26

3/26

Hola my friends. 

I have been working super hard and also melting from the scorching sun. I am always super sunburned, but it's okay I finally bought sunscreen and have been putting it on everyday now. Sadly the tan lines have gotten worse and my skin is more pale than ever before. I also have 6 months in the mission and I burned a tie which was pretty fun and I made a makeshift flamethrower to do it. We will be having our baptism this saturday if she passes her interview today and I think she will. I found out that me Zone Leader and I are 3rd cousins and he is such a good guy. We went to Xela yesterday because me comp was have nerve pain and need to get medicine so we didn't really get to have a p-day, but luckily we have today to write. Last night we got to cook some food from Honduras with my comp for a family that we have been teaching and I also made scrambled eggs with hotdog. I have been loving the work and I can't wait to hear from our prophet this next week. I love that we have the ability to hear a living prophet in our time and that he can receive revelation for us to guide is in our difficult times. I have seen the effect that this gospel can have in people's lives. I know that God has called me to serve and that he wishes nothing less for me than to feel that truth and the love that he has for his children.  

I hope that all of you are doing well and I pray for you everyday. 

Me- burning my 6th month tie!!

dinner at family's home 

Love you lots and see you soon. 

25

Hey everyone !

I have a killer time here in Guatemala and I'm super happy to be here serving the lord. I have had some super fun times this last week. On saturday I went to the hospital for an Ultrasound and then on monday I have back to do blood and urine tests. Then yesterday  I got my results and found our that I probably have kidney stones so I will probably be having surgery next week which is awesome but luckily I will be having the surgery here so I don't have to return home which is awesome. Also I got to with the mission to the temple and that was such a cool experience because I could actually understand the whole session in spanish. Me and my comp have a baptism this next saturday the 30th so we are super excited and hope that we help someone else start going to church.  Today we went to a super far part of our area that speaks Mum with is a native language here in Guatemala and is the most popular. We found a ton of people over there and I'm super excited to start sharing this beautiful gospel with them. I also have started learning K'iche  which is another native language here and I just starting on monday so I only have 3 days but I can introduce myself and my comp and the church in K'iche and I can read in K'iche which a lot of people can't do, but I don't understand almost anything when I'm reading. I also had the chance last week to dig a well and it was pretty fun. They lowered me down with a rope and I got to dig 40 feet below the surface. 

That is about all the happened this week and I hope all of you guys are going well and I will see you soon.

24

Talked to Ian today for a bit.  He told me a sweet story of this old lady that was excited to have the gospel being taught to her by the missionaries she gave them a watermelon.  He said he cried because this woman had nothing and gave them this food.  He was so touched and was so grateful to have he honor of teaching her about Christ and the gospel.   He is doing well.  Learning and growing. 

Email: 

This week has been a regular week and we have been doing our regular missionary work. We have started to play basketball every saturday with some of our investigators and also Im teaching English Classes after basketball at 9:00 so that we can get more people to come to the church to see what its like inside. My comp is also taking the clases from me of english be is very rough to work with so he doesnt really learn very well because he is mad but we are working on it. On wednesday we took a day just to find more people to teach and we found 21 new people and there are some amazing families that want to learn more about this beautiful gospel that we have. We had to explain to a lot that we dont take money because all the people here are used to giving money to other missionaries and pastors so we have to explain that the blessings of the lorda are free and we read a scripture from Matthew 10 that the servents of the lord dont take money. I am here with a awesome new Zone leader whos called Elder Schnepf almost like a sneeze. He is super cool and if from Gilbert Arizona. I have been having a fun time walking in the mountains and building up my leg muscles so that is awesome. haha. Also It has been so cool to call my family everyweek and share stories with them and also seeing there faces is super aswesome. Tonight we are making dinner for a blind and the other 12 memebers of her family . My comp is going to make some fried bananas with some frie sauce. I will be making white rice and eggs with hotdogs and cheese. I thing it should be pretty good food for them. This blind lady has the biggest testimony in the world. We asked her why she is always happy and she said its because she has this beatiful gospel in her life. I just wish other people could recognize the blessings of this gospel. I hope you are all saying your prayers and reading your scriptures. I love you lots and Ill see you soon

This blind lady he referenced asked them to take a walk up the mountain with her.  They were her eyes and she guided them around the mountain. She had it memorized from before she lost her site.  They just had to tell what they could see.  

