The Final Week...

Well family and friends, as much as I don't like cliche's, I have to say that this has been the best two years of my life (so far).   I have learned so much about life, love, faith, charity and the life-changing miracles that come from following the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Shortly now, almost to be measured in hours instead of days, I will be returning home.  I hope that I can take with me these lessons I have learned and continue to serve others throughout my life, standing firm, standing tall and being an example to those around me.

I love the people of Guatemala and I will always hold a special place for them in my heart.

Spencer W. Kimball once said, "My life is like my shoes, worn out by service."   While I can't compare my life to the life of President Kimball, I hope I can continue to serve HIM with all my heart, might, mind and strength, so that I may stand blameless....and help a few others along the way.

See you soon!

Elder TD Wilcox

Week #99: A Branch in San Lorenzo

"For when two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."

-Matthew 18:20

    I have seen a miracle. I make no claim to this miracle, because truly it is not mine, but rather it is the culmination of the sweat and tears of years of hard work of many missionaries, and the long suffering of so many faithful members. Over 40 years ago this miracle began and although I do not know the people who have pushed this miracle into motion I am eternally grateful to be here on the receiving end of their work and to have the opportunity to continue to push this miracle along.

     Around a year ago I came to know this area of San Lorenzo. I had just recently been assigned to my second area and with a few months under my belt I was able to finally get to know the people and the endless stories of faith in the mountains of Guatemala. I came to know of sacrifices I didn't even know still happened in this modern age and here I came to love my mission.

    The story of Rio Blanco in and of itself is one for the story books. It tells of a man whose faith dragged the missionaries miles into the mountains to start the conversion of literally hundreds of people over the next 40 years. However that is not today's story but is in some ways where our story begins. Over the next 40 years the members together with the missionaries went scaling through the mountains over the rivers and across the mountains in search of the lost sheep. As they brought the lost into the fold a good number of saints were found - where we are now. These faithful saints every Sunday would take the two hour trek to church and back. 

     Now I know that most of us having been born in this modern age tend to forget a few things about the past, and so I now stress just how difficult this walk is. Yes I mean walk...because until very recently going by foot or by horse were the only ways. Now to truly understand this trek one has to imagine walking up a wall for an hour straight and as difficult as that is to imagine you have to also do it while looking out for the little ones (that means carrying them on your back) as you go on the journey. A typical "chapin" mom is carrying one on her back and at least another in her arms. (I have seen my mom struggle getting us all ready for church on Sunday and all she has to do is get us in the car, and somewhat dressed, even if at time we were missing a shoe or some socks...imagine getting us all ready for a two hour walk.  Shoes become all the more important.) Even now with there being cars and buses on hand to get to Rio Blanco it is 50Q there and 50Q back which is still quite the sacrifice. However despite all of this,  the faithful members in San Lorenzo have kept the faith. 

   For years rumors have been circulating that missionaries will finally going to San Lorenzo and that a church will be made there. I imagine these rumors have been going around for more years than I have of life. 

   Three weeks ago,  we received a call at the end of a day out interviewing. We had changes. It was odd because President had told me I would be ending my mission in the office, but here I was with changes, and not just I but my companion as well. The next morning we were on a bus heading up to the mountains. Once here we were meet with literal tears of joy at the house of ever member we met. Something like this really touches and hits you as a missionary. At the same time that you know that you are not the reason for their tears you also know that you represent that very reason they are in such joy. 

     Being here has been and is one of the sweetest blessings in my mission. To visit people and know that us being here means so much to them, pushes you to be a better person than you are and really makes you think of just how much all of this is worth. This week we finally had the go ahead and we went around to invite everyone out to our first sacrament meeting. The members jumped for joy! On Sunday, when the meeting hour came we went over set everything up and waited......President Rodas, the District President showed up first....and then slowly in a true saintly fashion family after family came trickling up the hill and into the humble "church". I cant even describe the smiles we saw and the joy abounded as we met and exceeded the attendance we needed to become a branch. Sure we have a lot more work to do and more saints to find, but our joy this week has been full and we cant wait to see what happens in the next week.

San Lorenzo

The Trek to Church

The continued trek to church

and even more trekking to church

Week #97: San Lorenzo the beds arrive...

The View!

Being up here in the mountains is such a different experience than on the coast.  One of the biggest changes is the cold....there is nothing better than the feeling of waking up in the middle of the night to go outside to the bathroom and sitting down on the icy throne, or getting out of the luke-warm shower only to be hit by the embrace of the chilly mountain air. These things a but a small price to pay, for the beauty and majesty of the mountains in Guate.
   
This week we have had to newly find our feet.  I hate to say it, but the time we spent in the office, driving around to every little place has spoiled us, and finding out feet this week has been a little bit of a journey.  Way back in the  Rio Blanco days walking hours upon hours up and over mountains was something easy, and not a problem.  Now, however, it is something slapping us right in the face. But we are adapting, and I am sure a few more long days walking here and there will get us back in the shape that we need to be.

As this is a new area, new house, etc. for the last week we have been sleeping on cots and for those of you who have ever had to do so you know the back pain that comes with it. However, luck and a great blessing in the form of the "mother of the mission" was on our side. You see, San Lorenzo has been  President Ruiz´s little project for the longest of times.  He has always had a love for Rio Blanco and Serchil (and I guess rightly so considering that they are districts of the mission). On Friday, he and his wife came up to go over the plans for the area.  Hermana Ruiz rained down love to us and scorn to others who have not been on the ball in bringing beds and stuff to the area. One simply has to love the "mother of the mission"!
    As of right now we are still scrabbling around, at least just a wee bit.  President told us that we need to find a meeting house and all the necessities that go with that.   And most importantly to start to go with all of the members and less-actives who are in the area so we can get a nice group going and officially open up a new rama (branch).
    As we have made the rounds this week and really gotten to know the members that are here in San Lorenzo I have come to realize how important each and every one of them are, in our Heavenly Father's eyes. That one of the most important things that we can do as missionaries is to help create a strong group that will not only be strong in doctrine, teaching and administration of church matters, but also in ministering, service and love and charity to old and new people as they come. Being here starting from the base, has turned my head a little and made me think more about those who have partaken of the fruit and have fallen away, those who just need that little pull (or push) to come back into the light.   Or maybe, just maybe as the parable goes, the lost sheep needs to be carried with love back to the flock.

