Another Week in the World of Guate

Pizza!!!!   

Hey! Well I just wanna write you all because I love ya guys! This week has been an adventure. We had to cross a river because the rock bridge got covered by the water. We had to go down to another part and cross the river and that was fun. We found a giant caterpillar and then we squished it and it exploded in a giant green icky ness. That was super fun as well. 

This week has been full of mâchéting people like my district. They have been super disobedient so I macheted them and it was great. Now they are more obedient. Not a whole lot else happened this week. We have some good progress with investigators. The only hard thing is getting them to church. I am super bummed about that. The Spirit has been leading us a ton and its been greatly great to have been able to listen more to the Spirit. It is definitely the best thing in the world to have the Sirit to guide you. 

I am glad you are having fun in Oregon, I just googled Devils Churn. That looks like a fun place to not fall in! Our new Pres. is incredible and so awesome. He wants to come to work with us in our area. Woot!

Well other than that I am done. Love ya tons! Oh wait, the district and zone are kicking butt. Also, one of my best friends, Elder Aoki, is now leaving the mission which stinks. Bye!

Con Amor,

Elder Grant

Wadoop!!

Thanks for letting me know that you got last week's emails. I had gotten a ton of emails that said they didn't send today and I was really worried but they did make it out. I just finished emailing President Ruiz and hopefully this letter will make it to all of you. If not I will feel bad. I like to include you all in my adventures! 

I hope all is well with you because I am doing well. My poor companion is having a little bit of a breakdown. I don't think he thought the mission was going to be this tough but it's tough and he will adjust because he is a tough kid. Well, way tough because he is like freakin' huge. He was a linebacker at Dixie State. He is pretty much my bodyguard and occasionally he scares some people because he is so much bigger than they are and they don't want to talk to us which is kind of funny. He is getting frustrated with how no one wants to come to church because the chapel is an hours walk from where the majority of the people live. It is hard to get people there. But, that is alright because God will provide a way. I know he will and Elder Saunders will be okay. 

My companion and I have been working super hard and our District is doing quite well. We have had six baptisms with two families so I am really excited. It looks like we can get three more with a family in my area. One of the problems there is that a member makes the family's dad work on Sundays which stinks. I am going to machete him a little so he lets the guy go to church so he can be baptized. Woot!!! I am really excited. 

I have also realized that being the DL isn't too bad because I have a lot of spiritual experiences in interviews. I get to feel the Spirit from those who really want to be better people. It is incredible to see the changes in them. 

Well, time is up so I had better go, I hope that all is well and you are all happy. Bye and love you al, tons!!!

Con amor,

Elder Grant

P.S.  send me candy ya know...like if you want to show me you love me :)

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