Wassup!!

How are you all? I hope you are all doing just fabulous. Well this week has been pretty bomb. We had a family baptized and looks like we have another family of five with another dude and another family of two and two other people this week. I'm super pumped with the District. They are all working hard and I am super excited. 

This week, my awesome companion and I walked all over the place and we are still finding a lot of people. I'm really excited that we are earning the trust of the members. My companion is so bomb! All the time we are laughing and just enjoying life. It is going to be hard letting him go. It is super fun when Elder Saunders and I get to nerding out about Lilo and Stitch or Star Wars - my personal favorite. We work hard too.

I have met the new President, Presidente Ruiz, and he is insanely awesome. He's super chill and it is kinda funny to watch the lack of formality that he has. President Maravilla was quite formal. But Pres. Ruiz is kind of a little bit of a party. Also, he lives like literally four minutes walking from my house. I have to make sure that we never do anything stupid but don't worry, we sure won't

This week I made a cup out of a plant that was cool but I forgot my camera to show you. Darn! Crazy note, in three days I'm gonna have a year. That is kind of nuts! Wow time flies here on the mission and I don't like it because everyday goes by so fast and I love every moment here. But, all good things must come to an end. At least I still have 11 months! Woot! Heck yes!!!

I love you all and just want to invite you all to try and get the missionaries to talk to a friend or to someone who isn't active. That would be cool ya know! Peace out and bye!!

Con amor,

Elder Grant

Blessings of Obedience

Hey everyone! How are you all doing? I hope all is well. Did you all get to see that awesome training meeting because if not you should look it up. It was freaking incredible! And before I tell you about my life, I want to invite you all to share the gospel with anyone. Sometimes it's hard but like the video shows, it can be simple, too, just by simply helping someone.

Well this week has been pretty cool. We walked a ton. My area is huge and it is like a mile between each little sector of houses. So yesterday we walked like five hours. It was super tiring haha. But it is going great here. We are trying to be super obedient and it is helping a ton. We are seeing a lot of miracles in our lives. We found so many people and so many families this week. We found two really positive families and it is incredible. I know that without the Spirit we would never have found all of these people. I am so happy about it.

Well I found some cool stuff out about my area. There is a huge piece of land that is like 30 hectares. It is massive!!! The area has guard towers with dudes that have AK47s. I was thinking this was weird for guarding corn. Turns out that inside there is a little town where people make cocaine and harvest marijuana. That certainly explains the towers. And we saw this dude that has no eyes because he went on the land. Needless to say we aren't going to go on that land. Ummm...also they have an airstrip which is cool. I have been wondering why I heard planes at like 3:00 in the morning. Weird and sketchy stuff!!! You have got to love Guate. This place rules!!

We also got a new mission president. I don't know him yet but I bet he is cool. I could go get to know him if I wanted. He lives five walking minutes from my house but I feel he wouldn't like that. I feel he would get mad. But maybe someday...when I know him better.

Well, love you all. Bye!!!

Con amor,

Elder Grant

Here are some pictures:

Absolutely beautiful! I love this country!

Havin' some fun in the terrible heat.

Lots of walking. 

Delicious, ripe mango.

Tie collecting.

This is how I brush my teeth.

Hey Everyone!!

Howdy from a place that is hotter than heck! Right now I am not near as stressed as I was with the whole District Leader thing. In fact it is a lot easier now that I kind of know my area, have found a few new investigators, and my companion is learning a little more Spanish. I'm doing pretty good. At the same time, it is a weird experience because I have two companionships of sisters which is strange. I have never talked to girls in my mission and now I call them on a daily basis to make sure all is well. I am a little sad this week because in three days Presidente Maravilla will be leaving the mission. He is pretty much super awesome. He has helped me a ton to change for the better. 

The missionary death hit us all pretty hard but we just need to keep working. I did know him.

