September 30 2013

HOLY CANOLE! Jayde! You are GREAT WITH CHILD!!!!!!!!!!!! haha that´s so dope! When are you due again?!

So jealous that you guys went to Disneyland! That sounds so fun! 

How did nicks weekend go with being home alone?!

I WANNA SEE PICS OF NOODLE!!! And Morgan!

And of the whole family!

My shoes are doing... well okay! They arnt waterproof any more thats for sure! One pair is doing very good, but the other ones are comming unglued on the bottom! THE SOLES ARE COMMING OFF!!! but I think I´ll just send them to one of the million shoe repair places there are down here!

Not loosing weight anymore, we´ve been walking WAY MORE than normal, or better said Running from appointments to appointments, but we have been EATING A TON!!!

Beef jerky for sure for christmas, i´ll have to think of what else, I WANT THAT SHOE CREAM FROM HOLMES!!! If you want you can send me new CTR socks, I have missplaced like 2 or 3 pairs along the way!

I´ll have to think of what else I want! I´ll finish the list in a few weeks!!!

Yes, I am incredibly excited to be able to talk to Jr. aND Gerardo!!!

The weather here is just leaving the rainy season in the Capital, we are entering the cold! So yes! I can feel the weather start to change to be fall down here, not like at home but now I can recognize the seasons here! Super cool!

Kenzie, I love that you are doing awesome in your calling and you HELP THE MISSIONARIES!!! There is always 3 or 4 people like that in every area that the missionaries just LOVE cause you really do make our lives easier!!

What a CRAZY week! Holy cow I dont think I have ever worked harder in MY WHOLE LIFE than I did this last week! It all started with the fact that we were going to have 2 baptisms on saturday and we still had to finsh teaching them. One of them WAS FOR SURE that we were going to baptize him (w) then the other one (r) was a maybe cause he NEVER shows up to talk to us! So we passed through the week with a ton of luck in being able to find R. So we taught him and had his baptismal interview and he was super ready to be baptized. Then we taught willy the last lesson and he was supposed to show up at the church the next day to have his interview, but he never showed up! His phone was turned off and everything so we couldnt call him! 

We left a ton of messages to tell him to go to his baptism the next day and we´d do the interview right before! We knew that he had 2 phones but we only had the number for one, but we also had the number of his wife who lives in utah, so we went to a members house and called his wife to see if she had talked to him and to see if she had his other phone number. She told us that he had been VERY sick and that he was spiritually ready to be baptized but not physically... So we kinda lost hope!

 So we get there, R shows up.... But no W... So we had R´s baptism! It was super cool, our ward mission leader baptized him and they both did a great job! Then we were a little bummed out cause W didnt show up. So we got home and Elder C decided to call him, HE FINNALY ANSWERED!!! So I talked to him (W is from here but he´s lived in the states for his whole life and doesnt like speakin spanish that much) So he told me that he had been sick with the flu and took flu medicine that didnt react well with his body and he was just a zombie for 2 days. So we told him that he could wait 2 weeks to be baptized or that we could do it at 7 in the morning before church. He said he wanted to do it before church! So we got up at 5 in the morning to fill up the Font and get everything ready, we even made the Zone Leaders come to do his interview aaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnndddddddddddddd W NEVER SHOWED!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO So we were a little bummed out about that after, but we called him later that day and he told us that he´s been super depressed lately cause he feels like he´ll never get home to America again and that he´ll never see his family. So he asked us to go to his house tommorrow to give him a blessing. Poor guy, I feel really bad for him!  Hopefully in about 2 weeks he can be baptized!

So all that happend Sunday morning and then we went to sacrament meeting and Pres. and Hna. Watts came!!! They came cause they meet R a while back when we first started teaching him and told him they´d come to his Confirmation! So we got to see them and they both got to give talks in the meeting! SUper awesome, I hope this helps the ward be even more excited!

 I forgot to tell you that it was transfer week this week! I´ve only got 1 change here and I ALREADY HAVE A CHANGE!!! NOOOOOO Of course I get to an area that has people to teach and things to do and I CAN ONLY LOVE IT FOR A CHANGE!!! So yeah, not really sure why I gotta change... I think about half the mission has changes! But It doesnt really make sense that I have one! So who knows what could happen this time! Supposedly they´re opening a bunch of areas outside the capital! Maybe I could leave the cap! But maybe not, who knows! I´ll know this wednesday and I´ll have to tell you next week!  

So i´ll leave you guys with a litte suspense as to where I am going to be! haha there are a lot of openings in the zone that I was in for a year so who knows, knowing my luck I´ll probably go there haha, whatever happens Im sure i´ll be happy! 

Keep reading, praying, going to church! Have fun in YOUR GIANT WARD!! I cant even imagine a ward of 500 now!!! Love you guys a ton, I love your support and letters! You are the best fambly!

Love,

Alex

September 23, 2013

This week was awesome! We´ve been soo buisy there isnt time to take a break! We had to organize a wedding and 2 baptisms! On friday we had the wedding, everything went well! The people who got married have a parrot that gets sad if he´s alone so we just played with this parrot for an hour while they decorated! haha super sweet! Then they got married and we baptized the husband cause the wife is already a member! Great baptism and wedding combo! I´d say over 100 people showed up! Then to celebrate we ate at this burger place called Del Puente that´s SUPER GOOD!!! Then on saturday we had the baptism of C H, Which is funny cause our Elders Quorem president is named C H aswell! that went well, he had nerve problems and got super nervous in the water!! He said he thought he was going to drown! So the actual ordinance was awkward cause he didnt want to go under but the guy baptizeing did a good job pushing him allllll the way down!

I took pictures but Elder G stoll my converter to send pics like 6 weeks ago so I´ll have to find another one!!! So you guys wont recieve anything

I didnt eat breakfast today and we just played 2 hours of soccer so IM DEAD!!!! But we played gringos vs latinos annnnnnnnd GRINGOS WON!!!!! MERICA!!!!!

