Week #31: Transfers and a new Companion

It was a busy, exciting week. Tuesday morning at midday we found out for sure who would be having changes (transfers).  We more or less had already known this with Elder Owen having six months in the area and President telling me and Elder Rivas that this would be his last change, that the both of them would be having changes.  So when we were told that they would be having changes it didn't come as a shock to us even in the slightest.  As they both started to pack Elder Ramirez and I started to do the customary "changes - cleaning of the house" until they were done packing.  I am not saying we only clean the house once every six weeks, but if that is what you're thinking, you might be kind of right.   Once they were done packing, we had a few lessons and taught a little lad who cannot hear or speak.  As you can imagine it was an interesting lesson, but rewarding.

The next morning we continued to clean up and start to do a real deep clean of the house.  Half way through we received a call telling us that Elder Ramirez would be leaving as well.  With that news, all of the cleaning came to an abrupt halt and a mad dash began to get him all packed up.  As as I have said before, we live about one and a half hours by car outside of San Pedro and it is another four hours from San Pedro to Reu where the changes take place. There wasn't really a possibility of us making it to Reu in time, the dash was to make the last bus to San Pedro and with the five suitcases that he has, is was not an easy battle to get him packed and down there.  At about 3pm we found out the news about everyone's new companions and areas.  One sad note was there were some rumors that they would be closing the Rio Blanco area, this put me a little on edge but I am glad to dismiss these ugly rumors.
         
Thursday at the zone meeting I had my first real opportunity to get to know my new companions of the icy north. I was a little nervous at first but now I am excited with these changes. These Elders want to work and I guess the President knows that, as he charged us with the responsibility to prepare our areas for the opening of two new ramas (branches) in the next or following transfer (12 weeks).   This is fantastic and we are working like crazy to get some work done up here and change the reputation of the mountains.
         Friday we had lots of work to do to make up for the time we were away.  President Ruiz had issued a challenge for the week of changes, for every area to meet a goal of  20 new investigators. Here is was Friday and we really hadn't had a chance to work in the Maclen area, but we put the pedal to the metal and as a district found eight new investigators and have a good start to reaching our goal.  But this wasn't really the amazing part of the day. At night I called one of the familias that we have been teaching and sure enough we laid out all of the details to baptise an amazingly pilas little girl named Sophia. I honestly dont know if there is something about the Guatemalan kids or if it is simply this new generation but they are more hardworking and pilas than just about anyone I can think of around their age. There are literally 12 year old kids going to mission prep here and begging us to help them practice teaching. As you can imagine these youth are like a missionaries dream.
       
Saturday morning, we had some work to do but we started out by first going over to the church and starting the water to fill the baptismal font.  Then we went to some teaching appointments before the baptism.  When we got back to the church, about an hour before the baptism, to start putting in the warm water there seemed to be a problem... there wasn't any warm water...and it is very very cold in our area so the water was practically ice cold... the hot water wasn't working and we have not idea what we were going to do for these little girls who were about to get baptised (we also had a member baptism on the same day).  We couldn't do anything about the water at this point...but we could get them in and out as soon as possible and get them into something warm. With this is mind I ran home with my comp and grabbed the blankets off my bed and the two little heater fans that we have in the house and sprinted back over to the church.
       As the service started, we went through the prayer, songs, talks, - making it special for them, and then it came time for the baptism.  Sophia already knew the water was ice cold but she didn't care she just wanted to "do what God wants me to".  I explained to her a little of how we were going to this and then we took our first steps into the bone chilling water, shivering and teeth grinding all the way as we made our way into the middle of the font.  I then looked at her asked her if she was ready and with that baptised her.  Immediately after I hurried her out of the water and over to my companion who threw towels and blankets over her and then handed her over to her mom. A little bit later after we had both changed, she was saying it was "soooooooooo coooolllllddd",  but it was really cool because I still felt warm inside from the time I went under and through the entire process of getting out and drying off.   I know it was the Holy Ghost!
   
Sunday morning at church she was confirmed and given the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was such a special experience and I truly believe that these amazing people of Guatemala, amazing peole of Rio Blanco truly understand and love baptisms and the special time that it is in making this sacred covenant.

