Sick but focused

I've been sick forever with the cold and it wont go away, its nothing serious according to our manual so I cant call the nurse. Yes I can take pictures but I haven't been focused on that. I've been working my butt off to get baptisms and we finally will have 3, one this Friday and two next Tuesday. I love you too mom. Just to make YOU baggy, I have 33 weeks left, out of 105 en total. Yeah, after the new year its all down hill. I would have never imagined myself in another country during 3 different years. Love you all.

Combining areas - more luck?

We were able to go to the mall this week. I am staying here in Usulutan but receiving a new comp. No I haven't gotten any boxes yet. I am keeping focused on my mission. We are struggling right now, no one is wanting to go to church. We just haven't had any luck. I heard they are going to combine my area with another area and I am receiving a new comp. My area will be bigger and we will see what happens. I just make ham and turkey sandwiches that's all. There is no time for exercise hardly. I will get to do more when I go home. Nah we don't nap. I'll tell you at the end of the mission more. Pictures below with some of his past companions.

Resist being baggy

9 months and 15 days. My new companion is Elder Wade and he dies this change, I’m killing him too. I am learning how to resist being baggy jaja. I learned at general conference, it may be best to have younger children learn to share their testimonies at such times as family home evening or when giving talks in Primary until they are old enough to do so in fast and testimony meeting. I also learned about faith, with the example from M Russell Ballard. There are two families that I’m close to. 11 of November are our next change and no, no service projects yet, we are trying to plan one. The weather stays the same, there really is no hotter or cooler. My pant size is 32/30. I will send a picture, just haven’t used my camera lately because where we are at it’s a little dangerous. Like Saturday night we ran into some gang members but they didn’t notice us. It was funny and scary. It was about 7 a night. It gets pitch black here by 6. We ate something bad a couple days ago so me and my comp we were sick but nothing too bad. I’ll come back and cook eggs, beans, and tortillas for you guys. I’m all good, just trucking along. Love you mom

Several little emails, got his package, practically brothers

Hi mom, I have learned how to use the book of Mormon better. My comp and I we are practically brothers. We are really close. He goes by Zoro. We worked with the assistants so yeah they have good influence. My week has been great though; we worked with the assistants and had some success. We never got a chance to go to the mall. Nah it’s all good sharing the gospel, not many problems with sharing. I’m having a little baggyness but eh haha. My hand has healed well. Spanish is like a 10-5*1.5. My comp is baggy but doing well. I got my package I liked it a lot. Thanks mom. I g2g now. We are only taking a little to write today.

Changes and a dying companion

Hey mom, how is it going? I got transfers and now I am in Usulutan El Salvador with a very cool companion. What is cool is he is dying this change so I am the one to kill him.  Dying in the mission means he ends his mission this change. (whew) One thing this week is that he got permission from president to go to the mall and I don't have money or a little because I have been using it on travel, food, and bathroom stuff. Over there is a sports store in which I need to get a few things that are important. I need new socks because they are all ruined. Nike socks work the best because a comp gave me a pair and they have lasted since then. I need new soccer shoes because my last ones I gave to my old comp because he needed them more than I did because he has no money and his only pair of shoes are like super ruined. And I need to get a couple of pants because I only have 3 pairs that work and I don't like using them for more than 2 days because they end up smelling and we don't have a working pila. I really need this stuff and this is like the only chance I get to go to the mall because generally its not allowed but he got special permission because he is dying this change. I also want to get a gift for him because he has been a friend for a long time in the mission when I was in La Union and he was in Santa Rosa de Lima. His name is Elder S.  We should have a baptism this change, the investigator needs an interview from president. But the area is good, hard to learn but I will get there. No I did not get the box, its wasn't there at changes. In the Spanish hymn book its number 208 Brilla Rayos de Clemencia my favorite hymn right now. Thanks mom for all that you have done for me, thank you for always providing for me and I will try best to be better, in saving money, my attitude and other things.  Love you too mom!

