Monday, June 17, 2019

35

Got to talk to Ian today.  He couldn’t get into a city with internet to call Ryan for Father’s Day so he called and talked to Ryan and I.   They are loving the village they got to reopen. He said they walk close to 12 miles on a normal day but in the next 2 days they’ll be walking over 24 up and down mountains.   I asked if he’d like to hike when he comes home and he’s not to sure about that.  He said they walk about 2.5 hours to an investigators house each way but it’s worth it because she’s getting baptized soon!   

He said it’s been such a blessing to get to come home in the evenings and sleep in a real bed and eat (pretty ok)food and even speaking English.  He hasn’t been able to do those things in a very long time.   It has helped keep his moral up.  
He loves the people, especially the kids.   They all crowd around him to shine their shoes in hopes of getting some money.  They always give a little extra.  He said he remembered one of the boy’s names and asked for him.  Now he is the “coolest” because the Americans knew his name.  Lol. 

He talked about his testimony of the scriptures and his mission.  Said it was just something he knew he needed to do but now he realizes why. 

He sent Picts:

Shoe shining kids 





Elder on his bday. 



Whole group of us on our hike.  Garbage like this around the water is normal. People just throw their garbage into the streams here. It’s super sad.  I love my life straw. 



Church and my apartment and the b-ball court I get to play on.   





Tuesday, June 4, 2019

34

Hey everyone. I have been doing super good here in the mission. We have opened up a small village in the middle of absolutly nothing and we have to ride in the back of a pickup truck for about an hour and it is so beautiful. We have water falls in our area 5 minutes from the house and we found and otter swimming in the river. I finally am living in a nice house with a hot shower and more than one room to do studies and sleep. Also we live in the chapel and so we get to play basketball very night after 7:30pm because we have to be in the house after dark because the church is the only place that has light. Our little Branch President has been working so hard here in Pancá to try and strengthen the members and he has been praying for missionaries for a few months now and almost cried when we showed up and said we would be the perminent missionaries in the area. His kids even started to jump up and down to celebrate and we started to laugh. Its amazing to see that impact missionaries can have on the people who really trust in the lord and I have learned a lot this week about doing just that. I have been having to speak in Kiche and Spanish so its been a little rough but I love every minute in the mission and I regret nothing.  Me and Elder Newman have also been washing our own clothes in this thing call a pilla. I think I might have a picture but thats all for now. I love all you guys and Ill see you soon.  





Monday, June 3, 2019

33

Hey everyone I have had a pretty good work here in Guatemala. I  confirmed a little girl as a member of the church Sunday and I have changes too. I will be going to another village here in the Sameish area. On Wednesday I had to go into Xela to get medicine because I have a stomach bacteria and I also had a fever of 102F so that wasn't good. (it wasn't a parasite the last couple weeks they thought I had:  So with all these changes in my health  I am down about 10 pounds but I still love being here in the mission. Maybe I'll have abs if I keep loosing weight. 

  The little boy we baptized last week received the holy ghost yesterday and I confirmed the daughter of the Branch President because he could come to church. This also means that we ran the church service and talked and also taught the classes. Now I will going to the change meeting tomorrow to find out who is my new comp and going to another village. We'll I have nothing more to say so I love you guys lots and Ill see you soon. 

On our prep day went to a waterfall. It was  beautiful.  We found an old abandoned house that when I tried to kick the door open the whole door fell out.  We saw some old clothes in there and set them up on a chair like a little old lady. 

There is some kind of protest here so we can't get the bus back to our locations tonight so we get to stay in a hotel.  Its the first time i've slept in a queen size bed and probably the only time in my mission.  I am soo excited!!!   

Love you - Ian