Changes!!!

Masaáchol?

So here is the big news for the week.... I had changes! My last day in Catarina I was saying goodbye to some of the members and that was kinda sad because I was close to a lot of them as I spent 4 months in that area. Although it was sad I was feeling pretty ready to leave and to get to know more of Guatemala and to meet new people as well. I left my first area of Catarina and went to the change meeting in Retalhuleu where we went to figure out our new areas and our new companions as well. It was such a long meeting but... From 2 weeks ago we all took a test that would show President if we are ready to be trainers or the Senior companion in the companionship. At the change meeting it was like half the mission and President Ruiz announced and had the new Senior companions stand up. He starting calling the new ones and a few people stood up who had a little more time than me and then he called my name and I was kind of surprised. I looked and everyone was like what?? And they were all excited and I was excited too because that meant I did well enough on the test to be a Senior companion with only 5 months in my mission! I got to see my trainer, Elder Tzub at change meetings and that was cool and he was so excited for me and he actually guessed it too haha.

I figured out that my new area is in COATEPEQUE and my new companion is ELDER QUIB. My new companion has 20 months in his mission but I am the senior comp. so that is a little weird but he doesn't mind it haha. He is from Guatemala and is from the same area as Elder Tzub, in Coban. Elder Quib knew no Spanish before his mission as he spoke Kechi (not sure how to spell it, but it is a dialect in Spanish and it is so cool).  His Spanish is like a gringo but still really good. He is teaching me a few phrases in his native language which is way cool. I am happy to have him as my new companion and we are working well together and having a good time. It is crazy how in just like 5 days I have noticed the difference in my Spanish from not having an American comp! My companion is 24 years old and he can be pretty quiet but he is still pretty funny.

Our new house is really, really Spanish but it I kind of like it. It has 4 rooms that are connected by a small hallway and a door for out back where our pila is to wash things and where the bathroom is as well. We still take showers with freezing cold water but I’m pretty sure that the water here is even colder than Catarina because I am shivering every time... However, I really like my area so far and there is one area that is like the slums where the houses look like they are stacked on top of each other and it is cool to see but humbling at the same time. I will take more pictures to show you all.

We had a baptism on Saturday! It was of a guy who is 18 years old named Pablo. He is way cool and I feel like he is going to be an active member in the church because he loves this gospel so much. Our ward and church building is really small. There are about 70-80 active members in the ward but all the members are really nice and were really welcoming to the ward. They all made me feel at home which was really nice. Although it is really small I like it. We have 2 baptisms planned for the 21st of this month of 2 girls in their 20's and they are progressing a lot and really have the desire to come to church and to be baptized as well. 

In my zone we have like 36 missionaries which is a ton and I am finally in the same zone as Elder Heyrend who was my companion in the MTC so that is way cool and I will get to see him more often and I like all the people in my new zone as well but it was sad to say goodbye to the other missionaries in my other zone. I am way happy I will be speaking Spanish all the time though and that it will help my Spanish increase a lot as I will be more and more fluent in it as time goes on.

I will be getting more of a leg workout in this area as there are really steep streets that we need to walk up and man are they tiring! Here comes a better looking lower body! haha jk... but seriously. So ya I saw in one of the members houses that they were using the American flag as a shower curtain and I told the Hermana that I was sad to see that and how could she do that? I was joking though and she thought it was pretty funny though. She is old so I will cut her some slack haha.

The city of Coatepeque seems like it is bigger than Fort Collins but I am not too sure. It is massive compared to Catarina where I was so right now it is a little confusing to know where to go and where things are but with time that will all come to me. There is definitely more to do here in this city though and more local places to eat in!

This morning for P-day we went to a member’s house and did some service chopping firewood and I have not chopped much firewood in my life but I was actually doing pretty good and it is a lot of fun as well! I have some really nice blisters in my hands though that hurt a lot but that comes with the giving service. We then went over to a place called La Trinidad to eat lunch which is like a mini mall that they have here and met up with some other missionaries there. 

