Week #48: Transfers...

   

The Zone of San Pedro

 A little later email today as went as a zone to a place called Chicabal - a volcanic lake.  With transfers imminent, for some, it was a nice excursion for all.

       It has been a week of reflection, knowing that you are in an area where your days are numbered and it will probably be one of your last is simply sad, I can only imagine how those who are about to finish the mission are feeling.  It is hard to put into words, how you grow to love those that serve, and a special place they have in your heart and soul.
        As of Today I have completed 11 months in the mission and 6 months and 2 weeks of that time has been living here in Rio Blanco.  As much as I don't like the constant bus rides and a few other negatives this is going to be one of my favorite areas.  Throughout the week I have mixed in the goodbyes as we passed from one part to the next in this huge area of Rio Blanco. You know you have been in an area for a long time when the little children of the area know your name. Not just as Elder, but Elder Wilcox, as hard and strange as it is for the people here to pronounce this name. I don't think anyone really likes goodbyes. But we sure get a lot of practice here in the mission.
     This week I was thinking about the story of "Pushing Against The Rock" (Author Unknown)

"There once was a man who was asleep one night in his cabin when suddenly his room filled with light and the Saviour appeared to him.

The Lord told him He had a work for him to do, and showed him a large rock explaining that he was to push against the rock with all his might. This the man did, and for many days he toiled from sunup to sundown; his shoulder set squarely against the cold massive surface of the rock, pushing with all his might. Each night the man returned to his cabin sore and worn out, feeling his whole day had been spent in vain.

Seeing that the man showed signs of discouragement, Satan decided to enter the picture - placing thoughts in the man's mind, such as ``Why kill yourself over this?, you're never going to move it!'' or ``Boy, you've been at it a long time and you haven't even scratched the surface!'' etc. giving the man the impression the task was impossible and the man was an unworthy servant because he wasn't moving the massive stone.

These thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man and he started to ease up in his efforts. ``Why kill myself?'' he thought. ``I'll just put in my time putting forth just the minimum of effort and that will be good enough.'' And this he did or at least planned on doing until, one day, he decided to take his troubles to the Lord.

``Lord,'' he said, ``I have labored hard and long in Your service, putting forth all my strength to do that which You have asked of me. Yet after all this time, I have not even budged that rock even half a millimeter. What is wrong? Why am I failing?''

To this the Lord responded compassionately, ``My friend, when long ago I asked you to serve Me and you accepted, I told you to push against the rock with all your strength and that you have done. But never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it. At least not by yourself. Your task was to push. And now you come to Me, your strength spent, thinking that you have failed, ready to quit. But is this really so? Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled; your back sinewed and brown. Your hands are calloused from constant pressure and your legs have become massive and hard. Through opposition you have grown much and your ability now far surpasses that which you used to have. Yet still, you haven't succeeded in moving the rock; and you come to Me now with a heavy heart and your strength spent. I, my friend will move the rock. Your calling was to be obedient and push, and to exercise your faith and trust in My wisdom, and this you have done.''

The time I have had in Rio Blanco has been very hard. I have probably had many more pains than joys here. I have had to fight and fight against the weariness in my stride, against the attacks in my resolve, and against the trails of my faith. Though through it all I honestly believe that this in one part or another has been the reason I have been here. Not for me to move the rock but for me to be changed. I have seen many changes in this area. Many things that are now different here, but none of them compare to how I have changed. I love the part in here as it explains "long ago I asked you to serve me and you accepted. I told you to push against the rock with all of your strength...but never once did I excpect you to move it." "through opposition you have grown much and your ability now far surpasses that which you used to have." Sometimes I guess I forget I am being changed, as much as I am being used as a tool to change the lives of others.
       But in the same way as it is sad to be working in a field in which you know you will never see the harvest working, it still brings some good joy. This week I had the chance to go and work with the progressing investigators of Rio Blanco in divisions. One of these lessons was simply awesome! There was a family a while back that Rio Blanco received as a reference from none other than a drunken individual. This town drunk ended up taking them down some long road deep deep down into a part relatively close to the center of Rio blanco. There they came to know Don Mira and Alexandra as well as the rest of their family. After a few weeks of teaching them we all knew that they were extremely positive. As Elder Saxton and I started to teach them this night we knew it was time to put a date for them to be baptised and after a beautiful lesson they accepted.  There is no better feeling than this. Besides of course when they are baptised. Moments like these make the mission special and make all that we do worth it.  It is such a blessing to see people changed through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
     Well changes are here this week. I guess we will just have to see what they have in store.

The Thinker

One of the functions of missionaries at times is nursery leader...

Bacon and Eggs a rare treat...bacon that is.

Week #47: Rain trapped and Mother's Day Skype

It's been a very rainy week.  I guess it is officially time to be soaked yet again. For those of you who don't know, it rains alot here and not just a lot but enough to make that California rain look like nothing...oh wait you are in a drought back home so you may not remember what rain is, right?

The highlight of the week was finally being able to Skype our families.  On Mother's Day we didn't have the chance to Skype our Mom's. Up here in Rio Blanco there are 15-20 missionaries out serving in the world, so that would be around 8-10 families trying to skype at any given time of the day.  With this in mind, we changed our Skype night.  First we thought we would do on Monday, but with bus problems and delays we changed it to Tuesday.  This turned out to be a very good thing since at about 4pm in the afternoon the power went out in all of Rio Blanco and didnt return until about 10 on top of everything else.   Tuesday night was a very special and awesome moment not just because I had the chance to Skype the family and more specifically my amazing mother, but also because one of the youth was set apart and had his farewell this same night. This also kinda made skyping the family kinda fun because all of the little kiddos in the branch were there and loved to be able to see my family as well.
     Last week I mentioned that this week is the semana de la familia. But it turned out to be the week of freezing cold rain, hail, and many sick people, me included. It's kind of weird to have to plan your day around the rain. In the coast you can get wet all you want and you won't really be to much worse for the wear.  However here things are just a bit different. If we get wet here we pretty much immediately have to get back to the house and change if not we are out of order for the next little while.  In the same way it's always fun to be trapped by the rain.  This week almost everyday we have been rain trapped. This is a situation when we are in a lesson when the rain starts to fall and we are stuck in the house until it stops. I guess a little quote from Forest Gump could probably explain the rain best. "One day it started raining, and it didn't quit for four months. We been through every kind of rain there is. Little bitty stingin' rain... and big ol' fat rain. Rain that flew in sideways, and sometimes rain even seemed to come straight up from underneath. Shoot, it even rained at night...". More or less this will be our life here for the next little.  While this lasts I just hope that the people start to be a little more merciful and let us into their houses and out of the rain.
    The Activities this week were all pretty cool. A lot of people couldn't actually come due to the rain but they were fun none the less. One of the days this week we were over in Rio Hondo teaching and rain trapped in a lesson. About an hour and a half into the rain someone called us pretty frantically telling us they had just gotten to the church for the activity and the water had somehow gotten into the church. They were shoveling and bucketing it out but needed our help. Shortly after the call the rain stopped or let up enough so that we could make our way over to the church. Though we had a forty minute walk on our hands we put some serious pep in our step to make it to the church right as they were finishing up.
     The best of all of these nights was the talent night. These youth here are super funny. They put on some of the funniest little skits I have seen in a talent show.  The next best part was Elder Saxton and his cheering. In all talent shows there are the little kids acts and the ones that are well in the show. He made it his personal job to be the person in charge of the random applauses to get everyone else cheering. His girlish screams might have just been one of the greatest talents of the night.
    Its been a pretty fast week. I can't help but wonder if I am in my last week here in Maclen.  I hold six months and one week in this area and these people are my family.   I've been here so long that some of these kids probably think I am part of the family. I dont know If I will have changes but one thing's for sure, this will probably be one of my favorite areas in my mission.  Well at least until my next area...

