I came across a wonderful Ensign article this morning. It was the First Presidency message in March 1987. In it, President Hinckley heavily references the people, temple and missionaries in Guatemala.

Giving Ourselves to the Service of the Lord

Even though it has now been over two years since the dedication of the Guatemala City Temple, I vividly recall the great and moving experience it was to participate in those sacred services.

In ten dedicatory sessions, thousands of wonderful people joined in presenting this sacred house to God our Eternal Father and His Beloved Son Jesus Christ. Those familiar with the people estimated that more than 75 percent of those who were there were descendants of Father Lehi.

What an inspiration it was to look into their faces—handsome men and beautiful women with lovely children. Yet behind their stoic expressions, I felt I could see, almost in vision, generations of their forebears—the glorious days of their strength and goodness when they knew and worshipped the Christ, and then the tragic, miserable years, reaching through many generations, when, having rejected Him, their blood ran from the wounds of conflict, and they lived in pain, filth, poverty, and oppression.

Hundreds of those who came to the dedicatory services lived in the mountains and jungles of Guatemala and other areas of Central America. They came because their lives have been touched by faithful missionaries who have walked from humble home to humble home and told these people of their forebears and read to them from their own forgotten testament of Christ. They have been touched by the power of the Holy Spirit. The scales of darkness have slowly but surely fallen from their eyes. Now, among their numbers are strong men who serve as stake and mission presidents, as bishops of wards, and as patriarchs to their people. There are likewise among them strong and beautiful women who preside over Relief Societies, Young Women organizations, and Primaries and who teach with conviction in the organizations of the Church. In each of these people there beats a heart vibrant with love for the Lord and a testimony that is moving in its expression. It is a latter-day miracle, a wonderful thing to behold. How did it happen? How did it all come to be?

One need look no further than to the many missionaries who have labored in that part of the world, who in obedience to the Lord accepted a call from His prophet to serve a mission. It was said by Peter long ago that Jesus went about doing good. As His ambassadors, missionaries in our generation have gone and continue to go throughout the world doing good in the true spirit of the Master. Let me describe one of them. He is typical of so many others who desire with all their hearts to serve the Lord.

He came from California and grew up in an ordinary sort of way, not a member of the Church. He became acquainted with a girl who was a member of the Church. He was so impressed with her that, on learning that she was a member of the Church, he wished to know more. He was embraced by LDS students at Berkeley who taught him the gospel while he was going forward with his arduous scholastic program. He was baptized. Then, working nights and summers, he saved money enough to sustain him, if he spent it with care, for a period of eighteen months as a missionary. He was called to Guatemala. He was a handsome young man with a brilliant mind and a wonderful education in a highly technical field. I met him in the Guatemala City Temple. He grasped my hand warmly. I asked, “Are you happy?”

“Oh yes, so very happy,” he responded. I asked where he was laboring. He said, “Out among the Lamanites, the native people of Guatemala. It is a very small place where there is much hardship, poverty, and ignorance. The mud is deep, but the people are wonderful, and I love them.”

As I have thought of that tall and handsome young man, gifted and educated, working among the Indians of Guatemala in a jungle village, the words of Samuel the Lamanite have come to mind:

“Yea, I say unto you, that in the latter times the promises of the Lord have been extended to our brethren, the Lamanites; and notwithstanding the many afflictions which they shall have, and notwithstanding they shall be driven to and fro upon the face of the earth, and be hunted, and shall be smitten and scattered abroad, having no place for refuge, the Lord shall be merciful unto them.

“And this is according to the prophecy, that they shall again be brought to the true knowledge, which is the knowledge of their Redeemer, and their great and true shepherd, and be numbered among his sheep.” (Hel. 15:12–13.)

This young missionary, with his associates, was bringing to those among whom he walked “the true knowledge, which is the knowledge of their Redeemer, and their great and true shepherd,” that they might be numbered among His sheep.

This particular young man received no letters from his parents, no money, no encouragement. He had sufficient funds of his own saving to carry him through eighteen months. Because his mission was ending when we were lengthening missions from eighteen months to twenty-four, he had the option of remaining an additional six months. He asked his mission president with emotion, “Is there some way I can get help to stay another six months to work among these people I have come to love so much?” The needed someone was found, and the missionary was able to serve a full twenty-four months.

There are others like him, thousands today working in many lands, who, in the spirit of the Lord, are going about doing great good.

Let me tell of another person I met in Guatemala. He is John O’Donnal, the president of the Guatemala City Temple. He stood before a congregation and with a voice choked with emotion told his story.

As a young man he was graduated from the University of Arizona with a degree in agricultural science. He was employed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and was sent to Guatemala to work on a project to develop the growth of natural rubber trees to meet a critical need when war was engulfing the world.

As I remember his words, he said: “I was twenty-four years of age and unmarried when I came to Guatemala forty-three years ago. I had been reared with a love for the Savior and His teachings. In the course of my work here, I walked day after day through these mountains and jungles among the native peoples of this land. I came to know them and to love them, and as I saw the poverty and darkness in which they lived, I wept for them. They were the purest people I had ever known, but they were without the light of the gospel. I cried to the Lord concerning them. I knew that their one sure hope lay in obtaining a knowledge of and a love for Jesus Christ, and in receiving the record of their forebears, which testifies of Him.

“In time I fell in love with a beautiful girl in whose veins flowed English and Spanish blood and also the blood of Lehi, Laman, and Samuel. We were married and spent our honeymoon in the mountains among the native people. I told her that some day these people must hear the gospel and that they would rise in strength and beauty.

“In 1946 and again in 1947 I traveled to Salt Lake City and pleaded with the President of the Church to send missionaries. Finally, in December 1947, the mission president and his counselors brought four elders to our house. The next day we drove onto a mountain where together we had thesacrament, and the mission president dedicated the land for the preaching of the restored gospel.

“My wife was the first native of Central America baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Today she stands at my side as the matron of this beautiful temple.”

He continued: “In 1956 I was in a serious accident and was taken to the hospital for major surgery. My life hung in the balance, and in those circumstances I had a remarkable experience. The Lord showed me that a temple would be built in this land.

“Also, I was informed by a power beyond the power of man that my life would be spared but that my life would not be my own.”

