This last week was a good week. Last Monday as a zone we had a white elephant activity and I got a Christmas mug with hot chocolate packets. On Tuesday a member went out with us, who also just got his mission call, and showed us these pink flower that you can pick and suck the nectar out of. The nectar of the flower was actually really sweet and tasted really good. Strange but good.
On Wednesday we had Multi-Zone conference. We watched The Work and the Glory and president gave us two Christmas gifts. A USB full of videos to show investigators/members and a rock stone with a photo on it from the first day in the field with him. It was a great conference. After the conference I went to Mixco to do a baptismal interview which went great and he passed. In Mixco there are only sisters and he did not know any of the members very well, so he asked if I could baptize him. Thursday night I was able to baptize him and everything went great. Thursday we also had our first choir performance in front of Japon (an electronics store) in the park of Mixco and that too went well. On Saturday the Utatlan stake invited us to sing in their stake Christmas devotional so we went to Utatlan to sing too. On Sunday we had our stake devotional which they did a really nice job on and it turned out really well. We had very little time to work in our area but we do have one investigator who can be baptized but for the holidays it will be a little difficult. Hopefully we will be able to baptize her soon. Things are going great! Merry Christmas! -- Having the best day of his life, Elder Gruber
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Well this week was a long week. All week our appointments fell, every single one of them, and all the members canceled on us to go and visit with us. We do have one person, Graciela, who is preparing to be baptized on Christmas Eve but we worry her mom might not give her permission. Her dad is an active member but the mom is a little crazy.
December 7th was "the day of the devil" here and from 6-7 the streets were filled with firecrackers, devil pinatas that people were lighting on fire, and people just lighting trash and random things on fire in the middle of the streets. We had to be careful that no one threw fireworks at us. We also had stake conference yesterday in which President Caffaro and Elder Ochoa (seventy) showed up. Elder Ochoa gave a really good talk. I was also really sick yesterday. I had a headache and a stomach ache so I took pepto bismal and ibuprofen. We went to eat lunch with a member family and I went running to the bathroom and threw up in the toilet. We returned home, I could barley walk and had no energy so I laid down and took an hour nap. When I woke up I had Elder Alberto give me a blessing and we went out to work. About 10 minutes later I threw up again in the street, in front of a bunch of people... it was horrible. The entire night was awful. I think it was just food poisoning though because I feel a lot better today. About 95% whole. Things are going well and I am loving it here. -- Having the best day of his life, Elder Gruber Well this week started off interesting with Cops running through our house... It all started Tuesday morning when we woke up and saw a bunch of police outside our house. There were about three police cars and about 10 cops. They had closed the street down with caution tape and all were out with their guns in their hands ready for something. They even started to try and climb our house. That is when one of them made eye contact with me. He motioned for me to go downstairs to the door. I opened our door and he asked if we had roof access. When I told him we did he asked if they could go up. I said sure and they started running up with their guns in their hands and told us to stay down. About 15 minutes later it was time for us to go to zone counsel. At the end of the night when we returned there were still two cops outside just on watch. The next morning there were about 15 police officers outside our house again and there were 3 different types (their bosses or higher officers). When we left in the morning to go and work they almost did not let us leave either. In the night they had all left but the house was all taped up with caution tape and it turns out our neighbors were caught for extorting people.
Other than that it was a fairly calm and normal week. We found a lot of new investigators, saw a lot of success, we had divisions with the traveling assistants, and we also had to redo one of the baptisms we had as she gave us a wrong last name. We are still practicing for the choir we will have and watched the Christmas devotional yesterday. I had to watch it in Spanish and it is not the same when you can not hear their voices and emotion. As a mission we are also doing the 25 ways in 25 days program the church has for the month of December which can be found on mormon.org. overall just a normal week and I am doing GREAT! -- Having the best day of his life, Elder Gruber This week was a fairly good week, not much new. All week we had activities in the church for the members to bring friends and introduce them to the gospel. We had a good turn out for all the activities, but when we had our plan of salvation activity they started teaching apostasy for the three degrees of glory so I had to interrupt and teach it. My shoes (the ones Bishop Tanner gave me) finally died this last week. I tried super gluing the soul back on but it only lasted a week. I am just wearing my boots now which work great too, I will wear them to the end of my mission if I can make them last. Thanksgiving was good, I made my thanksgiving dinner mom sent me and ended up eating about 1,650 calories at 10:40 at night. I also put up all my Christmas decorations I have been dragging around for a year and it is starting to look more like Christmas. We had house inspections this last week and the Oylers (senior missionaries) installed a water heater for us too which is SO nice! I had forgotten what hot showers felt like and it is truly a blessing I think we all take for granted. I talked in church this last week too. As a zone we will also be going to the park in Mixco to sing as a choir for Christmas. It is something the city will be hosting/sponsoring. They have done it for the last 5 years and we will pass out Christmas cards, pamphlets, and President Caffaro will go to speak too. I just try and sing as quite as I can because I know I sound awful. It should be good though. It will be the 19th of December when we go sing. For now we are just practicing. Things are great and I am loving every moment. -- Having the best day of his life, Elder Gruber Fixing the water heater. Farewell shoes- you served me well. Views of Guatemala The Advent calendar is ready- count down to Skype. New Apartment Thanksgiving Dinner
My new area is awesome, really big and has a great ward. We had about 130 members in church yesterday and all the members are great and willing to help. We also had 4 baptisms this last weekend.
