Elder Chandler Kahl - Guatemala Retalhuleu Mission

Buenas!

I can´t believe that tomorrow I will be hitting my 6 month mark in my mission! My mission is 1/4 of the way done but it feels like I am just beginning it. Everything for me and my companion are good. I got the opportunity to baptize someone on Saturday and her name is Roxana. She is 28 years old and she is way awesome and was really excited for her baptism as well. It was hard to talk to the mom though because she is a little bit crazy because she wants nothing to do with us but is fine with her daughter being baptized. Roxana is a little special but really had the desire to be baptized. The baptism was really late notice to tell the members so we tried to invite them but none could come. So what we did was we invited the missionaries and we had 12 of us there for it, so that was pretty cool and she liked meeting all the missionaries.

This week we were trying to find new people to teach and we came to a house that had a family and a joven. This joven has a lot of energy and knows a lot about the Bible. He has been to other churches and can read really well, as well. He wants to learn more about the Gospel and whenever we go over to his house to teach him he is prepared as he studied and has questions for us. This joven is grasping the concepts really well which I am surprised at for his age. HE IS 92 YEARS OLD. He is OLD, but man can this guy do it all! We are working hard with him to get him to accept to be baptized and I feel like if he will pray to know if these things are true that we are teaching him then he will know. I also really want us to baptize him because it might be a record for the oldest person baptized in this mission, haha. He is way cool though, reads without glasses, amazing right! He can hear perfectly fine as well and loves to talk about the things that we have for him. We had a lesson with him and his son about the Restoration again to overview it and we were on the topics of prophets and how they kept saying how there are no prophets today that times with prophets ended with Malaquies. It was so frustrating and we tried out hardest to explain but we testified and challenged them to pray. Then the son insisted that he will bring a pastor to talk to us the next time. HAHA ok! However, I will keep you guys updated!

We also found a girl who is 19 years old who loves talking about the gospel with us as well. She has so many questions for us and some of them are things that we don't have the answers to or don't know how to answer them. She is pretty smart and has prayed to know if the church is true but is still waiting for an answer and for the Holy Ghost to testify to her heart that they are true. We are always with her for a long time and because of all the doubts and questions she has but it’s pretty awesome she has a lot of questions and wants to know for a surety that the things are true.

Today for P-Day we all went to the beach to hang out as a zone. We played volleyball, football, buried a missionary in the sand, and all haha. It was a lot of fun but oh man it was so hot (as missionaries we are not allowed to go in the water)! Sorry mom, but I got pretty sunburned! I did put on sunscreen though twice but I guess it just wasn't enough! We left the beach though and when we were going back to Coatepeque there was a guy who hopped on the bus in a shirt and jeans and started to preach to us. Yep, he preached to a bus full of missionaries. He pulled out his Bible that was like in shreds and started reading out of it and praying and this was going on for like 20 minutes or so. I thought it was kinda funny that he thought it would be a good idea to preach to a bunch of Mormon Missionaries. Oh well though.

It’s MANGO SEASON! This time of year here in Guatemala is mango season where there are mangoes everywhere. Most of the trees here are mango trees and they are starting to ripen and oh man they are so good! Its kinda of funny how when mangoes ripen and get to like the perfect stage they just fall out of the trees. We will be walking or visiting someone and mangos will fall next to us and onto the roofs of houses, and when they hit the roofs oh man they are loud!

Everything here in our area is going good, but the hardest thing that is happening is trying to get our investigators to church on Sundays. Some commit but then they say they have other things that came up or they just don't come. It is pretty frustrating when they don't keep their word but we are working on them. We will be having another baptism this Saturday so I am looking forward to that!

It’s still hot as can be here but still working hard and trying my best! Keep me in your prayers because I need it!

Love you all and thanks for the support from every one of you! Stay Sweet!

Elder Kahl

I baptized a girl named Roxana who is 28.

The ceiling was so tiny at this house!

The two kids are siblings and are the kids of some members. The kids here love to have their picture taken!

This is a part of my area that is like the slums

We went to the beach today!

Elder Heyrend was my companion in the CCM in Guatemala City.

This is Elder Call

This is me and my companion, Elder Quib

6 months!

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