February 23 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

This has been a great week. I am writing super early today because I won´t have time later. We have to leave our area tonight at 6. The reason for this is because we are going to the temple tomorrow. So we have to leave so that we can be closer to Xela. We have to be there by 9. So yeah I am excited to get to go to Xela tomorrow. But then we might have to stay there which I don´t wanna do. My comp has to go to the doctor. So I hope he stays for like 10 minutes and then we can come back to Ixta. We´ll see what happens. Well on Monday we had a district activity. We played american football and it was so fun. After that we came back to our area and went to eat. Then we went to write our family. On Tuesday there were changes but we didn´t have changes. On Wednesday we had a district meeting. Well no one had keys to the church so we had the meeting in the other elders house. I gave a talk over knowledge that we gain from the scriptures. After that we came back to Ixta and got to work. On Thursday we went woth la familia Domingo to help prepare one of there sons for baptism. We are gonna baptize Antonio. The we went with Sandra and her family. We taught a little lesson because they are a super pilas family and they help us out a lot but we wanted to teach something so we did. On Friday we went with Sandra to go visit a refence she gave us. She took us to a family that is really cool. In the family there are 5 people. The parent are Jose and Katarina. The children are Luis, Melissa, and Maydali. We also went to the aldeas that pertain to our area. Oh it is just super hot and there is a lot of dust there. And sometimes there are dogs that wanna bite us. Jajajaj the struggle. But I am all good. On Saturday we went to the Domingo family. We had a piñata and cupcakes because it was Antonio birthday. So that was really fun. The kids really enjoyed hitting the piñata. After that we went to contact a reference we received but when we got to the house the mom was like no to receiving us so we left. But at least we tried. Then we had an activity with some investigators. It was fun. On Sunday we went to church. We had a really great lesson with one of the youth of the church. He wanted to know what to say in a situation. So we helped him. This youth is named Franklin. He is one of Sandra´s kids. He is super cool. He goes to citas with us. So yeah that was my week. I hope everything is going great for yall. I love yall!

Love,

Elder Chicas

February 16 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

This was a great week. Well there was one thing that wasn´t so great. We didn´t have water in the house since Tuesday. So we couldn´t shower or get water from the sink. So this week was a week of climbing mountains and sweating a lot. After the hard day of work we came home to not be able to shower. Jajajaj it was a struggle but we are still alive. This morning we had water and so I showered and I felt so great after it. Anyways let me tell yall about what happened this week. So last P-day we played football a a district. Oh it was so fun to play american football. But we played for a long time so everyone got sunburnt...even me jajajaj. After the zone activity we went to eat. We found a café that serves burgers. And those burgers are pretty good. After that we went to write our family. On Tuesday we had a district meeting. The topic was Christ-like attributes. After that my comp had to go take a spanish test. So we finally got back to our area around 2:30. We went with the Domingo family. One of their sons isn´t a member so we are going to baptize him next Saturday. The Domingo family is really cool. They were in Mexico for 4 years but just came back to live here again. On Wednesday we went to the aldeas (villages) of Ixtahuacan. It was super hot and there was a lot of dust but it was a great day. We visited some less actives and then we also found new investigators. So it was a great day. After that we want to the church to teach a lesson to members and investigators. We taught lesson 3, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was a really great lesson. On Thursday we went with our mission leader, Arturo Villatoro. He is a really pilas member. He helps us a lot. Then we went with Andres to help him with some stuff at the church. On Friday and Saturday my comp was sick. He had a fever and was completely miserable those few days. So on Sunday he finally pulled himself together and got better. So we went to church and had great lessons. Elder Winward taught gospel principles and I taught priesthood. After that we went home and ate quesadillas. They were really good. After that we went with some investigators. They are a really cool family. They are Antonio, Carolina, Ivan and Antonio. They are pilas. We plan on setting a fecha for their baptism soon. So that was my week.

 Pues antes que me voy quiero compartir la felicidad que yo tengo por tener la oportunidad de compartir este Evangelio de Jesuscristo. Yo se que La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Días es la iglesia verdadera. Yo se que nuestro Padre Celestial nos ama. El quiere lomejor para cada uno de sus hijos. Yo se que el nos ama porque envió a su Hijo unigénito aquí a la tierra. Su hijo es Jesucristo y por media de Él podremos regresar a vivir con Dios y Él por toda la eternidad. Yo puedo sentir el amor que ellos tiene por mi. Estoy muy agradecido a mi Padre Celestial por la oportunidad de estar aquí en Guatemala. El me dio una familia bien chilera. Yo se que El Libro de Mormón es la palabra de Dios. Si lo leemos vamos a poder aprender mas sobre el y nuestro Salvador, Jesucristo. Yo comparto esto en en nombre de Jesucristo. AMEN. 

Well I love and miss yall.

Love,

Elder Chicas 

P.S. I can look for a backpack here. And yeah I am now 4.5 hours away from the office. So the zone leaders would haveto put the box in a bus and hope that it would make it to my area. It is risky cause it is just such a  big box. I don´t think it would be good to send me that huge box until I am back in Xela. So I will inform you when I am back there

Hey sis,
I am doing really well. I only have one problem. This past week we had absolutely no water. So we couldn´t shower, use the restroom, shave, or drink water. So it´s been a pretty hectic week jajaja. But thank goodness we had water this morning. So I showered and I felt so great after.  And I love you too sis!

