Mama Rosa's Testimony, Conversion Story Used in My Relief Society Lesson

Market Place in Teculutan

Village Street

Start of Hot Humid Rainy Season!!!

FAMILY!!! 

I am so stoked you be writing you guys! First off I can’t believe you sold the trailer! Congrats that is awesome! 

Mom are you actually going to use this little one? We used the big one for a good time but then we just stopped, but I think with this smaller one it is easier to haul around and we can do a couple just short small trips right? How many people does it fit? Send me some photos of the inside and you guys using it!!! 

We are glad you enjoyed the video of Mama Rosa, definitely need to let me know how your lesson went and we can get the photo to her don’t worry! I really hope your lesson goes well. Who are the other RS teachers that are in on the rotation with you? 

How is LF going? And dad how are your jobs going? Are you looking for others? 

I am so grateful for that letter from Uncle Jay, I think that is just what I needed so thank him again (I already did).

Just between us I think one of the reasons I have plateaued is the area, I’m sorry to say but I am so stoked to get out of this area, 6 months was a long time, I will miss the people but here the people are so closed off and the branch has serious problems! From child abuse to sexual abuse to almost half the couples getting divorced. The branch president is separating from his wife and there is just so much drama. I feel like that is why I am plateauing (that’s not all the reasons,) but that is one that is adding to it, and that is why I am stoked to leave to see what lies ahead and see what I can make with this year that I have left.  that is why it seems as if I am really excited to leave, it’s not that I didn’t love this area, because I did, and I will definitely bring you guys back to here to visit, but I feel as if I should clarify why I wanted to leave (and my comp, but that is a whole other story!). It may come off as being negative but I’m not trying to be, I’ve made the most of this area and the things that we had to work with, the family we baptized is doing great! And they have plans to go to the temple. And I have learned a ton in this area and from my comp!

I uploaded 2 videos one of the market and one of a street. AND we did end up baptizing the girl in San Jorge!! It was so great and so awesome to see everyone from san Jorge! The baptism when great and the little girl is happy, her name is chayito. Chay (like bye but with ch) and chye ee toe is how you would say it hahaha. Those are the other pictures that I added, and I am trying to upload like a fourth of the ones that I have! 

With the rainy season starting it is back to being hot, but a horrible hotness! Because it is so humid with the rain, and we have had a couple down pours, ones that create the rivers in the streets! It is insane! I love it!!!! 

So this week was district conference so we had priesthood and a general session  Saturday, which president stay attended and elder Lavage from the 70, or something like that I didn’t catch his name it sounded like garage but started with a L. President stay and Sister stay are amazing!  I love it when they come to the area or when we can talk with them, we were able to talk for a little and they are great! 

So we found an awesome family that we have begun teaching! And the dad even came to the conference Saturday which was all about families and it was so great! Based on the proclamation to the world and he really liked that. Usually it is super hard to get the men to come out the church things but with him it wasn’t the case, this family has potential I am excited to see what happens.  Sunday we went to Guastatoya for the conference and it was also about the families. It was fun to see so many members gathered for this conference it was 6 different branches from Gualan, San Jorge, estansuela, Guastatoya, Teculutan and Esquipulas. I know all the missionaries in those areas so it was also fun to see them!  

AH! So I love it out here, I am reading in the Book of Mormon am now in Alma 32, just a few observations are that I can’t believe the faith that they had! Mainly the sons of Mosiah and during that whole stage in the Book of Mormon, I love reading about their adventures that they had preaching to the lamanites, the successes and the trials, and their perseverance's that they had. well I am drawing a blank right now, don’t really have much else to say, but I promise my letters will get better, I will start telling more about the spiritual experiences and more about our investigators and the miracles I am seeing and am a part of everyday. I promise I am going to get out of this slump I am in and will push forward; I am stoked to see what this next year has in store for me. I know I am not at my potential, that I have a lot more that I can give, and I am going to push myself up to my potential. Uncle jays letter helped, I am going to try that, if you have any suggestions I will gladly take them, I am ready to make the changes necessary especially if I have changes it will be easier it is like a fresh new start! I love you all; I really do thank you so much for your support I hope everything is going well and make this next week a great one!!! Love you!

Elder Call

How are you guys?!?!

