Uno Mi Cambio

Bueno, Bueno, Bueno,

So tomorrow is the last day in the change that we are having and we find out tomorrow if me or my companion has changes. We are thinking that he will because he has been here for almost 5 months, but we shall see. The last 6 weeks in this change has gone by so fast!

Last Saturday I got the great opportunity to baptize 2 people! They were the hermana Cony and Henry. It was so funny in the beginning with Cony because she was saying forever how she didn’t want to get baptized, but guess what? We baptized her :) She was super excited but really nervous as she was walking down into the font, and the water was actually pretty cold. She is like the tiniest thing ever and weighs not even 100 pounds. It was like baptizing a feather. Then the other baptism was of Henry. We were not too sure about him because he doesn't have a cell phone, lives really far away, and works a ton so we didn't get a chance to go to his house to teach him. He was invited to church by a member and came 3 times which was awesome. He is what I can a baptism of faith. He didn't know too much about the church but had the desire and knew that it was right and made the decision to be baptized. We had the number of his brother who we called and told his brother to tell Henry to come to the church at 10am on Saturday for his baptism. Then the zone leaders wanted to have the baptisms together in their building so we called again to have the brother tell Henry to meet us in the other building. But his brother I don't think told him or whatever because he didn't want to talk to us. We were thinking for about 2 days that we were not going to baptize Henry because plans got confused because the zone leaders said 1 hour before the baptisms that we needed to do them in our building. So we called all the members and told them the change of plans, we were rushing to get the keys to the building, fill the baptism font, bring Cony to the church, and everything else. So we started to fill the font and left to go get Cony, got to her house, then waited for her to get ready, we left her house to go to the church, and as we were walking up to the church we see 3 people. The bishop, a member (Maria), and Henry! We were not even expecting him to show up because of all the changes of plans and everything. He told us that he got the message from his brother to come to our church and not the one to go the other church for his baptism. That was a sure blessing. We all got our baptism clothes on and we had the baptismal service and it was small but pretty good! It was definitely a miracle that we had received!

The whole day Saturday we were baptizing and helping our district with their baptisms as well. One companionship had 2 weddings, right after 8 baptisms which was way awesome! It’s funny because half of the people were family of Cony that we baptized. You guys will also see the pictures of my awesome idea that I had to fill the baptism font when there wasn't enough water. We used a water tower, a big cone, a hose, and a chair. It was pretty dope!

You might remember the hermano Felipe that we have been teaching who is 92 years old. Right now he isn't progressing a whole lot because like 2 weeks ago he fell and hurt his leg and can't do anything and is really tired a lot. We have been trying to visit him and invite him to church and all but the family says that he can't leave the house. Then the next day after they said that we went back and they said that Felipe was out running errands. Those liars. We think the family doesn't want us to visit Felipe, but they are nice, however, Felipe likes talking to us and we are still trying to have him progress. So something funny that happened was that we were teaching the Word of Wisdom and talking to him about coffee and that it is bad for you. He looked at us and said that he has been drinking coffee since he was like 12 years old and he has had no side effects or nothing of it! Me and my companion looked at each other and were thinking HOW CAN WE TELL SOMEONE WHO IS 92 YEARS OLD AND HAS BEEN DRINKING COFFEE FOR 80 YEARS THAT IT IS BAD FOR HIS HEALTH. That was something I found kinda funny. We just told him that it was a commandment of God that we need to follow and all. haha.

This week President Ruiz said that our zone would have the chance to go a place named IRTRA to have lunch because our zone had the most people with interviews and baptism dates in the whole mission. It is a place in Retalhuleu near Xetulul where we went for Christmas. This place was so nice and the food was really good! We all got like steak, potatoes, and dessert. Of course they gave us tortillas to have with our meal as well which was no surprise haha. I love me some tortillas! I feel awkward eating food without tortillas now. Watch out mom, when I come home I need my tortillas with my food haha!

I am doing just great though this week and I am looking forward and trying to do my best here! I love you all and I’m so grateful for all the love and support that I have received from you all!

Love,

Elder Kahl

So this was my brilliant idea that I have to fill up the baptism font in the church. The water ran out and there

wasn't enough sufficient to baptize the people. There was a water tower outside so the zone leaders opened it up

and we had a hose but it couldn't attach to the spout. We didn't have any ideas to get the water into the font. So I

found a cone in the church and the water was pouring out from high up into the cone. We then attached the hose

to the bottom of the cone to make it the water run into the baptism font. It actually worked! My zone leaders

said it was a crazy idea but it worked haha we filled up the font just fine with it too.

The two baptisms that we had.  I got to baptize them both!

The girls name is Martha Consuelo Rodriguez (Cony) and she is 19 years old. 

The guy is named Henry Geovany and he is 21.

Me, Elder Perez and Elder Jorgensen.

Me, Elder Perez and Elder Quib.

These are the cards we handed out to people to invite them to come watch General Conference.

Little Caesars Pizza Hat!!!

Playing soccer at the church.

Playing soccer today at the church.

3 drunks I found passed out on the street (there are always drunks like this).

Eating corn on the cob.

Check out the tie that I bought here! Dope right???

Me, Elder Oporta and Elder Perez

Drunks. Craziness. Prophets

Cómo está cada uno de usted?

