April 27, 2015

Dear family and Friends,

 I am doing really great! The only thing that is killing me right now is the heat, The rainy season is supposed to start within these next 2 weeks. So I hope that the rain comes. That would make me really happy. I go through so many bottles of water a day. But I am still loving it here. I am living the life here in Guatemala. I feel so great and happy to be here. Well this last Monday we stayed here in Ixtahuacan. We had a great lesson in the evening with an investigators named Jonathan Sales. He has a lot questions but we answer them all. He is a pilas dude and he learns a lot. On Tuesday we had a district meeting and the topic was about inviting people to baptism. It was a really great topic and lesson. So to practice inviting people, we did role plays! Yay(Sacasm)!!!!!!!!!!!! But when Elder Haderlie and I got called to do it, we did really well. Like at the end when the others say what we could better on, there was no comment. So that was good. After that we went with President to visit people. We invited people to the conference we were gonna have in the branch. That was great. On Wednesday had divisions with the district leader. So I stayed here and went with him to visit them investigators and people of Ixtahuacan. Most of the citas fell through but we had good lessons. At the end of the day we ended the divisions cause the next day we had interviews with the president. When my comp got back, we went to eat then we went home. It was such a long day. On Thursday we went to Huehuetenango to have interviews with President Smith. We woke up at 5 to be able to be out the door by 6. Well we got to Huehue but we were told the wrong time. We were supposed to be there an hour later. So the zone leaders told us to go and contact. So we did that. It was fun. Then it came time for us to go to the interviews. I went in with President first and my comp went with Sister Smith. So my interview went well. President said that if we are walking, it is time to run. That means if we are working hard, we need to start working harder. So then when we got back to Ixtahuacan, we started We went with Beken Ramirez who is a member and his wife who is not. Her name is Rosa. She is really cool. We taught her a lesson and then we invited her to be baptized. She said yes. So we are gonna have a baptism on the 16 of May. We are gonna continue to help here prepare for that day. She is a super pilas girl. She is really nice too. On Friday we had weekly planning in the morning and then we had Beken and Rosa again cause she wanted us to come back the next day. So that was really goo. Then we went with la familia Garcia. We made then waffles and they enjoyed them a lot. Then we taught them about the restoration. They are gonna pray to see if what we taught was true. So the next time we go, we are gonna challenge them to baptism. On Saturday we went with an investigator named Warned Ortiz Ramirez. We taught him a little lesson then we left. We contacted after the cita with him. We later had the priesthood session of branch conference. It was really great! We had the leaders from Huehuetenango come to our area. They gave great talks. On Sunday we had branch conference in the morning. After church we went with Hermana Sandra. And then we went to contact a little bit. We are focusing on find new investigators. Well that`s all I have for today. I love and miss yall!

 Love,

Elder Chicas

Yeah we are crazy. But my comp is really cool and his spanish is really good too. And mother, I have dropped 26 pounds in the time I have here. It isn`t a lot but it`s something jajajaja.

April 20, 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

This was a quite difficult week but it is still great to be here. We had so many citas fall through. But in the citas that we didn´t have fall though, we had great lessons. We challenged 2 of our investigators to get baptized. There response were like yeah if I come to find out that the things yall taught us are true. So that was super great. Well this week last Monday we played football. It was so much fun. It was quite hot so we all got a little burnt jajajaj. On Tuesday we had a district meeting. I was the person in charge of giving the lesson. I taught over the importance of the Libro de Mormón. It went really well. After the meeting we went to eat. And from there our citas started falling. So we went to the aldea of Platinar to visit a less active who now started coming back to church. His name is Beken. He lives with his wife who is not a member. She is interested in learning about the church so we are gonna start teaching her. Then we were gonna go to a choir practice for the branch conference that we are having this upcoming Sunday. But as we were coming around a corner to get to the church the lights went out. And it was raining. Wow we were outside without a flashlight or raincoat. Yeah so that was un. But it is good that we only live 2 minutes away from the church. So we bought candles and went home. We can´t be out at night when there is no electricity. So we went home and chilled. While chillen there in the dark, a light came on. And then we heard the fridge motor come on. So we went out and went to go visit Arturo. And that was our last cita for the night. On Wednesday we had a super great lesson with an investigator who is named Jonathan. Arturo went with us and we had the lesson at the church. We taught him lesson 3 which is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It went really well. He had so many questions. Once we had answered one question he came out with another one. So it is good that he wants to know. On Thursday we had our weekly planning session. After that we went to lunch. Then we went to the aldea of Acal. Well it would´ve been nice for it to have rained that day because it was so hot. Like I can´t remember the last time I went there when it wasn´t hot. But it was okay. We are still alive so that is super great. We went to contact some reference that we received from there. The first reference wasn´t there and the other reference was drunk. We then went with Beken and his wife, Rosa, in Platinar. We sang hymns cause they love to sing. They really liked it and they thanked us for being so kind with them. After that we went to the choir practice but eveyone that was there was sick. So that failed once again jajajaj. After that we went with Arturo to teach his son-in-law english. On Friday we helped the secretaries get stuff outta of the last house I lived in. They came and got the beds, desks, and dishes. After that we went to lunch and then we went with Arturo to visit a less active. The less active´s name is Jairo. Then we went with an investigator named Jose Ordoñez. His family is super nice. They gave us corn so we ate that. Then we went with another less active named Rosita Maldonado to confirm a cita we were gonna have later in the week. On Saturday we went with the Domingo family. They were super happy to see us. Then we went with an investigator named Warner but he was drunk. So that wasn´t good. Later we went to the church to help a less active come back to church. Then we had a tarde de hermanamiento to get members to come and fortify there testimonies. Then we taught a lesson to a reference that we received. The family is named the Perez family. They are really nice. After the lesson they invited us in to eat so eggs and beans (cena de un chapín como yo jajajaj). On Sunday we had to give a talk. So as the meeting is starting, I open my backpack to get my notes out. But there was a huge problem. I didn´t have my notes! So I had to go up and just give the message without my notes. Well I did it without anyproblem. I mean the notes would´ve been nice to have but I did well. So yeah that was my week. I love and miss yall!

