Pacas and Fireworks

Here we have places called pacas. They're little stores that sell clothes, almost anything that you would buy at the store but not food and that kind of stuff. They're awesome. You can get really good deals on clothes and other stuff. Then there's the Megapaca. And it's a huge store like Ross's but bigger and it's full of clothes to find and you can get some good deals there as well.

This week was good. We went to the North American's house for the 4th of July. I don't remember if I told you her name but it's Talia and she's 24 years old I believe. She just had a baby but she's my hero. She married a Guatemalteco and lives here now. I have a lot of respect for her. She gave us apple crisp and ice cream and they did fireworks.

We're still working with Gabby and her mom, Lorena. We're really trying to build their testimonies and as well with Juan Josè. We're also working with a sister, Lizet, who's spouse is member and has entered the temple but he critiques the church a lot and they've had a few problems with members of the ward and such but she accepts a goal to work towards being baptized on the 4th of August. We're super excited for her and we know that things will go well. We're also working with a family of 6 and the grandma. The mom and her 5 kids, Family Gutierrez. It's not very often that you see families that big here. But the kids are all super smart and they read the stuff and we're hoping to get them to go to church this week.

This last Tuesday we ate a ton of food. I mean a ton!!!! We ate lunch with Yajaira and she gave us a full plate of food. Rice, beans (by the way I love beans), fish, and a salad of vegetables, and tortillas (by the way I love tortillas as well and don't know what I'll do when I come home...). Then that night we ate with some members Hermano and Hermana Sique. We ate beef cooked over the grill (delicious), rice, beans (I love her beans), tortillas, salad, bread, and it was so good. But I ended so full that I was full for days. I love the food here.

We went to the central market today. I didn't buy much but there was some pretty good stuff. I've heard that it's better to buy in other areas like Coban (home of the pacas) and Peten. Hopefully I get the chance to visit these areas but we'll see.

Yep that was my week here. We had 6 investigators in the sacrament meeting this week which was awesome for us. Hope you all have a great week. Love you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Weather, Pictures, and More

They don’t celebrate the 4^th of July here, but there's a North American here, Talia, and she's going to have a small party for the 4th so if we have time we're going to pass by, see some fireworks, and eat pie! I want the pie! I'm excited :)

Yajaira's baptism went really well!!!! We had a really good turn out for the baptisms here and it was even raining (or pouring). But it was good!!! She's really doing well!

Wow sounds crazy all the fires going on there. The weather here's been crazy. Hot some days and cold others. The sun's been burning hot lately. When it's not raining the sun burns. We got a little burned this week but not very much. Like those first few days in spring when you go outside and get burned even though it's not that hot outside. But it's all good. I like the days with the sun more than the days with the rain.

Sorry not much happened this week.  Love you lots and have a great week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hermana Cruz and Carolina.  Carolina is waiting for her mission call!!!

Hermana Cruz by our house.  Ours is the oe with the white door and the rocks (to the right of Hermana Cruz).

Hermana Cruz on our service day.

Elder Reyes and Elder Rodriquez on our service day.

Some of the Guatemalan children.

Elder Eskelson, Hermana Cruz, Yajaira, Mariela, and me.

Baptism day with Yajaira!

My boots come in handy here.  It's crazy, the rain, here sometimes.  When there's thunder and lightning you know it's going to pour.  there was a really loud one the other day that was really close by, but luckily we were inside a house.  But we really jumped haha.

Me!

Hermana Cruz!



Amo la misiòn ahorita. Es chilero y aprendo mucho. Quiero darle mi testimonio que sè que la iglesia es verdadera. Sè que estamos aquì por una razon muy especial. Sè que Jesucristo vive y es mi Salvador. Sè que tenemos el poder aquì en la tierra. El Sacerdocio fue restaurado en la tierra por medio de Josè Smith. Sè que las familias puedan ser eternas. Y espero por el dìa cuando yo puedo hacer convenios con mi espeso en el temple por tiempo y por toda la eternidad. Les amo mucho!!!!!

Telephones and a Shower!!!

