SUS CAMINOS

Elder Steere

Hey what's up, pretty good week this week. Didn't end super strong but we good, we'll keep going. We are making slow progress with our families and that's ok, obviously we would like them to make more progress but it's ok, God will provide.

I was on divisions this last Tuesday with Elder Meldrum in my District and it was super sick. Bro is super funny and loves to have fun. We were contacting a lot of the people that me and Elder Steere had contacted before and had 0 luck. However, we did end up finding a super cool family. We saw the mom walk in the front door while we were walking by so we decided to go knock it. A bunch of kids came out so I talked to em and asked em if they had a ball to play with, so they got their ball and all came out and we played with them for a bit. It was super lit. Then after, they got their moms to come out and we contacted em and got an appointment for Thursday. So then me and Elder Steere went back on Thursday and it was super lit. There were even more kids and we played soccer and shared a message with aunts, uncles, parents, cousins, grandparents. It was sick. Then after the lesson they wanted to play even more and the dad even came out and started playing with us and was laughing, giving us high fives, hugs, everything. It was super lit. They were working this Sunday but I'm hoping we can start visiting them more often and get them to church soon! A couple of investigators that we had dropped a couple weeks ago reached out to us and 2 of em came to church this Sunday. It made us super happy and I'm excited to see if this time they want to start taking everything a bit more seriously. 

I'm super stressed in the area and it's a tough one. Definitely the hardest one I've had yet but I have been thinking a lot about faith. I know, super basic, but I have realized that I have a LONG way to go with my faith/trust in the Lord's plan for Alotenango. A couple scriptures that I have been thinking about a lot are Isaiah 55:8-9.  We get very frustrated sometimes and we all wish we could just have it our way. But what we can learn from these verses is that He knows what's best for us and He has a much better plan for us than we do for ourselves. To have faith is to trust in His plans and understand that what we want isn’t always what is best.

Love you all and hope to hear from you all this week

Stay safe and have faith

Scripture of the Week:

Isaiah 55:8-9 “¶ For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Isaías 55:8-9 “8 Porque mis pensamientos no son vuestros pensamientos, ni vuestros caminos mis caminos, dice Jehová. 9 Como son más altos los cielos que la tierra, así son mis caminos más altos que vuestros caminos, y mis pensamientos más que vuestros pensamientos.”

Julio and friends

Links en Guat -

Golfing with the District

Stimp - 15

Comp

Sunset

    FIESTA EN LOS CIELOS

Bappy

Super L week this last week for work but it's chill. We'll bounce back this week fs. Everyone we found last week was super sick and then this week we couldn't get a hold of them. We fasted to help out the area on Friday and it went really well. We'll see what God has in store for Alotenango this week.

I really want to focus on a cool miracle this week that happened personally. I got a text from my old area that said one of the investigators I taught named Dulce was getting baptized and she asked for me to go and baptize her. It was such an honor to do so and I was so pumped to do it. When I first met her she was very different. She had so many questions about the church. She also commented at the end of the lesson that she had been super depressed and even suicidal and felt alone and didn't feel God in her life. It was a super emotional lesson for her and honestly for us too. After that lesson I didn't see much of her. I got transferred and it's been a couple months since San Raymundo. But when I saw her today she looked different and a lot happier. She was still super nervous and her usual anxious self though.

When we started to go into the font she kept saying that she didn't want to and that it was better to do it another day. I just said yes you do, get in the water lol. So she did and stopped being so dramatic haha but we did the baptism first try and she did so well. I was so proud of her. Then after she received the Holy Ghost is when I really saw the difference. Her appearance looked different and she seemed so full of peace. A peace that I'm sure she has not felt in a very long time. She leaned over to me after and said that she felt so peaceful and felt like she was reborn. Obviously I told her that's because she was reborn and a remission of sins by the gift of the Holy Ghost will do that to ya haha. Overall such a cool experience and I'm so grateful she gave me the opportunity to baptize her. Hoy sí hay fiesta en los cielos.

I wanted to share a quick thought along with that little story. When we feel the Holy Ghost we rejoice. We feel happy. We feel peace. We feel love. We feel a forgiveness of our sins. When I meet people I always ask them what they like to do. And they answer with whatever it is they like to do. Obviously we're all different and like different things. Different things make us happy. But there is one thing that everyone has in common. That is when we feel the spirit, everyone loves it. EVERYONE. It's a feeling we all know but can't explain. But it's more powerful and worth more than anything in the world. And we can feel it when we follow the commandments like Dulce did this weekend. 