His life has not been his own. As a scientist and administrator, he established and operated a large rubber plantation and operated for a short period a tire factory for one of the great rubber companies in the United States. But he did still yet a far more significant thing. In the spirit of the Master, he went about doing good. He worked sharing the gospel among the native peoples of Guatemala. For more than forty years he has lived with them, has spoken their language, has sorrowed with them in their sorrows, has taught them the everlasting gospel, and has been a quiet, unassuming, but magnificent pioneer in the development of the work of the Lord in that land.

When he walked the jungle trails alone, he was the only member of the Church in all that land. Today there are more than forty-four thousand of them. He nurtured the first little branch. Today there are twelve stakes of Zion in Guatemala and many more in the surrounding nations of Central America. Once, a few members met in his home. Now beautiful chapels of the Church dot the land. On a hill above Guatemala City is a magnificent temple with the figure of Moroni atop its tallest steeple.

It was this Moroni who wrote among his final words this charge to us:

“Awake, and arise from the dust, O Jerusalem; yea, and put on thy beautiful garments, O daughter of Zion; and strengthen thy stakes and enlarge thy borders forever, that thou mayest no more be confounded, that the covenants of the Eternal Father which he hath made unto thee, O house of Israel, may be fulfilled.

“Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness.” (Moro. 10:31–32.)

John O’Donnal was told when the veil between life and death was thin that his life would be spared but that his life would not be his own. How true that must be for each of us. None of us may rightly say that his life is his own. Our lives are a gift from God, and when we leave this life may not be according to our wish. Truthfully, our days are numbered not by ourselves, but according to the will of God.

Of all people, we must surely realize that there can be no true worship of Him who is the Christ without giving of ourselves. Why are missionaries happy? Because they lose themselves in the service of others.

Why are those who labor in the temples happy? Because their labor of love is in very deed harmonious with the great vicarious work of the Savior of mankind. They neither ask for nor expect thanks for what they do. For the most part, they know nothing more than the name of him or her in whose behalf they labor.

Sadly, many of us use our lives as if they were our own. It is true that ours is the choice to waste our lives if we wish. But that becomes a betrayal of a great and sacred trust. The Master has made it abundantly clear that “whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.” (Mark 8:35.)

The miraculous three years of the Lord’s public ministry brought forth many such great principles of truth. Each was given both by precept and example and they collectively represent teachings that have enriched mankind through all the years that have followed. Of all people, we in these latter-days have certain testimony that when men and women have recognized Him and followed His teachings they have known peace and prosperity. When they have denied Him and forsaken His counsel, they have suffered conflict, sorrow, pain, and darkness.

Let us now in our time, each one, reach out more generously to love those around us in the spirit of the Christ. It is not enough even to give alms to those in need. For as important as that is, it is as Sir Launfal, worn and old, learned from Him who shared his crust, “the gift without the giver is bare; Who gives of himself with his alms feeds three—Himself, his hungering neighbor, and me.” (James Russell Lowell, “The Vision of Sir Launfal,” pt. 2, st. 8.)

May the real meaning of the gospel distill into our hearts that we may realize that our lives, given us by God our Father, are to be used in the service of others.

If we will give such service, our days will be filled with joy and gladness. More important, they will be consecrated to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and to the blessing of all whose lives we touch.

Six Months Out Already!!!

Well hello there you guys!!

Crazy week I got to say. It was pretty awesome. But yeah glad to hear everything is good there with your work and Curtis in School. I can`t believe he`s forecasting already! Curtis are you enjoying lacrosse  And Mom I need to hear about the case. That`s really. cool. Also cool you had a missionary opportunity. Any baptism dates yet?

Elderes Layton y Villacis Afuera del Museo

OK so Monday was terrible. After I wrote you guys I felt way sick and we just went home and we were there the whole day. But at 5 in the Morning on Tuesday I knew I had to feel better so I could go to the Temple! So I got a blessing and everything and I went to bed feeling horrible and woke up feeling awesome. Yeah it was awesome so I was able to go and to enjoy the Spanish session. It was way cool in Spanish. I've heard it so many times in English now that it really wasn't that bad in Spanish. It was a really good experience  

Outside the Guatemala City Temple

And after it was awesome too. We first went to a HUGE taco bell with two floors and Foosball and TVs everywhere. It was insane. And after that we went to a museum. Apparently it`s the best museum in Central America. I can definitely see why they call it that. It was huge with tons of super old stuff and artifacts. Of course I`ll send pictures cause it was way cool. Oh and because I`m a resident here it was only 5 Quets to get in! Usually it`s 45. 5 Quets is about 63 cents. Ha yeah so super cheap. The bus to get there was more expensive and not nearly as cool.

Stela at the Museo

So after that the week was pretty normal. We contacted but we've started working with more members. We found a list with all the members with marks whether they`re inactive or active. So that definitely helps. Oh and has all their addresses. We still don`t have a whole ton of people we`re teaching though. The story is the same with ________ and __________ but with __________, (The guy who came up to us and wanted help) he`s just kind of dropped and we haven`t been able to get in contact with him. We`re still trying but we don`t know what more we can do. So that`s pretty much the week.

Elder Layton Finds a Statue Dedicated to Him

Oh I need to add a short message to Brooklyn,

Well hey there Prima. I thought I would quickly write something to say that yeah I got your last letter (About 1 of January) and today I was sad to get a DearElder from you saying you hadn`t got my response yet! I sent it the P-Day after I got your letter....Hmmmm Well I`ll write a new one. Hopefully you`ll get it and sorry! But thanks for the letters and Prayers. I definitly enjoy both of those things.

Ok so that`s the news from Guatemala. I hope you like these few pictures and just remember, TOMORROW ME AND MY COMP HAVE 6 MONTHS! Ha yeah seriously crazy. Aight Adios once again

Locked Inside

Eric Said the Door Opens to a Huge Dropoff on the Other Side

So hey look! I get to write this week! We go to the temple tomorrow and have the rest of our P-Day after. Today is just a normal with e-mailing. So yeah pretty cool.

Tomorrow is going to be fun ...you know if I`m feeling better cause I got pretty sick last night. But hey don`t worry about me it`s just part of being a missionary in Guatemala. But I`m way excited for the Temple and think it will be good.

