GRANDPA ENGLAND

Yo what's up, insanely slow week again and tough week for the work but this week will be good - trust!  We only have one more week left in the transfer and it's crazy that it's ending. Even though the past 2 weeks have gone slower, the transfer has really slipped away from me. We have been super focused on visiting members and inactive members these past couple of weeks and it has been fun but really taken a hit on the datos for the week.

Also, this week my grandpa England passed away. If you know who Gene England was you know he was a man of joy, integrity, love, and humility. A couple weeks ago he hit his 105th birthday. I couldn't be more proud of the life that he lived and the example he was to the world. When I think about him living from 1919-2024, I can't imagine what his eyes have seen. He drove trucks with his father C.R. at 14 years old with his brother. He went to Japan and fought in World War II.  During that time, he sold his cigarette rations and came back with $5,000 (which in today's money would be around $100,000). He came back and bought a truck for the company and the rest is history. I dream to be half the man my grandfather was. Not so much about worldly possessions or experiences, but more in how he was nothing but righteous. The last words he said were “Think Celestial” and I hope to love and lead as he did. 

The mission has brought such happiness to me in my life and losing a loved one is not fun. However, the knowledge we have of the gospel helps me realize that wow, my Grandpa is way closer to me now than he ever was on earth. I thank my Heavenly Father for this knowledge and I hope to share this joy with each and every one of you. God KNOWS you and LOVES you. He has a plan for us and it is perfect. Trust him and find the joy as Christ would.

Love you all and stay safe

Scripture of the Week:

Alma 36:22 “Yea, me thought I saw, even as our father Lehi saw, God sitting upon his throne, surrounded with numberless concourses of angels, in the attitude of singing and praising their God; yea, and my soul did long to be there.”

Alma 36:22 “Sí, me pareció ver —así como nuestro padre Lehi vio— a Dios sentado en su trono, rodeado de innumerables concursos de ángeles en actitud de estar cantando y alabando a su Dios; sí, y mi alma anheló estar allí”

    REMEMBER LOT'S WIFE

Patzun

Super Long week this week. Definitely missed home more than usual haha. We made great progress with a lot of people this week and a lot of others not so much. I feel like I have forgotten how to work and how to baptize lol. However, we have found people who show so much potential and I really think we can get them before the transfer ends. They are the in-laws of one of our members. The member grew up in the church and her whole family are members but she married an Evangelical guy and his whole family is Evangelical as well. She gave us dinner and we ended up meeting the family. We started talking about the plan of Salvation and they were super excited about it. We went back the next day and we had prepared a great lesson for them. We introduced the Book of Mormon and taught the plan of Salvation using scriptures from the Bible and the Book of Mormon for every principle that we taught. They loved it. They had SO many questions and we were able to answer their questions and they genuinely felt a huge interest in our message. We testified of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and invited them to pray about it. They asked us a very important question. How have you guys felt God answer your prayers? We talked about how there are so many different ways to receive answers and revelation but that if you trust God and only ask Him, you will know, and when you know, do not be scared to accept the truth. 

I have seen hundreds of people throughout my mission feel the spirit, know it was the spirit, and reject it afterwards because they were scared to accept the truth. I had an experience with a family that told me that they weren't going to read the Book of Mormon because they knew they were going to find the truth. Conversion is hard, I don't blame them. I see myself in a lot of these people. Sometimes I don't trust God enough to convert me, or I do, and that's why I don't listen. There's an amazing BYU speech by Jeffrey R. Holland that is titled “Remember Lot's Wife”. I invite all of you guys to listen to it, and ask yourself the question, “What is something important to me that I need to leave behind because God has asked me to?” 

Love you all and I promise as we look forward with confidence in ourselves and in our Heavenly Father, we will find more happiness than what we would have left behind. 

Remember Lot's Wife: 

https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/jeffrey-r-holland/remember-lots-wife/

Scripture of the Week:

Luke 17:32: “Remember Lot’s wife”

Lucas 17:32: “Acordaos de la mujer de Lot”

Saw Hermana Cylda at the temple!  

