The coolest story of my mission so far!

Heyyyyy . . . Yo, family!

I very much appreciated your e-mail yet again this week! Sounds like you had quite the week! LOL! I’m hoping that mine topped yours, though! I can’t top the Aaliyah story, though. I love that girl . . . A lot . . .

Oh! Question . . . In the video you sent me of “Christmas Past”, did it only have up until around five years ago? I don’t have all the years . . . Whuuuuud up with that? LOL . . . Just wondering . . .

Aaaight . . . I’ll save my best story for last . . .

So . . . I’ll start with what’s going on and what’s gone on so far today. Well, this morning, I had a couple of interviews before our Change Conference. And then, when they announced changes, I was made a District Leader again and I was also called to be a Trainer yet again. I will be the only Trainer in the capital . . . LOL . . . Kinda a bummer that everyone else (eight others) get to train in Coban and Peten. It’s all good, though. I’m excited to be able to have another child. I’m NOT excited about the fact that I gotta get up at 4am tomorrow morning to go to the CCM. Buuuuuuut . . . I do get to go to the Temple again which I look forward to very, very much. Well, it’s not the Temple I look forward to, it’s the learning and Celestial Room that I look forward to. And, since I don’t have a companion right now, I am with two others Elders that will be training as well. We are just waiting together until we receive our children tomorrow. So, right now, I’m with Elder Meza from Honduras and Elder Tombriz from here in Guatemala.

Other notes from the Change Conference . . . A young man named Elder Peterson came to my District and will be Elder Barrientos’ companion. It’s pretty cool ‘cause I really like the kid and he already knows a lot of signs from before the mission.

My District is a li’l crazy . . . LOL . . . But I look forward to the challenge, of course! I really look forward to training, though, ‘cause I really feel like I can be a much better trainer because of all that I’ve learned from the first time I trained. So, yea . . . We will see, yo!

Can you please tell Brother Heath that I love the letters he sends me about how the Ward back home is doing? Soooo . . . Please keep sending them to me! Thanks a billion!!!!!

I wanted to say “Happy Birthday” to Dylan! Can you guys believe he’s 17!!!!!!!!! That’s soooooo weird to me! Dude . . . He’s only two years away from his Mission! Isn’t that weird??? Well, anyway . . . I love you li’l guy . . . I hope you had a great birthday!

Well, recap on Elder Maradiaga . . . I learned a lot from Elder Maradiaga and I consider him to be a very good friend. Every single day with him was fun and we had the most amazing lessons together. I really can’t imagine that I will have lessons like what we had together ever again. The special thing was that we had a pretty good amount of knowledge (for missionaries . . . LOL) that were just goin’ full strength in the lessons. It was really cool . . . And then, in Change Conference, he gave his going home testimony and he did an amazing job! He gave it in Spanish, English and K’echi. His English was really good, though! I knew he could speak well, but he gave his testimony like perfectly! Soooo . . . yea . . . I hope I see him after the mission. He said he will be comin’ to the States, so we will see . . .

Okay . . . My cool, cool, cool story. Well, there is a guy in this area whose name is Manual. He is a doctor and a Priest. A really, really smart dude in the Bible and in medicine . .. LOL . . . I had contacted him a long time ago and he had only told us to come back, but I could feel he was sincere so we put an appointment with him for another day. Well, on the day of our appointment, we couldn’t go because we were too busy. So, we went by the next day and he still invited us in. Well, he was home alone. When we started, he asked us, “What is this book, Nephi, that you guys have?” So, we told him we would get to that answer and we started teaching the Restoration. We taught up to the point in Jesus Christ’s ministry on earth and then a bunch of people came home and started yelling and the Spirit kinda got lost in all the sounds. My Companion and I could feel that the Spirit wasn’t suuuuuper strong, but we kept teaching the lesson anyway. The cool thing, though, is how focused he was on what we were saying. We shared the apostasy and then we go to the beautiful message of Joseph Smith and the Restoration. Right after we shared the First Vision and how Joseph Smith found and translated the plates, how he received the authority and what the Book of Mormon is, he got up out of his chair and walked over to the tv. He grabbed a big roll of tape and a piece of paper. He then started to trace the roll of tape. Once he had the nice circle drawn out, he drew a li’l pizza slice in it. Then he showed us his drawing and said, “I had a dream . . . I had all of this part (the big part of the circle, minus the pizza slice) figured out, but I couldn’t connect it all until you guys gave me this part (the li’l pizza slice) to complete it and connect it all” . . . Wow!!!!!!!!! How cool, huh????? Then he asked without delay . . . “Where is your Church? What is the address?” My companion and I looked at him like complete dorks with our mouths wide open. I know I looked like a dork because I felt exactly like my companion looked . . . LOL . . . What Manuel told us honestly took my breath away! It was amazing! Then, on Sunday, he came to Church! We talked about the gospel for a while and he kept referring to himself as a Mormon and a Latter-Day Saint! I then asked him, “Do you know that this it he true Church?” He then said, “Of course this is the true Church and it gives me a tingly feeling from my toes to my head!” HHHOOOOOOOWWWWWWW COOL!!!!!!!!! We then put a baptismal date with him and it’s for the 12th of June. Cool, huh? That’s probably the coolest story of my mission so far!

This is the work of the Lord! I sure love you all! Be good and safe! Loveeeeee you!!!!!