Lake Atitlan 11/21/2011

HOLA GUYS!

This week was pretty good as well. We had like 4 days straight were we only had one lesson each day, which meant that we contacted a TON. We were able to find 14 new investigadors which is awesome. When you are in a mission without cellphones, without cars, without, bikes you tend to walk alot. But its ok though because it keeps me in good form. I figured out that everytime an appointment falls through that means that God doesnt want you to teach that person, he just wants you to be in that place to find someone even better. I have found tons of people that way.

We went to the mission office today for a "new kid" meeting. It takes us 2 and a half hours to get their on bus. My comp. finally got the guts to do his first contact on the bus by himself, atta boy. I felt proud. they gave us quiznos which was really good because they had ranch dip (Ranch does not exist here). As a district we also went to Lake Atitlan, which was really pretty! I have been in the capital (dirty, dangerous, smoggy, crowded, loud, gangs, annoying little motorcycles that make a ton of noise) for so long, I was never actually able to see how pretty guatemala is. By the side of the lake there is a tourist town called panahatchel that is really cool as well. I would totally visit here after my mission. Around the lake there are alot of people that dont speak spanish, they only speak mayan (quiche, tsutuil, mam, qak-chikel) which is really awesome, but it made contacting really difficult. I have pictures but I dont want to download them because I know that this computer has a virus because like every 5 minutes the anitvirus box kept popping up. But you guys should totally google some pictures because it is absolutly wonderful.

Well I am out of time again but I whish you all a happy week!

Love Elder West

"18 new investigators" 11-14-2011

HOLA GUYS!

Happy Birthday Kev-bot! Holy cow I can not believe how different kevinlooks, I was probably smiling for like 5 minute when I saw the pictures yousent me. I decided that I need to start waking up early to get moreexercizes in, because I have been getting a little bit flabby. I thinkKevin is going to be able to beat me up, haha. Time is gowing by soooooofast, I cannot believe it.This past week, me and my companion decided that we were going to talk witheverybody! we contacted sooooooo much. By the end of the week we had found18 new investigadors. We found alot of really interesting people. I had myfirst lesson sitting right next to a cow, which was kind of fun. We found afather with a drinking problem who is looking for help, and we foundseveral evangelicals who just wanted to bible bash. It was great. MYtestimony gets strengthened everytime that I get attacked. I can imaginethat right now in the States there has been alot of persecution against thechurch with all of the political stuff going on. But with the eternalperspective we have it doesnt make any difference. The gospel ofJesuschrist is unstoppable, and all of its persecuters are like flies onthe wall. I am amazed that there are some people who study the bible soooomuch (which is good) that it becomes a source of pride, 2 nephi 9, 28-29.MY new companion, elder corrigan is gaining more confidence in his languageskills. I remember exactly how he feels. It is a truly humbling experienceto have to learn a new language.Today I dont have very much time so I gotta go. Tommorow for p-day we aregoing to visti lake atitlan and I will take really good pictures, and Iwill try and buy some cool stuff for you guys.The Church is True!Love,Elder West

New area called Zaragoza 11-7-2011

HOLA GUYS!

I had Changes! So I arrived at the changes meeting expecting not to have aninterview (you have an interview if you are going to recieve a newcalling). But right before the meeting started President Brough called meinto his office and told me thatt I was also going to be opening and areain Solala (which is the zone in the mountains) My area is called Zaragoza,it is alot bigger than my other area and has a small branch of about 65people. He also told me that a few days ago the house we were going to bestaying in got broken into a few days ago, so he said that we would have toarrive and start looking for a new house immediately and move out the nextday. And then he told me that in this area they have had less then 4baptisms in 2 years and the branch members have been really dissapointedwith the missionaries that have been there, so he told me that I needed tochange that and baptize a bunch of folks. And ontop of all of that I wasgoing to be Training a new missionary! I kind of felt like a secret agentthat was being sent on a mission impossible. My companion is ElderCorrigan, he is from West Jordan Utah, and quite naturally he can not speakspanish at all. The only thing you can do in a situation like this is justput a smile on and put your trust in the lord.Well, we got to our new area alright. The elders that were in the areabefore us left us with absolutly nothing as far as investigadors areconcerned. They only had 2 investigadors. They were preparing them forbaptism, me and my companion just have to marry them. But they are superdoooper poor. There house is a shack that is made ouf of plastic and sheetsof metal, when we got there they told us that they were "fasting" but itwas really becuase they didnt have any food. There 7 seven year olddaughter has a skin disease on her face, there 6 month old baby has abroken arm, and the mom has a walking impediment. I have never been sohumbled in my life. Despite of all of the problems that they have, theystill seem like happy people, and they always have smiles on everytime wevisit them. We teach them outside on the ground because they dont havechairs. They came to church last sunday. There is a member in our branchthat comes with us to visit them, and she helps us bring them to church.We found a new apartment to live in as well, but the only thing is that isdoesnt have electricity, so we have ben living with candles for the pastfew days.We have ben working very closely with the members which has helped us alot.I have been able to see how much the lord has been able to help us. Ourfirst day, we just went out and starting walking and talking with peopleand asking them questions, and we found a ton of members in the process. Wetook our young mens president to knock the door of his Neighboor and itturns out that they are a golden family. In the first lesson they asked usif we baptized, and they wanted to know what a person has to do in order tobe baptized in our church! What a blessing.Let me just say that in these past 2 days my trust in the lord hasincreased soo much! I have so much to tell you guys but I ran out of time.I love you guys!Elder West

"We baptized Amanda Gomez!" 10-31-2011

HOLA GUYS!