I baptized her a year ago

    PROGRESS

Emma's baptism

What’s up everyone, hope you’re all doing super good. This week has actually been super good. The time here has been flying like crazy. We are about halfway done with the transfer and not gonna lie, I’ve been a little bit scared and nervous. When I got here I felt such a big motivation to get here, baptize and make a mark immediately. Here we are halfway through the transfer and we haven’t even set a baptism date yet. I’ve been kinda stressing out and don’t want to end the transfer without making progress in the area. However, super fun little baptism for our little sister Emma. She was so cute. Inactive mom, started visiting them and taught her all the lessons and then she elected me to baptize her. She is so cute and it was fun to be able to get in the water for the first time since Milagro. She was 8 years old so it technically didn’t count for the mission but it still counted in my heart. She’s the best. Little baptism drought since Michael 2 months ago and a month before that was the last one but it’s chill. We starting to grind again.

The little thought I wanted to give this week is about progress. I look back at old photos on google photos and don’t feel like appearance wise I’ve changed very much but my nature, habits, my thoughts, and everything has obviously changed so much. But lately I have been feeling that the past 2 and a half transfers I haven’t felt as much progress. I haven’t felt like I have been learning as much Spanish or learning much from the scriptures and lessons as I used to at the start of the mission. (I attached a link to the video so watch it and you’ll know what I mean when I say I kinda felt like I just looked forward into the cloud instead of walking forward). Almost like I just took a break and took a little nap. I now feel like I have started to walk forward again in faith and it feels a lot better.

I realized freak, I’m not always going to be on the mission! I was kinda upset that I wasn’t making as much progress or learning as much as I did at the beginning of the mission. So I realized just how hard it is going to be to progress at home. With work, school, sports, constant temptations and little by little slowing down until we eventually just stop in the cloud. Sometimes we(I) just do not trust what our Father in Heaven has in store for us(me) and we stop. Stop praying at night and in the morning. We stop reading the scriptures. We stop going to church. and eventually we START doing things that we shouldn’t. We get selfish, lazy, faithless, and eventually start to lose the testimony we once had. DON’T DO THAT. I promise it does not bring happiness or solutions. It brings sadness and more problems disguised as temporary “happiness”.

Wether you are homesick on the mish or are questioning if the church is true, or if you are the bishop of a ward, keep going and always remember that you can always progress. You will find what you look for.  If you look for eternal happiness, you will find it. If you look for the temporal happiness, you will find it. I trust you all to pick the one Jesus wants you to.

Be safe, love you hear from you all next week

Link to the video:

Patterns of Light: Spirit of Revelation

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/video/inspirational-messages/2012-01-012-patterns-of-light-spirit-of-revelation?lang=eng

Scripture of the Week:

Alma 32:26 “Now, as I said concerning faith—that it was not a perfect knowledge—even so it is with my words. Ye cannot know of their surety at first, unto perfection, any more than faith is a perfect knowledge”

Alma 32:26 “Pues como dije acerca de la fe, que no era un conocimiento perfecto, así es con mis palabras. No podéis, al principio, saber a la perfección acerca de su veracidad, así como tampoco la fe es un conocimiento perfecto”

So tired

La Dentista

    PATZUNERO

 

Patzun

Super solid week this week here in Patzun. It’s been super fun. Quick side story. I got one sentence into writing my email here waiting for the dentist to get here and I just watched her try and pull into the parking lot and she hit a motorcycle lol. (Everyone was fine) So freaking funny hahahah. It was totally the motos fault tho, he was trying to weave around her.

Anyways, the work has been picking up a lot and this week we made a lot of contacts with past investigators before I got here. I think 2 of the 20 investigators they had were actually interested lol. But we found cool people and got cool references. I also have bed bugs and it's the worst thing in the world, lmk how to get rid of em.  