I love you all so much and I invite you all to focus on being obedient and paying more attention to the spirit this week. Stay safe!

Scripture of the week: 

John 14:26 “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”

Juan 14:26 “Mas el Consolador, el Espíritu Santo, a quien el Padre enviará en mi nombre, él os enseñará todas las cosas, y os recordará todo lo que os he dicho.”

Elderes de Israel

Every Saturday we do an activity with members and investigators -

Games and Pizza!

Division in Jocotenango

El Tuk Tuk

Multi Zone Conference

        GRINGOS IN ALOTENANGO

Antigua

Yo what's up, hope you guys had a good week. This week here in Alotenango was super good. We found 2 new families who should progress very well and I'm so pumped for them. It's the familia Apen and the familia Valle. Super cool but we need prayers like crazy for them. Also for one of our investigators named Ana Valle. Please pray for all of em.

One of the big highlights of the week was on Saturday. We have been getting a million references to call and send out to other areas.  We ate lunch and then the people dropped off our fresh water. While we were waiting for our water, we saw 2 Gringos walking up to us and they started talking to us. Then about 10 more came up. They were all members from Idaho. They are a group that wanted to help our investigators and recent converts and give them bunkbeds.  I knew about them but I didn't know they were coming today. It was super fun to go around with them and do service. 

This week I focused on integrity a lot during my studies. It was so good. Daniel 6 is such a great story. I always thought about it as more of a brave thing or a faithful thing that Daniel did and then I realized that it showed so much integrity as well. In Preach My Gospel it defines integrity in a couple short paragraphs.

“Integrity flows from the first great commandment to love God (see Matthew 22:37). Because you love God, you are true to Him at all times. Like the sons of Helaman, you “walk uprightly before him” (Alma 53:21). When you have integrity, you understand that there is right and wrong and that there is absolute truth—God’s truth. You use your agency to choose according to God’s truth, and you promptly repent when you do not. What you choose to think—and what you do when you believe no one is watching—is a strong measure of your integrity. Integrity means you do not lower your standards or behavior so you can impress or be accepted by others. You do what is right even when others scoff at your desire to be true to God (see 1 Nephi 8:24–28). You live with honor in all environments, including how you represent yourself online. When you have integrity, you keep your covenants with God as well as your righteous commitments to others. Integrity includes being honest with God, yourself, your leaders, and others. You do not lie, steal, cheat, or deceive. When you do something wrong, you accept responsibility and repent instead of trying to justify or rationalize it. As you live with integrity, you will have inner peace and self-respect. The Lord and others will trust you.”

I invite all of you guys to study this and understand what integrity really means. Love you guys so much

Stay safe

Scripture of the Week:

Genesis 39:7-12 “¶ And it came to pass after these things, that his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me. 8 But he refused, and said unto his master’s wife, Behold, my master wotteth not what is with me in the house, and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand; 9 There is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God? 10 And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not unto her, to lie by her, or to be with her. 11 And it came to pass about this time, that Joseph went into the house to do his business; and there was none of the men of the house there within. 12 And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me: and he left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out.”

Génesis 39:7-12 “7 Y aconteció después de esto, que la esposa de su amo puso sus ojos en José y le dijo: Acuéstate conmigo. 8 Y él no quiso y dijo a la esposa de su amo: He aquí que mi amo no se preocupa conmigo de lo que hay en la casa, y ha puesto en mis manos todo lo que tiene. 9 No hay otro mayor que yo en esta casa, y ninguna cosa me ha reservado sino a ti, por cuanto tú eres su esposa; ¿cómo, pues, haría yo este gran mal y pecaría contra Dios? 10 Y sucedió que hablaba ella a José cada día, y él no la escuchaba para acostarse al lado de ella, para estar con ella. 11 Aconteció que entró él un día en la casa para hacer su oficio, y no había nadie de los de casa allí. 12 Y ella lo asió de la ropa, diciendo: Acuéstate conmigo. Entonces él dejó su ropa en las manos de ella, y huyó y salió afuera”

Gringos from Idaho Falls

Making bunk beds 

Grupo de Alo

     NEW COMP

Elder Steere

Yo what up, super lit week here in Alotenango and we had transfers. I am staying here and I got a new comp named Elder Steere. Bro's a goat. He's from Grantsville Utah and is 6'7.  Giant. Walking around with him is actually insanely funny. The kids' reactions are probably the most entertaining part. I'm super pumped to stay here in Alotenango and try and pick things up. Whatever we were doing last transfer wasn't working too well so I've been trying to think of different ways to work here. 