This sunday we had a sweet lesson! We have this old mexican lady Hna. Toledo that was a missionary like 50 years ago and just LOVES the missionaries! She´s super awesome and always is super nice to us. So she came up to us and told us that she had some references for us, we went to her house at 3 for the appointment. The investigators didnt show up and so at 4 Hna T went to go get them. We were thinking that maybe they werent really interested and that´s why they didnt show up. But they walk in (a mom and ehr 2 daughters) and they start asking a bunch of questions about Joseph Smith. So we explained the Restoration of the Church and then we talked about the book of mormon. We told them to pray and ask to receive an answer to know if the book of mormon is true and if Joseph Smith was a prophet. Then she just looked at us and told us that she already has a testimony of the church, and that she´s had it for years! hahahahahaha it was the best lesson ever"! So we are going to put a date with her next week! 

This week we are going to baptize W and R! W is from UTAH!!! his wife is a member but he is down here for some patriot act that Obama made. So he speaks english and its awesome! His wife is commin down here in December and offered to meet you guys somewhere to bring me a package! I have her number but it´s in my agenda and that´s in my house! I´ll send it to you next week!

Okay well I hope you all had a great week and that you had a blast in mexico and that nick had fun all alone! love you guys a ton! YA TENGO 13 MESES!!!! 

Love

Alex

September 16, 2013

HEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey

Sup fam? haha glad to hear that you guys dont rememeber ANYTHING I write! hahaha just kidding, I dont really remember either...

So this week was awesome! First we had our zone conference with Pres. Watts and Hna. Watts! They talked about how to work more with the members and how we can find new investigators! Which doesnt really apply to me cause the investigators just invite themselves to church here ;) haha. Then we ate a DELICIOUS lunch of turky wraped in bacon hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm dervisious! Then they had a couple more instructions and we got to take pictures! hahahahaha I may have accidentally hugged Hna. Watts for a picture! I didnt realize untill after and I just jumped away and told her I was SO SORRY!! hahaha she just laughed and said it was fine! super funny

So I learned a lot that day and we were super excited to get to woork, we have already had a meeting with our bishop about how we can make the ward better and help him out. Then I got sick! noooooooooo! I had a cold? Its called Gripe in spanish, I think its a cold! But I had a fever and everythign! But we still worked, I dont like to stay in the house! I feel mostly better now, still got a bit of a cough though!

Then on Friday we had our baptizsm! A got bapzited Friday the 13, we had a LOT of bad luck that day but in the end it turned out okay! The first problem was that NO ONE showed up on time, then when people DID show up A didnt show up! We tried to call her like 30 times but she wouldnt answer! Then like an hour late she finnally came! Only to have ANOTHER problem, the baptizmal clothing we got for her was WAY to small, she told us she was XL so we got XL... she needed like XXXL! So we had to donate one of our white shirts to cover up the parts that we couldnt zip up! Then the DVD player in the church didnt work, so I had to give a 15 minte talk after she was baptized and changing. Which really isnt all that bad except I was sick at the time and I lost my voice about 5 minutes into it! hahahaha so it was just a mess of a baptism but like I said, It all worked out!

Then saturday we had a ward activity for the 15 of september, our ward got together and ran around the city with a torch! A LOT of people do that here, pretty cool tradition! then they came back to the church and sang the national Himn of Guate (SUPER LONG) and then ate tostadas. Really fun activity, we had Cesar go and he LOVED it, along with R. 

So this comming week we should have more baptisms! 2 More to be exact! On Saturday at 5 we are goin got baptize C! He has changed a lot and is very ready, so we are super pumped for that! Then on Friday we are going to have a wedding! An investigator named L is going to get married to one of the members in our ward (they´ve been living together for 3 years) and then he´s going to get baptized! This week should be SUPER buisy for us because we still have to teach ALLL of the lessons to Luis! haha he already knows them cause his family are members too but we gots to teach him anyways!

As for my spanish, there is literally NOTHING that I cant understand. And I can say pretty much anything that I want to say! yaya! As for the danger level here in zone 5, when I tell people I was in zone 18 for a year they just about poop their pants hahaha, they always ask me for stories ;) so here isnt too bad, but I got this place called the Limonada in my area (about half of it) and Im not alowed to enter because it´s a red zone.... So yeah its a little more safe!

Okay well love you guys a ton! I jsut ran outta time so I gots to gooooo!

Love 

Alex

September 9, 2013

Sup fam!?¿

I LOVE the fact that you guys adopted a kitten... when it turns into a cat we´ll have to get rid of it though! Holy cow, I have a lot of south missionaries in the east mission now! Tell him to be VERY OBEDIENT NO MATTER WHAT! There are a lot of disobedient missionaries from south mission!

YAY!!! Ben is going to Tijuana! That is so cool! I was going to ask about him today actually! Is he super pumped? I LOVE MEXICO! 

Also, that`s Popeyes chicken (fricken awesome) that looslis are in our ward now!!!!! YAY!!! And Abbey!! Sounds like you guys are makin a lot of friends ther in your new house home!

So this week made me realize how much more blessed this area is! Did I tell you that for about 3 weeks in a row we`ve had RANDOM people show up to church and say they wanna be baptized! hahahahaha when that happens I just laugh now because it is SO COMMON!! So right now we have 6 people that we have put a date with for their baptizms! and this next week we´re going to put 2 more!! This next Friday the 13th we have a baptizm! Hopefully we dont have any bad luck!! Her name is A the one I told you about last week, she´s super excieted to take this step and it´s going to be awesome! 