Week #46: Pancakes

We always be a moving...

It has been a week full of pancakes which kinda makes it amazing no matter what happens. So as I am sure all of you well know and have already celebrated, it was mother's day this weekend and though we cannot celebrate it with our own mothers in person we decided to go full out making it pretty awesome for all of the other mothers in Rio Blanco.
     We started the celebrations as an Elders quorum by putting on a nice big dinner for the mothers in the rama. As you all know men in general are not good at planning activities by themselves and when it comes to making food well... you know.... We had planned to start the dinner at 6:00pm though we ended starting at about 7:30 when the meat was finally done and the tamalitos had finally made there way over to the church.  It was a little bit awkward because we brought about 15 or so inv. mamas over to the church and they started to become a little antsy waiting around.   Elder Murrillo and Dolman ran over to the house to grab the griddle and the pancake mix to make some appetizers, while I taught the mothers a lesson and sang some hymns with them.  However, when the night was through the mother's loved it. Burnt meat, cold tamales and all.
     The next day we decided to do something a little bit out of the ordinary. We decided to make pancakes! But not breakfast...really not even for us. About midday we headed into the heart of the plaza on the busiest day of the week. There we set up a table heated up the grill and started making some free banana pancakes for every mom that happened to pass by. It was pretty funny to see some of their confused faces as we insisted that they take a free pancake. By the end of the two hours of free pancakes for Moms,  we left knowing we had put some smiles on the faces of many mothers.
    As Sunday came around we handed out the sweet stuff. Any guesses as to what?! Well to remove any doubt and to stay consistent with the the theme we handed out chocolate chip pancakes to all of the mothers!..... Ok..... maybe not. But we did put together some pretty sweet little cups filled with candy and all sorts of other goodies. That along with the heart cupcakes Hna Isela made and the sewing bags that the young women made, probably made these mothers feel pretty amazing.
    To finish of the mother's day activities we made an american dinner for the amazing Mama Chatta. I am sure I have mentioned every Sunday night we eat at the house of Mama Chatta, and not just us but all of the missionaries that have been in Rio Blanco for the last 6 years and probably even longer. We decided it was time to celebrate our mother in the mission with a nice big dinner. The plans were to make some Jucy Lucy Burgers with a potato salad and pasta salads as the side courses, But turns out a lot of people wanted to make something special for the mothers in their lives and when we made our way over to the market on Saturday there wasn't even a scrap of chicken let alone some ground beef. But we pressed on and make the pasta and potato salads for the dinner. At first we were a little worried that the stuff that we made would be weird for them and that they wouldn't want to eat it. But I don't think anyone can resist a potato salad. Shame that we didn't have the chance to make the burgers but they ended up loving it all.
    This last week has been awesome celebrating the Mothers. Though this next week holds in store the "Semana De La Familia" which is something really big here. Every family has been charged with the responsibility to have a Noche de hogar with a non member family. As I write this there are families starting their family nights. Tomorrow will be a huge activity in the church to start out semana de la familia but more importantly for the mission farewell of Brian. All and all I'm pretty sure this next week is going to be pretty sweet.

Sorry I didn't get to skype or talk to you Mom, but hopefully will get something worked out.  I love you and wish you all the best for Mother's Day.  I wouldn't be who or where I am without your influence and the kick you placed on my backside now and again!

BBQ for Mother's Day - Guat Style!

Pancakes at the market...