I wanna talk about Cristofer and Juan. They are cousins and they are freaking goats. They went to church as kids but their parents never let them get baptized but now they are older. Juan is 21 and Cristofer is 16. We are hoping that 16 is an old enough age for them to let him decide for himself to get baptized. We called Juan on Sunday morning and told him to come and he said alright sounds good I just woke up. I honestly didn't think he was gonna come but he did and brought Cristofer which was a huge blessing. We had a little lesson with them after and they said that they want to get baptized and are super excited to get back going to church. We also have a 12 year old kid who is friends with Bishop's son and also said he wants to get baptized but right now doesn't feel ready and he doesn't feel like he has enough knowledge of the church to be baptized. We had a great lesson with him and read Alma 32:21 and D&C 20:37 which helped him out a lot. We'll get him fs!

Really not too much going on lately though but there is a lot of potential. We are going to fast this Saturday for the area. I would love for you guys to fast for the people you guys love as well. 

Love you all

Be Safe

D&C 98:11 “And I give unto you a commandment, that ye shall forsake all evil and cleave unto all good, that ye shall live by every word which proceedeth forth out of the mouth of God.”

DyC 98:11 “Y os doy un mandamiento, que vosotros desechéis todo lo malo y os alleguéis a todo lo bueno, y que viváis de acuerdo con toda palabra que sale de la boca de Dios”

Me and my Comp

Patzunero by night

    105

Happy Birthday to my Grandad England

He turned 105 years old today!

Yo what's up, transfer week came and I did get transfered. I miss Elder Giles a lot already but my new comp is super lit too. His name is Elder Andreasen and he actually came into the mission with Elder Giles so he's still super new. He is insanely motivated to work and super happy all the time which really helps me out haha. We are serving here in the Patzicia zone and our area is called Patzun. Been super lit so far and the ward is massive. They all have the exact same last name though and it's so confusing. I'll get it down soon though. It is insanely cold here as well. I realized that I am not used to Utah weather anymore. The past 9 months of my mission it's been above 80 degrees and now it's been 55 degrees and raining and I've been going through it lol. Hopefully the winter I get back doesn't wreck me in Utah. However, there's no heating anywhere here so I'm assuming it's still warmer in Utah during the winter.

Not too much to write about besides that and I wanted to share the testimony of Michael Alexander López Gomez. He and Elder Giles were my best friends for 3 months and it was a miracle I got to be in San Raymundo when Michael was baptized. Here is what he said, (translation to follow)