-Willio Billio Jumping Jillio

P.S. Yeah I am alive so it´s all good jajaj
I survived because  I am an eagle scout and a Chicas man!

February 9 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

This has been a great week. Today I have completed 7 months. I just can´t believe that the time has passed by so fast. I have had many spiritual experiences in the little time that I have. But those experiences have helped me grow. This week went by pretty fast. it was full of work that me and Elder Winward completed. And well my mother wants a spiritual experience. so I am gonna share one with yall. Yesterday in church we had the most attendence that the branch had seen in a while. Usually we have about 40-50 people but yesterday we had 66 people. I was sitting in the front cause I was directing the music. And as I got up to start conducting, a bunch of people came through the door. It made me so happy to see all those people come in. So it helped my testimony grow a little more about this great work that I get to be a part of. I learned that the work that missionaries put in isn´t for nothing. Sometimes just 5 minutes with a family to just say hello and invite them to church is all that is needed. Sometimes it takes a full lesson and the invitation to church to get people there. The people here just love to see the missionaries and have them visit. So then we get the members to come with us to visit them so they can make friends with that person. Well I am sorry that there isn´t a lot today. I love and miss yall.

Love,

Elder Chicas

 P.S-My comp looks funny in that pic cause he wasn't ready but that is the pic I am gonna send anyway jajajaja

February 2 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

Well this has truly been a really great week. I am feeling super great at this moment as I am writing yall. I miss yall and think about yall daily but I know that the Lord will help me through my mission. For the scripture says in 1 Nephi 3:7 that he will provide the way for the children of men to accomplish the things which he has commanded. I know that my Heavenly Father is always watching over me and proctecting me. I am happier than I have ever been in my life because I am serving the Lord. Well I am excited to tell yall what happened this week. On Monday we went to contact a reference. We found the reference and her daughter. Her name is Reina Mailde and her daughter is Maria. They were really nice to us and seemed really excited and happy to see us. It was great to meet them. After that we went to the church to make brownies! Oh they were super good jajajaj. Then we played a little bit of basketball with some members. It was fun. After that we wwent to write our family and that is pretty much all that happened on P-Day. On Tuesday we had planned to go and contact references that we had received the week before but no luck. We will continue trying to find them. So then we went around with members and asked them if they could help us in the aldeas (villages). There most of the people speak mam and it can be hard to communicate with the, because they know very little spanish. So we are going to take some members who know mam to help us. I am already learning a little bit. I have a little notebook that I carry with me to write down new words I learn. Oh and I know how to say Andres is mam because a member is named Andres but we call him his name in mam. It is Lix (Leash). There are to dots above the "x" though. Anyways, after going with member we went to help a member move because they are gonna do some remodeling in the house. On Wednesday we went to the aldeas. We didn´t have a member so we couldn´t work a lot with new investigators. So we went to less actives. We found them and they spoke spanish really well. So we could communicate with them. His name is Santiago. We taught him a lesson and then invited him to church. He was really cool. After that we went to a recent converts house. Her name is Maria. We talked and gained confidence with her. And there we also taught a lesson. It was a great day in the aldeas although it was SUPER HOT! So when we started walking back to the city, we helped a woman that was pulling water out of her well. It looked like she was struggling so we ran over to help her. After pulling water out, we contacted her. She was really kind to us, She wanted to know what we as missionaries do and teach. So we told her and taught her a little of the Restoration. We plan on going with her later this week. On Thursday we had interviews with President Smith. We had to wake up at 5 and leave our area at 5:30. So we did and we did get to the interviews with time to spare. So we had the interviews. They went really well. President Smith asked us to share a scripture that we liked from the Book of Mormon. So I shared 1 Nephi 3:15-16. 

 "15 But behold I said unto them that: As the Lord liveth, and as we live, we will not go down unto our father in the wilderness until we have accomplished the thing which the Lord hath commanded us.

 16 Wherefore, let us be faithful in keeping the commandments of the Lord; therefore let us go down to the land of our father’sinheritance, for behold he left gold and silver, and all manner of riches. And all this he hath done because of the commandments of the Lord."

It taught me that I should do the best I can to always live the Lord´s commandments for as long as I live. After the interviews we had a zone meeting with President Smith. He wrote the question, "Who are you?" and then left because we were about to eat lunch. So as we are eating, everyone is thinking on the questions so it was really silent in the room. Then he came back and we started a super awesome meeting. So we started answering with with, "We are children of God, we are servants of the Lord, we are missionaries." Then he said that those are all correct. He then told us to go to 3 Nephi 5:13. 

 "13 Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life."

I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. And the word disciple means discipline. We must be able to obey the commandments of the Lord with exactitude. So it was a really great meeting. I learned a lot from it. On Friday we didn´t do much because Elder Winward and I were feeling sick. So that wasn´t a great day. On Saturday was my comp´s birthday. We ate waffles and hash browns for breakfast. It was really good. We had an activity in the branch where we watched a movie. We watched the Testaments. It was a really great activity. On Sunday we fast and testimony meeting. Well I conducted the music and I also gave my testimony. The spirit was really strong in that meeting. So that was my week. I love and miss yall!

Love,

Elder Chicas