I wonder how many times I will forget to duck in the next couple of months?!

Crouch and shower beats bucket showers any day of the week!

The Road Well Traveled...daily!

Week #96: San Lorenzo

The last two weeks, day after day my companion, Elder Virgin and I have been split up and we have been going around the mission with various missionaries interviewing all of the investigators to hopefully resolve any concerns for those that have some doubts. Honestly, this part of the responsibilities has always been one that is the most rewarding.  There is something so special about getting to know all of the progressing investigators throughout  the mission. One of the best moments was going back up to San Pedro with Elder Kahl. He has never gone up to the mountains in his mission and so he never really understood just how different the work is up in the mountains compared to the coast. As I am sure I have said before there is a beautiful contrast between the mountains and the coast. The people of the coast are willing to take great leaps of faith at the first hints of the spirit while the people in the mountains dive so deep into their studies of the scriptures that the sure quality of their questions pushes any missionary to study to keep up with their investigators.  This week he had his first mountain lessons. After a few minutes had passed I looked over at him to see him a little shocked that the people we were teaching had actually read and had some seriously good questions. A few mins later he recovered from the shock of an investigator that actually read and had real doubts and we had some of the best lessons of the week.

Well....changes, happened and I have been transferred out of the office.  Well, changes sort of at least.  It was more like Elder Virgin and I were moved out of the office to a new area. We are opening the area of San Lorenzo which was actually part of Maclen where I have worked before. It has the same climate as Rio Blanco, so that means I need to go paca shopping to find some sweaters but it is nice to be back here in the mountains. I feel  a lot more at home here than on the coast.

Right now, San Lorenzo will be going through a trail period. If we manage to consistently have 20 people in church each week,  we will be opening up a new Rama (Branch) up here which has been the dreams of many of the members for a very long while.

Our house here is well....rather interesting....it is very "chapin" style, which means if we don't duck we will be slamming our heads into the doorframes of the house. It was really funny and I don't know if President Ruiz said it as a joke or not but he said and I quote, "Your house is one of the nicest in the mission. It is a swiss style house." I was like wow.....Swiss huh what does that even look like. Anyways,  I will be sure to send you some photos next week so that you can be the judges of our "Swiss" style house and whether it is one of the nicest in the mission......come to think of it, we don't even have blankets.....So things are going to be nice and chilly tonight.

We are literally starting from square one up here, in this new area, out in the middle of nowhere, but after a five-hour drive and getting to our new area, and settled in the new house, the moment that we walked out of the house we ran into a girl working with the peace core.  Elder Perez was with us and was looking down the street and said kinda loud "Shes White!"  The crazyiest thing happened. She yelled back "yeah I am!"  After talking with her for a bit it turns out she has been here for seven months and will probably be able to help in getting us into teaching the kids in the schools.

I am excited about this new area!  I am excited about the new opportunities that it presents, and this is just how I wanted to end my mission.  I couldnt be happier!

Week #93: Mazate, Conference and Mangos

This week has been great. So many things have happened this week. Another set of changes have come and gone. It is truly weird to think that I am on the last days of this time here.
           So as I said last week I was heading out of the office for a short little trip. I ended up going to a the area of La Union in Mazate las Flores. I was only there for two days but...wow I love that area. That area is something special, something so completely different from the area that I am in right now. Mazate, in general has always been known as a blessed area of the mission. For two days I became companions with Elder Shupe. He is an excellent missionary and I am glad that I was able to serve with him even if only for two days. I went through my limited time with him at a very busy, fast pace. This week is conference, but beyond that there will be easily 6-8 baptisms from him and his new companion this month. I got to get to know a great deal of the investigators that they have there. One is a little lady named Vanessa, she is about 16 years old. She was found when the missionaries had been accidentally  referred to a small little out of the way alley where some reference supposedly lived. Here they didn't find who they were looking for but rather found Vanessa, who had prepared for them. Things started off a little rocky as all first encounters do. She listened to the missionaries and accepted them back, even accepted a baptismal date, but then there was a time when she just simply could not be found. The elders began to loose a little bit of hope and understandably so. They would try and call her, try to  see when they could come over, but every time something came up, or she would say a time and then not show up. A few weeks later, out of the blue, a thought came to them that today we need to go and see what was going on with Vanessa. Sure enough, she was home, and the Elders began to talk to her trying to figure out what had happened. It turns out that at times life becomes busy for all of us and at this time things were just going on with her. The Elders began to prod a little to see If she still wanted to be baptized, a few weeks earlier she had been unsure of her answer, but this day she said with an a surety, " I want to be baptised". She began to tell them a little bit of how she had been reading the Book of Mormon, and how at the moment she is finishing 2nd Nefi. At about this point of the story I come in at a moment so perfect, we had stopped by her house to see how she was going and to see if she would be going to General Conference with us. There we learned that not only would she be going but that she had invited a few of her friends. I was already impressed with this but then she said that she had not only invited them but that she had been teaching two of them from the pamphlets that the elders had given her. She had made photocopies of pamphlets to give to other people. On the spot I grabbed all of the teaching materials that I had on me and gave them to her, telling her that her days of photocopies are over.
         Another Great couple of investigators I got to know were Brenda and Samuel. Well more than anything Brenda and her son. Her husband Samuel couldn't join us because he was working fixing cars in the "garage"(open field). You see the Elders had done something rather original. They decided to contact everyone that has a mango tree asking them for well....mangos. I absolutely love mangos and if any of my areas had ever had mangos I would probably be doing the same right now rather than be here sitting here writing this to you. Anyways they had gone around this day asking for mangos when lo and behold they found a nice lady walking around doing nothing less than giving her mangos aways. Needless to say,  God put them in her path and her in theirs. After eating some mangos for a while and talking, she invited them back to her home where they began to teach her and her family who are also extremely pilas reading the Book of Mormon and loving the general feeling that the gospel brings into their home.
        Honestly, Mazate is one of the most blessed lands in all of the mission and I will miss being there. Now being back in the office is nice but honestly the blessing of the mission is being able to effect a change in the life of the people we are teaching. Here in the home area, we had a little bit of success for conference. A little family came to conference and really liked it. Also, it was kinda fun to look for you guys during conference, it gave me a little something extra to do but I don't think I really meet any success as I didn't see you, you must have all had the nosebleed seats. Well I'm all out of conferences....and now that I think about it I'm out of all major holidays I think the only thing left is mothers day.