8 more days and me and my comp have been out for 6 months!! Crazy right?! Yeah we`re going to burn ties and everything which will be fun. (Don`t worry I`ll burn one that`s cheap. Not one of my nice ones.)

So to this week. Believe it or not a whole bunch of contacting. We didn`t have a whole bunch of success believe it or not but we have some appointments that we`re hoping aren`t going to fall. So a few interesting things happened this week. 

Elderes Villacis y Layton

We were eating lunch at our Comedors house and she had to leave really fast. So we were just eating in the house and we decided to leave and finish our contacting. The problem was her daughter had locked the door. And also the doors here are a little different than the ones in the States. If they`re locked you can`t leave or come in without the key. Fun right? Yeah so we were stuck in there for about 3 hours with nothing to do. When she got home she was super confused why we were still there. We told her and she felt reaalllyy bad but we were all laughing pretty hard. So by that time it was about 5:30 and we had to go back home. To make that day even more useless in the morning we had a mutual activity we were invited to attend  It was all good until it turned into a huge water balloon fight. I was OK just standing to the side in my shirt and tie until someone came behind me and completely soaked me. Yeah it was ridiculous but pretty fun haha. 

I`ll send a picture. You can`t really tell we`re really wet but hey another picture of me. Of course you want it. So other then that nothing special happened. Oh we had interviews with the president which went good. And _______ is still trying to get his papers. We definitely need some new investigators haha. 

So crazy to hear about Sean and Chinese! I can`t think of three better languages to know (English, Spanish, and Mandarin . That`s going to be way cool. So yeah good luck Sean!!!!! 

Also Curtis that`s way cool about lacrosse. Good luck with that and don`t die or anything. Don`t worry I`ll be back to watch you in your Jr. and Sr. years. Also hope band is going awesome. Tell Judd I say hi and he needs to win State for me. 

And You Thought Being a Missionary Didn't Pay Well!?!

Oh and Mom that`s AWESOME you got jury duty. I know that`s something that nobody really likes but it sounds awesome. I`m jealous just so you know. That`s cool about Stake Conference and the new mission. I love hearing about new missions and everything but I want to hear about more then just missions dividing! I want to here about completely different areas opening up you know? But hey it`s definitely cool. So no missions in China or North Korea yet? 

So that`s about it from me down here in Guatemala. Hope everything is going awesome and I miss you guys. Enjoy the cold weather but ha it`s actually been suuupper cold here the past few days. Which is weird this is a hot part of the year. I don`t get how there`s never ever snow. OK adios until next time. I shall await the day I can write again.

Being Tall Does Have Its Disadvantages

Hi family,

Nother P-Day already which is crazy. Time here goes really fast. Like seriously. So this week was good but not as crazy as last week. Our mission has the least baptisms in Central America. Yeah so we need to change that. The problem is the the highest baptizing areas aren't going to be a part of our mission anymore as of June. So we definitely have our work cut out for us. We're trying and we have two baptismal dates and we're trying to get a third.

So the biggest thing this week was we had a mission conference sort of thing Thursday. It was only for the missionaries in the Cap so I got to go cause hey here I am. But that doesn't mean much. It started at nine and we had to get up at 4:30 in the morning in order to get there on time. Yeah and it`s in this same city ugh. We got on a bus and sat in traffic for 2 hours in the most uncomfortable bus ride of my life. I kinda don't fit in the seats here. I have to have my legs in the aisle which is a problem considering how full they pack the buses. There are tons of people standing in the aisle and they were basically sitting on my lap. But seriously it was painful. But hey it was worth it cause it was an awesome conference  It was about working with members and increasing our investigators. So we`re definitely going to try the stuff here and hopefully we can do it. Our mission goal in the month of March is every area baptizes a family. I think we can do it and we're working towards the goal. We still contact a lot and don`t have a ton of success with that but we're gaining investigators slowly. _______ and _______ are doing good and came to church but we found out he needs just a couple more papers. We think he`ll be able to get them so we`re hoping to still marry and baptize them on the 9th. _________ has been doing good but we really haven`t had lessons with him. He`s really busy and owns a restaurant so it`s hard to make appointments. We have one tomorrow and he`s definitely excited about the Gospel. 

So other cool thing happened at the conference  Afterwards my zone leader came and gave me 2 packages! Yeah basically the best thing ever. Yeah I got yours Mom which was awesome. I liked the candy. Also I got one from Sister Rau and the Laurels of the ward haha. So thanks Sister Rau a ton!! It was awesome. I thought I would respond to a few of the things people said in letters in that package. Brittany I'm sorry but Summit will always be better and my Brother needs to be filling my spot in the Trumpet section!! Kelly tell Haylee and Liz to shape up for me and I need to thank you cause apparently your envelope had the most candy. Friels thanks for all your prayers and Brother Friel I also say Hello!! Alright everyone else thanks for the notes. (Ha now they all have to read the Blog).

Nother crazy thing happened at the Conference that I just remembered. I was eating lunch and talking with an Elder who I`d never met. He said he was from Vegas and apparently Grandpa gave him his patriarchal blessing. Haha cool right? Yeah I can`t remember his name but it was pretty cool. Small world right? 

So that's about it. Just want to say good luck with lacrosse Curtis! Also I like how in your letter to me in the package you still refer to it as my room. Cause hey it's true. Thanks for everything family and I miss you guys a ton. I'm super happy to be here and I know the church is true and that this Gospel can change lives, cause I've seen it. So till next time...Maybe in two weeks cause we`re going to the temple next week and I don`t know if we will have a P-Day. Aight Adios!!  

The Peruvian Monkey Revisited

Me and my comp at a members birthday dinner...soooo good.

Hey family - OK a lot has happened this week. I really don't know where to start. I won't leave you hanging and I'll tell you the news. We found out today that the end of June our mission is being split. My old area won't be part of this mission anymore! Yeah so everyone outside of just a few few areas here won't be part of our zone. If I am changed before the end of June I won't be in the South mission anymore maybe. But hey we'll see. There's going to be two new missions here. East and Coban. So yeah pretty crazy right! What if I said that wasn't totally the craziest thing that happened this week... I'll leave that story for the end ha.

So this week was good. To answer your questions Elder Villacis is from Ecuador so yes he is a native Spanish speaker. He hardly knows English but I´m teaching him cause he really wants to learn. 