Emergency changes, still in LaUnion

Well right now it's been really tough. I haven't had anyone really who wants to progress. I have 4 people progressing right now. Elizabeth, Melissa, Manuel, and Maria. Elizabeth came to church this last week and really enjoyed it and also is trying to make new friends in the church. I hooked her up with a church member because he secretly likes her and I took him with me to visit her. He took her to church and everything and they invited us to dinner and it was so funny. She is scheduled to be baptized the 29. I hope she gets to the date. We are trying to focus on more member help to establish a friendship between them and our investigators. Melissa's boyfriend takes her to church so she doesn't have much problems. She just really needs to have the desire to be baptized. We really haven't received a yes from yet.  Manuel and Maria, they need to marry. They know that they need to marry before baptism and also they need to attend church. This week we had emergency changes so I received a new companion. His name is Elder Quevedo. He's really cool. Calm, hard worker, smart, yeah its all fine. We've gone 4 weeks without a single investigator in the church but this past sunday we had two and we are going share the gospel with these two. He likes basketball more than soccer and I think it's ironic lol. Today we had a zone pday and we played with water and stuff. It was alright. I didn't really want to get wet cause I didn't have extra clothes but they made me so yeah. I have pictures but my camera died and I'm not in La Union right now. This week we had a trip to the temple with all of our investigators. Almost no one went from our area but oh well, maybe next time. I took some cool photos of the temple and with Elder Adams and I, he's my brother in the mission. I found a family from sensuntepeque there so I took a picture with them. It was a good experience. Of course I am still here in La Union. It has gotten hotter and hotter as the days go on. People think that in the nights is when things cool down but no not here. It gets hotter. This past week I practically couldn't sleep at night it's been so hot but during the day it's fine for me because my body has adjusted itself. With this emergency change that happened I think Im going to stay in La Union for another change because he will only have like 2 weeks to know the area. That will make 5 changes here, waaaaay too much time in one area lol. Specially in La Union. I've gotten a little baggy since I'm on my way down hill now lol but it only makes me want to work harder because I have goals to reach before the mission is done. Changes are the 19 of August.  I need you to go and find El Salvador Sign Language websites and send me the PDF to print out. My comp is helping me learn sign language in case we meet a mute person.  Mom I am proud of you. Usually its the parent that says that but really I am. I always look at the directory of the our ward and always see that you are Relief Society President and I think that you have grown a lot from when we both once were. Since I was like 7 to now things have change.  

I love mango, fresh from the tree.

Well this week has been really really really really really frustrating.  This area is very difficult.  It is far away from the chapel and it’s very big and no one wants to go to church. I’ve been working my butt off this week to put new baptism dates and no one accepts.  I have a feeling I’m getting transferred this next change.  On Friday we found this old man who is very catholic. He was talking with my comp for a while and he was just going to town yelling at him and telling him that he’s lying. Then he brought up baptisms for the dead and that is when I joined in. with the scripture in 1 Corinthians 15:29 in which is a rhetorical question as to why would we baptize the dead if the dead don’t rise but obviously the dead rise so we need to do baptisms for the dead.  I haven’t really eaten weird foods because that’s not allowed in the mission. I love mango though, fresh from the tree.  I really love the OSU pillow case. The new shoes are really good and the next changes are the 19th of August.  I plan on playing runescape in college because it’s simple hahaha. Diego won’t recognize me when I get home and he won’t like me :(  I have less than I year left because I go home the 20 of July.  In 3 months is my 3rd general conference.  In 5 is Christmas.  5 months and we will talk again. The Indianapolis temple looks good and looks like rob enjoyed it.  How’s his progress?  He will be baptized in this next year, I know it. And I want an orange fluffy cat and call him Leon and a huskie and call him lobo. haha  When windows 10 comes out tell me all about it. And no my camera is not broken; I safeguard it all the time.  It’s just I haven’t been able to send pictures through wifi.  But when I get a chance I will.  I could use a new journal but like an actually missionary journal, and a calendar hand made by you so it has special dates and cool sayings and stuff.  Love you mom para siempre jamas

From his eyes

Site seeing

 

My LaUnion family

On Monday we played painball (paintball), it was fun, hurt also. Almost all this week I was on interchanges with the district leader because he had to do interviews for the investigators of the ZLs and the sisters. Not much success this week, I don't think I will baptize this change, which is sad because I've been baptizing in every change I've had. I may have 2 miracle baptisms this week but we will see. I got to play basketball with the La Union basketball team and they have a 6' 7 Panamanian that speaks English it was fun. Changes are not until next week and no boxes yet.  Love you mom.

This is the family that really loves me.

This little girl is a part of my favorite family in La Union and she calls me her dad.

She also calls me her dad because her dad is not there and she like loves me.