Oh yeah I almost forgot.  My new companion is Elder Quispe from Peru.  Joining us in the house and working in the Rio Blanco area is Elder Roman from the Dominican Republic and  Elder Flores from Honduras.  Dad you got your wish and I am surrounded by Latinos...my languages skill will surely benefit.

Week #30: Area attacks and Deadliest Warrior

   

If you click on the picture and enlarge it you can see him.

   Sorry about last week's email, I am okay and doing well. In some ways its weird to think that the only info you all get is from these weekly emails and so a week featuring 3 Nefi quote can be a tad rough to handle.   Anyways all is well!  Interviews with the mission president ended up being postponed until after changes which will be Wednesday of this week.   I am somewhat confident that there will be some changes here in Rio Blanco, as Elder Owen and Elder Rivas have been here for quite a while and the air is thick in anticipation for the changes.

     This week things are looking even brighter in Maclen branch.  We had the first area attack in all of Rio Blanco history. As you can imagine getting 14 other missionaries up to one of the most remote areas in the mission can be a little hard but after a little schmoozing we managed to get a bus driver to help us out and get all of the missionaries up and back down the icy mountain.  Somewhere in the blur of planning and transport the zone leaders forgot to inform the other people in the zone that it is really, really, cold up there and they didn't dress for the best as evidently shown by all of them huddled around two little heaters in our house while all of the finale details were being worked out. Over all the attack ended up being a very big success, with many contacts, many opportunities for service and many opportunities to just uplift people.
        I had the chance to go out with Elder Lambson twice this week, he is one of our zone leaders. He is the son (meaning Elder Portillo trained him) of Elder Portillo, my first zone leader, which now that I think of it is a little weird, but awesome none the less. I am glad to say that I learned a lot from him as I did from Elder Portillo. On Monday we stayed down in San Pedro because we were supposed to have interviews with the mission president but this isn't our area so we ended up doing divisions with the zone leaders and work in their area for the night.  Elder Lamson and I went and contacted a professor with the member who had given him as a reference. He had been talking to this member on the street and has had many interactions with mormons in his life. At one point he even played basketball with all of the missionaries on p-day. As we started the lesson we became a little worried, I knew right away that this was going to be a different kind of lesson, this guy is a professor after all. We started the lesson with a song and a prayer and then he asked us about the mount of transfiguration...we answered very carefully and then lead the lesson over to more basic doctrines. Sure we could talk about deep doctrine in all the lesson but without a foundation to build on trying to jump straight into the hard stuff is a little difficult. It is like math you don't start trying to do cal BC before learning how to add or in piano try to play beethoven before learning every good boy deserves fudge. As we went on with the lesson he became really interested even said that he holds the Book of Mormon which we gave him as holy and was practically jumping at the chance to come to church and hear the church hymns. Really cool guy and I hope he keeps progressing.
     Dogs are very fun in this area. I know that every week I say a little something about them but they seriously are a topic buzzing in the air up here.  No matter where we go we hear of a dog that is buen bravo. and wherever we go we end up finding these dogs that are in dead buen bravo. However this weeks dog story is brought to you by deadliest warrior. Its a little series I used to watch back in the day when I wasn't on the mission.  In these episodes they would tell the story of different kinds of warriors throughout history and put them up against each other in combat - like a ninja vs a navy seal. They would fight and see who would win.  Now I pose a question. Out of a dog and a pig who wins? Anyone?  Well the answer is pig. This week as I finished eating my lunch of caldo, I took the chicken bones and through them to the dog as is normal disposal procedure here. No sooner did I do this when a pig comes running up the hill, rams the dog and starts fighting the dog for the bones.  Over and over they fought and over and over the pig won.  Maybe it isnt the dogs that we have to look out for. Maybe just maybe its the pigs.

    I am so happy for the opportunity to serve the people in Guatemala.  I see the joy and happiness that the simple teaching of Jesus Christ brings into their lives and feel blessed that I could be a part of that.

cropped from the picture above

Week #29: Only a few words...

[Editor's note: We received a short archaic email from Elder Wilcox today...not sure if there is an activity they are doing in the zone or what.  I guess this happens from time to time.  There were a few pictures that he sent as well.  We believe all to be well...well except for that camera.]

