Some pictures

Elder Davis at Antigua

Me and Elder Davis at Santiago.

The following pictures (below) are of sugar fields in Bilbao. These fields are HUGE and all over the place. They let them grow for 6 months at a time, and then they harvest. The leaves on sugar are really sharp and can cut you, so to harvest them, they light the entire field on fire. All of the leaves burn off, leaving the sugar cane, and then the trucks come and pick it up. There is so much fire that all of the ash actually gets blown away in the sky, and then falls on the ground and houses and everything, and leaves inches of black stuff everywhere. Way interesting!

Below:In the middle of the fields they have all of these ancient mayan stones that you can just go and look at by yourself.

This one with Elder Davis...we cant figure it out. There are legends that the holes are where they used to cut off peoples heads to do sacrifices. Yikes.

The one I am sitting on is very famous and has an official archaelogical name. I dont know how well you can see it, but it is of a man giving a fruit to someone. The man has an extra jawbone, and the word for jawbone in hebrew is "Lehi."
There are also seven tribes surrounding him that are symbolized by certain things. Many scholars think that this is consistent with the seven tribes mentioned in the Book of Mormon (Jacob 1:13).

Traveling the mission

Late again! I guess you're getting used to all of this by now :) It's a treat to finally get to write you guys. I hope everything this week has gone great.

This week has been a pretty busy one as well. I dont know if you remember me ever talking about the training meetings we've had in the mission about Simplified Study? We had those this week. They started out as 3 or 4 day training meetings in the capital, and now President has reduced them to 1 day meetings in each area: capital, mountains, and coast. We got to travel around the mission again and gave workshops at each one. It was way great to see everyone.

I also got to do divisions in the coast on Monday. We went to a place called El Palmar and I went with Elders Crittenden and Hernandez. It was way tight. And so HOT! I dont know how they live down there. Also, me and Elder Davis on our way out stopped by these cool mayan rocks. Did I tell you about the Lehi stone? We got pictures next to them, out in the middle of sugar fields! It was way cool. I'll have to send those soon.

I havent seen a thunderstorm in a LONG time. I cant remember the last one in Guate. They arent very common.

Get excited for conference!!!

March 19th email

Whew! Finally getting this sent off. Sorry again for the lateness! Im feeling a little under the weather today (slight fever, headache, cold), so if my thoughts seem a little misjumbled or something, now you know why :)

This week was awesome/crazy/filled/tiring/the works! We started the conferences with Elder Falabella on Tuesday (going to the coast), Wednesday (Mountains!), and Thursday (capital). Friday we had a council with Elder Falabella and the zone leaders, and the mission tour is over! It was way cool, Elder Falabella is a really incredible man, and his wife is so nice. He taught us about agency, he taught us the doctrine of the kingdom, that very thing which motivates men more than anything else. And he taught us the things we need to improve in our proselyting. He has a precise wisdom that I really admired, and Im really grateful for the experiences that I got to have this week. The Lord continues to show His hand.

Today we had some problems in one of the zones, so we had to do emergency changes! I definitely never thought Id have to do that. So since this morning we've been driving around--picking up elders in the mountains, dropping them off in the coast, taking them to their new companions, and new areas. Im very tired! But I am always reminded about how beautiful our mission is. It covers so many ethoses, so many different scenes. I definitely got one of the best mission calls in the world :)

Enjoy daylight savings time! We dont have it here!!! We heard about the tsunami! and the nuclear thing too. Did that ever get solved??? We're all fine here--there was a "tidal watch" warning for the villages down in the coast, RIGHT on the beach, but it didnt end up doing anything. Sis.Baldwin told us about all of the wreckage, thats awful. Its good we dont really see stuff like this too much, but does give us much to pray for. Also, BYU got a 3 seed! Wow! That is a LOT better than I remember it being. (8s or 9s).

The church is true and the work is divine. It is the most important work in the world. I love you and miss you! Cant wait for conference weekend!

March 10 Email

Week 3 in the offices :) Sorry the email is late again this week; Im figuring out a system to hopefully be able to email regularly on Mondays again. (Note from Tyler's Father .... hahahahahah I think he honestly believed this, but no way did his emails come regularly ;) ) This week we've had divisions almost every day, so its been a little bit tougher to find writing time. But hopefully next week should be good!

Monday we went on divisions with the zone leaders in Nimajuyu--I got to go with Elder Jimenez back to my old area! It was pretty cool. Ive only been gone for a few weeks so it was kinda weird seeing people again, but it was fun nonetheless :) Then yesterday and today--Ive been in divisions in Santiago! We just got back a few minutes ago. It was way tight, I got to see a bunch of people again, and had forgotten the charm and pull of that little mountain village. It was awesome. Tomorrow and Saturday we'll be in Amatitlan, and then the week starts over again. Next week Elder Falabella of the 70 is doing a tour of the mission. So we'll have conferences Tuesday through Friday in all of the zones. Its exciting!

Lanie--there is a justin beiber movie??? I dont even know who this guy is. That is way cool. texting is weird and driving is...tiring! but pretty cool. haha. Elder davis my first day here looked up our house on google earth--you can still see the green car, and Im pretty sure you guys sold that. so that was pretty funny. Google earth is less updated about the house than I am. (Dad's note, we did not sell the green car .... yet)

First week with Elder Davis

Whew! First week down in the offices. Did I ever think I'd have to say that? Definitely not. But its been hectic, its been exciting, its been fun, its been nonsense, its been wild--its been pretty awesome. The office staff is so tight, and my companion Elder Davis is way cool. He is so stoked when he hears about Tzutujil, which he says sounds like "a mix of German, Navajo, and Elvish." You guys would love him!

This week was a lot of learning the ropes--learned how to make phone calls again, how to text, how to type really fast--all of those important mission skills. :P And we've also gotten a little bit of working time in our area (to answer your question, Dad, we get teaching time from about 5PM to 8PM on normal days, but on divisions a little bit more).

Anywho its all been good. Still feeling a little overwhelmed, but that's not very important. Ive been grateful for the chance to get to know the Baldwins better, to see the mission, to serve in anything I can. It'll be a good six months.

I havent driven yet! haha. its actually quite a shame, the car has been broken for the past few days. but hopefully tomorrow ill start. traffic and driving in guatemala is "not for the faint of heart," as President says, so itll be...interesting! haha. By the way, i think the rest of the world does call them transfers, but spanish doesnt have a word for that--so we call them changes! its funny how it works out. same with divisions, i think theyre called exchanges in the states.

Really quick note--President did give me the ok-go on BYU, I'll be heading home exactly one month before my release date, which is eitherSept. 17th or Sept 22nd.

Tyler