Love,

Elder William Atilio Chicas

Mother Marilyn just told me the news. I am gonna be an uncle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am glad that yall are receiving many blessings. I forgot to answer the questions you gave me earlier. Mom, honestly yes I feel like my life has been changed. It is still changing. I feel such a love for this work and the people I get to work with. It is absolutely amazing. Yes I feel my Heavenly Father´s love stronger than even. I look for each blessing He gives me each day. Let´s just say that there isn´t a number high enough to tell you how many blessing I have received as my time as a missionary. I am always so happy to see how yalls week went. I know that the Lord is blessing yall because I know he is blessing me. I love yall so much!

Love,

Elder Chicas

April 13, 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

 This was a great week. Elder Haderlie and I worked really hard this week. We are both exhausted but what can we do? We  are just gonna keep working hard and finding others to start teaching. It just keeps getting hotter and hotter. I am ready for next month when the rainy season begins. I can´t wait. Well today I don´t have much time to write. But I am doing well. We found some new people that we are gonna start teaching, We are also continuing to work with our investigators. They are progressing which is really great. Well I am sorry that I can´t write a lot today. I will next week. I love and miss yall!

Gracias por la fotos. Me pongo bien alegre por ver las fotos de todos ustedes. Quiero que usted puede saber que le mande una carta por su cumpleaño. Yo nunca podría olvidar el día en que mi madre nació. Yo se que usted nació el 12 de Abril. También, Antonio Manuel Chicas nació el 8 de Abril. si todavía no llego mi carta, ojala que llega pronto. 

 Y una preagunta. Quein es ese hombre que tiene una placa de Elder Chicas? Él es el misionero de tonga? Pues mandale mis saludos. Tell him I said hi and to keep working hard. We are soldiers in this spiritual war and we need all the help we can get.

Love,

Elder Chicas

April 6, 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

Well this was a great week. It was my first week working with my new comp, Elder Haderlie. So I will get straight to my week. On Monday we had a great P-Day. I moved all of my stuff from the house where I was living down the hill to my new house. Elder Haderlie and I cleaned the house. Then we went around the town to see the activities that were going on for this Easter week. Then we went to the internet and started writing our families. On Tuesday we didn`t new much cause we were trying to figure out how we were gonna start working in the area. Like we shared an area. I was in Itxa 2 and he in Itxa 1. So we had our own investigators but then we became comps so we now have the same investigators. So yeah. On Wednesday we had district meeting. The topic was over the Restoration and we did a round table discussion. Everyone just put in comments and questions so that we could all talk and learn from it. It was pretty great. After that we came back and went with Jose Ordoñez. He is an investigator and we taught him a little lesson. He then gave us honey and bread. Well I am not a fan of honey but I took it anyways. It wasn`t too bad. The bread helped jajajaj. It was really kind of him and his family to share with us. They are a really nice family. Then we went with Alfonzo Domingo. We invited him to a class we were gonna have at night. We had that class and then we had a little branch counsel. It was us and Andres Ramirez. We talked about the things that could be done better in the branch and how we could help other come to church. On Thursday we had weekly planning. We planned lessons, worked in the area book, thought of investigators whom we could challenge to baptism, less active, recent converts, and other stuff in which I can`t remember at the time. Anyways, we were done with all this planning around 12. We then went to lunch and then to the aldeas. Well forgetting that it was the Holy Week, everyone was getting ready to go to a fiesta. So it wasn`t too successful in the aldeas that day. Then we went with Arturo to help him come back to church. On Friday we went up a mountain to meet an investigator. We got to him and had a great lesson over the Plan of Salvation. He had a lot of question. But he learned a lot. We are going back up later this week. We then heard that there was a less active that lived a little more up. So we went and found her. She is Juana Ordoñez. She was nice and welcomed us in. The reason she wasn`t coming to church is because she has to babies and it is hard for her to carry bother babies down the mountain by herself. So we are gonna go help her. We went with other members to invite them to conference. On Saturday and Sunday we had conference. I watched all the sessions and they were so great. I took so many notes. I learned a lot from it. So before conference I wrote 3 questions that I wanted them to answer. Just whatever 3 questions that I wanted to know. And I had every question answered within the first session but others also mentioned one of my questions. I was really happy to have my questions answered. I will give you an example of one the questions I had. I wanted to know how I could be a better missionary and how to help the people of my area. And in the first talk by President Eyring It was answered. I learned that I need to fast more. So that was really great. I hope that yall had a super great week. I know I did. And it got so much better when I got to hear the prophet and the apostles. I am super happy to be here in Guatemala. I have learned so much in the little time I have. I love and miss yall!

Love,

Elder Chicas

Mama,

Thanks you for your testimony of this gospel. It is great to hear yours. I am grateful for the opportunity I have to share mine each day. Mama, never let you testimony go. Always keep it with you in your heart. It will help you in the hard times. Know that I love you and I think about yall everyday. I have noticed a change in the little time I have in my mission in myself.  I love you!

And don`t forget next month I get to Skype yall again. Well I will talk to you next week. Bye. I love you!!!