Week 100: Things I Will Miss, My Savior, and Qeqchi

well hello again!

Ok, more questions that didn't get asked while we were on the phone-
Do you know how much we love you, Elder Larsen??

yep. i could hear it on the phone.

Can anyone use your clothes down there or are they all too ragged and worn?

don't worry i will be giving a lot away. they are pretty beaten up´though. but these people deserve it.

How was church today?

church was good. i felt like getting frustrated again but i was able to control it. i was gonna get frustrated for what i mentioned over the phone- but i just looked around the chapel at all the people i have grown to love. i just felt a greater peace come over me. that all was taken into account and that i had nothing to worry about. i love church here. at least 3 times a meeting each and every child under 10 turns around and looks at me. dont know why but they wave and stuff. maybe cuz sometimes i make faces at them. i dont know. i am sure gonna miss that though.

Do they celebrate Mothers Day down there?

yep they do. just tomorrow. on the eighth of may always i guess.

How far is it to the capitol? (Drive time)

like two days. if i leave here at 5 in the morning i can get to the capital at like 6at night. a long ways. if i leave here after that though i have to make it a two day trip.

Where do you stay when you go to the capital?

at the mission home. the office elders and assistants have a bunch of bunkbeds in their house.

Have you thought about getting a job at the MTC when you get home? Maybe teaching? I think you would be amazing there.

that would be fun. i dont know though. i would have to look into it. i really dont know where else i could work either.


i forgot to mention on the phone that we went down to this place called san nicolas. its almost to teleman and still part of our area. there is this one family there that comes every sunday. by foot its like two hours maybe and in truck like 45 minutes. its a long dang ways. and the guy never wears shoes. i dont know how he does it.

as for qeqchi i have no idea how i will be able to speak it after the mission. it will be hard. i'm gonna have to set aside money to call down here and stuff just to speak in qeqchi. i sure do love this language though. and it has changed me. this language has given me a different perspective on how to describe things and say things. it has become a part of me. i'm probably gonna be in for a bigger culture shock going back to the US than i felt when i came here haha.

how could they even consider placing odometers on peoples' cars? that should definitely not be allowed.

pictures: corn hauling, corn harvesting and getting to the top of the hill and a victory pose.

i'm gonna miss blas's family a lot too. they say the same stuff we say just in qeqchi. the daughters remind me of the girls and the littlest one: amy or ch'ip as i call her says the most random hilarious stuff. like bay. its kinda strange how similar they are.

blas is always laughing. i dont know how. he has been quite the example for me on how to return from your mission.

abraham is a super interesting book. analyze the fascimiles very closely. think temple.

i was thinking today just how true this church is. no other church dares saying that Jesus Christ could be our personal older brother. but to me that what makes it that much more special. that is what makes His sacrifice so much different. driven solely by love. no personal gain. i still cannot fathom the atonements depths. facets that i cant even imagine. its magnitude and infinitely reaching scope are, unfortunately for now, incomprehensible . i have however seen, felt and known enough to be able to say that. that i know he loves me. that i know he suffered for me. that he paid with his blood a price that i would never be able to pay. i KNOW that i cannot know and will not know until i look into His eyes and actually SEE it. that i know. i love Him.

i love my family too. they have shown me so much. my dad showed me through example that the mission is the priority. a mother that never let me slack in spiritual matters. and siblings that always made me be a better example. i hope i have made you happy family. i am so grateful for you.

i wish we could have talked longer on the phone. i really dont feel like we scraped the surface of these two years-here and there.

we have some pretty lofty goals this week as a zone. we will see how those turn out. i miss and love you all!!

love,

ELDER TAY

Week 98: 21st Birthday, Two Baptisms...and Ending My Mission in SEAMAY!!

What ended up happening with transfers?
well it turns out i will be ending my mission in seamay! i am super happy. i love seamay

Who is your companion and where are you?
as for my companion i will not know until wednesday in the morning. elder hale unfortunately is being transferred. we still dont know where yet. all they have told us is that he will be transferred to one of four zones. senahu, polochic, coban or baja verapaz. so pretty much we are still in the dark. sounds like he will still be speaking qeqchi though.