23

March 4th

My district and our cool shirts. 

Hey everyone. We got our change call last night and everyone else in my Zone will be getting a new comp... well except for me. I am a little worried but we have been working hard with a lot of inactive families and we should have a least one baptism here in a couple weeks. I have been doing super good latley and Im excited because I will still be in the same house with Elder Wengreen another 6 weeks. We hsver been working with a family of police officers and they are super awesome. They all came to church this week and we have a cita with them tonight. They are building another room in our house so that me and my comp and have a room and I just wait till I have a normal bed in a couple weeks. The owner of the house is also digging a well outside that that we can have water everyday in the house and that will be super nice. I have been emailing our mission president and asking if I can train one the Elders from my group that went home and I thing he is going to come back in a change or 2. 

I have also been thing about college and I am forgetting so much English that is probably best to wait a quarter when I get back. I feel like an idiot when I talk to the new americans. I only speak spanglish now. We have a lot of service this last week. We moved someone from one house to another and we also pushed a lot of cars that were stuck. I got a new haircut today and my comp tells me how guapo I am everytime I wear normal clothes. Well I really cant tell you what we did this week because I forget almost everything and the time flys by. Well I love you guys tons and Ill see you soon.  

Got to talk to Ian as well. He mentioned he’d been in the hospital a couple weeks ago. He’d fallen walking up the mountains and dislocated a rib.   Said it hurt so bad but he’s ok now.   Waited until then to tell me this. Stinker 

22

Phone call and a letter!!!   

Hey everyone

 This week was good, but we didn't do a ton of stuff to tell the truth. We did have splits and I went with Elder Reed from Utah.  It felt kinda weird to talk in all english for a day. I haven't done that in about 5 weeks and it felt super super weird. I am going to have the worst English in 1.5 years. We had a Zone activity today and went to this super cool place with grass and tunnels through the middle of the mountain that wasn't reinforced in any way, but I had tons of fun. After I bought some fries and just laid in the grass while my comp was being anti-social. He hates going out and doing fun activities because he says its a waste of time and he just wanted to sleep instead. 

  We are teaching a lot of new inactive members.  Three came to church yesterday and one hadn't been to church in 9 years which was super super cool for us. We are also teaching a family of police officers and they are super positive and want to be baptized,  but also sad because I will probably have transfers here in a week and I’m not really sure I will be staying around for their baptism. The assistant to the President said I might become District Leader this next change. Tomorrow there is a  Carnival and people throw eggs and eggs filled with confetti and flour, but we cant leave the house because the bad peoples gang up on the missionaries and sometimes get hurt. I really want to "tirar huevos" at the people here. HAHA. 

  Im having a rough time with comp. The Zone leader had divisions with him for a day and afterwards he  asked me how have you made it 5 weeks with him. Im really scared that I'm going to have another transfer with him  and I really don't want to but I know if I do the Lord will help me. 

  That is super awesome that Corby got coach of the year and that Getchell did so good this year.  I hope that everything is going good for you guys and if anyone had a question about the Church I would love to answer it. 

Love you all and Ill see you soon 

Ps I forgot to take pictures and my cable to send them. I will next time.  

Phone call : 
Ian talked about the dogs in Guatemala.  He said he has been attacked by a lot of crazy dogs and they carry a few good sized rocks and they have gotten really good at chucking them to keep the dogs from attacking.  He said they use their backpacks and he's had to kick one because it was attacking to  much. He also mentioned this area is huge but they have 4 other missionaries in his area so he's not sure if they're going to get moved to another area.   He's working hard on perfecting his spanish so he can start working on Kiche too.    His Go pro broke but theyre rare over there so he was able to still sell it broken and get enough money to buy a good camera. 

21

Hey guys,

 We are working hard here in Guate and I learning tons of spanish which is good. I'm not sure when I will be changing areas but for now I will probably have more time here in Zaculeu. The truth is that we didn't really have anything super crazy happen this week. We are hoping to get a cita with dad of Libni to talk to him about the permission to bebaptized  and I think we are going to his house this Wednesday.

   Im teaching English right now to some of our investigators and some members. My comp doesn't really like to do fun stuff so we never really do anything exciting if it's up to him and I can make decisions for both of us.  I’m working on him. 

