Photos!

Just my regular daily language study.  With a BoM in K´iche´!  I love trying to learn that language!

One of the missionaries completed his 6 months in the mission, so I decided to make breakfast for him!  And this is what I made!  I was fairly proud of how it came out!

Just the view of the Volcano in our mission!

So right in the middle of our area, this dirt road turns into a river everytime that it rains.  (Which is basically every day.)  So one day we were so sick of trying to figure out how to cross it, that we just waded through it!

We hiked up to a lookout of all of Xela, so I took a "O Jerusalem" photo!  Just like Jesus!   And you can kind of see the temple in the background, in the upper middle left part.

There is this sick monument in our Zone, and we went up there last P-Day.  It´s a tribute to some Mayan warrior.  So I´m being all cool right next to it. (Rockin my Kirby shirt, as always!)

This is a members house, that was somewhat damaged by the earthquake last Friday.  There was just a crack in the wall, but they took that as an advantage, and are now going to redo the wall.  It really sucks, because most of the houses here are made of adobe, and it´s not the strongest thing ever...

Earthquake

   Hello Family!  How y´all doin?  I hope that you all had a good week this week!  Things went pretty good here in Chiquilajá, so I´ll tell you a bit about it now!  ;)

     Basically, the month of September is absolutely horrible here in Xela.  There are really two huge events going on this month:  Independece (Which they celebrate all month) and the yearly fair for Xela.  Almost everyone is going to visit family out of the area, and those who are here go to the fair all day.  It´s historically been a slow month for missionary work, so we are trying to make it better.

     So we have two baptismal dates for the 21st, but they aren´t really that sure now.  Wendy, one of them, we haven´t talked to in about a week, because she´s been in Retauleu all week for the fair, visiting her family.  She wasn´t able to come to church this week, which is a bummer, but we have a cita with her on Tuesday, so we will see how that goes.  

     And with Brando, we had passed by their house all week, not finding anyone home.  Thank goodness, yesterday we went to pass by again, and some kid came up to us and told us that no one lives there anymore.  Turns out they straight-up moved.  And the problem is we have no contact with them.  People have told us they don´t live far, but we NEED to find their place quick so we can get going again with Brando.

     Also, something crazy for you guys to hear.  We had ANOTHER earthquake happen here on Friday.  Earthquakes are really rare here, and I´ve been in two during my mission.   Sweet.  But is was crazy, a 6.2 on the Richter Scale, with the Epicenter not to far away from us.  But it freaked everyone out.  The good thing was that we didn´t have any major damage in our area.  Although a member´s house got pretty rocked, so we spent about two hours on Saturday helping secure his walls, so they don´t fall down.  It was a good scare for a lot of people, but nothing really happened, so that´s good.

     Do you know what is sad?  When people don´t even give the opportunity to listen to the message of the plenitud of the Gospel.  We ran into this one guy one day, and he totally bashed on us, not because of the doctrine, but because of some members actions.  He said that he would probably give this Gospel a chance, if it wasn´t for the members.  And he just slammed the door in our face.  It really made me sad, because he isn´t even giving us the chance, just because of something that happened in the past.  It´s rough, but people have their agency.  We just have to help them the most we can, and the God do the rest.

     We went up to this one lookout place in Xela today, and it was absolutely beautiful up there.  I looked over the city, and the thought just came to my mind, that there are about 80 missionaries working in this city alone, working for one cause:  To bring ALL of these souls unto Christ.  It was really cool to think about, and it just made me so glad to be out here helping out with the work!

     I love you guys so much.  Thank you all for writing me!  It always means a lot to me!  Love you!  Until Next Time!

     - Elder Stuart

     P.S. Scripture!  DyC 62:3

Crazy Week!

Hello Family!  Well, it is already this time again, it seems like these Monday´s come faster every week!  And as of yesterday, I have been four months out on my mission already!  It seems so crazy that four months have already passed!  That means that 1/6 of my mission has already come and gone!  Kind of puts it into perspective, doesn´t it?  But that just means that I have to work my butt off for the rest of it!  So here we go!