Did you have to leave? no i dont have to leave and i have no idea about the rest. sorry but not till next monday.

(about william)
Can you give him another Book of Mormon copy?
we already did. we had another one on hand :) prepared.

Do you need money?
no. i sent blas' mom to get your cortes though. she was nice enough to do it. and they are absolutely cool cortes. she wasnt able to get blue. just two with pink as the main color. and yes the cortes come with what is called a guipil or a po'ot in qeqchi. dont worry. i got it all squared away :) and i have some corte ties on the way too for the men of the house.

(about the 40 dollars in the account)
Can you think of something to do with that money?
thank you so much for thinking of this people. they are truly very special. its hard to find somewhere to start. the whole community is poor. i will definitely be looking for a way to help somebody out with it though. maybe some future missionaries in the branch? there are, as of right now, 3 or 4 preparing to go on missions.

Did you have your baptisms? Do you have pictures? Are we getting any pictures this week?
yes we did have the baptisms. on thursday during a huge rain storm. oscar and frander are their names. amazing very smart young men. their parents were able to go to their baptism too. which was very special for them. i would send pictures but the memory card i took them on doesnt seem to want to work at the moment. besides i am in a jumper thats too small for me in them anyway. very uncomfortable to lift your arm to the square as it pulls up the WHOLE suit. its alright though. it was a very spiritual baptismal service :)

Did you get your package yet?
not yet. maybe this next thursday or within the next couple weeks.

heellloooo family!! thank you for the happy birthday wishes. it has already been a happy birthday. this last week was pretty interesting.

first we did divisions. elder hale went up to yaalijux and i stayed in seamay with elder norton. this kid can sing!

elder hale came back, that morning elder lara did the baptismal interviews and that thursday afternoon they were baptized with power and authority. their whole family came. lots of less active/inactive members. i baptized oscar and elder hale baptized frander. i want to send pictures but they dont show up when i hook the memory card to the computer. sorry. will work on that.

saw a shirt this last week that said "hollister and fitch" had no idea those two companies merged haha. jk.

i wiped out standing up the other day. we got to david tiuls house after it had rained and the ground was super muddy. well i was just standing there waiting to go into the house and my feet just went out from underneath me. got my pants all dirty, my bag with my books, and all my hand all the way to my elbow. it was hilarious.

as mentioned above i got the cortes. i just need you guys to do something. i need you to measure your wastes down to your ankles-just the girls. blas' mom is going to sow the cortes and stuff so they fit you just right. she is awesome. she is the lady in the picture of us all together with the pizza on the far left in the green. so if you could have that for me next week that would be great. and i will get some pictures of the corte for you all too.

so we decided, in light of the upcoming changes (this was before i knew i was staying), to celebrate our birthdays. so yesterday in the afternoon we made the pizzas. holy cow were they good. those were the best pizzas i have had in two years! even dominoes doesnt compare. guaranteed. cuz i have had dominoes in these last two years. vinicio-blas seniors son-in-law and i were in charge of it. we ended up doing a division to be able to cook the pizzas. elder hale and i both usually go to the computer class we give each sunday. well this sunday i stayed with vinicio who is a returned missionary and elder hale went with blas to go teach the class. worked out great. vinicio and i even had time to go visit edmundo and set another baptismal date with him!! it was awesome. a blast. thank you for the recipe mom. vinicio is trying to come up with ideas to make better money here....could you send me all baking recipes you may have? he really wants them. especially cinnamon rolls. mmmmm. thanks!

edmundo and victor didnt make it to church this last sunday. so we went there with vinicio and had a good talk with them. they seem to understand. edmundo has a testimony. he just needs to act on it. they have until the 14 of may to show progress. that is when the baptismal date is set for. hope it turns out.

pictures that i was able to get to work:

#1elder hale, jesus and I.
#2the service we did this last week. we helped a member family construct a new house. very crappy construction but the famous qeqchi word comes into play in this context "akre"
#3 green. blas's mom. little kids in red brown and blue. blas juniors little brothers and sisters. ch'ip is in brown. thats amy. in orange. blas' sister in law and the kid in green and the little tiny girl you cant really see are her kids. guy in hat. blas. senior. guy in shirt and tie. me. guy in other shirt and tie. vinicio and the lady behind me is vinicio's wife, blas's sister-who is also a returned missionary.

