August 31, 2011 - A Good Week!

Hello family,

I´m just writing you collectively today so you don´t have to wait until tomorrow and I will write a few lucky individuals tomorrow. Deal? Deal. I will ever take advantage of the fact that someone cannot say no to a deal in an email. A downside of progressing technology (not as practical in a text). Anyways I am very excited to hear about Dad´s new calling, he will do a fantastic job, I know it. It is absolutely crazy that the girls have started their last school year before I get home. I´m getting old.

Anyway, I have a few things to let you know about. Do you remember one of my best converts Jorge? He is putting his his mission papers together! I have talked with the elders that have served in that area since and they have told me is so devoted and an example to most of the members. He gets to church early, goes to seminary AND institute, and is really taking everything in the church very seriously. I think to him it is almost a blessing not to have the support of his family because he completely believes in what the church leaders say and doesn´t fall into many of the family traditions that you often see in Guatemala that aren´t necessarily the worst things you could do, but they are small things that you wish the culture could get out of. He has talked in church, blesses the sacrement, and is very excited to go on his mission. Alba also wrote me and it made me really happy to know that she (a guatemalan widow who can´t sing a note) is in the ward choir and that she is very involved in the relief society. It is funny because she asked me to come to the ward conference to hear her sing, she is hard of memory and can´t remember that I told her I won´t be able to visit in these 2 years. She sad "I´m paying my tithing because God gives me life and my health and that makes me happy." It is sad because she wrote me asking me for a way to be able to leave on a mission when she hits a year (I don´t know how she got this idea) because her daughter is so cruel to her. She is old and can´t understand that I don´t have administative power in the church, but I hope her daughter really lets up on her. Also the Vasquez Family that I found on divisions with my District Leader contacting in Linda Vista (the ones where I felt strongly that they would be baptized, sorry if you don´t remember) have gone to church and are slowly but surely progressing. It is so gratifying to see the progress of the areas I left behind, I´m glad the Lord has put (or left, in the case of Elder Sarita) great missionaries in those areas so that everything can keep going well. I thought you would like to know that Elder Sarita is now training a north american, which made me happier than any other change I saw in the mission. He has by far been my favorite companion; I have so much respect for him because he is so humble and an all around incredible person. It is funny that he is training a gringo though because considerig the fact that it was hard for me to understand his Dominican Republic Spanish with 10 months in my mission, it will be a struggle with his new companion. I gave him one piece of advice for his time as a trainer in the change meeting, "Elder Sarita, solamente tengo un consejo, hable despacio." This means "Elder Sarita, I have some advice, talk slow." He laughed and agreed to do so. He´ll do a great job as a trainer.

As for my current area, Jose went to church! We are very excited about that fact. We have come to find that he has some strange ideas though with regards to recieving an answer that these things are true. He always goes back to dreams he has had in his life and what he thinks they mean which results in us redirecting him to the basic doctrines of the Book of Mormon, baptism, and a knowledge of Joseph Smith as the Prophet of the Restoration. When we can talk about these things he agrees, but we can tell he is thinking about something else. We have decided he doesn´t really understand the Book of Mormon and the importance it has in recieving an answer about the truthfulness of what we teach. We will for sure be going over that before we move on. The good thing is that he likes church (which is good especially since some things I see and hear make me cringe when I have investigators with me), and he says he will be coming every week. We are really trying to work members more and we have 3 or 4 references that the members are inviting to church, a lesson in their house, or something like that so we hope we´ll find some people through the members in this coming week.

So I´m loving being a missionary, hearing progress of people and seeing the results of my work from times when maybe I thought everything wasn´t going that well is really rewarding. I´m trying to work hard, and even though President has gotten after me a lot for a few little miscommunications in this week I´m doing just swell haha. I hope everyone is doing great.

Love,

Ben

August 17, 2011

My beloved parents and siblings,

I am writing you once again with another week under my belt in this great guatastic adventure of mine, and I am happy to say that I´m happily chugging along, admiring the occasional think latin mustache as I go about my daily duties. This week was a good week as Elder Cruz and I have gotten used to the big changes in the office and in the area. Elder Cruz is a fantastic teacher and that makes all the difference in the missionary work. I have found that he likes to talk about video games A LOT which can be slightly distracting but I have learned to just deftly dodge the comment and mention something else. Life is good.