The phone call was great! Thanks again, I loved hearing from you guys again, and this last email just confirmed what I said about you guys doing more family activities now that I am gone! Camping AND a Moon eclipse. But its ok I love hearing about them. I was sad Alex didn’t email me back, guess I lost her, tell her I’ll see her in about a year!

So real quick I uploaded photos of an activity we had yesterday! (I love being out of the capital where it is more rural) so they have been growing corn in the church land so yesterday we ate it! Let me explain because it is a process.

1. Walk to the corn field. 

2. Pick out your gelote (corn husk) that you want to eat.

3. Put it in the hot coals and turn it every so often.

4. Pull it out of the fire with your bare hands.

5. Hurry and run to set them down because they are SUPER HOT.

6. Put salsa dulce (ketchup) and mayo on it and ENJOY!!!

It was such a fun activity and they were so good!

So this week was a little long little tough but it turned out great! Changes are the 30th of May. This week we entered into the rainy season and Guatemala sure did let us know! It was a total change of climate it is now a little cooler and it was dumped on us a couple times this last week! I love the rain though so it wasn’t a problem; I lent a pair of my boots to Lagos because our roof leaks and it leaked right above his shoes so they were soaked!

We gave a lot of service this last week, Tuesday we made cheese! A lady taught us how to make cheese! I have photos, and then the next day she went to the capital for surgery so we went and basically did it all by ourselves for her. It was super fun!

Ok well I am now in Alma in my reading of the Book of Mormon, where are you guys? I can definitely notice a difference a huge difference of when I have started actually reading, I’ve always been reading it on my mission but not really with a purpose or planned how much I will read, but now I am reading 3 or 4 chapters a day I can feel a difference in my day! So read the Book of Mormon continue if you are reading it, start if you aren’t, and step it up if you started but then slacked. It is like the talk elder Holland gave his last statement, if you´ve made covenants keep them, if you haven’t make them, and if you´ve fallen away do everything necessary to come back and honor them. (Something like that) it was a great talk and I loved that statement he made.

So last but not least I love this picture, it is one of my favorites, 

I was reading in Moses 7 28, where Enoch and the lord are overlooking the earth and everything that happened and will happen, and the lord is crying, and Enoch asks why, in 38 he gives an answer for the wickedness of the world. Enoch says but it doesn’t matter you have 10 of thousands of worlds like this one. So 1. It shows that he cares and loves for each of us. But with the photo I was thinking about it with reading these verses and the title of the photo is "O Jerusalem" when the savior is watching us, (or the loved ones that have passed away) are they saying "O elder call, what are you doing? or why are you doing that?" it made me think a lot am I letting the savior down or am I doing all that I can, so it is another challenge, think about that are we doing all that we can? And when we finally come to rest and are to stand before our God will he be proud of us? or will he be shaking his head saying "O" I can’t express it but it is there in my head, I hope you can understand a little of it. I love it out here! I’m having such a blast, we are working hard, 1 more week until the changes so I am trying to leave the next elder with something to work with. (There is nothing worse than coming to an area and having nothing to work with or build upon) I love you all and thanks for all the prayers and support!

MUCHISO love

-Elder CHAD J. CALL 

Love you! 

Awkward? Who Me? Never...

Well we learned 2 great things this last week. 1. I can’t speak English and 2. I’m so awkward.

It is a good thing I don’t have you call you guys every week because that would be horrible, luckily I can still write in English though, and I get to do that every week. and 2. I couldn’t believe it, I have officially become an awkward missionary, I remember when I entered I met a missionary going home and he was horribly awkward and we all agreed that we would never become like that, but I don’t know how but it has happened! which I don’t understand because I am still really sarcastic here but the thing in the culture of Latino America is they don’t understand my sarcasm, because a lot of the people are actually like that in real life, and so it’s not different or weird, it make me laugh sometimes because hardly any one understands it.

So happy mother’s day mom! Did you guys call last night? We had a weird phone call last from a number weird. Well I was asleep; my comp said he answered them they hung up really fast. Do you know anything about that?

Mom can you pay 20 dollars in tithing for my tax return? That way I don’t have to worry about it when I get home:) (For the tax return and a little of money I received last Christmas). Also can you send me blistex, green or blue flavor, I ran out, and a couple zip lock bags sandwich size!

