There's no way to describe this past week. I can't do it in English, I can't write my feelings in Spanish, and goodness knows I can't write my feelings in quiche (the language everyone speaks here). There are some things in this life that you just have to experience to know; I think that's why the atonement had to be experienced personally. The atonement of Jesus Christ wasn't just a book.No,Our Savior personally felt every last pain, emotion, and deepest depths of our lives and I'm every grateful for His atoning sacrifice. This is how my last week has been: If you can believe me.
Goodmorning- sacarick (saacareeek)
We drive 5 hours into the mountains of Guatemala only to arrive at a remote church building in Quetzaltenango. We had interviews with the president and we were assigned companions and areas and released out the building. I was so absorbed I barely could hear my area! The last thing I heard someone say was ''Woah, you're assigned to Racana! Good luck Elder, the rest of your mission will be easy after that!''
I haphazardly followed my companion (an American named Elder Hawkins) and boarded -with my three huge luggage bags- onto a strange looking, gray bus, and trusted that he knew what he was doing. People everywhere where yelling in Spanish, so I pulled out a Book of Mormon and gave it to a man sitting by me. We talked about it,and he said he would LOVE to read it and gave us his telephone number and direction. He said he would be baptized after he read it and prayed to know if it was true so the missionaries in his area are going to have a new member soon.
We flew (they drive fast) down these narrow streets and through the mountains for another 2 hours all the while shaking from the turbulence. Finally, we made it to a place called Momostenango and then walked for 15 minutes to another place. I thought we had made it, but then my companion started talking to a guy in a truck and told me to hop on. We got on the back of a truck with about 12 other people and scurried across narrow strips through the mountain for another 40 minutes to a place where everyone wears colorful Ropa (clothes) and they all speak an ancient Mayan dialect.
Then we put our luggage down at our small casa (house) by the local church and went tracting (like talking to random people) across the mountains to random houses. That was the first day.
It's been a week here, and I've learned a lot. A lot about myself, about life, about the gospel, about stress, about the atonement, and about love. We filter all of our water through bottles because the water isn't safe to drink, and I shower in a little stream of lukewarm water. I carry rocks to fend of the grueling dogs (who seem to have an appetite for eating missionaries haha) as we walk about 6 miles to go our appointments with investigators (who most of the time aren't even there -we are lucky if we can teach more than 2 lessons in a day-.) The people here are really nice, but they don't really know a lot of Spanish... (I know more than most of the people here) The people are very traditional and rarely have gone to school. Everyone here goes to church, but they don't understand much about the doctrine they are being taught. They sleep on dirt floors, speak dying Mayan dialects, fight off dogs, and farm to feed their families. I've been utterly humbled. I came here to teach the people what I know, but let me tell you that they are the ones who have been teaching me. These people are genuine, and because they have next to NOTHING, they were able to teach me almost EVERYTHING about the importance and quality of life.
I thought I knew what life was. I thought I had everything figured out. But the more I learn about these different cultures, people, and ways of life, the more I've learned this one simple truth: I always have something to learn.
Brothers and sisters who are reading this post, probably sitting in the comfort of your house or scrolling on your iphones. There are worlds out there we can scarcely dream of. There are people who learn, live, labor, and die within the same 50 miles they were born. I will forever be grateful for the opportunity I have to be in the comfort and luxury of the states, but let me bare this one solemn testimony.
God lives. He does, and nobody can tell me otherwise. There was a man named Jesus Christ, and He took upon Him the sins, struggles and experience of mankind. I testify that the people here in Tocana are children of God just like we are. The grace of the atonement covers for their struggles as much as it does ours. God loves us, and His arms are continually outstretched, inviting all to repent and come unto Him. There is always hope, there is always a way, and there is always love.
I'm lacking on time, so I don't have time to revise this letter or share another poem, but hopefully this will suffice for now. More experiences and stories are to come.
I love you all,
Elder Young
Elder young wrote two letters this week -
Weekly Letter - 29 Ago 2016
29 Ago 2016
Young, Blake Daniel
Hola, this week has been unprecedented. My companion and I, Elder Hawkins, hit the ground running by handing out book of Mormons on the bus. The second person I contacted was so excited to read the book and I asked him if he would be baptized after he read the book and he said that if it was true then he would. We gave his telephone number and contacts to the missionaries in his area. Racona is quite an interesting place. It takes a long time to walk and visit families, and they people usually aren't home, so we make sure to contact people on the way to make our trip worthwhile. We've kept our goal of talking with everyone we could and we've had over 100 contacts this week. It was easy to get discouraged, but we found 3 new families with new appointments. One of these families invited us to sit down and talk with them. We did, and we started teaching the first lesson when it started to pour. They invited us in their house to teach and they all tentatively listened, asking perfect questions like ''how can I know which church is true''. We explained how Joseph Smith had that same question and we recited the first vision. The spirit was strong, and the man invited us to return and teach him some more. We are praying for them to continue progressing. There have been other awesome experiences as well, such as when we were tracking in the mountains and a little girl invited us to her house, where we proceeded to give an introduction of the Book of Mormon; they asked us for one and told us to return another day. My companion is great and loves to work. Pretty soon we might run out of people to contact, but I know there are some people out there yet! We accept the "3 Familias - 4 Meses". We have 3 families, so hopefully they will accept. Adios
But yeah, we have our work cut out for us here. it's long and hard, but we are blessed and God is watching over us.
Goodmorning- sacarick (saacareeek)
Good afternoon - baajeet
good night - shoccohop
there are- koleek
there arent- kotock
dog- tsi
cat- mez
<thats how you pronounce the words that im speakig here
So Blake's companion is Elder Hawkins and he says he loves to work, which is great and they get a long very well. He says his apartment is medium sized, but like a castle compared to the people's houses there. He says he has water that is clean to drink(I guess after he filters it) and good food and all he needs.Please keep Blake in your prayers that all will go well and he will be safe and healthy!
Elder Young's apartment
This must be in Tacana where he is serving. He is as tall as the roof!
The mountains he is climbing each day
His apartment
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