Hi Everyone,
To answer your questions, Mom, about the temple.
I can´t go to the temple during my mission
because it´s outside of the mission boundaries. And they´re
dedicating the Quetzaltenango temple in April, and it´s right outside
our mission border. But we can´t go. So I want to go to the temple
with you guys as soon as I get back ha. I´m so sad about not being
able to go during the mission.
Dad, I think I might be the only gringo to gain weight on a mission in
the Guatemalan coast. It was as frightening as it was gross to
realize I am gaining weight. Haha it was more foreign to me than
anything about this new culture in which I´m living! But not to
worry! I have a new exercise plan and I figured out what I need to
buy as far as food. We eat so much bread and tortillas. And the past
few weeks have been kinda lonely at night, so I would eat a lot before
bed. But I got to spend a night with Elder Grover on a split and I
realized there is good healthy stuff to buy (beside bread) and I´m
gonna look for that today. My guess is that I weigh close to 190 haha
but that´s just a guess.
I´ve been eating a lot of cereal because it´s quick. SInce I do
dishes every morning (haha and night) I don´t have much time to cook
for myself. So I was eating a lot of sugar cereal. Ugh this is weird
to talk about. I´ve never had to worry about my weight. I always
tried to gain weight!
This is the last week before changes and I´m really anxious to see
what happens. I was having a tough day with my companion and was
thinking if President asked me to do another change with him what I
would say. There are times when I really do feel like I love him.
But other times I don´t. And I´m doing my best. I pray for him, I do
dishes and cook for him and all that. And I´m trying to swallow my
pride. I´m direct when I offer suggestions, but he doesn´t like those
very much. Any advice?
Sometimes time goes by really fast and other times it doesnt. This
change is taking it´s time but I feel like the weeks go by quickly.
It´s really weird.
We baptized two more members of Rosa´s family (one of the two girls we
baptized last week). Gloria Santos and Selvin Santos. El Diablo did
not want them to get baptized. They´ve had a lot of problems
financially (they live under a tin roof and on top of a dirt floor)
and this past week Gloria was in and out of the hospital with a random
blood sugar problem. So she was fighting that and still wanted to get
baptized on Friday.
On Friday we went to get the chapel ready for the baptism. We turned
on the font faucet and the water came out black. It was horrible. We
didn´t know what to do. We turned on all the faucets in the bathrooms
to try to get the dirty water out. It didn´t work. While I was in
the bathroom I said a prayer out loud and asked Heavenly Father to
bless the water to come out clean. We drained the dirty water and
turned on the faucet again before leaving to pick up the Santos
Family. As we left a huge storm rolled in and we couldn´t leave their
house. After waiting an hour or so for the rain to stop, we finally
left. We got to the chapel and the font was full of clear water.
There is power in prayer.
We still had some stuff to get ready for the baptism, so I was trying
to help out with that and my companion was frustrated with me because
I didn´t know what to do. He started making fun of me and laughing at
me when I didn´t understand. I didn´t feel very good about that.
But the night before that, Thursday night, we did splits with the Zone
leaders and they took care of interviews for the baptism. That was
when I got to spend a night with Elder Grover. That was such a
blessing. I felt so good being in their house, having companionship
prayer before bed, all that. He cooked pancakes for me and shined my
shoes! It was so cool! I had a lot of random questions for him and
he answered all of them. I asked him about the thing with people
always asking me why I´m sad or upset. He said oh you don´t even
know. That´s the story of my mission. Everyone gives me a hard time
and I´m never angry or sad! Haha so that made me feel more normal.
But not very many people ask me that anymore, I smile a lot more I
think.
I also asked him about what I can do to improve things. I explained a
lot and there were a lot of questions that I asked about the same
topic, but he gave me an answer that made me feel a bit better. He
said not to worry about changing everything right now. He told me to
remember I´m a greenie and I need to learn what I can while being
patient. He said my time will come to apply what I learn and fix what
I need to, but for now, focus on loving your companion and the people
and be patient. That made me feel a lot better. I made a list of
things to improve in the future, so that I don´t forget. And I´m just
being an example and not worrying.
I´ve thought a lot about time lately. Time is such a gift. The
scriptures say time is only measured unto man. I think God gives us
time so that everything doesn´t happen all at once. We learn
patience, as well as how to use our agency to manage our time. And
even to deal with time. Sometimes we want more of it and sometimes we
want less. But all we can do is use our agency to squeeze what we can
out of each moment. I´m learning the basics with the time I have
right now, and I look forward to the time when I can apply what I´m
learning more fully. I don´t know if any of that made sense, but
whateva.
We find a lot of our investigators by tracting, but we are starting to
work more with the members. Our Branch President gave a class on
using pass along cards and working with us missionaries. That was way
cool.
Yesterday we were hoping to confirm Vicky, because she was unable to
come to church last week. We went to her house before church to bring
her with us. Her mom wouldn´t let her go, so she still hasn´t been
confirmed. It´s. so. frustrating.
But we´re staying positive and we continue to pray for her.
They don´t celebrate Halloween anymore here, i guess it kind of died
out a few years ago. I dunno why. But today and tomorrow they
celebrate the Day of the Dead. It´s a pretty big celebration and they
honor their deceased family members.
I have to go, but I sent some pictures before writing this. I hope
you get them! Haley I got your picture and it looks like it´s been a
fun Halloween week!
Mom and Dad I hope you have an awesome time on your cruise! Happy
Anniversary!
That´s so sad what happened to Alex. I hope he heals up fast, does it
look like it´s going to end his season?
I love you guys and hope you´re all doing great! I love your emails.
And I´m so sad when Brock and Aubrey forget to write! Haha hint
hint...
Love you!
Elder Austin Tyler