“Me llamo Michael tengo 21 años. Quiero dar mi testimonio de cómo fue que conocí la iglesia y su Cristo de los Santos de los últimos días. Yo soy encargado de un negocio de venta de comida, un día llegaron a comer 2 misioneros sus nombres eran Elder England y Eder Giles ese día yo los antendí y les hablé en inglés. Ellos me preguntaron si estudiaba y que me podían ayudar a practicar. yo acepté lo que me dijo y así nos juntamos un día para praticar después ellos hablaron de la iglesia del libro de mormón y de la biblia. Yo tenía mis dudas al principio pero ellos siempre me daban una respuesta y quería saber más de la iglesia. Un día me invitaron a insistir la iglesia y yo acepté con gusto estaba nervioso ese día pero estaba feliz de ir y ellos iban conmigo eso me daban tranquilidad ese día y yo sentí algo tan bonito y sentí que mi corazón decía esta es la iglesia verdadera desde que sentí eso yo quise saber más de la religión y los elderes me ayudaron mucho siempre estuvieran conmigo con los días fue creciendo nuestra amistad y me enseñaban muchas cosas. Yo estaba feliz y sentí que estaba más cerca de Dios y los hermanos de la iglesia eran muy amables conmigo y si tenía alguna duda o pregunta ellos me ayudaban a encontrar las respuestas. Con el tiempo decidí batizarme los elderes me dijeron si tenía dudas que orara y que le preguntara a Dios si esta es la iglesia verdadera yo oré varias veces y puedo decir que desde que conocí la iglesia y oré yo sentí algo muy bonito Y pude saber por medio de ese sentimiento que esta es la iglesia verdadera que el libro de mormon Es otro testamento y de que José Smith fue un profeta y decidí cambiar mi vida y acercarme más a Dios. El día de mi bautismo fue el 31 de agosto 2,024, fue el día más hermoso para mí y fue tan especial. tuve muchos sentimientos ese día pero el más grande fue la felicidad y sentir Que había nacido de nuevo y que el peso que tenía en mis hombros ya no lo sentía más desde ese día me he sentido feliz y bendecido. Estoy feliz de ser un miembro de la iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de 2 últimos días y le agradezco mucho a Dios de haber puesto los a los ederes en mi camino. Gracias a ellos ahora soy una mejor persona y estoy en las cosas de Dios. El día 8 de octubre tuve la oportunidad De ir al templo de la Ciudad de Guatemala. Fue una experiencia tan hermosa. El templo era tan hermoso y me sentía feliz de haber tenido la oportunidad de conocerlo. Fueron desierta que haber conocido a los edres fue lo mejor que me pudo haber pasado en la vida. Me ayudaron acercarme más a Dios. Hacer una mejor persona y se convirtieron en miss más grandes amigos y ahora sé que esta es la iglesia verdadera y estoy feliz de la persona que soy ahora de los cambios que he tenido en mi vida ahora siempre estoy feliz Y el sentimiento de hierra la iglesia leer la biblia y leer el libro de mormon son únicos. No se pueden explicar solo que es una gran felicidad y estoy orgulloso y feliz de ser un miembro de la iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los últimos días. - Michael”

“My name is Michael and I am 21 years old. I want to give my testimony of how I came to know the truth of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am in charge of a food business. One day two missionaries came to eat. Their names were Elder England and Eder Giles. That day I attended to them and spoke to them in English. They asked me if I studied English and if they could help me practice. I accepted what they told me and so we got together one day to practice. Afterwards, they spoke about the Church, the Book of Mormon, and the Bible. I had my doubts at first, but they always gave me an answer and I wanted to know more about the Church. One day they invited me to go to church and I gladly accepted. I was nervous that day but I was happy to go and they went with me, that gave me peace of mind that day and I felt something so beautiful and I felt that my heart said this is the true church. Since I felt that, I wanted to know more about religion and the Elders helped me a lot, they were always with me, as the days went by our friendship grew and they taught me many things. I was happy and I felt that I was closer to God and the brothers of the church were very kind to me and if I had any doubts or questions they helped me find the answers.

Over time I decided to get baptized. The Elders told me if I had doubts to pray and to ask God if this is the true church. I prayed several times and I can say that since I met the church and prayed, I felt something very beautiful and I was able to know through that feeling that this is the true church, that the Book of Mormon is another testament and that Joseph Smith was a prophet and I decided to change my life and get closer to God. The day of my baptism was August 31, 2024, it was the most beautiful day for me and it was so special. I had many feelings that day but the greatest was happiness and feeling that I had been born again and that the weight that I had on my shoulders I no longer felt it since that day I have felt happy and blessed. I am happy to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and I thank God very much for having put the Elders in my path. Thanks to them I am now a better person and I am in the things of God.

On October 8, I had the opportunity to go to the Guatemala City temple. It was such a beautiful experience. The temple was so beautiful and I was happy to have had the opportunity to go in. That meeting with the Elders was the best thing that could have happened to me in life. They helped me get closer to God. Make me a better person and became my greatest friends and now I know that this is the true church and I'm happy with the person that I am now and the changes that I've had in my life.  Now I’m always happy And the feeling of being in the church, reading the bible and reading The Book Of Mormon are unique. I can’t explain it, I'm proud and happy to be a member of The Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.   - Michael”

Love you all, and I know you all can feel the change in your life's just as Michael did. Doesn’t matter if you aren’t a member or have been a member for 50 years, this gospel will change your life for the better if you let it. So let it change your life, don’t forget about the feelings you felt at church, on your mission, the feeling you felt being sealed to your spouse or family in the temple, the time when your first kid was born and was given to you from your Heavenly father and a blessing and a sign that he loves you. Do NOT lose the motivation to keep going. 

