May 19, 2015

Hey everyone!

This week has been awesome!

We have been working our butts off and we see the
fruits of our labor! SO..... the family I talked about last week, the ones who walk forever to get to church, we meet with them almost everyday.  It's worth the walk. As we came to the house the other day she came to us with the Book of Mormon in her hands, the one we gave her. She said she had another dream! (Honestly the Guatemalans are so blessed.) She had a vivid dream that she was visited by Joseph Smith and 3 men in all white. And they handed her the Book of Mormon (She can't read, no one in the family can) but the men told her that Elder Hintze and I were to read her the book.She told us this with tears in her eyes and was so excited to see us. I love her so much! We read to her from the Book of Mormon and are teaching her and the family all the lessons. They are getting married this Saturday and Elder Hintze and I are throwing a dope marriage ceremony! We got everything in place! And then they will be getting baptized this Sunday! Love that fam!! 

While we were teaching them the other day the older little girl in the family (age 6) came skipping home with the biggest smile on her face. The shoe company, "Toms" went up there in the jungle and dropped off hundred of shoes for the little school kids. It was the coolest thing to see these little kids, who normally don't wear shoes, jumping around with their new kicks. I will buy TOMS for the rest of my life. 

We are having so many miracles out here in the field! I can't write about them all! The people here are so prepared! And I am so blessed to be here in Patulul! I love it here!!

We went to Santiago Atitlan! It's where the Waters of Mormon are (supposedly)! It was awesome. I took some pics

Family Letter: 
HEYYY FAMM!

I love you guys!!! I have been doing so great out here in the mission! haha, it's  been awesome! We are having a ton of success!! We have 4 baptisms set up this Sunday! and 4 for the next!

We went to Santiago Atitlan. It was so tight. I spent all the money that I got from grandma for my birthday. I got some dope stuff. I'm getting you guys stuff too don't worry:) 

So... My diet is terrible. I'm losing a lot of weight so I eat a ton and I already ran out of money for the month! I need to be smarter about my food budget. Elder Hintze and I spent a study time just talking about how he did the same thing when he first came into the field and how to budget my money. haha I will doing a better job at that this upcoming month. ha 

I love you guys and random memories of one of you pop into my head randomly during the day. haha it's funny. I am loving my mission and seeing a lot of miracles. The other day we had a baptism fall through.. way hard.. so we prayed for someone to baptize. and we went to find a referral from a member of someone who hasn't been going to church. We didn't find the person we were looking for but because we went down that alley looking for him we found a girl. She moved from another part of Guatemala and she had already received all the lessons and wants to get baptized..... Miracles abound. haha God is blessing us and the people out here! Love you guys!

Elder Buhrley!

ps... My Doc Martins died. I tried fixing them yesterday but I totally tore a hole through a weird part of the sole walking in them. It's weird, but I'm going to try to get them fixed at a shoe repair shop here. They might be past repair though. ha

May 12, 2015

HEYYY I GOT TO SEE MY FAMMMMMMMM!

This week has been such a hard one! Elder Hintze and I were working our butts off and not seeing the fruits of our labors. But just as my president says, "Pain is always followed by joy, and the joy cannot come without the pain." So we had some pain but then had much more joy.

We had a miracle, this is where the joy was found. We have this family who walks about an hour and 15 minutes to get to church every Sunday...  and they never miss. So to pay our respects we decided to go and visit them. We walked up a mountain and through a jungle to go to where they live. It was the hottest and most humid day of the week and by the time we reached the top I was dying. We got there and visited with the family and blessed everyone (They love the priesthood here in Guatemala). Then afterwards they told us we could visit their neighbor. We went and visited this family, really young, 4 kids under the age of 6. We start teaching them and the mom started crying in the middle of the lesson. She told us that she went to church about 3 years ago and felt good there. But with the kids stopped going because of the long walk and one is really disabled, can't sit up or do anything for herself. She then started telling us of her dream. She had a dream that she was in our church at that four old people were talking to her. they said, "This is the true church of God, you need to bring your child here, she will be healed." It was the tightest thing ever! It was the exact thing we have been praying for! We then blessed her child, and Elder Hintze gave the most beautiful blessing. Then this Sunday we were waiting for our investigators to greet them at the door and there she was, this young mother with a child strapped to her back and another in her arms and two little ones walking along side. She walked all the way with her kids because her husband had to finish some work and couldn't make it to the first hour of church. That's faith. She is incredible and a true example. WHAT A MIRACLE! We are marrying the couple and they are getting baptized the 24th!!

But anyways.. Talking to the fam was awesome! It was so good to see you guys! Some missionaries get wrecked when talking to fam but i feel like its helped me. It was nice. I feel more motivated! Thanks Fam! I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!! 

Here are some pics from the mango eating contest Elder Hintze and I had. I WON. And of the volcanos in the morning. 

LOVE YA! ELDER BUHRLEY

May 5, 2015

HEYY!

I am loving the field! Getting better and better at Spanish every day. This week has kind of been a down week.

The people here are so awesome. I love em so much. We were teaching an older guy and our last lesson with him he said, "I will change everything in my life to join this church; this is the church I will die in." The irony is... he died two days later. He had a stroke. ha but I'm at peace with it because he is going to accept everything in the Spirit World. The thing about death here in Guatemala is... it's like a parade thing. The whole city of Patulul went to the funeral, even people who had no idea who he was. It's crazy! Rest in peace, Carlos.

Another funny thing about Guatemala is that the guys are sooo dependent on their gals. We went to go talk to some recent converts who were having trouble with money. The husband was the only one there with his kids. He was carving a life-size wooden doll with his machete..... I kid you not. He said his wife left to work and he was mad about this.  His words: "How am I supposed to eat? Are my kids just going to starve?! I can't just go get tortillas from another women!! And all my clothes are dirty!! Am I supposed to wash them in the river?!" He went on a rant for literally 10 minutes. and the whole time i just thought... you are carving a life size doll out of wood with a machete, bro!!! Go do something else! Literally anything else! haha 

I never get any sleep. We are so busy all the time there is no time too sleep. Haven't woken up at 630 since the MTC. It's crazy thinking how often i slept back home. Not going to sleep for 2 years. Elder Hintze just tells me all the time,  "After 22 months, you would not believe how tired I am"  haha I have also been losing weight. I've lost over 25 pounds!! ha It's really sad! But it's fine; it's so hot here that Ii cant help it. I don't know if this is a thing in other missions but we don't have dinner. It's wired thinking that once i used to sit down and eat dinner. Now we just work our buts off. 

Well, sorry for the lame email! 

Elder Buhrley!