The weather here is a lot colder than in Taxisco, it is freezing here inside the captial. I wear sweaters every now and then and I wear sweats and a longsleeve shirt to sleep. We do not have hot water either and it is literally ice cold showers. It makes waking up hard but I am slowly getting used to it. My new companion is Elder Alberto and he is really nice. He does not like to clean a lot (when I showed up the house was a mess, it always is when I go to new area, and I am the only one that has done any cleaning). He is fairly quiet and has a calm personality. It should be a good change. Our lunches are a lot better too. I no longer feel like I am starving or like a vegetarian. The only other thing that we did this week was crash a wedding that was being held at the church. We showed up, talked to some members, ate the food, and then left. -- Having the best day of his life, Elder Gruber Well not much happened this week. The area is picking up and we have some investigators preparing to be baptized at the end of the month and some in the beginning of December.
I saw egg nog in one of the stores here so of course I bought it. 2 years of no egg nog was just cruel. It is SO good. On Tuesday night we got updates every 30 minutes from a member on who was winning the election. Wednesday and Thursday a lot of people in lessons or in contacts just decided to yell at us and tell us how dumb Trump and the U.S. are. We just said we did not know anything and I just told people I was going to Canada. On Thursday we planned a soccer activity for the branch and anyone else who wanted to come, but no one showed up. That was a little disappointing. We left our soccer ball there at the church and came back at the end of the night to get it and it was gone. Someone had climbed over the fence and stole it. Welcome to Guatemala. Saturday night we decided to get 2 large Domino pizza's to end the change and it turns out there was an accident on the main road. We waited an hour and a half for it and did not end up getting it until 10:20 at night so they gave it to us for free. WOO HOO! FREE PIZZA! Sunday I talked in church and started saying goodbye to members. In the night we got the call for changes and I am going back inside the capital to la communidad in the Zone Montserrat as a district leader. I will have 2 companionships of sisters and the zone leaders in my district (total of 6 other missionaries. It is tied for the biggest district in the mission). My new companion will be Elder Alberto. It should be fun and I look forward to a change of scenery but oh how I hate packing. It is the worst part of changes. Suitcases are packed TIGHT! That is about it for this week. Things are great and I am loving it here. -- Having the best day of his life, Elder Gruber This week went by fast. On Tuesday when we went to Cuilapa for zone conference we found a spot that said it was the center most point of Central America, nothing to fancy though.
On Wednesday we ate fiambre again and it was not as bad as I remember it, I actually liked it this time. Thursday we went and visited a recent convert (Ernesto) who is 81 years old and he had recently bought a sling shot. We played with his sling shot for a while and he had wicked good aim, better than Elder Hansen and I both. It was fun spending time with him. He does not have any family close and just stays in his house for the most part. We pass to just talk and spend some time with him and this last time he asked us to come back and spend the entire day with him. He is funny and a really nice guy. Saturday morning we cleaned the Baptismal font to prepare for our baptism and then Elder and Sister Oyler came by (the new senior missionaries) to do a house inspection. They said our house was one of the cleanest houses they had seen. In the afternoon we had our baptism and it was awesome! We brought 6 investigators to see it too. Everything went well. On Sunday I was able to confirm him a member of the church and give him the Holy Ghost. I also participated in a baby blessing. The area is picking up and we are seeing a lot more progress. Things are going great, I am healthy and absolutely loving it. Unfortunately, we did have to kill the church pet though (the big spider in the baptismal font). -- Having the best day of his life, Elder Gruber Not much happened this week. Last P-Day we made hot dogs as a district and then played a little basketball here in Taxisco.