What does this 5 gallon bottle of water and Elder Wilcox have in common?

Streaming Conference...

Week #92: There and back again...

This week has been a rather special week, for me here in Guatemala.

Almost two years ago,  I was starting out the mission and I was in my first area with my second companion,  Elder Garcia. We had just finished what I considered being one of my favorite changes in so far in the mission. On that particular occasion, changes took place on the 10th of Dec. one day before my Birthday. I was looking forward to my birthday and a we were going around that week we had used my birthday as an excuse and had set things up with various families for the week. Then changes came and I was transferred to on of the furthest places of the mission, Rio Blanco.   This area then proved to be one of the favorite areas I have served in.

        For the last several weeks, we have been working with mini missionaries, getting them all processed and situated to experience a short taste of what missionary life is like.  Throughout the course of March around 30-40 youth came to serve mini missions here in the Retalhuleu mission. One of the best of surprises was a young man named, Mosiah one of the youth from Rio Blanco, came down to serve as a mini missionary for around 5 weeks. It was great to see him. I remember when I was up there helping him start on his papers and then to be here for the turn in of his mission papers was fantastic!  Anyways, he was here for a long while, long enough to send off his papers and have them come back. On one of his last days here as a mini missionary, we received a nice big envelope that was none other than his mission call. However, he couldn't open it, as the procedure says his District president has to be the one to give it to him.  He finished the mini mission that same week and then began his wait.
       One week later President Ruiz calls me asking if we could do him a favor and take the missionary call up to Rio Blanco for him to give to the District President. President  Ruiz is a busy man and with changes around the corner he has a lot to do.  So he asked us to do something I have been dying to do for a while.  It was funny because he asked it with a tone of voice implying inconvenience, although it could not have been any less of one. That same night we took off for the mountains.   We could have timed it a littler better as all of the traffic caused by Semana Santa caused us to be stuck in a lot of traffic. However, we came prepared with music and talks for the whole ride through. Not only that but we called the Elders up there in advance to get them to buy us some food for dinner. The food was nice,  however, the fleas that were in the beds we slept in were not and I'm still feeling their feeding frenzy at this moment.
      The next morning we left the Zone leaders house and made our way to Rio Blanco taking the nice long dirt road to the top of the mountain. After driving that mess of a road I now have a much greater respect for the bus drivers up there. We arrived at the church nice and early in the morning because when I was there, Church started at 8am and....well now a year has passed and they start at 10am.

     Going back there was something that definitely pulled a little on the heart strings. Needless to say, I was in church early that day and had started to greet families as they came to the church. It was one of the most beautiful experiences of my mission thus far. It was so much fun to see these people again, to be able to pass with them a bit and just catch up.  True to Mormon Standard Time only about a quarter of the ward was there when the meeting started and being true to that same principle before the sacrament hymn was over the rest of the ward showed up. I had taken a seat in the back, right where I used to sit when I was there in the ward. As each of the families walked in, they each did one of those fun little double takes. They looked over in my direction and then, returned their focus with a growing smile of realization, each did a good job trying not to make a scene, but for the rest of sacrament meeting there was a wave of whispers that passed through the sea of members as the little ones started to realize what was going on. What was super funny is that all of the members thought that I had come back after finishing my mission. This last Sunday will go down as one of my favorites.  It makes me realize how close you grow to families and individuals here as you walk hand in hand on the journey of service, education and spirituality.
 

    Anyways this just in, there was supposed to be an Elder coming to the mission today. However there was a setback and he won't be coming at for a while. It looks like I will be breaking out of the office going on the loose for the next week or so as things get worked out and smoothed over.  There is nothing more peculiar in the mission field than an odd number, so tomorrow I guess I will see where I am heading.

Week #90: Everything is pretty tranquillo

Well honestly not too much has happened this week.

We finished the mission inventory and I am glad to report that we are going to be ordering hot showers and microwaves for every house in the mission.  Not to be used together at the same time in the same location in case you were wondering.   This may not sound like much to you state-siders but wow.....a warm shower is something all too rare here in the mission.)

We finished with the first wave of emergency transfers, and I talked to all of the missionary moms calling worried about their sick children. (/wave if any of you are here perusing...)

Everything is pretty tranquillo...we are about to start a little campaign in the mission going from Multi-Zone meeting to Multi-Zone meeting passing out all of the stuff that we will need, such as invitations and a DVD full of new videos for Semana Santa and a bunch of other stuff.

Check it all out:  https://www.mormon.org/spa/pascua

Until next week...well hopefully.  Give everyone my love and it's exciting to hear about Chase putting in his papers for his mission - how time flies!

Week #88: "you need to be where you are supposed to be, doing what you are supposed to be doing..."

