It's Official, I'm in the League of the Bucket Shower-ers!

Hola Familia!

Well, it sounds like you all are doing awesome, it was great to hear from you for a second last night, and hopefully tonight we´ll be able to talk a little bit! I just have to call the assistants and get permission to call tonight, and I should be alright to call! If I don´t call, just know that I couldn´t get permission and I´ll just have to email you next week! No worries.

Everything is going great here in Patzicia! We´re just working hard and doing our best to gain the trust of the members. They are basically astounded when we show up at their house wanting to get to know them and come in and share a little message. It´s incredible, because missionary work CANNOT be done without the members. The missionaries before us supposedly didn´t visit the members very much, and we´re seeing the effects of that. One family even asked us if we had permission to visit them!

Alright, it´s official. I´m now a bucket showerer! We ran out of water (The water that goes to the shower) for a couple of days and we had to shower out of buckets of freezing cold water! Haha I just stood in the shower with my bucket and couldn´t stop laughing (I warmed the water up on the stove the first time… ha!). These are experiences that you just can´t have without serving a mission. I´m so thankful to my Heavenly Father for always giving me these awesome experiences.

Alright, now the ¨REAL¨ awesome experience. A little while back we started visiting a member who has to live in a wheel chair. He is pretty young but all of a sudden he just started losing the strength in his legs. He said he had received a blessing from one of the area general authorities years back, and that it was a really spiritual experience. He talked REALLY highly of this experience, and said that he wanted another blessing. Well, I just let the spirit guide and it was one of the most incredible experiences ever. The spirit was SO strong! The words just kept coming to my head, and if they didn´t, I´d just wait.

Well, I was feeling pretty forgotten and hadn´t gotten any letters for a while, when all of a sudden today I got a bunch of letters! Thanks for the letters!

Love you all so much, I´ll talk to you later!

Elder Melville

Happy Mother's Day!

Hola Familia!

Well, it sounds like you´ve had another awesome week! I´m really glad to hear that everything is going well and that you´re just enjoying life! We have so many awesome experiences to learn from EVERY single day, even if we´re just doing the same routine. This life is a test, our chance to show our Heavenly Father what we´re made of, and how faithful we can be. He will give us those opportunities to learn, and we just need to take what comes and LOVE it. Make the most of it and we will become better every day in his hands. Sounds like you´re basically already doing that so keep it up! I´m trying to do that too! Haha

Tanner, Principal for a day? Wow! What a responsibility! I bet that was awesome, did you tell a lot of people what to do? Or were you the fun principal? Sounds like you were the fun principal that everyone likes! Haha. Keep up the good work, you´re awesome. Are you still playing drums and stuff? Basketball? I can´t wait to talk to you on Sunday to hear about all the cool experiences you´ve been having!

Christopher! ¿You went to prom? Which girl did mom have to pay to go to Prom with you? Ha! Just joking, I bet it was so awesome! Did you have a lot of fun? Did you get the door and her seat at dinner and all of that? DO THAT STUFF. You feel kinda dorky while you do it but believe me, that´s how it´s done! How´s basketball? School? Wow, you´re almost done with the school year huh? That´s so crazy. It´s weird that it´s summer there almost, because It´s all cold and foggy here! Haha

Well, I´m going to be able to talk to you all on Sunday at 7 PM. My companion wants to do the phone calls then, so that´s when we´ll do it! Sounds great to me. I´m not sure how you do the whole out of country calling thing, but just do what you did on Christmas, and that should work fine. If that doesn´t work, check the ¨502¨ and make sure that´s right… I´m way excited to be able to talk to you all, sounds like fun!

We´ve heard about the swine flu, and we´re just trying to keep clean and I´m sure we´ll be fine. Don´t worry I´ll be careful!

I got to go to Lake Atitlan on Wednesday and it was INCREDIBLE! So much better than the pictures. Seriously, I was AMAZED at how pretty it was. The water was so smooth, PERFECT for some wakeboarding! Let´s go! Haha I didn´t see any sail boats, there were hardly any boats out there, mostly just a tour boat or two. There is a little TINY church down by the lake in a place called Panajachel, and it´s awesome.