Week #45: Recognition, Understanding and Knowledge

... Another week come and gone. It's been a good week and full new adventures.
       Tuesday we had another multi zone conference with the President to get us pumped to break the record of the mission with the goal of baptising three people in every companionship. This would mean nearly 300 baptisms in the mission which is something never before done and some legacy that we can make.
      Most of this week I actually spent on divisions with Elder Ramirez our district leader. We set up some plans to go and talk to every single one of the investigators that we have so that he can get to know them a little. On Friday, we went over to San Lorenzo to talk to a pilas little lad who we taught the week before. The week before we had an amazing lesson with him and taught him all about the restoration of the gospel. He had several questions, not the doubtful kind, but the kind showing a sincere interest to know the true in what we are saying. This week, when we had visited him it was kinda like the video from The District with the investigator Jinx. We taught him a little more about The Restoration and addressed a few of his concerns and began to teach him a little about baptism, but as we began to address some of his concerns he said that he doesn't really understand how to receive, or rather what is an answer from God. There is truly a great feeling in the room when you can see that someone has a sincere desire to understand. I don't know if there is anything better than being able to see the spirit start to speak to someone's heart and really being able to see the gears in their head start to understand, really understand what we are teaching them.
       I was listening to a talk the other day, about understanding.  The speaker explained that we have different different types of recognition. Specifically the main two are logical and emotional.  These two systems of understanding work a little bit different one from the other. Logical recognition runs on an eight point system.  If something is happening and each of these eight points lines up we know something is the way it should be and feel good about the decision. Now this is actually the slower or weaker of the two. Emotional Recognition runs on a 32 point system and works instantaneously, as something is happening our minds automatically check within the blink of an eye if every one of these points are lining up. When and if they do, we feel normal and calm, but when they don't we have a gut feeling that something is wrong. It's like in football with a quarterback, logically everything may look like his wide receiver is open and in the green but by instinct he can feel that something just isn't right and throws it to a different wide receiver.  Maybe a linebacker was falling back or the safety cheating over or whatever it may have been. He could feel that something just wasn't right and so he acted accordingly.  The speaker goes on to explain that there is actually a 3rd type of recognition which works on a spiritual level and is faster and stronger than both of this combined. It works on a level we can't even comprehend and when we hear something that we know to be true it resonates within us and can feel its truth. I dont know if any of this is actually real but I honestly do believe that people can recognize the truths being taught as they listen to these simple truths.
     In these last few days I have actually been thinking alot about the difference between knowing something and understanding it.  These two things are so different from each other and honestly have about as big of a difference as apples from tomatoes.  Both look the same, and some people may even be able to confuse the two, but they are different and very different at that.  One example that I was thinking of to make it clear was in the movie Saratov approach.  There is a moment in this movie where a man calls one of the families of the kidnapped missionaries and begins to tell them about his story of when he was captured as a missionary. In one part he says "And almost as though it were involuntary you begin to pray for those who have taken you"(and they do). I really can't think of a better example than this to show the difference between knowing someone is a child of god and truly understanding it. Just a moment before Sergay comes into the room and tells them "teach me. Tell me what you tell everybody" and so they do.  In one moment they teach him "that God loves all of his children" and Sergey asks "and me? does he love me?" ever so hesitantly and with a struggle he says "yes". I don't know how he truly felt in this moment. Though moments later, probably even within this same day, they begin to understand that even these people who have taken them are children of our Father in Heaven, and begin to pray for these men. Even for their well being because they truly know , AND have come to understand, who they are, and what they are to God. I can't even imagine having to be in a moment like this but to understand so deeply is something extraordinary.
      There is a reason that we as missionaries teach and promise the blessings of Gospel. Knowing what each of them are is something, but understanding it leads people to action.  My first companion Elder Goodman gave a lesson in a district meeting at one point about this principle. He explained the story of an American army regiment during the Revolutionary War.  This army was composed of untrained farm men more than anything.  A general was brought in from a different country to train these troops so that they would have the ability to win. As he began to try and drill these troops they would not listen for anything and did not obey him in the slightest. Which caused this general to drill them harder to try and break them into being a disciplined army. What this general didn't understand until George washington gave him a bit of advice was while these men were lacking in discipline - they would fight until the death for what they believe in and who they love.  After this the general began to teach this army in a different way, teaching through their needs, and teaching them the why behind the how and the army began to understand the purpose behind the drills.  They became one of the best military units in the army.
      When we can teach people through their needs, show them the why behind the how, people will be lead to action. People will see what lies in store for them after the sacrifice.  Knowing the Gospel principles is good, but if we don't understand the doctrine behind them we will not act.  We act to our understanding and not unto our knowledge.
      Anyways...long email...I must be inspired right now... I love you all and it is pretty exciting to hear about all of you back home preparing for missions and getting your calls. This is a great life here. It is probably one of the biggest adventures I will have in all of my life and beyond that probably one of the biggest learning experiences as well. Mothers day is around the corner talk to you soon.

I'm singing in the rain...just a singing in the rain..

Mom can I bring it home!!!???

Week #44: Do you keep track of the weeks?

Do you keep track of the weeks? No, not until I have to put week 44 or whatever it is for the email.  I really don't keep track of time at all in the mission. I was just writing to someone about what happened this morning when I went to the despensa to grab a bit of milk for cereal. I was there I had it in my hand looking at the expiration date and thought wow this stuff doesn't expire until June 15th is this real milk? This stuff will last forever?  Then Elder Saxton had to burst my bubble and say "...thats only next month." Times like these really kinda blow my mind, to think that I have nearly been living here in Guatemala for a year. Guess I will start to pick out which of my shirts will be burned in just a short while. But enough of the baggy-talk -- let's talk about Rio Blanco!
         So as I think I mentioned last week Elder Amundson hade changes and Elder Merrill is our new Zone Leader. He was actually in Maclen (my area) about a year ago. So given that he Is lleno de referencias we decided to bring him up to show us all of the people he was teaching.  After two days of walking around hitting up old investigators and all the great walking we were dead. Elder Merrill fell ill and my head was spinning with all of the new references that we have to talk to.
        So in the mission we live in houses that have usually been rented by missionaries for years upon years upon years. This means that the messes of the missionaries build up years upon years as well. when I got to Rio Blanco it was simply... well... "not a 5 star hotel and maybe in the negative stars" and so I made it my personal goal to clean this house and at least put some stars on the board. As of this Friday we finally have some stars on the board...only 2 starts, but those 2 stars are very nice and shiny and with a little more work we might be able to get a few more stars soon.
     President Ruiz actually payed a visit up to our nice little cold corner of the mission which was kinda a surprise. We knew he would be coming up soon but didn't really know when. This Saturday as we were going to go and do contacting in the farmers market kinda ordeal that is there every Saturday, President just happened to be driving down the road and called us over to him.  After talking to him for a bit he went over to the church to do a few interviews and then over to Caprican. Yes it is finally for sure, the city in the middle of nowhere, will finally be opened! Super excited about that.
    Friday, was a pretty sweet day as well, a less active member asked to go out and do visits with us. I personally didn't think she was being serious but when the moment came she was ready and we were scrambling to find some others to come with us so that we could actually go. After a moments we were on our way to San Lorenzo. Neither of them thought we were serious about heading over there. But we were and poof soon at members house with some sweet references.  After another quick moment we had this same member leaving with us as well.  We had one of the best lessons I have had in a while with a 17 year old kid  named Angel.  He actually had questions and good ones and even understood the whole there is only one true church thing I think he will progress pretty great in the next little while.   It is fantastic when missionaries can have members present in lessons!
     This week has been a little different, everyone in the house or who comes to Rio Blanco seems to be getting sick, but I think for some odd reason I am like immune to sicknesses now (prob just jinxed that).  The baptisms that we had planned fell through, it's sad and even worse when we are trying to pull people out of the bad cycle that they are in...some things just kinda suck but theres nothing we can do on that end all we can do is continue to work with them. It is a very sad thing when people are so used to the dark that they don't want to try and to let the light in, even when they know where to find it and when they know that it is good.  It is so sad sometimes, that people are so used to being where they are that they don't want to leave their small little comfort zone even if it will change their life forever for the better. I think that is probably one of the hardest things to see here in the mission. Anyways another week comes lets see if we can do some good. Talk to you next week love you all.

Week #43: Transfers come and go - happy still in Rio Blanco

Like every other week in the mission changes are fun interesting crazy and just a little bit hectic at times.
 