This week I have learned more about the sacred calling that we as missionaries have. I took more notice in that in the areas where we are, we are the only ones who can give people the opportunity to enter into the Kingdom of God and no one else and do that. That shows me how much we need to work to find those people who are waiting to hear the gospel and waiting to make these covenants with our Heavenly Father. However, if we do not do our part as missionaries then we are the ones at blame and that the sins of the people will fall upon our heads as the scriptures tell us. Alright.... LET’S GET TO WORK THEN!!! That just kinda scares me to make me work harder and to try to give it my all as well. God does 95% of the work, he only asks for us to do 5% of it. In reality that is not much but at the same time it seems like so much. Anyways, I love and miss you all!

Love,

Elder Kahl

Eating dinner at Fredy's house (investigator).

Saying goodbye to other missionaries. Elder Jolley (my zone leader far left) and Elder Wilden (the other one)

Saying goodbye the missionaries in my zone.

Saying goodbye to people in my area.

Having some ice cream with Elder Wight before I was transferred to a new area.

Saying goodbye to the Cardenas Family. My favorite family that was in Catarina!

Myself and Elder Ramos.

Elder Ramos and our tower of soda!

On our way to change meeting and this was our ride to it. In the back of a big truck!

Myself and Elder Wight.

Elder Tzub! My dad in the field! He finished his mission, this was his last day in the field. He will return home with honor!

The picture with the sisters are Hermana Cantey and Hermana Rosa. They were in the MTC with me and the American she is from Colorado as well.

Me and Elder Jolley.

My new house on the inside!

My comp and part of my area. We have an area that is like the slums.

We had a baptism! This is my companion, Elder Quib.

Me and Elder Choc. We put the same picture on our planners – Captain Moroni!

The flag picture is a U.S flag that a lady is using as a shower curtain in her house.

Changes..... tomorrow ;)

Whats up?

So the big news for right now is that this week we have transfers and tomorrow we will find out whether or not I will still be here in Catarina for another 6 weeks or if I will get a new area. Right now I am kinda fine with whatever will happen. I like it here in Catarina because it feels like home and I am becoming really close with the members and I know where everything is which makes it feel like home now. However, a change would be nice and to have a Latino companion to where I would be forced to speak Spanish for every moment. So I guess we'll find out what will happen. I will let you all know next week what's going down in the hood here!

Something funny and kinda disturbing that happened this week was one night we were contacting in an area and we met this nice lady who was about 30, who invited us in to sit down and talk to her. We were getting to know more about her and her family and how many people live with her in the house. We asked about her parents and all and then she kinda paused and looked at the floor. The lifted her hand and pointed just about where my feet were and where I was sitting, and she said that that was the spot where her dad was shot and where he died. She said that the bullet hole was still in the ground and sure enough there it was. My companion and I kinda looked at each other like, What??? so after she said that I was a little creeped out that I was sitting where a guy was shot and where he died. We had a good lesson with her even though she didn't accept the message. Just had to share that with you all!

Throughout the week there was a subject about the Gospel that really stuck out to me and that made me realize and appreciate more about the Plan that God has for us. I kept getting glimpses and realizing how much of a blessing it is to realize that I am sealed with my family and that we will have the opportunity to live together forever in God's presence. That is something that makes me smile every time I think of it. How grateful I am that we are under a sacred covenant that it gives me a reassuring feeling as well. It is always sad to see people that don't want to make the decisions to be able to live with their families forever. Who doesn't want that????? Just a shout out to my parents that thanks for getting sealed in the temple! Love you guys! :)

Another great blessing that I am seeing especially over that past few weeks and months is the gift of tongues in my mission. For those who don't know that the gift of tongues is a gift that God gives to us as missionaries in this sacred calling to learn the language faster in our missions to be able to fulfill the duties and responsibilities that we have to do during this time. I am seeing it because I remember when I was in high school and when I was taking Spanish class I was absolutely horrible. I would study and practice in school and at home but it was such a struggle for me and after 2 or 3 years of school I couldn't really remember any Spanish. However, here on the mission the language is coming so fast and that I am able to make full conversations will people, teach full lessons, and almost fulfill any task I need to do. I have seen the power in this gift and it is evidence to me that it is real and I know I have so much more to learn as I am nowhere near perfect but that it is something I have received through this calling as a missionary for the church. 

Last week on Tuesday we had a multi-zone conference in Coatepeque where we had a test about Preach My Gospel that would test our knowledge of how much we know and apply ourselves as missionaries. I thought I was done with tests for 2 years!!!! Guess not... we had a little over an hour to complete it and the purpose of the test is to show the President of the mission if we are ready to train a new missionary or to be the senior companion. I hope that I did a good enough job to prove to President that I am ready to take more responsibility.