Speaking of cool little places, we hiked to a waterfall for Preparation day on Tuesday in Elder Judd´s area. It was really awesome! We spent some time taking pictures and looking at the waterfall. We couldn´t swim or anything but it was still really fun to be there!

Well, i´m just going to answer questions and then we can talk on Sunday!

1 I think large too for the sweater
2 Elder Cano and I live with 2 other elders, Elder Johnson and Elder Doblado. Elder Doblado is one of the messiest people i´ve ever met. Haha Love cleaning…
3 our house is big and awesome, but I just have to clean it a lot!
4 I´m feeling pretty healthy, sometimes the little colds come, but overall i´m doing really well! Everyone is sick around me and i´m just eating well and taking vitamins! (It´s hard to eat well in the mountains, but as well as I possibly can.)
5 no one cooks for us, but a lady does our laundry the way all the ladies in corte do it here, my clothes smell like a combination of good soap and rocks. Haha


Love you so much! You are an incredible Mom and have always been so supportive. Thanks for everything.

Love you all so much, talk to you soon!

Elder Micah Melville

Hola from Patzi!

Last day serving with Elder Lanham in El Carmen

Hola Familia!

Well, it´s been an INTERESTING week to say the least! I´m still trying to get used to the SLOW PACED mountains! I feel hyperactive and like I can´t sit still here! Everything goes a little bit slower, and I can already tell it´s going to take some getting used to! We´re not running from appointment to appointment yet, but hopefully we can get things going and speed it up a little bit!

Sorry about the email last week, I´m not sure why but I had hardly any time at all to write! I have a LITTLE more time this week, so I´ll try to give you a few details of what´s going on and stuff!

My companion is Elder Cano, he is from Honduras, and is one of the best missionaries i´ve met. He is an INCREDIBLE leader, and i´m pretty sure they took him down as Zone Leader so that he can turn this stake around. I´ve already learned so much from him, and i´m looking forward to learning even more! This is his last change in the mission, so we´re just trying to keep from getting ¨baggy¨and we´re working hard!

It´s true Dad, I´m a lot closer to the Lake Atitlan. Actually, we´re doing divisions with the Zone Leaders on Wednesday, so i´ll be staying in the house that overlooks Lake Atitlan! It sounds like I´ll have plenty of chances to get over to see the lake! How crazy is that? I´m really excited to see it!




We had 3 baptisms in El Carmen the day before I left. We baptized The Barahona Family. They made a big huge picture with a letter for me and framed it, i´ll have to take a picture and show you, it´s incredible. I´m not going to lie it was a hard day, but one of the best days ever. I found out that Erick (The bolo Elder Lanham and I found) is getting the Priesthood, and that Deidy was called to work in the Young Womens Presidency! There aren´t words to describe the feelings that come when I think about those converts who are really thriving and gaining testimonies! We had another family of 5 ready, (Marco and Aura) but I haven´t heard what happened with them. I hope they´re all happily baptized and living the dream!

Just in knocking doors and contacting, I can see how different this area is. The people are VERY strong in their beliefs and customs. It is REALLY hard to get into a house, but I honestly think the missionaries here are telling themselves it´s harder than it is. There are prepared people here, we just have to find them! Pray for us on that one! The people in the ward have been very nice, and it´s been a great experience. It is awesome to see all of the ladies wearing their corte (native dress) to sacrament meeting! It´s VERY colorful. Haha.

Yesterday Elder Clark from the Quorum of the 70 just decided to show up to our ward looking for the gospel principles class… Well, when there aren´t any investigators, there isn´t a gospel principles class. We have a baptismal date already but they couldn´t make it to church! Well, he gave us a little bit of a chew out in front of a Sunday school class! It was really interesting, but we´re going to change a few things that are happening in the ward and everything will be great. I learned a lot and i´m really thankful for that!

Mom, I´m probably going to need another sweater like the one I have. I can get a hoodie sweatshirt here, but I LOVE my gray sweater i´ve been using. If you could send me a black one that would be awesome! Just that, and as always, PICTURES! There is nothing better than a bunch of pictures.