Finally yes we got a telephone!! It's super exciting!! It makes things so much easier. We got it on Saturday. We're going to buy a shower today. It's not too bad to shower in cold water when it's hot outside but we've had a few cold days this week and it's not that fun.

Yajaira made it to church so she's going to get baptized this Saturday!!!! It's super exciting!!. She's doing great! She already knows a bunch of members so it's going really good. This is really helping her a lot in her life. She feels good and we can see it as well on the outside. God is blessing her.

Mariela's still so-so. She didn't go to church again this week because there was problems with her daughter Jeymmi but we really don't know what to do with her. She doesn't have a problem with her family because they live in Nicaragua and if you knew Mariela you would know that it doesn't matter too much what they think about her religion. Daniela's doing good even though her family doesn't like the church. She's gotten a lot stronger since she joined the church and has been able to stand up to her sons a little. It's really helped her a lot.

Congrats to Chris on his engagement!!!

This week was pretty good. We found someone that said that we had passed by and that we had taught her how to sing the hymns and we sang exactly the same song with her. But I know that we hadn't ever visited her before. It's crazy. Hermana Cruz said that this has happened to her before. It was pretty cool though. We're going to meet with her again this week. Hopefully it goes well!

Happy birthday to Chad and Linda Hansen!!

Hope you have a great week! Love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pictures!!!!!



                                Hermana Ramos, Elder Rodriquez, Elder Reyes, and Hermana Nielsen

                                             Hermana Ramos, Daniela, Hermana Nielsen

                                                      Hermana Nielsen (with short hair!)

Hermana Cruz at the Guatemala City Temple

Elder Rodriquez, Elder Reyes, Hermana Cruz, and Hermana Nielsen at Wendy's after their temple visit

Elder Rodriquez and Hermana Cruz in the taxi coming back from the temple

Elder Reyes in the taxi

No Transfers for Me!

And the results are in..............there aren't transfers. So I'm here in Los Olivos another transfer. Well I've completed 4 transfers here and on to the 5th. I'm happy that I'm still here with Hermana Cruz. I've really learned a lot from her and I'm sure I'll learn a lot more. We had a pretty good week. This Tuesday a general authority came and spoke to us. Elder Maynez, a 70. It was really good. He talked to us about 2 gifts that God gave us. Jesus and the Holy Ghost. He really talked a lot about the Holy Ghost. The importance of it and what he does. He also talked about the celestial kingdom. It was funny because he asked, "What's it like in the celestial kingdom?" Well we don't know what it's like. So he said, "Then why does everyone want to go there?" hahaha. Yeah we really don't know what it's like there but we all want to go. But it was a really good talk and he did a really good job. He spoke in Spanish. He served as a mission president in a Spanish speaking mission but hasn't spoken Spanish in 12 years. He did a really good job. It was awesome.

And speaking of this conference we were all together, the three missions in the capital (north, south, central) and the CCM! All the missionaries in the capital were all together and it was awesome. And I ran into ELDER BURPO!!! It was crazy!!! He's already got 23 months in the mission and is going home next month!! Wow crazy!!!! But it was awesome to see him and he's doing great!

Guess what we haven't had a telephone in the house for 2 weeks now. It stinks because it's really hard to set up appointments with members without a telephone. And those Sundays we have to borrow a member's phone or use a public telephone to call to report the numbers for the week. This weekend with the transfers a member let us borrow their cell phone for the night which was really nice of them.

Yajaira wasn't able to attend church this week because she had to work because or Father's Day. We were kind of disappointed but the baptism's on for the 30th now. But it's all good. My convert Mariela is now less active. She attend church one time in the last 6 weeks. I'm not very happy with her but we really don't know what to do. I'm a little bit frustrated but we'll see what happens this transfer.

I think they have Youth Conference here. I know they're all saving money to go to Coban this next month. But they don't go camping like we do.

I love you all a ton!!! Hope everything goes well!!

