and will and does speak to us, pray and ask and he will speak to you.

Week 16 Report - Lo De Coy - Bautismo de Ronal!!

The email this week from Joseph - two pictures of his cute face, hooray!
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    Subject: BAUTISMO DE RONAL!!!!              

Alrighty this week was FANTASTIC. Of course it has had its ups and downs but I'm really learning a lot and God really does hear our prayers.

First off, spiritual thought connected to that. Monday night was kinda rough. We had a bunch of visits planned and they all just kind of fell through one by one. So we went by some contacts and people we'd visited before. No luck either and so called one family we visited a while ago. They didn't seem that interested but could progress a lot. The guy mostly wasn't sure about Joseph Smith as a prophet and the Book of Mormon but all we'd left with him was the folleto "The Testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith". Anyways so we called them and asked when we could come back and visit them and he said "mejor munca"meaning better never haha because he doesn't want to be playing with religions and there was just generally a lot of rejection on monday. So when we got back to the house I was super discouraged plus Elder Aquino and I weren't super united as a companionship that day. So I went to my bed with my Book of Mormon and prayed to get confort and know what to do and I read EXACTLY the chapter I needed to read. Mosiah 14 which is Abninadi quoting Isaiah 53. I remember studying these verses in Seminary with Brother Totton Sophomore year and it just helped me so much. I invite you all to read that chapter, especially if you have had a rough day.

Ronal was also baptized this week!!!!!!

We were so excited for him and he was so ready and he also received the priesthood on Sunday. The baptism was originally planned for Saturday night but last minute Ronal called and asked if we could move it to Sunday because his sister wanted to come so we moved it so Sunday morning at 8. He didn't get there till about 8:30 though and we were way stressed but he came! And his mom and sister who are seventh day Adventists came and we're starting to teach them too. So we had to cut a bunch of stuff out of the program to have time for the most important part and the bishop baptized Ronal. It was amazing and Ronal is gonna do a lot of great things in the world.

This week I also went on divisions twice. Once was to Nueva Montserrat with Elder Zwahlen from my group! I didn't get a picture with him but we walked all over the place. His area is super super flat and looks all the same to me. A lot of citas fell through and so we were walking around/standing for about 6 hours straight until we finally got in to teach a recent convert. We watched the John Tanner movie which I've never seen before and I LOVED it. I would highly recommend it. It's about this guy named John Tanner in the early days of the church who's leg was healed and he literally gave up everything for the church. Then that night when we got back we ordered dominos and it was great. I really believe Dominos is better in Guate.

Then yesterday I was on divisions with Elder Erikson in his area Nueva Vida and his area is SO PRETTY!!

I want to go there. It is so so green. Nueva Montserrat is super flat and Nueva Vida has a TON of hills and part of the day we were in this little village called aguacate (avacado) and we could see the whole valley and it was gorgeous.

Also miracle this week is about a girl named Lorena. Well we'll see if its a miracle haha we found her the friday before general conference  and she came to conference. She also cem  to church this sunday and afterwards we had a lesson with her and she called us that night saying that when she got home she was really sad so she decided to pray and got an answer and that she wants to be baptized this week! This week wouldn't be possible because they need to come to church 3 times so she could get baptized next week and basically before Elder Aquino leaves on the 30th haha. She is 18 but has come to church twice so we left her a few chapters of the Book of Mormon to read to see if she's really serisous about this and not just a snake. We're also going  to ask president what he thinks in interviews tomorrow. But anyways she could be baptized on the 27th which would be totally a miracle.

Tomorrow we're going to the temple to do a session as a zone and then we have interviews with President Shumway and I am SO EXCITED! Today in the morning we went to a buffet place and they had this birthday thing where all the workers came over and put a sombrero on whoevers birthday it was and sang. We saw them to do it to a few people in the resteraunt and then the other Elders in my zone told them that it was my birthday even though its not and before I knew what was going on the workers put a sombrero on my head and a plate of ice cream in my hand and started singing super loud hahaha it was super embarrasing. Then went bowling as a zone before coming to the stake center here  in Montserrat to write.

Also I invite you all to find something called  the riccardi letter and read it. Especially if you're about to leave the MTC or are in your training. Elder Erikson showed it to me on divisions and it is amazing.

That's it for this week! Mucho amor!!

