I left 2, and got 3!

So about 2 weeks ago, President Brough gave Elder Acosta and I another missionary named Elder Gomez from Honduras who was having some companion problems and told us to kill him the following 2 weeks. So we did :) The past week, my companion(s) and I have gotten up at 4:30 everyday and we had 70 lessons, 65 new investigators and 1018 contacts over the course of the week. Needless to say, we were all pretty tired but at least Elder Acosta finished his mission strong. (he flies home tomorrow!!) So we show up to change meeting and I receive my new companion (Elder Montero from Peru) and then we both receive ANOTHER companion! We are both senior companions to 2 other missionaries. His companion is Elder Maldonado from Guatemala City (waiting for his visa to go to Mexico) and my companion is Elder Garcia from Peru. So right now we are 4 missionaries living in the same house. I leave now everyday with Elder Garcia and Elder Montero leaves everyday with Elder Maldonado. They are all Latins so no English for me! But it's good and it's going to be so good for the area. We are going to destroy the area!

Elder Finch stayed in Santa Elena and is still training but he went up to District Leader. pilas!! And my trainer, Elder Lagos went home! haha. How crazy. He was a good father. I learned lots and lots from him.

So that was about it for our week. We just worked really hard and then had changes. So it has been a good week. Escuintla is doing good. It's getting hotter and hotter. All of the sudden President sends me to the mountains to suffer haha. But I would really like to go. I hope I go there, but we'll have to see. Thanks for everything. This week, read Alma 60 and 61. Moroni writes a (very, very, very, very, very) strong letter Pahoran and how does Pahoran respond? Out of humility. What a great example. We need to be more humble like Pahoran so that we solve the problems instead of causing more. Like the scriptures say, humble ourselves to the dust, that's my goal this week. Anyway, keep reading your scriptures and laugh everyday. I love you and will see you very, very soon!

Elder Yates

The war chapters in the Book of Mormon would be rated R if it was a movie

Hey, Hey, Hey! How's it going ya'llllll?? (Texas accent) Everything is going good here. We are working hard always and living large.

So we had interviews on Friday! They went superb. President told me that I am doing good and that he is proud of me. :D He also told me to enjoy the coast becuase he is pretty sure that I am not going to finish my mission here...... :O I really thought this was my last area. It makes me happy and sad. I have come to love the coast. Really. I love the heat and the people. But, I would LOVE to go to the mountains. It would be fantastical. So I started praying that I finish in the mountains ;) I also was able to ask President if he sees me training again in the future (I like training) and he said he thinks so. :D So im pretty stoked for that. Training is bomb like Donkey Kong. I promise. The mission is the best. So interviews went great.

We also got a new companion this week! haha. With so many changes going on in the mission, the Lord saw it fit to put me and Elder Acosta back into a trio. Our new companion right now is Elder Gomez from Honduras. He actually entered the mission field with me so we have about the same time. It's good. He's here to work hard and have fun. So that's a great blessing. Being in a trio though sure is weird!....

 

Yesterday we went to Antigua!! Antigua was great. I bought some stuff and went to tons of old ruins, including an old preserved Catholic Church. It was beautiful and I learned so much. I also got some great pictures and had fun with the zone. Antigua is a great place. Who wants to visit it with me after the mission?! :)

 

So I was going to send pictures but the computers that we are using today are super, super sketch. Mejor no. I don't want to get a virus (for the umpteenth time) so I will send them next week when we are using better computers.

So, I am reading right now in the Book of Mormon all the war chapters. It mentions many times that all the things written in the Book of Mormon are of great worth so I have been pondering alot about how the war chapters are of great worth. Well, Jesus in the Bible always uses parables. In reality, the wars chapters are a big actual parable. The Amalikites are Satan and temptation and we are the Nefites. What does Moroni do to prevent enemy attacks? He fortifies the citys so that when the Amalikites come, they are powerless. They can't reach the Nefites. We must be the same. We must prepare ourselves in easy times so that when the hard times come (like breaking the law of chastity or word of wisdom) we know how to react. We know wha to do. We can stay calm because we know that sin has NO power of us, rather that we have control over sin. We must be strong and we can never stop fortifying ourselves! We must ALWAYS read the scrptures, pray, and go to church. They are essential! So my invitation is that we can never stop preparing ourselves. Today is the day. Start now! yeah! :)

I love you all lots and lots. Keep being awesome, study hard and play harder. Say your prayers and laugh everyday. Have a great week!