Our ward is awesome. The members are really nice and everything but the ward isn't huge about 80 people every Sunday. So this week was just contacting again. We basically just do that here. But hey we have found some people to teach. 

Cool story. We were contacting and having no success. We were in this little street like an ally way cause that´s how it is everywhere here. A guy came up to us and we could tell he was a bit drunk but not too bad. We just thought it was another crazy guy. He told us though that he really wanted to stop drinking and he knew that we could help him. He's really trying but we´re going to teach him. His name is _______ and we're going to teach him and his family. 

So yeah that happened and also this. We got a call from a man named _______ this week. We was an old investigator that couldn't be baptized cause he couldn't get married. He didn't have his papers and stuff so he wasn't able to, even though he and his "wife" really wanted to. So that was a long time ago. He said on the phone that he sold his TV so he could travel to El Salvador to get all his papers. He said we had to come over and visit him right away haha. So we did when we could and he was soooo excited to finally be able to be baptized. We have a date the 9th of March for his marriage and baptism. It's kinda far away cause his wife is pregnant and the baby will be here probably this week and we're hoping she'll have time to recover. We might have to move it back just a bit though but we´ll see. He's seriously super excited. 

Told you my bathroom was small.

OK besides that we really only taught one other lesson. And with him we put a baptismal date for the 9th of March too! He´s excited to and wants to be baptized. He just needs to come to church again. It´s really cool all this is happening cause the last baptism in this area was December. Before that was the last April. So yeah good times in Boulevard. We´re working hard and it´s paying off. We definitely get rejected here a lot more than in Zacapa which is kinda sad but hey we´ll find the people who are ready. Cross your fingers for us.

Mom when we have to be in at 5 30 we just study and stuff. We have permission to walk to our Comedors house for dinner every night so we have fun there. Oh yeah also random thought. If I´m here when they split the mission I´l basically be in the Cap my whole mission. Oh well I got to experience outside too.

So crazy story time cause I´m running out of time. Last night at my  Comedors house for dinner there was a new guy I had never met. I think he's family. I introduced myself and he said ´Whoa I knew a guy with a name like that in my mission´ I asked where and he said Lima North. But he said the guy was from Ogden. He got out his tablet and looked up the guy he knows on Facebook. His name happened to be Sean Layton. I couldn't see his picture but I recognized Sean's email so we knew it was him. Crazy right!! I guess they were in the same Zone and everything and later he showed me pictures with him and Sean. Me and him took a photo together and he put it on Sean's Facebook if you want to see. It seriously freaked me out. He also thought it was funny how Sean bought a monkey and kept talking about that. I got to see pictures of the monkey now all grown up and big haha.

All right so that's really all I have time for. Crazy week right! (Question mark doesn't work so you know) 

I hope you guys all had a good week and sorry I didn't have much time this week. 

Alright miss you guys and good luck in Cold Oregon!!

Home By 5:30 Cause It's Really Dangerous

He's SOOOO Organized!

Hello Family!

So as you know I`m not in my old area anymore. I am now in Zona Milagro. And yeah it`s in the Cap!! Haha the weather is awesome. Kinda hot in the afternoons but nothing like Zacapa. The mornings and nights are actually kinda cold but I like that. My area is called Boulevard and my companions name is Elder Villacis from Ecuador  I`m already really liking the area. It`s way smaller than my old one and so a lot less walking but I think it`s going to be harder. We do a ton of contacting and haven`t taught that many lessons. My house here is nice for the most part. It`s a bit bigger than my old one except the bathroom. just to get in the bathroom I have to duck down. The door is really small. Other then that though the house is nice. We do have a hot water shower which is awesome. It was waaaayyy cold for my first few days so we installed a hot water heater thing. I think I`m going to love it here. The members are cool and everything and the few lessons we've taught went really good. I've noticed my Spanish really starting to get better here. Even in just a week. Our Comedor is really good too. The food is awesome. I don't think I've eaten a single thing I  don`t like. So yeah life's good here.

I should give you a little information of what is going on in my old area. Elder Alvarado is now in a trio and training both of his companions. Yeah it should be pretty good. I talked to him last night and they`re actually have a lot more success there. They've found a few families and stuff. But yeah he also said it`s getting waaayyy hotter.

I really don`t know what to say about our week. I mean it was good but it was basically just all contacting. Oh yeah there`s a rule here that we have to be in the house by 5:30 cause it`s really dangerous. So the days seem really short. It`s 4 hours less for working. Yeah so we`re trying to do everything. Oh I should mention me and my comp entered the same exact day so tomorrow we both have 5 months. Yeah it`s kinda funny that we`re both greenies. He`s senior comp though cause he`s got more time in the field then me and he`s been in the area so he knows it. I don`t really care though. Hmmm what to say about the area...I can`t take a ton of pictures cause I`m not aloud to carry around my camera... Oh well the whole area just looks the same. Just houses and Tiendas. There are some cool views though that you can see out over a lot of the Cap. Maybe I`ll have to sneak my camera out one day. It`s also nice here cause I get letters like 2 weeks faster. So I got a huge pile the other day. (Basically all Dear Elders from Dad). Hey I'm not complaining though. So that's really all I can say about my area. I really like it. 

That's cool Mom you got to go to the graduation. Seems like it was cool. I still don`t know if that`s something I`m going to do but hey I have a little time. Hmmmm what else to say...Everything going OK there in Oregon? Yeah probably. OK so I don't want to just keep rambling. I'm going to send a few pictures of the house. I was going to send one with me standing by the bathroom door just so you could see how little it was but I forgot to take one. Maybe next week. Alright bye family and have a good week. 

First Transfer - A Greenie No Longer

During a recent baptism

Hello once again family. I am sitting here writing in Zacapa for yes...my last time ever!! I was informed last night I have changes and so tomorrow I go to the change meeting! Should be fun right? Well I guess but we have to wake up at 3 or 4 in the morning in order to make it there on time. But I have to say I`m pretty happy. I love the area and my companion but I definitely am not a fan of working in this heat.