Still in LaUnion, new companion and pics of Zacatillo island

Hey mom, I'm still in La Union, and yeah I got a new companion. I'm senior companion. His name is Elder Velarde, he's from Guatemala and has 4 months in the mission.  We just worked hard that's all, I'm trying to exceed all the standards of excellence as senior companion. Not much happened this week. Only that I've been so tired because I'm like running everywhere.  I'm trying to get things to send home. Today we are going to go to an artifact store.  The island Zacatillo was nice. Really hot and we had no water. It kind of felt weird to travel on water.  First time other than scout camp.  I love you mom.

(pictures provided by Cindi Brinkerhoff)

Zacatillo

Elder Okasaki, Elder Grimes, Elder Brinkerhoff

Elder Okasaki, Elder Brinkerhoff, member, Elder Jones, Elder Grimes

Transfer week, an island adventure

Today we are going to an Island (Zacatillo). We have changes this week.  Im hopefully getting changed.  He has loved this area very much.  I'm doing fine.



He was pre occupied with excitement to go to an island missionaries had not been to yet.  His final words... and this is how I know he is doing ok.  His birthday is coming up soon.  lol




Hey mom, you can still get me that USA jersey and socks if you still want to. Im a size M. Or get whatever you want. BIRHTDAY SOON! haha love you mom bye

Boxes, boxes, boxes

Mother's Day Skype!

He is doing well and had lots of fun stories.  He bared his testimony in Spanish which was the best part.  Love this boy!

Temple Trip

Tazer, Pepper Spray, and a Seventy

Well with what an interesting name comes some interesting stories. Well as we all know a lot of teenage boys in one room can cause havoc, well maybe it happened at this time. Well, our zone leader has a flashlight and we were like okay cool, until he pressed a button and it sent out volts of energy. Uh oh, not what a room full of missionaries needed. So after moments of pondering and thinking, the other zone leader sparked an idea, lets grab each other and stand in a circle and I will shock one of you guys! Well...we tried it, but it took awhile until someone was brave enough. He went around to everyone and they backed out. So he came to me and I was like, well, how bad can it really be? So he got me in the arm, but it wasnt strong at all, only I felt it, but was more of a burning than anything. I got a circle imprinted on my arm haha. Then he shocked everyone, but what was funniest is when he tried to shock the other zone leader who is Japanese, he let go of all of us and he shocked him and he fell to the ground squirming. Then we were like yeah, we're done haha. He tased him in the butt. So like a couple days before that, the same zone leader looked through that cabinet and found a can, it was with all the shoe polish and stuff. He thought it was a like a shoe freshener or something and he sprayed it in his shoes. We were all around him and all the sudden one of the missionaries started to cough, then we all did at the same time. We all coughed for like 10 minutes until one of them picked up the bottle and read, "Police Mace" haha. So we all got pepper sprayed but indirectly. It was all funny. 
 Wednesday, Elder Alonso came to San Miguel to speak to us. He's the 2nd counselor in the Area presidency. He was very inspirational and there was one question he had for us: Which is better, if a person goes to church and takes the sacrament but their thoughts are somewhere else, or someone that is at work and takes time out of their work time to sit down and pray and think about the sacrament and jesus' sacrifices? Thats really powerful and makes me think that we need to focus on what's really important in church and focus on the true meaning of the sacrament.

Week of powerful conferences

Week of powerful conferences multi areas with Elder Alonso and his wife.

Ew what's that smell?

We had changes, I got a new companion named elder Jones, hes that trainer of elder brinkherhoff. Our zone got even bigger because they combined la union and rio grande together so now we have la union, santa rosa de lima, gotera, and rio grande in our zone. We recieved sister missionaries in our zone so they took our old area and we got a new area. Now there are 3 areas in la union. Our area now is a little bit of our old area and a chunk of the zone leaders area. So Its all practically new to me. We had to 2 baptisms this saturday. That will be 9 baptisms for me. Our goal is 4 baptisms every month. Last month we achieved it and this month we have 2 more. Next month we have 5 planned baptisms. My companion is an old zone leader, and elder brinkerhoff told me that I am in district leader training, thats why they lowered a zone leader to a senior companion was to train me. Which is fine with me. I hope I do well this change. We changed houses and this one is surprisingly gigantic. So much room for just missionaries. We have like nothing. Our pila doesn't work so we can't wash clothes and half the lights in the house don't work. I think there is a problem with the drainage system because it always smells like poop when I get home, ew. Our area is so far away from the church. We have to take a bus to get there. What also stinks is that the market is also so far away and we have to carry all of that stuff back to our house. other than this there was not much more this week.