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Here's a link to the Church video about John Tanner, or here is the youtube version of it, although with Vietnamese subtitles.

I watched it tonight - it is really good. I'm surprised that the video has been around since 2010 and I haven't seen it or heard about it. Maybe that was at John's request - cause he really does want his treasure to be in heaven and not on earth. What a great example. I loved the prayer they show Joseph say - "...That a miracle might be performed, that thy holy purposes may come to pass, we petition for thy mercy and help in sending us one with means to pay the mortgage and save the temple..." I want to pray like that, I am going to.

Also, after some googling, I found the Ricciardi letter. Here is a link to the Ricciardi letter that I put on my "spiritual blog".  It's long, I have just started to read it, but it is good. Here is a link of Fabrizio Ricciardi's pictures and profile on Mormon.org.

Also the recap of a 2014 talk given at the MTC by Elder Uchtdorf where he mentions Elder Ricciardi. Very cool.

Week 15 Report - Lo De Coy - GENERAL CONFERENCE

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      Subject:  GENERAL CONFERENCE      

Well another great week here in Lo de Coy Guatemala! I wonder what Lo de Coy means. Also I'm officially 9 weeks into the field! Which means in 3 weeks I'll have completed my training and say hasta luego to my dad (Elder Aquino) and say hello to my step-dad. Some mission terms that you might not be familiar with: dad/mom - missionary companion who trains you during your first 12 weeks in the field; birthplace - place where you were born in the mission meaning your first area;step-mom/step-dad - your missionary companion directly after your first 12 weeks; daughter/son - missionary companion that you are training. So if I were to train this next change then that elder would be Elder Aquinos grandson, my son would also be my step-dad haha. Some missionaries, like Elder Strong and Hermana Martin in my zone, switch companions halfway through their training which means they have 2 moms/dads. It doesn't work perfectly.

So as you all know general conference was this past week and it was AMAZING!! We were really trying to get a lot of investigatoros to come to general conference and we really saw a lot of miracles over the weekend. First off Ronal came to ALL FOUR SESSIOS!! He is so so pillas! His baptism is this Saturday and he is so prepared. We were trying to get Christian, who we found last week, to come to general conference and he just kind of didn't want to haha even though he wasn't doing anything at all. That's not the miracle though. But so I was really praying we'd be able to get a lot of investigators to come to General Conference with us but for every session on Saturday it was just Ronal. We had about 16 in total that said they might be able to come so my hopes were high but Sunday morning it was still just Ronal who came with us. On the way to the stake center Sunday morning Elder Aquino was talking to someone on the bus and it happened to be someone we contacted that Friday named Lorena and she remembered us and that we had invited her to conference so he invited her again to come to the session that afternoon and she said she would come! Since we were on our way to the stake center it was really easy to show here where it was right before we got off. So when it came to Sunday afternoon we were exepecting Ronal, as well as Mario, and there were a few people that were up in the air. I went to go watch it in English not knowing how many investigators we had because they all came late haha. But we had Roanl, Mario, Lorena, Ingrid and Carlos!! Ingrid and Carlos came from work and Mario came late and left early but he said that one of his questions was answered which is awesome! He is progressing a lot and wants to be baptized but has yet to receive and answer. So we are going to go to the temple with him soon and have been teaching him the commandments, hoping that he'll get baptized the 27th, right before Elder Aquino leaves. 

We 6 baptisms in our zone this week! One is Ronal - the most pillas guy in the world, Nueva vida with Elder Erikson and Elder Cornejo have 2, and Elder Otoya and Elder Bywater, our zone leaders in la communidad, have 3! So lots of exciting things happening here in zona montserrat. Because of all the baptisms and the interviews all happen to be on thursday we are switching up the way we normally do divisions tomorrow and I'll be going over to Montserrat with Elder Zahlen which I'm way excited for. So lots happening and I'll be sure to send you some pictures of Ronals baptism.

I mentioned that last week we were going to go to la eskala to get the 5 Quetzal tacos at taco bell last p-day and that is exactly what we did. For some reason none of the latinos got tacos with us probably because the line was SO LONG!! But we waited patiently and here is a pic of Elder Zwahlen, Elder Dustin, Elder Erickson and Elder Bywater eating their tacos.

They super good. Here is the volcano taco.