Also it`s pretty funny cause we received a really big package today!! It was a bed and all the stuff so my comp can be in a trio after I leave hahahaha. Yeah he actually really doesn`t want to be but hey it will be good. Who knows I could be in a trio too. I guess like all the letters have said, our mission is getting way bigger too. This change there will be 43 new people! So they`ve split a lot of areas and there are more trios. I wouldn`t be suprised if my comp trains again.

So ok I guess I`ll answer all your questions. The people here are pretty nice but they are all either Catholic or Evangelica....not exactly sure what that is in English. When we actually get in a door they usually don`t like to change. Almost the only people who ever really listen are references from the members. So I`m trying to think of an experience teaching but nothing really sticks out. All the lessons are awesome and super powerful. That work?? 

And yeah I like talking to the kids but half the time I can`t understand them. Adults are way easier to talk to but the kids are really funny. 

As far as weird food goes nothing super strange. I really like it except a few things like the cheese, spaghetti  and a few other little things. They also put ketchup on EVERYTHING. Oh hey here`s a steak, want ketchup? Blechk. That`s the only thing I can`t get used to. For the most part it`s good. This morning we had french toast. We have that and pancakes probably twice a week so it`s my favorite. 

Look ma, no hands! (see recent letter about their p day trip on top of a bus)

So as to what else has happened...well nothing. I got to confirm Heydi in church yesterday. It`s still hard but it definitely was much better then the first one I did. But that`s really it for the week. Her baptism was awesome.

So I`m glad to hear everything is good in Oregon. I can`t wait to get my package cause I`m hoping there will be candy in it....

Briana I`m glad everything is awesome in California and hope some of those families work out. But hey if you want to have success you really should stop drinking tea. I know it`s hard but we`re promised blessings.  Ha ok Goodbye family. Until next time. I shall write you from a new area!

A Greenie No Longer

Well hello there again. Weird I`m writing again. Seems like it was Monday only like a week ago. OK well this week went really fast.

So this is our last week here. Changes are next tuesday so I`ll officially be done with my training and not be a greeny any more. So I could actually stay here longer but probably not for 5 months  Our President actually likes to keep us in areas for 4 changes (6 months)  sometimes but I doubt it. Me and my comp re-opened this area which just means we were both new to the area when we came. So one of us will change this time or next time so they don`t have to re-open it again. I'm thinking he`ll be made district leader here and maybe train again and I could leave. But hey maybe not. I guess we`ll see.

So this week was good. We have a baptism this Saturday which I`m excited for. We also have another date for the week after. It's with _____________. He's really cool. And when we do it we'll have to both be in the font to help. (He has a disability that requires 2 brethren to assist in baptizing him.) The one thing is that it's after this next change so I might not be here which would be kinda lame. Oh well all that matters is he`s baptized.......ugh but I really want to be there. 

We also have new investigators coming out of nowhere! The members always bring there friends and their always way excited to hear the lessons. We got a new one yesterday named _______. We're visiting her tomorrow I think and she is pretty excited. It`s like we don`t even have much time for contacting cause we`re walking across our area three times a day to appointments with all our investigators. 

So nothing really special happened this week besides the baptism dates and stuff. Can you believe after next change I have over six months here? Yeah weird. Almost 1/4 done. Well I don't want to think of it like that.

So today was awesome. We had our District P-Day. We went up to a waterfall here. It actually wasn't that big but we had fun. I'll send some pictures. It actually looked a lot like Oregon. It was weird though. The water was completely yellow. Oh well. After we went to the most amazing place. I`ll send a picture because it was truly amazing. There aren't places like it in Zacapa. (This was about 30 minutes away).

The Holy Ghost Teaches of Things That "Aren't True"??

Elder Layton Is Amused by a Local, Innocent Cow

Well hello again family. How is the snow going? I assume it`s still awesome. OK so Alexa is going to Peru? That`s so awesome! She`s definitely going to learn the best language in an awesome country. Also too bad about Mom being kinda sick and Tyson's family. I hope you`re feeling better Mom and I wish the best for the Adams.

OK so where to start I'm not really sure. In all honesty not a bunch of stuff happened this week but it was good. As I told you Elder Christopherson came to our mission to speak. We couldn't go to The Capital to actually see him though which was kinda lame but they had a camera and broadcast it here so we could see. He can speak Spanish which was cool but the sound was all messed up for a lot of it so we couldn't hear about half and when we finally could it was really quiet. So it was in Spanish and I could barely hear. ¡Que Bueno! It was really good though from what I could get out of it and I`ll remember it for a long time. 

Also one of the guys that spoke served his mission here in Guatemala and said "A lot of people ask me where my favorite area was in all of Central America (cause the mission was almost all of it at that time) and I loved them all. But I would have to say my favorite would be Zacapa...Why are you laughing?" Yeah it was pretty good. I actually really do like my area and just grateful I`ll probably be gone the hottest part of the year. The day after we had a Zone Conference with our President which was really awesome. It was really long but I didn't really care cause we learned a ton of stuff and I learned more about Christopherson`s talk that I couldn't hear the day before.

Unknown Church in Zacapa

OK let`s see...I`m trying to think of something else. Oh yeah we have an investigator who came to church (and loved it) and so now can be baptized. She has her interview tomorrow so I have to do divisions with the District Leader here and we`re going to baptize her this Saturday! It`s going to be awesome. Talking about baptisms that reminds me. There was two this past Saturday, from other areas. In the first they told me about two minutes before I had to give the talk on the Holy Ghost. It actually went really good I thought until I told everyone that the Holy Ghost teaches of all things that aren't true...Oops. I threw a "no" in there for some reason and everyone laughed but yeah it was funny. Other than that it was good. And after that, at both of them me and Elder Alvarado had to teach lesson 3 while they were changing. It went really good too and I`m definitely able to teach better than I was before.

OK That`s about all I got this week. Nothing else really happened. We just kinda walked around in the heat. I hope everything is going OK. Oh yeah good luck with being Coordinating Sister Briana. That`s awesome!

OK bye...Adios familia.

Understanding "Almost Everything" (Already?)

Hello family. OK mom I would like to start with saying I actually miss scraping the ice off my car for seminary so I don´t feel to bad for you. I'm not enjoying the heat but I'm a missionary and I'm enjoying that so oh well. It's weird - it's already starting to get hotter here and it never rains really so it always feels really hot and you can't escape it.