We had another Baptism! this one was really a miracle. We baptized Amanda Gomez! Elder Lopez and I found her about 7 months ago, and she was ready to get baptized 7 months ago as well. The only thing is that her husband didnt want to get married to her, so it took us a while to convince her husband to get married with her or leave the house, and then it took forevor just to get all of their legal papers ready to get married. I seriously thought that I was never going to see her get baptized. But on Friday we finally got a hold of the last papers that we needed to baptize her. So we called the awesome lawyer that I know (who is a member) and we married and baptized her the next day! Wheeeew! Amanda is one of the best converts that i have ever seen, she was truly prepared by god to recieve this gospel in this time and I was priveliged to teach her for almost 7 months. Her husband is slowly but surely softening his heart and has been progessing poco a poco as well. Today at 4 oclock we have 2 more baptisms as well! We are going to baptize the Familia Tay Ramos. The Husband (Valentine) was baptized about 16 years ago and went inactive shortly after. So we are going to baptize his wife (Alva) and his Daughter (Catherine). I found them about 5 months ago. They wanted to have the baptism today because we have changes this week, and they really wanted me and my companion to baptize them.

So tonight they are going to let us know if i have changes or not. I think that I will, but I really have no idea. I dont want to leave this area because we have like 7 other people who are ready for baptism, I know these streets like the back of my hand, I have the trust of the members and the bishop, and I feel like we are working really efficiently. It is really cool because in the street, I feel famous because almost everyone knows me, I am always waving, haha.

I am sorry that I can´t explain more about my investigadors but i ran out of time. I didnt send pictures today because I know for a fact that this computer has a virus on it and I just bought a new memory card last p-day. But anyways I am really stoked for our baptism today and for the transfer that I might have.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Love,

Elder West

THE RAIN STOPPED! 10-24-2011

HOLA GUYS!

We had 2 baptisms this week! We baptized a guy called Raul, and a niño who has 9 years old as well. Raul is a great convert and his story is really awesome, i might of told you guys once before but I will tell you guys again. About 4 months ago me and elder Lopez we having alot of trouble finding new investigadors, and so we come up with the idea to look in our Area book and find all of old investigadors (there are a ton in this area book). we found one teaching record that was really positive, that was written about 2 years ago. It was the familiy of Raul. Except the teaching record was for his daughter Saada, who no longer lives there. She was going to get baptized but her parents (Raul) didnt give her permission and didnt want anything to do with the church. Elder Lopez and I found there house, and passed by several times but could never find them at home. about 2 months ago me and my current companion Elder Pineda passed by there house on the way back from an appointment that had fallen through and I recognized that house and I really felt like knocking on it. So we did and they let us come! And we baptized Raul yesterday! His wife is a workaholic and hasnt been able to come to church so thats why she didnt get baptized. His youngest daughter Yosselin will probably get baptized next week! We will also Baptize the family Tay Ramos next sunday as well. I also got to go to a baptism that the sister missionaries had because the family they baptized lives in my area sometimes and I was able to teach them as well!

We had a conferance with Elder Martino who is the 1st councilor in the area presidencia. And it was amazing! He talked to us about what it means to be a succesfull missionary. The spirit was really strong, he made alot of people cry. It was so good. He told us that for every 1,000 doors that we knock we will probably baptize 1 person, he said that we could work like that if we wanted to but there is really a better way. He told us that if we strive to have our lessons in the house of a member 2 of every 3 investigadors will get baptized. This was part of a study that was done in the nicaragua mission recently. That is an amazing difference. He talked alot about proseletismo inteligente (inteligent proselyting) to help us be more efficient with our time.

THE RAIN STOPPED! In Guatemala when the rain stops it stops for good. There are scattered clouds, a nice cool breeze, its probably about 75-80 degrees during the day, its perfect! This is perfect disc golf weather. If guatemala wasnt so dangerous I would totally live here to enjoy this fabulous climate.

I figured out how to send pictures again!

I was brave enough to take a few pictures in my area.

• The street that I took a picture of is an example of how everysingle street in my area is like (I took the picture half way up the hill, and you still cant see that top, and there are longer streets than this one)
• Baptism with the Hermanas
• Raul and my companion Elder Pineda (he thinks he tough, hahaha)
• and two pictures of me in my apartment

Love,

Elder West

IT RAINED EVERYSINGLE DAY! 10-17-2011

HOLA GUYS!