This week time is cut a little short and of course it is one of those weeks that I have a lot to talk about. A lot has happened but I guess at this point I will pull a Third Nephi and say:

And there had many things transpired which, in the eyes of some, would be great and marvelous; nevertheless, they cannot all be written in this book; yea, this book cannot contain even a hundredth part of what was done among so many people...

Until next week, I love you!

P.S.  My camera was stolen.

Week #28: A New Year, El milagro de la cámara and Epic Battle of the Dogs

A missionary tradition as you reach your 6 month mark in the field.

New Years! It is crazy that it is 2015 right now and so starts another year of writing the wrong year on everything. Its been a pretty nice start to a new year so far. This week we stayed a little closer to home and started to get to know some of these amazing members over here in the Maclen branch. From day one I knew that they were pilas but now as I have gotten to know a few of them better and set up days to go out with them in this next week.   I really am starting to see the extent of their love for the Gospel.
     

This week has been filled with a service, most of which focused on shucking corn, over and over and over again.  But have no fear I am getting really good at it! I think with my time here I have shucked more corn than I and my family will ever eat in all of the history and for all future meals.  I may as well change my plans of attending BYU and go to Nebraska, I am sure I am now qualified to be a Cornhusker!! Right Dave Fokken!

Monday night we had the chance to go out with the President of the District and we always have good success on these nights. This night when we were teaching a lesson to a middle age man several little kiddos walked into the room with just a touch of curiosity in their faces as we continued to teach this man the face of this little girl continued to light up. After the lesson I asked her what her name and talked with her a bit and it turns out that this little girl is the little sister of a joven that has been coming to some of the activities at the church and is good friends with alot of the jovens in the branch.

Every Thursday night we have a giant branch family home evening with all of the members. This time we had in the home of some of the the member/investigators houses. These little get togethers are always sweet and have some good messages to them.  This time there was a little bit of a tragedy. as we were finishing out the night we were getting a ride back over to our house a good 40 mins away, but we had to stay out of the car and help push it up the hill at parts. Somehow during the time that we were out of the car my camera came loose and fell out. I didn't realize it until the following day and by then I had simply thought that I had misplaced it somewhere in the house. When Sunday came I searched all over for it and simply couldn't find it, I even went back down to the house Sunday night to see if it was down there and sadly it was not.  I had been reading in a talk earlier in the day that posed a question why are we so slow to ask our Heavenly Father for help...and so with that thought in mind as I said my nightly prayer I asked for help and as I awoke this morning to come down here to san pedro for pday... I pulled a shirt off of my shelf/dresser and poof my camera came flying out of thin air onto the ground. I know I had checked it several times the night before and that is was not there.  Now I know that this will not be featured in the Ensign as the Rio Blanca Camera Miracle of 2015, but I have to say for me, in that moment it was an answer to prayer.
    
Every Sunday night we eat with one of the members who everyone calls "mama chata".  She is probably one of the favorite people that the missionaries get to know.  She literally is our mother away from home.  That same sunday night that we were looking for my camera we ended up being running late with a lesson and so were late for dinner at mama chata's place.  We started to run to try and get their as fast a we could, however, there are a lot of dogs in the area and they love chasing missionaries, and really love chasing running missionaries.  As we ran we fought, we yelled and we were triumphant as we scared away the dogs in an epic battle to get to dinner. For you see there are many obstacles out there in the world, but there may not be a stronger driving force in the world than a missionary who wants dinner, especially with mama chata.
     
This week went by really fast and I don't think things are going to slow down anytime soon with this new year here every missionary and member has renewed energy and desire to get out and serve, work and make their lives better and become closer to God. Its a good time to be a missionary.