I experienced one of the baggiest moments in my mission this week.   In order to understand exactly why this was this was, one has to understand a few things.  During all of my time on the mission I have never been in a ward until now.   Twenty months ago I began my mission in the Rama La Verde and from that branch I moved all across the mission going to some of the most unique branches of the mission. Their buildings, the benches in the church, the amount of people, all of these things have always formed a sort of mental gap and because of this I have never truly felt as though I were in my ward. The second thing you have to understand is before I came into the mission, for almost all of my time in the young men's group we had few young men, and I was one of the only young men of my age who was truly active in the church.  In fact, the young man closest to me in age has always been my little brother who is almost exactly two years younger than me. It created many definning moments, and there were many things that I learned from experiences in YM.    From the day I became a Priest, in my ward I was up on the stand blessing the sacrament,  until the day that I left for the mission.  Few, if any, weeks passed  where I was not up there on the stand,  if not by  choice then by necessity.  There was even a time when my friend was investigating the church and he was in another ward and to support him (even though he didn't need it - he's a lot more pillas than I am) I would go with him to church in the morning and then leave, flying across our little town to the stake center to go to my ward.   My Dad had said I could go to his ward as much as I wanted,  but I had to be back in time to fulfill my responsibilities in my ward.  Dad always said,"you need to be where you are supposed to be, doing what you are supposed to be doing when you are supposed to be doing it." Whether I like it or not, it became drilled into me, and has been, and is, one of the reasons that I do a lot of the things that I probably otherwise would not do, like going to church twice a day. It might have been something I didn't like doing but it was what I was supposed to do.
          Now fast forward to 28/2/2016, I am in the Sacrament meeting of the Ward Reu 2 (that is "Dos", if some of you just said "two" in your head).  My first ward and probably last area of the mission. We have a few investigators at church today, things are going well. My companion Elder Taylor is sick with Zika and has been suffering a little bit the last couple of days. Everyone is silent, the type of silence that only comes in church right as the sacrament prayers approach. Today there was only one priest on the stand so they had asked me to bless. The sacrament song began and we began to break the bread,  As we finished, I knelt down and began to speak the prayer, however in this moment, it was as though I were back home in my ward blessing the sacrament like so many times before.  As the words of the prayer left my mouth, for a moment I became so lost in the vision of home that I almost began to say the prayer in English.  As I finished the prayer I couldn't raise my eyes to the crowd, I don't know if it was because I couldn't withstand the thought of seeing the families or because I couldn't withstand the feeling of not seeing my ward. When we finished blessing and passing the sacrament I finally looked up, it was so weird to look out over the crowd and not see the Southwells, Bruces, Lovells, Lahodas, or the Sobecks, or the other Sobek's or even the other Sobek's (I am not stuttering) or the Raleighs, or even my own family in their places where they always are. It was even weirder that there just simply weren't people in their spots. During my 20 months in the mission I don't believe I have ever been home sick.   That day, I definitely was.
       Anyways off of the baggy note, six more mini missionaries just got here and we drew the short stick and get to drive them to Mazate.  At least, we will be eating good tonight!

Week #86: Fixing the pickup...don't forget the keys.

Well, another week has come and gone and I have to say not too much has changed. Things in the office are very different from other kinds of work in the mission but none the less work is work and we have been called to work in the Lord's vineyard.
      So we had a fun little trip this week. For the last while, we have been having a lot of problems with the pickup of the mission. As you can imagine with all of the traveling on the dirt roads and all over the mission over the last 2 years our pickup has kinda taken a beating. On Monday, we took the pickup to Xela to give Jaime (the pickup) his checkup.....He had a lot wrong with him. More than was wrong with the 300,000 miles used Saturn back home. Over the next two days, Jaime was in surgery and left on Wednesday. So Wednesday we went back up to Xela to go and check him out of the Taller and do some other stuff. Now Xela is one of the truly few developed areas in Guate and it has many stores and things that the rest of the mission lacks. That being said aprovechamos when we go up.  However, as has been the theme of everything in the world anything that can go wrong will go wrong.  After we had taken the pickup out of the shop and were done eating lunch we went over to a store called Cemaco to buy some new tables for the mission. We got out of the car were heading towards the entrance of the store when we realized that we didn't have the keys with us....We started running back to the pickup knowing that the car has a highly annoying auto lock feature the moment we touch the door to yank it open we hear the faint noise of the car doors locking and our chances of getting into the car went down the drain. After a little while of trying to find some way in we managed to get ahold of a guy who breaks into cars for a living and then went on our way to finish out our compras.
     Pretty much for the rest of the week, we have been busy about doing all sorts of little projects here and there. Doing some banners for the mission planning activities, and all the rest of things to many to mention. The next focus will be a giant activity in the mission and a big ole inventory of everything in the mission.
      On the proselyting side, we have some really amazing investigators at the moment.  One named Tatiana is an absolutely prepared lady.  She has opened her heart to the Gospel and is here now to accept it, she has a beautiful little family with a little three-year-old boy who calls us all the time. No one has any idea of what he is saying but he is hilarious. Last Sunday, as normal for little kids entering into the primary, he started to yell and scream until his mom came back in. However this week he was completely fine with going to class and didn't put up any resistance and so Tatiana could go to her Sunday School class with us. A little while after the class had begun everyone began to hear some kind of weird wailing and were thinking what is that noise? Tatiana said "don't worry that is just my little boy singing" Everyone got a good chuckle out of that. Anyways she is going to be a very good Primary or Young women's teacher she seems like that kinda person.
      The other guy that we are working with right now is named Luis. Now I don't know how many of you have seen the chapins here in Guate But they are not a naturally tall group of people. Luis however at the age of 14 is already nearly my height and without a doubt will outgrow me in the next couple of years. I can see him being like the guy from the movie the Blindside. He has come to church with us twice now and will be going with the ward to the temple on Saturday. We tried to see if it is possible for him to be baptized confirmed and receive the Priesthood on Friday so he could go in but just going along for the experience will be great as well.

Week #83: Off cycle transfers bring new adventures

Truth of life. Every time you get comfortable in where you are and who you are a rapid wind of change comes to disfigure the world you know. this is week 83 of my mission and I had thought with such little time that I have left that I was going to go through my entire mission unscathed by Emergency changes. about 8 months ago I had a close encounter and nearly had changes to the Office however with some luck  I escaped and stayed where I was. Now 8 months have passed and what I thought I had escaped finally caught up with me and I have been pulled into the the Office of the mission. On the bright side at least I finally get to drive the pickup of the mission.

