SAN RAY

Meeting my new comp Elder Giles

(A couple of groms)

Yo what up, insane changes this past week. So as you guys know, I was transferred but I didn't know where I was going yet. On Tuesday we did all of our goodbyes and it was sad but it was time to leave. The ward in Milagro helped me in so many ways and I made some insanely good friends in my time there.

Now onto the next chapter of my mish. Transfers were on Wednesday and I was nervous to see where I was going and who I was going to be training. I got transferred to San Raymundo which is technically in the city but it does not give off city vibes at all. We are touching my first area San Martin and it gives off San Martin vibes a lot. It is a small town with a lot of Aldeas (villages) outside of the main city. It is dead silent at night and no one is outside so it's insanely different from Milagro. I also received my new comp Elder Giles. He just got here and I got lucky enough to train him. It's been super fun with him, he's such a legend. Seeing all the funny things he does as a new missionary makes me realize I am literally just training myself. I will say he's a lot more mature than I was. He is just starting to learn Spanish and is pretty worried about the food just like I was. We haven't had water all week so it was a tough start to his mish and I really felt for him but he really looks past all of the 3rd world trials. He's such a goat. 

Saying goodbye to the Milagro Central Ward was hard but the last person I talked to was my friend Marco. He told me something that has already changed my mission and honestly probably my life. I talked to him last transfer about some of the baptisms and how I was stressed about preparing all of them and making sure they stayed active after their baptisms. He told me that way too many missionaries and people waste time, energy, and happiness on worrying! It made me realize that everything will be alright. We need to baptize and have faith everything will work out! And then he said the same thing to me when I left. “Don't be afraid to put someone in the water”. It really got me prepared for this transfer and I have been able to share that with my companion. Starting the mission is insanely hard and so many things run through your head. I have been blessed by my friend Marco to help me and my companion stay calm in stressful situations and learn to love and have fun in the mission. 

Love you all insanely and miss you all!

Scripture of the Week:

Mosiah 24:14 “And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.”

Mosíah 24:14 “Y también aliviaré las cargas que pongan sobre vuestros hombros, de manera que no podréis sentirlas sobre vuestras espaldas, mientras estéis en servidumbre; y esto haré yo para que me seáis testigos en lo futuro, y para que sepáis de seguro que yo, el Señor Dios, visito a mi pueblo en sus aflicciones.”

Last few days in Milagro Central

Best Jóvenes in Guat

The Hernandez' - Utah 2025 trip

w them gonna be lit

Extrano a Ruffy

Elder Giles and Elder Barber

(another couple of groms)

My new area - San Raymundo

Hard working Guaties

Reading material

    3/4 BAPS

3/4 Baps

Yo what up, super slow week but it was lit. After last P-day, Elder Barber stayed with us for a day and it was so lit to have him for a day. If you guys remember, he was my comp on my 3rd transfer in the mish and he is now a traveling AP so he came and stayed with us for a day, super lit. Me, Elder Ruff, and Elder Barber would be a crazy trio for a transfer ngl. The week was good though with the work. We have a couple really cool people who are starting to take us seriously so it's been fun. We also had the opportunity to be involved in a couple baptisms for the ward! We had an investigator who was also going to get baptized but we got her in the water and she got too scared so unfortunately she wasn't baptized but her cousins and another kid from the ward did hahaha. All good though, she just needs a little bit more time to prepare to get under the water. 

I am also being transferred this Wednesday. It'll be fun and I am pumped. A lil bit nervous too tho. President called me today and said “You will be District Leader, training a brand new kid, and white washing an area. So not very much responsibility”. Obviously he was joking but it'll be fun and I'm pumped to see who all these new kids are that come in. 