Thank you for sending all the info I asked for you guys are great! This last week we went to a Aldea that we have in our area that I have never visited in my 5 months of being here because it is far, but some members just moved there and asked us to come so we went and it blows my mind seriously of how many people live here in the earth. There are so many little villages like this one we went to just in our area, there are SO MANY people, just when I thought I knew all of Teculutan there is more to discover. and if that is only in Teculutan think of how many little villages there are in Guatemala, and then in central America then on a world scale, there are so many people here, I have been thinking about that a lot this last week. Then on a bigger scale, in Moses 7  it is describing Enoch and the Lord, talking about all the creations that he has made. (Our world with ALL the people there are, and then all the other worlds he has created.) It is mind boggling, I can’t describe it how I’m thinking it. But the glorious part of it all is that God knows and loves each and every one of us, we can personally communicate with him whenever we want.  He wants us to, it’s like how you guys wanted to hear my voice and make sure I am alright, that is how our Heavenly Father is, he wants to hear from us and make sure we are alright, not just when we need things but just to catch up, so are we praying? Think about if I didn’t write you guys or if you never heard from me? That’s how it is with Him! So let’s make sure we are praying and sincerely talking, this last class from George Albert Smith was about that.

Ok well sorry but got to go! I love you guys and it was so great to talk to you guys even though I can’t speak English, and am super awkward! LOVE YOU

HELLO MERICA

How is it going family? Mom I can’t believe you guys pulled out so many swimmers! I kinda wish I was there just to see if I could have handled it in a kayak hahaha but that sounds so crazy! Last year we only pulled out like 5 right?

This week has flown by! It was really so fast! It feels like last week we were here emailing. So wanna know a secret? I’ve worn the same pair of pants for over a month!

Gross? Probably

Awesome? Absolutely!

don’t worry I still have plenty of clothes, and they are holding up, we just have a bet going to see who could go the longest using the same pair. And I won no big deal:)

So tell nana I love her! You are up there right now! So TELL HER! So this last week I have just been full of appreciation, I don’t know why but for the people here and the culture and food! I am going to miss it, and I got a little sad, but then I thought BAHAHA silly call you still have a year left to enjoy it all. So Teculutan is very hot, and this week was no exception, in fact it was a disfection (I just made that word up, opposite of exception?) it was SO HOT, and as far as rain it is hotter and drier than ever before we haven’t had rain for over a month.

So I want to thank you all for your love and support, really it has been amazing, thank you so much I couldn’t be out here if it weren’t for all of the prayers and love and support.

Ok well I have some Guatemalan Jokes and the sad part is, is that they are so true.... ¿ how many people can you fit into a bus?........ Always one more. story about that, we were traveling to Estansuela about 40 minutes away in a taxi van, and in the US you can fit 3 in a row and it’s a little squished but it is built for that, well following the joke "always one more" a bigger lady got on and the conductor tells me 4 in a row, so we all squeeze together and we muster up about a foot of space, and she is easily 3 feet wide(the hips are always wider) (I’m saying this all with respect, she was very nice) they have such faith here, I wanted to scream "are you crazy?" but following the phrase "always one more" so let’s just say that it was not a good experience it was a very long bus ride and it was hot....

But! I love the culture here! And the opportunity we have to literally live it! I have learned so much as a missionary and am so grateful for this opportunity I have to be here and to be serving as a missionary. I have learned so much about this Gospel and have seen so many things and am beginning to see how I want to raise my family what works and more of what doesn’t work. I am reading right now our heritage, the history of the church since its beginning and it is so amazing. I am literally blown away at the willingness and sacrifices that the early pioneers made to follow the prophet and do what God wanted. It makes me so thankful to them for all that they did. And I get frustrated sometimes with the members now days who won’t even make the tiniest sacrifice to attend church. (maybe it is walk an extra 3 blocks to church, or not work on Sunday, or pay a full tithe) sometimes people don’t realize truly the great blessing we have in this gospel. And then on the other side there are people that are sacrificing almost everything to be a part of this Gospel. They gave up their family traditions to join the church, or there is a lady Mama Rosa we call her. (I attached a photo) she lives so far away from the chapel, but she attends every week, she is like 84 and still kickin it. She was one of the first members here in Teculutan and has been a faithful member for over 30 years. She is the cutest old lady, she could be chewing me out and telling how horrible I am, and after I would just want to hug her. She is the greatest. Oh and she doesn’t have teeth. Ok I just got sidetracked but many times reading the book I was asking myself if I really had that kind of faith to drop everything and follow the commandments of the prophet, or to drop everything and go west. What would I do in that circumstance, I hope I would obey? Ask yourself what would you do? well guess what we still have a prophet, and we still have commandments, it may not seem as drastic as moving west over 2000 miles, but we still have to test our faith, and  it is in with the little things. Do we have the faith to obey the gospel with the little things? To follow the prophets guidance and counsel over the years? Ask yourself that, and then look into your lives and see if there is something that you can improve or change. I did it, and it is in the little things that we can improve our lives. IDK! 

