I have forgotten how much I have missed hot tamales! I found a little kiosk thing hidden away that sells hot tamales so obviously I bought some!! Then some more and some more! If I was on I diet I would have failed this week.... Cause I ate horrible! Hamburgers (2 people invited us out to eat!), cake (for your birthday mom), and tons of candy....and my first snow cone in Guatemala...
But lemme tell you about this week!
Tons of amazing experiences...so Wednesday we were in divisions I stayed in my area and worked with Elder Fonseca, from Honduras. I was pretty nervous for a couple of the things I had to do alone without Garmendia but everything turned out great! We had a correlation meeting with the district presidency of Cuilapa. I was a little nervous but it went great, we got them on the same page as us, and ready to work. (This was a big step because a while back the missionaries ruined all the trust with them, so this was the first time in over a year that we have had this meeting with them.) And we got invited to give a workshop Sunday in the branch president training meeting. The meeting went great! All the missionaries and Branch presidencies were there. The counselor from the mission spoke and we did too. I really feel like it got the branches stoked to work with us and baptize more and support us. President Rosales (the mission counselor) spoke about having sufficient faith to get things done, and we talked about being more on the same page, unity, and also a couple plans president Stay has put into practice. After every missionary got a ride home with his branch president which I feel was even better, because on the way home we talked about things we can do to turn the branch around and get things rolling even more! So the training went amazing! However I did feel a bit weird talking to all the branch presidencies and district presidency.
So also while in division's we had a crazy lesson. His name is J, he is a reference of a member, and they have known each other for years and the member has always shared his believes and helped him out, but J has had some very hard experiences that have affected him when it comes to churches.... Long story short he knows a TON about the bible (his dad was a pastor, and his mom is a pastora) he made a promise that if the member went to the conference he would to, and he kept his promise!! He went and he really liked all the messages and even stayed for the 2nd session which is rare even for the members here. He said something touched his heart and he agreed to meet with us. So I was nervous for this appointment but it went well. Didn't turn out at all how we had planned, we started explaining prophets and we read in Amos 3:7 and long story short he doesn't believe in prophets or the bible because it wasn't translated correctly. So from there all out plans went out the door and we started from scratch. We also discovered that he doesn't believe in Christ. I have never met someone quite like him here in the mission. But the lesson turned out really well. We will have to start from scratch with him and basically erase all the incorrect ideas he has inside and teach him correct doctrine. Because he has some crazy believes, but the first thing I did when he said he doesn't believe in Christ was testify. With him it's going to be hard but it's possible because he has the desire to change and to improve his relationship with God and receive answers. He must have had some traumatizing experiences happen earlier on in his life that affected him; he asked some pretty hard questions that had me sweating for a couple days until I finally found the answer in Doctrine of Salvation ... Ya that deep of questions. But I’m excited to help him out it will be fun and challenging. We are going to meet with him again tomorrow!
Also yesterday, we met with an atheist (2 in the same week!!) that is super weird cause I have never come across one in the mission and now 2 in the same week? But things went really well; his wife is a less active who just moved back in with her mom who is a member. So they attended church and he says he has never felt like he does in our church, and he has attended a lot of other churches. He has a ton of questions and doubts but he is open and really opened up to us, and wants to believe in God again... but also had some tough experiences but is willing to try.
Umm also we had a zone meeting.... It went well, basically the same as the training Sunday but with just the missionaries. We tried switching things up a bit and invited other missionaries to teach a little. One missionary shared something that I really liked, something I want to share. He was talking about being happy and something his mother wrote him in a letter before she died was " never wait to be happy, find the joy and happiness in whatever moment" and I really liked that that apples so well to life.... And the mission, we should wait until we have a new area, or a new comp, or until I am home I can be happy right now. And the same applies back home! We can find happiness in whatever situation!
So two humbling experiences I want to share....
Remember Diego? Well he got baptized and entered the kingdom of God Saturday!
I have been humbled by him, to see how ready he was and so willing to change and come unto Christ. Also to see how receptive he is to the spirit, it has humbled me to be able to be a tool in the hand of God to help his children here on the Earth! The baptismal service was amazing! By far the best I have ever had in my mission. The District president was there (Diego was a reference from his daughter) and basically everything flowed, the spirit was there and we had 10 other investigators there to see the baptism! And it was just great!
Also another humbling experience was with a hermano, we randomly went to visit him. Now he has been through a lot, for 5 years he used to be a branch president up in the Mountains where everyone is Indian, then he was changed out, and he kinda fell away from the church. From there his life just went down lost his job, money, family, everything. He ended up here and came back to the church, is now super humble, strong desire to do the things correctly. But he has been through so much, we visited him in his house, and you would have thought we had made his year! He was so happy; he told us in the three years the missionaries have never visited him before in his house. (He lives in a tin shack smaller then my bedroom upstairs.) Just so humble. He started crying in the closing prayer thanking that we visited him. I admire him a lot at how humble and great he is. Sunday he just got called to be the elder quorum president. Super stoked for him!
So mom happy birthday... we bought you a cake.... and the mom of elder Garmendia.... because you both have the same birthday!!! How crazy is that! Ya so happy birthday we ate a cake for you.
Things upcoming for this week..... We are going to go translate for a group of doctors that are coming from New York! They are going to do a clinic in Nueva Santa Rosa, so we are going to go translate Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday! I’m excited to say the least! Also we are going to have a crazy huge branch meeting and chew them out (dar chicote!) but with love cause things need to change and we’ve tried every other way so we are just going to be direct with them!