 I can’t  believe that we will be able to call every monday now to our families. I honestly didn't believe it when our mission leaders told us. I was like no way. You guys are just joking. I will probably only call every other week back to the family. The sun here is killing me and you would not believe how much of a tomato I was on Tuesday after we went to the ruins. My comp thought that it was pretty funny.  But he just sat below the ruins in the shade and didn't enjoy it so whatever. We work really well together during the day but when it comes to being a friend or fun  he wants nothing to do with me buts its okay. I'm here so help the people and to bless their lives with this gospel that has shaped me into the person I am today. Im not going to share a ton because Im going to call, but I love you guys tons and Ill see you soon. 

Phone call with Ian.  

First he said he wishes so much it could be cold for just one day. It’s so hot everyday.  In his new area it’s more of a desert area. His companion is a 23 year old that returned to the mission. He struggles with communication because he speaks a strange dialect of Spanish and a slang called “bos”. It uses half of most words.  Guatemalans struggle to understand it. He also doesn’t know how to play.  Ian’s teaching him slowly. We heard him speak Spanish to the family where he called. He speaks sooo fast!    

He missed starburst, Gatorade and Nesquick.   He is super excited about being able to call often. With the WiFi and phone struggles it’ll probably be every other week.   

Picture is of one of the other missionaries.  He was so hot he put ice cream on his neck.  

20

This week was super fun and  cool. We had tons of service to do this week. One was getting a tree out off like this ditch and the other was digging. I was digging for 4 hours in the sun but they brought water and lemonade so it wasnt that bad but I do have some blisters on my hands now.

 On Saturday I made a cake for one of the members and her family because her family arent memebers and they normally wont talk with us (that’s hard on her) but we got in the door and I made the cake with them and we talked while it was cooking. I fooled them.  Haha. 

On Thursday we had our Multi-zone meeting and Elder Zebellos of the 70 came and it was super cool to talk with him and he also came to our ward on sunday to talk so I got a picture with him. Also, this Friday Elder D Todd Cristofferson is coming to talk with us and I cant wait. It is going to be so cool. This week was just you normal week in the mission with not a tons of new exciting things to talk about, but we did find a new awesome family to teach and they have already came to the church a few times which is good with their friends who are members. 

  Today for our district activity we went to the Ruins in my area for free because Im friends with like 3 people who work there. It was so cool and you can climb and play on these ruins which made it even cooler than the ones in Mexico we went to on vacation. 

  My comp is doing good too. He always wears a hoodie for the sun so sometimes he doesnt always look like a missionary but he works hard and does well with the people. I had splits with Elder Barlow our district leader and he looks and acts a little like Chase which made it pretty fun. I also took a shower this week after we bleached the bathroom and I felt like I was home working in the pool again and I could stop laughing.

    I will probably have a new comp here in 2 weeks because my comp is finishing his training. I will have 5 comps in 4 changes which is a little weird but its okay Im making tons more friends in the mission. I hope I will train a new grindo so I can teach the whole lesson. No it will be super scary if that happens, but I know I will learn so much. Well I love you all and i hope you are reading the scriptures everyday. See you soon

My area 

 The Ruins

 My awesome cake.

Me on top of Ruins 

Us with Elder Zebellos 

19

Hey everyone!

I hope you all had a good fun week with the snow and the super bowl and that stuff. We are working super hard here in Zaculeu and my comp has been giving me crap all the time lately because there is an investigator that likes me and I can barely understand him because of his accent and he talks in slang all the time.  But I have honestly learned a ton from him and I found out why President Diaz put him with me. He said that he trusts me to help fix the disobedient Elders. He has a terrible first trainer that taught him some terrible habits like sleeping in, but he hasn't done it once with me and he said he hated his last trainer so right now I'm the "Favorite Dad" haha. We found new people to teach everyday this week which was awesome and we also put a baptismal date with little girl named Libni and her brother is going to baptize her the 16th of February if she can get permission from her dad who isn't a member so please keep her in your prayers. Last night after the lesson and we asked her to be baptized she started to say the pray and started to cry because she wants to be baptized so bad and is scared her dad wont let her, and it broke my heart to see her cry. I know the spirit can touch the heart of anyone to bare the truth of all things. Libni is only 12, but she knows how important this is in her life and I just wish others could recognize it too. 