Today we're going to panda express which is BRAND NEW in the mall haha so I'm excited for that too.

Also here's a pic of their veresion of top ramen here haha it tastes almost exactly the same if not a little better.

It's been getting a little colder here and has been drizzling almost constantly the past couple days so I broke out the sweater. There's also been a lot more fog. Here's a pic of the view from the stake center of the fog.

I am down to one kitkat and one twix from the candy my mom sent down. I am waiting to open them until the hardest day of my mission haha

That's it for this week but I invite you all to relisten to the talks from conference this week and really apply to your life what Jesus Christ is teaching us through our living prophets and apostles. Love you all!!

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Week 14 Report - Lo De Coy - Super Pillas

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    Subject: Super Pillas                 

Buenos Dias!!
Well this week has been pretty good.

First off funny story for the week. Monday October 1st was dîa de niño. Translated literally day of child haha. Kids day whatever you want to call it. So a bunch of restaurants had different kinds of promotions or deals. Actually today when we go to the mall we're going to get the 5 Quetz tacos at taco bell because they extended the deal a couple days. 5 QUETZ!! It's about 7-8 Quetzals in a dollar by the way so that is a screaming deal. So that's where we're going to for lunch today. Anyways so one of the things Dominos did was they had the pizza delivery guys deliver the pizza wearing superhero costumes. They deliver pizzas here on moto meaning motorcycle. During the day we saw flash (barry allen) whiz by on a dominos motorcycle and at about 6:30 Monday night superman flew by us, also on a motorcycle delivering pizza. So of course we decided to get pizza for dinner so we could take a picture with a superhero. At about 8:40 on our way home from the NDH we called dominos (by the way delivery here doesn't cost extra) and I asked for a tropical (hawaian) calzzone. Elder Aquino decided he actually wanted chinese food and ordered Lai Lai and the tropical calzzone was 35Q. They told me that to deliver we have to order more then 75Q but Elder Aquino was set on his Lai Lai. I wasn't that hungry but to get up to 75Q I decided to get 2 Nutella and stawberry calzzones (which are amazing) which are 20Q each so that I'd get up to 75Q. Well turns out the hawaiian calzone is only 32Q so I was 3Q short. But I really wanted to get the picture with the superhero on a dominos motorcycle. So I got the cinnamon sticks as well putting me at 87Q. I obviously did not eat all of that food Monday night but I did order it all Monday night in order to get the picture. Well when they got here we ran down the stairs with our cameras and HE WASN'T WEARING A COSTUME! Hahah it was a bit of a letdown. Still a good deal for the food I got though and it was delicious. Well at least in american money it's a good deal. Here it'd be kind of cara (expensive$$) but in US dollars that is 3 calzzones - 1 hawaiian and 2 nutella, and cinnamon sticks delivered to your door for about 12 bucks. That's a pretty great deal I'd say. The hawaiian calzzone itself is less than 5 dollars! Anyways it was sad though that we didn't get the picture we wanted but also really funny. Here are some pics of the 4 boxes of pizza I ordered haha.

I had already started to eat one of them when I took this picture.

Also I mentioned the mall, where we usually go for lunch on p-day, and last week I talked about the crepe place.

Elder Zwalhen, from my group, and Elder Erikson, my new district leader from springfield Utah, standing in front of my favorite restaurant in all of Guatemala. Look at all that Nutella!

Here is how the crepe maker works -

Then they put on the toppings

Last week my crepe was a m&m and peanuts crepe with strawberries and bananas and it was oh so good.

Anyways enough about food and now a little bit about how the work is going here in this part of the Lords vinyard. 

Ronal is going to get baptized on the 13th of October and I'm super excited for him. This week he'll be coming to General Conference with us which I am so excited for you have no idea!! It's going to be amazing as always. We also started teaching Ronal's sister Brenda. Only one lesson but if she decides to join the church as well Ronal could baptize her which would be amazing.