I had to totally clean the house, it was a DISASTER, but it´s really looking good now, I like it! The toilets are out in the back yard, as well as the shower. Can I just tell you, this already has been the experience of a lifetime! I am SO happy, and I LOVE missionary work. I already want to start my mission over with the knowledge i´ve gained and just be that much better! I´m just doing my best to THRIVE, to ENJOY, and to MAKE THE MOST out of every moment. If I can do that, even when the times get hard, I can be constantly learning and growing. I love that. DO IT!

I love you all so much and miss you a ton. Keep sending letters and packages I love hearing from home!

See ya soon!

Elder Micah Melville

GET READY!

Hola Familia!

Wow, can I just tell you the crazy past few days I´ve had? I can´t stop smiling and I am SO excited for everything that has happened, BUT i´m not going to tell you until I´ve answered your questions. haha

I didn´t get a ball, and It didn´t look like there was space for a ball in the last package... haha So who knows? Dad, I´ve loved that song for a while now, isn´t it so good? Thanks for that trait, because when I´m having a hard time I sing too. I got the package on thursday because of the semana santa, EVERYTHING just shuts down so it took a little bit longer. I know Jerom Patterson, I love him he´s such an awesome Elder. ALSO, Elder Judd and I just so happen to be in Neighboring areas in the same district. I met him yesterday and we´re already friends! haha We are going on divisions tomorrow because my companion is district leader again, so we´ll be on changes a lot. Elder Crosby too! Awesome huh. I´m pretty sure 3 of the 4 shoes are splitting, but wouldn´t be surprised if the 4th is close to start. They´re black, size 45.

Tanner, I just want to congratulate you and let you know you have my respect. After YEARS and YEARS of begging, pleading, searching the internet, the whole deal, I NEVER talked Dad into buying a better boat. You already have a tricked out golf cart? You´re going to have to teach me a little bit of that smooth talking!

Well, I have 7 minutes left to write, I got so many emails I just finished reading them all, then sent a quick email to Kasey, and here I am! I´m so happy that everything is going well at home, and can´t believe that you´re covered with snow again! haha Grandma, I can´t believe Seth is already 8! How crazy is all of that!

Well, I had a change. I got kicked out of the club house and sent to Patzicia! Now we´re in the Solola zone, one of the coldest areas of the mission. My companion isn´t sure when the last time this area had a baptism is, but we know for sure it´s been 6 months. There are no progressing investigators. There is a colonia Zarahemla, FULL of members everywhere! The thing is it sounds like there have been some trouble missionaries here and the members don´t trust the Elders. My companion is the district leader serving 12 elders in our district! There are problem Elders in our district and they will both be finishing their missions after this change. SO, we have to get to know their area too, so that when the new missionaries come in the area
won´t die. I have one of the best companions in the mission, who was a zone leader, but came down to deal with this situation.

I have felt a HUGE load of responsibility fall upon my shoulders, but the spirit has let me know that this is where I need to be. I have comfort in my heart and couldn´t be happier .

I LOVE YOU ALL SOO MUCH!

Elder Micah Melville

Hey Family

Hola Familia,
Wow, sounds like you have been having an awesome time! That´s awesome, I´m really excited to hear about all of your little trips and the details of life. Keep it coming! I loved hearing about the things that you grabbed as the fire alarm went off in the hotel… haha I´m sitting here laughing just thinking about it. I can just picture Mom running to get dressed, Dad getting the wedding ring and journal, and of COURSE Christopher and Tanner grabbing the cell phones and iPods. Haha I love it.

Well, changes are a week from today, and it´s looking like my days in the club house are winding down. I´ve already had 3 changes here in El Carmen, and it looks like it´s time to go. My companion has had 4 changes, but they say that the Senor Companion usually has 5 changes, and the Junior Companion is supposed to have 3. I´m preparing myself to get out to another part of Guatemala, and even though I´m really sad to leave this area, I´m really excited to see where I get to go next! Nothing is sure, and I´m pretty sure they´re doing the changes as we speak. I could stay here for longer, but that would be pretty crazy. We´ll see what happens.