So for this week something really cool happened for us. I went on divisions with Elder Oporta, our district leader, to have an interview with the hermana Cony who we have been teaching for about 4 weeks now. We have been challenging her to be baptized on the 11th, this Saturday, but she has never accepted because says that it is too soon and she is not prepared and doesn't have the desire to be baptized. But with her saying all of this I never lost faith that she will be baptized on this day. We had the interview and the interview for her baptism took 2 hours! So long! They come back and they sit next to me and I look at Cony and asked her how it was and she asked me what I thought happened. I looked and her, got a grin and said, "You’re being baptized on the 11th aren't you?" She smiled and said yes! I got so excited and I knew that she would accept it! Now she is super excited for her baptism and keeps asking us about it and what she needs to do for it. She also always shows me how far in the Book of Mormon she is and was asking about serving a mission and everything! I am way pumped for her baptism this Saturday. Also at General Conference we had a good amount of investigators who came and after the sessions each one had a baptism interview to see if they would accept the dates. 2 other people accepted a date to be baptized and one of them is for this Saturday as well! He is a guy who has come to church twice and he will be baptized this Saturday with Cony. So I will keep you all updated on what will happen with those!

For General Conference over the weekend, unfortunately we did not get the chance to watch conference, only the Priesthood session. During the other sessions we were out in the streets inviting everyone to come in and to watch conference with us! We actually got a lot of people to come in and watch it right off the street which was pretty awesome and a couple of them accepted a date to be baptized. It’s crazy how many people are ready to hear the message we have and to accept the gospel who are right off the street that God has prepared. However, there are a ton of people who just do not want to hear our message or who are not interested. Get pumped people! The prophet is speaking to us!!!

For Sunday we actually got a bus and went to the most populated areas and went to talk to everyone, like 12 of us missionaries but with the bus idea not too many people came in and listened, we had more success walking around and talking to people. However for Saturday and Sunday, everyone here in Coatepeque went to the beach because I guess it is like a big tradition here to go the beach for these days. So in some parts there was literally no one! It looked like a ghost town in some parts and the only people who were out were all the drunks! And I have to say, that we encountered A LOT of drunks over the past 3 days! One of them came into the building and I was trying to get him to leave, and by the way, the drunk peed his pants too so that was gross and he kept trying to touch us so we kinda pushed him outside the gate and then closed the gate on him and he eventually left. That was interesting! I hate drunks. If they stop us I usually cut them off about their drinking which we really need to do for them to understand. I like it. haha. As a zone we had the most investigators who came to church out of all the zones in the mission! President said that we will be getting a special P-Day coming up soon for accomplishing that!

For the past week it has been called the Holy Week here, it was pretty interesting as there were people playing the marimba while 3 people were dancing, 1 guy, 1 girl (guy dressed up like a girl), and a guy who has a fake guy on his shoulder. They do it to celebrate Judah, which I have no idea why but its weird! Then for the whole week there were parades about Christ and his death (which doesn't make sense when all the churches say that Christ lives but only commemorate his death and not that he was resurrected). 

There was something called Pan de Judah (Bread of Judah) and this bread is huge! It is like the size of my face and everyone eats it and gives it to us, it’s pretty good but I was getting a little tired of it haha. I took some videos and a few pictures of the stuff but unfortunately I can't send any of the videos because they are all way too big.

Last Wednesday we had a multi-zone conference and it was pretty sweet. We took another test on Preach My Gospel which was easier than the last one and I feel decent about it. We also got to watch Remember the Titans, in english! Man I love that movie! President Ruiz is pretty awesome and I was a little surprised that he let the whole mission watch it, he is so cool. Then today for P-Day we all went to the stake center with our zone and the zone Tecun and we played basketball and volleyball there, it was actually a lot of fun and it was so nice to actually play basketball again. Then we had a water balloon fight and when that was done my zone leaders filled up the tub with water and dumped it all over me when I wasn't looking. It actually felt so nice because it was so hot out today!

I am so happy that I received my package from my family and it is pretty sweet! The night when I opened it I started to draw because inside was a sketchbook and a drawing kit thingy. I miss drawing. It was nice to do it again but hard to find time to do it. But I have the best parents ever!

This is the last week in the change and me and my companion have a feeling that he will be leaving this change because he has been here for a long time but we will see what will happen and if he will go or stay for one more change with me. We are working pretty good and getting along so that is a big plus as well. Still have to encourage him and get him motivated to go out and to work and to work hard as well. He is getting pretty homesick as his mission is winding down but we are still doing good.

The past week with inviting everyone about the conference I have been very grateful that we have a living prophet today who receives revelation from God and crazy to think that he has the opportunity to talk to God face to face just like the prophets of old! I know that Thomas S. Monson is called of God to be the prophet for the whole world and that we have the 12 apostles as well who are called to help direct the church as well. Sometimes it’s hard to explain to people that today we have prophets and apostles when a lot of people say that there are a lot or that today we don't have prophets as those times ended in the Bible. But, WE HAVE A LIVING PROPHET TODAY! I am so grateful as well to remember the resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ and that today he lives! Porque él Vive!

Love,

Elder Kahl

Happy Missionary! I got my package from my family!

Picking mangoes!

This is the banner we hung up on the street to tell people about General Conference.