So in total, if everything goes well these next few weeks we should have a total of 6 baptisms in september! 1 this week, 1 the next (the 21) and 4 on the 28th! Holy cow, they always have said `some Elders will plant the seeds, and some will harvest` I didnt realize how true that was! I have been planting seeds for the whole mission and now I get to harvest! So awesome! 

I got my package today! THANK YOU! hopefully I´ll start doing somesort of exersise now... haha Elder C wants me to do exersise buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut id rather study the old testament! THAT CRAP IS CRAZY!!! But now I have something to exersise with so I think i´ll start doing it!

Hey, did nick already start school!?!?!? THAT WAS A FAST SUMMER! It´s almost september 11... I think Im going to wear 2 america ties that day!! Hey and you have to fly the GTown flag on the 15 because its INDEPENDANCE DAY!!!!

Oh I gotta tell you about how our baptizm that we were going to have last saturday fell through... super sad... So we were going to C house on wednesday to get him ready to have the baptismal interview the next day! So we knock on the door and his mom comes out and tell s us that she was SUPER worried because he went to zone 1 to do an arrend but he never came home after. She told us how when that happens he´s normally passed out drunk in the street. And when the people drink in the street here people jsut beat the bananas outta them and steal their stuff. 

So we went back ne next day and he STILL wasnt home, he came back to get new shoes (cause they stole his other pair) and then went back out to drink. He was drinking the medical alcohol...It´s like rubbing alcohol. So we went to another lesson and on the way back we found him passed out in the middle of the street. So we helped him up and broght him home, he was so waisted that wehn he trid to tell us Gracias all that came out was GGGGGGAHHSIS... Super sad, we had to practically carry him to his house and he was all smashed up so I got a bunch of blood on my shirt... But we got him there! We`re visiting him EVERYDAY to make sure he´s okay, he says that NO MORE, because he could die doing that and he feels super bad to what it does to his mom.. So we put another date for his baptism and we are still going to work with him!

phew, that´s the story of the week! hahah oh I forgot to tell you ( I think) Me and my comp have been working to convince people in my ward that Justin Beiber is my brother hahahaha, we are so convincing that people have looked up the family of Justin to verify! hahahaha so much fun! 

Okay, well that was my week! Tommorrow we have Zone Conference with Pres. Watts! That should be awesome! I´ll tell you how it goes next week!

Love you guys so much! Tell everyone Hi for me!

Love

Alex

September 2, 2013

So this week was AWESOME! It went by sooooo fast! This new area of mine is EXTREMELY blessed right now, the investigators just show up to church already wanting to change! We dont even have a lot of investigators, and we dont teach NEARLY as much as we did in La Laguna, but the people are just ready here! LOVE IT! 

Holy cow I love the new house, the deck looks very nice! hahaha I wish I coulda seen morgan! Im sure she´s gonna get lost in there for the first couple of days! haha, hows the ward there? How many people asisst there? I wanna know the number cause people always ask how big my ward is! 

So this week it has been raining a lot, and the people here are babies so the work was a little hard. They think that if it´s raining and you walk outside you´ll get sick... So when there´s rain, no one does ANYTHING! They dont even talk to the missionaries! haha So this last monday they told us that we were going to have an activity with Pres. Watts on Saturday. They didnt tell us anythign about it they just told us that we had to invite the ward and tell them to bring their friends, so that´s what we did. Then Friday Elder S(I was in Alameda with him for 3 months, I LOVE the guy, he´s from Tijuana! and we`re very good friends) and Elder G (one of the funniest people I´ve ever met, I met him in Alameda too! He was my ZL for a while!) called (oh and they`re APs) and told us that we had to open the church at 7 in the morning so president could come and get everything ready. Then at 630 in the morning they called us and told us not to do it untill 11..... then at 11 they told us not till 2! haha so we bought McDonalds (yes I finnally have normal food in my area!!!) and just camped out in the church! Then President came and we got everything all set up. We left at like 3 to go invite more people and have a lesson. Then we came back at six and there were a TON of people here! 

So it turns out that the activity was a musical activity, they had Elder L (he´s in the office and I love the guy) Sing. He can sing sooooooooooooo welll it was awesome. They had Elder G play the violin. He´s from my group (he came into the mission the same day as me!) and I was his DL for about 2 weeks haha, but he can play the violin extremely well. And they brought Elder R, He´s from Hondurus and was my first DL in the mish, but he went to a musical school so he can play the piano like a champ. I got to see a bunch of my pals that day, haha it was really cooL!

So they had them sing and play certain hymns inbetween video segments that talked about the gosple! We had an investigator show up who´s been an investigator forever cause he likes to drink His name is Hno. R. He came an hour early and talked A LOT with president Watts (if he cant convert someone I dont know who can!) and in the end Hno. R said `you know pres. I would love to see you and talk to you again` and Pres. Watts said `Oh yeah that´ll be easy, I´ll just come to your baptizm` haha so at the end of the activity Rene came up to us and asked us what he had to do to be baptized! So we put a baptismal date with him for the 28 of september! SO AWESOME!

Then we have our baptizm  for this week! C! C has like 35 years, he used to be addicted to cocaine so he has a LOT of nervous problems. But he is very cool, we go to his house every sunday morning to bring him to church and he´s NEVER home, and then we get to the church and he´s already there! The poor guy always feels like he`s on the run, very anxious! 

Then our other baptismal date is with Hna. A. She´s 21 and has a daughter, and is best friends with the bishops wife. She´s a for sure baptism as well, she shows up to church on her own too! This week she offered to cook us lunch, and supposedly she cooks very weLL!! 

haha I have to tell you about our ward council meeting! We were sitting in there (only about 5 people show up to ward council meeting!) and we were talking about the investigators. When suddenly a guy named Hno. P appeard (he´s kinda old and has a CRAZY CONVERSION story, he was studieing to become a Catholic preist. like 20 years of school, then 2 WEEKS before he goes to the Vadican to be ordained the missionaries come and knock on his door. He read the BOM in 3 days and got baptized instead of going to Italy! hahaha SO CRAZY!!!) But he shows up and starts givin crap to the bishop ( who only has 3 years as a member!!!) about how he doesnt do his job and all this stuff. Then the bishop starts pullin out scriptures about how its his job to preside over the others and their job to work in their callings and all this stuff! my comp made me leave because he feels awkward about contention... I WANTED TO WATCH AND SEE WHO WON!!!!!!! Appearantly this happens EVERY ward council meeting! haha this ward is INSAINE but super cooL! Love it here! 