Something marvelous happens during the week, something that I didn't think would happen in a while. IT RAINED!!!! One day this week the clouds were building all day and finally during the night it just started to pour on us pretty good. I couldn't believe it and was pretty excited when I saw it. But man is it hard to teach a lesson when the rain is pounding on the tin roofs and you're practically yelling. haha. We walked in the rain all night just because it felt so good and we were drenched in it. Ya all my clothes were wet but it was amazing. It got me really excited to see and be in the rainy season which should be starting pretty soon. 

As far as our investigators go, we are starting to drop a lot of them just because they are not really progressing and not doing anything to progress in the gospel so that means that we have to stop visiting them and find new people who are ready to receive our message, progress in the Gospel, and those who want to make covenants with the Lord. We have been starting to find new people to teach and ya there are a few people who are starting to progress but the hardest obstacle that we have seen is that almost none are coming to church and that is a big problem. We are continuing to teach the importance of coming to church but they all don't seem confident, or say yes but have things come up, etc. It is a little frustrating to hear and have happen but we are trying to stay persistent and finding those who are ready because God has prepared specific people who are just waiting to hear our message and to make commitments as well. That is where faith and perseverance comes in and trusting in the Lord. 

I love this mission and trying to do the best I can and I have realized that when we don't want to do certain things that the Lord has asked us to do, that in the long run they will bless us. I love you and miss you all. Stay Sweet!

Love,

    Elder Kahl

This is an iguana at a member's house that I got to hold, her name is Mormona! And no, I didn't try to eat her! Haha!

I also got to hold a parrot!

The picture of the water in the "pila" is what every single house has and that is where they wash dishes, cut vegetables, prepare food a lot, and they have to pull the water out of a well to get it in there.

Us just chilling on a hammock as we were waiting for lunch!

The picture of us frowning is because in that spot it felt like Fall back home so were were sad.

The one of my arm. LOOK HOW TAN I AM GETTING! (FYI – Chandler doesn’t tan well so he is pretty proud of having a good tan line!).

The one with the me and the trees in the background is in a place called Bejucal (the J is silent).

These two are photos of outside of our house. The one that looks like a prison is our house facing the front door, we are on the bottom floor. The other one pretty much outside our house facing the main street.

Temple, Baptism, Iguana, and more: The Life in Guatemala

Hey Everyone!

Well well well.... where do I start? Well looks like I will start with this... that I got the opportunity to baptize a man on Saturday named Juanito! He is 76 years old and used to be a Jehovah Witness. I have been teaching him for about 3 months now and we have had to have a lot of patience with him because at first he was almost rejecting everything we were saying and did not seem possible at all to baptize, however, we persevered with him and over the 3 months I got to see his conversion into the gospel. He slowly gained a testimony about The Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, and about the Church. However there is something I noticed in his conversion that I feel like happens a lot. That is that once people come to know and really feel that The Book of Mormon is a true book from God then everything in the Gospel is easier to accept and easier to gain a testimony of. He rejected it for a while but once he finally tried it out and prayed he gained his own personal testimony of it. I think that Satan works really hard on people to not believe in the Book of Mormon because really once they know that it is true then they will know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the true church on the earth. After Juanito knew it was true he believed everything after that about the church when we were expecting him to have a lot of doubts but he didn't. That is why it is so important for people to find out for themselves if it is true. 

We were going to have the Bishop baptize Juanito but he was sick and had to go the hospital in San Marcos so it ended up that I baptized him which I was happy to and it was awesome seeing him become completely clean of all the sins that he has made in the past!

Also last Tuesday we got the opportunity to go up to Xela (which is pronounced as Sheila) to go to the temple! Oh man it was such a great trip as we left at 4:30 in the morning to meet up with the rest of our zone then we stopped to pick up other zones as well and it was about a 3 hour bus ride up there. Xela is up in the mountains so driving up there in the morning, all of us on the bus were actually shivering because it was so dang cold. The Guatemalans in Xela all were bundled up wearing big coats and hats but it was such a nice change from being super hot all the time. I got to see a lot of other missionaries from the mission who I haven’t seen in a while so that was really nice as well. The temple was a lot of fun though and I didn't want to leave when I was there. 

