week 80

Hey, this week went pretty alright! We still are having troubles finding those that will progress. We did a lot of contacting, including one of the little villages up the mountains that were accepting us called Doce Aguilas. We started visiting there a few weeks ago and my guess is that the people told the pastors the Mormons came and visited and sang and prayed with them. Well, their pastor told them not to listen to us because "we are liars" and not to let us in anymore. So that is a bummer. Ronald couldn't make it out to church, and because of zone conference we couldn't make it to our Family Home Evening with Mario. The few members we tried to go with were busy so we couldn't get any new referrals. But we will try again this week! 

I think some spiders have a home in our shower but they are little spiders so it is ok. Better than the tarantulas that crawl out of the drains sometimes.

We had one more student in English class so that was nice, they are actually learning kind of fast which is cool. 

For p-day today we taught the Hermanas Kekchi. We do one lesson every p-day and every district meeting, so twice a week. They are having a hard time, but they are doing their best to learn. Other than that, we played some basketball and bought some groceries. We will just write and then maybe get some tortillas de harina.

We did some divisions with the missionaries in Saqsuha last week. I stayed in our area and my companion went to Saqsuha. The Elder who came to work with me is named Elder Vega. He has been out about four months, he is from California. It was interesting because he still knows zero Kekchi so I could help him a bit because I know what he is going through. He did know Spanish already though.  Me and one other guy are the only ones left in the Polochic who had to learn both Spanish and Kekchi in the mission field. Tomorrow we will do divisions with Tucuru. I am excited for this because I am going with one of my buddies. His name is Elder Rios-Lazo, I don't think I have talked about him before. He is from Arizona and one of the District Leaders in my zone. He is going home like three months after me, so he has time out. He came in already knowing Spanish so he was in the Kekchi program in the MTC. His Kekchi is pretty crazy good. Besides that, this week we have two district meetings and we are going to help a member finish building his house. We will be tying the sticks together to make the walls I think, and then he will top that with a corrugated metal roof. So that should be fun!

For the Zone Conference, me and my companion mostly just talked about obedience in general. I used that story about the three guys applying for a job driving a truck through the mountains, do you remember it? The one guy says he can drive so close to the cliff, he can be right on the edge without falling off. The next one says he can drive with half a wheel off the cliff, and still not fall off the road. The last guy says he doesn't know how close he can get to the edge because he always stays as far away from the cliff as he can. Of course, he gets the job. Basically, the lesson is how we should just stay as far away from temptation as we can so that we won't have to experiment with problems. 

My interview was nice and short. President Faundez asked how I have enjoyed my mission. I said it is awesome. Then he asked how I have enjoyed finishing my mission. So there it is haha, no matter how hard I have tried to convince myself that it isn't coming to an end, my President tells me it is. But he told me I have about 3 or 4 months to become the best person/missionary I can be, so I told him I would do it. He didn't ask me where I want to finish, so I am just going to do what the Lord wants. I decided, if He wants me to end here, dope! If not, then goodbye Polochic. I will be bummed but I know it is whatever Heavenly Father wants. I learned from our Mission President that Heavenly Father has literally everything, except our will. He lets us choose. So if we choose to do what He wants, then we have given ourselves up entirely to Him. I think that is when we really can start to progress.

My spiritual thought this week is just to express that we are never alone. As you can tell, this wasn't one of the most successful weeks of my mission. But all week I never got too down on myself or anything, which in its own way is a miracle and a testimony that God will always help us if we are willing to ask. I love all of you, have a good week!

Love, Elder Toolson