Scripture of the Week:

D&C 50:24 “That which is of God is light; and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day”

DyC 50:24 “Lo que es de Dios es luz; y el que recibe luz y persevera en Dios, recibe más luz, y esa luz se hace más y más resplandeciente hasta el día perfecto"

Michael with his temple recommend

Saying goodbye to the Bhor family

Another goodbye to the Melendez family

Distrito de San Ray

My new comp Elder Andreasen

    LAST WEEK OF THE TRANSFER

Guatemala Temple with Michael

Super quick week so that means a super quick email.

It started off with going to the Temple and I had a pretty amazing experience. After the past 3 General Conferences that I've had in the mission, I have wanted to go to the Temple so much. To be able to go for the first time since the MTC, made me so happy. We did baptisms for the dead with Michael and they were fun to do but wow the Temple here is tiny. In Mexico and in Utah the bathrooms/changing rooms are huge and the font is obviously super big as well. But here in Guat it’s all tiny, and especially the font. The room was set up super cool though. I baptized Michael and then he baptized me and it was so awesome to see how far he has come. We met him about 3 months ago and to think in such little time he has made it to the Temple to baptize people on the other side of the veil is incredible.

I also had the chance to head into the Celestial room afterwards and I had a great experience. I've been super disappointed in the work that has gone on in San Raymundo but I prayed and felt the assurance that I did what I needed and it was time to look forward and finish strong.

We found 2 great and BIG families and we got a couple of them to come to church. We had to go and get em up outta bed but we still got em lol. The other families we have been teaching have made some amazing progress as well and I am so glad I had the opportunity to have the last week and set up something good for next transfer. We'll see if I get transfered, feel like I will, but it’ll be good no matter what. 

Love you all and I would love to hear from you guys, it's been a minute .

Stay safe

Scripture of the Week: 

Alma 26:22 “Yea, he that repenteth and exerciseth faith, and bringeth forth good works, and prayeth continually without ceasing—unto such it is given to know the mysteries of God; yea, unto such it shall be given to reveal things which never have been revealed; yea, and it shall be given unto such to bring thousands of souls to repentance, even as it has been given unto us to bring these our brethren to repentance”

Alma 26:22 “Sí, al que se arrepiente y ejerce la fe y produce buenas obras y ora continuamente sin cesar, a este le es permitido conocer los misterios de Dios; sí, a este le será permitido revelar cosas que nunca han sido reveladas; sí, y a este le será concedido llevar a miles de almas al arrepentimiento, así como a nosotros se nos ha permitido traer a estos nuestros hermanos al arrepentimiento”

Obispo (Bishop)

3 Amigos

Hikikimoris 

(Lazy missionaries)

    TEMPLES

Michael's temple worthy

Hey what's up everyone, super insane Conference weekend. I was talking to my comp and we were saying how we want to make the goal to sit down at every conference for the rest of our lives and about how hard it would be to achieve that goal in reality but how good it would be for us. Sitting down and taking notes really helps us understand and feel the Spirit so much more. The opportunity to listen to a conference on the mission is something super different and super special, crazy to think there's only one more left.