Let me just start out by saying that I got really wet this week! IT RAINED EVERYSINGLE DAY! and it is still raining as I speak. Apparently there was like a hurricane or tropical storm or something that passed by on the way to Mexico, but naturally as missionaries we always find stuff like that out after it has already happened. We are also running out of clean clothes because, the sister that washes our clothes drys our clothes outside on a clothes line, which is something that you can´t do when it is raining. I also figured out that those really cool boots that I got from missionary mall arent entirely waterproof either. But thats ok, it was a good experience to right in my journal.

On saturday it rained the hardest! and all of our appointments fell through as well. So we were knocking door after door in the rain hoping that someone would feel compassionate enough to let us in. After about 4 hours of doing that, when it was dark and raining harder than ever, a lady opened the door and I had one of the sweetest contacting moments ever. I put the biggest smile on that I could and said "its really rainging hard isnt it" ( I had to yell it because the rain was deafening) and then she said "si (yah)" and then Me and my companion just stood there smiling the best we could. And she made one of the most wonderfull observations in the world "it looks like your getting wet do you want to come inside?" How glorious were those words in my very wet ears! Fortunately her brother (who is older than 18 years) was home so we were able to enter. It was a pretty good lesson despite the fact that we couldnt hear anything because she has a tin roof and the rain was deafening. She doesnt have a church and is willing to listen. That was awesome. This past week we found 16 new investigadors!

Yesterday we also had a really good lesson with and investigador that we found last week. His name is Estuardo Soliz and he has about 24 years, yesterday we also found his Dad as well. It turns out that the missionaries tought them a couple of years ago. At the beggining of the lesson his dad told us that the other missionaries failed to convince him, and he told us that he was catholic and wasnt going to change. His son, estuardo, asked us about baptizing niños, and his dad asked us about hell and where it is located. We tought them bits and pieces of the plan of salvation and I really feel that we were being led by the spirit. The Spirit was really strong. At the end of the lesson, Estuardo´s dad said " well, it looks like you guys might just convince me after all." Victory! God wins! The spirit is so important in the lessons!

Well I have got to go but I love you guys and I hope you guys continue to stay dry up there in Washington. Could you guys said me the mission adresses to Peter and Nelson, I probably should send them a letter. This tuesday I am going to make a run at the post office, and I will try and send you guys a package.

I love you guys So much! and I love being a Missionary!

Elder West

Advice for Megan 10-10-2011

HI MUCHÁ!

(Muchá, is a slang term in guatemala for guys)This week I passed the 15th month mark, and am now in my seventh month herein peronia. I am going to be in this area about the same amount of time thatI had at BYU. Today everyone in the zone had our district meetings in thestake center because we are practicing a special musical number for zoneconferance. We are going to have 2 zone conferances in a row. We are goingto have one with President Brough on Wednesday and the following wednesdaywe are going to listen to Elder Martino (1st councilor in the areapresidency). On our way to the internet cafe we got really wet as we werewaiting outside for the bus to come. The rainDrops here are really reallyfat, they you can hear a small slapping sound when it smacks against yourskin. The spirit told me to put on my boots this morning but I didnt becausethere was not a cloud insight. I just finished drying out these shoes that Ihave on as well. My scriptures have gotten wet sooooooo much, they arereally wrinkly and they smell funny, and some of the pages have holes inthem, But I cant get rid of them because I have the whole book superhighlighted.

This week three of our baptismal date fell through, we still have 4baptismal date that are good however. One the dates that fell through is ayoung person called Esvin, he is 15 yearsold and has come to church forabout 2 months now. He really wants to get baptized but his parents wont lethim, because they want him to wait until he is bigger. The Other fecha waswith Brother Juan, the missionaries have been teaching him for about a yearand has been very close to baptism several times, we decided that we werentgoing to baptize him becauze he stopped reading, praying, and going tochurch. The other date was with Julia (the wife of Raul who is going to getbaptized in 2 weeks) but she didnt come to church, and we have rule that wecant baptize someone unless they have come to church 3 times.The other 4 fechas are awesome! Raul adn Yosselin, Alba and Caterine.

Some advice for Megan with her school friends. If someone asks you adoctrinal question that you dont know how to answer just say that you dontknow, you dont need to try and explain something you don´t know. Second tellthem about Joseph smith and the Book of Mormon becuase if the book of mormonis true it means that all of the commandments and "rules" that we have aretrue as well, and we dont have to ask why. And then just bear yourtestimony, nobody can deny the strong testimony that we have. Then givetheir phone number the missionaries and tell the missionaries what doubtsthey have, and go with them to teach your friends.

About 2 weeks ago we knocked on a door and a family let us in, after about 5minutes of talking we realized that it was the basement of another church!ooooppps! They started bombarding us with doctrinal questions, but because Ihave studied the scriptures i was able to answer, but they managed to stumpme on one question. They wanted me to define the word Terestial, I told themthat is was level of glory that we will recieve, but that wasnt enough. Soall that we could do was testify of the book of mormon, and it worked. Inthe end I dont think they changed, but I know that they could not deny thepower of our testimonies.Anyways I have got to go change my socks,

Love Elder West