One thing that I did do this week though was listen to an Elder Bednar NTC Devotional. I think I might have mentioned it when I was in the MTC but imma do it again because it is so good for everyone to hear. He said that his mission president asked him this question,”What would we do if the prophet fell away from the church and disowned it?” I thought well, that would be so insanely sad and I would probably doubt a lot of things after that. But he said that his mission president said he would not be shaken in the slightest. I thought, how is that possible but then I listened more and Elder Bednar's mission president said that he isn't converted to the prophet. He is converted to the Lord and he knows for himself, with 0 doubt that the church is true. I realized dang, I'm a long way from that but it gave me a perspective that it should not matter what happens in life. No matter how terrible, we need to be converted to the church and never leave it. He said if at any moment we say the church isn't true, that just means we aren't true to the church

I love you all and I want you guys to convert yourselves to the Lord in any way you guys think you can. Life is scary and tough and I love you all too much to see faith lost! Be safe out there!

Scripture of the Week:

D&C 25:2 “A revelation I give unto you concerning my will; and if thou art faithful and walk in the paths of virtue before me, I will preserve thy life, and thou shalt receive an inheritance in Zion”

DyC 25:2 “Te doy una revelación concerniente a mi voluntad; y si eres fiel y andas por las sendas de la virtud delante de mí, te preservaré la vida y recibirás una herencia en Sion”

#1 Fam in Guat

Hernandez Family

    WELLS BRAYDEN KENNEY

My new nephew Wells

Wow, Super super long week this week. I was sick literally the entire time and it was something different everyday. Started from the last P-day when I sneezed about 200 times on the bus, boogers and snot and everything running down my nose. 0 tissues too so I just used my sweatshirt, super gross. Then the next morning I woke up super sick with a fever, then we did divisions and I went to a different area for that day and night and I got even sicker. Stomach was dying, I had a super high fever!  It was not ideal. Then the next day got back and my head was killing along with my stomach and super rough day. Then the sore throat started, it was annoying the first day and then the next 3 days hurt so bad. Couldn't eat because it hurt so bad to swallow. Texted some pics to my sister in law Sydney who is a nurse and she said it's tonsillitis. Super tough. We are definitely getting better though. However it was not all terrible. 2 really amazing things happened this week

So on Friday when I couldn’t take anymore, I went and took an hour nap at home then woke up feeling even worse somehow but we had dinner with a member family so we went. It was insanely hard to get out of bed but I felt like we needed to go so we did. After dinner they asked us for blessings because their family has been super sick lately so we gave 4 blessings of health and 2 of comfort. It was exhausting but afterwards, I felt almost no pain for the rest of the night! It was a very cool lesson I learned that night. I had received 3 blessings from my comp and not that they didn’t “work”, I just didn’t improve my health. But after I served this family and blessed them with health instead of asking God to just heal me; which is what I had been doing, I was given some grace. Even though the next day I got worse, God wanted me to learn that even in our times of afflictions, sicknesses, weakness, we can still serve other people who are going through those same things and we can be blessed from our selflessness and our service. Great experience and I don't want to experience it again to be honest, but I am glad I got sick this last week so I could learn from it. 

Then the best thing that happened this week is we welcomed a new member to the family. Wells Brayden Kenney was born on Tuesday, July 9 and I could not be prouder of my sister Soph and my brother Brayden. I am so jealous I can't be there to meet him right now and hold him. Instead I was gargling hydrogen peroxide at 3 am trying to relieve my throat but just one more year!  Shout out Wells, bro made it to earth.

Love you all and remember, our afflictions suck, but thank our Heavenly Father for them. He gives them to us to learn and we need to take advantage. As always, Email on Monday, miss you guys.

John 10:17-18 “17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. 18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father”

Juan 10:17-18 “17 Por eso me ama el Padre, porque yo pongo mi vida, para volverla a tomar. 18 Nadie me la quita, sino que yo la pongo de mí mismo. Tengo poder para ponerla, y tengo poder para volverla a tomar. Este mandamiento recibí de mi Padre.”

Mis 3 Mejores Amigos

    LOS TESTIGOS

Anai and Angel's Baptism

Solid Week this week. First off, Angel and Anaí got baptized! They had never met before but they are so cool; they said they'd be down to have a joint baptism. So on Saturday they got baptized. It was one of the most special baptisms I have ever been to. One of our recent converts in the ward told us to teach Anaí and he came with us to every lesson with her and he was able to baptize her! Justin is already an insanely good missionary. Angel is a friend of our second counselor in the bishopric so we had him get baptized by him! They were both so ready to put past things behind them and move forward on the straight and narrow. Such legends!

