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