On Tuesday I dedicated a house for a less active family. that was a really cool experience. I really felt the spirit and felt like I was being guided in what I needed to say. On Wednesday I tried replicating Velveeta shells. I found a cheese sauce and bought pasta shells. It was nothing like Velveeta mac-n-cheese but it was still good. Dad taught me well. Lunch seems like it is always the same things, rice and some vegetables. I feel like I am a vegetarian. Twice this last week we also had chicken broth with leaves. It was literally like they took leaves off the tree and boiled it in chicken broth. I think I am at a lack of nutrients here. I need my meat. I feel like I am a rabbit. Man I miss food. Other than that life goes on here walking around soaked in the rain. The area feels like it is turning around and we are finally seeing progress. I think that is because we finally have someone leading the branch. The Branch president has not been heard from for weeks, so the Elders quorum president (a return missionary from August of this year) has recently been given the keys to the branch. He is working hard to grow the attendance and help the members. As a result we are seeing more success too. We have an investigator named Julio who we hope to see baptized this Saturday if all goes well. I also talked on Sunday but that is nothing new. Things are awesome, I am healthy, and am absolutely loving it here. -- Having the best day of his life, Elder Gruber This last week I got a cold which was no fun, but luckily I am all better now. On Thursday we had a youth activity planned to play soccer, but because it rained no one showed up. It is a good thing they do not live in Washington. When it rains here no one leaves their house and they all act as if the world is ending, it is absolutely crazy. The elders quorum president went though and brought food so we just ended up eating all the food with him.
On Friday I sewed my shirt pocket back on and a button that fell off from one of my shirt collars. I must say I did a great job. Mom should be proud of me. Also Friday morning we woke up to find a scorpion on the wall in our house. That was fun to see. Saturday we had a branch activity where we played games and ate. It was a good activity and had a good turn out for the branch. This last week I also went on divisions with Elder Vasquez in Guazacapan and we had a really cool experience. As we went up to the door of one of his contacts we could see that everyone inside was crying and just very sad. They let us in and we quickly found out that their 9 month old daughter had passed away earlier that day. The dad was just sitting on the side of the bed sobbing and would not move or talk. We were able to give them some words of counsel and peace to hopefully bring some hope into their life. We then explained what a blessing was and the dad accepted to receive one and we were able to give him a blessing of comfort. He soon stopped sobbing and we left with a word of prayer to bless the family and their house. I know that the Lord is in the details of our lives and knows exactly what we are going through. I know he is always with us, we just have to keep our eyes open and be looking for him. He is always there when we need Him most and will never abandon us. Also I do not know if I mentioned this before but in Guazacapan we take showers with a bucket, water doesn't fall from the shower head. -- Having the best day of his life, Elder Gruber This week was just an average week, not much happened. Lets see... Well in one of our lessons we were sitting outside teaching and a bird flew over and pooped all over Elder Hansens head. He had green bird poop running through his hair. It was kinda of funny, not going to lie. We went home so he could shower off and change shirts and then went back out to work.
On Friday we had a dinner with all the youth in the church. It was a great activity. We shared a small message and then just ate and got to know the youth better. I talked again on Sunday, nothing new, and I gave a talk on the importance of daily scripture reading. I used the Liahona from this month which has a great talk in it on learning and how to get the most out of our studies and classes on Sunday. I recommend reading it. I also encourage everyone to read the Book of Mormon for at least 10 minutes a day. Set apart time for it not just use free time for it. One night as we were contacting I almost got bit by a dog. The dog started running at me so I started throwing rocks at him, but the owners were watching, so I did not want to actually hit the dog. The owners ran up to save me and started whipping their dog with a belt. It was kind of funny and scary all at the same time. This week we also gave service to a less active in the branch. We mowed his lawn (weeds) with a machete. I am so grateful we have lawnmowers in the U.S. He then cut us down some coconuts and we had fresh coconut water and coconut that he cut opened with his machete. He then also gave us three large papayas that he got from his tree too. Overall just an average week. The work keeps going forward. Oh and we woke up without electricity this morning. The financials never paid our light bill. Oh well. I gave them a call, they said they would pay it today so hopefully we will have electricity again here tomorrow. -- Having the best day of his life, Elder Gruber |