I Know Why I'm Here

(I had written to Eric to ask about some of the challenges he's been going through. This was his response. We've tried to edit those portions which may not be appropriate for a public blog. He's doing well and learning how to better overcome adversity. But if you're reading this, we'd appreciate it if you would keep him in your prayers.)

Good question. I`m kinda answering that in this letter to the family but you're right, it`s been tough. At the same time I`ve never been happier. Weird right? This week things have gotten pretty bad as far as (section removed for privacy reasons).  You know what though? Don't worry about it. I always refer back to D&C 122:7-9. It will be for my experience and my benefit. And the strongest verse of scripture maybe I have ever read is verse 8. Am I greater than Jesus Christ? Well not even close so I better man up and deal with it. I'm here for a reason. So yeah I'll be good.

Without a doubt this week was not easy. In fact it was quite hard. We've begun to have a lot of problems. 

To start off ________ and _________ I don't think they will be getting baptized. A couple nights ago on Wednesday he came home really drunk. He had stopped drinking for almost 4 weeks too. He basically decided he doesn't want anything and he has begun to fight a ton with his wife. When they have problems she always calls us down cause he gets violent and he calms down when we're there. The thing is I don't think they will be separated and so even if she wants to be baptized she can`t cause Hno. _______ won't get married now. But yeah definitely the toughest part of the week. I've never been in the middle of so many problems as I have here. But truly I know why I'm here. That`s something that I have learned in these 9 short months. It doesn't matter what happens as long as I do what I need to. And definitely that knowledge has helped me more than anything here. I'll be at my desk completely bummed out but I'll read something and I can always feel the Spirit here.

As for _________ he still hasn't come to church so we haven't baptized him yet. If I didn't mention we want him to come one more time before he gets baptized although he`s gone his 3 times. Hopefully he can come this coming week. I`m doing everything in my power to help him.

This week has had some cool things too. Remember awhile ago that I said I met an Elder who got his patriarchal blessing from Grandpa? Well he`s now our zone leader and I got to do divisions with him. It`s was definitely fun. I learned a ton from him. He has basically had the exact same problems in the mission as me and has some good advice. Oh this week also we did some more service. And yes sorry Mom it was completely repairing a roof. (We had asked him if he had heard about the LDS missionary killed in Guatemala while repairing a roof.) We completely tore it down and put it back up. If I have time I'll send pictures. It took awhile but it was good. 

Curtis I must say Happy Birthday and good luck with French Horn and your driving test. You can do it. It`s easy. Briana good luck with everything and hope you have a good couple weeks. As for your questions Mom here goes. Canche means like blondie. They basically just say it to anyone whose white though even if they don't have blonde hair. Ok no more time I got to go.

Love and miss you guys. Hope your lives are just fantastic. Bye!!

NEVER ASK THAT QUESTION!

Well here I am again!

We had a stressful week this week but it had some awesome parts. Also some weird things happened.

So let's see, where should I start? I guess start right off the bat with answering your questions Mom. It`s funny this week you asked me if I've eaten anything weird. This week I'm thinking I ate some of the most interesting things of my life. First one day we came down and Hna. Betty was cooking some type of meat. It just looked like steak but lighter. We started eating it and the texture was super weird and it didn't taste awesome either. I asked her what type of meat it was (as a tip for all future missionaries out there, NEVER ASK THAT QUESTION!) She told me it was ubre. I didn't understand that word and so to clarify she told me "it`s the part of the cow where they take out the milk"... So yes Mom I have eaten some weird things. I ate fried cow udder. And what more? The next day she gave us the leftovers in some soup mmmmmmmmm. 

And let`s see...now for what we ate the next day. Our Comedor gave us "fish". She bought it in the street and when she cooked it, it turned out really dark. But she just said it must be the type of fish. After we had finished it all she decided to taste it and then she smelled it. So yes she ended up returning the 4 pounds of shark meat covered in shark pee that she bought. Apparently it`s something of a delicacy here. And hey before we knew anything we ate everything on our plate...all of it. So yes definitely something interesting this week. But don't worry I'm still alive. But I would like to say it again to all those future missionaries out there. Just eat without questions. It`s better to just not know.

Ok and now for the best part of the week. This past Monday after I sent my e-mail we were walking down the street. Remember _______? He`s the boyfriend in the girl in our ward. His girlfriend has always been very strict about he can't get baptized if it`s for her. He has to believe everything. We ended up dropping him cause he didn't want to progress and stopped coming to church. Lame right? Well anyways he saw us in the street and called us over. He told us that he had been thinking about it a lot and he wants to be baptized! We didn't even do anything! Man I love the Spirit when stuff happens like that. So yeah he asked when. He said can I do it this Saturday? But there was something in the church that day so we have to move it for this week or the week after. But yeah definitely awesome he made the choice. He wasn't able to go to church Sunday because his sister got sick and was in the Hospital though but we're hoping he can come on Sunday and maybe have the baptism after church. We stopped talking to him and kept walking. A member was talking to some random guy and called us over (literally about 15 seconds after we stopped talking to Arturo). The member introduced us to his friend and said he had to go to work. So we were left alone with this guy whose name is ___________. Apparently the Member had given him a Book of Mormon about a month ago and he has read all the way through 1st and 2nd Nephi. Also he read Jacob and the three short books and now is reading The Words of Mormon!! How cool is that?! He brought us to his house and we had a good lesson about the Book of Mormon and the Church`s organization. We have another appointment tomorrow.So yeah definitly mircles happened with them. I would love to see a baptism here before I go.