In this last week before Sunday I had actually been slightly disappointed with the work in the area. It had been a struggle to find progressing investigators and I was worried about if we were neglecting the work because of office work. I had been thinking about that a lot and had been really trying to work harder in the time that we were in the area to make a difference. Sunday we had an incredible experience that made me think I just need to be a little patient. We are teaching someone named José , someone that we just contacted because he was playing cards with some of the teenagers from the ward near their house. This was 2 weeks ago. He invited us in and we started to talk to him. Over the course of the last 2 weeks we have found that he really has been lacking a relationship with God in his life. He told us that he just feels empty sometimes and that he feels distanced from God. He said he has tried going to churches but he has just seeing hypocrites and power hungry people (these are his words not what I think every other church is made up of mind you). After the first lesson he read from 1st Nephi 1 to 13. This last Sunday we came in and he started telling us how much sense the vision of Lehi made sense. He said that he needed this iron rod so that he could have the truth. He said that he feels the book is true but that he wants to go to church to really see how it is, a request that as missionaries, turned us into 10 year olds waking up to a snow day. 10 year olds? I still had that reaction when I was 18 I don´t know what I´m talking about. ANYWAY, he said that he really does feel as if he needs something more and that he will get baptized if he starts to feel that this is true, which he said he has felt, but not a certain confirmation yet. I´m very excited about him, and we are hoping he comes to church this Sunday.

Also I just got out of my interviews with President. He is a really impressive person. He gave me some interesting insights into how we as human beings can only do our best and we need to look to God to forgive our weaknesses. He also told me that we need to analyze every criticism were given and decide if it something we want to change. He said in his professional life he has often been criticized for being to trusting, something he feels is a part of him and he has conciously decided not to change that, because he feels it is a part of him to trust and give others the benefit of the doubt. He said this has hurt him, but also blessed him in his life. He said we need to figure out who we are and be careful with which criticism we accept and apply. He said we obviously need to to change things that are disobediance or inconsistent with gospel teachings, but that God has made us how we are for a reason and we need to recognize that and try to be the best person we can be, not looking to be somebody else. It was very uplifting and it really struck home with me.

Anyway I´m happy and I´m learning a lot. I love you all and hope you have a great day. I love you!

-Ben

August 23, 2011

Hey family,

To answer Mom´s many questions I will give you a run down of the office schedule. We wake up in the morning go running (Elder Petersen and I), eat, shower, start studying at 8:00 and leave for the office at 8:30 in our truck (it is a Hilux, not allowed in the States, very fun to drive especially when we are on the road at 4 in the morning and no one is on the road, don´t worry I keep it safe). We get to the office start to work until lunch time and sometimes call in lunch, other times go to a Guatemalan cafeteria or comedor as they are called. Very delicious if you have lived in Guatemala for a year. Quite coincedentally I´ve done just that. We then leave the office at 3:30 or 4:00 to work and we don´t have dinner until night time where I usually eat a peanut butter and honey (jelly if I want to change things up) sandwhich with only one piece of bread. Toasted. It is very good. So that is a little run down of the schedule for you, hope you enjoy.

This week has been a test and a reward of patience the same time. I have grown up with the idea that hard work and good intentions bring results, a mentality that sometimes lacks a little of the patience that I am here to learn. As you know, I have been working hard with Elder Cruz to find investigators and help the investigators that we have progress. What we have ran into is people dropping us due to talking with their pastor, not wanting to go to church, not wanting to hear us in the first place, etc. (I might note that every time we are denied in a contact Elder Cruz starts singing the song raindrops keep falling on my head which he learned from Spiderman 2, it makes me laugh everytime). Anyway we talked about it a lot and have just been able to figure out what we are doing wrong. Right as I feel I am becoming the best teacher that I have been in my mission, with the result that I feel I know better how to help investigators, there aren´t any investigators to apply this to. As is usual with me, I started worry about what was going on in the area too much, instead of focusing on what the Lord really has blessed us with. The realization came to me in this week that sometimes we are going to be doing our best, and things will not go the way we expect. This is when we need to exercise patience, knowing that we can only do our best and the Lord will do the rest, in His time. I really think I was being slightly selfish in how I was expecting things to fall into my lap. I really just needed to look at what the Lord had given me and be grateful for that, always working harder to see what more is in store, but accepting the fact that if it doesn´t come I just need to wait. It really has been a good experience allowing me to see that in my mission I have had the experience to see so much change in people, something I´m so grateful for having seen.