I wanted to share a brief message about the temples. A lot of things called my attention this conference but one of the main things was for sure the temple. We do not have a temple in our mission so it has been over a year since I've gone in. Tomorrow we will have the opportunity to take Michael and do baptisms for the dead and enter the temple. I am so excited for a lot of reasons but here are some notes I took from Elder Rasband’s talk about temples …

The temple will hold up all who enter 

That it may be a house of peace, rest, comfort, and of personal revelation to all who enter the doors of the temple

We build Temples to honor the Lord, they are not for show, they are for worship

We are making sacred covenants and we are gathering Israel

Everything taught in the temple increases our understanding of Jesus Christ

All who worship in the temple will have the power of God and Angels over them

I am so unbelievably excited to go do baptisms with Michael tomorrow and I am so glad we have temples to help us, strengthen us, and guide us. I know each and every one of the speakers received direct revelation for us. In every message there is something specifically for me and all of you. Something personal. We just have to listen over and over and study and study and go to the temple and it will be revealed. 

Love you all, stay safe

Scripture:

Matthew 16:27 “For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works”

Mateo 16:27 “For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works”

San Ray 

Throwback - 16iman

    MONTUFAR

San Pedro at night

Super super long week this week. My comp got super super sick on Tuesday and was sick pretty much all week. We left the house for the first time on Thursday in the afternoon. Then on Friday we did divisions with the San Juan Missionaries and it was pretty fun. We met 2 references from members and set 2 baptism dates. Super sick and I felt the spirit super strong in the lessons. That's gonna be something I'll miss for sure. Just seeing people feel the spirit is a feeling we can't really explain but still just the best. My comp during those divisions also went crazy. He went with members and he got references and they are now our #1 family. Highest potential of getting bapt. Shoutout Giles. Montúfar is the town that will save us.

Not a very eventful week to report about but I do have a cool thought to share.

“This is the spiritual kingdom of God moving forward in its divine course to fill the earth, a truly marvelous work and a wonder! As we contemplate our past and future, may we remember the prophecy of Joseph Smith, words that I testify are true: “No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done”

I love this quote because in all honesty I was super not that motivated for a couple weeks there feeling like San Raymundo defeated me. But I read this quote this week and realized that we will never be defeated. There is ALWAYS hope, work, people and we just have to have faith. Trusting in the Lord is hard, but when we do it, the trials become easier.

Love you all

Scripture of the Week:

Alma 32:26 “Now, as I said concerning faith—that it was not a perfect knowledge—even so it is with my words. Ye cannot know of their surety at first, unto perfection, any more than faith is a perfect knowledge”

Alma 32:26 “Pues como dije acerca de la fe, que no era un conocimiento perfecto, así es con mis palabras. No podéis, al principio, saber a la perfección acerca de su veracidad, así como tampoco la fe es un conocimiento perfecto”

The first one in San Ray

Catholic Church

Utah Moms

Zone Conference 

    LAS FAMILIAS SON ETERNAS

My family in Antigua Guatemala

First I wanted to start off this email by saying I love you all so much. This week was a great week for me to appreciate the mission and how much it has taught me. How much I have grown over the past 13 months and how much stronger my testimony is.

This week I had the opportunity to do a lot of divisions. We met a lot of people who need the Atonement and need the hope and happiness that it brings. I talked to a sister in San Pedro when I was on divisions with Elder Bolaños and every time I meet someone new, which is A LOT, they ask me about my background because I look Latino but they say my accent sucks lol. Where I'm from. I usually hit em with Uruguay or a Honduras. Then I tell the real story. This sister in particular loved my story and told me, she has an adopted son and he's 6, but he doesn't know. Then she asked me, how did your parents tell you? I joked with her and said well they didn't have to, I'm brown they are very very white(sorry England Fam) so I really didn't have to be told. But no no, the real story is that I have always known because my parents have grown up telling me that. They have taught my siblings to teach me that as well, which might have been hard to understand. Davis, Sophie and Maggie were all under the age of 10 when I was born so it would have been a lil hard to understand I bet. My parents always taught that families are who we make them. Our biological blood line doesn’t affect that “England” is the last name I had in the pre-mortal life as well. 