Elder Yates

changes during the change

yesterday we had changes!! ....during the change.

 

Soooo because so many are entering the mission everything is all weird now with the week changes happen and stuff. We had a change meeting yesterday in which 20 something new missionaries entered the mission and not one person went home (until the 19th). The cool and weird thing is 17 of the newbies are Guatemalans. They are serving in their own countries! It's kind of a blessing to really know your own people and be able to serve them. So it was kind of a weird change meeting because the only people that went, were those that are training! One of them is Elder Finch! again! haha. He is on his second trainee already. I have 2 grandhchildren. How cool is that? haaa. So that was pretty neat.

We split our area! The mission is growing so much that we arent going to be able to fit anymore  missionaries, so they are splitting the areas. There are now 2 more missionaries in Golondrinas which is going to be a huge help in the branch. We'll have to see what other changes come!!!

Today we had zone training. We learned alot about faith and hope. Faith is great because it is a believe in God, but hope is the optimism and enthusiasm that shows and demonstrates faith. As a zone in Escuintla, we had a lot of baptismal dates fall through in the month of January and lots of missionaries were kinda disanimated about that. So the topic was hope. Don't worry! God will bless us. We just need to be diligent and obedient and happy. The blessings will come. The zone is a lot more animated now. I'm excited for the month of Febraury. :)

Welp. I don't have much more time. I love you all lots and lots, read everyday and pray, and don't forget to laugh everyday as well!

Elder Yates

 

 

With sweat on my face and my eyes on the prize‏

I make my way through Puerto San Jose. divisions today woop woop!

 

Hola! Hola is Spanish for hello. fyi :) ah pues. How is everyone doing this week? Super fantastical? I hope so because there isn't a single reason in the whole world to not be happy always. If you're unhappy, count your many blessings!

This past week was awesome! We saw a lot of miracles this week. We originally had scheduled the bapism of Angela but we also had another baptism this week too! We learned this past week that there is a ''member'' that comes every week (named Mario Lobos) but turns out when he got baptised, his record never got filed so he doesn't appear on the records of the church. The solution: baptism. We talked to him on Thursday and he agreed so we had his baptism on Sunday as well. We were also planning the baptism of little boy who ALWAYS comes to church with his recent convert uncle BUT Sunday in the morning, he drank coffee. and NOT morcafe. café normal. freak. soooooo his baptism will be NEXT week. Also, there is an area in our zone that was closed (or the missionaries were taken out for security reasons) and before the missionaries left, they had put a baptismal date with a man who wanted to get baptized for the 27th of this month. But then they left the area and the man (Jorge) continued going to church and kept his baptismal date in his mind. So they called us the night before and told us that he still wanted to get baptized. So my companion and I did divisions and my companion went and taught him EVERYTHING in about an hour and a half and then the district leader came and did the interview and he passed! pilas huh? So he was baptized as well this past Sunday. It was a great day. In our district (3 companionships, or 6 elders) we had 10 baptisms on Sunday and 16 for the month of January. So it was a great week for baptisms.

 

Yesterday we went to zone conference, for that reason we didn't email yesterday. Zone conference was great. As a mission in January we had 211 baptisms. Our goal was a lot more, but President Brough says that that is a great number and we should never get disanimated about not reaching our goals. We should just evaluate and plan better how we can reach them the next time. So we are going to be having some pretty big goals for the next coming months that I am really excited to be a part of. It is going to a great couple of months and a great way to go out of the mission. I'm excited.

Everything is going great here. I want to give big shout out thank you to the Fallon 4th ward primary and missionaries that are serving in Fallon 4th ward for the christmas pictures! They were great and I really appreciate them. Also, thank you Grma for the box full of goodies. (secret: she is the best Grma in the whole world) they are great and I'm excited to eat them. :)

My companion and I went to McDonalds on Monday for pday and I saw 2 gringos there! But I was too scared to talk to them so I didn't rendering this little story in its entirety useless. I was shocked to see white people. I'm scared as to how I will be when I get back. Best not think about that right?

Ok well thank you so much for everything. I love you all with my mind, might, heart, and strength. Keep working hard and praying and reading your Book of Mormon before April. You'll be so blessed by completing with this call of the prophet. Much love. Keep strong in the faith and don't fall. Remember that Jesus loves you and knows you. You are never alone. Oh and laugh everyday for me ok? Thanks a bunch and I'll send pictures next week! 143.

 

Elder Yates