Yeah Mom I know Elder See. He's cool. He's not in my district but he's in my zone so I see him every once in awhile.

Just Say "NO" to coffee beans

That's insane that Alexa has put in her papers! I never would've thought that - that's really awesome. I'm going to have to guess she will go to Australia  Don't know why but it's going to happen. Also with Dallin and Micheal getting ready to enter the MTC ...or CCM for Micheal, good luck! You guys will love it. It's still weird for me everyone is going on missions. Well the Layton family will literally be all around the world teaching people. How cool is that?!

So for this week there wasn't a whole lot that was new. We had a baptism date for this coming Saturday but had to move it back a week because the girl is having problems at work and couldn't come to church. She has a testimony and everything and wants to be baptized but just needs to come to church again. I'm just hoping that if I have changes this time that she will be baptized before that. 

Also we have been teaching a man with only one leg. He's already been to church enough and absolutely loves it. He just needs to hear the lessons and I think he would want to get baptized. We'll get a date next time maybe. Both me and my companion would have to be in the water to help him out. That would be a pretty cool experience. 

This past Saturday the other Elders in Zacapa had a baptism which was really good. I had to direct the meeting and me and Elder Alvarado had to teach lesson 3 while they were changing. It actually went really good and I realized my Spanish is definitely coming along. In church the next day I could understand almost everything. Definitely some don de lenguas (gift of tongues) going on here. Oh yeah and then later that Sunday night the Hermanas in Zacapa called and said the person in their area who is getting baptized this Saturday wants me to baptize her! So I was happy about the until their Bishop told the girl we can't baptize them and we have to have members do it...Yeah so I don´t know where he got that. Obviously it's a good idea to have members do it but hey that doesn't mean we can't. Well I still might but we´ll just see.

Preferred Transportation

Enough rambling that´s basically it this week. Oh yeah I didn't tell you about the drunk man talking to me. Well yeah that happens a lot but this time it was during a lesson with Alfredo and the whole time "Hey I lived in Pennsylvania and can talk English Spanish and Italian." "Oh really well that's nice..." "Hey I lived in Pennsylvania and....." Yeah me and my comp were laughing pretty hard because he just kept saying that.

OK for real that´s basically my week. Hope everything is going well over there and enjoy that freezing cold for me. I guess Global Warming is only effecting this part of the world where no one actually drives...

Ok bye familia and have a good week!

Foto - Me on what I really want to start using to contact.

Spelunking

OK don`t freak out I wrote OK? Yeah sorry we had a zone P-day today and didn't get back until now. I hope everyone's week went well. I definitely have a lot to talk about and this keyboard is half broken so this should be interesting.

So I`ll start with our zone P-day. We went to a huge cave here. It was about three hours away and it was crazy. I am now convinced it was the very same cave Mormon abridged the plates in but I didn't find any more to keep as a souvenir. But first was a really steep hike down to it and then it got steeper and so we had to pull out the ropes. Hopefully you can see on the pictures how crazy it was. 

Once we got to the cave there was more climbing down. It was one of the freakiest things I've ever done. Remember that hike in Utah Mom? Yeah that was nothing. Out of our zone only me and four other missionaries actually got into the cave. It was amazing in there. There was a waterfall but the water seemed to disappear cause barely any was coming down into the cave. There was a ton of bats that kept flying out too. So we couldn't go extremely deep cause we didn't have more rope and an Elder didn't want rabies from the bats. So we climbed back out somehow and survived  I`ll try to send my favorite pictures of it. 

After we did that we caught a bus back but there was so many people the only place we could ride was on the top. Me and 5 other guys were on the top of the bus and about 20 inside (These aren't big buses). That was quite the experience too. I think we surprised a lot of people too, cause how many times have they seen big gringos clinging on for dear life to the top of the bus? I`m happy to say it was probably a first. And that brings me to here emailing you guys but other stuff happened this week too.

We got another baptism date so now we have one the 18th and the 26th. Both of them are girls about 20 (coincidence? I think not.) Ha OK just kidding but they both have testimonies but we just need them to come to church again. 

I think in a way my comp scared one of them into being baptized though. She asked what happens if she`s not and he shared a pretty blunt scripture and then told her the Pope believes in the BoM...Well anyway I actually think she has a testimony and this is something she wants to do.

What more?? We just walked a ton this week and got a bunch of new investigators from the ward and also a lot of people we need to re-activate. We definitely have our work cut out for us. 

Oh yeah I should mention an apostle is coming to our mission!! Elder Christofferson is coming. Oh but the only people that get to see him are the areas in The Capital so we`ll just stick around here in Zacapa sweating. OK I don`t have a ton of time and I need to do the pictures.

Mom I hope your birthday was good and Briana I hope you had a good year party. You hit your year the exact day as my comp! January 4th right? For his year we just burned a shirt and ate some food. It was quite fun.

Well I think that`s it for now! I hope everything is OK up there. I just want to say thanks to everyone who has sent me letters. I'm getting them but I literally have almost no time at all to write back. Just want to say thanks and I`ll try. OK buh-bye now. Hope you weren't freaking out too much cause I hadn't written and sorry for all the typos that are probably in this e-mail.

¡Oh Que Rico!

Hey Family,

Everything is still good here. No problems since we last talked. It was way good to talk to you guys. I`m glad you all had a good Christmas Break and Christmas. Well I guess it's still Christmas break there I guess. It's still hot here believe it or not.

Well this week my highlight was......... Receiving your package!!!!! Ha yeah I got it the day after Christmas. It was waayyy awesome. Literally it was everything I needed haha. 

The scriptures are perfect. I'm glad it's a quad so that`s good. I'm probably going to send my old scriptures home because I don't want to lug them both around and I'm using my old case for my new ones. It's not too expensive so whatever. Just put them away with all my stuff. 

Everything was really awesome too. My comp loved his stocking and I kept hearing from the other room ¡Oh Que Rico (Oh, how delicious)! The dog thing is funny (we sent him an ultrasonic whistle that emits a sound to keep dogs away) and actually works pretty well. Yeah so thanks for everything. I also got a bunch of letters so thanks to everyone for those!! Yeah so Mom you can calm down the package was all there with the Drugs...oh I mean Hot Chocolate and everything. (Okay, an explanation about the drug reference. Eric didn't get his package in time for Christmas. Brenda was discouraged about it and wondered if she shouldn't have sent the homemade hot chocolate mix - a powder - as part of the package. She was concerned that authorities could have mistaken it for some kind of drugs initially.)

