Chimal 2

Yo yo, what's up? 

Elder Tadje here for one more change in Chimal 2 with Elder Campbell! Stats of the change: Together we took 750,000 steps, or over 500 km. (About 315-320 miles) No one said missionaries wouldn't walk!

This has been another good week- we were able to confirm Cecelia and Berta during sacrament meeting today!! It was amazing to see how happy it made them, and the value that the gospel has in their lives. After church I had the opportunity to baptize Santiago Mansilla. He's cousins with Jeremy, and turned 9 last September. His family is super active in the church (they just live 40 min away) but Santi hasn't wanted to get baptized because he didn't feel ready, and he's a little scared of water. But he came to church with his dad 2 Sundays ago and talked to us, and I don't know what we said, but from then on almost the only thing he talked about was his baptism. Every time we see him he brings us bags of cookies (for Elder Flaccito and Canchito) and he calls us to say goodnight when he goes to bed! He's one of the funniest little kids I've ever met! But HOLY COW the water was cold again!

For Christmas, our focuses as a mission are on family home evenings and service. It's been awesome to see how people open up through these 2 things. Monday we were able to paint another house for one of our neighbors who we found knocking doors. She's 73, and was painting her entire house by herself when we knocked. She called us her "two angels send from heaven" (she speaks a little English) She doesn't know my name, she just calls me "Alto." We were also able to have a family home evening with 4 families and Cecelia and Berta. There aren't a lot of chairs/ sofas in Guatemala, so everyone has banquitos, or cheap little plastic stools. The ward clerk Hno. Tobias was in the middle of sharing a really heartfelt story about his conversion, when the leg of my banquito snapped! It sounded like a gunshot and dumped me in the middle of the floor right in front of everybody! They wouldn't let me use banquitos after that...

I hope everyone has a fantastic Christmas, and that you all can focus on "Lighting the world!" Christ said that he is the light of the world, and through our good works, and remembering that we are literally his representatives here on the earth. As we act in place of Him and do what he would do, the Lord will put people in our path who need our influence and we will be able to change lives! I love you all so much and thank you for your prayers and support!!

Feliz Navidad,

Elder Tadje