30 October 2017

So the ward I'm in is called Cuyotenango or something like that. Yeah basically all the church buildings have super tight security, there are bars on all the windows, steel doors, 10-foot fences all around the building, and they all have some kind of spike or wire at the top of the fence. They are basically bunkers. But it makes sense, cause the clerk's office alone has more wealth in it than most families here. and nobody has an over, If it was easy to get in there, it would be an easy loot. Most people don't have cars so they don't need much parking, my ward has 3 spaces for cars in the front on a little grass field and in the back there is a half-sized basketball court, I think people park there too. Most people that don't take the bus use motorcycles because gas is too expensive. the buses are basically full-sized vans that they pack people into, and I mean they PACK people into these things, it is the most uncomfortable thing ever, and traffic laws don't exist, you can basically do whatever you want as long as you don't kill anyone, I'm pretty sure its bad if you kill someone.

(Flora Speaking Here:  We found his church building here on google maps.  Check out the street view. )


We usually have lunch with the members, and it is pretty, good, they have this plant that looks like a bigger banana, but it's not, its called a platanum or something like that,  but they don't eat it like a banana, it is always fried. At first, they made me gag, but now I love them. Other than that, the weirdest thing I've eaten is shrimp in a tortilla, shells, feet, eyes and all. Other than that, I haven't had a problem with the food, the members are always surprised to hear I haven't gotten sick yet, or that I don't have a list of foods I don't like.

I thought I sent you a picture of my compañero, his name is Elder Sunday, and he is from Utah. At first, I was a little disappointed cause he is a gringo, and he is a bit awkward. But he is the most dedicated missionary I have met thus far, and he is the best trainer I could have asked for. We already have 4 baptisms, and we are learning all the time. You might think you are doing everything right one day, and then you get a spiritual slap in the face, and realize, you have so much to improve on.


Here are me and my companion.

Here are some pictures from our last baptism, there is one of Melany and her mom, and one of Osman and his family. Osman was baptized by his friend from Guatemala City, and Melany by a different ward member. My companion is in there too.

This is from my first baptism. That is Tyler, and Carlos, and the older brother of Carlos Steven, who performed the baptisms

23 October 2017

Hello family,

Well, I had my first to baptisms last week. Their names are Carlos and Tyler, they are both around 10 years old, and super awesome. Tyler is from a member family but he hadn't been baptized yet, I'm not sure why, something to do with their parents getting divorced. Tyler's older brotherStevenn wanted to baptize his brother, so we just had him do both of the baptisms.

I'm learning very quickly, that it isn't us that does the baptizing or the converting, or really anything. All we did for Tyler and Carlos, was teach a few lessons and pray a lot. It was the Holy Ghost that converted them, God that led us to them, and it was they who excepted the message. God literally doesn't need us, because without Him, we couldn't do anything. But he always uses people to accomplish his work.  Isn't that interesting?

We are here to learn.  God sends out the weak and the inexperienced to do his work so that they can learn.  It makes sense though: we are on this earth to learn and fulfill our divine potential.  How could we do that without doing his work?  If we were only here to baptize, the Spirit would always lead us to people who are completely ready, and just about to jump into the water. But sometimes the Spirit leads us to the most Catholic people imaginable, and it is all so we can learn.

It is interesting to me, how everything God asks us to do is so we can learn; and while we're at it, we can help further his work in bringing to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.

16 October 2017

I'm in a town called Cuyotenango, which means get this, Whosville.

I never really realized how hard it is to be a missionary. It is super hard but also super rewarding.

9 October 2017

I'm sorry I didn't get to write to you last week, they made me go to Guatemala city to sign my visa on p day, and I didn't get a chance to use a computer.

We haven't baptized anyone yet, but we have two planned for this weekend. One is Tyler. I don't really know him; his brother just came up to us one day and asked us to help him organize a baptism.  It was a pretty awesome miracle. The other one is Carlos, he is 11. And we have been teaching him and his family for a little while.  I think they missionaries before me had one lesson with him and his grandmas. We seriously have a miracle every other day, it is so awesome.  Maybe I'll just tell you about the ones that get baptized though, cause I still don't have a lot of time to write.

But I need to tell you this story real quick. We were teaching these 3 kids we found in the streets, they are awesome investigators by the way.  We were teaching them it the street at like 8 o'clock.  Not many people were out. This drunk guy comes up. He said,  "So you guys are the Jehovah's Witnesses right?" (in English) and we were like "no were the Mormons" (in Spanish) and he was like "I didn't come all the way out here so you could talk to me in Spanish, I'm from new york. but I want to know what you all believe. Do you believe Jesus is the Son of God?"  And then we answered some questions real fast, and he walked off. I said we'd be happy to answer more questions if you have them. but he said, "I doubt you can find me, I live way out in the hood!!!!!"

There are a lot of drunk guys out and about, especially in the evening, it isn't uncommon to find them sleeping on the sidewalk. The other day we contacted a lady in the street and we were interrupted by a drunk guy.  So I pulled him to the side so my companion could keep teaching the lady.  Then I gave him a pamphlet, taught him a thirty-second lesson about Jesus, and asked him if he wanted to be baptized... just for fun.  Then he walked away. It was so funny though.