So as most of you know we live out in the boon docks. in my area and so for us transfers are usually a little bit more chaotic than the other areas in the mission.  As last Monday ended we still hadn't received word on the transfers, but I was told to pack anyways given my likelihood of having changes.  I was told to do the "just in case packing" as they say and so I did.  Then Tuesday morning rolled around and we called for what seemed like the 20th time to find out about the changes.....and they still didn't know but they were sure to give me some more just in cases instructions.  These instructions included getting the last of my stuff together and heading down to San Pedro just in case we had changes. Being so far out in the mission for our zone and the other two that are close by means that when transfers come around we charter a bus at 4:00am in the morning to go by every one of the zones and pick up those that have changes so that we can make it to the transfer meeting in Reu in time. Finally at about 7:00pm we received the changes, amazingly enough after all of the waiting and packing and craziness, I did not end up having changes!  We got a good laugh out of all of it, and then started to go around all of the members in San Pedro so that Elder Amundson could say goodbye to everyone.
             Out of everyone in the zone only three Elders had changes; Elders Amundson, Quiroz and Mecham.  But we don't really count Mecham as having changes, after seven and a half months in his first area he took a fun little bus trip down to Reu for the change meeting and then came right back up to leave San Antonio San pedro and go right next door to Chamac San Pedro. What a trooper! I dont know what his mission call said but there must have been some kinda smudge on the call that said he was called to the Guatemala Retalhuleu Mission San Pedro zone.
             So all and all the zone didn't really change to much and once the changes were over Thursday came around and we got right back to work. Which involved an amazing planning session that would make any mission president proud, followed by a noche de hermanamiento in Chuicaval with some odd 10-15 investigators alone.
             The next day we set out with a plan. But ended up not following it in the slightest as lesson after lesson called out to us.  Literally there was a point in the day after we had just helped one of the members mark some eggs, mate some chickens, and were heading off down a path to try and start on the day we had planned when all of a sudden we heard someone yelling out elders to once again send our plans out the window. Days like this just kinda remind us that we are not here to do our work but rather the Lord's work, and by the days end we had found some really amazing new families to teach, had several references to contact and another less active youth to help go on the mission.
             As the next day rolled around, again our plans went out the window and God's plan went into action. In the morning we taught the grandmother of several of the youth that we are teaching and the sweetest spirit settled over the lesson as she poured out her heart to us. Crying over all that was happening in her life and the life of her family and then the sweet comfort of the spirit as we testified of the ability the true Gospel of Christ has to change the lives of every person that receives it.  As we closed the lesson with a prayer we could see that the things we had said had brought a little peace to her soul. I hope in the next little while she will be able to come to church with her grandkids.
          Then the best day of the week rolled around. A day that used to be filled with naps procrastinated homework and Church has really changed here in the mission. I think I even finally understand the torment I put the majority of my teachers through during my CTR years in the church. Right now we have five joven investigators ages 10-14 that are all about as rowdy and restless as I was when I was their age.  They want to do just about everything but go to class. However being as they were I totally knew how to handle it. Takes one to know one right?! After a quick call to the house I had some candy brought over to bribe their obedience and some videos to teach them with. I rallied them all up with the candy and then brought them into a classroom where we taught them using the bible videos and mormon messages that Mom and Dad just sent me. By the end of class we had them all ready to be interviewed for their baptisms which we are planning for this next week.
    The amazingness didn't even end there. Here members are super pilas on Sundays and just about every sunday they go pair off and teach the less actives that are in the branch. This week we had the pleasure of going and teaching with President Vasquez. He brought us to one of the first members of Rio Blanco and we sat and visited with him for a while and then he brought us over to a non members house. As we got to the house we didn't think that anyone was there. It was raining outside, all of the doors were closed and it was nice and cold. but as we started to talk a door opened and a little kid invited us inside. We talked with him and his family for a while, taught them a bit but more so just really got to know them. After a little while they invited us into the kitchen for a little bit of Cafe (here cafe no es cafe. they have something called morCaf which is actually like a hot chocolate make out of corn and other stuff - not sure what the other stuff consists of) as we were in the kitchen talking to the family the same kid that had initially invited us into the house had changed his clothes and walked into the kitchen in his Sunday best, excited about what we had said and kinda wanting to be like us. He didn't have a tie on though so I called him over to me and took my own tie off and put it on him. The smile on his face said it all and after all that we had been talking about with his mother, she was super happy about the example and love that we were giving her son. I have now doubt that she will a super fiel member of the church soon and her kids as well.
       Well I'm still up here in the altaplano  for the next six weeks - I will not be leaving and I have to say I am very happy I am not leaving.!

Week #42: Two Giants and the Misty Mountains

Where's Waldo?

It has been a great week, a little hectic and long in travel but I'm just starting to accept that as a norm of the mission. This week holds changes and everyone at the moment is a little antsy to see what lies in store.  As a zone our thoughts on the matter is that Elder Amundson, our zone leader Elder Mecham who has 5 changes in his area and I will be leaving the zone. This however is simply guesstimates, and we won't know what will actually happen for a few days. However I will be packing my bags tonight just in case. In the mission we learn to prepare for the worst and to hope and pray for the best.
          In other news things are on fire up in Rio Blanco. We are having more success at the moment then that the area has seen in quite some time. Even the members and investigators that we have are putting some additional fuel on the fire. This Sunday we had 13 inv. in church and between us and our tag team comps Rio Blanco we have put seven fechas with the people we are teaching and there are many others following this same path. We can really feel the blessings coming in from the lord and know that the success we are having is coming through him and the inspiration he put in the hearts of the people as they were there in General Conference broadcast.
        This week we weren't in our area for 3 days. :(  As we started our district meeting on Wednesday morning we received a call from the office notifying us that we (Elder Murillo and I) had to be down in Reu by 7:00pm that same day in order to take a bus at 4am in the morning the next day to go to Guate for Elder Murillos visa papers.  Long story short 20 hours of travel later we made it two Guatemala City and back up to Rio Blanco.  I will be fine if I never step foot in a bus again...but yeah thats not going to happen. The best part about it all is that we pranked Elder Saxton during this time telling him that I had emergency changes and that President would be sending another Latino up there for him.
         When we got back, we got back to work, visiting everyone. Elder Amundson even came up to do some interviews that we have in Maclen, Rio Blanco and Chuicaval, and in order to do them Elder Amundson went over with Elder Murillo to Chuicaval and I with Elder Saxton to Caprican. After walking over in Caprican we had a little service opportunity though I wouldn't really refer to it as small.  The service involved moving 5 giant wardrobes (like the entertainment center size one that we have back home) up a tiny staircase that is barely wide enough to fit a chair through I wish I had taken pictures it must have looked pretty crazy.  I guess this is training for the Elder's Quorum when I get back home and the EQ Moving Company.   After we finished there we went over to teach a family, this lesson started out with us teaching two people and by the end we finished with more that 25 people in attendance.   It was a cool moment and they even offered to have us sleep over knowing that we had a 2hr walk in front of us to get back to Rio Blanco, but we had to get back so we took a picture with them turned down some coffee, drank some hot water and then made the 8.3 km walk back to Rio Blanco. It was a beautiful night!
        As Sunday came around we went to church and found eight investigators in the building. Now that is something better than any christmas present I can remember.  We had so many people visiting that we had a class of pure invs and a few members to help teach with us. It was a pretty cool lesson and moments like those make all the walking and bus riding we do worth it.
        I don't know what this week will hold for me. I dont know if I will have changes, but I do know that life in the mission is awesome and that if I do leave I will leave with amazing memories, a new family and the knowledge that I have worked my butt off to help every person that I have had the pleasure of getting to know in my time here.  Signing off! See you later, or at least write to you next week!