Time is going by so fast

Well this week was very interesting. So much news. Well in 2 days is changes, and today we get to know who has changes. Im pretty sure my companion has changes because he has been in this area for 6 months.

Well the good news is that la union is opening up a new area, and we are getting sister missionaries in la union. The area that we have right now will be the area that they will get because its the safest area. We are being moved further away to a place called bella vista, beautiful view. Its like the rich neighborhood. We will be working in a new but a little bit dangerous area. We will have Huisquil, belen, and bella vista. Huisquil and belen we cant enter beyond like 7 because there are no lights and its dangerous. But Huisquil is my favorite place because theres a lot of success there. We are very far from the church and the center of la union, we will have to take buses to church and a tax from grocery shopping. If my companion leaves then its going to be really hard because I don't know those areas except for huisquil and the new companion wont know la union. Its like starting from scratch haha.

Well all of thursday, friday, and saturday, I spent with one of the zone leaders. He was sick so I was like babysitting him. His house is gigantic and has air conditioning, the only house in the mission that does. It was fun but boring. Friday I had to go to San Miguel for a zone leaders meeting with stake president and mission president. I put in a little input but not much because im not a zone leader haha. I wasnt able to shower for 3 days nor shave because my stuff was in the house and my companion has the keys and he was with the other zone leader doing interviews in a different town, called perquin. Que chuko.

almost in my 7th change, time is going by so fast.

Trip to the temple, general conference, and a new workout video

The most exciting thing this week were 3 things, trip to the temple, general conference, and a new workout video.

Well the temple trip was amazing. But different than most, we didn't actually go inside of the temple. This was all for the investigators. They were able to walk around the outside of the temple and see its beauty. We also had talks and stuff like that about the plan of salvation, baptism, families, and auxiliaries. This temple is so beautiful and the inside is even more. We brought a couple investigators, its hard to because our area is soooooo far away from the temple. About 5 hours and about 150 km. The climate felt great because it wasn't hot over there. There were other missionaries complaining that it was hot in san salvador but I was like you guys need to go to la union to experience true heat haha. There were 1500 missionaries and investigators there. Thats almost double the last time we had this trip back on december 19. 

Next is about general conference, and no I didn't not watch it in spanish this time, we watched it in english. But I loved this general conference, it was so powerful. Being on a mission makes general conference feel like a privilege. The new news on the street was that we are getting 3 new temples in Haiti, Thailand, and the Ivory Coast. Thats so cool. I loved the talks and the ones in spanish we listened to in spanish because it was more powerful in its native language. we actually listened to the one in Portuguese and surprisingly I understood about 70 % of it. Portuguese and spanish are so similar. I liked the part where President Utchdorf started speak in german and then corrected himself haha. This is my companions last general conference, he goes home in 2 months. Hes so old. So much revelation and so much knowledge given from these talks. I cant wait till the liahona comes out. Its starting to get hard to not stop thinking in spanish because its so much easier. My mind is just use to it. 

We have this investigator who is super cholo, cholo means strong, all he does is just work out every single day. He gave us this workout video called Insanity. Its so hard but it feels great afterwards. Im starting to get chunky. I've gained about 30 pounds so far. But I was a beanpole when I started. Its true that the skinny missionaries in this mission become fat and the fat missionaries become skinny. But Ill try this out and stop eating bad food. I stopped eating chips in general because this chips here are so bad for you. 

Well thats really all for this week, thanks for all your support.

--

Moroni 8:25-26

25 Y las primicias del arrepentimiento es el bautismo; y el bautismo viene por la fe para cumplir los mandamientos; y el cumplimiento de los mandamientos trae la remisión de los pecados;

26  y la remisión de los pecados trae la mansedumbre y la humildad de corazón; y por motivo de la mansedumbre y la humildad de corazón viene la visitación del Espíritu Santo, el cual Consolador llena de esperanza y de amor perfecto, amor que perdura por la diligencia en la oración, hasta que venga el fin, cuando todos los santos morarán con Dios.

A few more baptisms and a beautiful view

I had 2 more baptisms. We went on top of a volcano for the whole day doing service on friday. We were about 1200m above sea level and you could see honduras, nicaragua, and the pacific ocean.

El Salvador San Salvador East Mission had such an amazing activity
at the temple today, Apr 2 with more than 1,500 people.

