Week of Labor Day in 2010

Another week in Santiago! Hahaha Im still here. Elder Tarax had changes! He is now in the capital and training, so pilas! Im still here, and loving it :) Looks like I'll be here at least three more months, maybe even till Christmas! We'll see :) My new companion is Elder Patterson (another one!) and he is AWESOME. We were really good friends in the zone before so its way cool. You guys would love him! He's hysterical, and an awesome example for me of a pure missionary. Im excited!

This week was a crazy one! But way awesome :) We had the crazy hurricane on Friday, looks like you heard about that. Mudslides knocked out a lot of Solola but we were actually fine here. Just SOOOOOOOOO much rain. Like for reals I could not even take it! It gets so cold when it rains. Anywho power went out Friday night and into Saturday--Faustino got baptized Saturday but with out water the font wouldnt fill! We had to fill it by hand by dragging water from the tank outside of the church. It was crazy, but an AWESOME experience. I realized halfway into it how much I really hadnt thought twice about doing it! I think I would fill a font by hand for anyone who could enter the waters of baptism. It truly is our divine privilege. :)

Tyler

End of August

Got your package!!! Woot woot! LOVED it. We had interviews on Wednesday and I was so excited to eat everything. I think you actually put in everything that was on the list. Hahaha! Ive been enjoying it every day, and my comp has been testing all the "American food." Hes a huge fan! And I cant believe you sent dr. pepper! That was my favorite part. :) Thanks!!! Also, LOVED the pecans! Who made them?

This week was way good! We had divisions with the assistants on Tuesday so that was way fun! Wednesday was interviews, LOVED them. And then Sams baptism was sunday. I cant remember if I told you about him! He is nine and his family are all members but they never baptized him because they forgot. So we stepped in. Its kind of hysterical. :) But they are so cool--it was an awesome experience!

Sounds like everything is going good these last weeks of summer! Hoping the depression hasnt hit too bad--be sure to live it up this week! Also, I got your scoff! It is beautiful and i have been wearing it :P Hahaha ill try and send pics soon. Chase's and dads should be done saturday. get excited!

Miss you guys tons. Im almost a year old in the mission. jerm is a senior, alex freshman, and lanie 5th grade. we are all so old!

Love you

tyler

AUG 23RD

(this keyboard is really stiff so im going to write without capitals)

oh goodness another amazing week! we are already on week 5 of 6 and it is going toooooo fast. in two weeks ill turn a year old in guatemala. what the heck! :)

this week...not gonna lie! might have been the best week in my mission so far. there have been so many amazing experiences. I wish i could tell them all to you in person. but there have been things also inexplicable--the Lord has been marvelous in showing His guiding hand.

this week we started monday by leaving for solola and having pday there. elder vahai and elder long are the other district leaders in the zone so they came too and we played pokemon sorry the whole day and had "deep doctrine" talks with elder dodge at night. way fun! tuesday we 5 (elder zapata and elder dodge are the zone leaders) headed off to the capital, ate some mcdonalds, and then went to the training meeting. i got put in divisions with elders lindsley and bejar. the training was AMAZING. every day from 10 to 4 we studied more and more of how we can be better teachers, learned the doctrine, watched new PMG videos, and listened to the Baldwin's mission experiences. it was awesome. every night, me and elder lindsley and elder bejar went out into the capital in their area called El Frutal, Villanueva. It was BEAUTIFUL. i had forgotten my love of the capital! and the people were so amazing. we started putting in practice all of the stuff we learned in the training, and had some powerful spiritual experiences. elder lindsley and elder bejar are SO cool! you would love them. friday we had the last day of training, and it was kinda sad saying goodbye to everyone! there were like 40 missionaries at the training and we had all learned a lot. but it was way fun. we 5 took off to solola again, got there at 830, and finished off with some deep doctrine talks. i love the missionaries in our mission--they are incredible examples! saturday morning me and elder tarax headed back to santiago, and now we are here! the whole thing was amazing, and it was actually very nice celebrating moms birthday--i dont think i can ever forget it!

tyler

p.s--i think jerm asked this. i actually am pretty good now at tzutujil! i even like using it more than i do spanish. its way fun. cant wait to show you! (or maybe ill send a tape!)