Mario has also been progressing a lot. We had a NDH (Noche de Hogar aka Family Home Evening) with him on Monday with a super awesome family in the ward - President and sister Abadillo. He used to be the stake president and works in the temple but right now they have a calling to teach in the MTC on Sundays so we don't see them at the ward really that much at all but they are awesome and we had a really great lesson with Mario at their house about keeping the sabbath day holy. Mario has a negocio (business) little restaurant place and he's said he's thinking about closing it on Sundays to come to church but he couldn't in September. But after the lesson he could see that is what he needs to do and is coming to conference with us on Sunday! I'm so excited for him also because before the NDH he told us that he wants to serve a mission!! He hasn't even come to sacrament meeting with us yet but he's growing the desire to serve a mission!! And he would be such a great missionary. He's only 20 so like he totally could go on a mission in a year and I really hope he does. I hope Ronal does too. I don't know if there will be anything to compare with the joy when at the end of my mission I could read emails from them starting their missions. That would be so amazing. We also found two other investigators this week that could be prospective missionaries! One is Christian who is 20 and the other is Youri (sounds like Yodi) who is 18. They're both pretty pillas and could progress a lot. Christian I could see getting baptized on the 27th of this month, but he'd have to come to general conference this week. Youri's family is super catholic so we can't really go visit him whenever we want but both Christian and Youri have a strong desire to learn. Oh by the way pillas basically means stud or cool. Elder Aquino described it like it's a little bit more than cool. Someone who is pillas is someone who learns really fast and keeps their commitments and reads right away and is there for appointments. Ronal and Mario are both super pillas and Christian and Youri seem pillas too. We'll have to give them a little more time to see how pillas they really are though. Everyone says pillas and I'm not sure if I've used it in an email or not but if I have now you know what it means. So the work is going good and I think we're going to see lots of miracles this month. The recipie for miracles is Faith, obedience and hard work. This church is the restored church of Jesus Christ here on the earth and I love this work so much.

Tonight we're going watch Meet the Mormons with a bunch of investigators in the capilla including Ronal and Mario and an investigator the hermanas before us were teaching named Griselda. We haven't had one lesson with her but she said she'd come tonight so we'll see. Also here is a picture of our bus ride to la eskala (mall) last week.

The buses are usually a lot more crowded than this. The thing is they're so crowded even if I carried my camera on me I wouldn't be able to take it out. Oh also I found a kid wearing BYU pajama pants this week. Not a member but I think his mom is less active. Have a great week and the invitation this week is to invite someone to church. You never know where a simple little invitation like that could go.

Have a great week!!

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Week 13 Report - Lo De Coy - El Templo Con Ronal

Joseph got the package last week at Zone Conference, yay. He said what he really loves in the packages is the letters. I didn't sent any letters from his siblings this last time, so I'll be sure we do in the next one. I also did a test today - sent him a snail mail letter to the pouch mailing address, we'll see if it works! I threw in two drawings that Lily and Sophi had done that were laying around, and Natalie drew a picture of her and Joseph that I put in the letter too. Hope it gets there. I think I'll have the kids write to him every Sunday, write him a letter or draw him a picture.

So here is Joseph's letter for this week:
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            Subject: EL TEMPLO CON RONAL                 

Buenos Dias!

So this week felt kind of long and I think it's because on Thursday we got a little less sleep than we normally do because we had to wake up early. Thursday was for a multi-zone conference and Saturday we went to the temple with Ronal! We are going to have 2 multi-zone conferences this change so that's exciting and one of them was this past Thursday. I don't exactly know what we were thinking for some reason we thought we had to leave at 5 in order to get there on time. Last time it took us like 60-90 minutes to get there and we had to be there a little earlier this week so we woke up at 4 and left at 5. Well there is hardly any traffic at 5 in the morning so we got to Utatlan where the mission home is at 5:30! Hahah we were both like well now what. So we ended up going to the casa blanca (white house) which is where los financieros and executivos live. The financial and executive secretaries. It's also where the valientes ("The Valientes Ones" - aka missionaries who are dying - aka finishing their mission) spend their last night. So we went there and studied a little bit and got a little shut eye before the zone conference started. It was a super great conference and we had a 70 here named Elder Pineda. After the conference we had some little ceasers pizza and then there was a training for new missionaries. All the missionaries that entered 6 weeks ago got to practice teaching lesson 1 in front of the other trainers and President Shumway and they went over rules with different scenarios and it was great. The zone conference was only two days after changes which President Shumway said they won't ever do again because it makes that whole week super crazy for them, the Assistants and the secretaries. It was especially crazy because TWENTY missionaries entered this change! I met a few of them at zone conference but none of them are in my zone. They seem like super great missionaries though and I'm excited to meet more of them.

