Let me in the booth and I'll fry you like frijoles and roast you like a platano

just sayin... 😋👌 

[Editor's note: we hoped that somewhere during this email we'd come to understand the title, but we didn't. Just sayin...]

haha HELLO!!!!!!!!! How are y'all? I am flippin' fantastic:) not a ton happened this past week, just a whole lot of personal stuph. 

I want to share a cool story with you guys.

One time there was this boy, a young teenager, that lived in the same world that we do now, just about 100 years ago. He lived on a farm and worked his booty off to keep things around the farm and the house running with his family. His family was also very religious and went to church regularly. But there was something that this boy noticed in the churches, that they were all claiming that they had the correct and true church as well as when he saw that the pastors were fighting one with another. This boy didn't really like this but, he had a very important question. "Which of these churches is the true church, and how can I save my soul?" he went around to the different pastors asking this question and always received the answer that they had the true church and that he needed to be baptized in their church to save his soul. So much confusion was going through his head at this time. So he also searched the Bible, and read in James 1:5 " Y si alguno de vosotros tiene falta de sabiduría, pídala a Dios, quien de a todos abundamente y sin reproche, y le será dada." [If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.] 

He felt this passage in "every fiber" of his body, and knew what he had to do to find his answer. 

So one beautiful morning he left the house early and walked deep into the woods where he could put all of his focus on this moment. He had picked a spot in the woods before and he returned to that exact spot. He knelt down, and prayed. 

"Vi une columna de luz, más brillante que el sol, directamente arriba de mi cabeza; y esta luz gradualmente descendió hasta descansar sobre mí. Al reposar sobre mí la luz, vi en el aire arriba de mí a dos personajes, cuyo fulgor y gloria no admiten descripción. Uno de ellos me habló llamando me por mi nombre, y dijo, señalando al otro: Éste es mi Hijo amado: ¡Escúchalo!" 

[I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!]

At that moment, this young teenager received his answer. That none of these churches are correct because when Jesus was crucified and his disciples were killed, there was something that was taken from the earth, called the Priesthood, God's authority to perform His ordinances and work. But also, this young teenager was being prepared to help Jesus Christ restore his church on the earth again on the earth as well as the power of the priesthood. 

This young teenager is named Joseph Smith. Yes, I testify that Joseph Smith served as a prophet of God to restore the true church of Jesus Christ again in this world as well as the power of the Priesthood.

I am a representative of Jesus Christ and I testify that he lives and loves EVERY single one of us. I also testify that Joseph Smith was used as an instrument in God's hands to do this work. 

As a Member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints as well as a missionary I know without a single doubt in my mind that that young teenager grew up and served the rest of his life as a servant of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

Yes, we talk about Joseph Smith a whole bunch, because through him we have been given the truth again on the earth, yet, we do not adore (worship) him. We adore and praise and pray to our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ because without them, we are nothing:) 

I love and serve my Savior with all of  my heart and with all of my strength. I know that this church is true and I plead that you will not judge this email nor this story on my aweful spelling haha. 

Love you guys! 

pics! Hector is a menos [less] active that drives a Tuktuk, he is really dope. the view of the volcano, a neat picture of one of the catholic churches by our house, papaya (#powerful if you know what I mean HAHAHA) and a freaking huge avocado haha👍

Baptisms and Crazy Pineapples

hey y'all! 

This week was great! we had 4 baptizzzzzmmmmmsssss!!!!! GET WET!!! hahahahahaha

Hermano Fidelino, Ashli, Angi, and Daniel (Andres) haha they all have A names, were baptized this Saturday and it was awesome! Goodness that family is super cool. This is the story of the man that called us over when he was drunk and now he is on the path to an eternal family. He completely changed his life around to follow our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

My week this past week has had a big focus on the atonement. It is a topic that I know very personally yet I will never stop learning about it. There was a man that lived a PERFECT life. perfect. Sinless. And he gave everything that he had, and everything that had meaning to him. His life. SO that we could find a happiness beyond drinking. Beyond drugs. Beyond what the world calls "love" these days. A happiness that has the potential to be ETERNAL. Meaning that it will NEVER end. Ever. This man suffered every pain, worry, sin, heartbreak, hunger, thirst, EVERYTHING that brings us any sort of pain, just because he loves us. Because he had an eternal perspective. He was living with a view that was beyond the weekend, beyond the new-years party, beyond this life. He thought about us. There is a never-ending love that our Savior has for each one of us and i am soooooooooooo grateful for that. It hurts when I think about it but I am thankful for everything that he went through. Every pain, that he put himself through for me. he did it for you and for me. We should never take it for granted. 

I made a backpack with an hermana haha. well I made the design and picked the material and her company made it :p photos from the baptism! haha Daniel had a cast on so they wrapped it in a plastic bag, that brought back PIC-Line memories haha. We also went with them Sunday after church and he made us Piñas Locas which means "Crazy pineapples" haha they were sooooo good!!!!!! and spicy haha

Some pigs and yours truly

Hey guys! 