AH! This week we found GIANT hamburgers! They are probably about a foot in diameter! With steak, chicken, turkey, and sausage, and guacamole and lettuce and all the good stuff!!! SO GOOD!!! And only about 30 quets! Super good!

Okay, well you´ll have to tell me about the new neighborhood and take pics of the unfinished parts of the house! I WANNA SEE IT ALL!!!! Hope every one has a great week!

Love,

Alex

August 26, 2013

Sup peeps!? 

Hows it hangen? Sounds like all of you have had full weeeeeeeeks!!! ME TOO!!! I had to say goodbye to everyone, which was a bummer in a lot of cases but easier in others!! I was really bummed because all my friends had changes too and who knows if we´ll be in the same zones again!!! But yeah, so I get my changes and I said goodbye for 2 days and forgot to pack....... so tuesday night I had to stay up till 2 and wake up at 530 to finish packing on time!!! haha so I get to the change conference and I had an interview with President watts! (which scared the bananas outta me because normally he only does that with disobedients........... haha but Im obedient so dont worry!! haha) So I go in and he tells me that I am going to go to a zone that used to be part of the south mission, and that I had to help make the zone more united and that he prayed and thought alot about my change and that he thinks that this area and this companion are going to help me acheive my potential as a missionary. 

SO My area is in Zona Palmita, area Palmita, It´s in zone 5 and its HUGE compared to anything ive been in before! The house is AWESOME!!!! HUGE and has hot water!!! BOO YA!!!! soo yeah, then my comp is ELDER C. He´s from Ecuador, im finishing his training, and he´s pretty cool. VERY COCKY! haha because this area has had very disobedient elders and until him and his trainer came it wasnt super successfull, then they had like 5 baptisms in 3 months and his confidece level has shot through the roof. But the area is awesome and he´s super friendly so it´ll all good, we dont really have a lot of investigators but we have found a lot of news already. This Sunday we had 2 new people just show up at church! So that was super cool, one of them is from UTAH! But he has to be in GUatemala for like 5 years for visa problems, but he speaks awesome english and his wife is a member so he wants to be baptized! I´ll have to tell you more on that next week!

uhhhhh so yeah, my zone is kinda weird. The south mission has a very different personality, the missionaries are super not united, where the north mission every one loves everyone!!! So it gotta get used to my kinda different zone, there are some super cool elders here though!! I dont have a lot of time to write today so this ones going to be a little more shorter!! love you guys a ton, I think im ogign to sentd home a memory with all mah pics! 

Love,

Alex

August 19, 2013

HOLY COW that´s a nice house!! That´ll be so cool! I WANT A NICE HOUSE!!! I feeel like that´s one of those houses that I cant goof off in... THAT`LL CHANGE!!! hahaha that´s okay, this week I FINISH A YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That went by SUPER fast!!! So There is good news and bad news. The bad news is that the mission has a rule that we cant go to the gym now... WHAT?! Dont understand that crap. So I wont be getting huge after all.... that really was super fun, definately something I will do when I get home! I LOVE BEING SORE. But the good news is that I finnaly have a change!!! I´m still in my same area right now but on wednesday I find out where Im going and who my companion will be, but hopefully I actually leave this dang zone that i´ve been in MY WHOLE MISH!!! right now there are only 6 missionaries comming into the mission... and they are alllll sisters!!! CRAZY!!! SISTER POWER!!

AWE!! I wanna go to the temple! That´s awesome, congradulations Kenz!! I really want to go into the SLC one because IT¨S SO COOL!!! Definately have to do that when I get back!! Sounds like Nick had ablast in his drum thing! That is right up his alley! 

More than anything I had A VERY slow week. we only taught about 15 lessons in total... about 10 less than normal!! Elder O was sick for 4 days so we didnt do ANYTHING, SO BORED. He´s good now but holy cooooow what what long week! It got worse cause a member convinced him he had this DEATHLY sickness... nothing even close, but I called the nurse for him and she told him EXACTLY what I had told him... Not Dengue my friend!! He´s a little upset that he doesnt have a change but it´ll be good for him to stay one more!

SO yuop, P was FINNALLY home and we got to talk to her! She said she is going to try and get married to her husband and that they are going to move to zone 6.... so I guess that we wont be seeing her be baptized or anything. So that was a downer. Plus the kids Jose and Maydi wont be baptized for 2 weeks because of the schedule of their dad. DANGIT I WONT SEE ANY OF THEM!!!!!!!!!! Hopefully the three of them finnally get to it eventually and dont keep dragging it out!

So yeah, almost ALLL the gringos in my zone have changes! All but 2! Half the zone is leaving! Which is crazy because in most other ones ther are only about 4 or 5 changes, we have DOUBLE that! I Guess they want to clean it out a little, most of us have a LOT of time here! I wanna go to the coast and teach the black people! I would be the happiest clam in the world, but if not i´ll still be happy... JUST NOT AS HAPPY haha.

Next week I´ll tell you exactly where Im at, thanks for your support and everything! HEY!! I have a package request! Can you send me those resitance bands that you can put on the door to work out with?! haha you´d have to send me the instructions on how to use them but working out is definately a good stress relief! Love you guys so much! ONE DOWN ONE TO GO!!! This one´s going to pass by 6 times faster!