Our district is doing well. We have two baptism dates for this week and I hope we can get more. That would be great! In our area I am pretty excited. We have been finding a lot of families. So now we just need to start teaching them more and helping them overcome their personal challenges. After that, I feel, we would have some baptisms. A lot of the new investigators are pretty positive too. The biggest problem is some of them aren't married. Others get really, really, really super drunk. And others don't want to come to church and want to sleep instead. But we can help fix that stuff. They just need to understand and then they need to pray and always pray. That's the key so that people can receive revelation that the church is true. 

I love my new area. It is so long though. Literally, the farthest part no one has ever gone to because it is like 2 hours away in a bus...it's just massive! But I love it tons. It is super hot and humid. I love my new companion. We get along great. I am glad you made contact with his family. He is a cool guy. He's huge! In fact, he's a giant and a heck of a lot taller than Elder Sleight. I think he is the tallest missionary in the whole mission. 

My health is good but I do have a nasty rash on my face because I ate a mango that wasn't ripe and the sap touched me and burned me so I have a gross rash thing. It should be gone soon, I hope. The only thing I think I could use is a good old hamburger from Big Jud's. I guess I will have to wait a year to get one of those.

Well I love you all a ton!

Con amor,

Elder Grant

Little lizards that we catch.

Hmm. I hope that isn't lunch!

Changes all Around

Howdy ya'll! Que onda?! Well this week has been pretty nuts. In fact, it has been insane. I had changes and now I am in the city of Retalhuleu. It is pretty down here. It is hot, like really hot, and now I need to find a way to get rid of the sweaters and stuff from when I was up in the mountains. My area is called La Verde, or in English, The Green . It is in the zone Las Palms and it is pretty cool. 

I got moved up to District Leader and to me this is all a little crazy. In fact it's stressful but it will help me grow. It's something that I am not used to so that could be fun. I am in a district of 10 people and ya, well, four of them are sisters which is weird because I've never seen a sister in my mission until now. Apparently they exist and I have to call them to see what they did each day. It's all cool! We are also opening an area. This, also, is a new experience and also another good one. It is helping me learn how to deal with stress. The Elder that was here before was a good missionary. He just got super duper agile in his last change and stopped working. But things like that happen all the time. But I a pumped!!

The final part of changes is that I am training again. This time he is a a big tall huge kid, Elder Saunders, from Morgan, Utah. He is a rancher and just awesome and super spiritual. Unfortunately, I am not as spiritual as I'd like to be but I am getting there little by little and he is helping a ton. He doesn't speak Spanish so it is going to be really fun to help him learn what happens and stuff like that, ya know. 

I'd like to tell you more about my area, because I have time. All I know is it is massive and it's like five little towns, each like two to five miles apart. Oh ya, Tiquisate, a zone from here, got stolen by the other mission. Well, I love you all. Peace!!!

Con amor,

Elder Grant

Great Experiences this Week

Ey que onda vos! Hey, what's up everyone! Hope all is well. Today, and this week, has been pretty good. We found a few positive people so I can feel good if I leave this area, which I kind of want to happen. I am hoping that the next Elders to come here are super hard workers. I have put everything into this place, like even blood! Haha I am happy and without sickness. I am kind of stressed right now because my laundry lady takes forever and I can't give her my dirty clothes that I have because of the changes that may or may not come. Oh well. That's how the mission is.

On Saturday we had a super bomb activity. It was kind of like our last one but a lot better. We finally got the Stake President to give us permission to hold a Stake activity. It was so cool to see everyone in their traditional clothing. The clothing is so cool! We, the missionaries, did our Tongan dance again and it was sick!!! Everyone was freaking out and then all of their traditional dances were cool. This little tiny girl sang a song in her corte (traditional dress). That was amazing!

Yesterday I had some pretty good times with some members and even though I haven't felt like we have made a big different since I came here, the ward attendance has doubled. I can feel pretty good about that. (My English skills are terrible!)

