February 7, 2011

Querido familia y amigos,

It´s been an interesting week what with changes and all. A lot has been happening and at the same time things have been back to their original routine after the baptisms. In the camp out thing that we had, I had interviews with the president and he had told me that I was going to train again this next change, so my compañero Elder Fuentes and I both thought that he was going to have changes. For that reason he was extremely depressed all Tuesday and we didn´t have much success that day. That night at about 9:30 the assistants called and told us that neither of us had changes but that they were going to close Cuchumatanes, an area in my district, and that we were going to take charge of it from now on. They had just had a baptism and they were confirmed yesterday. So... according to the assistants they count as our baptisms for this month... I thought that was kind of strange that they would mention that. Personally I don´t care whose baptisms they were as much as they got baptized. Anyway, now we´re in charge of two areas and it´s been a struggle trying to plan how we´re going to effectively take charge of the two areas.

I think now would be a good time to explain how things are going within my district. Last change there were 4 other companionships in my district. Las rosas, Cuchumatanes, and Chiantla 1 and 2. Chiantla 2 started the change I came in and were taken out of there 4 weeks into the change because the two Chiantlas were reporting fewer dats combined than any other area in the district. So now our Equipo is the three of us. Calvario (E. Fuentes and me), Las Rosas(Elder Griffey and Elder Monge), and Chiantla (Elder Bown and Elder Cuellar). Elder Bown I´ve know since he entered the mission. We met on the bus going to Momos for the first time. He spent the entire time I was in momos in an area called Racaná and baptized 9 people out there. Now he´s in Chiantla and still going strong. Let me explain to you what kind of area Chiantla is. There´s a city just outside of Huehue called Chiantla where they live. Then north of that, there are extremely high hills/mountains that we call the Mirador because you can see all the way over to Xela from there, the big volcano and everything. I took some pictures that I´ll have to send you some time. Anyway, from there the area doesn't end. It goes all the way up to Mexico. I would venture to guess that this area is about half the size of the rest of the mission. The only thing is the church isn´t out there, or in other words, there´s not enough members out there to have a ward or branch out there... until Elder Bown. This week he went on a 4 hour trip. He had planned for almost all change last change to go up into an area called San Mateo. There is one member out there who got baptized because her husband lives in the states, got baptized, and called her to tell her she needed to get baptized, and she helped him plan the whole thing. When he got there, there were over 70 people there waiting to hear his message. It was a big success and now they are making plans to baptize them all in a river up there, bring them down for Stake conference, and then start a branch out there. It´s been a joy to me to be able to hear the stories he has been telling me every night of his area, and I´m grateful to have the opportunity to be district leader out here. I´m grateful for the opportunity I might have to have an interview with every one of these people and be a small part of such a big event here in Guatemala.

I feel like my job here is small yet I do what I can. I have already been put in hard positions where I´ve had to chose between having friends and being a good leader. Occasionally you can have both but there´s always instances where that won´t happen. I´ve had to fight against racism, pride, and apathy all of which is very difficult to fight. You have to have a firm testimony and a strong disposition to fight against those even though you know how imperfect you are. I haven´t done a perfect job, no, but I do know that my testimony has strengthened a lot having had the experiences that I´ve had.

Last night we went to visit Hna. Irma but she wasn´t there, only her husband... at first I was afraid to even talk to him because he is a firm Catholic, but after beating around the bush a little bit, he opened up and told us his opinion. He told us that he was glad that she was coming to church and that he supported the idea of her getting baptized. He was also glad that his son was on a mission. He also told us how missionaries have been involved with his family for about 20 years now and how at first he rejected them every chance he could. Then when his kids decided to be involved, he told us of how they would only go to the dances and activities and how he told them that they couldn´t go to the activities unless they went to church on Sunday as well. I gained a great appreciation for that man last night.

That´s about it for now. I´m out of time. Until next time.


Love,

Elder Landon James Crapo