Love 

Alex

August 12, 2013

AWE you guys have so much fun! It´s weird, I never realized how much we travle untill after I dont get to do it with you guys! That would be so fun do go and see all the Dummers!! Im sure Nick was in HEAVAN!!! 

hahahaha yeah I remember when I told everyone about the bear attack... but I dont remember the story or the wound to be honest haha! But yeah you dont have to worry about it, it´s all healed up with no problemas!!

And I am incredibly jealous of the house! My house Im in now is a dang CAVE!!! haha i´ll be so excited to come home and have a warm shower!!! AND BE BAREFOOT!!!!!!!!!

Well, this week we were supposed to have a baptizm... But that dang guy with the horns got in the way again!!! So the story with this lady is that her name is P, she started comming to our chrurch because she was passing through some tough times and her husband is a mormon so she figured she`d try it! Super awesome, very smart, very excited to be baptized but then like 2 or 3 weeks ago her husband left her and she had to leave with her 2 little kids to a new home. LUKLY it is in our area! So we kept teaching her and it turns out that her husband has left her MANY times and she always just lets him come back in. So we had taught her EVERYTHING and she was ready to be baptized, she told us that she wasnt actually married to her husband so it was really a good thing that they had separated (cause you cant baptize them unless they`re separated or married) so we were good to go for her baptizim. 3 days before saturday we go there and.... HER DANG HUSBAND IS BACK!!!! So we talked about the law of chastity with the 2 of them, she said she wants to get married and he said that he didnt... But he doesnt want to separate either... FUDGE!!!! So they were going to talk it over and tell us what the result was, we tried to go there 3 times but they havent been home... WHO KNOWS WHAT¨S HAPPENING NOW!!!

So this next week we should have 2 more baptisms, buuuuuuuuuut the dad of the 2 kids J and M might have to work EVERY DAY!!! And they´re members, but the kids already have 10 and 12 years, because they´ve been inactive. So of course teh dad wants to see the baptizm!! So we might have to wait ANOTHER WEEK!!!!!!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO CURSE YOU AQUA SCUUUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and the bad thing is that next week we have our transfers ALREADY!!! So I would be SUPER bummed out if I dont get to see any 1 of the 3 be baptized...

Today we are writing later because we went to this place called Central Market, it´s a super crowded place with a lot of cool Guatemalian things! I blew allllllllllllll of my money for the month... ooops.... But I got some awesome shorts and pants that are like those Islandy ones that we got dad foreverago! SUPER AWSOME!!! So I´ll be useing my credit card for this next little bit... Super fun day though, we spent like an hour in this giant plaza place just trying to catch pigeions... no one succeeded... 

This week has been awsome because starting last tuesday WE´VE BEEN GOING TO THE GYM!!!! There is a couple of us that bought gym passes and now we get up at 530 everymorning to go and GET SHREDDED!!! haha 2 of the missionaries that we´re doin it with were just insaine football players so we do the CRAZYEST workouts! We did a leg work out and we had to hobble around like drunk ducks for 4 days after! haha so great! We call ourselves many things... we are team Gatorade because we all have matching gatorade shirts! haha and we are the STREET SHARKS!! haha do you remember that show? About the sharks that would just eat cars and crap like that? hahahaha we all have bracelets that say street sharks too! I flippin love the zone im in right now! We have a lotta fun on P day!

Okay, well I hope you guys have a great week! Thanks for your letters, you guys are the bombest fambly ever! 

Love,

Alex

July 29, 2013

HOLY COW, you guys sold the house already?¿ That´s awesome that JD and Alisha are going to buy it! I wanna see the houses you are looking at!! I think house shopping would be soooooooooo fun!!! That is soo cool that Dad got to throw the first pitch! haha it sounds like you all did a great job in setting it up! Happy birthday to Dad and Nick! I thought the 4th was going to be today but now you get your bday wishes a day late! I hope you guys have a BLAST at buffalo wild wings! Ah now im hungry for wings... Gotta wait 2 years for that crap...

Tell Isaac CONGRADUMAFREAKINGLATIONS! That´s great that he got baptized, and awesome that Dad got to speak! 

Last week wasnt really an official service week but we have been doing A LOT! This week we cut down another GIANT tree it was atleast 40000 meters long! or tall... it took FOREVER to cut down!! but it was WORTH it, I´ll have to send you guys pictures next week cause I dont have my converter! My finger is heald! YAY!! so NO WORRIES ABOUT THAT! I have man hands now, we left the shaft of the axe bloody! haha it looked so cool! OOOHHH other good news! I have re discovered my chinese accent!!! SUCCESS!!!

Then this week we gon have a baptism!! the 10 of August is going to be baptized and we are super excited! Then the next week we have 2 more planned! 2 kids from an inactive family that we are activating right now! Really excited, J C and his sister M (not sure how to spell that crap...) But we aver very excited to help them! They are 10 and 12 years old and are very excited to be baptized! Our changes are the 21 of august! ONE DAY BEFORE I COMPLETE A YEAR!!! But im not sure if i´ll have a change, I dont really want one now! I love our zone and we HAVE WALMART!! Plus it looks like for the next 3 or 4 weeks we´ll baptize EVERY WEEK! hopefully, we´ll see what the Big Man upstairs says about that!

I have only spoken once in church IN THE WHOLE MISH!! I doubt that i´ll speak anytime soon too! It´s weird cause I thought I´d be talking a lot on the mish! NOOOOOOOOOPE!!!

Hope you guys have an awesome birthday guys! Just think, next year I STILL wont be home for them! hahaha but I´ll be really close! I gotta go cause I need to print off the talk dad sent to me!

Well, Love you guys a TON!!! You are the bestest!

Love,

Alex

July 29, 2013

Holy cow fam!!! Hows it hangin?

