Perseverance and blessings.

¡Buenos dias!
Haha! You guys are the best family in the world! Thanks for your
prayers and advice. It really does help so much.
I got a letter from Elder Jordan Franks this week! But I think it was
written a month and a half ago haha.
And I noticed last night that my top permanent retainer broke in half.
I dont know when, but it doesnt hurt or anything. Its just
ineffective. So looks like I have to start wearing my night retainer
EVERY night. ugh. ha
Dad that picture of the foliage and stuff is the cafeteria where we
eat (I think). It is right in front of our house. This computer
doesnt have an apostrophe button haha, and its frustrating to my
perfectionist tendencies. ANd as far as the Garcia family, we have an
appointment with them on Wednesday. The father works in the capital,
so its gonna be hard to teach them, but I know we were led to them for
a reason.
I hear from John quite a bit and it sounds like hes doing great! Troy
I heard from once, and he is so focused. Its so cool.
About changes!
I am still here in Nueva Concepcion with Elder Herrera (which Im
actually excited about!), but our area was cut in half. Thank
goodness! Elder Herrera is still District Leader and we have two new
elders here. Elder Thorley from Vegas and Elder Rigby from Layton,
UT. Elder Thorley is a GREENIE! Haha its so cool to be here with a
couple of Americans. I feel like I can learn so much from Elder Rigby
and I can help out Elder Thorley. Its helped me see how much progress
ive made since my time in the MTC. I went on a split with Elder Rigby
to show him the area and introduce him to some of the members and
investigators. He has ten months and he is obedient and determined.
His Spanish, although way better than mine, sounds kind of funny after
spending so much time with a fluent companion. Its been awesome to
have them here.
It is winter here right now, and its really interesting. Its hot
every day, but it cools off a bit at night (To the point where the
natives wear sweatshirts, and I still sweat in a short sleeve shirt)
haha! And it will be like this until February. In March and April it
gets hotter and hotter, and doesnt cool off at night, until May brings
tons of rain. Thats when things finally cool off.
I get so sick of the heat and dust, it makes for a nasty feeling of
dirt and grime at the end of the day. I shower before bed and when I
wake up. And I hate showering because the water is freezing! Haha
but I feel so much better afterwards.
This week we were on an especially dusty road and there were cars and
motorcycles driving by, continuously swirling the dust. I could
hardly see or breathe for the two miles we were on the road. And I
was sweating. Haha I just laughed and thought (in an Austin Eckel
sort of way) "This is soo horrible!!" And laughed some more. It
really was horrible, but I just thought about how funny it was that I
was in Guatemala in the heat and how I was still happy.
The heat makes it tough to focus. Im still memorizing a scripture
every day, and sometimes it is soo hard. But Ive learned sooo much
and Ive gotten so much better at remembering things! Its way cool.
And I pray for the help of the Spirit in remembering the things I
study (something I recommend for anybody that wants to do well in
school or work). I plan on continuing that pattern forever.
I miss snow and cold weather. I love hearing about those BYU football
games and the cold weather thats coming. Ah I miss that. Its good to
know that it will be there when I get back.
Dad, what you were saying about being willing to change, or
acknowledging that fact that we need to change and improve. I was
thinking about that this week. Whenever I study "Preach My Gospel"
and I read something that I dont do, I have a tendency to blow it off
and say, "thats not how its done, or thats awkward or ineffective."
Ive learned to recognize that feeling and as soon as I recognize it I
remind myself that Preach My Gospel was written by people who know
missionary work wayy better than I do. That it is the guide for
missionary work. And then I try to apply it. Ive tried to think of
that book as my trainer, and ive learned so much from it. When I
apply things in that book, it only improves. It may be awkward to
start a conversation a certain way, or to ask a certain question, or
to speak more boldly, but it works.
Haley, your poem is legit. And it sounds like PowderPuff was awesome!
Props on your tackle :)
And Mom, I got my debit card to work at the ATM, and yes I can buy
batteries here. So dont worry about sending those if theyre heavy!
Oh, and no need to worry about my number getting around. You cant use
cards to buy things here, only cash.
And also, I feel healthier. I work out more in the mornings and that
helps. And I figured out what to eat and stuff.
You guys have mentioned that Aubrey Evans is gonna write me, and Ive
been waiting for that for a long time haha! If you have her address,
could you send that to me?
And could you also give me Jonathon Clarks address? That would be
awesome. Thank you!
So ive mentioned how the mission is so up and down emotionally. I
woke up at three in the morning Sunday morning and couldnt sleep. The
thought "what in the world am I doing here, on a mission, in
Guatemala, etc?" and it was horrible! Haha but I was reminded of a
lesson the Brother Bott taught in my mission prep class at BYU. He
said those moments of depression will come, and you just need to
recognize them and not let it get to you. And he explained a process
of antidepression. Ha Sunday proved to be tough and I just kept
fighting those awful thoughts. And I kept doing my best to focus and
love everyone. Then last night we found an awesome family and taught
them a quick lesson on faith and repentance. I felt soo happy! It
was such a relief to find success after such a tough day. This
morning I was thinking about how one day I will be comfortable with
all of this and I will be able to help others with my experience and
knowledge. That got me excited.
Last Sunday I fasted for the gift of tongues. On Tuesday and
Wednesday I understood almost everything. It was so amazing. I know
there is power in fasting and prayer. I know that faith precedes
miracles and power. I know that the Spirit can guide us and enable us
to do amazing things. And I know that I need His help.
I gotta go, but I love you guys and hope youre doing great! Have an
awesome week!
Love,
Elder Tyler