This baptism meant alot

Baptisms, Heat, and Scorpions

March 16, 2015
Today was P-day so all we did was do your shopping and play soccer. Not much but at night we found a family of 8 people. One of the sons was born in Cleveland, Ohio and lived there for 3 years. It was pretty cool to see that Salvadorans are everywhere.

March 17, 2015
Not much today other than we have 2 confirmed baptisms for the 26th now, this area is amazing for baptisms. I guess the more you suffer (by heat) the more blessings you get. We also had dinner at the bishop’s house and we ate the honduran version of a pupusa. It was pretty good.

March, 18 2015
We confirmed another baptism for this Friday, and this kid loves me. He wants me to baptize him. We also got two new baptism dates for the 11th of April. Not sure if they are secure but we will just see. I have to go on interchanges again tomorrow because the zone leaders have to interview one of our investigators for baptism. I hope it all goes well.

March 20, 2015
I loved today so much. My investigator named Miguel had his birthday today. He invited us over for lunch. And well, it was interesting. They served us this chicken soup that was freshly made like an hour before we got there. There was chicken blood in there, a couple organs, cabbage, uka, and other stuff. And on the side we had the rest of the chicken. Then we graffitied his house with our names and happy birthday. Then later that night we baptized that little booger. I baptized him, and I think he almost cried. He’s like my own son. We took a lot of photos and we had a lot more fun. That’s 4 baptisms and by the end of this change I should have 12.

March 21, 2015
Not much stuff new today except for another baptism. We baptized my companions lover. I love my laundry lady so much, she irons and folds all my cloths and they smell good stainless when I get them back. My companion is trying to teach me a little bit of graffiti and its cool. The team that represents La Union in basketball wants to recruit us to play for them. We were like nah we are only missionaries and we just want to play in your gym on Mondays, haha. I’m starting to practice more basketball again because that’s the sport that I love the most. One of our baptism dates for next week fell because this 70 year old can’t stop drinking coffee >.< but he’s so cool and kind and he thinks that we are equivalent to the Pope so he always calls us papa. For lunch this member invited us to lunch and I almost died, it was a so much food. Big piece of chicken, half a plate of rice, potatoes with a really good sauce, and salad with bread. AMAZING! In the morning we played soccer at 5am as a district. We were all dead except for Elder Brinkerhoff because he took his oxidizers, muscle milk, and multivitamins too haha broma. My companion at night slept on the ground because it was so hot, I slept with 2 fans on my face so it was all right. It’s bad when you have to take at least 3 showers a day to smell decent and avoid heat rash. I love La Union

March 22, 2015
Found a scorpion in our house.

Love you guys!

¡Vienvenidos al fuego de El Salvador!‏ Welcome to the fire of El Salvador!

March 9, 2015
Today was a P-day with the whole oriente part of El Salvador. We all went to San Miguel to play soccer. It was fun and hot. Kind of boring actually because we only played for like 30 minutes and then everyone was done because it was so hot. When P-day was over, this family invited us to go eat pupusas in Conchagua up on the volcano. The dad gave me a cut off shirt that says "Bula Fiji". It´s a shirt directly from Fiji. He is a fisherman that is away from home 8 months out of the year. Later we ate garlic pupusas and took pictures. It was really fun but tiring.
March 10, 2015
Today was a more successful day. A lot of people were more open to us so we got a lot of references and a new investigator. Today was blazing hot and my companion and I, we both went through a package of 25 bags of water each. We had a person argue with us that Adam was not a prophet and that prophets are perfect. It was quite fun. My shoes are starting to come off in the front >.< not again! Too much walking. Time for a timeout.
March 11, 2015
Today was a quick day. We were on interchanges with the Zone leaders because my companion had to do a baptism interview for an investigator for them. It wa fun, we got a couple lessons in, we places a baptism date for one our investigators so now we have 6 people that should get baptized the 21th. We later had Ward Council which was long and boring because I am new to the area so I didn´t know anything. That´s really it for the day.
March 14, 2015
Today was a very successful day. We found a new family of 5, received a lot of people. We visited a less active and let us pick some Jalapeños and red chilis from his garden. I´m so determined to eat them but I´m afraid haha. Earlier we went to the "Orilla del mar" and took some beautiful pictures of the gulf of honduras. We saw some kids throwing something into the water but we didn´t know what it was. It turned out to be a Garobo which is a big lizard that they love to catch and eat. We have a big one on top of our roof. We took a picture holing this one and with the kids. There was a baptism of the other companionship. I also fixed a broken pila and repaired a shattered water spicket, thank you PVC glue haha. I have this mysterious rash on my right arm and neck and it´s so off because it doesn´t itch. I do also have heat rash and a sunburn haha. ¡Bienvenidos al fuego de El Salvador!
Sorry I don´t have pictures right now because I forgot them in the house but I´ll send them next P-day.
-
Moroni 8:25-26
25  Y las primicias del arrepentimiento es el bautismo; y el bautismo viene por la fe para cumplir los mandamientos; y el cumplimiento de los mandamientos trae la remisión de los pecados;
 26  y la remisión de los pecados trae la mansedumbre y la humildad de corazón; y por motivo de la mansedumbre y la humildad de corazón viene la visitación del Espíritu Santo, el cual Consolador llena de esperanza y de amor perfecto, amor que perdura por la diligencia en la oración, hasta que venga el fin, cuando todos los santos morarán con Dios.