In our area we have a “group” with like 5 members who live here. The rest of the members who live in our area live in gated communities between us and a big ward. So technically even though they live in our area, they still go to the ward so we kinda are left dry handed. The Bishop of the ward said he can't do anything about it so my plan is to motivate them to come to our “group”. We need to visit them like crazy and gain their confidence then they'll be a bit more motivated. We also started family home evenings with all the families here in Alotenango and we are hoping that once we make good friends with the people in the gated communities, they will come to the family home evenings and make friends with the people here and motivate everyone to start working together. We'll see how it goes!

Lately I've been focused on trying to align my will with God's will. It's been tough to align mine with His but it has been super humbling ngl. Chapter 6 in Preach My Gospel is definitely my favorite chapter and it talks about Christlike attributes. If we can get all those attributes down, well, our will will be aligned with our Heavenly Fathers. I invite you all to read chapter 6 of Preach My Gospel. It's on gospel library and it's amazing.

Love you all and miss you all

Be Safe

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,”

Mulan Restaurant 

El Chinito

Familia Maldonado

    2025

Volcan de fuego

Yo what’s good, Happy New Year, hope you all are doing well. Super good New Years and I’m excited to be in 2025, guess why,  we got 7 months left in the mish and I’m super pumped to finish strong. Everyone says 12-18 months is pretty freaking slow and I can attest to that 100%. But EVERYONE says that 18-24 is insanely fast so pretty excited about that but also pretty nervous. We got on the roof of our house to watch fireworks at 12 and I realized that Guatemala for sure has the better tradition on New Years. I’ll miss it fs, but good thing we got 7 more months to enjoy it.

We received a reference from some members last week and they are super cool. They actually want to progress and are progressing. They are a couple with 3 kids. Bro is 22 years old, wild lol. The wife is 27 at least though so that’s good. We taught them about the restoration and they took it really well and said they want to get baptized which is super good news. The hard thing is though that they work on Sundays, aren’t married, and the husband drinks so it is going to be a lil tough but we’ll work hard with them and they are going to get baptized soon. We taught them how to pray which actually helped them a lot and I realized just how important saying a prayer in the right way is. There are a few things that we should be saying in our personal prayers every time.

Present God(Heavenly father, Loving father in heaven, etc

Thank Him for all that you have

Repent and ask forgiveness

Ask for strength to resist temptations and change

Ask for blessings for yourself and others according to the will of God

IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST, amen

I know the impact it makes when we make our prayers personal and meaningful. I invite all of you guys to pray just a couple minutes longer and reflect with your Heavenly Father on how you are doing. Love you guys so much!

Stay Safe

Scriptures of the Week

Matthew 6:5-13   “And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 6  But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. 7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. 8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. 9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.  11 Give us this day our daily bread.  12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.  13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

Mateo 6:5-13. 5  “Y cuando ores, no seas como los hipócritas, que les gusta orar de pie en las sinagogas y en las esquinas de las calles, para ser vistos de los hombres. De cierto os digo que ya tienen su recompensa. 6 Pero tú, cuando ores, entra en tu aposento, y cerrada tu puerta, ora a tu Padre que está en secreto; y tu Padre que ve en lo secreto te recompensará en público. 7 Pero cuando oréis, no uséis vanas repeticiones, como hacen los paganos, que piensan que serán oídos por sus muchas palabras. 8 No seáis, pues, como ellos, porque vuestro Padre sabe lo que necesitáis antes de que se lo pidáis. 9 Vosotros, pues, oraréis así: Padre nuestro que estás en los cielos, santificado sea tu nombre. 10 Venga tu reino. Hágase tu voluntad en la tierra como en el cielo. 11 Danos hoy nuestro pan de cada día. 12 Y perdónanos nuestras deudas, como nosotros perdonamos a nuestros deudores. 13 Y no nos dejes caer en la tentación, mas líbranos del mal: porque tuyo es el reino, el poder y la gloria por los siglos. Amén.