On Saturday we went to the temple with Ronal! It was so amazing!!! The ward went early in the morning and so we tagged along. Left at 4 and got back at 9. So we were a little tired this week but it was so great. Ronal had a tour around the outside of the temple by the sister missionaries that work in the temple and the tour ended with us sitting in the lobby with Ronal. He was praying to know if he should be baptized and he got his answer that "SI!". Here's some pictures of the temple.

(Joe's Mom here - I cropped it and zoomed it so we could see their faces a bit better)

Shout out to my uncle mark for the tie I'm wearing - from Guatemala with the Angel Moroni on the front. It's my temple tie. 

He still isn't sure what day but we're hoping this Saturday. He's had all the lessons and come to church 4 times but still isn't sure what day. So we set up his interview with our new district leader Elder Erickson for tonight and if after the interview he feels like he should then he'll get baptized this Saturday! I'm excited for him and he's gonna do great. Literally the perfect investigator. Kept ever commitment and yesterday he started 2 Nephi.

We also took a picture outside the CCM that you can't see that well because it was 5 in the morning.

On Monday we had a Noche de Hogar (family home evening) with Ronal, Mario, and Meggan's family. Meggan who got baptized a month ago. It was super great! We had it in the capilla with a family in the ward that are super solid.

Nearly every week on pday we eat at la escala which is a mall and my favorite restaurant in the mall is a krepe store. 

It is sooo good and I've taken pictures of the crepes I've gotten to capture the moment. 

They have oreo krepes, m&m krepes, and almost anything you could think of. Of course with nutella on the inside too. They are amazing.

Here are some other random pictures from the week.

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And that's how the email ended this week. One fun thing - Corey and I have a picture of us in Guatemala in front of the temple at that exact same spot!

This was in 2005 for the wedding of one of my mission companions, Hermana Bonilla.

Another companion came to Guatemala for the wedding too - I was the "trainer" for both of these lovely ladies.

Joseph was just a little almost kindergartener at the time, we were living at Wyview at BYU as Corey was about to begin his MBA program. Here's a picture of him and baby Hyrum, my cute kids, helping me take the laundry to the laundromat across the street. So cute. They grow up so fast.

Week 12 Report - Lo De Coy - HAPPY BIRTHDAY GUATEMALA!!

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Subject: FELIZ CUMPLIAÑOS GUATEMALA               

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GUATEMALA!!

So el dia de independencia fue la semana pasada. It was super Chilero. That first sentence was mostly Spanish but Independence day for Guatemala was this past week and it was great! We took Ronal to the stake independence activity last Saturday but it wasn't officially independence day until the 15th on Saturday. We had a great day full of appointments of course but did get some chocobananas to celebrate. I don't have a picture but it was a chocobanana with peanuts and sprinkles. Absolutely amazing. On the 15th it also rained a TON. Like it was the strongest rain I think I've seen in my life. The street was literally a RIVER! We were in a lesson with Mario (who is super pillas and is really progressing a lot. I'll tell you more about him soon. Probably when he has a fecha) and all throughout the lesson in his house we could hear super strong thunder and saw huge flashes from outside and it was so sick. The thunder lasted like 3-4 seconds and was so loud. When we finished the lesson we put our caps on and walked outside and within 30 seconds I was soaked. The wind kept blowing the hood off and it blew the cap up so that from mid-thigh down I was drenched but it kept my shirt mostly dry. It was raining so hard that even if we didn't have to wade through the river our shoes would have gotten soaked. So we waded through water running down the street that came up to my shins and I totally felt like I was on high adventure again. As we got closer to home a small Guatemalan flag drifted by us and since it was the 15th of course we picked it up and let it wave in the wind on the rest of the walk home. It was pretty sick haha. So here's a picture of me in my poncho after we got home holding the Guatemalan flag.

You can't really tell but I am absolutely drenched. Ah that was so fun. And what made it more fun was that the power went out! So that was awesome too. I'm not even kidding though I thought it was so fun. Making dinner (pb&j snadwiches) with a flashlight. I realized how much I missed living in Costa Rica and what an adventure that was and I'm so excited for the rest of the adventures I'll have here in Guatemala. Anyways so the 15th was super eventful and the rest of this week has been super great too.