Alright I love you all, and i love being a missionary...I love helping out other people and after visiting them they feel better! The Gospel does that! it comforts and changes people! Have a great week! and be safe!
Elder Call
But lemme tell you about this week!
Tons of amazing experiences...so Wednesday we were in divisions I stayed in my area and worked with Elder Fonseca, from Honduras. I was pretty nervous for a couple of the things I had to do alone without Garmendia but everything turned out great! We had a correlation meeting with the district presidency of Cuilapa. I was a little nervous but it went great, we got them on the same page as us, and ready to work. (This was a big step because a while back the missionaries ruined all the trust with them, so this was the first time in over a year that we have had this meeting with them.) And we got invited to give a workshop Sunday in the branch president training meeting. The meeting went great! All the missionaries and Branch presidencies were there. The counselor from the mission spoke and we did too. I really feel like it got the branches stoked to work with us and baptize more and support us. President Rosales (the mission counselor) spoke about having sufficient faith to get things done, and we talked about being more on the same page, unity, and also a couple plans president Stay has put into practice. After every missionary got a ride home with his branch president which I feel was even better, because on the way home we talked about things we can do to turn the branch around and get things rolling even more! So the training went amazing! However I did feel a bit weird talking to all the branch presidencies and district presidency.
So also while in division's we had a crazy lesson. His name is J, he is a reference of a member, and they have known each other for years and the member has always shared his believes and helped him out, but J has had some very hard experiences that have affected him when it comes to churches.... Long story short he knows a TON about the bible (his dad was a pastor, and his mom is a pastora) he made a promise that if the member went to the conference he would to, and he kept his promise!! He went and he really liked all the messages and even stayed for the 2nd session which is rare even for the members here. He said something touched his heart and he agreed to meet with us. So I was nervous for this appointment but it went well. Didn't turn out at all how we had planned, we started explaining prophets and we read in Amos 3:7 and long story short he doesn't believe in prophets or the bible because it wasn't translated correctly. So from there all out plans went out the door and we started from scratch. We also discovered that he doesn't believe in Christ. I have never met someone quite like him here in the mission. But the lesson turned out really well. We will have to start from scratch with him and basically erase all the incorrect ideas he has inside and teach him correct doctrine. Because he has some crazy believes, but the first thing I did when he said he doesn't believe in Christ was testify. With him it's going to be hard but it's possible because he has the desire to change and to improve his relationship with God and receive answers. He must have had some traumatizing experiences happen earlier on in his life that affected him; he asked some pretty hard questions that had me sweating for a couple days until I finally found the answer in Doctrine of Salvation ... Ya that deep of questions. But I’m excited to help him out it will be fun and challenging. We are going to meet with him again tomorrow!
Also yesterday, we met with an atheist (2 in the same week!!) that is super weird cause I have never come across one in the mission and now 2 in the same week? But things went really well; his wife is a less active who just moved back in with her mom who is a member. So they attended church and he says he has never felt like he does in our church, and he has attended a lot of other churches. He has a ton of questions and doubts but he is open and really opened up to us, and wants to believe in God again... but also had some tough experiences but is willing to try.
Umm also we had a zone meeting.... It went well, basically the same as the training Sunday but with just the missionaries. We tried switching things up a bit and invited other missionaries to teach a little. One missionary shared something that I really liked, something I want to share. He was talking about being happy and something his mother wrote him in a letter before she died was " never wait to be happy, find the joy and happiness in whatever moment" and I really liked that that apples so well to life.... And the mission, we should wait until we have a new area, or a new comp, or until I am home I can be happy right now. And the same applies back home! We can find happiness in whatever situation!
So two humbling experiences I want to share....
Remember Diego? Well he got baptized and entered the kingdom of God Saturday!
I have been humbled by him, to see how ready he was and so willing to change and come unto Christ. Also to see how receptive he is to the spirit, it has humbled me to be able to be a tool in the hand of God to help his children here on the Earth! The baptismal service was amazing! By far the best I have ever had in my mission. The District president was there (Diego was a reference from his daughter) and basically everything flowed, the spirit was there and we had 10 other investigators there to see the baptism! And it was just great!
Also another humbling experience was with a hermano, we randomly went to visit him. Now he has been through a lot, for 5 years he used to be a branch president up in the Mountains where everyone is Indian, then he was changed out, and he kinda fell away from the church. From there his life just went down lost his job, money, family, everything. He ended up here and came back to the church, is now super humble, strong desire to do the things correctly. But he has been through so much, we visited him in his house, and you would have thought we had made his year! He was so happy; he told us in the three years the missionaries have never visited him before in his house. (He lives in a tin shack smaller then my bedroom upstairs.) Just so humble. He started crying in the closing prayer thanking that we visited him. I admire him a lot at how humble and great he is. Sunday he just got called to be the elder quorum president. Super stoked for him!
So mom happy birthday... we bought you a cake.... and the mom of elder Garmendia.... because you both have the same birthday!!! How crazy is that! Ya so happy birthday we ate a cake for you.
Things upcoming for this week..... We are going to go translate for a group of doctors that are coming from New York! They are going to do a clinic in Nueva Santa Rosa, so we are going to go translate Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday! I’m excited to say the least! Also we are going to have a crazy huge branch meeting and chew them out (dar chicote!) but with love cause things need to change and we’ve tried every other way so we are just going to be direct with them!
Alright I love you all, and i love being a missionary...I love helping out other people and after visiting them they feel better! The Gospel does that! it comforts and changes people! Have a great week! and be safe!
Elder Call
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