Escaladores

(Went climbing on P Day)

Throwback to 2022

Familia in Rome

     2024

Happy New Year 

What's up guys, super good week this last week.  Hope you all had a super good Christmas.  For Christmas Eve it was lit, we had changed our pday to Tuesday. We made breakfast as a zone and it was super fun and super mid food. They put like 12 eggs in instead of 3 and the pancakes were super doughy on the inside but it was chill. I just had to pretend it was cream and it was good. For Christmas night we went and slept over at the Zone Leaders house and had a lil party with a member family and ate a churasco and a lot of tomales and paches. Insanely gas. The tradition here is at midnight to light off every single firework that exists in Guatemala so it gets super loud all over but insanely pretty. We did presents with the ZL’s on Christmas morning and made pancakes, super lit. 

The work has been a little slow but we finally got a member to go out with us and give us references and we actually found people who want to progress. Super interesting right. Anyways we are excited about our new investigators and a little frustrated with some other investigators who are wanting to change their lives but just don’t keep commitments but it’s chill. They’re super close and will get there soon

My niece Oakley’s birthday was on Christmas so I got to celebrate Jesus and Her!! Also shoutout Barby (Elder Barber) and Cor for the meetup. Crazy.

Love you all so much and be safe this New Year! 2024 is a year I will never forget and I am so unbelievably humbled and lucky to have been a servant of the Lord this year. Wouldn't trade it for anything!

Scripture of the Week:

Alma 13:28 “But that ye would humble yourselves before the Lord, and call on his holy name, and watch and pray continually, that ye may not be tempted above that which ye can bear, and thus be led by the Holy Spirit, becoming humble, meek, submissive, patient, full of love and all long-suffering;”

Alma 13:28 “sino que os humilléis ante el Señor, e invoquéis su santo nombre, y veléis y oréis incesantemente, para que no seáis tentados más de lo que podáis resistir, y así seáis guiados por el Santo Espíritu, volviéndoos humildes, mansos, sumisos, pacientes, llenos de amor y de toda longanimidad;”

Amo a Oak

Christmas Birthday girl

Santa Vino at our Ward Party 

Happy Holidays

Elder Barber stopped by to visit in California

Barby, Corey and Bo 12/30/24

Throwback to 12/31/23

Barby, Billy and Bo

    FELIZ NAVIDAD

Christmas Conference

Merry Christmas everyone! Super fast week this last week and it is crazy I’m already at another Christmas. I’m super thankful for the time that I’ve had this past week to really focus on the birth of Jesus Christ and to share it with others. It brings so much joy to think of our Savior. A baby was born to change the world. Incredible. 

We had a lot of cool things happen this past week that were awesome. On Saturday we had the opportunity to go to the temple and teach a couple of investigators about the temple work and about life after death. The feeling is incredible and even just being outside of the temple and teaching a lesson brings the spirit so strongly. The next day, on Sunday, I had the opportunity to head back to an old area. In Milagro there was a girl that I had found and she was awesome back then and even more so now. Her name is Angela and when I found her and started teaching her, she was interested but didn’t have too much time because of school every Sunday and she wasn’t married. Now that stopped school, has gone to church a lot, and she broke up with her boyfriend so that she could be baptized. It has been almost 6 months since Milagro and I have only baptized one person since my hot streak ended there. I have kinda gotten down about it and have wondered if I’m doing something wrong or how I can start baptizing again. Her baptism changed the whole mindset and I realized as a mission we are a team and as members we are a team. It’s not just me and I couldn't be more grateful for the Elders in Milagro who did their job and got her baptized. 

We also had our Christmas conference on Monday which was super fun.  Our p-day got changed to Tuesday and we got together as a zone early and made breakfast. Overall, this week made me realize how much I just love being here, how much I need to be here and that there is nowhere else I would rather be than here. It feels right. 

I love you all so much and remember our Savior Jesus Christ today!  Tell Him you love Him for me. 

Scripture of the Week:

Alma 7:10-12”10 And behold, he shall be born of Mary, at Jerusalem which is the land of our forefathers, she being a virgin, a precious and chosen vessel, who shall be overshadowed and conceive by the power of the Holy Ghost, and bring forth a son, yea, even the Son of God. 11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people. 12 And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.”