out of time!!

love you soooo much. thank you for all you dooooo.

elder tay

Week 96: Not much time left for Testimony Meetings in Guatemala

well hello-y family. i AM a poet.

i am tired.

hey i only got sick cuz its part of the deal. if i dont get sick i cant be healthy. its in second nephi 2. the song i told you in spanish is i know that my redeemer lives. i love that song in qeqchi.

this last week was super interesting. we had lots of success. we decided that it was because of the real birthday of Christ being the 6th of april. there was a special spirit working with us this last week. we set lots of baptismal dates. still working with the families. victor, edmundo, gloria, carlos, roberto and his wife, santos and his wife should be progressing a lot this next week. we set baptismal dates with them but they didnt get to the church. we also have two baptismal dates that are more for sure. oscar and frander will be for the 21st of this month. the others we will probably change for the 30. so no baptism this week. just so they can all get baptized as a family.

we also visited the parents of two young men members. it was one of the most powerful lessons i have ever been present in. my companion and i just were overcome by unexplainable love for them and their family. it was the craziest thing. we were both crying by the end of it. it is a very special family. a long time ago they lost a child. the two young men members, milton and wilmar, did his temple work. so now we know that that has definitely been taken into account and that the other side of the veil is strongly interested in this family. i cant wait to see how they do this week.

tell kacy to stand up and start doing what she needs to be doing.

yesterday were interviews with president torres and we had zone conference today. the interview was great. he complimented me. i love president and sister torres. especially now that they are going home. you kinda get a sneak peak as to who they really are.

i got a cool wood plac thing. with elder larsen on one side and laj kaxlan on the other. there is also a burnt engraving of missionaries with the stripling warriors. its pretty cool.

i will make sure to find something that can only be bought in guatemala for dad and zack. as for the girls i would like you to wear the traditional clothing at my homecoming. i have a tie made from the corte skirts they wear here. its what i am wearing in the picture. ps. elder norton is the one standng right next to me. that kid is so funny. he cracks me up. he is 100% hilarious. his qeqchi name is woodpecker for his head haha. i love elder norton. he always tells me to say hi to kels.... hi kels. :)

i think i'll call lindsey woodpecker for other reasons. that tends to break noses.

thank you for getting my classes squared away. and the major i think will be mechanical enginering.

im thinking that the corte skirts might be a lot of money :/ but itd be super cool. }

as for the housing i dont know. whatever you moms decide. i would certainly like to be in a singles ward as you probably can guess. you guys decide. love you :)

yes i bore my testimony today. they are running out as a missionary. not much time left danget...

i may be transferred this next transfer but i have no idea. i told elder legua and elder howard to put in a good word for me for staying in qeqchi areas. so we'll see what happens.

i'm out of time!! i love you and miss you all soooo much. sue says she misses me too. i miss her. tell everyone i miss them and love them. k bye.

ELDER TAY

Week 93: Seamay for Another Change!

sounds like you all had a good week! we did too.

well last week we left off on the conference with president torres.

well besides that the week didnt really get busy until thursday. thats when we started baptismal interviews for the sisters who baptized two people. one guy was 35 years old. told me about some interesting dreams in his baptismal interview. i also did another interview for a young girl that got married and baptized. thats where i got the chicken picture. they killed lots of chickens for the celebratory meal after!

on friday morning we found out that the grandfather of a friend of mine died. that kid is one of my best friends here. he is a returned missionary and is looking for a wife. i suggested kelsey. ;) but seriously though. if she wants someone that will stay faithful to the end it is a qeqchi man. this kid is the man. very active in the church and always goes out to visit with us. even without us. you should write him kels! test your spanish and test his english. he is learning english right now. shoot. i forgot to bring his email address. he would be a really cool pen pal anyway.

the picture of the guy in black and white is his dad. that is one of the most powerful pictures i have ever taken. zoom in on his eyes. background: he is watching them put the casket in the grave.