Now on a little less spiritual note some crazy stuff happen to Elder Wengreen when we were on splits. So we were walking back home to the house at about 8:50 and we hear something big crash behind us and I turned around and dove off to the side because a motorcycle had crash and was spinning and flying towards us. Then I run other to the person who had crashed and he had bailed so he was fine and the asked if we were okay too and we said ya we are okay. Then the guy left on his motorcycle. Then Elder Wengreen started to lip and its because the motorcycle had hit him in the leg and I helped him back to the home and we iced it and the next day he was going to have to go to the hospital because we didn't know if it was broken or not but it ended up being okay and he has been"walking it off"this week. Then on Friday night they were waking to a appointment and then all the sudden the both felt super tired so they stop at the little tienda next to persons house and then 20 seconds later a truck crashed into the front door of the members house they were going to visit. If the had walked straight to the house they would have been hit by the car and possible could have died. The wall and door were wrecked. So as you guys can see Elder Wengreen had a pretty crazy week.

 I only have a couple more things and the first is I learned how to solve a Rubix Cube and I set a record for myself at 2 minutes 5 seconds. The second is that I love you guys tons and I'll see you soon. 

I didn't take any other picts this week sorry. But here is me right now :) 

18

  So I had changes this week and got sent to the other side of the mission in Huehuetenango in a place called Zaculeu and Im in a trio until tomorrow when one Elder finishes his two years and the other is the person that Im training right now. They are both from Honduras and they are super funny. My son ( what we call the new guy I get to train) came to the mission in 2015 but got sent home becuase he punched his comp and he finally returned after 3 years which is awesome. His is 23 and teaches awesome. He talks tons with all the members and we have found some awesome people to start teaching. 

  Im in the city now and we live with the zone leaders so that is fun because my zone leader from Xela is in the same house with me now and I get to talk with him more. The food here is awesome and I have eaten more food from members in one week than all of my time in Zunil. I might actually gain weight here. The area isnt as big a Zunil but it is still a little hard to memorize in one week. Spanish is going well and Im so blessed to be training. It is such a fun experience, but I tell my comp everyday he is training me becuase he knows more Spanish. HAHA. 

  On friday we went to eat with a lady from San Salvador and she made us some food from her country called Papusas and they are so good. Then she shared he conversion story and it was so amazing how God had prepared her to be a member of the church. Then she said that her other american son/Elder went home so Im her new son and she only refers to me as "hijo" and I say "mama". She is a 70 year old lady in our ward. The ward is about 150 people which is so awesome and the members try to feed us every meal which is so awesome. 

  I dont really have anything else to share so I love you all and I will see you soon. 

The first picture is at the 6 weeks meeting with my son. The second is with my "mama" and the 3rd is in a members house waiting to eat.

17

This week was super wierd and interesting. We found to super awesome investogators and probably the most positive in the area . One is a 18 year old girl from Cantel and he works in a bread shop. The other is this 70 year old guy who lives on a mountain so it is super fun to climb the mountain  3  times a week haha. We are also teaching a family that lives in the middle of the jungle so it is super pretty to walk to their house. On sunday we were sitting in the sacrament meeting and some random dog walk in and the members attacked it and threw it out of the Chapel and I was just shocked. I didnt know what to do but just laugh. Then we saw a dog just chilling floating down the river which was super weird too. I also helped some members dig the foundation for their home but I forgot to take pictures and it was super fun because I like digging holes. I have some blisters on my hands from it but they should go away soon. My comp has had lots of problems latley and  hasnt sleep super good. He also has problems with the member and the other day he lost his temper and threw a chair at  a little 5 year old so I had to call Pres. Diaz and tell him and that was super fun as you can imagine. Sometimes I feel like Im the older comp. Tomorrow I will have changes which is super sad because I have grow to love all the people here in this little town. The members told me the wished that my comp was leaving which made me sad, but I hope to return here and finish my mission. I packed all of my bags last night and will be visiting members until we need to be in the house at 9:30 tonight. I hope that all of you are having a good time at home and I pray for you all everyday. Spanish is fine now just need to learn Kiche. Love you all and Ill see you soon.