The Misty Mountains

A couple of giants in the misty mountains

Week #41: Inviting all to come to General Conference

Alrighty the whole call Rio Blanco to conference initiative worked rather well. After many invitations and a lot of work through the members we ended up bringing the most Inv in all of the zone and are probably up there in the running for the most in all of the mission. Needless to say its been a pretty good week.
    We started this week off nice and early. Like 4:00 oclock in the freezing early morning, walking 40 mins to our first cita of the day, kinda early.  Yeah know I think I really understand the farmers plight a little better after one day in their boots. On Sunday we were talking with one of our investigator families that we have and asked them if they had planted their corn crop yet. (its just about that time so its a good conversation starter) they replied that they had not and being the optimistic and naive missionaries that we are, we offered to help, thinking it would be some pretty easy work. The next Tuesday just getting out of bed a pleasant 2 and a half hours early for the second day and a role, proved to be pretty hard and we hadn't even started on the real work yet. As we sleep-walked our way over to their house in the cold dark morning I started to get the feeling that we had no idea what we had just signed up to do. This thought could not have been more accurate as the next few hours unfolded. I don't know how many of you have ever had the lovely experience of working with a little piece of advanced machinery called a hoe all morning long, but after a few short mins you start to really feel the sweat on your brow beginning to gather. After 8 Hours of this arduous work you can only imagine the delight our bodies were feeling as we finally finished and made our way back up the mountain to celebrate with a well needed lunch. As we finished I thought it feels kinda nice to do a good days work (like work manual labor work work) but I don't know If I ever want to do it again. However now that a few days have past, we can already start to see the fruits of our labors. Everyone in this family attended conference and even some of the other workers we were with came along with them. +5 for service efforts!
     As Wednesday came along we went along the long main road stopping from house to house reminding every one of the members to invite people to conference and inviting those of the roadside until it was time for lunch. As we finished lunch we helped out our district presidents family with some of the Semana santa food they were preparing.   However along the way found out that with it being semana Santa and all that there would be no buses going down to San Pedro from Rio Blanco. We had a Multi Zone Conference with President Ruiz that next day so... no buses was kinda a problem. After about a good 20 or so calls between us, the zone leaders and the many members in the area we found a ride down to San Pedro....at the house we were giving service to. But at least we got down there nice and quick unlike the other elders in Rio Blanco who were over in Caprican (hrs away from us walking) who ended up taking a 2hr bus to Xela and from Xela a 2hr Bus to San Pedro. Lucky them. The next day the Conference went amazing and we were all pretty motivated for some goals we had set for General conference that month and the next month.
         Once we got back to Rio Blanco it was full on crazy mode to invite everyone to conference. But for some reason Rio Blanco didn't know this, and everyone decided to leave and go to the beach. But we did what we could with who was there, and still managed to hand out every one of the invitations that we had printed out.  We also set up announcements at the local Radio Station for General Conference. As Conference began the next day we started to see a few people trickle in until we hit the sunday morning season were the floodgates opened and 20 inv flowed on in. All and all conference was a success and amazing as always and now we have a lot of work on our hands with all of the new people who came to conference.

Week #40: Semana Santa

Inviting the world to General Conference

Through all of the craziness with the usual walking and the elections here and so much more. This was a great week. 

We started gung ho on the inviting the world to General Conference. As I mentioned last week we created posters and invitations and other little stuff to handout, hang-up and stick wherever we can. All and all the area of Rio Blanco is plastered from head to toe with all sorts of amazing GC announcements and invitations.

       On a different note we have also been working like crazy to help two kids of a family we are teaching be baptized this week. Being that they are from Chuicaval, this "little" process included several very large walks back and forth throughout the week. But in the words of many "LoL" players all over the world "worth it".  After some amazing problems that were overcome with travel, rain, and cold baptismal water everything ended well and Maximiliano and Encarnacion were baptized and maybe just maybe, their parents will soon follow.

      This week I was also reminded of just how far I have come in the mission. Thursday when we were down in San Pedro for the zone meeting, President payed us a surprise visit bringing with him a little package for two of the youth in Rio Blanco. After months and months of waiting the mission calls of these two lads have finally arrived. After church on Sunday we all gathered together in the house of Brian and opened his call. One of them has been called to the mission of Nicaragua Managua Norte and the other to Puerto Rico. All and all it was kinda weird to think about it all. Like I still feel like I just left, even though it has been nine months now and to see them starting out on this journey is kinda a weird feeling. In three short months mine will be half over and they will barely be out in the field. Weird...but cool!

     Its been a good week and this next week is Semana Santa and Conferencia General.  This week should hold some fun surprises and experiences in store for us. Give all my love to everyone!

I call him Easter, but that is wishful thinking

Week #39: There and back again...

The field is white er of many beautiful colors and ready to harvest...

It has been a long week of traveling in the beautiful land of bountiful and I have learned that even after all of the traveling that we do up here - I am nowhere close to being immune to the horrible discomforts of car, truck, chicken bus sickness.
      Though the traveling can be tiresome there are some cool moments through it all. Like when we were coming back from Reu this week after the Trainers meeting.  After being on the bus for a while sitting next to a guy and squished between him the other random people who were on the bus the guy to my right offered me some gum.....in English!  A little surprised and a bit shocked I started to talk to him. Turns out he works in a call center in Xela and was living in the US for quite some time before coming back down and living here in San Marcos.   It was kinda weird to speak in English... even weirder to teach someone in it. I think that somehow my brain has become wired in a way that when I talk about church or the Gospel rr anything within that realm I do so in Spanish. That being said when I started to teach him in English about the restoration of the Gospel it was really awkward and I found myself having to think ahead in order to reverse translate my thoughts back into English and even then stuff still came out in Spanish. In the end, the lesson still went amazing even in the horribly crowded bus and my broken English. Its kinda sad that he doesn't live in my area or even in my zone but I passed along the reference to the other Elders and I hope they can help him out.