Alma 7:10-12 “10 Y he aquí, nacerá de María, en Jerusalén, que es la tierra de nuestros antepasados, y siendo ella virgen, un vaso precioso y escogido, a quien se hará sombra y concebirá por el poder del Espíritu Santo, dará a luz un hijo, sí, aun el Hijo de Dios. 11 Y él saldrá, sufriendo dolores, aflicciones y tentaciones de todas clases; y esto para que se cumpla la palabra que dice: Tomará sobre sí los dolores y las enfermedades de su pueblo. 12 Y tomará sobre sí la muerte, para soltar las ligaduras de la muerte que sujetan a su pueblo; y sus debilidades tomará él sobre sí, para que sus entrañas sean llenas de misericordia, según la carne, a fin de que según la carne sepa cómo socorrer a los de su pueblo, de acuerdo con las debilidades de ellos.”

Christmas 2024

Carlos

Haciendo ponche

Mi chamaco

Las corbatas

Elder Ryan & Julie Ainsley and their daughter Ainsley who

are serving in Guatemala from Utah

La familia Xoc

    JOEY

Hijito y nietito

So awesome to see Elder Giles in Antigua

Super good week. 2 weeks down here in Alotenango and honestly it feels like I've been here forever - in a good way! I like it here and we have investigators that have a lot of potential and we are trying super hard to get them baptized this transfer. Please pray for Abi, Noemy, Alma, Angelica and Vidal. They are such goats.

The problem with some of them is that Alma, Noemy, and Abi do not have permission from their dad. So, also pray for their dad Carlos as well. We are making a lot of progress actually with their dad but it is going to be very tough for us to get permission.

Angelica is super cool and takes to the lessons honestly really well. She has a super cute little 1 year old but man does she know how to scream. So do my nieces and nephews so I understand and feel bad when we go over cause when we do, she is always trying to be nice to us but also wrestling with her kid as well. So we don’t have that insanely reverent silence and peace to let us teach with The Spirit. Even though she seems like she isn’t paying attention because she is dealing with her kid, she remembers EVERYTHING. Still hasn’t come to church yet.  However, we believe that we can get her next week!

Vidal is also a super goat and has been taught by the missionaries before. The thing with him is that he works on Sundays so we haven’t been able to get him to church. He also says that he does not believe in modern day prophets and apostles so we’re trying to figure that one out. He is insanely cool though because bro actually keeps his commitments. He reads the Book of Mormon every time we give him a chapter to read. He always shares his thoughts and he actually likes reading it.  We’re hoping that if he grows a crazy strong testimony he will understand that modern prophets do exist and that the Book of Mormon is evidence of that.

Everything else is pretty slow here but it’s been super fun. I have been praying a lot for miracles to happen. It’s hard to see them to be honest but it has been awesome asking for help and asking to see them. 

Love you all - stay safe

Shoutout to Joey - the 5th niece/nephew born since I have left on my mission.

Scripture of the Week:

Alma 34:21 “Cry unto him in your houses, yea, over all your household, both morning, mid-day, and evening.”

Alma 34:21 “Clamad a él en vuestras casas, sí, por todos los de vuestra casa, tanto por la mañana, como al mediodía y al atardecer.”

Jojo

    LA EXPIACION DE MI HERMANO

Volcan de fuego y Acatenango

Super long week this week but still super happy to be here. I have been getting a lot more obedient with my new companion and he is a goat. We’ve been getting along so much and we are great friends. We have done companionship study every single day, which I have not done before with my other companions. We have insanely deep talks after our study and it's so lit. The language is coming along quick to the both of us. I'm still definitely not perfect and there is a lot of room to grow but it has been fun studying the language with him.

That's about it for the week, not too much has been happening but we have found a lot of new people to teach and hope they progress. I have a couple of quotes I want to share with you guys today so hope you will all be able to enjoy and learn from them.

"If some few of you are carrying such wounds—and I know that you are—to you is extended the peace and renewal of repentance available through the atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. In such serious matters the path of repentance is not easily begun nor painlessly traveled. But the Savior of the world will walk that essential journey with you. He will strengthen you when you waver. He will be your light when it seems most dark. He will take your hand and be your hope when hope seems all you have left. His compassion and mercy, with all their cleansing and healing power, are freely given to all who truly wish complete forgiveness and will take the steps that lead to it."  -Jeffery R. Holland 

"He suffered so I, Anziano Riley England (Elder Bowen England), wouldn’t have to suffer. I could be forgiven without suffering because Christ loved me so much to suffer for me. I again got on my knees and asked the Lord to help me feel forgiven and to truly help me understand the Atonement. I felt the rush of peace flood my body. The clarity of mind [came]. My Savior, my brother, my friend took my sins away. I accepted the Atonement. I let the Savior forgive me. The suffering has been done. The joy and happiness are eternal... Why am I forgiven? Because he loves me”. -Anziano Riley England

Love you all, you are NOT alone. A baby was born to save us from sin. Use his atonement in every moment.