We have been trying to find a lot more people to teach because we don't have that many people besides the people who have gotten baptized, so it's nice to have a fresh new start and start street contacting again. Also, we are asking for a lot of references from the members lol.

We saw 3 Jehovah's Witnesses teaching this woman so I wanted to wait until they were done talking to her to meet them. So we waited on the curb til they got done then talked to them.  Once they left, then we knocked on the same door of the woman they were teaching, gave her a Book of Mormon and told her to read it!  We have an apt with her next week, the JW’s have 0 chance - lol. Also, a member in our ward has found so many of my birth family member’s names and their birth documents! I used to only have a name of my birth mom but now I have my sister, grandparents, and a couple aunts and uncles.

Anyways, that was about it though for the week. Pray for my sister Sophie! She is about to have her baby and she could definitely use the prayers! As always, love you all!

Scripture of the Week: 

2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new”

2 Corintios 5:17 “De modo que si alguno está en Cristo, nueva criatura es; las cosas viejas pasaron; he aquí todas son hechas nuevas”

More support at the baptism

Dinner with Salazar family

Throw back - Sprendie

    LA OBRA MISIONAL

Miriam flick

Wow these weeks have been insanely tiring but super worth it. So the highlights of the week were the 4 baptisms we had this weekend! Lydia and Suri got baptized on Sunday and Lupita and Sofía on Saturday. Insanely stressful days and week preparing and making sure everything was ready. Acne got pretty bad from stress ngl. But everything went as planned so that’s the good part.

This week was also the missionary week. Not sure if that’s a thing in the states or anywhere else but we had a week where as a ward we focused on missionary work. Every day we had a different theme. Like one day was for everyone to give a Book of Mormon to someone. Another day was to invite people to church. And another cool day was, we had an activity on Friday and a bunch of ex missionaries brought memories, scriptures, just everything and it was super fun. W activity. Then on Sunday we spoke in church about missionary work and how important it is. It went well I think. I prolly botched the grammar but we good lol. We got compliments after so they understood.

We had multi zone conference which was super fun too but sooo many of the homies are going home. Such an L. Traded ties and what not. Shout out Elder Philips.

In honesty though the mission has been super tiring and stressful but so insanely fun. I love the work that has been going on and it is amazing to be a part of the Lord's work right now. The mission sucks sometimes but it is so worth it to see these children of God make covenants. Nowhere else will we find so much joy in the success of others than when we are serving. 

Love you all, as always, feel free to email!

Scripture of the Week:

D&C 88:81 “Behold, I sent you out to testify and warn the people, and it becometh every man who hath been warned to warn his neighbor”

DyC 88:81 “He aquí, os envié para testificar y amonestar al pueblo, y conviene que todo hombre que ha sido amonestado, amoneste a su prójimo.”

Sophia and Lupita's Baptism

Lydia and Suri's Baptism

Multi Zone Conference

Mission Week Ward Activity

Juanita la Cabra

Churrasco P-Day

 

    TEMPLE TRIP

Elsa's Baptism - Bishop baptized his mom

Yo super fast week! 1 more bap which was lit. We baptized the bishop's mom Elsa! She has been meeting with the missionaries for 35 years and God said it was her time to get in the water so we were super lucky to be the missionaries here while she got baptized after so long. Lupita and Sofia got permission from their dad to get baptized, like their 2 older siblings, which was awesome! We have been talking a lot with him and he has been awesome in helping us prepare them. He and his wife are not members and drink a lot so it is hard for the kids but they are showing great desire to follow Jesus's example!! We'll get them in the water this Sunday. Please pray for the Perez Family

This week we secured 2 more baptisms for Sunday the 30th! Their names are Suri and Lydia and their step dad is starting to listen to the lessons too. They are super cool and I'm pumped for them to hop in the water. 

