Pre Mother's day call short email

Hey family!

Well I'll be talking to you on the phone in 2 days! So I guess this email will be a little shorter :) Cant wait to hear from you!

We've had a great week this week. We found an awesome new family to teach, they're a couple in their 40s that are looking for the true church. They have a lot of faith and are so receptive. We've only taught them once, so we are excited to go back. Cant wait to see how it pans out!

We also got to do divisions--I went to Solola! With Elder Ayala and Elder Gonzalez. It was so exciting. We were all in the same district back in Patzun together. It was great to see how far we've all come, and what great missionaries they've become. We had an awesome time. And of course, any chance I get to speak Mayan is an AWESOME thing. ;)

Cant wait to talk to everyone on Sunday! We'll have to keep the call short (30-35 minutes), but the best part will be hearing your voices.

Got to work in Santa Elena

Looks like I get to write early this week! Haha that is a nice surprise. This week is pretty chill so far. We've had a few sets of divisions, but not too much else. Sounds like spring break went well for everyone! We're in the last stretch now for school to be over. Way crazy!

Yesterday I got to go on divisions in Santa Elena, a hidden little village on the side of a mountain near the capital. Its way cool there, its considered "capital" so you wouldnt expect it to be what it is. But it felt like I was just back in the mountains! The fog came in at night, and you can look out and see the whole lake of Amatitlan. It was way cool. Tomorrow we have divisions in Solola, I am WAY stoked :) And then next week we start doing the reports for changes! I cant believe how quickly its gone.

Ok, pause really fast. Three pre-missionaries just came into the office...from Santiago! Nefi, Yalur, and Yasar, and they are getting their interviews from Pres. Baldwin to go on missions. Way exciting! They came in and we started babbling in Tzutujil. It is so cool to see them. I definitely miss that village of mine. :)

Anywho I hope everyone has a good week this week. Can you believe we'll be having the last phone call soon??? So crazy! Till the next, love and miss you--

Tyler

The challenge to reach more families

Week of zone conferences! We just got finished yesterday in the capital. Wednesday was mountains, and thursday was coast. Everything went really great. It was President Baldwin's last one. I cant believe we are getting so close to having a new president. It's exciting, but we are all going to miss Pres. Baldwin a lot. He's an incredible mission president. I don't know how I got so lucky.

My companion and I did a special project with the zone leaders for this conference. The goal for the mission is to find three families a week. Its a pretty high goal, and while some missionaries achieve it consistently, most only find 3 families maybe 1 week out of the change. So we were looking for some motivation. We fasted and prayed with the zone leaders on fast sunday. And we picked one or two companionships in each zone to have a special goal to find five families. And someone in each zone did it! Last week the mission found 125 families together. But this past week we found 202! It was incredible. The companionships got to share their stories in the conferences of how their faith grew, and of the people they met, and the way they saw the Lord's hand guide them. It was really an amazing experience. :)

This week Elder Davis and I also found an incredible family, the family Ramirez. They are way cool and way funny. We've taught them twice and they are all reading the book of mormon! We are hoping they can get to church this week.

This week in most of the world is called Holy Week, and the whole week is celebrated. Most people go to the beach, and then the catholic churches all do processions in the roads as well. It's interesting because Spanish doesnt even have a word for Easter, and Resurrection Sunday just gets kind of mixed in together with the whole week, Good Friday being one of the bigger days. We are lucky to have been raised in a culture with a strong reverence for Easter. Be sure never to forget it!

Next week I should be writing on time! Miss you, and happy easter!
Tyler

What a missionary wants ...

Thought it might be fun to show what Tyler requested ...

"I have one more package request (possibly my last??? :P) If you could just send some of that Lawry's seasoning salt, that would be awesome. I have been putting it on all my beans and eggs :) Also whatever you'd like to throw in there would be great, maybe some pretzels or cheezits, also pepperoni would be great! Don't worry about sending too many things, but if you could send it asap thatd be great. Im sure that seasoning salt would fit in a small cheap box. Thanks so much!"