This last week was good. So we had put a fixed date to baptize Hermana Angela finally for this Sunday and Saturday night she told us that she wasn't ready again. My heart was broken and I wanted to cry. But I got over it. She will be baptized soon, I know it! 

We have Hermano Fidelino and his family are still on date for this Saturday, the 8th. and thats going to be really cool!!!!!

Then we have a couple that is pregnant right now on date for the 15th and they are really cool, and pretty young. 

Then we are teaching an Hermana named Flor. She is a cook for one of the hermanas in our ward and we started talking one day after lunch and she was really interested in the church and now she is at the point of putting her baptism date! its so cool. 

This missionary stuff is pretty neat:) hahaha

I gotta run haha sorry for the tiny email! I will send more next week!!!!! 

Brigham, congrats on your call! I am a little jealous that you got my dads mission haha go get ém!!!!

Alexa, CONGRATS ON YOUR CALL!! THATS AMAZING!!!!! 

Picts: hehe, some pigs, and yours truly😋

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Eat, Drink, And be Merry! For tomorrow we Fast!

Hahahaha I thought of that the other day and laughed for a good five minutes. But don't get me wrong! I like fasting hahaha. 

How are y'all?!?!?!?!?! because I am great! Real happy, ¡ANDO TODO JAPI! hehe

So this week went pretty good:) We have the Family of the hermano that we found drunk Fidelino, are on a set date for the 8th of july for their baptisms. And we have three very strong maybe's for this Saturday, so we will see haha. 

So that's mostly why I have had a bomb week :) 

real quick, so today we were in REU and I was looking for a store that sells "tipica" stuff like the local cultural stuff to show my comp. And we found ourselves on a not good street.  we stopped in this bar place to ask some ladies if they knew where the store was. They gave me directions, I said thanks then we were walking away. I heard SHHHHH, so I turned around because I thought she was going to say something important like " oh you actually have to go here", nope. She gave me this nasty look and said some super inappropriate things. I said "YIKES" turned and we left. haha I honestly felt offended, that was the first time that that has ever happened. Gross, snakes. 

So yesterday, I was on the phone talking to our District leader and walking out off the bathroom, haha i might have been on the phone in the bathroom with our DL, but who cares😂. Anyway, I was walking passed our sink when I saw the BIGGEST FREAKING SPIDER EVER!!!🕷 It was honestly as big as my hand with fingers spread. HUGE. and now its dead, but bummer that we didn't have anything to light it on fire with...

I can't think of much else that happened this past week... 

¡Happy aniversario a mis Papás! 9 whole years haha. 

Here are some pics: One of the kitchen styles that people have here, watermelon, breakfast that we had, its just beans. And a word that means "newly-wed" in Spanish then has a reference to handcuffed hahaha

Indiana Jones and the PIT OF SNAKES!!!

YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! What is up my hommmmmies?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

This week was pretty freaking awesome. Last week i wrote about a drunk guy that we found and that wanted to change his life and all that jazz, well we are doing it!!!!! We had a lesson with him Thursday night of this past week and we put a fecha (date for his baptism) the 8th of July!!! Also, he will be baptized with three of his kids. WHAAAAA!!!!! I know, milagros. He attended a baptism that some other elders had last saturday and church sunday. So thats pretty aweosme. 

This last week we had a few milagros and that was a big on of them. But We were also able to put a fecha with hermana Angela!!!!! She said no sooooooooo many times ahhhh haha. And she said YES!!!!!!!!! The deal is that if she recieves her answer through reading, prayer and church, she will be baptized this upcoming Saturday! GOSH this place is great haha. We had a while where I felt like we weren´t having any success what-so-ever, and things just picked back up and know we are running everywhere haha. 

My comp. Elder Lopez is doing great! A little awkward haha but really cool. hahaha. 

So we were moved into another district this past week. We were in district San Felipe and now we are in district San Sabastian (Sanse) and our district leader is Elder Serr and he is pretty awesome, we also have our zone leaders in our district and the hermana leaders haha. Its an awesome district. 

So, we were in an earthquake this last week. That was pretty crazy. I was dead asleep and I woke up to what I thought was a train passing (super weird) and then I felt like the house was put in a blender that was shaking us like a chocolate milk bottle where all the chocolate is at the bottom haha. then it stopped, and I went back to bed. I didn't get up, I just laid there with my hands behind my head as if I was chillin' in a hammock haha. 

Holy COW there are so many snakes here its CRAZY!!!!! and I am not just talking slithering long split tongued ground-crawling ones. I mean, too much make-up, weird fitting clothes, too much perfume wearing snakes. hahaha. Gross. Girls are.... icky haha. ¡NO ME TOCES! DON'T TOUCH ME!!! Gosh there are so many here. And its worse when we are in intercambios and I am with another gringo, they "slither" out of their homes just to get a look and SHHHHHHH the handsome Representatives of JESUS CHRIST. Don't worry mom. I know, when Jesus was walking through the street, the Woman had the faith to be healed by touching his garment, But I ain't lettin' nobody touch me. haha. 

This week was great and this week como tomorrow is going to be even better:) We have a lesson tonight with Angela to see whats up and we are going to share some videos:) I love videos. 