      This week was really crazy!  But I´m gonna start on Wednesday, because that was a really eventful day.  So Elder Maldonado and I had to travel to Momos for divisions.  I was going to split with our District Leader and take him up to Pancá for the baptismal interview that we had set up.  So we got to Momos Wednesday morning, and made the splits.  Elder Andrade (My district Leader) and I got in a car that was about to leave for Pancá.  While we were waiting, the car started to rock, which I didn´t think anything of it.  I just thought it was someone getting in or out of the car.  But then I looked at a building behind me, and metal poles on the top of it were shaking.  Everyone in the truck was saying that it was an Earthquake!  It went on for about 20 seconds, then stopped.  Nothing too bad happened in Momos where we were, but according to everything that we heard, it was pretty bad in San Marcos, where the Epicenter was.  So I was okay, but I definitely felt it. 

     We finally got to Pancá, and whenever we visited someone, the Earthquake was all everyone was talking about.  It was crazy to hear all about it.  Elder Andrade got a call from the AP´s, and they said that they definitely felt it in Xela.  But I guess I don´t know exactly.  Later in the day, we headed over to Antonio Pu Mejia´s house, where his neice, Victorina, was waiting for the baptismal interview.  Let me back up a little bit.  Last time that we visited them, Elder Maldonado said that we would cut the hair of some of the kids, because he has a hair cutter machine to do it.  Well you probably see the problem, that Elder Maldonado wasn´t going to be there.  So he told me to do it!  So while Elder Andrade was holding the interview with Victorina, I cut the hair of two of the boys there!  My first time, and it wasn´t to shabby!  Definitely not perfect though!  Haha but while I was cuting the hair, they turned on the news so we could hear more about the Earthquake.  It was crazy to see the destruction in San Marcos, and know that it isn´t that far away!  Crazy Stuff!

     The interview went all according to plan, and this Friday, we had a combined activity at the church!  First thing was the baptism of Victorina, which was absolutely amazing.  I still can´t believe how blessed I have been to have so many souls come to Christ already!  I hope that it continues!  Afterwards, the Relief Society held a welcoming party type thing for her, and all the Branch was invited!   It was so cool to see so many people in one chapel basically in the middle of nowhere, all together in Spirit.  It really made me appreciate the Gospel that much more in my life!

     So yeah, pretty eventful week!  Everything is good here, so you dont need to worry!  I´m continuing strong and doing the work of the Lord!  I love it here!  Thank you all for your support and care for me this week!  I love you all and will talk to you all next week!  Until Next Time!

     - Elder Stuart

 P.S.  I forgot to put the scripture in the weekly email, but here it is:  3 Nephi 13: 31-33. Also a Bonus!  1 Nephi 13: 37

from Jonny!

All Safe in Quetzaltenango

If you haven't heard, there was an earthquake off the coast of Guatemala. This letter was sent to the parents of the missionaries in that area to assure them that all missionaries are safe and accounted for!


Good afternoon parents and leaders,

We have been receiving phone calls of many worried parents because of the earthquake that happened yesterday morning,

We would like to let you all know that we have spoken with all of the missionaries in the mission and they are all safe and working.

We consider it a blessing that all of the missionaries have been protected and safe from any harm, we would also like to thank the

parents and local leaders for their concern.

We thank you all for your support for the Elders and Sisters of this mission.

on behalf of,

Mission Quetzaltenango




Buenas Tardes Padres y Lideres Locales,

Hemos recibidos muchas llamadas a causa del terremoto, que sucedió ayer en Guatemala, nos gustaría decirles que hemos hablado con todos los Misioneros y están bien, y trabajando, consideramos una Bendición que todos los misioneros han sido protegidos y fuera de peligro, también queremos agradecer a los Padres y Líderes locales por sus preocupaciones.

Les agradecemos por su apoyo hacia los Élderes y Hermanas de la misión

Atte. Misión Quetzaltenango