It was a Tuesday night we had gotten back from a district meeting and we were in Asintal.  We had gone and set up the baptism of another from the finca.  After coming back down we went over to the house of a new investigator of the two other Elders in the area. We had a good lesson with him and he is as strong in conviction as ever and said he would go with us to church and would pray to know if this is the path in which he must follow.  We were visiting with la familia Maldonado, after the lesson we went with them back to their house to finish the night with a little something to eat. Just as we entered into the house and having sat on the couch my phone began to ring. I looked down to see Assistant #1 calling and didn't think much about it.  Then as though, it were no more than a casual conversation, he told me that I have changes and that I would need to bring my stuff to the meeting that we were having the day after. I looked up after the short call realizing that this would probably be the last time I would be in the house with this incredible family. A family that has most certainly become part of my own and I apart of theirs. It is amazing how close you come to people that you meet in your mission.
       That night I went burning the midnight oil, packing away all of my stuff.   The next day we left the house with my bags and jumped into a taxi leaving to go from Asintal to the meeting. (that is one of the beautiful things about here in Guatemala you can pay someone 30 quetz and they will take to to the other end of Reu) When we arrived at the meeting,  after doing a brief introduction and having breakfast they gathered all of the people with changes into the cultural hall  of the church.  Then in true suspenseful fashion with me being last, told me that I was going to the office.  I was still uncertain as to what my new assignment was going to be, but as Saturday came and the office had its weekly correlation meeting  with the President he told me that I would be the new Comisario de la mision. Every change is a new adventure and this one seems like a very different type of adventure as the workings of the office are a little different then any other area in the mission.  But excited to learn and grow and serve where ever and how ever I can.

Week #82: Cushin It!

Well I am feeling better, those mosquito born illnesses can really slow you down but things are going better as time, and lots of liquid in plastic bags cures all.  I don't have much to write again. Things have been a little less filled drama wise, but still filled with drama as we continue to learn to work with various members and leaders in the branch.  As is probably true in all wards and branches, some members are a delight to work with, and others not so much.  I hope all who read this fall into the "delight" category.  If not, take inventory and see what you can do to be a "delight" in member missionary work or just relations with the missionaries in your area.  I am sure that they are just as charming as I am.  :-)  Have you hugged your missionary today?  Wait...you probably shouldn't hug the missionaries in your ward, at least not physically...just do it spiritually.

Things have been going really good here,  we have been working really well as a team of four, finding new people to provide service to, to teach and to baptize.  We have been teaching a beautiful little family that lives in la finca Santa Margarita.  We have known them for a while now and we have become pretty close to this family.  It is a hard life that they have living on the finca.  The men in the finca wake up every day at around 3:30 in the morning to go to work in the forest picking at trees collecting the unprocessed rubber sap that comes from the trees.  After picking at the trees they go around and collect the sap.  They are there in the forest working until just about lunch time. the women of the finca follow behind and paint each tree as it has been cut so that they don't go around cutting the same trees over and over again.   Anyway, this family has gotten to know us pretty well and have even given us some weird fruit called "Cushin" that is actually really good, but a very very weird fruit. Their youngest daughter got baptized on Saturday and Sunday when she came to church and got confirmed she was so excited to go back home and invite all of her friends next week.
     My comp and I are getting along great. As I have said before there is always something special about being with someone that has the same about of time as you in the mission. Though it is also a little weird because you can talk about all of your friends who started the mission after you and are now finished. So weird to think about that sometimes. But more than anything things are going great and we are having a great time. I feel at home here. I love the people and I love serving the Lord.

(Parental commentary:  In our email this week, we had Chase ask TD various questions that he was curious about since Chase is putting his mission paperwork together.  TD answered them...and we log this brother-brother-to brother communication unedited.)

What is the last thing you just purchased there and why?
a ride in a tuc tuc and why you may ask? because Its Pday so im not walking

Who was the last investigator you talked to and what was the subject matter?
Glenda from El Salvador we talked about painting and drawing.

What is your favorite thing about your companion?
that he is absolutely crazy.....

What was the last toilet you sat on made of?
actually the last one was made of air I popped a squat

Was the paper two-ply or one-ply or is Guate TP more like sandpaper?
actually I used a piece of paper I didn't really have any tp nearby one ply or 2

What do you drink most of the time during the day? Can you drink water?
Bags of water. like plastic bags filled with water if not that then Isomax which is like nock off gatorade in plastic bags. You bite off a corner and suck

Are there any food that you are not supposed to eat as a missionary?
anything that they sell on the street is off limits.but then again most of the members are the ones selling there.....so I wonder then if we are breaking mission rules...it's quite the conundrum...

Do they have ice?
yeah, remember those bags of water well you stick it in the freezer and they magically turn to ice...

What do you do on P-day for fun?
It depends, today we went to the beach and took pictures......

How do you clean your suits?
clean your suits?...wait, we are supposed to clean our suits.......hmm...that might explain a few things...

What is the one piece of advice you would have for me as I prepare these last few months for a mission?
read and listen to the words of the prophets...find as many talks and good music as possible and stick them on a good ipod listen to them as much as possible during down time...if mission rules allows bring to the mission...read the book of mormon, read Jesus the Christ...

Week #80: Temple Trip, Pizza Hut and Elder Garoz

Xela Temple...because it's to hard to spell it the long way.

Well we are now in the year 2016.....That is pretty weird....I finished high school and entered into the mission in 2014 and so I am now another year here....Its a weird thought, I guess I am learning that term..."when time flies".
      This has been an amazing week!  On Tuesday we went to the temple. It was a fun little experience. We had a the chance to go with President Ruiz and do a session in the temple with him.  We had instructions and left from Reu to Xela at about 1pm. However there was a mishap and the office didn't tell us that the session wasn't until 5:30pm. We had arrived at the temple a little bit before 3pm and when we called to find out what was going on they apologized and said that President was still in Reu.... The cafeteria at the temple was closed, so the moment that I heard that President Ruiz was still in Reu and having been craving pizza for some days now, I called Pizza Hut to send in my order and to have them deliver to the temple.  As soon as I hung up some of the Hermanas came over asking, "Did you just order Pizza?" and had me order them one as well.....no less then a min later some of the other Hermanas there, seeing that we had just ordered pizza asked if we could order another....of course we said yes. By the 3rd time one  us calling they immediately knew It was Elder Wilcox and I knew it was Cindy and she already knew what was about to happen....I think that might have been the first time they had delivered to the temple if not it was at least my first time having them deliver to it.  After eating and taking pictures for a long while President Ruiz made it and we when inside to a session packed to the brim.  By the time we had finished it was 9pm and by the time we got home somewhere close to 11pm.
     Reinforcements have arrived! While we were there at the temple I was talking with the mission president and hinted that another set of missionaries would be good for Asintal.  Apparently he thought so as well, and sent another pair our way within 15 hours of that conversation.  Elder Fairbanks now is no longer my comp, he is now comps with Elder Huasupoma.  My new companion is Elder Garoz. He is from California as well and will actually be finishing the mission with us. With four us working here, things are a lot easier, and the burden of teaching all of the fincas have just been cut in half.
    The people of the Auroa Castillo and Santa Margarita are doing great. A lot of them have there little problems or just haven't been there during the Christmas/new Years season. Now things are settling back down, we as well as the rest of the mission are pretty interested to see what happens here.
    Anyways the New year is here and it is going to hold alot of surprises in store. I could not have imagined just how much my life would change just from just one year back. This one holds a lot more in store....and I am anxious to see what is in store.