The first opportunity to teach a whole family!

Ahhh I loved all your emails! Thank you so much for the advice and
everything. This week, although by no means easier, was better. Mom,
that talk by President Hinckley was powerful, I needed that. It
sounds like your vacation was great! Mom on a jetski!?!?!? Haha
thats so awesome!
We had a little vacation of our own today, thats why my email is so
late. We were the most successful zone in the mission during October,
so we traveled to Reu (Retalhuleu) and met up with President Maravilla
and his family and the Assistants to the President and the
Secretaries. We went to this really nice resort (way cheap too!) and
played mini golf for our P Day. It was pretty awesome. Everyone kept
asking about how my Spanish is coming along and they all told me they
were impressed with my progress. So that tells me I think Im
progressing more than I think I am haha. President was really
impressed and told me to keep it up. He was pleased with our success
this past month and told us it better continue haha! We have some
great goals set, so I think it will continue.
After playing mini golf we sat around and talked until leaving to eat
lunch at BURGER KING. That was amazing. Oh and I think I overreacted
on the weight thing. I weighed myself this week and Im still at 180.
Ive been eating healthier and adjusted my work out plan every morning
and thats going well.
Dad, AA batteries are what I need most. And three AAA: Thanks!
And Mom, that sheet will work great! I dont remember all that I wrote
in my letter regarding the Plan of Salvation sheet, but I think it was
detailed enough. Im sure whatever you think will work will be just
great.
So I tried Iguana this week. That was interesting. We killed the
iguana ourselves and had a member cook it for us. Then we caught a
huge one that afternoon! Both green ones! Those are pretty rare, it
was nuts.
I also tried cow tongue. That was interesting too. Haha I dont think
it was the cause of my bu (diahrrea) but i felt a little funny after
eating it.
So a couple of really cool things happened this week. First, we took
a bus out to the trochas (toward the beach, which I still have yet to
see) and visited a family from the branch. They were so excited to
have us over. They gave me two coconuts to drink and then fed us
soup. Who knows what was in it! Haha it was weird. But we visited
with them for a bit and then we were about to leave when they informed
us that there wasnt a bus that comes by until three. It was one. My
companion was sure there was a bus that came every hour haha! The
father of the family offered to take us back on his motorcycle. Elder
Herrera said well my companion doesnt like to do that. They asked me
why. I explained that it was dangerous (rather than explaining that
we had a rule saying it was prohibited. That would have exposed an
element of disobedience and disunity in our companionship) and that I
dont like to do it haha. So Elder Herrera looked at me and asked what
we were going to do. He said, we have three options... walk the two
hour hike back to the house, wait the two hours for the bus, or take
the motorcycle. I said, well I will narrow it down to two options and
you can pick from there haha. He laughed and said, I guess we will
wait for the bus. Five minutes after we made that decision, we heard
a horn honking in the distance. It was a bus horn! We ran to the
street after saying our goodbyes and made it just in time! The bus
came out of nowhere and never comes at that time! It was such a
blessing. We got back to the house in time for Language Study and we
were on time to our appointment after that.
Another cool thing... So President told us we can use bikes if we need
them, but to be careful and not take improper advantage of his
permission. The other night we had two appointments in the Pampas,
which are pretty far. It was a situation that justified using bikes.
So we rode all the way our there. Elder Herreras bike chain kept
falling off. But we finally got to the house. The family wasnt
there. We went to the other house. That family wasnt there. UGH
haha
So we started to head back and we saw a man outside of his house
talking to his wife! A married couple! And there were kids in the
yard! It was a family just waiting for us! (we have had quite the
time trying to find actual families to teach and its a huge goal of