Challenge for the week. Smile. Because you have the gospel in your life. Because you have a savior that gave his life so that you could be eternally happy. Because you are beautiful or handsome. Because that one Elder Darling said so. Smile, and enjoy the things that you have. 

I love you all! Be yourself and smile and laugh. 

Here are some pics :) I made a little wallet in my agenda.A kitchen of a member. some roses that smelled so AWESOME! and a breakfast that a member brought us haha, empenadas. 

psych, turns out that ALL of my pictures just got deleted from my camera. I am going to cry now... you know what!? I am not going to cry. I am going to smile. Because I have the memories and Now I have more space for more:) 

Love you!😊👍

Bolo Put Me in Tears

Hi. 

Bolo means drunk by the way. 

This week was full of little (mercles) 😂👌 inside family joke haha. But really though. It was amazing. And Sunday night wrapped it all up. 

Sunday, we went to church. Then lunch. Then a visit. Then another visit. Then It was about time for dinner. So we were about in the top of our area and we had to walk to the middle of our area for dinner (our area is SUPEER long). So we started walking. We were passing a group of three drunk guys. "please dont call us I thought". One of them called us over. "Just keep walking......." no. "no, talk to him". I felt it and later I found out that my comp felt it too. So we turned and shook hands with the three. Then we started talking to the one that called us over. Oh my goodness. Had we kept walking, honeslty I dont know what would have happened to this man. His name is Fidelino Garcia. Yep, he was wasted. But he was serious. He began to tall us his story, that his wife kicked him out and doesnt want him and his parents tampoco (neither). That he is "lost" and that he know that we can help him. That we are his "angels" that god sent that night to help him change his life. That he is going to do everything that he can to change his life and that He is going to tell his wife that "WE are going to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints!" haha. The spirit was actually really strong during this whole time he started to cry and I started to cry. Anyway, we put a date to visit him with his family, I gave that man a hug (he had no shirt on but who cares). It was amazing. 

Today is P-DAY!!!! and this morning we got a phone call. It was his brother in law. Turnes out that Last night he called his brother and told him everything but his brother then called us to varify it all haha. He was shocked and excited. His brother in law is a member that lives like an hour away but he is going to visit him withnus this thursday at 7 and support and help him through out this whole conversion. #amazing

So another little thing that happened was that our District Leader told us that we had a lunch anf meeting with the Prez at his house for alll the Newbies and the Trainers this last friday. So we went. We knocked on the door and Prez answered in his shirts and t-shirt and no socks about to leave to play tennis haha. nope, we have lunch with him at his house this friday. We had cancled our lunch for the day so Prez hgave us a BUTT-LOAD of money to go to McDonalds haha and we still didnt spend it all. So that was pretty fun.

Over all good week:)

here are some pictures:)

CORN POPS!!!!!!!! Found a SHREK mask! haha #NOsnakes, went to McDonalds with money from Prez. and I got a hair cut and was taking selfies with the timer haha

Hi (Almost 5 months, but who's counting??)

Hellloooooooooo. How are ya? this week went by fast and I mean for for my comp and I which is really good, because my first few weeks went by soooooooooooooooooooooooo slllllllloooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. haha but we are just flying through time. 

We received news that we cant go to the temple during our missions. like at any time now, so thats a HUGE bummer, because I LOVE the temple. sucks. But it was made a rule for a reason...and I trust the leaders of the church. 

This week was a good one:) we are working hard as nuevos in our area and we are making progress slowly yet we are having success. We are really close with two baptisms, one is out of town right now and the other one is going like this,

Hma Angela. She is married to a returned missionary. She grew up catholic. When I first met her she gave me a cold shoulder and i was like "okayyyyyy" haha but she has opened up a ton! and she is really positive and learning a lot. The spirit is super strong everytime that we are with them. We had a lesson yesterday and by the end this was the commitment that I left for her haha. I gave her three folletos, Restauración, plan de salvación, y evangelio de JesuCristo. I said, we are going to come back in four days. You are going to read one folleto each day and pray to know if its true each night. from lesson 1 to lesson 3. and we are going to call every night to see if you read:) haha so thats happening. and then we gon baptiz hrrr. haha  But everything is going good:) 

Oh! haha I am talking to my mom right now too and I just remembered that we have an investigator named Gustavo that has dreads and is a fan of the MJ if ya know what I mean. But he is really cool and has a lot of REALLY deep thought about God and the world haha.  Not much else is happening.

Everything is BRILLANDO here in BRILLANTES and I'm happy. So be happy, and dance a little bit. Enjoy the life you have because here, people don't have hardly anything. But they almost always have a smile. Love y'all! talk to you later!​

Picts: the money is what I was left with at the end of this last month, 3 quetzales... like 25 cents. we did intercambios and I was with Gringo elder McGuire for the day. my house from my bed haha. Dinner with Juan Sabastian, yeah, we drink coke. Prez says that it actually helps us to kill parasitos haha. me cooking in one of the nicest houses in our area that belongs to a member. We are teaching her Cook haha the short one behind me. and mini golf from today 
p.s. I take silly pictures seriously, learned from my mom:)