The other day when we were in Tecun there is something called La Feria which is like a big festival that they are having there for 2 weeks. It was such an easy opportunity to try something that we have been wanting to eat for a while... Iguana! We went to a place where they were selling food and we found a stand that had iguana with a sauce. We bought a piece of it to try and the iguana still had its scales and everything! It looked really nasty at first and we were hesitant to actually try it out. However we peeled back the scales and we ate it at the same time and it actually tasted pretty dang good! It was like a mixture of chicken and fish, well that is at least what the tail tastes like because that is the part I ate. If someone was to offer me iguana I would say, "Ya! Give me some of that iguana!" Now I can officially say that I had tried iguana!

Another sunday there was a member who had something in her arms that was moving around and couldn't figure out what it was, I walked up to her and I found out that she had a squirrel with her in church. Only in Guatemala would you find someone come to church with a squirrel. I do have to admit though that it was kinda cute. I was a little surprised.  Now I always asked the family if they are going to bring their squirrel to church again. One day we were teaching by their house and we decided to go and play with the squirrel for a few minutes. We got there and the squirrel hopped right on me and was crawling all over me. It was actually pretty fun and I kinda want one as a pet now. So watch out mom and dad! 

In order to make things less awkward when we’re trying to contact someone in the street is that we walk up to them and we ask them if they know where someone lives in that area. But, the name that we say is always a name that we make up so obviously there is no one that lives there with that name. My comp always does it and everyone thinks for a while but after they are done thinking we contact them and see if they are interested in hearing about our message. However, one night there was a few people in the street and my comp wanted to talk to them so he walked up and asked if they knew where the family Gonzalez lives. They were thinking for a minute but didn't know then my comp says that the wife's name is Amparo. Thinking that it was just a random name that no one would have, he was mistaken. They all were like oh! She lives just a few houses down in that direction and knew exactly where she lived. I stopped for a minute and actually started to laugh because that has never happened before and the look on my companions face was so funny because he couldn't believe it either. After we were done talking to the people I just busted up laughing and my comp was so embarrassed at the moment. So then we obviously had to go contact the house that she was at. We walked down the street and knocked on the door but no one answered. So we asked the neighbors if she lived there and if she was home. They said she did live there but the lady was actually walking down the street towards her house. My companion and I looked at each other then we thanked the person and walked away in the opposite direction. That moment was kinda awkward but we decided that we were going to go back to contact her. So the next day we went back to her house and knocked on the door but no one answered so we asked the neighbor again if she was home and they immediately went to go get her. We had no idea what to do because she would ask what are these 2 white guys doing looking for me and how do they know my name? Amparo Gonzalez came to the door and she immediately invited us in to her house. She pulled up some chairs and she was just the sweetest lady ever! We talked to her, her daughter, and her granddaughter. My companion just had to tell them the story because the lady asked and they found it kind of funny as well. Turns out though that they talked to the missionaries about 10 years ago and remember them quite well. Amparo said that we must have been there for a reason and not just for coincidence. That got me really excited and they are seeming like really positive people to teach, but we will find out. Maybe my comp said her name as he was prompted by the Holy Ghost because we wouldn't have found her any other way. 

Thank you all for your support back home but just to let you all know that I am doing good here in Guatemala! Right now not having any problems just trying to do the best I can and I hope you are all trying to be closer to your Savior Jesus Christ as well. Love you and miss you all! Stay Sweet!

Love,

   Elder Kahl

BAPTISM!!!!!! I got to baptize Juanito who is 76 years old!

I got to play with a pet squirrel that a member has! Fun right!?

WE went to the TEMPLE!!!! The temple was so cool, oh by the way the little short guy who is standing with me and my companion in front of the temple is my mission president, little right? But he is so powerful too!

The guy who is hugging me is my zone leader Elder Vences, me and him are really close and are such good friends! He is the one that I am going to visit in Texas after my mission!

This is the other Elder Call from Colorado!

More of the temple in Xela! These two guys were in my district in the MTC with me and we are all good friends! The bigger one is Elder Pope and the redhead one is Elder Hall

On the bus going to the temple.

Me trying out Iguana! Ya it was actually pretty good!

We went to a big river today and these were the pictures from it!

Me and Elder Ramos

A members house.

A typical road we walk down.