President and Sister Ruiz and Elder Fairbanks

w/ Elder Call

w/ Elder Bastian

The field is white...er green

Getting ready for a lesson

Christmas Mission President Photo w/ President and Sister Ruiz and Elder Fairbanks

Sometimes they think I am a jungle gym

Week #77: Birthday, Christmas Videos and True Love = Beef Jerky

   



 Anxious is the life, but good is this the life of the anxiously engaged. This week has been a week of being all over the place and data and experiences that cant be expressed in paper or virtual paper as is the case.

     It's Christmas time which always means extra work especially when we have to teach everyone why they are celebrating Christmas. Last year I didn't really notice just how few people understand why we celebrate Navidad but now it is so obvious that I don't understand how I could not have seen it before.  Maybe this shows my own state of mind, where my head, hearth and spirit are in this Christmas season.
      As the assistants of the mission have instructed we have been doing activities in every area sharing the new Christmas videos. The first activity was in Pedregal. Here we decided to go to the maxi despensar which is kinda like a Walmart here in Guate or at least as close as it gets.  There with the equipment from the office we set up a projector and the laptop with some nice big speakers and then became missionaries and brought family by family to see the videos and share quick little messages with them. We did an activity like this in every area in the districts of every zone of every mission. Everyone of this activities went well for the most part. then came ours....just like always anything that can go wrong will go wrong. so ours was actually quite a bit more complicated than any other activitys. For one it was in a finca that doesn't have any real roads to it. 2) has absolutely no electrical power. 3) it is out of the way and to bring everyone together out there when no one has a phone is something very very hard. After much work we arranged for a truck to take us there. A generator to be borrowed from a member in the stake and as normal all of the the office equipment with us.  After what seemed like the slowest truck ride of my life we made it to the finca and just as we get all of the bugs worked out with the equipment and sound and generator on queue it starts to rain.....however after all was said and done, the activity was still a success and everything went moderately well.   After the activity was over we were walking back to Asintal with some of the people who had come from another finca....Turns out this other finca is in just about the same situation that is, Bunch of people no church and they all are more or less feeling like something is missing in their lives.
    There really are not any holidays in the mission.  That is one thing I have come to accept or maybe its not that there are not holidays, but that holidays just don't feel the same here in the mission.  Sin embargo, this was a special birthday I was able to celebrate here.   There is a family here in the branch that really is our family here. Like we go over here whenever we don't have food to eat, if we need to go and teach with someone or if we need to set up skype calls with our parents for the Christmas. I like this family so much I share my beef jerkey with them (and that is true, eternal love when you share your beef jerky) they are our family and its awesome being around them. As normal Friday night we didn't really have any food so we went over to their house ate and then they broke out a nice ice cream cake...(which is the first ice cream cake I have seen here is Guatemala). it was amazing!

Thanks to all for the special birthday wishes, and for keeping me in your thoughts and prayers!

We always ask how his shoes are holding up...looks like they are starting to show their wear and tear...but rocking the socks.

Week #76: Ha nacido un Salvador

 

    Well another week come and gone. Time only goes faster and faster the older you get. But there are some hints of technological progress in the mission. I guess with the all of the new videos coming out in the last two years someone thought it might be a good idea to have some way to share these beautiful videos that the church is letting out.  You are probably thinking, 'The Missionary Department's iPad program has finally made it's way to Guatemala?!'...no that is not quite the case...
       Wednesday we had yet another meeting to get us ready for the Christmas season and the new videos that the church has launched....speaking of that I have to change the homepage of all the computers in this Internet cafe.....one sec....alright. So https://www.mormon.org/spa/navidad?cid=HP_SU_11-29-2015_dMIS_fSPC_xLIDyL1-A_ is being put into every Internet cafe that every missionary goes to throughout this month.  This didn't come down by any formal direction, it just seems like a little something we can do "outside of the box".    This is in part as always to get the church better known and Christ in the minds of all as they go throughout this great season were we focus on him and his life. In addition every district leader has been given a DvD player to use to share these new videos and to use during district meetings so that we can better inspire the missionaries in the mission to work and work and work.  It kind of feels like cheating to use videos to teach. But I guess that is the way the world is moving and pretty soon missionaries that can teach are going to be replaced with missionaries that can push buttons.
     This week has been a beautiful week. I don't really understand why it is so easy to forget where I am and the incredible simple beauty that this country has, that I am actually here in Guatemala. But there there are weeks like this one were we go and find an area so beautiful and its just like wow....I cant believe we are actually here. It is something so....I don't know somethings just cant be expressed.
     Friday we made a little trek out to the finca [ranch] with a good chunk of the zone.  It was kinda funny because none of us knew where this finca is so we had to rely on a 11 year old member to be our guide and take us to where we needed to go. By some miracle we made it and as we walked down the path we split off in twos to go and teach each of the houses. When Sunday came around 28 of them came to church and stayed until the block was over.   They are some good people.
    I have learned some knew life skills here on the mission.  I will let the pictures tell you the thousands words about such life skills.
    Well things are weird this change.   Wednesday we have changes and then starts a full two month change. There was some kinda problem sending people home and bringing them into the mission so close to Christmas time.   I don't think I or my comp will be having changes [transfers], which is great as we still have much work to do and  for crying out loud we just finally got moved out of the old moldy house and into the new one house!
    Anyways its my birthday this week and I thought I would celebrate Guatemalan style! Tamales and Fireworks! just need to find someone to make some tamales!   Thank you all so much for your birthday wishes!