Week #27: 6 months in, Christmas and Chuicaval

So this week was a very long week or at least seems to have been going on for a very long time. This week we made 3 trips down to San Pedro which for those of you who don't know means a 4am alarm and an hour and a half ride down and another at some point in the day to come back up to Rio Blanco.  Needless to say nothing has changed and I still don't fit in the buses here.  Though through all of the bus trips and the hectic nature of the week, there were still a lot of golden moments.
        I don't know how many of you have seen Christmas celebrated in another country but I have to say the whole decorating the house thing back in The 'Fee seems kinda lame when compared to all of the explosions of Christmas night.  When the clock strikes midnight (and we do literally have a huge bell tower in Rio Blanco that sounds the hour) explosions shoot off everywhere, as people let their fireworks fly into the night.  Fireworks are cheap here so everyone can afford them and  everyone can buys a lot. In anticipation of this moment we climbed up to one of the higher points in the area and looked down the mountain at all of the fireworks going off near and into the distance.  As we looked at some of the clouds behind the mountain we could only see the explosions of light reflecting in the clouds making it seem as if there is some giant storm coming towards us from the distance.  Maybe it is just me as I have been so deprived for so long living in CA where these kinda of things are illegal. But I guess there is a reason as shortly after all was over we heard the sirens of the police and ambulances scurrying around to clean up the injured and put out the fires.
        The following morning Was Christmas day and it was a little bit weird and even more so to see the family when we Skyped home. It is probably just because this is the first Christmas I have celebrated away from home or that I am in Guatemala or because I am a missionary.   It is a little weird trying to remember and recreate some of the traditions that we do as a family here. For instance, on Tuesday we tried to do the whole baked goodies plate gifting thing, but well the very limited budget and even more limited supplies really made it turn out quite different, and very improvised. But together us four college age missionaries "magyvered"  a plate of baked goods (like if we can rig up and fix an electric shower heater every couple of weeks when it breaks - baked goods should be no problem).  I thought that it turned out pretty good and the people who received them really loved it.  However, of course, when my parents taunted me with their Christmas gift plate later on through Skype ours really did pail in comparison.
       On Christmas day one of the branches I am in had a huge Christmas celebration party that started shortly after we finished skyping on Christmas morning. They had everything; a huge carne asada meal for everyone, a DJ, a part for Christmas pictures with Santa (almost had to be Santa :o) and even little skits run by the Relief society and YM/YW and Elders Quorum and so on.  Some of these made me roll on the floor laughing. At the very end there was a giant gift exchange with every person from the Rama. It might have just been one of the best Christmas parties I've been to in all of my life. The members here really put some work into their activities and there is another coming up for New Years that I am sure will be just as fun.
       On Friday we had our first little bit of experience with bus problems or at least my first experience with them. We had our zone meeting on Friday because the buses don't work on Christmas(imagine that). But we found out after the zone meeting they don't always work on the day after Christmas either. This meant taking a bus to a fork in the road and waiting for a bus or car or anything to come by and give us a ride up the mountain...and so we waited...and waited...and got some ice cream...and waited for nearly 2 hours for something to come. Finally one of the members (ironically the person who drives the bus and wasn't working that day) passed by us in his car and with a quick double take and reverse gave us a ride to the top. We had plans to go over to Chuicaval our other rama which would have been the first time missionaries had been there in over 3 months. But it is a two hr walk and when we had finally gotten to the top of the mountain it was already starting to get dark and it is to dangerous to go in the night so we made plans for the next day.
      So I am going to skip the little talk about the pure up hill walk to the little rama up there and just get straight to the info. Up there in Chuicaval the area is more catholic than the Vatican and more spread apart then Maclen our other rama.  The church building is more of a meeting house no more than 18 by 25 of my own feet (yes I counted) and there are only 15 or so active members that go to church. I think it might be one of my favorite places on the planet earth. It is so beautiful and humbling.  I honestly cant believe I used to complain back home about being the only young man in a ward of some 200 people strong when here these people here without even one young man in the branch. It is such a beautiful place and more so than just this. It truly is the beginning of the gospel seed up there,  there is so much that can be done that I myself can do to help these members become stronger and even more to bring the gospel to so many who have never had the chance to hear it up there. I don't know how such a place could have been so neglected for so long when it has so much potential. I don't know what we are going to do to get over there more often but I do know that we for sure will be.
       Now this last little bit is kinda just for you dad. I remember you telling me just before I left as I winged my last talk in English that I soon wouldn't be able to do this in the mission.  As I would have to really prepare to give a good talk in Spanish, as it would take a while for your thoughts and feelings to be expressed naturally in Spanish. But I really think that those last min winged talks have prepared me for the mission. If you think about it missionaries normally give talks as the last minute all the time as they need to fill time or the speakers didn't come to Sacrament kind of talks.  This Sunday all of those years of preparation really came into hand (along with the language coming along nicely)  as we were asked to give talks as we walked into the Chuicaval Rama and then asked to bless and pass the sacrament with no time to prepare.
       I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and has a Happy New Year!  What a great time to stop and reflect on being a better person as Christ wants us to be.  I hope you can all make sharing the gospel both in word and deed a part of your New Year's Resolution!