Highlight of the week was fs the temple. We took Miriam to the temple along with her grandson and it was awesome. They loved it. We unfortunately weren't able to go in the temple because we had them with us but it was still super fun. The distribution center was there so it was like Christmas. Bought some new scriptures, Jesus the Christ, new pmg, and I bought a massive Book of Mormon for Miriam because she can't read the normal ones, it's too small of a font for her. She was super excited about it and we studied a bit.

That's pretty much it for the week but I'd love to hear from you all, Email me por fa!

Scripture of the Week:

Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” 

Filipenses 4:13 “Todo lo puedo en Cristo que me fortalece”

Guatemala City Temple with

Miriam and her grandson

Lil Bro

Studying with the good word with Miriam

The streets of Milagro

Good food in Milagro

    LA FE

Miriam's Baptism

What's up everybody, happy Fathers Day to all the fathers out there. Crazy busy week last week! So on Friday we had transfers and Elder Perez left and I got a new companion Elder Ruff. Elder Ruff is from Midvale and he actually went to Hillcrest. He just got out of training and is insanely ready to work which is lucky for me. I haven't had a comp who actually has the desire to work for the past 2 transfers so I'm pumped. His Spanish is actually really good too, he is on his 3rd transfer and he's about as good as I was on my 5th transfer lol. I really lucked out with him tho.  

Yesterday we had Miriams's baptism! She was so ready and so excited to be baptized and she told us she loved the way she felt in her white jumper. She was pretty scared of water and it was my comps first baptism ever so it took a couple tries and the whole room was just like uh oh, is she gonna be able to get under the water but I just was smiling the whole time. First of all because it was hilarious but also I knew she was trying so hard to get under the water to be baptized and I knew she was gonna do it. So on the 5th try, she got all the way under and she was washed clean! I have been so happy that she was able to be baptized and I am so insanely proud of her. 

The story of how we met Miriam is funny. I think I might have already mentioned it but Miriam lives on the first floor of our apartment complex. She always had her little stand out in front selling cologne and perfume. I assumed that the Elders who had lived there had for sure talking to her and tried to contact her so I just never thought to talk to her. But one day when me and my comp were having a tough day and coming in to make a plan, my comp said he wanted to buy cologne from her so we went. We didn't say much but then I got the feeling to ask if she had talked to the Elders who lived upstairs and she said no. I did the whole contact thing and she ended up saying she has always wanted to go to church but didn't feel great in the Catholic or Evangelic church so she just didn't go. She also said she has always been interested in our church and yeah, 4 weeks later she got baptized. 

This email I want to talk about faith. It's crazy what the scriptures say though. Faith really works. I had so much Faith in Miriam and she had faith in herself. Most importantly though our Heavenly Father had faith in us as missionaries and in her to make this decision to be baptized. I want to work on my faith a lot more because we have 6 baptismal dates and about 10 potential baptisms for this transfer. So I need a favor from all you guys. Pray and practice your faith along with me and Elder Ruff so that our friends here in Milagro can keep this desire and press forward til the end. I believe that we can do it!! Our friend’s names are: 

-Sofia and Lupita Perez

-Elsa Hernandez

-Angel Maaz

-Lydia and Suri Pirir

-Monica and Ani Rojas

-Scarlet and Miguel

Love you all so much! Miss all of you guys insanely right now!

As always be safe!

Scripture of the Week:

D&C 18:18 “Ask the Father in my name in faith, believing that you shall receive, and you shall have the Holy Ghost, which manifesteth all things which are expedient unto the children of men”

DyC 18:18 “Pedid al Padre en mi nombre con fe, creyendo que recibiréis, y tendréis el Espíritu Santo, que manifiesta todas las cosas que son convenientes a los hijos de los hombres”

Getting ready for Miriam's baptism

Wilmar Osbeli England

Everyone knows Corey is the Goat

Happy Father's Day

    QUICK WEEK, QUICK EMAIL

Dulce's baptism

Wow, another quick week. I don't feel like writing too much so I'll keep her short. Yesterday we baptized again. Her name is Dulce and I don't remember if I have mentioned her or not but she's a sweet little girl. She is the first one in her family to get baptized and she will be a wonderful example to her family and hopefully we can get them too.