      So like I said there has been a lot of traveling in large part due to all of the meetings in the mission. On Wednesday we had the first of the Trainers meetings. Being there could not have been any weirder of an experience.  The entire time I felt as if I was just there but on the other side of the table, hearing nearly the same messages when I started. I guess I wasnt the only one who felt like that either. As we passed through the classes of President and Hermana Wetzel they both mentioned in some way that they were surprised to see me there again with so little time in the mission. However all and all the meeting was absolutely amazing and we left that day better missionaries then when we entered. I would have to say that they fulfilled the purpose of that meeting.
      That same day pretty late in the night (ok so like 7) we got back to San Pedro and being missionaries, we went out to grab something to eat. We decided to head over to our normal pancake place. Pretty much since the first day I came over to San Pedro we have eaten here once or twice a week and have come to know all of the workers there pretty good. However just recently we gave them all copies of the Book of Mormon and when we were there eating we asked them if they had been reading them. Turns out they have not only been reading them but have been sharing them and reading them to other workers who are there on other shifts. Pilas Pues!
       The next day we had a mutli-zone conference with President Ruiz. Love the meetings with the President. They always kinda light a fire under our butts and get us out working harder than ever. As I am sure you all know its nearly conference time and we are turning on the "No Shame Mode". We are making banners, fliers, invitations off all sorts and spamming the skies, streets and even the windows of every bus, inviting everyone to come to General Conference. At times like this I think... What would happen if someone was crazy enough to do this kinda stuff back home....? (¿challenge anyone?) Anyways we are going to have some fun with this General Conference season.
       As I mentioned a little earlier Elder Saxton received a very lucky bite in the few hours that we were down there in Reu and as a result has been more or less bed ridden for the last several days. However all is well and he is back on his feet like the trooper he is. As he was sick we did some divisions so that Elder Ramirez, our district leader could go over to Chuicaval and do some interviews. This left me with alot of free time in the house. One of the things they were stressing in these meetings was using the area book (the area book is a folder that has a teaching record for every investigator and much much more. More or less it is the history of the area and of all the investigators that the missionaries have ever taught.) I decided to take this time and go through the area book to find some new investigators and more or less to clean out, spiff up, and start working on the thing like the hermanas do. Good thing too, as I finished sorting out the investigators,  Elder Rameriez and Murillo made it over to Chuicaval and I fed them a bunch of names and ways to find the people that were positive in the past.  At the end of the day through mixed efforts they found some really positive new people to teach. +1 for the Area Book Effort!
       Sundays are awesome, the Church is true and the mission is an awesome world. I don't think anyone in the world is more excited then as a missionary, as when they see someone that they are teaching at church.

Anyways love you all, miss you all, and hope that someone back home will take  the challenge to go as crazy as us this conference season.

Look Mom I have learned how to make my bed...

hang-up my clothes...

and clean the kitchen...  

Elder Wilcox and Elder Saxton

a tracting we will go..

Week #38: Baking, building and a lot of travel

    Sorry about no email yesterday, the Internet was down.  We aren't talking about just a wifi router, or the connection in the house being down.  Remember we go to Internet Cafe's and while there are not many to choose from it didn't matter because the Internet was down for the whole town.  But here is a quick email so you know all is well.  No pictures today.

     The best way to describe this week would probably be like a roller coaster. and like most we have to start pretty low.  Early in the week my comp was really worried. His parents hadn't written him and he knew that something was up. The next day in the morning he found out that his grandmother had passed away sunday afternoon and he was pretty devastated. It was a pretty sad morning but after a few moments to regain his composure we knew that we had to get out and work to get his mind off of everything that was happening.and so thats what we did and we haven't really stopped working much since.
        This week we have been; bakers, builders, and wood-cutters and have been to nearly all edges of our area. As of last week we started teaching a new investigator who just happens to be a baker and so in order for her to have time to give us as we arrive a little early before each lesson we run into the kitchen and get to work making cookies, masa and all the other amazing types of bread that go along with with baking. I'm almost positive that by the end of out time in this area we will be certified bakers ready to go back home and become professional bakers. In other words look out world there is only a short little while until the Guatemala renown Wilcox bakery will be coming back to the US.  I might even be able to challenge Sister Sandoval and her cinnamon bread.
       Traveling for the week: We have gone to Chuicaval, San Lorenzo, Pueblo Viejo Xeja, Reu Caprican and well all over Rio Blanco. Now I don't know if we have simply been extremely lucky all week long or the Lord has placed a travel blessing on us - with all of the traveling that we have done this week I think it has probably been one of the weeks in the mission with the least amount of walking. This week like many others before we headed over to Chuicaval but this time we didn't have to walk which really made all the difference. As we started on the trail up came a pickup we waved him down and jumped in.  After it took us up a good chunk of the mountain he had to go a different way so we jumped on out and continued on our way. No more than 3 mins after did another pickup come driving by. We jumped in this semi loaded pickup and took a nice ride all the way up the mountain side. It wasn't until about 5 mins or so into the hallon that I told my comp what were in the bags that we were sitting on. We both got a pretty good chuckle out of it after. There might have been some point in my life that getting a ride in a truck filled with bags of manure might have bugged me but i really don't think there ever was.  As we jumped out of the truck we were pretty much where we needed to be. As we went a little further up the road we found that there was a nice big party going on at the house of the member that takes care of us while we are there.  As we reached the gate we were greated by a nice big slice of cake and some fresco.  Not a bad way to start a day over there in Chuicaval.  We worked hard over the next several hours.  We talked to alot of people and the next day when church came around four of them actually came to church.  With a congregation of 20 or so people, four investigators is a pretty cool thing.
       I know that I have said it before but there are just some things here that are simply amazing. One of which being the Noche de Hermanamiento activity that they hold weekly in the house of the many different members in the rama. It is more or less a giant family home evening with all of the members of the rama, complete with snacks and all. Now what is absolutely amazing about these, is the little sitting space in the houses and the some odd hundred or so members that show up to every one of these activities. This last week the activity was over in San Lorenzo a "city" about two hours away walking or about 45 mins in pickup. With this in mind all of the 100 or so people piled into the back of three pickups and were off. up and over the mountains and  across the rivers to Hermana Nancy's house we went. Each one of these activities has its own little special feeling to them and really make everyone in the rama feel like a family.
        Anyways the mission is Awesome and Life is Great!