1. The zone leader and a member that leaves for the mission today 

2. Jungle where the investigators live

3. An avocado tree I found in the jungle

4. The view from the Jungle

16

Its super fun here now but  I can't wait for changes next week. There are so many different possibilities because I will be finishing my training here. I'm not really sure if I want to leave or if I want to stay another 6 weeks here. Its crazy to think I have been here for 4 months already. Each week goes by faster and faster. My goal for next week is to be training a new Elder because that will mean my spanish has improved enough to be kind of alone when it comes to talking. 
  The weather here as been super good here.  The hottest it has been is only about 90 degrees and sometimes at night it is in the 40s. We are working with and awesome family right now called the Pocol Quixtan family. Also, its been super weird lately because I have started to understand conversations in Kiche but I don't know almost any words. With the Pocol Quixtan Family  the Dad invited us to play soccer with his brothers and I was so bad haha, but I had fun.   So that is all that matters. 
  My favorite food here is the fries that they sell in the street and this super good hot milk drink. Also, we had our Day of a Thousand,  where every first Wednesday of the month as a mission we try to find a 1000 new people. Me and my comp found 27 before 4:00 and went to help other people because the goal is 15 each companionship. 
  My comp has lots of anger problems and hates just about every member that we have in the ward which makes it kinda hard to visit the members, but he doesn't remember where everyone lives so I just don't tell him where we are going and we visit members. We are going to have the interview with President Diaz tomorrow for the month so that should be fun. 

Well that is everything I think so I love you guys lots and Ill see you soon. 

Photos:

All the YMCA shirts I have found and bought 

A kid of one of the members

15

So this week was super fun with the new year and also with the meetings that we had. My comp & I  spent the new years in Xela with the zone leaders and it was super fun. We ordered pizza and drank lots of soda. Then the next day there were not any buses because of the holiday so we had splits (we split up our companionships and go out with a different comp for the day) and it went pretty well. Then we traveled home and worked the rest of the week in our area. Friday we had a leaders meeting so I went on splits  in Xela with another Elder from my group and we are both in our training and he is a super good guy so we had lots of fun.

   I had the best lunch I have ever had in the mission, but on the way to the lunch the was a fire next to the Chapel and the houses were getting filled with smoke so we ran and helped people get out of there houses. Mainly the old people because the can’t walk fast and we carried them out away from the smoke and fire and then left a statement with the firefighters when they showed up. After this we both went back to the house grabbed some water and ran to our next appointment with the old guy that doesn't hear very well and I started to laugh a little because the other Elder (my comp) doesnt talk super loud and the old guy just kept saying "what, what, what" and it was kinda bad but the spanish was fine. 

After the meeting we went to the hospital for my comp because he had a UTI and couldn't use the restroom without hurting and I laughed super hard when the doctor told him the same this as me..... its because all he eats is tortillas and drinks 7 UP and never water. So he got medicine and he is doing good now and doesn't have any excuses not to work so that’s awesome. This next change one of us will be leaving the area and we arent really sure what is going to happen. I really want to train this next change but its not really my choice. 

I hope everyone is doing good and I Ill see you all soon. Love ya. I forgot my camera so Ill send pictures next week. Here is one from my companions camera.  

14

Hey everyone things here are going pretty well. We didn’t do anything super crazy for Christmas, but it was super nice to call the family and say hi and talk with everyone. Super glad my best friend could be there too. Was a little sad to have to say goodbye again. It was almost harder than in person haha. 

This week we found some awesome new families to teach and Im super excited to share with them. I dont really have any crazy stories for this week but it’s weird and interesting is that there seem to be twice as many dead animals in the street this week ?!  

For the new year Guatemala lights off tons and tons of fireworks and drinks a ton so tonight shound be fun because the drunk poeple love talking to the missionaries. Tonight should be fun though because we are staying with the zone leaders again and the fireworks should be cool to watch.  Last week some missionaries shared a story with us when they were contacting a guy all the sudden the guy stands up and looks out side because he dog is getting in the trash and then the guy is like "one second Elders" he then runs to the door with this fat branch and when the dog enters the house he proceeds to beat the dog over the head until the dog dies and the branch breaks in half. Then after he says "lo siento Elderes perdi mi paciencia" which is like sorry Elders I lost my pacience with the dog. That was the first time they talked to this guy. Now I think this Saturday that guy is going to get baptized in their area so luckly that sin will be washed away. The amount he had to change to be ready for baptism is amazing too. 

 

Thats all I have to share so dont forget to read your scriptures and say your prayers. 

Love you all and Ill see you guys soon. 

Christmas tree is Xela 

My desk 

Me at my zone leaders