La Union here I come!

4 Marzo 2015, Miercoles

 Many new things have came, Cambios!!! And well, I had changes. I`m not a secretary anymore. When the presentation came to show who goes where, my name did not show for like 99% of the presentation and then the last slide of the presentation says: Elder Ma´alona with Elder Grimes in..."La Unión"!!! I was so excited and nervous. La Union is the hottest place in central America and the furthest area away from the capital of El Salvador. It took us 6 hours to drive to our new area. It is right next to the ocean. It smells like fish all the time  My companion is awesome. He´s a samoan from california. He gave me an Ielavalava which is like a cloth skirt that they wear. It is so cool. And also our leader of the zone is Elder Brinkerhoff! He was with me in Sensuntepeque. It is so hot, at night it feel like 100. But I´m ready to take a dip into this fire and come out a better person.

5 Marzo 2015, Jueves

Well today was my first day to experience true heat. We are talking about 110-120 heat index. But it is bearable. I had this cool experience in the street. This guy comes up to us and tell us that he hears that we believe that the book of mormon is the only true word of God. I took initiative and I told him that we believe the book of mormon to be the word of God and also the Biblia as long as it is translated correctly. And then I told him about the history of the book of mormon and how Joseph Smith translated it. Then he wanted us to come by and talk more about. So we got a reference out of it. Then later we got to our appointment, the guy is named Adam Lopez. He lived in new york for like his whole life so he speaks fluent english. He has had such a hard life. He grew up bad and got involved in gangs in his whole life. He´s done a lot of bad stuff but he has such a strong testimony of the church. He said that a pastor passed by and told him tat he should burn the book of mormon but he told the pastor to get out of this house. He had an interview with the mission president. The president had to send a recommendation to Salt Lake because he had such a bad history. But the mission president told him not worry because h had a change of heart and truly wanted to find God.

6 Marzo, Viernes

Well today was a tiring day. We had to wake up at 1:00am. Want to know why? Because my companion had to go to migration in San Salvador. We caught the 3:00am bus to San Salvador. Not to mention that is was extremely hot. Five hours later of a terrible bus ride we got to San SAlvador. We got to the office and all they did was take his fingerprints, that was it. It took 10 minutes. We were so annoyed. Then we got back onto the bus and we got to La Union at about 5. Qué Chafa. Then we did some planning, went to go eat at the 1st counselors house, came back, and we crashed super early. My companion was not feeling good and had a terrible day. He told me this: More blessing, More problems and these are all the things that happened:

-Maria (his stalker) keeps calling

-stomach and throat hurt

-no sleep

-hot bus (5 hrs)

-Robbed on the bus by the attendant

-Just fingerprints

-Hot bus again (5 hrs)

-Didn´t get to finish planning

-He blames his stomachache on me haha

Well that´s our day. TIme for a better but hotter day tomorrow.

Elder Grimes

La Misión San Salvador El Salvador Este

--

Moroni 8:25-26

25  Y las primicias del arrepentimiento es el bautismo; y el bautismo viene por la fe para cumplir los mandamientos; y el cumplimiento de los mandamientos trae la remisión de los pecados;

 26  y la remisión de los pecados trae la mansedumbre y la humildad de corazón; y por motivo de la mansedumbre y la humildad de corazón viene la visitación del Espíritu Santo, el cual Consolador llena de esperanza y de amor perfecto, amor que perdura por la diligencia en la oración, hasta que venga el fin, cuando todos los santos morarán con Dios.