In the Mission

We Received this Message Today

I just got to the mission, everyone here is so nice. The bus ride took a while. there were some protesters that blocked the road or something like that, I guess people don't like the government. all is well though, I'm sorry I don't have time to write more.

P days are on Mondays in this mission, so that's when you'll get the next email.

I love you guys

4 Hours Later We Received This

Dear Brother and Sister,

Your missionary has officially made it safely to the mission!   Sister Goodman and I have had the wonderful opportunity to meet and talk with him.  We are excited to start working alongside him in the work of the Lord here. We already love him and we know he will be a truly outstanding servant of the Lord.

With our love and appreciation,

President and Sister Goodman

Week 5

I'm glad you are all doing well, that's awesome.

I don't really have much to tell about what I'm doing. It is basically just lots of class time, we haven't really gotten out of the MTC much.  Since we are leaving for the field next week, the teachers have started cramming content into the classes. There is a ton of work learning the lessons, the language, and all that good stuff.

My favorite day of the week is Sunday, which is weird cause it never was before.  But now the Sabbath is actually a delight. I'm not quite sure what is different though. Maybe it is cause we work so hard the rest of the week, or maybe it's because... Well here is what I think. Most of the week, I'm operating under a certain level of stress, so when Sunday comes around it is finally a chance to rest mentally.  We have all kinds of devotionals after the usual three meetings of church so we get to rest, and refuel spiritually. It is seriously the greatest thing in the world.

My district here is the greatest, it will be sad to leave them when we go to the field next week. my companion is pretty awesome, his testimony is really strong, and he works so hard to be the best he can. We still have some things to work out, in the actual teaching part though.  He tends to give 2 thirds of the lesson, and I give a third, almost every time. I don't want to say it's his fault, but I'm pretty sure it is. That is awful of me to say though; there are a lot of things he is really good at.  His Spanish is better than mine, and he is a lot better at preparing lessons.  He just doesn't always know when to yield the floor. But aside from that little quirk in our lessons, we work really well together, and I love him.

Speaking of loving people, the Latino Elders are so much fun to talk to. They like to joke about Trump a lot for some reason too.... Most of the time the ones that speak English are easier to talk to, cause they understand that they need to talk slowly for us to understand since they went through the same struggles when they learned English. some of the other ones will talk super fast, and when you ask them to repeat it slowly, they will say it just as fast, just with pauses between the words, which doesn't help much.  Anyway, they have such a great senses of humor.  Also, everyone here listens to American music.  There is this Catholic school down the road, and they are always blasting music, most of which I recognize.  It's a blessing and a curse, cause we aren't supposed to listen to worldly music.

Next week I will leave for the field.  As far as I know, it is a 3 or 4-hour bus ride to the mission home.  There we will be assigned to a trainer, who is basically just a companion who knows the ropes and is willing to take a newbie under his wing.  We will have five minutes to write and say we didn't die on the bus. So it will be a couple weeks before you get a real email.

I am not ready to go to the field at all, but I also know I will learn much faster out there, and I am excited to get to work!

love you all, Adios!

Week 3

So it turns out McDonald's delivers here!  Isn't that crazy. They have little boxes for the food on the backs of their motorcycles.

So I didn't have time to mention in my last email, but we had a visit from Elder Cordon of the 70.  You know, the guy grandpa and I met in Nauvoo.  He gave us a very nice devotional on missionary work. It was pretty awesome.

Today was the most interesting P day of all, we got to go to the zoo, and there were a few animals that got out of their cages.  Nothing dangerous, just a few peacocks, and some kind of reptile lizard thing.  I will send you some pictures when I get out of the CCM.  By the way, I asked a teacher why we can't send pictures, he said it was blocked on these computers... something to do with youtube.  So you'll have to wait for the photos for another 3 weeks or so.

I'm halfway through the CCM and boy is it crazy, time flies by so fast.  I feel like I just got here last week.  I can't wait to get out in the field, but its also super terrifying, cause I'm not anywhere near ready, and I am already halfway there.

We just had a huge group of people leave, so there are only about 32 missionaries here right now.  We got 3 or 4 new ones today, and there are about another 100 coming tomorrow.

It's crazy how similar Guatemala city is to America.  Aside from a different language, it's about the same. It is like a more colorful version of downtown Seattle.  I can't wait to see what it's like in the field. We are just 3 blocks away from the temple, so we go there every P day.

I'm almost to the point where I can read the book of Mormon in Spanish, and I can understand most of Preach My Gospel.  There are occasionally a couple essential words in the sentence that I don't know, but it's coming along. The scriptures are harder because they are written in vosotros form, and they use an odd vocabulary. But when you think about it, so do the scriptures in English. It's like when you're a kid, and you can read just fine, but the scriptures still make no sense. But I've been reading it every night, and it gets easier. At first, it took me 10 minutes to read 2 verses:  I had to be constantly checking the English scriptures, or the dictionary, or both.  But now I can understand most of it without either.

The gift of tongues is an interesting thing. I always thought it was basically God will put the words in your mouth, and you can suddenly speak another language, but it's not like that at all. You have to work diligently and study hard.  God will help you learn faster, and when you need it, he will bring words you've studied to your remembrance.