AWE MAN!! I wanna go on the trek again!!! I think I would appreciate it a LOT more now!!! I love the pioneers! They are soooooo cool! I have the movie 17 miricles and I LOVE THAT!!! Nick, way to be Pilas and help everyone out! haha Pilas means... a lot of things! haha but it´s kinda like saying awesome! Glad to hear that he loved it! One of my best memories of treck was stealing more of the crappy food they gave us hahaha, I WANNA DO IT AGAIN!! Not steal but do the treck! 

Pues, this week was SERVICE WEEK! Me and my companion did service everyday except sunday and friday! I AM POOOOOOOOOOPED!! First we went with our new Zone Leaders Elder S and Elder G, they´re both gringos and AWESOME ZLs!, and with the other district leader G (gringo and one of the best pals I got in the mish) and his comp C from Honduras. We went to go cut pine trees down (YES THERE ARE PINE TREES IN GUATE!!) and make firewood for a family that uses the fire to cook and sell tortillas. We get to the ZLs house and the VERY first thing that happens is that C cuts my finger with an exacto knife... I´d explain the situation but I need more time haha, So I have a pretty deep cut on my filangy right now! haha I thought (well still think) that I shouldda got stiches buuuuuuuuuut eh im in Guatemala right?! haha so after wrapping up my finger in gauze we went to go find the trees. Turns out we were going to do it alll with an AXE!!! So we spent a good 4 or 5 hours chopping these trees down into firewood with that thing! MY HANDS HURT SO BAD!!! I´ve got like 6 blisters! haha but it was SUPER fun!! But it was also a bad day...

Last week we got a call from the ZLs that there had been an accident witht the ZLs in Coban, Elder Bu and my mission dad Elder G were doing service and were in the back of a pickup that was driving when it rolled. Elder G was okay, He has a lot of cuts and bruises but I dont think he even broke a bone. But Elder Bu(from Canada) was hurt pretty bad, they had to reconstruct his back because he broke it, plus several broken bones in his legs. For a while it looked like he was paralyzed but then he started to have feelings in his feet. Then when things were lookin up for him, he passed away. We got the news on tuesday during the service. That was really hard, I really feel bad for his parents cause he only had about 2 months left or less. I know that he´s getting his reward right now, Just keep his family in your prayers.

But after that day, we went to do service with our district in a place called Juana De Arco, ITS SOOO FAR AWAY!!! we had to walk because we forgot our bus pass! We had to shovel dirt out of the side of a hill and throw it on this huge pile! SO TIREING!!! We did that for a good 5 hours too! Then the next day we went and cut MORE wood with the ZLs, then we took a break on friday, then on saturday we went and dug more dirt outta the hillside!!! AHHHHHHH MY TIRED LEVEL IS OVER 9000!!!! The bad thing is that I cant say no to a service project!!!! I HAVE A WEAKNESS!!!

GOod news though!! P one of our investagtors that was going to move away, Is moving to a place in my area still!!! YAY!!!! So we are still gong to be able to baptize her! But not till the 10th of August! After her we should have about 3 or 4 baptizms the following week! Hopefully they go to church so that we can baptize them!!! Things are going verywell! THis change is going by far to quickly! I hope I dont have a transfer unless I get transferred to the coast, THEN I´LL BE VERY HAPPY!! But if it´s just going to be in the cap I WANNA STAY HERE!!!

Tell everyone I say hi! uhhh haha and tell nick I say GOOD LUCK!!! That´s so cool that he has gigs in other states! Hows the weather there? Still super hot? It´s very hot right now here too, Im SUPER sunburned from all the serviceing! I cant just move my neck, I have to move my whole body to look at things (Kinda like batman!!) because my neck rubs on my collar and IT HURTS!!!

Well, hope you all have an awesome week! We are going to keep workin hard and baptizin the bananas outta this place!! Love you tons!

Alex

July 22, 2013

hahaha hey fam!!!!

SOrry about the time changes on the internet! We had to move the times around cause there are like 2 or 3 zones that want to use the same place to write!

Sounds like you guys had a blast in mexico! I didnt know you went with Hayden and JD and Alisha! That would be  so much fun! Glad to hear that the scriptures helped! Hopefully he reads them! Im super exceted to go to mexico with you guys! 

This week we had my first district meeting and It went really well! The elders in my district are really cool! We talked about our difficulties with getting 4 baptisms everymonth and how we were going to fix everyting! Then I had Divisions with my new ZLs, I went with Elder Somers and had a blast! I did my first baptismal interview and it was a SUPER cool experiance! I could feel the spirit SUPER strong! 

AWE I miss the rodeos! Have fun watching people get thrown around by CRAZY animals! 

Im healthy and happy! Now I have nutella and poptarts!!! YAY!!! Plus there´s a Mcdonalds in my zone now! So i am going to eat a TON of that crap! TIME TO GET FAT AGAIN!!!

Being DL is cool... It´s like the same thing but now im responsible for other missionaries! I have to do weekly dats and everything so it´s good and bad! The best part is that I can do baptismal interviews now! really nice!

My comp is still Elder O, hahaha this week was so funny with him! I´ll have to tell you next week when I have more time! But He said some funny stuff during a lesson and kinda dug himself in a hole and I had to save him! 

Sorry this letter is going to be a litte short! Ah I gotta tell you what happened to P, our baptismal date with her! She was having financial problems, and she has 2 little kids right? Well she moved outta my area, so we cant teach her anymoer PLUS her husband left her and the kids for another woman.... WHY DO PEOPLE DO WHAT THEY SHOULDNT!?!?!?

well I hope you all have a great week! I love you all and miss you a ton! Pretty soon you can go to Jons homecoming! CRAZY!!! 