we went to the funeral. super sad. remember how i told you guys about that really old guy that would come to church every sunday. the one that pinched the little baby's cheek and pretended like he was eating it? that was him that died. a very faithful member.

after the funeral we had a baptism. the little girl in the picture is the girl that got baptized. her name is Juana. she lives with her member aunt and uncle and her grandparents.

sunday was good. they got confirmed.

today we are in el estor. we just got back from rio dulce. it was cool. we left at four in the morning and wont be getting back home until around sixish. it was cool. a good going away trip. you guys need to let me know if you want souvenirs. cuz i will "git sum".

i did not have a transfer. i am in seamay for another change at least! i will enjoy that. we have lots of people progressing and lots of possibilities. blas senior will also be celebrating his birthday on the 27th of april. so we shall see if we get a good caldo or somethin :) i think they will help us out with that again.

this email seems really short but nothing else has happened this week. i would love to come down here as a family. i feel like these people are my people. they almost (ALMOST) feel like my family. especially blas' family. they crack me up.

well i miss and love all of you! hope you enjoy the pictures!! and how is that investigator that asked for your number doing? did they go to church again?

love,

ELDER TAY

Week 91: Inactive Members, Polochic, Corn Planting

hello family! how are you?

what i wrote in q'eqchi' last week is the same as what i wrote in english. no biggie. i love this qeqchi though haha.

in a lesson this last week we were sitting there teaching this little girl that is gonna get baptized saturday and a bug flew into my eye. dang thing. took like twenty minutes to get it out.

i had a dream about my phone and computer this last week. it was funny. i got home and asked for my computer and phone and mom just started apologizing and saying that she was sorry and all this stuff. then she told me that my phone and computer had both gotten ruined or taken or something i dont know. but i cried hahaha.

on saturday we were invited to a lunch where they gave us beef caldo (soup). not soup like yours mom. a little different. picture hopefully included. well it was super good. but they told us about this RM that had come back with all his family to visit. supposedly down to his cousins he brought. tons of people. anyway, he, his dad, and his brother went and helped people plant corn. i would love that. my companion and i started talking about it after and thinking about how incredibly awesome that would be. i would love to come back and visit senahu. we gotta do it. i would love to bring you guys down here too to see the reaction you guys would get from the people. i guarantee you right now mom that people would say you have fire on your head.

we have also been working with this other family of inactives. they are the daughter and son-in-law of the convert i had when i was here last. they haven't been to church for like 10 years. they know it is true. they bare testimony of it every time we go there. their two sons are going to church every sunday and want to be baptized. we just cant baptize them yet cuz the parents dont go. it is so frustrating. we're working on it.

as for classes, chemistry 105 would be good again. i kinda screwed up in that class. i dont even know how. its quite embarrassing. other than that i would have to see a list to be able to choose. i think.

also how am i supposed to get in shape? where will i lift weights? run? its gonna take alot more than simply running to the end of the subdivision and back.

today we had a meeting with president torres. a training thing. it wasnt a zone conference-but it basically was. we just talked about teaching tactics and how to teach with the spirit. it was great to see the polochik elders too!

monday i think we will be going to rio dulce again. that place with the castle. hopefully i dont get a change. transfers are next week.

i had a weird feeling about the family this last week. they suddenly came to mind and were pressed there. not because of what you said. i could just feel it. something was hurting this last week and today i found out what it was. its cuz they went back. weird how that communication can take place.

i love you and miss you all!