Guate can be picturesque at times and at other times not so much...

Week #26: Shucking Corn, Christmas and 25%

Elder Rivas and Elder Wilcox

   
     Wow,  where has the time gone?!  I am reaching some what of a milestone in the mission soon because in three days 1/4 of my time serving a mission in Guatemala will be over.  Four those math challenged individuals that means that I will have been here for six months, and will have 18 months to go.  I am not quite sure how I feel about this.  As I look back through all of the photos, I have taken, all the people I have met, all the experiences I have had, in my time here, I honestly cannot understand how so much has happened in such a short amount of time.  At this point in the mission it is just a little weird to think about home, but so hard not to at a time like this. Its Christmas after all with all those memories of many years... how can we not? But I also think long and hard about my time here, how I can be a more consecrated missionary, how I can better serve all of those around me, how I can help, build up, teach and inspire at every moment, and make all I come in contact with hopefully better than before.
     This week has been all about getting to know the area, we have had a lot of meetings this week and were only in the area for a small fraction of the week, but we did what we could. On Tuesday, we had our yearly devotional with President Ruiz and discussed the goals and the logros of the year past and the year to come. I found out a lot about my area in that little meeting. I knew that my knew area was a hard area and an area of faith but when they showed the stats for the year in Rio Blanca it made me realize just how hard and just how much faith I am going to need to have in these next few months here. But I not discouraged, I see it as a motivation more than anything else.

    The members here are amazing and I know we can start to find a lot of new people if we just work through all of these pilas families that we have here. (there is more than 3x the amount of people in this rama than my last).
     Service up here is little bit different than it is down on the coast. On Wednesday I had my very first experience shucking corn in a barn. It's pretty cold up here and after shucking for a few hours in the cold my hands became pretty numb but that only helped me shuck faster.....I like the word shuck.

    There is one thing that happened this week that was different and new for me.  I don't know if any of you know what Cal is but its one of my least favorite things in the world now.  Apparently there is a rock here called Cal that when put into hot water it has a chemical reaction becomes acidic and putty like and creepy.  Apparently they use it for just about everything here from tamales to cleaner to cement.  One day we went to do a little service for one of the members and when we got to the house she asked if we could help her paint the ceiling of her house. I had no problem with that. I can easily touch the ceiling with my head there, so painting it really wasn't to much of a problem.  Then she gave us the "paint"(cal). I didn't know what it was at the time I just thought it was some home-maid "chapin" paint.  Little did I know I was painting with acid....and after the two hours was done and over it had turned my hand disgustingly dry nastily and cracked. Even today it still looks like my right had is that of a 50 year old man. Needless to say I now know what cal is and will never touch that stuff again in my life... lol I almost lost a hand and an eye.  [Editor's Note:  We also don't know what Cal is, if someone knows we would love to know... :-) ]
   
     We had a little Christmas celebration this week with the District Rio Blanco.  Familias were paired into groups and given specific scripture stories to act out. We missionaries were paired with our landlady and her family and were given the good Samaritan to act out. Long story short we rocked that performance but didn't sadly did not get any video.  We had fake blood mask donkeys(well me dressed up as one) and so much more we brought the house down, and it was fun creative way to teach and remember our Savior.
     
     I don't know if I told you this but I am living in the same house as Elder Owen who was in the same CCM group as me. One day after a meeting we were in the main plaza of San Pedro waiting for the bus after getting some "sheka pan" to eat (best bread in the world I'm going to put on some weight here from it). Elder Owen is about as canche as possible with his pure white skin and blonde hair. He and I paired together simply draws attention. As we were sitting there in the park people kept coming up to us simply because we are gringos and they haven't ever meet any before. By the time the bus had arrived at the station we  had seven lessons together with random people contacting US. I wish it could be like that everyday. So much easier that walking hours on end in order to get to simply one lesson.
       