Anyway after having a struggle this last week, we were counting on José coming to church. He didn´t show. He left his house in the morning and wasn´t there. We were devastated. Something in the lesson we had last night though was incredible and we found out why he didn´t go. First off José felt terrible after he had promised us that he was going to go. We started to ask him about why he didn´t go. He started out nervously telling us that he didn´t have any nice shoes and so he had gone to buy a pair that morning because he didn´t want to go in tennis shoes. We could tell there was something else. After a few questions, he started to tell us in a shaky voice that he doesn´t feel worthy right now to go to church. He said he has been looking for the truth for so long and that he feels as if he has found it, he feels unworthy to go. I can´t go into any detail due to the request of the missionary department and some things they sent out about confidentiality, but he has a big weight on his shoulders that he has not been able to get off for years due to something he has not been able to stop doing. We had an incredible talk about repentence and how somebody truly can change their life if they are willing to do so. Something clicked. He told us he felt hope now, that he could really do this. He promised us he would go to church this Sunday. He said he wants nothing more than to get rid of the guilt he feels. He said he just wants to feel clean again. I think I truly do take for granted the knowledge that I have of this gospel, and the atonement of Jesus Christ. The light we saw in him was incredible when he was able to have that spark of hope. He knows it will be hard, he knows it is going to take time, but he is a very humble man and trusted us enough to share these things, showing us that it doesn´t matter where he is, he can change if he really is willing to do so. I hope that in a month or two I come to find that he is part of the reason I have been working in this area for this time. Maybe everything is going how one would hope a year into his mission, but I am happy that I have the chance to work with José who I know really can change if he continues with the attitude he currently has.

Anyway I hope everything is well. Thank you everybody for always supporting me and making sure to write me frequently. I love you and hope that all is going well. Mom thanks but I´m fine with what I can buy here, I would love a few current photos of the family printed off and put in there if you could. I guess I could take the time to print them but itjust so much cooler to recieve them in a package.

Love,

Ben

August 11, 2011...The craziest week of my life for real!

Hey family,

I am rushing to write you something because there is so little time so sorry about the probably not that good of a letter, but I didn´t want to wait until Friday again to write you. This week was change week and Mom you are right, I do have my new companion and he is great. He feels like he is in over his head and doesn´t know why he was picked, but he will learn quickly I can tell. He is bright and will do a good job. I on the other hand am extremely tired but happy that the hard part of the week is finally over. I haven´t woken up after 5:30 for the last 3 days and it is catching up to me. Today I woke up at 3:30 to take some missionaries to the airport. In light of all that I´m trying to catch up on all the work that I missed because we were out and about with the new missionaries and the missionaries that are going home. Mom and Dad you are right, it is slightly more stressful now that I am on my own, but I´m really trying to organize the secretary job with the time that I have because there are so many things that are unorganized. I hope will be able to make everything more simple for Elder Cruz by the time I leave, but we will see how it goes because President is really pushing that the office elders have a lot of baptisms as well as better organization so it is a lot to handle because more time in one thing obviously means less time in another, and these last few days we´ve barely been in the area.

I´m sure you all want to know a bit about Elder Cruz. He is my second companion named Elder Cruz and he is also from Honduras. He is a really funny elder who is here to work hard. He feels really out of place (as I did) because he feels like he should just be out working, finding, contacting, etc. I was talking to him about what to expect in the office, a talk that I would have really appreciated my first week in the office. He mentioned to me that he feels really weird, but that he wants to learn and do a good job. We were also talking about the key to being a good missionary and he said that to him it all comes down to being humble, something that I completely agree with him on. That makes me happy to hear he understands his purpose and why he is here, I know that we will get along really well. He is fairly young in the mission (he has 6 months) and understands english fairly well, it is just hard for him to speak. This will be such a great opportunity for him considering he is living with 4 northamericans, something that I´m sure is a bit of a culture shock. I´m really trying to get the elders in the house to speak spanish if he is even in the room so he doesn´t feel alienated, but I´m sure there´s some things that he just can´t relate to.