our zone). So we talked to the father. His wife had to go do
something and couldnt visit with us. But we talked to this guy and
realized he was very well versed in religion. He knew his stuff and
had investigated the church a bit. But the cool thing was how this
guy didnt let his knowledge turn into pride. A lot of times,
intelligent people become enslaved by their own knowledge. They let
it prevent them from seeing things from another point of view, or
understanding things in different ways. They let it get in the way of
feeling and humility. This man, Brother Garcia, was different. He
sat there and thought about each thing we said. He would then point
out how it was in agreement with something from the Bible and how he
never understand how other churches dont teach it that way, etc. It
was so cool to see him realize that there was more to the gospel of
Jesus Christ than what many churches teach. He accepted the Book of
Mormon and was eager to pray about it.
If we hadnt had those two appointments out there, and if they hadnt
fallen through, we might not have had the chance to find and teach
him. It helped see that sometimes there is a purpose to things not
working out as planned.
Awhile back, Mom asked if the place Im in is dangerous. Nueva
Concepcion is too lazy to be dangerous. Im sure stuff happens, but
the most dangerous thing for us is the street. Haha I almost got hit
by a drunk riding his bike today. Thats a pretty common thing. And
there are ten year olds driving motorcycles. We always have to be
alert when walking in the streets because its pretty crazy. But other
than that its pretty safe around here. People respect us as fellow
Christians, so we dont get any trouble.
So Ive mentioned that almost everyone here goes to church. The
churches teach some pretty interesting stuff. I dont want to get too
far into it because theyre all trying to do what they think is right.
But something that gives me weird feelings is when some of the
Evangelicos pray. They get all emotional and raise their voices and
weep and wail and chant. And everyone listening to the prayer mutters
chants and whispers and stuff. Its creepy sometimes haha and it makes
it kind of tough to teach the proper, reverent, method of prayer.
But theyre all good people and Im continuously learning to love them.
Ive learned a lot this first change and I look forward to seeing what
will happen this week. As anxious as I am to know whats going to
happen, Ive prayed to have the strength and faith to submit to what
the Lord has in store and make the best of it. Actually doing that is
harder than saying it, as is everything in the mission, but Im
determined. I was studying a lot about faith this week and learned
that faith is a gift from God, a spiritual gift. As we demonstrate
our faith through our actions and our humble desires to serve the
Lord, He is able to give us more faith. He is able to strengthen our
hope and we can partake, little by little, of the fruit of the tree of
life. Sometimes my faith is stronger than other times and I can feel
a difference in my abilities to speak Spanish and teach by the Spirit.
I have a desire to acquire more of it, and Im determined to act on
that desire.
I love you guys and hope youre all doing great! Haley, you arent a
terrible sister! But thats no excuse not to write haha I love your
letters!
Oh, funny story. Theres a house with two sisters (in their late
twenties) who live with their father. And we go there a lot to eat
dinner. And they do our laundry. But theres a drunk that lives close
by and every night he yells "PERDONEME!" at the top of his lungs.
Perdoneme means forgive me. Haha its the weirdest thing, but its
hilarious. When we walk by he tries to talk to me in english but hes
too drunk to say much. When he isnt yelling it means he has passed
out for the night. Funny, but in a sad way. People drink sooo much
here, its crazy.
Well, gotta go. Love you all and hope you have a great week! Thanks
for your advice and please continue to give it. I have so much to
learn.
Love,
Elder Austin Tyler

P.S. Dad, I love the pictures, you guys look great! And I havent
gotten mail in a couple weeks, but before that I received a bunch of
letters. None from you guys yet, but Im sure theyre all in a pile at
the mission office. ill find out this week.

Rosa and Vicki Santos Baptism Day

There is power in prayer!

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