     Well this area is huge, amazing, beautiful and supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. I don't know everything that The Lord has planned for me here, but I am going to work hard and enjoy every minute of it.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Week #25: Transfers to Rio Blanco, a bus ride, and it does get cold in Guatemala...

Our Christmas Tree with picture ornaments

Greetings family and friends!  

This week has been absolutely crazy... I dont really know where to begin so I guess ill just come out and say it...I am very cold.  Dad asks me every week what I learned this week, and there have been many learning opportunities but the biggest things I have learned is there are some cold parts in Guatemala.
       So every Tuesday we have a district meeting and the Tuesday before changes we have a little extension to the meeting to find out who in the zone has changes. Last Tuesday morning I woke up and we went over to this meeting and there I along with seven (7) other missionaries in the zone we found out that we would be having changes or transfers.   I took some time later that day to say my goodbyes to my first new little chapin families in Guatemala.

Wednesday morning the day of changes I awoke and I was cold...which I took as a sign that I would be going to the mountains of Guatemala.  Sure enough, after one of the longest change meetings in the history of change meetings because of the many changes, I found my new hope to be in the icy tundras on the other side of the mission in the area Maclen in the zone San Pedro.  As I am sure some of you have seen by now that there were a lot of missionaries leaving that meeting and it was a very sad day for a lot of reasons. But sure enough the mission continues and after saying goodbye to the fragments of my old zone I headed into the bus to make the 4 hour trek to the zone San Pedro.  Along the way we stopped at Burger King and used the debit card in hopes that my parents would understand that it was code for "yeah I had changes". I believe dad understood, and after the little pit stop we jumped back into the bus and rolled all the way up to San Pedro leaving our mission and passing through the Quetzaltenango mission to get to this particular part in the Retalhuleu mission.
           
When we got to San Pedro the zone leaders told us that my area is actually another hour and 30 minutes away still by bus and is one of, if not thee biggest area in the mission, but because it is so late you couldn't get a bus there so I had to stay the night there.  The next day we had a zone meeting and that morning I finally meet my new companion Elder Rivas who is from El Salvador and is my first latino companion in the mission.  He has 20 months in the mission and will probably be leaving the area after this change but from what I have seen once he get started on a days work he can do a lot.
          Apparently a lot in this area depends on the bus schedule. Elder Rivas and I live with 2 other Elders(Ramirez and Owen) in the frozen lands known as tierras frio.  Up here is one of the few places in Guatemala that actually gets snow but there are only a handful of buses that go up and down to our area every day.  For example today is Pday and in order to get down here we had to wake up at 4 to catch the 4:30am bus to get down to here by 6am and tonight we have to take the 7pm bus back and come back down again tomorrow morning at 4:30am for a christmas devotional with the President of the mission. Every trip on the bus takes an 1 1/2 hours and with my height you can imagine the knee problems I will have after my time here in this area.
           This area is absolutely amazing, beautiful beyond belief.  It is hard to capture what you see here in a photo because pictures simply don't do it any justice.   We have a branch up here so big that it would probably be a ward if it were possible, but there isn't a stake close enough so it falls under the district.  Everything is simply beautiful..i dont even know how to put it into words.
        Everything I know about the area is amazing and the people are super pilas. The only temporary downfall is that my california body that was acclimated to the hot humid jungle of Guatemala is not used to the cold and the clothes that I brought for the mission are not quite adequate to tackle the climate of this area,  Though a quick trip to the pacas in the area can fix that nice and quick.
         Birthday went great and happened ti fall on the first day I was in my new area I didn't really tell anyone but I made sure to celebrate the next day in the house with my new comps. we had a blast.

So starts a new chapter in the Retalhuleu Mission getting to know and serving the people of Rio Blanco!  I am excited to press forward to get to know the people and see how I can make a difference in their lives!

Rio Blanco land of the apples

View of my area from the ZL house in the city...the area is that which is up in the mountains under the clouds.

Now up the mountain in the area.