Transfers are coming up and I honestly have no clue what will happen to me. I can see us staying but I also think one of us will leave. I am just starting to enjoy the ward and the area so I hope I don't get transferred but we'll see. We put 3 more baptisms on date last week and this coming Sunday Miriam will be getting baptized! A lot is going on and it's busy so I really am enjoying it. The mission is going by a lot faster now because of all the progress we are seeing. 

It's crazy that we are already in June. Shout out ROD, bro did it. Also hit up Patzicia today for P-day. Good day!

Scripture of the Week(for my 4 pregnant sisters)

Proverbs 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Proverbios 22:6 “Instruye al niño en su camino;y aun cuando fuere viejo, no se apartará de él”

Pic after fire English lesson

Mi compa

The boys of Milagro

Go UTES

    BAPPY

Christopher's Baptism

Crazy fast week this week and a bap! We hit 40 weeks on the mish too. Honestly it is kinda a lot ngl so congrats to all the homies on making it this far w me lol. So Christopher finally got baptized on Friday! He is such a goat. He's 14 and honestly has great potential and will be an amazing missionary. I was lucky and he asked me to baptize him. It is always a cool experience to be in the water. We also confirmed our fechas with Miriam and Dulce. I don't remember if I have mentioned them but Miriam is a sweet old lady and Dulce is a cute little 9 year old girl(different families). They are awesome and I am pumped for their baptism. We also are about to put another fecha with our Bishop’s mom! She has met with the missionaries and with our Bishop for years obviously but we visited her last week and she said she is finally down to hop in the water. So we are going to meet with her and Bishop and see what day would be best for them.

We are seeing a lot of miracles here ngl. It's a funny joke because our President always says there's always “Milagros en la zona Milagro, en el área de Milagro Central”. Translated it just means that our zone is called Miracle, and our area is called Miracle Central so there are always miracles here. My comp hates it because he says it's super corny lol. But the truth is it's true. God is blessing us with people to teach and he is helping them along the path to the tree of life and in all honesty it is just fun to watch and it is amazing to be a part of.

My thought for this email is obedience. In my interview that I had with President this week he told me that obedience is the key that will bring happiness. Obviously obedience is stressed on the mission but I never really thought about obedience before or after the mission. The word was mostly just a word my mom told me to do in elementary school and in primary but it is so true for life. In the mission is it super easy to pick and choose with rules we want to follow and don't want to. Maybe our companions, other missionaries, our President can judge us for our obedience or disobedience but at the end of the day it's us who is blessed or not. Same with life. It is super easy to follow some commandments but not others. Maybe people will judge when we say no to Alcohol and some will judge us for not paying our tithing. At the end of the day though, those judgements are just side effects. What matters is that we obey the first great commandment which is to love God with all our heart, sould, and mind. Obedience is a way to show our heavenly father how much we love him. If we want to receive love from our heavenly father, we have to show that same love through obedience to all of his commandments. We will be blessed based on our obedience and that is something I have learned this transfer. So be OBEDIENT and LOVE our heavenly so that he can bless us

Love all of you and I am dying to hear from a lot of you. If you are reading this and think I don't think about you I promise I do. All of you. So write a quick email, the inbox is dry lol

Scripture of the Week:

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.”

Reyes de Milagro

Saber, Couple of Guats

Throwback lake pic

    GO BENGALS

Bedroom flick

What’s up, a fast week this week which was goodie. Unfortunately Christopher did not get baptized, it has been tough with him this last week. He was sick and then didn’t have time the other days, just unfortunate in reality but we are hoping his baptism happens on Friday! Pray for him please. We also found a lady named Miriam. She is the sweetest old lady and has 2 daughters that are in their 20's and live with her and some grandkids. I have still yet to meet a husband in the family but I think that is because there isn't one. Miriam is READY, she wants to go to our church, she wants to be baptized, and now she knows that our church is the only true church. She had never talked to the missionaries before so it was a miracle that we found her. She will hopefully be baptized on June 8th. She is very afraid of water though, so hopefully that will not cause a problem