Other than that this week was kinda slow. Oh well it`s still really good here and we just got a bunch of new investigators from references from members. So we definitively have our work cut out for us. One though I'm not sure is interested cause we came by and he said sorry I don`t have time I'm listening to music haha. So we'll see. 

We also had my baptism! I had to say it twice though. It wan`t my fault though!! I asked his name and he told me. When I used what he told my and finished the whole thing the Bishop stopped me. Apparently on the paper his name was different. So I ended up having to use the name on the paper which was weird...not the name he said was his so whatever. 

Afterwards I got baptized too!! The plug was broken so I had to get in and fix it haha. Oh and I realized we're really spoiled in the states. We have nice warm water in the fonts but here it`s freezing!! Oh well that's not important I guess. Other than that nothing really happened that I can remember. I basically told you everything on the phone.

Thanks again for the awesome package and all the candy. The ties are awesome. I was really excited for that third tie until I opened it and realized it was just service gloves....psh. Ha oh well I'll probably use them and they're really nice. I could have used them awhile ago when we dug fence posts and I got a blister on everyone of my fingers. And who knows I'll probably use them mostly for goalie gloves when we play soccer. Alright thanks everyone.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TODOS!!

Merry Christmas!

It kinda stinks that I didn't get your package but oh well. I got the one from Aunt Angie so thank you soooo much! It`s really weird it`s Christmas Eve already. Tomorrow besides talking to you guys I`m not doing anything. Today though apparently my comp scheduled 4 dinner appointments and so we`re going to try and do that....But yeah it should be fun. I really want that snow!! It`s really hot right now and snow looks way nice. I've never missed snow and cold before but Curtis enjoy it while you can. I also miss all the Christmas food. Here it`s just the same eggs beans and tortillas. But hey we can call them Tortillas de Navidad. 

Well as this week goes it was alright. It was a lot of the same stuff. Just teaching people and contacting. That`s always good though. The other Elder`s had their Christmas Dinner in the ward and they invited us. We found out the only reason they invited us though is so we could sing with them in front of everyone. I've just kinda got used to that now though. We have to sing like everywhere. 

Oh yeah also the kid with a baptismal date had his interview this week and is going to be baptized this Saturday!! And he told our District Leader he wants me to do it!! So it will be my first baptism ever. I'm really excited. Mostly because that means I probably won`t have to confirm him. It's going to be awesome. 

We also got a fecha with a girl who we've been teaching for awhile. She`s going to be baptized the 13th of January and she came to Church this week. She has a friend who is already a member but inactive. I'm thinking we might get them both to come to church but I guess we`ll see. 

I forgot to mention this Sunday an older man came to church with one of our members. He has been reading the Book of Mormon and wants to get baptized! Ha yeah so that`s really cool too. We haven't taught him yet but I'm thinking he`ll be pretty open to the Gospel. I swear we need to contact more to replace all these investigators we're baptizing. Haha ok just kidding but talking about contacting I got dad's letter today about his advice and yeah that's a good idea. We`ll have to try that more. 

Also tell Grandma that I'm getting her letters. Well I think. If dad is still writing me every week I don`t know because I only got one today. I guess the Guatemalan mail system is just really bad. Oh well I'm sure I'll get them eventually. Well that`s pretty much my week. nothing insane happened...Oh well that I can tell you guys hahaha.

Ok well I just want to say thanks to everyone who has sent me a letter and say MERRY CHRISTMAS!! Have fun in the states where Christmas means so much more than just Fireworks at 12 tonight. It actually means something of significance. 

Ok well that's everything. I can`t wait to talk to you guys tomorrow! I hope you like your new area Briana and tell Herrmana. Longoria I say hi from Guatemala. That really is weird she is your companion. (Eric was with Briana's companion while he was in the MTC.) Oh also have fun in Disneyland. Bye everyone and enjoy the holiday`s without me!! :)

The Good Life in Zacapa, Guatemala

Gorgeous night view of Zacapa from Eric's apartment balcony

Hello family. It has been good here in Zacapa. It's a weird feeling it being December and all but still using short sleeves and sweating every day. I definitely kinda miss snow but hey only two winters here so not too bad. It`s weird my first change is already over. I was only a five week one though but still it was fast.

Well this week was a good one I would say. We did divisions (companion exchanges), and me and Elder Tuckfield and survived!! We taught a couple of good lessons to new investigators and they seemed to go really good. We were able to answer all their questions and everything so I`m happy with it. The one thing is I definitely like my area much better than his. It`s far away and even hotter cause there`s no shade anywhere. Oh and none of the streets are paved. Oh well. 

This week was our Christmas devotional too. The President came and we watched a slide show and stuff. It was pretty cool. This week we had our first baptism! It was really good....Well OK, no one showed up for an hour and she forgot extra clothes to change into so she had to run back home, and by run I mean walk really slow cause her leg isn't the best apparently. But it ended up being really good I think. People showed up and it was good. 

Eric's response to mom - she asked why his bed wasn't made in another pic

Later that night was the ward Christmas dinner. The food didn't show up for a really long time and so me, my comp, and two other missionaries had to try to fill the time just by talking about Christmas experiences and stuff. It was interesting but ended up being pretty good. The food finally showed up and we had two new investigators there who seem pretty interested. One that night how he could become a missionary! Pretty cool. 

Alright Sunday was the worst. OK it wasn't terrible but it was interesting. We went up to confirm her and I was told that the Bishop was probably going to do it. But when he asked her who she wanted to do it she looked right at me and said "Èl" (Him). I kinda freaked out but luckily I had kinda practiced the first part before. But it was really hard when I did the blessing part because I've never even done one in English. Now I had to do one in Spanish in front of the entire ward. 

Well all I can say is it was kinda short and wasn't the best probably but all that matters is I did the first part right. That day we had a lesson with one of our other investigators and got another Baptismal date! It`s for the 29th this month and I definitely think he`ll be ready. I`m excited but I`m just hoping I don`t have to confirm again.