It reminds me of an experience that sticks in my head today as if I was reliving it again. I was little. Probably about 10 years old. We dropped Sophie off at dance and I asked my mom if we could go to Wendy's because I was hungry. We went and that Wendy’s was disgusting, we waited for a good 20 minutes and it was one of the worst Wendy's meals I had ever eaten.  That 20 minutes of them preparing the worst Wendy's meal ever, changed my life and perspective. I asked my mom why she adopted me and how it all happened. She explained and then she started tearing up. She said, “There is no doubt in my mind that you are supposed to be a part of this family. And because we were sealed in the temple, we will be a family forever”. I tell that story to a lot and especially to this sister I met in San Pedro.  I told her, you will always be your son’s mom, no matter what, and by the power of the priesthood, families can be together forever. 

I love the England family that I have and there is no doubt I am supposed to be an England. There is also no doubt in my mind that I have other family as well. That my family extends to those around me in my life. I remember it was late January and we had mission prep and I got a major answer to right a wrong that I had made. A big mistake that I had made. So I went up to the house in Tavaci, still wasn't built yet and my brother Schwendy came too. We talked and then he left, then he came back up because he knew something was up and we talked about it and he was there for me. My brother Sam Schwendiman has always been there for me and continues to be there for me even when tough times are passing in his life. He has changed my life and he continues to change it along with thousands of others across the world.

I know families are forever, and I know this is the true church. The same church that Jesus Christ established anciently was restored and because of that, families WILL be together forever. I love you all so much

Please know that and know that your Father in Heaven loves you too!

Alma 40:12 “And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of those who are righteous are received into a state of happiness, which is called paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace, where they shall rest from all their troubles and from all care, and sorrow.”

Alma 40:12 “Y sucederá que los espíritus de los que son justos serán recibidos en un estado de felicidad que se llama paraíso: un estado de descanso, un estado de paz, donde descansarán de todas sus aflicciones, y de todo cuidado y pena.”

My Family - love you Schwendy

    VIVA GUAT

San Ray

Pretty good week but average week for the work this week not gonna lie but it ended great. This week was Guatemala's Independence day so it made it pretty tough for the work. Not very many people were too pumped to listen to us but we stuck her out. Super fun traditions tho for Independence Day. EVERYONE is out in the streets and there's a lot of parades and what happens is the people run down the streets with torches or sit in the back of pick up trucks and everyone on the street just deck them with bags of water. The kids are the scariest ones, they have 0 mercy on anyone. There'd be like toddlers and babies getting targeted, it was wild. I stayed pretty dry but my comp got a bucket dumped on him lol. 

We spent about 5 hours cleaning up and repainting the house where we are going to have our church meeting and it was fun but my comp said something pretty funny. After painting all of the walls and then doing a 2nd coat, my comp said, ”Literally it looks the exact same. We just painted and tried so hard for like 3 hours to paint this house and it looks the same as it did before. Kinda like the missionary work we’ve been doing here.” I thought it was pretty funny ngl and I agreed 1000%.

Then a lot of the members came and we all worked for a couple more hours cleaning up, sweeping, moving, just all that. Then they got us pizza after we were done and it was gas. Then we got up to leave and to get home to shower and we looked at the room again and we were like dang, this place looks so much better than it did before. The paint settled all in and looked better, there weren't spider webs anymore and it just looked completely different.

I hate making these corny comparisons but that's just what missionaries notice ig. It's been tough in San Ray, I feel like we've been painting nonstop ever since we got here and it looks good and then looks terrible, and then better, and back and forth. I learned the lesson that we just gotta keep painting, working, testifying and sharing and eventually, other missionaries, members, whoever else will come in to San Ray and then we will realize that all of the work we did wasn't just a waste.

Love you all

Read the scriptures too

Shout out Elder Kinghorn, bro's a legend

Scripture of the Week: 

Colossians 1:11 “Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness”

Colosenses 1:11 “fortalecidos con todo poder, conforme a la potencia de su gloria, para toda paciencia y longanimidad, con gozo”

Yo Y Mijo

When it rains

Paintball

A day in San Ray

Throwback cause I miss the homies