Love you!

alex

July 22, 2013

Dear The Johnstun Family:

As you may know, the creation of new missions throughout the world to accommodate the significant rise in the number of missionaries serving has had a favorable impact here in Guatemala.  A new mission has been added in the country and this has affected several of the existing missions.  Part of the Guatemala City North mission was taken to create the Cobán Mission, and part of the Guatemala City South mission was combined with the remaining portion of the Guatemala City North mission to create the Guatemala City East mission.  The new East mission incorporates areas of Guatemala City with Eastern sections of the country extending to Puerto Barrios on the East Coast.  In connection with this change in mission boundaries and names, Élder Johnstun has been assigned to continue his service with us as a missionary in the Guatemala City East mission.

Sister Watts and I are extremely grateful for the opportunity to continue our own missionary service with each missionary.  We have been able to meet personally with all those who are new to us.  We have a great love for the missionaries in the East mission and have a profound desire for their welfare and happiness.  It is a special privilege to be able to serve with them.   We know they have been prepared to enter the Lord’s vineyard at a time when He is hastening His work.  We respect and honor them.

We are also grateful to you for your love and prayers.  Your letters and encouragement are invaluable.  Thank you for this very important support.  Please know that Sister Watts and I will do all we can to show our constant love and concern for these wonderful young men and women during their service far from home and from many loved ones.

Kindest regards,

President and Sister Edward D. Watts

Guatemala, Guatemala City East Mission  

P.S.  - Our new mailing address is:

                Misión Guatemala, Ciudad de Guatemala Norte

                Apartado Postal 951-A

                Guatemala, Guatemala C.A.

July 15, 2013

Hey guys! Sounds like you are having a blast in Mexico! Holy cow I would Kill to go swimmin with the Jellies!!!!! 

So my rash finnally went away on wednesday! Not even close to knowing what caused it! Just a Wild Rash appeared and just went wild on me! I didnt take any meds because before in our zone we didnt have a place to buy anything and the nurse in our mission doesnt really do anything.... BUT I SURVIVED!!! I think it was hives from stress.... I was FAIRLY upset that I didnt get outta here! But now Im okay because they DESTROYED the zone I used to be in, Now Im in zona LA Laguna, same area, but different district! Now im a District Leader POOP... They still arnt sure whose in my zone or anything, it changes by the hour! I dont think they were super ready to change the zones... But now in our zone we have WALMART!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Holy cow, Im so pumped to go there today! That is going to be RICH! Plus we have a nice mall thing too! WITH MCDONALDS!!!! So Im a fairly happy camper, still wanna leave but I like this stuff haha

This week someting super cool happend too! About 3 weeks ago we had this lady just RANDOMLY show up at church, she was super nice and participated out the wazoo in all the classes. <She´s not a member, her name´s P. We asked her for her address and she told us to come on wednesday. So we went and she wasnt home.... then she wasnt home again.... then again... so we kinda gave up on her, but then Elder G (from utah) called me, He´s one of my best friends in the mission, he told me he had a reference who was super awesome for me. He told me her name and gave me her phone number this time! So we called her and went this last thursday. She accepted us and we went in to their tiny little house. She lives there with her husband F and her 3 year old daughter A and her 1 yearold S. Her husband is suposedly a member but has been in active for like 5 years or so! So we were talking to them and they explained how they were getting kicked out of their house because they didnt have a job to pay, and that they didnt have anyfood for the next day. It was really sad and everyone was tearing up! She told us that she wanted to talk to us because she knows that we could help her be closer to god! Super cool! We put a baptism date for the 3 august with her and she was super happy and told us that she was willing to do it to be obedient! They dont know where they´re going to live but they went to church with us on sunday and lOVED it! I am super glad that Im here to teach them!

Okay well, HAVE FUN ON THE FREAKIN BEACH!!!

haha love you guys! 

Alex

July 8, 2013

SOOOOOOOOO this week there were changes! I bet you`re veeerry curious as to if I had one or not!!!!!! THE ANSWER IS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! no..... I´ll almost finish a YEAR in the same district that i´ve been in for my whole mission....... holy cow. I just need a change, I like this area but....... i really wanna see something different for once in my mission. there is a missionary who came to this zone with an emergency transfer and only had a week in this zone and HE had a change!!! I´ve almost got a gosh diggity year! 

And to make things worse, yesterday I broke out in hives!!! Covered like a giraffe, itchy as a.... well something that is itchy I guess. Last night was one of the LONGEST nights of my life! Just scratching and trying to sleep, BLAH it was awful. Not sure if it was from something I ate or what, might of been stress too, but I still got some on my feet and they´re on FIRE right now!

And to make things EVEN worse, remember the Fam. P I told you about? Well, we REALLY wanted to get a baptismal date with them. We´ve invited them before but they always say ´but I´ve already been baptized´ then we invite them to pray and ask if they should. After then they always say OK but nothing else. THIS time I wasnt going to leave without putting a date with them, so we invited them and they told us the same thing ´ive already been baptized´ so we explained authority and everything and invited them again. then they told us ´no you dont understand... we were baptized in YOUR church´ WHAT!? We´ve been teaching you for EVER and you failed to mention that!? Holy cow, so we didnt get to put a date with them.... they`re already members... we just kinda sat there like What? for like a minute, couldnt think of a word to say! So I guess it`s good that their baptized but it just is a bummer cause we were certain that they would be perfect baptizms.

Sorry about this Email that´s just full of bad news but this week has been a hard one! Uhhh good news is that, wells kinda bad news for me but it sounds cool! I think that im going to be District Leader here... which could be cool, I was hoping that i`d leave this place first but it looks like it`s gonna happen, I`ll tell you if it`s for sure next week though! Also it looks like my zone will be splitting (dont tell anyone it`s still a secret haha) so my zone will be TINY I think, I`ll have to tell you more when I know.