I've told you a little bit about Ronal. Well he's going to be baptized on the 29th and this saturday (at 4 am) we're going to the temple with him. There are sister missionaries that serve in the temple that give a tour around the outside of the temple and talk about why we have temples and answer questions for investigators. It can really help people who are thinking about baptism to really feel good about their decision because at the end of the tour they can sit in the lobby of the temple and read the scriptures and pray and get a confirming witness of the spirit that it's what they should do. So we're going to the temple with Ronal bright and early this Saturday and he is so ready to make this huge next step in his life. Ronal is such a blessing. Like literally the investigator I always dreamed of having. We found him almost on accident and he has kept all of his commitments and is just the perfect investigator. So that's happening this week and I'll make sure to take some pics and send them next week. Mario who I mentioned earlier is really progressing a lot as well and I think he'll be baptized in October. He is trying to get work off on Sundays so he can come to church but he is very receptive and we had a great lesson with him last night in the church building after a little tour of la capilla. Oh here's a picture of la capilla.

Mario and Ronal both have 20 years. Wow my spanish is influencing my english haha but my dream would be that they both go and serve missions. Ah I love this work. President Nelson said it is the greatest work and I could not agree more. When we're walking out of a lesson where the spirit was really strong and we could feel it and know that the investigator felt it too I'm just filled with joy. There is nothing better! And the thing is you don't have to be a missionary to feel that! Everyone can preach the Gospel and not only that everyone SHOULD preach the gospel, both in word and in deed. I love the quote by Joseph Smith "When all is said and done the greatest and most important duty is to preach the gospel."The greatest and most important duty is the preach the greatest and most important message. The message of ETERNAL SALVATION. So that's the invitation this week. Not that I have been doing a weekly invitation but maybe I'll start. I invite you to share your testimony with someone who needs to hear it. It could be a nonmember or a less active but there is a marvelous power when we bear testimony of a principle of the gospel we know to be true. We don't know everything and that's where faith comes in and eventually, if we exercise our faith, we will know everything. So do that and I'd really like it if you shared your experience with me in an email next week. Alright, Buenisimo!

Alright here are some pictures of food.

We made French Toast this week and it was amazing.

Look at that beautiful stack of french toast.

This is something called bocada de reina

Taste of queen (translated literally) that is pretty much banana bread and is soooo good. There are a lot of panaderias (bakeries) here and they are amazing. When we're walking down the street there is a variety of smells. Some nicer than others but the best is the smell of the bakery. My favorite things are bocada de reina, sugar bread, and these cream bread things. The donuts aren't actually that good. Well usually. I had one that was krispy cream worthy and it was amazing.

Here is a picture of Chiky's which are a Guatemalan cookies that are amazing as well.

Here is the peanut butter I've been living off of for the past 6 weeks.

I've gone through 3 of these and a big thing of skippy I brought from home. Elder Aquino doesn't like peanut butter though, especially the smell and we made a deal that included me not buying any more so I will be fasting from peanut butter for a while. We'll see how this goes.

Also here is a view of your typical guatemalan street from the back of the bus on the way to the stake center this morning.

Love all of you!!! Id y Haced Discipulos!!
____________________________________________

So it looks like Joseph's Spanish is coming along since he's starting to insert it in his email letters, haha. That last statement translated is "Go and Do Disciples!" - "ir" and "hacer" - conjugated in the command form. Looks like he had a great week. Glad he's enjoying the food and having adventures! I remember a few "El Nino" downpours in Arizona that flooded the streets, and I agree it was exciting for me too. And yes, we did have a few downpours in Costa Rica (after church was fun and at our home there it would flood the pool over it's edges, made for a fun time swimming) and Brazil in 2007 and in 2015 too when we visited there as a family.

Also, I had a companion from Guatemala, Hermana Bonilla, and I remember we always looked forward to her getting packages from her mom cause she would send the chiky cookies and Hna Bonilla would share them with us. I wonder if Joseph remembers those from when we were in Costa Rica (pic 4). I wonder if he's able to buy peanut butter there? If not I think we'll send him some more in the next package on the condition that he can't open it unless Elder Aquino approves. He might have to wait until transfers and they are not companions anymore.  And we're excited for Ronal! The field is white.