Cake, Brownies, and Ice Cream

The brownies and ice cream went great. We had talked with this family to cook it in their house but they don't have an oven that works so we did it at another person's house. But we didn't tell them we were going to do it so when we came they had also cooked a cake haha. But it was all good! So we ate cake, brownies, and ice cream yummy!! It tasted really good. We did those Turtle brownies with the carmel. mmmm! Gabby is doing good. The mom wants us to work with her some more before we put a date to be sure that she really has a testimony because the mom is still a little hestitant about the church. They've attended like 3 times now but it's still a little new for them. We're hoping to get the father to attend with them too so that they can be a happy family haha.

Mariela is my first baptism so she's already been baptized and everything. We aren't sure what's happening with her but she didn't attend church again and when we passed by the house we talked with Jeymmi (the daughter) and she said that Mariela wasn't there but I'm pretty sure that I heard her voice and we're pretty sure that she was at home. I'm really disappointed right now. She knows what she needs to do but she just isn't doing it. Sigh.... But Yajaira's doing great and is going to be baptized on the 23rd! We're super excited!!!

This week we had a lot of rain. It rained really hard one day, so hard that it hailed. Yes that's right hail. I didn't believe it at first but guess where we were. In the middle of it haha. It wasn't too bad but it was a surprise. We've also had some lightning and thunder, pretty loud. That's how we know it's about to pour...

This Sunday we had the ward conference and I played the piano for the choir. A family and us sang If you could hie to Kolob in English as well for a musical number. This family can all speak English. It was pretty good. The choir bought necklaces, earring, and bracelets for all that participated so we got those. It was pretty cool.

Tomorrow we're going to a conference for all the missionaries in the city to listen to a 70 Elder Maynez. So we get another p'day tomorrow haha. jk no we're going to listen and gain more learning in this conference and we're also not going to work until 6pm like a p'day haha. No it's going to be great! I'm excited!!!

Also we're in week 6 this week! Aiii! This transfer went by fast!!!! Next week is the transfers! The 20th! And I'm looking forward to this next week to find out where Jacob's going!!! I love you all and hope you have a great week!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Brownies and Ice Cream

I made a list of things to write this week so hopefully my email will be better this week. Yajaira is doing great! She attended church and we're on track to get her baptized. She's scheduled for the 23 of June. The transfers are on the 20th so if we have changes someone, us both, or neither of us will have the area changed and won't be there for the baptism. But it's all good. I'm just really excited for her because this is something that she really wants in her life.

We got the new For the Strength of Youth pamphlets and they're great! They're really pretty and well done. We were able to get one in the Distribution Center when we went to the temple. I can't remember if I told you but Elder Martino (area authority) and his wife were in our session and one of his counselors Elder Amado as well. Sorry if I said that again but I can't remember....

 I hit my 7 month mark this last Saturday and it was a great day.

We're going to make brownies today for a family home evening and we're going to eat it with ice cream. I'm super excited! I haven't eaten brownies since I left home.

Oh yeah and we're making the brownies for a family that's inactive. The mom and dad are members inactive but the mom is starting to attend again. She has the things that she wants in her life but still feels like there's something missing. After 15 years she's coming back to church!!!!! And she's got three kids. One, the oldest, is 11 years old, Gaby, and she wasn't blessed in the church so we're going to teach her and get her baptized! The other two kids are still little but we're super excited for the family. The father we don't know yet but we're hoping that maybe he can come back too but we'll see. From what we've heard he doesn't sound too interested right now but who knows. We're super excited for this family and Gaby is amazing. She's really smart, excited, and reads everything because she really loves the church!

It's been raining here. Not as much this week but it's rained hard. But it's all good.

Daniela's doing great! She's really grown a lot since her baptism and has been able to stand up to her children a little because they really didn't support her baptism but it's a lot better now. She prays for her children to understand. The oldest is the worst and meanest about it but we'll see how it goes further along in time.

Mariela's being Mariela. She attends one week and doesn't attend the other week at church. I'm not sure what she thinks because she know that we can't buy things on Sunday but then she talks about buying certain things on Sunday so I'm not really sure.

Things are going good in Los Olivos and we're working hard. I can't believe how many people and getting married! It's crazy and others going on their missions!!

Well I hope you all have a great week and love you all!!!!!!!!!!!!