More pictures!

Pictures!

He used the word swell?

I'm in a trio so I have 2 companions but yeah everything is swell. I don´t know if I´ll stay here, we have changes this week on Wednesday. But I like it a lot, reminds me of when I first arrived to the mission field. Yeah I still teach, we leave the office at about 4. The last two days we didn´t leave till 7 because there was a lot of stuff we had to do because of the changes that are coming up. I know I've spent a lot of money but there was a lot of things I needed especially since I'm in the capital. And we went to the temple store so I bought garments temple clothes and new scriptures with tabs. What was in the box was Swedish fish, twix, jolly ranchers, and other stuff.  I enjoyed it.

Change of Events

Well what an interesting 2 weeks. Where do I start? Well I was in San Vicente for 2 weeks, having a decent time, new compañero, new área. I guess I may have been feeling a little home sick, for the past couple months. I was having thoughts of just leaving, in my mind it seemed easy, just go home. Well I decided to talk to Presidente about it. He definitely changed my mind. Theres a lot of reasons why we go on our missions, the purpose is great, we may not even know what that purpose is but we shouldn't doubt it. I want to thank those of you that helped me in this time of need to change my mind. President sent me to the Mission office for the rest of this change. I´m an assistant to the general secretary. There is a high change that I´ll stay in the office and if I do, I´ll become the general secretary for the mission. This is a lot of responsibility. Practically in charge of everything. Our days are really different. We go to the office at 9 every day and leave at 4. There rest of the day we do proselyting. There are 6 of us in one house. I love my new gringo compañeros. On wednesday we were at Lowes to buy a ladder for the house and this guy stopped us. He told that he was the owner of the biggest oil company in Centroamérica and he works for the US government in oil trade too. He tried giving us money because he loves what we do. He was like "Oh I dropped a 20$, um, pick it up and it´s yours". We didn´t take it but he invited us to ice cream so that was good. He told us to keep in contact with him and ask him if we needed anything haha ;) Last night was an interesting night. My compañeros and the other misioneros played a initiation joke on me. They changed the number of one of their phones to the number of the office phones. Then he kept calling my companions phone and every time he picked it up, it would be all static but with some words. I started to get scared. And then this kept going on until the lights shut off. I was done haha I went into the fetal position. After this kept going on there was a phone call that said "welcome to the district" and then they all started laughing and after that I knew it was a joke. haha. Well that is like my week, nothing much. The area is cool, a lot of hills. Oh yeah and I´m in the city of San Salvador which is the capital. There is a lot of people. We have a personal taxi that drives everywhere if we need to go somewhere far. We also have a washing machine in our house so that awesome. I make phone calls to like everyone in the mission asking for numbers of certain things, for directions of recibidas and a lot of other things. I really like it. My mindset has changed a lot. Thank you all. 

-- 

Moroni 8:25-26

25  Y las primicias del arrepentimiento es el bautismo; y el bautismo viene por la fe para cumplir los mandamientos; y el cumplimiento de los mandamientos trae la remisión de los pecados;

 26  y la remisión de los pecados trae la mansedumbre y la humildad de corazón; y por motivo de la mansedumbre y la humildad de corazón viene la visitación del Espíritu Santo, el cual Consolador llena de esperanza y de amor perfecto, amor que perdura por la diligencia en la oración, hasta que venga el fin, cuando todos los santos morarán con Dios.

San Vicente (la espiga 3) here I come!

Well yes, I had changes and I left. It was sad because sensuntepeque was like my home. I´m now in San Vicente la espiga 3. It´s like a city and is really nice. The people here are amazing. My companion is Elder Mazariegos and he is from Guatemala. He is the District leader so I´m the companion of a district leader. Maybe the next change I´ll be district leader.  And I found out the date that I come home is the 20 of July 2016. But everything is great here. It is a lot more hotter here than in sensunte but it doesn´t bother me.

Possible transfer this week!

Lunes, 12

Lunes fue un buen día, llegamos en Cojute a las 12 para jugar fútbol por una hora en una cancha que fue tan grande. Muy divertido. Después, comimos Pizza Hut en la capilla, cual es una experiencia rara porque en sensunte, no hay Pizza Hut. Salimos a las tipo 4 por sensunte, cual es una hora y media viaje en bús. Llegamos muy tarde en cual no pudimos hacer otras cosas que quisimos hacer. NO mucho el resto del día. 