Aug 16th

Another week done! So so so fast. And its only getting faster! This week was excellent, and we are officially halfway through the change! So crazy.

Updates--we went to San Pedro on Friday (amazing!) and have found some really incredible people to teach there. The only thing is that its very far, so its very expensive to come to church. Hopefully it works out! Also, do you remember Faustino? His mom wouldnt let him get baptized, but this week she said she would! We are way stoked. :) Prayers really do work!!!

This week is going to be very different! Elder Hinckley has started a new program missionwide and we are getting some leader training all this week! We are headed up to Solola today for Pday early. Then me and Elder Vahai and Elder Long are going to the capital in divisions until Friday! Im way stoked. And ive heard its a very spiritual experience. Cant wait!

Till next week!

August 9th

Oh goodness this is another one of those weeks! So much going on :) Im 20? Weird! Ill definitely say, birthdays in the mission are a...different experience. It almost doesnt feel real! But it was way fun--went to Pana and then hopped back to Santiago for Brownies and Ponche with the Chenens. I cant remember if Ive told you about ponche--it is a christmas drink made with pineapple, papaya, mango, and like a million other fruits, heated on the stove and mixed with cinnamon. it is AMAZING. I will try and learn to make it for when I get back :)

Apart from that, the week was good! We found an amazing family this week that I have really come to love and they only speak Tzutujil. It is such a fun language :) Hopefully they can become part of the ward!

And the linus story was cracking me up. Love it.

Send my love to all! Tyler

Here are pictures that we sent Tyler, I inadvertently tried to drown our dear doggie, Linus, between these pictures I let him go and the ocean took him out and then buried him. He looks very happy to have terra firma below his paws!

August 2010 is here

This week was good! All pretty normal, we had divisions with Solola on Friday and that was pretty fun. We're still working to get Marta Lydia and her family baptized--hopefully all works out! Also, we had a ward activity this Sunday for pioneer day. Oh my gosh it was hysTERICAL. Everyone usually wears the original santiago clothes here so it was so funny seeing them in pioneer outfits! And the girls even made little bonnets out of corte, the fabric from here. Oh my gosh. I loved it. Ill be sure to send pics! ;)

Speaking of, im working on everyones clothes. Jerm, your scoff is almost done! Dad, im ordering yours tonight, ill get to work on chases, and then i found corte for the girls that i think theyll really like. its red and BEAUTIFUL. ill keep you posted! also, my shoes are in the capital still, i think ill be able to pick them up in two weeks. should be fine! You got a letter from elder patterson! that is way cool? oh gosh i miss him. he is officially home as of last week! im sure you can tell by the letter, he's an incredible missionary, and an awesome friend. :D

two quick facts from guate i just thought of while reading

1. alex-- did i tell you they have sangria here? but the only thing is, its alcoholic when you buy it in central america! very lame. haha.

2. did you know guacamole isnt pronounced the spanish way that it looks? in spanish, its not guacamoLAY, but its actually just Guacamoll. that had me confused for like 3 months, i always thought they were saying it wrong. lolz.

July 26th

This past week was good! We've kept chugging along, finding new people to teach, and working with everyone trying to teach them with the Spirit. Preach My Gospel says there is a special experience to be earned when you feel the Spirit working through you--I will tell you, it is way cool! :)

Missionaries are starting a new thing worldwide, zone conferences and interviews will be held only once every 3 months! They are also going to start keeping missionaries longer in their areas, and we'll be having a lot of training meetings on how to teach more effectively. President might even come on divisions with the missionaries! Itll all be very exciting and interesting. They also say we'll have a district leader training thing in the time ahead, where we stay 3 days overnight in the capital and learn how to be better teachers. Im excited! The only thing Im a little worried about though is mail--looks like we might be getting it only once a change from now on! :/ Hopefully thats not the case, but ill keep you posted!

I guess you guys are in Texas right now??? Too cool!

Love you tons. Till later!