The Lord is really blessing the Peten Zone!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

LOL . . . I am getting absolutely zero lovin’ again today, but hopefully next year I’ll be gettin’ some . . . Two year sacrifice . . . Hee, hee . . .

Anyway . . . Thanks for the updates, Mom! Good to know all is goin’ well!
I’ll answer all of your questions first . . . The Zone is doing very, very well. We still have 45 baptismal dates set! It isn’t as many as we have had, but it’s still by far the best in the Mission! Fifteen of those Zone baptisms are planned for this weekend! LOL! We didn’t plan the same activity to baptize a lot on one day, but that’s what it’s lookin’ like we’re gonna do! The Peten Zone hasn’t baptized that many people in one month in about a year, so it would be amazing to achieve it. The Zone has really, really kept improving since I got here. It really isn’t bragging . . . I just think it’s really, really cool how my companion and I could turn the Zone around once we got together. I feel like with every change I learn how to better lead my missionaries. It’s really, really cool how I can feel my personal leadership improvement. The Lord has really blessed this Zone. We haven’t had to do too much!

Anyway, of the 15 baptisms we have planned as a Zone for next week, three of them should come from our area. Adelfa should be getting married to Pablo (a member) this weekend and will be baptized the same Saturday along with her son, Manual. Also, Adelfa’s niece, Eimy (daughter of two members) should be getting baptized the same day. All three of the baptisms have relations to the Obando family which is like the equivalent to the Eves families in the Del Rey Park Ward. Soooo . . . This Saturday should be a very exciting day for our area and for the whole zone! Keep ‘em all in your prayers, though, if ya would!!

As far as the Sister missionaries in our Zone, we have one super pilas one. Hermana Urizar is still here in Peten (where she has been for the past eight months). She is in a new area and she is workin’ her bum off like always! She and her companion should be baptizing two this weekend.

Concilio was very, very, very cool this time. Out of the seven I’ve been able to attend, it was by far the best one . . . LOL . . . Anyway, we had to stay in the Capital for a li’l while though. We got there Wednesday morning at 5:30. That day, my companion and I got to go work in the capital wherever we wanted. It was sooooo cool . . . First my companion went to visit some people in one of his old area. Then, I got to visit almost all of my favorite people from the mission! First, we went to the Maya to visit my first converts . . .Woooooooow! How they’ve grown! LOL . . . My first baptism, Carlos, is huuuuuuuge! We also got to visit with Hermana Esperanza! Ahhhhhh . . . It was so cool to have all the memories of my first change with Elder Ireland come back walking through those streets and to be able to eat some of Hermana Esperanza’s cooking again was just icing on the cake. She really is just the sweetest person ever.

So, the day would have been amazing just for visiting the Maya, but after we went there, we went to my second area, Atlantida. There, I got to visit Hermana Ligia and all of her family. Ahhhh . . . Talk about flashbacks again, LOL . . . I was at her house with that family almost every day for three changes. They are such good people and are so fun to be around. I really had missed them a lot a lot.
After that, we went to my third area, Ermita! We visited Hermana Zusi and the whole family. Honestly . .. I was just kinda floatin’ on clouds at that point. It was so cool. I love hanging’ out with Zusi and Fielding. We always have millions of good laughs there. Those three families are just soo, soo special to me and I will never, never, ever forget about ‘em. The only family that compares to them that I didn’t get to visit is the Schoenfeld family, but I couldn’t visit them ‘cause they work in the Temple on Wednesdays . . . Bummer. Great, great day though.

Then, Thrusday, we had a rare late starting Zone Leader Council. We started at 10am and ended with Hermana Torres cooking at about 3pm. The Council was amaaaaaazing, though. Everyone was very, very involved and we made some new standards for the Mission. Elder Martino was suuuuper powerful again and really inspired us all to be better. I really feel like this Zone Leader Council is going to help out this Mission a lot! My companion and I have planned a meeting with all of our District Leaders tomorrow to go over all we learned and to put new goals with each District to improve. I know we will be more successful as a Zone after that meeting . . .

Thank you for the Aaliyah update. I can’t wait to be hugging that girl again . . .

And, Dylan . . . I’m sooo proud of that kid! Really . . . Could there be anyone better than him? He’s amazing and such a good example. I sure stressed leaving him behind when I left on my mission ‘cause I wouldn’t be there to pull him through the stupid temptations of High School, but he’s done such a great job, huh?
Hey . . . Make sure you guys tape the NBA All Star Events . . . I’ll wanna see ‘em in four months . . . Hee, hee!

Hey . . . A couple questions . . . When does school start at Gavilan in the Fall? Also, what can do for work? Also, think Bishop could make me a Seminary teacher? I’d love that early schedule. Maybe you can hint to him that I’d love that calling . . . Please! It’s early and it gives me the whole day to get other things done. I get to teach, I have to study a lot, and I would learn a lot. Just put in the word, Mom . . . Make it happen . . .

Hey, Happy Birthday, Aunt Chris!

Oh! And I just sent a li’l package home today. It has a letter for the family and it has a bunch of pictures that I would like for you guys to pass out if ya could. The instructions are in the envelope . . . Ha, ha!

Well . . . That’s about all I’ve got! I sure love you all! Be safe and smart!