51

9/30
Eu Nao Falo Portugues

Hola everybody. I have had a very interesting week here in my beautiful homeland of Guatemala. We had our Multi-Zone conference with our mission President and he just really put a lot of emphasis on how we need to read the Book of Mormon more here in our mission and I think it is not something that just missionaries need to do, but everybody. If you want to claim the Book of Mormon as a true book you have to read it and follow the invitation of asking God the Eternal Father in the name of Christ if it is true.Then and only then the spirit of God and testify of its truth. Then on Saturday we had 2 baptisms of a couple that we have been teaching and it was super awesome to help 2 of my siblings come unto Christ. On Sunday our mission President come for our district conference and just ripped everybody a new one. It was awesome. Well that is all I have for this week and I let you know who my comp is next monday. Love you lots and Ill see you soon. Les quero mucho.

(Book of Mormon Videos Below)

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/media-library/video/categories/book-of-mormon-videos?lang=eng

50

9/23

Well hey everybody. This week started off with interviews from our President and it was awesome and he told me I will be staying in my area for at least 6 weeks more which will put me at 6 months in this area. He said I might also train again I that could mean 12 more weeks in this area. Then on thursday I competed one year in the mission and I got to burn a shirt after I wore it for 12 days straight with my comp Elder Newman. We had burgers and fries and then burned the shirt with our favorite member. And to finish the week off we found a giant alien spider and it almost bit me. Well that is it for this week so I love you lots and Ill see you soon.

49

9/16



This week was pretty fun here because it was Independence Day on Sunday and every school does a presentation  with the running of the torch kinda like the olympics. Also one of the little girls from our church became the Niña de Independencia (Girl of Independence) for her school which is a huge honor here. 

We also had a family that was a big surprise show up to church on Sunday which was absolutely awesome. They mother of the guy who brought his family to church is an inactive member of the church. He has a little son who is 6 and he has cancer which just broke my heart. His name is David and I would ask that you pray for him because he just the sweetest little kid. On Saturday night my comp was dying from 8pm to 3am in the morning because he ate a bad egg and I just slept the whole time. Today we played soccer with the whole mission in Xela and against 10 teams my team took 2nd place and we lost the championship 0-1. 

Well that is all I have for the week so I love you lots and Ill see you soon.

48

9/9

Hey everybody. Not much has happen since I sent an email last Thursday. We did walk very far to go contact some people and a guy was selling sugar cane. One whole stick(4 feet) for only 1 quetzal or 13 cents. We were able to find some more people to teach which is awesome, but their biggest obstacle would be that they live about 1.5 hours walking from the church.Today was really fun because we played soccer as a zone and I got the backflip down. I took a video, but I didnt land super well. We also found some Gatorade in glass bottles so we had to buy it of course. I still have 3 weeks left in my area until me and Elder Newman have transfers and we are running out of people to talk to. We have been praying for a miracle and we work hard everyday to put in our part. I have faith that something good will come from it. If nothing else comes from it at least my legs will get stronger.  Hopefully I will have more to say next week but for now

 I love you all and Ill see you soon.

47

9/5

Us helping a family build their house

my favorite new pop ! Just kidding we just have lots of knock off pop here

Hey everyone. I have been pretty good out here. My comp and I have been working really hard and were were tasked with the job of teaching temple classes. We didnt have our p-day this week until Thursday because we went to the temple as a mission and I loved every minute of our session. I also got to kill a duck with an axe and then we cooked it up for dinner. It was really super tasty but really hard meat. I have been reading the book "Saints" by the church and it is so good I finally hit page 300 and I absolutely love it. I have also started fasting once a week and I have seen so many blessings come from doing so. I have also been putting better goals with my comp so that we can improve more.

 I really dont have a lot more to say but I love you lots and Ill see you soon.