TAY

Week 89: The Cake

hello and good morning americans!!

this last week was pretty eventful.

first, after emailing we were asked to go make a cake for a little girls birthday. i cant believe we thought that was going to turn out well. k first the recipe that they had for us did not sound good so we called sister torres to get a different one. the one she gave us was a tres leches cake without the tres leches cuz there is no real milk in this country. so we tried that. we started off well but we were supposed to whip it until the whites, well, turned white. we thought we did that and we added the yokes one at a time. at that point in time we realized we were late for our internet hour so we just threw the cake mix in the fridge and we came and wrote you guys.

well after we went back the cake batter had completely deflated. and the oven that we were supposed to use (which was heated by burning firewood) wasn't hot enough anymore and they were going to make bread for their bakery. so we came up to the church in the middle of senahu. the whole time we were whipping the cake batter trying to get it to fluff up again.

so we turned the oven on in the church while they were doing some primary activity and using the kitchen to cook and do everything. it was super crowded. after a couple minutes we smell a melting plastic smell so we opened the oven and sure enough. plastic sacrament cups melting all over the racks! at this point we were nearly hysterical. we turned off the oven and re heated it and then we cooked the cake. i was scared it wasnt going to turn out but after forty minutes it was nice and puffy and golden brown. i made some frosting from some fake milk and powdered sugar and some nasty margarine and we frosted it.

when we cut it we just started laughing harder! the middle had turned into like a jello type substance about a cm in thickness that smelled strongly of eggs. i can still smell it now just thinking about it.

long story short it was disgusting. the frosting was ok. not as good as the blessed united state's frosting but tolerable.

moral: dont ever try to make a cake in guatemala.

more news about the family we are working with. we went there one night this last week and found them out on the trail going to their house. just sitting there. we started talking to them and the girlfriend lady just randomly started crying and ran off. so we went to their house to see what was wrong where they told us what had happened. apparently a member had gone to their house to by lard. 6 quetzales the half pound. well he, being awesome, gave him a full pound without charging him full price. only charged him 6 quetz. what wrenched my heart the most was the little girl-whos about 5 years old. we were sitting in their house in their front room and she just came up and huddled up against me. i have a good picture of her i will send next week. she is such a little angel. they came to church yesterday! woo! but they will be getting baptized. the next day everyone was fine and back to normal.

marvin, a 17 yr. old kid, will be getting baptized next saturday. if all goes to plan. which it should.

we had 7 investigators in church yesterday! that made me happy.

senahus elevation is like 3,715 feet above sea level. thats it. and its cold here.

saturday some members from utah and the captial came and were interviewing members for a business they will be putting in. its focus is to help the people here who are poor to become self sufficient. well they took a video of my companion and i so if you get a weird video from someone it is us in front of the market in senahu! he said he was going to send it to you. they were cool and they gave us rides to and from our area.

as for vacation i have no idea. whatever you would like to do. doesnt matter really. just want to spend time with me family.

the picture included is the branch president and his family in la tinta. they invited us to lunch. if the other one goes through it is the ex district president's little daughter from teleman. that is one of my favorite pictures.

love and miss you all!!!!

ELDER TAY

Week 88: Back to Senahu!

hello yooz.

how are ya'll doin'?

Well, we are happy that you got to go where you wanted!
yes. it is so cold right now i love it!

Will you stay in Senahu for the rest of your mission or is there a chance you could get transferred again?
there is a very good chance i will get transferred again. i still have two transfers after this one we are currently in. that is very little time but i have already spent like 16 months of my mission in this place.

What's your companion like?
we get along great! he is about six foot tall, from arizona, black hair, blue eyes. he knows juditsu or something like that too.

How did things go with Marvin this week?
great. he didnt make it to church so in between sacrament hours of the first branch and the second one we went to go invite him to the second branch's sacrament meeting. but he postponed his baptismal date until the 26th. it will happen. the branch president went and made sure too haha. he went and visited him and his family. the branch president is the man!

Does he speak Spanish or Kekchi?
both. he prefers q'eqchi' but my companion can still bear his testimony in spanish and he understands.

this last week was good. the conference in Coban was great. we came away with higher goals and lots of drive to get it done. we came back with visions of senahu becoming a stake and seamay becoming a ward. so now our goal for seamay and our game plan is to work with less actives. the branch also set a similar goal. the branch two is awesome. almost functioning like an american ward. not quite though. and branch one is where we have tons of work to do. pastors are just coming in and instead of keeping the flocks they are ravaging them. in branch one there are about 300 members, however, about 70 come each sunday. needless to say our work is cut out for us.

we have found a family of five that wants to get baptized. they are amazing. saturday was the little sons nine year old birthday so we scrounged up some change, bought a cake and went to celebrate it with them.

