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.  

Week #33: Pioneer Children (and Missionaries) sang as they walked, and walked, and walked...

The Waters of Mormon?

I continue to love life in the Maclen area.  I am very very sore from the amount of walking that we do up and down the mountains and hills and it definitely puts some wear and tear on these legs...but it makes for a good nights rest, knowing we have done all we can.
        Tuesday and Wednesday we had divisions with one of the zone leaders Elder Amundsen. My comp stayed down in san pedro while we took Elder Amundsen up to Rio Blanco.   Most of our time there was spent walking and trying to get interviews done for these people who are ready for baptism. However things didn't go as planned and when we talked to the father about the baptisms of his kids and wife he said no.  But it was a "flexible" no in that if they continue to learn and have a desire they can be baptised sometime in the near future. So we will be sure to pass by them frequently and to keep their spirits strong.
       The other man that we visited has been an investigator for nearly a year, knows just about all the doctrine and even defends the church from bolos trying to mooch off of the wifi. (wifi mooching is a big problem here). This guy has a testimony of the temple of the Book of Mormon...he just doesn't feel like he knows enough, or all that he needs to. He is probably one of the most pilas members in the branch Rio Blanco but he isn't even a member.  He even said that one day he will get baptised he just doesn't know when.
      Here in the mission there is a certain reputation that the mountains have. It is said that these people are cold and don't really want to listen to the gospel. But I don't think it's true. I honestly believe that the culture here is just a little bit different than that of the coast. In the coast the people will follow on faith alone and will go to church without an understanding of any bit of the doctrine. However here in the mountains the people remind me of those from the US they wait and think about what is placed before them until they are dead sure that this is the way. Its almost weird to think how culture can be so different when the areas are so close.
       On Thursday we took another trip to Chuicaval to visit some of the people we are teaching over there.  That trip never gets easier... 3h 31min 37sec walking up and down the mountain sides and we finally reach the house that we have over there... But this time there was the coolest little moment of pure Christlike love.  As we trekked the long trek, we were about three hours into the journey and we had just taken a little trail down one side of a mountain, all the way down to the bottom and were taking the trail back up. We were dead tried, each step heavier than the next.  Somehow we kept moving along the long winding path up and up until we reached a little clearing near the side of the main "road".  The clearing had been well kept and the people that lived nearby use it to play soccer in.  As we crossed the clearing and started to climb the little makeshift staircase path to the road, a little old mother whistled to get our attention as she sent her daughter running towards us with two perfectly cold gatorades. It really wasn't much but at that moment, it was just a beautiful thing! I can only imagine how bad we must have looked trudging across the clearing for her to send her daughter running to give us just a little bit of help, a little bit of hope, and a little bit of love.  That small act of kindness made the pain of a long hike go away for a few moments and we were extremely grateful. She truly was just what we needed, at just the moment we were in need. Someday I am going to go back to that little spot and I am going to do all I can to help her in anyway I can.
    This Pday was pretty cool! we went over to some waterfalls that are pretty close to here. When we got there was a little kinda pool resort place but none of us even looked at that we went straight on through,over to the waterfalls. I was one of the first to head over to the falls but ended up slipping into the river as I tried to jump one of the gaps and was soaked from the waist down.  At that point I was like...great...but made the best of it and propped my leg up in a way that everyone else could use it to get over to the waterfalls without getting wet. We took a lot of pictures and it was one of the cooler Pdays that we have had in a long while.

I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be here with the people of Guatemala. So grateful to be able to see know some amazing missionaries and serve alongside them.  The love, kindness and charity that they show to all they come in contact with is one of those things that can change the life of others.

It is a challenge sometimes being the only person in Rio Blanco that speaks English, but this only makes the language skills improve all the faster.

Love to all!

-Elder Wilcox

Week #32: Teaching the Plan of Salvation

Rio Blanco Zone with President and Sister Ruiz and Elder Adrian Ochoa

The ball has started rolling over here in the mountains, and things are going good. This week has been filled with alot of traveling and long bumpy hours in buses.
      The week has been a little bit scattered to say the least. we were only in our area Tuesday Wednesday, Sunday and part of Saturday.  This hurts our ability to go out and find new people in the week, which is one of my favorite parts in the misión. Every time we find or start talking to someone new it;s like jumping into a new book a life completely different than our own, with new tales, stories and adventures that are completely unique.
            However, on the bright side we did have the chance to listen Elder Adrian Ochoa on friday...in Reu in a conference.   Traveling to Reu is always an adventure...it is about a five and a half hour bus ride from my area - except it is split up in three difference bus rides so there is added time finding and waiting for the different buses.   I don't know any of you have seen the buses here - but we are not talking about luxury bus lines or even Greyhound.  They are crowded to the brim with people three to a seat and two to the little gap in the isle.   And the buses are not quite built for me, if all of you back home remember I am about 2 meters tall...or in other words to big to ride this ride (the buses).  When we were traveling to away games during football season in high school,  legroom in a normal bus with two people in the seat was a challenge.  Without a doubt my knees hitting the seat in front of me caused knew pain by the time I get home, it is a different level here, with no room and no personal space the whole ride.  But this just adds to the adventure and creates opportunities to talk to fellow bus riders and their animals as I bump, hit or stumble upon them.
          The week has been overall successful.  On tuesday we took a 40 min walk to a part in our área called sector Perez (I assume there must be a lot of Perez's there) and visited a family (not named Perez) we have been visiting for a good month or so now. When we arrived over at their little house on the top of a great big hill my comp started to help Carmelina, the mom, with the dishes she was washing and started to teach her.  In the mean time I walked over to a sunny little patch of grass that the kids were doing their homework in. As my comp taught their mom I pulled out the little puzzle of "el plan de salvacion"  that my parents sent me.   I made a game out of it all and told them all about the plan of salvation. When we finished the puzzle and explaining the different parts  I asked each of the little ones which of these 3 do you want to go to? (the sun , the moon, or the stars) they all said: the sun.( Why?) because its brighter and Jesus lives there!  I told them that we need to do a few things in order to get there.  Faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the holy ghost and to endure to the end.  After a little bit I asked Grace if she thinks she needs to be baptised. and she said she wants to be baptised on the 7th. Cool right! (would have been cooler if the other little ones didn't loose parts of the puzzle when I went to talk to their brother but kids will be kids right and the loss of the parts was worth it because Esben the brother said he wants to get baptised as well) five minutes later the mom came over interested in the puzzle as well and so I went through the whole thing again with her children helping along the way. She too accepted the 7th as a day for her to get baptised.
      Sunday was a pretty interesting day as well. In the morning we woke up early to head down to the house of this family and bring them to church.   The mom ended up not being able to come but Grace and Esben could and on the way down from their house we ran into Alejandro (their uncle and our investigator).  Church went great and the both of them loved it.  During the 3rd hour I got a call from one of the pilas members in the branch asking if we could do divisions and go visit someone with him real quick. Of course I said yes and so I went outside to go with him.  Little did I know that he was about to take me on a motorcycle ride to Manzanas, and after the ride the joven ended up not being there, but we left a note with him and came back.  This was the first time I had ever been on a motorcyle in my life (because Dadio doesn't approve of them, but I bet the mission dad, President Ruiz doesn't approve of them either, but it was for a good cause, in doing good) and going through all the twist and turns of the mountains made it all the better.
       This week has been great. and I love this área more and more as I come to know these members more and more.  Things are great and the misión life is good!   Tell everyone to right, and if they have any recipes to send them along.  Looking for something different we can make in our skillets.