46

8/25

Hey people that read my emails. I have had an awesome time this week in my area. On Tuesday we got the job of covering another area called Nimtzituj which is in Chuinajtajuyup. Its only like a 30 minute truck ride from our are Pancá. There are a ton of members there in Nimtzituj, but there are a lot of less active members. We got to do a lot of service this week which is awesome I work like a champion. We hauled some wood and worked in the corn. We contacted a lady and she was all mad and didn't want to hear our message and we asked if we could help with something and she said that we could come back the next day to work in her corn. She just laugh after saying that because she didn't think we would walk the mile back to her house. Sooo, we showed up the next day to work and she was super surprised. Now we are teaching her and her family. Haha. On Saturday we got to see our beloved Prophet speak here to the people of Guatemala. It was such a cool experience, but he had a special message just for the people here in this country and I get to serve here with all these wonderful people. We also received a few new American's in our zone and it is so sad and funny to see them struggling to speak because I was in their position a 10 months ago.

  I only have 371 days left.  Im old now in the mission

45

8/19

Hey everyone. I have been doing pretty good here. I have a whole other change with Elder Newman here in my area of Pancá. We thought that he would be leaving so we decided to go to the farthest house that we could see in our area and after walking a few mountains over and taking 2 hours to get there... no one was home which kinda sucked but we gave it a try. hahaha. Then when we finally got back Our shirts were actually yellow which was super gross. I was asked by a little kid in our branch to baptize him and I thought that was very sweet. I have been reading in alma lately and it has got to be some of the best stories in The Book of Mormon. I also got the book Saints on Saturday because Elder Newman finished it and It is so good. Im already 150 pages in. The church really has so much evidence of its truth and I cant believe people try to prove it wrong. No one ever has and no one ever will. I really didn't do a ton of crazy stuff but I did enjoy my week and I did complete 11 months in the mission today which is awesome!!!!! 

I hope that everything is going good and I love you lots see you soon.

44

08/12

Hey guys I have been just living the life of a normal missionary so its super exciting. We woke up early this week to do exchanges with 2 areas in our district and had to take a few pick-up trucks to get to the areas and it was cool. I did get to stand up in front of the whole mission last week a a meeting a tell the story of our baptism so that was cool and a little scary, but spanish has become just like speaking English. The words just come out. I can now read in spanish and listen to my comp speaking english to me which is cool. Still dont know what almost anyone is saying in Kiche but this week we visited a inactive family with the branch and the members that speak Kiche taught the lesson. The I just got up and share my testimony in Kiche. I will now share my testimony in Kiche with you guys. "Sakarik wachalales. In kauaj kin bij le nu testimonio iwuk ix. In wetam cher le Iglesia rech Jesucristo are colom. In wetam cher Dios kaslik y Jose Smith xu yaku wach le Iglesia rech Jesucristo. In wetam cher Dios koj uloq oj. Kin bij pa bi ri Jesucristo. Amen." I really have been trying to learn this lauguage but it is super super hard. The only other thing cool about this last week is that we visited a water fall for out district activity and also I will have 11 months next monday. Well I love you lots and Ill see you soon.

43

I have been dying of heat. It is super fun with my comp Elder Newman becuase we just miss all the same american things like Cafe Rio, Beef Jerky, clean tap water, and sleep. HAHA. We have been walking a ton and at this point we have talked to every house within a hour of our house so it been hard to find new investigators. We have started reactivated a lot of families. Our first week in this area only 25-30 people came to church, but last sunday we had 50 which was unbelievable. I really have been seeing the fruits of working hard and obeying the commandments.

 I have been studying Kiche and I can now introduce myself and bare my testimony and say a lot of very simple sentences. Hopefully one day I can speak as fluently in Kiche as in Spanish.  I didnt take any pictures and so I have nothing to send to you guys so Im sorry for that. I went on exchanges for a day with an Elder from Honduras and we found a lady that only spoke Kiche so I started talking to her in Kiche and it absolutely blew his mind. He said that he thought we were speaking in English haha. 

I got to play basketball for the first time in 3 months which was super fun and I have gotten so bad. My comp and I put fun goals every week and these last to weeks we have down 150push-up in the morning and 20 every hour until 10pm every day expect for sunday and Monday. I still am fat though.  

