A Little Pink Eye

October 29, 2017

Hola from Santa Lucia!

Its seems like every conversation here is a guessing game. If there is anything you want to know you've literally gotta play 20 questions to figure it out, and if you have answers from more than one person, you've gotta decide who you believe. We passed by the house (by passed by I mean searched in the jungle of San Judas for 45 min to find) of an investigator named Juventino. We got inside and his 5 year old son said he was at work. His 50 year old brother said he had left the day before on a vacation to the capital. His 60 year old aunt said he had just left on an errand and would be back soon. Who would you believe? It ended up being the 5 year old! We met with Juventino, or Tino in the front area while he held his massive 4 foot tall goose named Pancho who would honk whenever you said his name, and every once in awhile go crazy and attack the closest ankles.

Day by day I feel like I am becoming more and more Chapin. It's like Paul says in 1 Cor 9:20-23- to preach the gospel to a people, you've got to become one with them! As I am becoming more and more one with the culture and the people here and coming to understand them, my love for Guatemala and all the Guatemalans is growing so much! The people here are amazing and funny, quirks and all!! This week was kind of slow and uneventful for us. Elder Sanders was still sick with his stomach infection Monday and Tuesday, so we couldn't really leave the house. I did a lot of cleaning. Our new house is incredible. Wednesday we did divisions with the ZL's. I stayed here with Elder Munoz who's literally a giant teddy bear. It was honestly one of the most fun day of my mission, but then night came. Elder Munoz thought he got a rock in his eye, so I spent 1/2 an hour trying to help him get it out. Turns out it wasn't a rock, it was conjunctivitis (or pink eye), but the nasty evil Guatemala version. I woke up at 1:55 Thursday night and it felt like that same rock was in my eye. I spent and hour trying to get it out and eventually got back to sleep. I woke up feeling like I got punched by Rocky Balboa! The next morning I woke up again with a rock in my other eye. I looked like I went a full 10 rounds with Rocky and lost big time! My eyes almost wouldn't open. Saturday morning we were able to get eye drops, which helped the burning, but not the puffiness or the bright-red eyes. But the work still goes on! I played the piano for both branches, and both branches had speakers bail so I also gave surprise talks. It's crazy how perspective changes with stuff like this. Before my mission, if the bishop had asked me to speak for 10-15 minutes I would've freaked out, and in English!! But now it's just part of life- and less stressful than trying to figure out lists for lunches this week. Haha, one sweet old lady came up to me after and asked- "Elder, I loved your talk- but why were your eyes closed the whole time?" We went to Hermana De Leon's for lunch and made this salt water mix to wash them with, and I think we are on the mend.

I have been thinking a lot recently about why I'm here. Not only why I'm here, but why I'm doing everything I'm doing. Are my actions consistent with what Christ's would be? And if they are- are they for the same reasons? "For God so loved the world, He sent His only begotten Son." Christ's entire reason for being here was out of love. Everything he did was because He loved us, and showed that. Matthew 22:37-39 says the greatest commandments are to love God and love thy neighbor like unto thyself. Am I living my life in a way that follows that same pattern? I've started to realize that through a lot of my lessons and contacts and other things I've been doing recently, something's felt like it was missing: Charity, or the pure love of Christ. It's so extremely easy to get caught up in the craziness of life an get stuck in the same routine. Do all of our interactions with the people around us show the love we have for God and also for all of our brothers and sisters around us? I testify that when we focus on trying to gain that Christlike attribute of charity, everything changes. Conversations come easier, people are more open, you are happier, the spirit can be felt. Every aspect of your life becomes better because as you feel this love you begin focusing on others and forgetting yourself. That's when the blessings come and when the Lord can really begin to use you to fulfill his plan here on the earth. I love all of you guys so much, and miss ya! I appreciate all the prayers, emails and support more than you know- thank you for everything!

Until next week- The Canche in Guatemala

Elder Tadje