tomorrow we have a dinner appointment. in qeqchi so my companion wouldnt understand i set up a dinner appointment with a family named family cuz. they are awesome and their son, Blas, is the returned missionary that called to welcome me back to the area. the family is awesome. the dad reminds me of dad a lot. says the funniest driest stuff. and the littlest girl is named amy. but i call her ch'ip. that means the littlest. she always asks me to do the chicken noise too haha. but we will have dinner with them tomorrow. will make sure to send pictures next week. the occasion, tomorrow is my companions birthday AND he hasn't tried caldo yet. thats the soup they make here. with tons of stuff in it and chile. muahahahaha. he'll like it.

this last week for service we also helped a member and his recent convert wife tear down a house to rebuild their kitchen. when i say kitchen i mean fire pit with metal laminate above it. i got a hilarious picture of the little girl there and will send it next week. forgot my camera today danget. sorry.

that is crazy about BYU. sounds like i have a lot of work to do. who is gonna help me get it done?

i miss and love every one of you. say hi to everyone. especially the family and bishop warren.

love,

TAY

ps. happy valentine's day!

Week 84: Teaching, Traveling & Testimony

hello my family!

how are you people?

i'm great here. before i forget. if elder schone's mom asks, he won't be writing until wednesday. so tell her not to worry. just for travel reasons. they are way far away so instead of coming down to senahu on monday, going back up on tuesday, then coming back down on wednesday-it would just be a waste of time.

questions:

Did you have an interview with president?
no not yet, not until the 25th.

Did he ask where you want to finish your mission? (Do they even ask that?) Do you think he will send you back to Senahu? if he asks i will ask to go back to senahu. i would love to end my mission there. i want to train an elder in qeqchi also. and i miss senahu. it is super chill up there. in more ways than one. sometimes its pretty cold too!

Have you thought about trying out for the BYU football team in the fall? Still want to?
depends on if i am in shape or not. if i am able to get in good shape over the summer than for sure i'll definitely try it.

Should I send you some protein packets?
if you wanna. dont know how much it will actually help.

Have you sent a memory card to your family yet?
its going out today. :)

Did you get a pair of shoes in the cap?
i bought them in coban. they cost me 270 quets which is a decent price. they fit me a little snug but it was the biggest size they had.

How is your companion this week? What is his best quality?
good. he and i get along great now. probably because we have spent a quarter of our missions together. that is a long time. but we get along great. his best quality is that he is a great teacher. he knows how to teach. its funny, he kinda leads the discussions in spanish and i lead them in qeqchi. it works great.

What was your favorite part of your week? Any baptisms scheduled?
my favorite part of the week. the whole week was good. i like those days though, that at the end of it i feel complete and peaceful inside. i like those days alot. friday was one of those days. dont know why i just felt good about everything. that olga girl whose parents were reluctant for her to get baptized will get baptized on the 29 of this month along with her little brother kerlon. he goes by meyo.

How is your assignment as ZL going? What's the best part? What's the worst part?
its good. the best part is how much i interact with the missionaries. the worst part is how little time we get for the people our area.

this last week we started teaching patricia to read. she came to church too! that was a huge relief when she walked through that door. she seemed to have liked it too.

amilcar, our other investigator, bore his testimony to us the other day too. he says that sometimes he is just so happy with his new knowledge he just wants to share it with everyone. especially his friends. this is a very evangelical culture though and they would disown him. he still has time to go on a mission. he is currently praying about a baptismal date and will let us know promptly when he wants to get baptized.

we found a new couple to teach. we went and visited them with the branch president. we tried putting a baptismal date with them and they said they have to get married first. but they should get baptized. their names are ricardo and carmen. they are just a little old couple. he never wears shoes.

as a branch yesterday after church we went and visited this very old couple who are members. they are just these tiny little old frail guys who have succesfully endured to the end. they are so strong for their faith and endurance in this life. they unfortunately have not been making it to church lately. they have been very sick. but we went to go visit them all of us and they seemed to be happier. they are so humble and so cute. i'm just not sure if i want to live to be old like them. that just looks like it sucks. everything just seems to hurt. i'll try and get a picture with them this next week.