As for _______ and ________ it`s tough.....Man I was so excited with them too. Apparently what happened is all of his papers were burned by the government (no idea why) and they need to get married. He hasn`t been able to get any papers so they can`t get married. But he`s still trying to get a couple things so who knows, maybe they'll be able to. They came to church and everything but we don't think they'll get baptized this month. And with Hna. __________ and _________ the story is the same. They're both in bed a lot and we really haven't been able to put an appointment with _______. So yeah we'll see what happens. 

Oh the house here are all the exact same. They're concrete and sometimes the people keep them clean inside and so they're nice. Many other times they're disgusting though with animals running around everywhere and pooping and stuff. It`s hard to go into some house but hey that`s why I'm here right? And when we contact no one really gets mean but no one wants anything to do with us. Sometimes they just yell through the door "No one`s here!!" So yeah tough. As for Gringos I don't think any exist here. I may have seen one or two my whole time here. Everyone looks at me like an alien too. All the kids yell out "canche!" But whatever I'm used to it. And yes I'm huge compared to everyone here. But Ok I think that was the last of your questions Mom. No pictures this week and I'm out of time.

Hope you guys have a good week and Briana good luck with your last month out in California. Dad Happy Fathers Day!!!!!! Remember to celebrate it like good ol`Guatemalans with a TON of fireworks. Ok goodbye!

Sometimes Missions are Just Hard

Guess who almost has 9 months in his mission? It's funny because I still remember when Briana got her 9 months. I was still in the house all comfy with carpet and stuff but hey now I'm here having a good time. It`s seriously crazy how fast every day is. 

So let's see. Today we found out who has changes for tomorrow and well...I don`t. I'm starting my 4th change here and by the end of this change I'll have 6 months in a tiny area with no baptisms...But hey we're thinking we should have baptisms this change. And Mom as for the changes to the mission they start....well tomorrow. I'm in a zone in the South Mission so this is where I'll stay my whole mission. It should be good to have President Saty until 3 months before I go home. 

So this week was alright. We only taught 12 lessons the entire week which was kinda lame but we're working. As for _______ and ________ (Our Comedor and her Husband) They're progressing alright. I should mention Mom that they aren't assigned as Comedors but we picked them. They rent us our apartment and live in the apartment below us so that`s how we met them and it`s nice for lunch and dinner we just have to walk down the stairs. Also they're kinda well...rich so we eat really good. Yeah so with food I'm not suffering. 

But they couldn't come to church this week but it was for a reason they couldn't really avoid. They definitely are going to progress and really want to be baptized. Also The Mom of ______ was going to go to church but didn't want to go alone and so is going to go next week with them. As for other investigators the truth is we don't really have any who are progressing really good. the biggest problem is no one here can come to church. It's weird too because the church is super close and so that isn't hard for anyone. I've definitely been praying hard to find new people so we'll see. Our area with the area of my District leader are going to start English classes and invite everyone. Hopefully this can help people come out and know the church. We're going to teach a class and after say anyone who has questions we can come by their house any day and teach them one on one (and also share a message). 

So that's basically my week. I don't have any more time so I can`t go into a lot of detail with Hna. _______, _______, or Los Gemelos but the story is basically the same. Keep praying for ______ who's been sick. Oh and that reminds me. One of our members who has been sick lately just got a lot worse. She's been sick and they ended up having to cut off her leg. Just recently she got a lot worse and we're truly not sure how much longer she'll make it. When we found out about it we basically ran to her house which is the only part of our area that`s far away to give her a blessing. No one in her family is a member but they called us. But we just had a really good experience with the spirit and everything. So maybe you could remember her in your prayers this week too.

Ok so no more time. Miss you guys all a ton and hope everything is good up there. ¡Adios!

One Hungry Comedor & Her Husband

Well hello there once again family!

Do I have a single letter that doesn't start with the same words? Meh probably but I don't care. I hope your week was good and everything. My week had some good parts and bad parts. But hey what week doesn't right?

So let`s see. I guess I'll start right off the bat with the good parts. So as you know we didn't have any baptismal dates last week. Sad right? Well for your information none of those people will be getting baptized. And yes I know you're now thinking, "hey that`s not a good part!" I know I know! Here it comes. So this Monday night after I emailed and everything we began to teach our new Comedor and her husband. They love the lessons and we already have them committed to be married and baptized June 22nd. We've taught them something every day almost sense Monday cause they always ask us when they`re going to receive the next pamphlet and when they can learn more haha. How cool is that?! They have a couple issues but we know what they are and they'll be able to overcome them. Also yesterday they came to church and loved it. The husband told us he almost went up to bear his testimony!! That would've been the funniest/coolest thing in the world but he didn`t which is alright. Maybe he will the next time. So yeah they love the messages and the lady always cries and says she knows this is what she needs to do. People like them are what makes missionary work worth it. It`s super fun to teach them and everything.

So yeah definitely the best part of the week I would say. Other than that the week was pretty normal. ________ and ________ it`s the same story. Now they're really irreverent during prayers and never want to come to church. It`s almost gotten to the point where we're not going to go anymore. We'll see though. Our appointment with Hna. ____________ fell last night and she didn't come to church. We don't know why but maybe we can go by this week. Also remember that the member who brought her friend? We taught the friend in the members house and she received it really good. I think she really liked the message but right now she`s having some health problems so she`s been in and out of the hospital and we haven't been able to teach her again. I'm definitely praying for her so we'll see what happens. I think she'll be alright though.

So nothing else really. That`s about it. But I do got to say to Curtis good job. Although you're not playing trumpet I've always kinda liked French Horn. Trumpet`s waayyy better but whatever. That should be fun. That`s funny about all the people talking about me. I probably don't even know most the people there now. But Curtis just remember that I give you permission to always call Colton freshman. You're probably way bigger than him so he can`t beat you up or anything haha.  

So no more time. I hope you guys have a good week and everything. Tell Grandpa happy birthday for me! Alright have fun this week. ¡Adios Familia!