Martes, 13

Qué un día aburrido, no mucho, no mucho éxito. visitamos personas y hablamos con personas en la calle. Sierpe hay bolos que quiere pisto de nosotros. SIEMPREEEEEEE!!!! jaja.

Miércoles, 14

Qué un día raro, tuvimos un investigador que nos invitó a ver el partido de barça contra atl madrid, comimos y después les enseñamos mucho. Fue un bien tiempo. Vaya Barça!!!!! Gane El Copa Del Rey! jaja. No mucho el resto del día.

Jueves, 15

Casi lo mismos como martes jaja 

Viernes, 16

Yo pensé mucho acerca de cambios, y, sin lugar a duda, voy a tener cambios, así, próxima vez que escribo yo, voy a estar en un otro lugar. Pero, sin preocuparse mucho.

Sábado, 17

hoy tuvimos una actividad por un investigador. Cavamos un fundación por una casa con una piqueta y una pala. Mis manos fueron destruidas. Yo tengo muchas ampollas. 

Domingo, 18

Ninguna investigador en la sacramental  pero vaya, no mucho hoy. 

                                                                                         

Yo quiero hablar acerca de algo muy importante que necesitamos aumentar, se llama la fe. Fe es una creencia firme en algo que no vea. Es muy importante que tenemos esto, especialmente en Jesucristo, Porque sin esto, somos perdidos. Esto es el primero atributo de cristo, porque Cristo mostró mucha fe en su padre, nuestro Padre Celestial. Si podemos aprender como mostrar y desarrollar nuestra fe, podemos mejorar nuestra vida. Primer camino en lo que podemos hacerlo es por medio de oración, siempre orar, en todos lugares, todos lados, véase Alma 37:37 y síguelo. 

Happy New Years!

31 Diciembre 2014
Well today was interesting. The assistants to the President of the mission came to work with us today unexpectedly. For those of you that don't know the order of authority in the mission it is:
Missionary->District Leader->Zone Leader->Assistant->President
So yeah, I was nervous. And of course we had a terrible day. All of our...Don´t know what to call this in English so..."Citas" fell and we were just walking around all day. I got "macheted" had for my teaching skills. we are trying this new method of teaching where one Elder asks a question and the investigator responds. And then the other asks a question, investigator responds and the Elder bears testimony. At the end of the day we had a new years party with a family and it was fun, we danced, sang, ate, yeah. 

Happy New Years
1 Enero 2015
Well what a great day to start off the new year. Not a single lesson, every person was asleep and only drunk people outside. I took a picture with a drunk person that came and sat next to me outside my house.

Last night at like 12 they went crazy with fireworks and now the streets are filled with remains of the fireworks. Also I have been really sick for the past week, like bad pain in my left arm, nose issues, fever, back pain, sore throat, yeah all that good stuff. But it´s all good.

3 Enero 2015
Not much really happen today, not much success I decided to wash my own clothes instead of my laundry person, it´s way easier and I don´t have to spend $20. It is so hot here. I come home every day just drenched in sweat. I miss the coldness of Ohio lol.

4 Enero 2015
Nothing happened today that was new, But I've been thinking about my purpose for going on my mission. I knew I wasn´t prepared, like knowledge of the scriptures and stuff, but I am starting to learn that it doesn´t matter about that because your mission is a learning experience. I have 2 years to learn all this stuff. One of the old assistants to the president, of whom I´m friends with, told me that "every day of your missino life there 5 people who are ready to hear the gospel and be baptized. It´s not important whether you are the worlds best teacher or have no knowledge of anything, a person that is chosen by God to hear your message will be converted by the spirit." To all those missionaries that think you need to be a perfect teacher to baptize, no, just enjoy your mission. The Only think that will result is a convinced investigator if you teach the just to teach them. Our objective as missionaries in El Salvador is:

Somo los misioneros de Jesucristo
Y de Predicad mi evangelio
Con su autoridad
Convertimos, Bautizamos, y Retenemos

We are missionaries of Jesus Christ
And of Preach my Gospel
With his authority
We convert, we baptize, we retain.

And of course we have an objective as all missionaries in the world:

Invitar a las personas a venir a Cristo al ayudarlas a que reciban el evangelio restaurado mediante la fe en Jesucristo y su expiación, el arrepentimiento, el bautismo, la recepción del don del espíritu santo, y el perseverar hasta el fin. 

I don´t know in english haha but I just want to thank all of you guys for everything you´ve done for me.