Week #37: A Trip to Reu, Trasfers and Elder Murrillo

Elder Wilcox and a stick...

So where do I even start on a week like this? Tuesday, I found out that I will be training and that ten out of the sixteen missionaries in the zone will be leaving the zone, including all of those from Rio Blanco except for me. These changes are going to be filled with...well a lot of changes.
   Needless to say, filled with excitement and anticipation we started the long ride down to Reu, which was even longer when we got a flat tire no more than a few mins into the trip. But after a long while we all arrived and were anxiously waiting for the announcement of transfers part of the meeting to start.  There were a lot of missionaries going home and many announcements, so even with us getting to the meeting late every little thing seem to take forever to start. Luckily the trainers and the new missionaries go first once the transfer announcements starts. After just about all of the greenies had been placed with their trainers there were only two left,  one for me and one for my other new companion up in Rio Blanco.  I went First and my new companion in the icy north is Elder Murillo of Ecuador/Italy.  As for the other two;  Elder Ramirez of Mexico is now with Elder Saxton of Iowa.  As for the other changes things went good and I think we have a really solid zone.
        As per normal on Thursday we had our zone meeting and got to know the people a little bit better and the more I get to know everyone, the better I like them. One of the knew Hermanas up here in San Marcos is named Hermana Vave and she is actually from Fontana.  She just happens to be family of the Hifos from back home and we have probably meet a few times before the mission and not even realized it.  The zone is awesome and I have a pretty good feeling about these transfers, we are going to all work hard, show love to the people and help change lives.
       I guess a good way to start out a change is to find a new investigator that is super positive. As Friday started, it came time to get back up to Rio Blanco and do all of the needful. We had divisions scheduled for Friday with a member but I had to show the others their area, investigators, members and all of the other stuff they need to know in order to keep the work moving. That meant sending Elder Murillo off on his first day to go and work like crazy with a super pilas member. But as the others and I stayed behind we went to go and visit a reference we had gotten several days before and hadn't been able to contact. Turns out she might just be one of the people most prepared to receive the Gospel in all of Rio Blanco. As Elder Ramirez, Saxton and I taught her, we knew right away that she would be positive and as we continued to teach we had one of those moments in which it was like we werent really talking and the things that needed to be said were said and we really touched her heart.
       All in all things are going great!  I am really happy with all that has changes and know we are going to work harder than ever before up here.   I love being able to serve the Lord in this manner, I love the people of Guatemala!

[Editor's note: While we love receiving Elder Wilcox's email and pictures each week, his choice of pictures at times makes us ponder.  He doesn't give a lot of description of his pictures...]

Elder Murrillo in Rio Blanco with a stick...

Week #36: Janga, A Llasa Apso and BMI calculations

What a week, quite the rollercoaster, but all is well in the mountains of Guate!   It was a weird week, not only full of service and proselytizing but I have helped so many people with their homework this past week that I felt as if I was back in school.
      So Wednesday we had a PMG test which consisted of many Preach My Gospel kind of questions. Needless to say my whole no studying and still end up knowing the answer thing might have helped out, but I thought that might only apply in English and I am a little reluctant to test it out in Spanish so I studied, and started hard... After the test the Mission President wanted to talk to us about our areas and the plans for them and told us that he would be coming up on Sunday to visit and set apart one of the missionaries who is leaving to his mission.  He is actually leaving right now as I write this.  Oh and that Elder Flores has emergency changes.....and that we will be working into a Trio until Sunday (though now it is until changes on Wednesday.)   But we roll with the punches, do all we can and leave the rest up to The Lord.
      Thursday was a little weird but a good day. We had our zone meeting and then left up to Rio Blanco. Once up there we went over to a familias casa por Maclen. Over there we helped move, gather and stack all of families wood. Elder Sevilla, Elder Quispe and I got a system going with some wheelbarrows. Elder Quispe loading, Elder Sevilla Transporting and Me stacking.  But service just isn't as fun without making a little game out of it. So I introduced the family to the game "Janga". This game might have been more realistic than any other I have played in all of my life. We used actual wood that was cut just a while before, with an  actual axe.  This is about as pure of a form of janga that can be played. After about 30 mins in between stacking the loads that Elder Sevilla was dropping off, I finally won as her stack of wood came tumbling down. GGWP (good Game well Played for all of you non-gamers out there).
      Friday, in order for us to work more efficiently as a trio I called all morning long to find someone that I could go and do divisions with. At about 10am in the morning I meet up with Johnny Lingo Or Elder Lingo as we called him for the day. Ok so his name isnt really Johnny Lingo but It was fun to introduce him to people as so and the members got a real kick out of it as we passed by. After lunch after asking just about every member if they could give us a ride to an area a little further off called San Lorenzo we found someone to give us a ride. Good thing too because it is about a two hour walk up and down a nice big windy path. Once over there, he showed me around and lead us over to the house of some less actives.....and there the most amazing thing happened....I found a Llasa Apso dog (a Sandy)! To many of you this means nothing but my little dog named Sandy, back home is this same kind of dog. Needless to say all went well once the less active lady and I bonded over the pup. It kind of made me miss home to see one here but it was pretty awesome at the same time. When we finished up visiting and the light was all but dead in the sky we started to head back to Rio Blanco. This time however there were not any rides for us to take back home. So we took the long walk a step and Disney song at a time, and screeched out our best Disney singing as we walked all the way home.
      On Saturday we started off the day cleaning the house in preparation for the President's arrival the next day. About mid way through the cleaning President Ochoa our district president called and told us we had a service project to do over at the church building at 1pm. Turned out to be some form of a childrens aid organization aimed at helping children who aren't receiving the nutrients they need in order to develop. For the rest of the day we were helping out with the program. I was in charge of doing the math for the BMIs of the kids as well as the weight/height ratios for everyone of the kids who were there. It was truly sad to see that the majority of the kids that were there were indeed below the norms and recommendations and just about all of them will now be in the program and receiving food. There were times when I was doing the math and their BMI came out so low that I had to stop and than do the math over and over hoping for a different result or some kind of error that I had made...It was a really sad and humbling experience but at the same time amazing because all of those kids will now be receiving help in order to make sure they are getting all they need to develop.
     The next day all of us were a little worried about the President coming.   He had said that he might bring up a new comp for Sevilla and that he might take either Elder Quispe or I back down with him. However nothing ended up happening at least change wise, when he came up, which was a big relief to me. I love it up here and don't really want to leave anytime soon. Though I was relieved that I wasn't leaving it was still kind of a sad day. Jerson one of the jovens I have been working with to get him on a mission was set apart and is now Elder Lopez. I love this kid and know he is going to be a great missionary. With all of the difficulties he had to face to go on his mission I know he has the ganas and the ability to make it through it all and be a really good missionary. I know that he is an example to Brian and Mosiah the two others who are making their way through all of their own papers and preparing to leave as well.
     In all it really has been a great week. Oh and I have a camera now so enjoy some of the scenery pics! Changes are at the door and about half of the zone is dying (ending the mission) so there will be a lot of new things in the next few days.