The life skills one learns in Guate!

Watch out Colonel Sanders..we are coming for you!

Week #75: Turkey Day, Temple Trip and Christmas Lights

Things are always fun around the Holidays - it makes one a little bit baggy, but none the less very fun.

About a month ago Pres. Ruiz decided that all of us in the mission should learn to celebrate the american tradition of Turkeyday and decided every zone should have turkey, pies and some canned cranberry stuff. He also made it an official commandment that we must have mashed potatos. So we had an official turkey day. All of us headed over to the office of the mission and started on our Thanksgiving meal prep at about 10am in the morning.   By 1pm we had finally finished with the mashed potatos,  Luckily,  the turkey and everything else had come pre-made....if not we would have been there for a long long time.  We ate together as a zone and had our little, 'what are you thankful for' part of the meal and it was all very nice. Definitely not like the ones back home, but it was nice, created memories that I will have and cherish forever.

Before we had turkey day we kinda jumped out of order and went Christmas caroling at the old folks nursing home.  It was a very interesting experience considering after we had finished our second song one of the old men there suddenly fell out of his chair, hit the floor as hard as a rock and remained there on the ground. We were all thinking did we really just kill an old man with Christmas carols?  He ended up being fine but we were are a little bit anxious to get out of there after that.

On Friday we had a great baptism....In  Guate there isn't always (rarely even) warm water to fill up the baptismal font with so we had to improvise...this meant using our "state of the art" electric stoves to head up bucket after bucket of water until the font was a mild lukewarm. With all of the work we were doing with that we didn't notice that the water wasn't really very...clear... until we had quite a bit of it in there.  This wasn't the first time that had such a problem, so we quickly ran over to the tienda and grabbed some blue water coloring powder (all that they had) and proceeded to pour that into the water until it was more blue than brown. It made things interesting but our branch president was awesome and was helping us the entire way!

Saturday we had a rather rare experience so far as things go in the mission. I dont know if President Ruiz is being a little more open to letting people go to the temple or he has just kinda gotten sick of me asking but he gave us permission to go to the temple with our branch. We went and did baptisms for the dead which was very special since we were the ones baptizing and confirming the people. It was kinda like doing practicas of teaching but rather something a little more special and real.

Last night we put up the Christmas tree. It wasn't in our house but rather in a super pilas family´s. Either way I was just kinda excited to think that I probably put up the Christmas lights before you guys did back home.

Week #74: Tuc Tuc strike, rain and more rain.

   

     There has always been a little saying in the mission. Those who start in Las Palmas will end in Las Palmas. This just might be true. After a little more than a year I am back here in Las Palmas, in an Area/Branch called Asintal.   It is just a short ride from my first area in the mission. It honestly is a really weird experience to be back here where I started the mission. I see all of these places that I knew so long ago and all a still the same but wow.... Days like today going around and seeing all of these things just takes me back to the time I was here I feel almost like some of the people that were here in the mission will pass by us at any moment but everything is different...or maybe I just am.

     My new companion is Elder Fairbanks, who is relatively new to the mission. He just finished his training and the mission has already thrown various challenges at the poor fella between the horrible ingrown toenails and a bike ride gone bad he has already had quite the adventure. Just last change he crashed on his bike and broke his arm in 3 places...Ouch...but he wants to be a physical therapist when he grows up so I guess this is on the job training in many ways.
   
    Things have been insane this week, insanely busy and wonderful.  From Guate trips to visiting La Verde to having a Mission leaders meeting to getting soaked day after day this week.
    It kind of sets in just how old someone is in the mission when you can go out in the rain and keep your socks dry. Its honestly pretty funny. The days when my feet are still somewhat dry and few and far between. that and every one of my shirts seems to have a little bit of character to them.
   This week we had so much going on and miracles passing in the area. Though as normal, many problems came our way as well but these things were nothing compared to the great things.
   Monday last week was a little weird. One of the main ways that we travel here in Reu is using Tuc Tucs. However things have become a little dangerous for them. There has been a group of people extorting the tuc tuc companies and causing harm to those who do not comply.   Subsequently, all of the tucs went on strike for 5 days until the govt decided to take serious action for these men. This also meant a lot of walking for us and everyone else as the problem settled down.
   Just about every day this week it has rained none stop from 3pm until 7pm at night. This whole walking on water trick kinda gets old after a while, but at least everyone knows we bathe at least once a day in the rain. One of my cheesy jokes of the moments; people always ask us, 'How have you guys been?' as they see us soaking wet at their door-step.   We then respond,  "Wet! But that is OK because we brought a little shampoo with us and saved some time by bathing in the rain."   It is kinda my go to ice breaker at the moment and from there its pretty easy to get into the house and have a nice lesson. It even works on those who don't really want to let us in.

   Food is something very important and apparently not just to me. (Btw Mom I miss you and have always loved your cooking!) We have some golden investigators that really love food. You see last week we had a conference broadcast to all of central america. We brought quite a few investigators to this.  However, two of them after the conference seemed to just be avoiding us. The conference took place at 1-3pm which means we had to take a bus at 12 to get to the church building.   For almost the entire week we just couldn't get in contact with these guys. But finally on a rainy day we managed to get into their house and talk to them. Turns out they were kinda ticked there wasn't any food at the conference and didn't appreciate the impromptu fast......We told the we were sorry and invited them to go to the temple with the branch on Saturday. I think we fixed up the bridge we might have burned....I knew we should have brought some snack for them....I just thought it was my stomach talking (because we were fasting) turns out it was the spirit.
    There is a moment in the Best Two Years movie were Elder Calhoon gives a Book of Mormon to a man with his phone number and the guy says he is going to call him....We kinda had one of these exact moments...It was an awesome, once in a mission moment, that was more than incredible and I could not of been happier with its timing.  More on that later.

Well that is all for now!  I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Week #72: Have you seen any monkeys? Yes! Why yes I have!

Well changes are at the door and although one never knows for sure until you are at the change meeting, I think I will be having changes.  Normally at about this time I start to feel a little antsy for what the changes and challenges will be but this is just a part of the life we live in these 2 years.