What I want to talk mostly about on this email is the LAX State Championship game!! Go Bengals. I have been updated throughout the whole season and it's crazy that it's already over for them. They DESERVE it. They worked super hard and basically with 0 help from any coaches at all so well deserved dub.  The reason why I want to talk about this though is because throughout the season I was a little jealous that I wasn't playing. I was a little jealous that they were playing so well. Obviously I was happy for them but losing in the semi finals last year was toughhh for me. Still is ngl. My goal all of High School was to win the State Championship my senior year. So to get upset and not even make it to the Championship was tough. Obviously life goes on and there are a lot more important things but I still failed where I wanted to succeed. Then the team succeeded where I failed.

Last week I listened to a BYU talk called “Wrestling with Comparisons” by J.B Haws. This talk is insanely motivating. In summary he explains that we can find joy in other people's success. Life is full of failure for us where other's succeed but that doesn't mean we have to be butthurt or sad. We can find joy in other people's success and it is obviously the better option. When we are jealous or mad it is so much more exhausting and makes us feel worse. God will not compare us with someone else. He will only compare us with old us. We just have to learn from our failure and that is where we will find our success. So this talk really helped me prepare for their State Championship game. I realized I can be happy even though they have something I want and will never have. So right now I can say that I am a lil jealous because yes I am human, but overall I could not be happier for their success. I love them so much and have found joy in their success and maybe this is far fetched but I think I lost last year so that I could learn this lesson. 

I hope that we can all practice a little bit more on being happy for other’s success when we do have it. I love you all and as always, GO BENGALS.

Scripture of the Week:

Alma 32:15 “Yea, he that truly humbleth himself, and repenteth of his sins, and endureth to the end, the same shall be blessed—yea, much more blessed than they who are compelled to be humble because of their exceeding poverty.”

Alma 32:15 “Sí, el que verdaderamente se humille y se arrepienta de sus pecados, y persevere hasta el fin, será bendecido; sí, bendecido mucho más que aquellos que se ven obligados a ser humildes por causa de su extrema pobreza.”

Post Conference lol

Throwback - Flick with some State Champs!

WOLVERINES

Diego

Yo Ruddup, another long week but we made it to P-day. My comp is funny lol. He really does not like Americans. He thinks we are so stupid, it's pretty funny though ngl. He's always talking smoke on us to all the members. He really wants to learn English though, so that's good at least.

Our baptism unfortunately fell because we couldn't meet with him much to get all of the lessons in, but this Saturday, it is for sure. He's such a goat. Pray for Christopher please!!

The area is super eh ngl. I am learning it a lot better, which saves a lot of time. It's the house that is really starting to get to me. We haven't had water for 3 weeks. Our sink sometimes works and our shower has only worked twice in the past 3 weeks. So it's been bucket showers the whole time and it has started to rain a lottt and our ceiling has started to leak which really sucks so much. It leaks onto my bed sometimes lol. The sink has stopped working though, so today we had to shower at the ZL's house. 

Honestly the work has been pretty slow here and I don't have many people to write about, we are trying to find more people to teach but it's a lil difficult. We always find really awesome people to teach and then they just say nah, I don't have time and it’s super hard to meet with people. That is one thing I miss about Santiago, people always had time and were always in their houses.

Side note for the week is that I committed to play lacrosse at UVU after the mission! Super pumped to get back and play. I did have my brother in-law sign into my instagram and collab with UVU for my commitment post. I AM STILL IN GUATEMALA and NOT on instagram hahaha. Thought I could clarify that lol. Anyway, we're good here in Milagro and we are getting better and we will see more miracles as time goes by. Love you guys and hope all is well at home!

Scripture of the Week:

Acts 14:3 “Long time therefore abode they speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony unto the word of his grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands.”

Hechos 14:3 “Con todo eso, se detuvieron allí mucho tiempo, hablando con osadía acerca del Señor, el cual daba testimonio de la palabra de su gracia, concediendo que se hiciesen señales y milagros por las manos de ellos.”

Mi Compa

Dinner

Go 'Rines