Week #35: Some time in San Pedro...

This has been a really good week. For the most part I was not in my area at all this week but it was still a really good week.
    Elder Cardona wanted to do divisions and go up to Rio Blanco to see how things are going up there.  Being that Rio Blanco is so far out of the way when we do divisions over here it usually lasts for four days minimum. I won the lottery and got to come down and be comps with Elder Amundson for the week.
    To start off we headed out to go and teach one of their investigators "The Professor". However on the way we stumbled across a joven that was smoking on a little side path, as we passed by we felt the need to go and talk to him so we turned back sat down on the ground in the middle of the path with him and started to teach him about the gospel. He was super open to everything and is really looking for a way to change his life and I know that this is the way he was meant to be found.
    The next day we decided to try our luck breaking the mission record for "Books of Mormons Placed" this isn't an actual thing anymore but we wanted to try being like Elder Calhoun and Elder Rogers from the 'Best 2 Years' just to see how things would go. So we went to the house grabbed a box of Book of Mormon and left for the San Pedro town square and tried our luck placing them. This ended up being one of the coolest things I have done yet in the mission. For one, I was going solo (we split up to cover more ground) and for another I don't think there was a person that we talked to that didn't actually want a Book of Mormon after we finished talking to them and explaining what it was. By the end of two hours in the park the box was just about empty and it looked as though everyone in sight was holding, reading, or walking with a Book of Mormon in their arms. Super cool Exp.
    A little later in this same day we went walking over on the same path that we had taught the joven the day before. I was thinking as we started over there "it would kinda be a shame if we found him here smoking". Luckily this didn't happen. This time as we went along the path there was a man who had just a little to much to drink and was puking his guts out on the side of the path. As we passed by he asked us to pray for him; and so with the same zeal as the day prior we kneeled there on the path with this man and prayed with him. As we finished the prayer we noticed that he wasn't completely drunk and so we began to teach him. As we went into the lesson we noticed that he had a desire to actually change so we took down his information and put a date of when we could come back to teach him....With the luck that we are having on that little path we might just need to pass by there everyday.
   On Saturday we had a baptism over here. She is actually the daughter of a family that will be baptised sometime next month.  She is just a little beautiful light for her parents to follow in the next month. It was super cool to be apart of her baptism. I remember or at least think I remember someone using the Egg example for my own baptism 11 years ago. I thought it would be fun to do the same for her. So right before the baptism I went to a tienda across the street and grabbed an egg (being able to run across the street and get an egg at a tienda will be something I will miss dearly when I'm back in the US) boiled it and all was ready in time for the baptism. She loved the example and I loved eating the egg shortly after my little message was done and I sat back down.
   Sunday was just full of good noticias. For one Elder Amundston, and I put a fecha with an investigator. We had four investigators in church here as well as four over in Maclen meaning that we get to go to the temple tomorrow. The zone leaders are actually heading over to Reu as I write this and will be bringing my package with them when they come back up. I might even have it in time to take pictures at the temple. All and all things are good. (sorry no pics Elder Amundston left for Reu before I could get the pictures we took this week).

Week #34: Changes, matrimony, service and ripped pants

This was a great little week full of changes matrimony and service. Well that and ripped pants....
          So there have been a lot of changes going on over here in the last week. Stuff like emergency changes, interviews with the mission president, painting houses, going over to the church building at 5am in the morning to set up a wedding, and good news from my last area.
          I guess we will start out with the emergency changes. Thursday morning my comp Elder Quispe and Elder Roman were sick as many are right now with all of the crazy temperature changes. With them being sick Elder Flores and I left the house in the morning together to go and prestar servicio to one of the hermanas in the rama, that is going to be married on Sunday. We were thinking with all that is going on helping her out in whatever little way that we can, would take a little bit of the stress off of her back. When we got to her house they were about to start painting and so for the next few hours we very, VERY carefully painted without getting a single drop of paint onto our white shirts or pants. As we were finishing up Elder Roman called from the house telling us that when we were done we need to get back to the house as soon as possible.  It turns out, moments before President Ruiz had called him and told him that he has changes and that we all need to get down to San Pedro by 5:00pm. Several scrambling moments later we managed to catch a ride down and get to the house of the zone leaders.  I guess mormon standard time applies here as well because the ride didn't end up getting there until about 7:30 or so.
    And so without further adieu I give you Elder Sevilla as the new member of the icy mountains family. He is a pretty cool guy from Honduras, and was actually companions with Elder Cook from my group just before coming here.
   On Friday we had interviews with president which is always a fun little activity and it is always fun to watch those who get nervous, be nervous as they wait for their turn. One of the cool parts of interviews is the lessons that accompany them. As we wait our turn, the leaders put on a kind of workshop.  I don't know if it is my, but as I am learning any kind of lesson in a workshop, devotional, district meeting or other, I seem to always re-think the lesson and put them into terms of football. And that is Football and not Fútbol.  It always makes things a little clearer and a little simpler to understand. My interview with President was cool, we talked about our area and about the people we are teaching and all that accompany them. He said that I will for sure have at least have one more change over here in Maclen, Rio Blanco and maybe even more in one of the new areas nearby that will be opening up soon. I think I would be pretty cool to have a good chunk of my mission up here in the mountains I like it here.
          I like it here so much that I am even willing to do crazy thinks like get up at 4:30 to get over to the church and set up a wedding for some 400 people in attendance (wow now that is a lot of references). We did everything from setting up the chairs, the tent, climb trees for the anchor lines, decorations, and even blowing up some 200 balloons. You could say it was a little bit of a crazy morning. But the wedding went awesome and we had the chance to talk to a lot of people and lighten the burdens of many others.  They had seven wedding cakes so it was worth it.
         And to put a cherry on the top of the week Elder Garcia told me that the papers for some of the people we were teaching in my last area had gone through and they can finally be married and baptised! The luck with the papers didn't stop there as the following day at church we were talking to another family that we are teaching and the papers for them went through as well and so they to can finally be married and Baptised.
        It was a wonderful week!  Sorry I don't have any pictures, I just hope that the package with the new camera will get here sooner or later..missing out on a lot of opportunities for photos.