Lets see, we dont have any baptism dates set, and the other two investigators who I told you about are just brainwashed fools now who dont really want to talk to us. More than anything we´ve been working with the members this week, they really are the key to having any success in any area. But it takes a bit to get them rolling! Maybe I´ll see how it goes cause I´ll be here FOREVER! haha

These pics are awesome! I love the one with all you and with scott, NICK LOOKS OLD!!! haha Maybe I`ll send you pics instead of writing more!

Church is true (thank goodness because if it wasnt I´d leave this dang zone haha) Keep praying and have a BLAST in Mexico! 

Love,

Alex

July 1, 2013

Wow, I didnt realize that Grammys problem was so serious! I read it but I didnt really think about it, but it´s good to hear that she´s improving! Tell her I love her and miss her and that I hope she gets well soon! Hopefully they find out what´s up with that super flu! Tell her dont worry, Guatemala died a looooong time ago, I just dont think the people have realized it yet! haha

AWE, That´s awesome that you guys got to go boating with everyone! I miss the boat, I am going to feel like a fool when I finnaly get on the water again!

So This week was kinda slow, we wanted to put 4 new baptism dates with a family and with these 2 girls that make tortillas. I´ll have to explain their storyies but... ah sometimes things just dont work out like you want them too!!!

So the family we wanted to put a date with is Fam. P. They are an older couple, but live with their kids. the Dad is kinda crazy and LOVEs to talk about the most RANDOM things he can think of. The Mom is SUPER nice and loves it when we come over. The whole family has had a TON of medical problems, their kid is paralyzed and a bunch of other stuff, so they really like our message! We´ve been visiting them for about 2 months, we can only find thim about once a week though. They know a lot and I think they`re ready to be baptized, but they havent been to church ONCE. And they really wanted to go this sunday, but we went there and they couldn´t go. They had to go to a funeral! AH! So that was frustraiting.

The other 2, the Tortilleras are named O and E. They have been progressing a lot, or they were... They were reading the Book of Mormon, going to church, and even went to a baptism to see how it was. But then I think they have someone else that is preaching to them from the church they`re in now, because they just have the WORST questions in the world! Like a last week, they told us that ALLLLL churches are correct IF we have faith they are... WHAT? So we explained Authority and the importance of prophets. We asked them if they understood it all and they were like YEAH! There is definately a need for prophets! and so we asked them to read the book of mormon and pray to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet. Do you know what their answer was? It was ´Every bible is correct IF we have faith´  NO!!!!!!!!!! Ahhhhhhh these people! 

So it was a good week, but I wish we coulda had more success! But at the end of the week, we started visiting members to ask for references. Which, I know I should be humble but I am the BOMB when It comes to getting people to turn over their close friends and realitives! haha so we got like 7 references! Only 2 live in our area but still, at least the members are supportive! I really like this area, this Sunday they tell us if we have changes. I kinda think Im going to have a change, but I´ll be happy if I do or if I dont!

Thanks for being great examples to me! You guys really help me! OH and thanks for the contact solution! I got it this friday! JUST IN TIME I may add! Okay well, love you guys, have fun! Be safe, READ THE BOOK OF MORMON EVERYDAY, and really serve the lord with everything you´ve got! There´s nothing more important than preparing the world to recieve Christ when he comes again!

Love 

Alex

June 24, 2013

YAY! This week we had another baptism! It was Hna. D, She was so excited to do it so it was great! The bad thing is that the guy who baptized her is a little......... not retarded but SUPER weird, so when she got in the water with him he just got SO NERVOUS that he forgot EVERYTHING. The water is freezing, first of all, and he probably put her under about 6 times and said the prayer probably 15 times before he got it right! HOLY COW that poor lady! She lived through the Ice Age! Other than that everything turned out great! Her husband is still mad with us but has calmed down apparently! So that's good news!

HOLY COW!!!!!! I JUST REALIZED I NEVER SAID HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!!!!!!!!!! What a horrible child am I? Happy Fathers Day Dad! You are the best Dad that anyone could ask for and Im so glad that you could be such a great example to me! I would give just about anything to have you and Nick be my companions for just a week! That would be so fun! Love you tons and thanks so much! 

The spanish is doing good! I've been trying to get rid of saying Voy A and just put things in future tence! I've also been using more contradictary to the fact statements so that people think I can speak good :) haha I have been thinking of how hard it's going to be to understand the people in the DR! They talk CRAZY! 

Elder O and I get along really well. He's kinda a shy, strange dude but he's super nice and just loves everyone! My job is to get him outta his shell so he can train soon! But I think our time together is comming to an end because the changes are the 10 or 9 of July, so we only got like 2 weeks more together!

So what's happening with our mission is that we are loosing almost EVERYTHING north of the Capital, (AKA the cool places of our mission...) and we are getting like 3 zones from the South mission that will be in the Capital aswell. Plus we are getting this place called Zacapa which is cool i guess, and the rest of the Coast! We're loosing about 130 elders and are gaining about 80 from the South mission, then we'll be opening more areas in the EAST mission so we'll get about 50 more new elders with time! So we still have cool places to go and Hopefully I'll get out of this dang zone to get to know the other parts of the new mish! We are already in the mission that we will be in, So even though technically Im in the North mission right now, Im for sure in the East mission! Everything is already set in stone and finalized! 

As for packages and letters, just send them to the normal address that you guys have! The offices wont change places so everything will get to me just fine with the old address!

Sorry I dont have pics today, my comp had to go to the offices today for his Visa stuff and so I lost allllllll my Pday chilling with the office elders! And then we came directly to write so I forgot my camera! OOPS! I'll send some pics this next week!

You guys are awesome! Im super greatfull to have a great family! WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO MEXICO!? Awe man! I love that place, the other day I really wanted to go down the Buffy and buy some churros and tacos at El Poblano! But I guess that'll have to wait 14 months! Have fun! Be safe, eat a lot of raddish and lime!

Love Alex