The Elders ran into Santa and this off-limits elf

That night me and my comp got a picture with a street Santa which was funny. I`ll send the picture. He wasn't expecting the elf to put her arm around him so his face is kinda funny.

Oh yeah I completely skipped a part. Sunday after church we went to a funeral for someone who had died in another ward. The service was good but after was weird. Everyone went outside and then we all slowly walked down the street behind the car with the casket all the way to the cemetery  I guess that`s normal here cause no one seemed too mad when we completely backed up traffic for really far. I don`t think we could get away with that in the States. The graveyards here are different too. No one is buried but they have all these house looking things that they`re put in. It`s kinda cool but literally looks like a neighborhood that is really really religious. Well that was pretty much my week.

I haven`t gone to the city or anything and no one has brought packages. So I have no idea if it has gotten here. I should get it this week though but we`ll see. I was told we got them at the Christmas devotional but no one got anything cause no one brought them. The easiest way to call is I`ll probably call Christmas eve real quick just to get a time. On Christmas I`ll call again just to let you know I can but then you need to call me back on that number cause it`s really expensive here. Hope that works. Why didn't you do cool gingerbread things when I was at home?!?! psh whatever just save all the fun for Curtis haha. 

Christmas here is definitely different. A lot of people do decorate their houses though which is cool. Even our building has a bunch of lights on it. I haven`t seen a nativity really but I think they`re probably normal. The different thing is a lot of people think Christmas is the 24th because they stay up all night that night and then at midnight they do a ton of fireworks. The fireworks are super cheap her and super big so there`s a lot. Every night we get a show haha. Well that`s about it. I`ll give you some pictures which are pretty cool.    

At the Chapel

Holy cow since when does our ward do missionary work?! OK just kidding but that's crazy there was seven confirmations in one Sunday (plus another one earlier in the week).

Elderes Alvarado y Layton

Oh and that's insane Katie is going on a mission! I never would have thought but that's awesome. And Brazil too. Well seems like a lot is going on in our ward which is cool.

Just in case you forgot what they looked like from this angle

So Zacapa was about 4 hours away by bus. Not too bad but definitely not a trip we can make every P-day. I think we get to go back to the cap this week or maybe next. I really want to but oh well we'll see.

Not sure, but this may be the chapel and font in Zacapa

Tomorrow through Wednesday I'm going on my first divisions (companion exchanges - the word is "divisiones" in Spanish). It`s with another North American who is being trained Elder Tuckfield. And it's in his area so I'm going to be completely lost. Oh well should be fun. 

Nothing super special happened this week. We had a lot of meetings for some reason every day so we didn't  have a lot of time to do stuff. We had interviews with the President here and that was good. We were at the chapel all day waiting to have them but we didn't really have a choice. That day we really didn't t do anything. Hmmm well really nothing else that sticks out. We had a dinner in Chiquimula last week for a thanksgiving Christmas combination thing but we have another Christmas one coming up which will be fun. 

 Well I can't think of anything else really. I`ll be on for another half hour if anyone is out there. Tell Sean good luck for me if you talk to him (Sean's going into the Air Force tomorrow) and tell Curtis to get out of my bed.

Also I was going to use Skype for Christmas but apparently if I do we only get 40 minutes to talk cause there's only one computer with a camera. So I`ll probably call. Well bye family and have a good week.

First Baptism

Elder Layton with 2 companions in the Guatemala CCM

All right this week was kinda insane. Hmmm where to start. Well how about here. I got my first baptismal date! And like Briana it's on the 15th of December. 

Her name is Hermana Consuelo and her husband was a member before he died. We have been teaching and she always comes to church. We taught her about the temple and eternal families and after that she really wanted to be baptized. 

I'm not actually doing it but my comp. I also think we'll have maybe three more this month but I guess we'll see. I'm way excited for it. 

We contacted a lot this week and didn't have any success. Most everyone here is either Catholic or Evangelico. Basically everyone believes in God but we don't get in to teach a lot of lessons. We do have a good amount of investigators so we still teach a lot of lessons to them. 

We're not sure if this was taken in Guatemala City or in Zacapa

OK what else this week. Oh yeah don't freak out mom or anything but I got pretty sick haha. It was kinda fun. OK well not at the time. I kinda threw up in the streets of Zacapa. It was actually pretty funny. I think a bunch of people thought I was drunk...Oh well we can find them later and teach them the Word of Wisdom. Well that was Saturday and I'm almost better now. I still don´t have an appetite but oh well I'm fine. 

I swear mom if you write the First Presidency or something about this just cause I told you you won't ever hear good stuff again. 

OK well Sunday was good too. It was testimony meeting and I think our investigators really liked it. Oh yeah and I had to lead the music. It really wouldn't t have been that bad but there isn't a piano or anything so I had to sing the first part of the song by myself to the whole congregation!! Well by whole congregation I mean like 50 people but still. Ugh it was worse then the throwing up... OK maybe not. Well I survived believe it or not. Did I ever tell you our Bishop is only about 25 years old_ Yeah it's weird but he's a really cool guy. He's about as tall as dad and knows a little English. Yep fun fun...what else.

Eric's Fish Dinner with Rice, Tomatoes/Cucumbers and Lime

Oh the food here is actually pretty good. Nothing is too weird and actually it's not way different. The weirdest thing was the fish which there is a picture of. I was actually really really good but still had everything on it. Other then that we just eat chicken beans rice and eggs. Oh yeah and the only thing I hate is the cheese here, blech. (I think he's talking about a hard, dry white cheese called cotija. If that's what it is, he'll learn to love it. MMMMMM!) 

Also Dad I eat Pan Dulce all the time. It's great. That and Pan Galleta. Yummy. But really the food isn't as different as I thought it was going to be. And here's the lame thing. The only time I tried to eat something American I think that´s what made me sick. I had cereal and milk and I think the milk was bad or something which is weird cause it was the first time I had opened it. Maybe cause they never refrigerate it something happened. Well I don´t know, I'm kinda scared to eat more of it cause I have a ton...

That's awesome Curtis was in the Christmas parade. I laughed really hard at his picture in the uniform though. No offense to you Curtis I just remember how much I hated those uniforms. Glad to hear the store is going well and Dad's doing good too. OK well I got nothing else...Thanks for the letters everyone.