Miracles continue to come forth. After nearly 72 weeks in the mission there has been only one thing more constant than the the missionary work or the tortillas at lunch. This constant comes weekly and just about as constant as the sun rises. It is the question as posed by my family , ¨have you seen any monkeys yet?¨ well I can finally answer yes!  His name is Paco and he likes tortillas and tamales!

Really though,  a lot of miracles are coming in the area of Magnolia  lately. Magnolia is known as that shady spot in town that everyone just kinda avoids. I don't really think you could blame them though, a shady spot in Guate is awfully.... active.   Finding a family is a very hard task in a place like this. In my entire time here we have only found 4 families (that is to say complete with a father and a mother who want to receive us and do not have another family)  three of them were found in this last two weeks. (This is one of the reasons I think I might have changes.  When you find success...you seem to end of up getting transferred.)
 
This week was Stake Conference and the stake went all out to invite people this year,  including giving each unidad a good 50 invitations to pass out and invite others to come to the meetings. We were inviting for hours upon hours throughout the week. We had so many people committed to coming; less actives and investigators alike. But when the day came and we went passing around to bring some of them to the meeting all of them had bailed. But as we went around trying to bring people we invited, a son of one of our investigators, who had never really showed any interest before came to Stake Conference.   We were in the meeting and about 30 mins before the meeting ends that same lad shows up and sits down listening to the conference. He had come all by himself 30 mins in bus and was there!
   
A day in the life of a Guate missionary:

Last thing I ate....well that was actually a banana liquado that I made in the house....Before that was some Fried chicken bought straight from the lnock off pollo campero...it made me sick...

Favorite Guate Foods...My time here has made me a lot less picky and I will probably add tostados with frijoles rollados as a normal college meal along with eggs and tasteless oatmeal and of course ramen noodles.  Simple and yet some of my favorite.

My least favorite meal...
Fiambre.....It is a nasty mesh of weird veggies and deli meats...mixed with a lot and I mean a lot of beets..... (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiambre)

Shower situation...it's not all bucket showers, my last shower was in a waterfall...


That is about all folks, it's a shame I won't be able to play the see if you can guess where Elder Wilcox was transferred by the charge on his debit card game these transfers...but I guess it will give you, and me something to look forward to next Monday.

Lots of Love to all!

A nice little waterfall...

Perspective of how BIG this little waterfall is...

Don't show this to Sandy, she might get jealous!

We travel like this so we can use the carpool lanes!

Week #71: ...the joys one will feel throughout a lifetime...

Thanks for the spontaneous package of goodness!  Peanut Butter and Free Hugs for the win!

     The mission truly is something so very beautiful. I have often felt of it as life in fast forward. Something filled with the joys one will feel throughout a lifetime packed so abundantly into a time so short and powerful in two seemingly small years. Holidays always seem to be a time of reflection here in the mission. Thinking back a year ago I remember being in La Verde my first area. On Halloween night, as we sat down to eat dinner with Hermana Alejandra eating a plate of eggs I thought of on that humid Friday night  about what was going on back home. About the Menifee Bowl going on probably, as the thoughts were crossing my mind.  Life has changed so much in such a short time...
      This week has been a pretty hard week but in the same a week filled with miracles and changes of heart that we normally only hear of in the story of scrooge in the  Christmas Carroll on those Christmas nights. About a week after I arrived here in the zone Elder Murrillo and Elder Roney began to talk to one of the many candy tienda ladys that we so commonly see here on nearly every corner of the main cities streets. However this lady Itzy has become a pretty good friend to the some odd 26 missionaries that pass through that part on a weekly basis as they go to and from meetings. She came to church for her first time when I was on divisions with the Elders in Dalmacia. The moment she came in a sat by us at church I could see that she was someone that was eagerly hungry for the truth. They had given her a pholleto of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. she not only had read it but annotated it as though she would be using it to form a thesis for her literary exam. She more than anyone I had seen before her had feasted upon the words of Christ. Now when Dalmacias area was closed we took over teaching her. But as you can imagine with her working from 9 to 9 every day of the week at a stand that actually requires some of her attention teaching was not always the easiest thing but by far was not the hardest of problems. She came from a very devout 7th day Adventist family and they were not happy when they found out that she was listening to us. For many weeks she wrestled to know the truth inside of a world of confusion and opposition.  Through it all she never lost her desire to know the truth, and after a while she knew and then only had to get through one little problem. Through she is 28 she still wanted the blessing of her father to be baptized and after many talks with him it seemed as though he would never change. Then came Friday morning and a quick trip over to pias to grab a little something before heading down to Magnolia. When we passed by her she told us she had talked to her father again and lo and behold he had a change of heart and allowed her to follow her heart. But that didn't mean the amazing thing ended there. She had to go to work early Saturday with Halloween being Saturday and everything. But she didn't want to wait any longer so she decided to be baptized at 5am in the morning and thus the first treat of Halloween was given early Saturday morning.
   Now we had another miracle happen just a little bit later on as well. As we went throughout the day we went to visit hermana Elida. A sweet lady who is part of that family that had asked us about baptism. Now I thought they were going to be golden after that first visit....well lets just say I wasn't right about that. However we visited elida with a member of the ward and she accepted to be baptized on Saturday. But then opposition hit hard. like really hard. Her entire family started to go against her and us we ended up being kicked out of the house by the family who had been in love with us. We ended up having that same member who was with us when she accepted to be baptized go and talk to her.  It turns out her family threatened to kick her out of the house and take away her child if she gets baptized......There truly is an opposition in all things, but I know just as Itsy's father changed his heart, there will be a way prepared for her.
  Now it is a common theme that good and bad tends to come in threes.  There is a family of less-actives that we are teaching that have some children who haven't been baptized, but haven't wanted to be baptized.   We took over a video of Christ's baptism and now they want to be.  All we have to do is wait for her mom to get back from Mexico.
   I love Christmas time! I know that Thanksgiving hasn't passed yet but who cares! We don't have Thanksgiving here in Guate so we are going straight into Christmas mode!

Put a group of Elder's in a photo and say act serious and this is what you get.

Our Fan Club...and how they see Elder Keck and I...