I´m very excited about the change. I love having a latin companion. The different culture is always really interesting and I don´t know it just makes the actual work more fun for me. I wonder if there is a reason I have had so many latin companions. It has really taught me a lot about what I have grown up with and how God is no respector of persons; the gospel is for everybody. It doesn´t matter where you are from, who you are, what you´re family situation is, the gospel can change your life. A testimony of the restored church of Christ makes us better, because it gives us hope for something more. It gives us a sense of self worth and real confidence. It is incredible to see the people from terrible backgrounds that overcome all of it and become respectable, great people. I don´t have anymore time to write because I have to go, but I just want to let you know that I´m really being stretched here doing what I´m doing, but it really is helping me to learn to be more patient and calm. It is stressful when things go wrong but it is very gratifying when everything goes as planned. I am really trying to find and teach those who are going to progress and I will write you as soon as I run into somebody that we know will progress. I love you all and hope all is well. Please keep me in your prayers and I will keep you in mine.

-Ben

August 4, 2011 - Crazy Week!

Hello family,

First off to answer your question Mom, I do have all of the mission library books. I didn´t have one of them but I found it in the Chimal house due to the fact that it is one of those eternal missionary houses and old missionaries leave their things there. Thanks though.

It is good to hear that everyone is doing well, that Mom is getting buckets of water dumped on her head, Brad is quickly rising to Forbes Magazine top 100 richest in America, and everyone else is vacationing except for poor Dad which is doing his manly duty of bringing home the bacon. Bacon that I have not eaten in a long time. Good sweet bacon... Mmmmm.... I do miss bacon. Anyway it sounds like everyone is doing great, thank you for always writing me, it means a lot.

This week for me has been crazy. We don´t have time to have a P-day because it is the week before changes so that is not fun, but were just trying to keep our head above water with all the stuff we have to do. Now I´m pretty much in charge so it is stressful but I´m hanging in there. Instead of P-day we just took a few hours yesterday to go to Chili´s and due to Brad´s request I got a real juicy thick burger that had man written all over it. Not literally but that would have been a nice touch. It was called the Chipoltle Blue Cheese Bacon Burger. It was so good. Your welcome Brad.... I enjoyed that for you.

It was cool though because Monday we secretaries found out changes so that we could start doing all the prep work for change day. President did a lot of unexpected things which I think is good. He has put in a lot young leaders which I´m really excited about. The biggest thing is that I´m training the first latino secretary in the longest time. I don´t think there has been a latino secretary in the office since President Baldwin got here because he usually wanted an elder that spoke english and a year of college, but President Brough doesn´t mind as much. His name is Elder Cruz and I´m really excited because I´ve heard while young in his mission he is very excited to be a missionary. I guess I´m just destined to be with latinos. I´m okay with that though because I love dynamic of 2 different cultures in a companionship. Elder Lydiksen was joking that of course I was the one to get the first latin secretary in forever becuase I hadn´t had a north american until I was sent here. It will definately be a challenge since he doesn´t really speak any english but I have heard he is very bright so we will work on english a lot considering he will be living in a house with 4 northamericans. I excited to see what I can teach him and learn from him at the same time. It will be a relief to finally have someone to be learning spanish from. Elder Lydiksen is great and speaks spanish with me but it just isn´t the same. It will be such a different office life because now we will have 2 latin AP´s and a latin secretary, it should be fun.

I´m very excited about getting my new companion (he at this moment has no idea what the next week for him has in store), but at the same time I´m kind of sad. Elder Lydiksen is a very down to earth guy who is always open to try to things and listen to other people. This has made the change a blast as we have been able to work hard, but not just hard, with unity as well. Missions are unique in the fact that they allow you to get to know and serve with so many different types of people over a short period of time, and while change can be hard, it is always exciting to get to know new circumstances.

Anyway sorry I didn´t write anything all that spiritually uplifting, I have run out time though. I just want to thank you all again for always writing me. I really am grateful for the family I have and how close I am to all of you. I always feel your constant support and love and you don´t know how much that means to a missionary. I love you all and hope everything is well.

-Ben