Scripture of the Week:

Helaman 3:27 "Thus we may see that the Lord is merciful unto all who will, in the sincerity of their hearts, call upon his holy name"

Helamán 3:27 "Así vemos que el Señor es misericordioso para con todos aquellos que, con la sinceridad de su corazón, quieran invocar su santo nombre"

Mi compa

View from my house

    ALOTENANGO

My new area Alotenango

What up Elderes. Super good week this week. We had transfers. I got transferred and I am now here in Alotenango with Elder Ballard and it’s been so lit lately. The views from this place are insane. It reminds me of Santiago a little bit. The culture is super different obviously but just like Santiago I live in between 3 volcanoes. The big difference between these 3 and the 3 in Santiago is that here, one of the volcanoes is active and blows up literally every 5 minutes. It’s wild. They aren’t huge eruptions and it’s not dangerous for us but it has been so beautiful to watch. This is my first time being in the Antigua zone and I am still blown away by the volcanoes. It’s so normal for all the people here and for my comp but I still just stare 24/7. Also yesterday there was a super lit party in our area and the firework show with the volcano blowing up was super sick to watch. 

We have a couple investigators that aren’t progressing but they do want to be baptized. They are 3 girls named Abi, Darlin, and Alma. They are super awesome. The problem is however, the Elder I replaced always visited them without anyone else being there. Which is not good for a lot of reasons, but mainly now because their dad didn’t like that very much. I mean I wouldn’t if I were him either. 2 kids from different places hanging out with your teenage daughters is NOT a very good look so I don’t blame the dad for his feelings. However, he is now very against us and I didn’t even have the chance to get to know him before he made up his mind about the missionaries. We told the girls that we want to help them get baptized and that we will do everything that we can to help them achieve that goal. But we need to do it through their dad. The problem this creates is that I told them that we aren’t going to visit them if their dad isn’t home and if he doesn’t want us there. Now they think I’m such a bum for not wanting to visit them. Super tough stuff but we had a good fast this Sunday for their situation and we hope that all will work out the way it is supposed to.

The brief message that I want to share with you all is following the spirit. Sometimes we do wrong things for the right reasons. It makes sense in our minds to do this because even though we are doing something wrong, but for the right reasons, it just doesn’t help. Obedience in the mission is so important and I am not the greatest. I am far from being 100% obedient, but obedience really does matter. When we do something wrong for the right reasons, it is still simply wrong. We need to understand that the spirit wants to make us happy and Satan wants to make us miserable. We know who wants us to be obedient and who wants us to be disobedient. Being obedient isn’t easy but it brings so much happiness. And it doesn't apply to just missionaries or kids in primary. It’s for everyone to obey the commandments, go to church and keep the sabbath day holy, pay tithing, etc.

Love you all and I testify of the happiness that obedience brings. BE OBEDIENT and BE HAPPY!

Scripture of the Week:

1 Nephi 17:3 "And thus we see that the commandments of God must be fulfilled. And if it so be that the children of men keep the commandments of God he doth nourish them, and strengthen them, and provide means whereby they can accomplish the thing which he has commanded them; wherefore, he did provide means for us while we did sojourn in the wilderness."

1 Nefi 17:3 "Y así vemos que los mandamientos de Dios se deben cumplir. Y si los hijos de los hombres guardan los mandamientos de Dios, él los alimenta y los fortifica, y provee los medios por los cuales pueden cumplir lo que les ha mandado; por tanto, él nos proporcionó lo necesario mientras permanecimos en el desierto"

Saying goodbye to people in Patzunero

(top from left: Familia Yos, Abuelita Yos, Familia Ajpop

Right side from top: Los De Jas, Mi chelita

Bottom from left: Familia Ajpop Teleguario,Obispo Garret Emma & friends

Left from top: Emma, Obispo Tum)

The District

Elder Ballard