In his next email he added "Also--I would always love some more lemonade koolaid as well :D"

Another week gone already, fast as ever. Is it spring break yet? Hope everyone is getting excited and that you have some good plans ahead. April is almost halfway through!

We've had a good week so far. Monday we had a training meeting, to meet the newbies again after their first week. It was way cool. They are all slowly wading into guatemala missionary culture, learning the lingo and quirks of guatemala. Its been way fun to see! Tuesday we had office staff meeting, and we started planning out the logistics for the transition of mission presidents. Its all so strange that it's starting to come together. Its sad, for the most part.

Yesterday and the day before we had zone leader council, which was way awesome as always. We got to go to the temple this time. After the council, we all headed over to the mission home for dinner and then a family home evening. It was way fun, and then we stayed the night at the MTC. Then we went to the temple yesterday morning--its always such a nice thing to be able to go to the temple. There are few things better :)

So today we have divisions with the zone leaders in Escuintla. Im excited, except its the coast, so I think I am going to melt. Haha whatever.

Tyler

Conference

We're officially on the new change! It's always so hard to believe how quickly the time is going. Looks like you guys only have two more months of school! Time is slipping away from us.

Did everyone enjoy conference weekend? I thought it was absolutely wonderful. Every talk was so direct and so edifying. We really enjoyed it here. All the secretaries, and the zone of Villa Hermosa watched it together in an english room. President even came for priesthood session, and then he took us out to ice cream. It was way cool. What were your favorite talks? I think mine were Elders Oaks, Scott, and Christofferson. And of course the prophet's talks were awesome. Did you get to watch any of the sessions at the church? I think that's one of my favorite things to do.

We had change meeting on Wednesday, that was really exciting. On Tuesday we met the newbies, and had some initial training stuff at the missionary home for them. There were only five, it was a small group. And it was SO COOL getting to meet them--the have a remarkable fire for the work and are so excited to get out there and preach the gospel. We had lunch with them, had a few more things from the nurse and financial secretary, and then we took them to the Obelisco and went contacting. It was inspiring to see them struggle with spanish, but still try so hard to invite people to the gospel. I was really lucky to be there with them.

Wednesday we had change meeting, and it was way cool to see everyone. Elder Durfey is going to Santiago! I am so excited for him. Elder Ayala is going to Solola and Elder Hutchings is coming to Amatitlan. I guess that doesnt mean much to you, haha. But its way exciting :)

Hope we can all remember what we learned from conference. Talk to you soon! Miss and love you tons.

Tyler

April Fool? No jokes in here :(

Last week of the change! Its hard to believe so much time has flown by so quickly. My time with Elder Davis is officially halfway through. Crazy! Its been a really fun change, and there've been a lot of great experiences. Hopefully the next will be just as good :D

This week has been good so far. On Monday...we did changes! It was one of the coolest experiences Ive ever had. We went to President's house, we had all of the reports ready to go, and then we all sat in front of the board in his office, that has every missionary's card on it. It was way cool; I learned a lot about President's job, about following the spirit, about service in the church--he taught us alot of things. The whole thing took about 4 hours, and then in the end Sister Baldwin came in to review it over, and then the secretaries came in and took pictures of the board. Since then we've been getting everything ready to go. And then on Monday we'll make the change call. Its all very exciting!

Any good april fools jokes?

Hope everyone got a good chance to remember Mom this week. It was a pretty hectic day for us, but I thought of her often, and was able to think back on some of the good times. She was a really remarkable woman, our mother. And she's got a year of missionary work under her belt right now. :) If any of you ever have a tough day or find yourself feeling down about things, remember that we are a blessed family that has a leg up on the world, for we are truly better people because of our mother. I still miss her a lot. And find sweet peace in the knowledge that we will see her again. I think that will be a great day. :)

Everyone getting excited for conference weekend??? Cant wait!

Tyler