megan said she got a ring! i dont know about the details though.

i'm trying to send the talk home. i may have to take a picture and send that though.
this email is not working well right now.

who asks elder smith if he knows me? other missionaries?

well the pictures im trying to send are being stubborn. its ticking me off. it is sooooo hot here right now. blahg.

on thursday we will be going to coban and will be coming back on friday in the morning. i'm looking foward to it. supposedly elder ballard will be having a meeting with president alvaro colon the president of guatemala and then will be speaking with us. so thats pretty cool.

when are the xgames supposed to be? will you let me know what goes on in them? they should be this next week right?

thats way cool about shawn doman. i need to play football still. imma be bald so i need to do something cool right? i am pretty sure thats how it works haha.

i love you all, say hi to clint and theresa for me. and to the chidrens.

till li xaman jun.

laj Elder Larsen

Week 82: Coral Pek, Rubel Pek & Aura

well hello my family!!

alright first of all, sorry about how random my emails are. we have been very busy.

this last week was very busy. we went to "consilio" or council with president and all the other ZL's. we also got to go to the temple again. i was able to listen to it in Qeqchi. it was absolutely amazing. much more powerful somehow. very simple to understand. the words somehow in qeqchi communicate a feeling more than they communicate an idea. i guess that comes with the simplicity of the language. it starts to communicate the simplest of ideas in simple ways. it seems english and other languages only communicate ideas with big words. i dont know. it is very difficult to explain. you would have to read it and know it to know what i am talking about.

they were good meetings with president. he announced that on the 20th of of this month we will, again, be traveling to coban. this time to listen to elder ballard. unfortunately he won't be making it to polochic but the meeting will be broadcast to coban and peten for the missionaries that cant travel all the way to the capital. supposedly elder ballard AND elder christopherson will be in central america. elder ballard will be speaking to the central mission and the north mission. i'm excited. it will be very cool!

so this last week we got back on thursday in the afternoon and left to go visit people. we were exhausted. then on friday i left with elder "yumo" mortensen and went up to Ch'ulak. i did a baptismal interview for them (pictures included) the little girl was very cute and very smart. she answered all the questions perfectly.
after the interview elder mortensen and i decided to go to a place called rubel pek then around to coral pek and then down to se'okok to go up to sajomte to sleep. the walk was a lot longer than the explanation. we walked soooo far. it was sooooo gorgeous though. we ran across a couple ranches. up there it reminds me of home right now. somehow there are dry colored leaves all over the ground and white trees all around. felt just like hunting. which feeling can also probably be attributed to elder yumo and i's love of hunting and depressing lack of it. anyway, we got to rubel pek (which means "below rock") and did contacting. some lady saw us, ditched her house, and took her kids running to another house. we later saw them again and made sure to contact them :) after, we found some people that were very intelligent and listened very intently.

we then started the walk to coral pek (meaning " corral of rock") and were able to talk to a bunch of people there. first though we took some amazing pitcures that for some reason were taken on his camera and not mine. they are gorgeous pictures though.

well we got to coral pek and it was beautiful. just a valley with a large hill in the middle of it dwarfed by huge mountains on all sides. down in the valley there was a huge ceiba tree also. they are very cool trees. well we started contacting people in the market. three young men caught our attention so we talked to them. two were from teleman. the other one spoke a language called achi. he was super interested and we had a very good conversation about the gospel. he lives in la tinta but never has time cuz he sells peanuts.

i got yumo's camera! i'll send the pics. i love you all sorry i'm outta time. i love you all! i will write a talk. what topic do you want it to be on. i need a topic! btw we are in el estor today just hanging out :) love!

ELDER TAY


sent more pics with this email. warankeb' li jalam-uch! ilomaq! image 216 is a little river elder mortensen (aj Yumo) and i found on our division. image 227 is a huge hill covered in grass we had to climb with a very nice backdrop of beautifully large mountains that i liked a lot. 203 the family of the little girl i did the interview for. the little girl is in the middle in black. 202 the little girl and her brother. her name is aura.