I had an awesome spiritual experience this week. Yesterday, a member and his nonmember family decided to kind of give us a goodbye for those who are probably going to leave from here. It was super cool because it was also his brother's birthday. This kid, who just barely became an Elder, blessed his little brother with probably one of the most beautiful blessings I have ever heard. It was incredible. After, his whole family was in tears. Then the grandma said she knew that we are servants of Christ. It was also very powerful. This kid's parents said they are now okay with him going on a mission. It was incredible!

Well, I love you all tons! Peace!

Con amor,

Elder Grant

Traditional dress at our Stake activity

Entering the Rainy Season

Well how are ya'll? I hope you are all doing well! I am chillin' pretty good. Today we played soccer and it was super fun. I wish I could share some pictures with you but this darn computer has a broken USB. But anyway, soccer was fun. We played in the professional stadium. Some guys asked us if we wanted to play on a community league. hahaha It was cool but they get paid. They asked me to play because I just run people over and because I am a giant here. They asked Elder Sleight because that kid is HUGE! I am not going to lie, but I would really like to hike in Yellowstone, too. That is on my bucket list for my first year of being home. 

I am pretty happy God blessed me with an investigator and though she isn't currently positive, she is willing to try and do the things which we ask. Right now she is reading The Book of Mormon and I feel that will help us a lot with some of her challenges. Really if you think about it, The Book of Mormon helps us with everything. I love that, when I am having a hard time, I just sit down and read it. It helps a ton. There is also a section in Preach My Gospel that talks about how The Book of Mormon helps answer questions that really matter. So, ya, I guess I can say I'm really grateful for the awesome little blue book!

I am working really hard to leave my area all prepared for the new guy who will come in here. I am pretty sure I have changes in a week. Our focus is to find a lot of new investigators to work with.

We are starting to get into the rainy season and rain up here in the mountains straight up stinks! It is cold. I don't want to buy an umbrella right now because that would mean I would have to pack it because it's pretty much set that I have changes. When it rains, all the people think we are crazy because we just keep working even though we get colds. People here think that a cold is like stuff to put you in the hospital. The culture here cracks me up!

Well, it is time to go. I love you all tons. Thank you all for being such good influences in my life and just being there for me. 

Con amor,

Elder Grant

Well it Looks Official ... I Am Old

Thank you for the birthday wishes. I felt like a normal person clicking on things that were not mission related. The birthday cards were fun! I can't believe I am 20. That is weird.

This week has been pretty good. We had an awesome talent show. I am sending pictures of our zone. It was such a cool activity. The ward freaked out and everyone was screaming and it was just super cool. We got our recent convert to dance in it, too, with her boyfriend. They we so embarrassed though. We danced a Hawaiian hula even though none of us are Hawaiian in the slightest. Our dance turned out well. I wish I could send the video but it is too big of a video. Darn! A few cute little girls sang. One of the little girls is the one we baptized. She sang a song by Christina Aguilera. It was pretty sick!

I can't even explain how awesome our talent was. We ran in doing a little chant and everyone was very confused. Then we started the dance and everyone went nuts. Now they just wnt us to teach them the dance. We were hoping it would raise the attendance and it did a bit, which is great, but now instead of helping us they just want to learn a dance. There is a great story about putting the counselor in the Bishopric in a garbage can and the ward was a riot. I have never seen so much animation from the ward. It was great!

Other than the activity, not a lot has happened this week. We have tried to get permission from a kid's father to baptize him but the dad went off on a rave. It was really dumb. When people are stuck in their ways it is really hard to change their minds. We have the boy reading the Book of Mormon right now. He likes it a lot but refuses to change religions because he is Catholic. Those traditions a hard to break from. Maybe someday he will get soaked instead of sprinkled. We are also teaching a lady who doesn't seem too positive but she is still willing to learn. She hasn't progressed yet but things are going well. At least she is nice. 

I met this little girl today. she and her family are visiting from the States. Her family is here studying Mayan Culture. It has been fun to talk to them. I did get to eat some super good food a few days ago. It was the best fried chicken I have ever had. It had bacon flavoring! Woot!!!"

Well have a great week. Peace!!!

Con amor,

Elder Grant