But I do know I love you guys, thank you for your love and support and I’m super stoked to call home!! I hope it is better this time hahaha have a good week!

Elder Call

Holy Cow!

Hey family!

Holy cow this week has been crazy. The conference really threw us off, and having p day Tuesday. It has messed up my routine! So this week has flown by! But so much has happened. but first to answer your questions president said that I can call whenever I want, Sunday the next Sunday or during the week, basically he said it doesn’t matter, so depends also when we can come here to Guastatoya to use the computers there (we are going to obey the rules) it would be so much easier to go to an internet cafe that is one block away from our house and use Skype but we are obedient:) well at least we try to be. so I sent up a Skype account, I didn’t know if I could with mylds account so I did it with my other one, and I sent mom an invite, I don’t know to be honest if we can Skype they are going to try to figure it out. But it is still a long time away, so the question is when do you want to call? I can any time.

I don’t remember if I told you but last week we had like a sea food buffet! Our converts returned from Puerto Barrios and brought a bunch of king crab and fish and who know what, so we had a huge feast, I’m so sick of sea food now! But it was so good! Pictures to come next time I update Picasa. And I ate fish eyes, it sounds so gross but it wasn’t as bad as what I thought it would be, it tasted like a yoke of an egg.

Quote of the week "happiness is a habit - cultivate it" AND "love one another and you will be happy, it is as simple and as difficult as that." chew on those for this week and try to apply them in your life! something Elder Armado said is that it’s not fun to be angry, he doesn’t want to spend eternity like that, so don’t be angry here on earth, we are all humans and we all make mistakes and do stupid things, FORGIVE and move on. which sometimes is super hard because yes people are idiots (shoot I don’t sound like a missionary right now) but its true but don’t let them affect you, just like dad always says, have enough self-confidence inside to love yourself enough to not let others affect you.

So we are going to the temple tomorrow! To accompany our converts to the temple to do baptisms for their ancestors! I’m so stoked but they are so much more excited! It is truly amazing! So we are going to be witnesses for the baptisms and do the confirmations. But my comps recommend expires today (Monday aka last day of April) and so we called president and surprisingly he was in the area and hurry and did an interview with him. That was Friday I think. the next day the branch president tells us that a couple needs an interview to be sealed, but president needs more warning then 2 days (we are going tomorrow) long story short he was very upset (the branch president) and he had a right to be (no need to explain everything) but everything is good now, but ya he was super mad. So that’s how we end Saturday night.

Ok so yesterday (Sunday) was super stressful... let me explain.  We are walking to church (one block away) and we see president’s car parked out front waiting for us to open it. (Yes that is very rare) so president decided to come and do the interviews and visit the branch because he hasn’t yet (there are 94 branches and wards in his mission, so it is hard to visit every one) so that was a nice surprise. Also I had to give a talk.... so I gave a talk with president there and Sister stay. I kinda changed what I was going to talk about but not too much just took out an example I had about finding nemo hahaha but I feel like it was a great talk it was about how we can apply the atonement in our lives when we have challenges. I recorded it and tried to send it to you but it’s too big  :) bahaha is there another way I could send it? So the meeting was really great I spoke then sister stay then President Stay. He is such a stud, I love him, and he really does receive revelation, he addressed a lot of the problems that are going on in the branch and he knows nothing about them. He was very direct and bold in what he said (but that is how you need to be because sometimes the people just don’t get it!) so that was our stressful Sunday. A lot more happened this week, but I’m out of time! I love you! Read the Liahona this month the article about the atonement by Bednar, it is amazing and that is what I based my talk off of. I love you all so much and can’t wait to call home! Really just keep improving your lives, enjoy life! We only have one! So why not make the most of it? I love you all. Really I do.

Much love.

Elder Call

Also I attached a photo of my house from the one you sent me on Google Earth. We are just above from where you labeled our house... Next week I will send you a picture of the Chapel so you can put it up on Google Earth...Hahaha!