Well I am 2 weeks from 11 months in the mission which is nuts and I feel like I have just started. I wish there was more time but the Lord only gave me 2 years so I will have to make the best of the 13 months I have left. I hope everyone is reading their scriptures and praying. 

Love you guys lots and Ill see you soon.

42

Hey I have been having a lot of fun in my area with my comp Elder Newman and we were able to marry and baptise a couple this friday and the mission president came with a pair of older missionaries from the office. It was so cool to see them so happy. They kissed in the baptismal font.  We will be accompaning them tomorrow to the temple with the Branch. 

We met our weekly goal of hitting a cow in the nuts with our sling shot so I can say all in all it was a week of success. I have been craving american food latley, but I only get 1 more year of enjoying the food here so I shouldnt complain. 

It is amazing to see how much prayer has effected the work here and I am humbled everyday. 

I really didnt have a ton more to talk about and I only took a few photos so I hope everyone is doing good and I love you lots. See you soon.

41

7/22

Hey everyone. We were just having absolutly no luck the other day while we were out tracting so we decided to say a pray and 5 minitues later we found a man who wants to get baptised and it was just a miracle. He isnt married so we will be having their wedding this friday and right after they will get baptised and become the newest members of the church. My companion and I are as happy as can be. The husband named Rafael was investigating the church for some time and recieving the missionaries but was giving permission to be baptised when he was younger. Its awesome to see that after years of other missionaries hard work that it payed off. Sometimes people just need time to change and not everyone will progess in the moment. I got my package and it was so nice to recieve my socks. After years of not liking my socks from Christmas I was super happy to get them. We had to wake up at 5am to run to the city 4 hours aways to get some baptismal clothes and we hit a dog on the bus ride back. Well I have almost nothing else to say but I love you lots and I'll see you soon.  Quote of the Week: "Thats the nicest dirt house I've ever seen."

Also I bathed in a little tub this week because we didnt have water but I am wearing shorts dont worry.

40

7/15/19

Hey fam. I have been having a good week here in Panca Momostenango and it will be really sad when I leave this place. I have seen the lords hand in so many ways and it is amazing to see the change this gospel can make in people. Sure its probably only about 1% of the people that accept us but every soul has worth in the sight of God. This last week we visited an inactive member named Benito and he is having trouble with the sabbath day because he has to go to the city to sell to support his family and I just had a feeling to open the scriptures randomly. The first scripture I found and read was Helaman 12:1 which says " And thus we can behold how false, and also the unsteadiness of the hearts of the children of men; yea, we can see that the Lord in his great infinite goodness doth bless and prosper those who put their trust in him." I didnt know that scripture before, but the Lord made me and instrument in his hands to help others. It is such a blessing to be here in the mission.

 On a less spiritual not we went bird hunting with this little boy because one of his parents died and the other lives in the states and he has to live with his half deaf grandma. The kid just needs a friend. We didnt get a single bird with our slingshots but he had a good time. When we left we found a taranchula in the road and I almost stepped on it. Sadly I forgot my cord to upload pictures. Thats about it so I love you lots and Ill see you in less that 14 monthes. 

39

7/8/19

Hey everybody. What a week of fun. I was stuck in the Momostenango until thursday because of a bunch of leadership meetings and on the 4th of July a member threw us a party and it was awesome. He made us home made hamburgers that tasted like I was in the states and we drank Coca-Cola. Then at about 8:30 he lit of a bunch of fireworks for us which was super cool. Me and Elder Newman felt like we were in the states. We cant swim so in the moning on the 4th we got in our pila(washing station) to bathe hahaha. On friday we were invited to enter a Tuj which is like an igloo made of dirt that is like a sauna. It is an honor when someone invites you to enter their Tuj so we did it because there are no rules against it. 

This whole week we have been working with a few different families and they are starting to progress, but there are some problems that are limiting them. I also will be staying here another change with Elder Newman and we are so excited to keep working to try and help the people here in this beautiful place. I am so thankful for the gospel and I encourage anyone who wants to go on a mission to just do it. Its not always easy, but its so much fun. Love you lots and Ill see you soon.