Thirty-four investigators at District Conference!!!!

Hey, family!

Thanks for all the updates! I know I allllwayyyys say it but, honestly . . . Thank you! I did get Dad’s answers to the three questions, too, so thanks! Well, I will try to answer your questions first!

As for my being sick when I called home on Christmas, it was just a li’l cold. I’m all good now!

We did have to travel a bunch again this week but, as you said, the Lord does always seem to bless us with the necessary health and strength! I’ll explain all the traveling we did again this week in just a li’l . . .

As far as Tikal, it took us about an hour and a half to get there from our city. The guy that took us wasn’t our guide or anything . . . He’s just the big boss of Tikal and lives near us and is a member of the Church so he took us for free and all . . . He took us in his li’l pick up. Then, in Tikal, yes! We were able to hear quite a few of those howler monkeys! We could especially hear them from up top of the ruins. It was really, really cool!

And . . . How cool that Dylan is now playin’ so well this year! I’m really sooo, sooo happy for him! Make sure you tape a game or two for me!

Thank you for always lettin’ me know about Aaliyah. I still always keep the vision that when I get off the plane and get down to the area where I can see you all that Aaliyah will just come running up and jump into my arms! Man . . . I miss that girl! That moment is only five months away, though . . . Weird!!!!!!

Well, as for this week . . . Lemme hit ch’all up . . .

This week we traveled alllooooooooooooooot again . . . LOL . . . Monday night, we headed to the Capital for Zone Leader Concilio (8 hour ride). Concilio was very cool and it was great to see everyone from the Mission and all. It was cool to come in from Peten ‘cause we come in from so far away that when we get there it’s almost like coming from another world and we feel cool . . . LOL! Then, on Wednesday night, we came back to Peten (another 8 hour ride). Then, on Friday, we started a division with San Andres 2. With them, I went to San Andres to be with Elder Housley. We found a family of seven that day and five of them came to Church on Sunday! On Saturday morning, we ended our division and I started another division with San Andres 1. My companion went there while I went back to San Benito (our area) and worked with Elder Marquez. We ended that division on Sunday morning at Church because it was District Conference so all the missionaries had to come (it’s like a Stake Conference). It was really cool at the District Conference ‘cause 605 people showed up and 34 of them were investigators! That’s the highest number of investigators we’ve had in Peten in forever!!!!! Then, yesterday, my companion and I had to take long trips to La Libertad and Sayaxche to make house contracts for those Elders. Ahhhhh . . . It’s been tiring . . . LOL. We had hardly any time to work together this week (Elder Alonso and I), but alli vamos . . .

Our Zone is really, really improving . . . Since we put together our plan, our investigators have gone waaaaaaaaaaaaaay up as a Zone! In just two weeks, we have gone from 26 fechas to 48 (we came up two short of our weekly goal!!!!!) and we have gone from 34 progressing investigators to 64!!!!!! I have no doubt that we will meet our goal of 60 fechas as a Zone this week. President Torres was also very happy with our dats and said that we are the best Zone in the mission right now!!!!!!! I really see that by small and simple plans (and with some old-fashioned elbow grease), miracles can start to happen. Soooo, it’s for sure stressful because President is now watchin’ the Zone so close, but if it ain’t stressful, it ain’t worth it! I dunno if that’s completely true, but it sounds cool . . .

President also gave Zone interviews yesterday. When I received mine, it was very short with almost no conversation again but he said, “I feel a special spirit about the missionaries here in Peten”. He also said, “You need to be sure you make plans to have sufficient baptismal clothing for your Zone on the 29th. That’s something I’ve never had to tell a Zone Leader to do before”. Now we just gotta do all we can to come through! I know the Lord will bless us in our hard work and obedience!

And, today, we went to Petencito. It was cool . . . We played with and fed a monkey that was just roaming around. We took pictures of a jaguar that was there . . . Lots of ponds and lakes . . . It was just a pretty place . . .

Well, I’m gonna get outta here but hit me if ya got questions or comments! I love you all sooooo much! Take it easy!!!!!!