Thanks a million for the emails! I´m so happy to hear from Nathan and Shannon´s family, I miss them a bunch! I have the picture you sent of the girls at stadium fire up on the window in my room, and I love hearing from the family.
I always talk a lot and never have time to answer questions, (SORRY! Kris Price would kill me. Haha) so I´m going to answer the questions right now. I never got an email from Jordan, and I´m probably going to need some Veramist and Claritin pretty soon, so that would be awesome if you could send some of that. Thanks a million! I´m also thinking about buying an exercise ball, There are missionaries here that are selling them, or maybe you know of a good place to get one up there and send it… I would need one that measures 65 mm. Just let me know what you think. I would need a pump too so we´ll see. I´ve been practicing, and I can lift weights while standing on the ball and balancing! Ha Ricky, you´re going to love this. I´ll send a picture. I´m not sure what the problem is but my shoes are splitting on the bottom- I sent a picture- It´s not too big of a deal yet, but maybe there is a warranty or something? Don´t worry.
Well, I´ve been thinking a lot lately, and I´ve kind of realized something. There are a lot of things I´ve done in the past just to ¨Get through¨ or ¨Survive.¨ I´ve realized that there are a lot of times when I´m not enjoying what I´m doing as much as I should be, or could be. Sometimes i´m just surviving until the weekend, or the end of the change, or the end of my senior year. Sometimes just surviving until the end of lacrosse practice… haha I´m not saying i´m not enjoying it, but I´ve realized I could be doing so much more If I´m making the most out of EVERY moment. I found a verse in James that talks about how we need to be ¨doers and not ¨hearers¨ and I love it! James 1 verses 22 and 23 I think.

Well I love you all so much, thanks for everything! I think you´re the best and I miss you but I´m loving everything about my mission!

See ya soon.

Elder Melville

WHO IS THE PUNK ROCKER?

Hola Familia,

Hey! How´s everything going? Who was the punk in that picture you sent? The neighbor kids are just getting rougher and rougher every day! haha RICKY! Who gave you steps? You just need a rat tail mowhawk and you´ll be a puro guatemalteco! Start practicing your soccer!

Well, thanks a million for all of the emails! I had a bunch today, and i´m always pretty excited for that. It sounds like everything is going great in Utah! I´m pretty bummed that you didn´t have the opportunity to watch conference on Saturday! It was AWESOME. D. Todd Christopherson talked about covenants and how the covenants we make can help us in our daily lives to be strong Christians. You´ll definitely have to read the Ensign! We get the Liahona down here, and I can´t wait for it to come out!

We got to watch conference in the stake center, and we watched every session! Awesome huh? President came and watched Priesthood with us on Saturday and took us out to ice cream after. I was a little bummed that I didn´t get to go to Maglebys with the crew, but that made me feel a little better... haha! We watched all of the sessions in another room in English, and it was really nice to be able to listen in English! The thing is, we had 13 investigators at conference, and I didn´t really get the opportunity to sit and talk with them. That was the only down side, but really, that is one of the best feelings i´ve ever experienced, to see recent converts and investigators at conference! They just kept pouring in, and I couldn´t have been happier.

As well as the investigators, Erick, Zandra, and Deidy with her husband Estuardo(Investigator) were all there! I know I just barely said it but that was one of the best feelings ever, to see these people really changing their lives!

Last night we had an appointment with La Familia Barahona. They are the Son, Daughter, and Wife of the son of the Dad who knows the bible really well and drilled us the other day (ha, I hope that makes sense!). Anway, they told us how conference just made it all that much more sure that the Church is true and that what they are doing is right.

Right now we´re walking with 7 Baptismal dates, all set for April 18. Marco, Aura and their kids as well as The Barahona Family. We are receiving SO many blessings, you have no idea. These people are already prepared! We´ve had to work with Marco and Aura, but I really feel like these people are ready and we´ve just been the ones to invite them to repent, change, and guide them a little bit on their way! Pray for us, we´ll need it!

Lately i´ve learned something really interesting, and that´s been the way that I look at myself. I´ve realized that a lot of the time i´m looking at myself how the people around me are looking at me. I´m not saying I feel like a million bucks when all the bolos are begging for money and calling me ¨BRUTHERRRRRR¨ or anything like that, but that I´ve been giving a lot more credit to people´s opinions than is necessary. I realized this, and thought to myself, how pathetic!

All of us are the sons of our Heavenly Father who loves us. I remember Brother Bolo gave me a bookmark for my scriptures one time that said, ´´I am a son of the most powerful being in the universe´´ and i´ve realized how true that is! We are sons and daughters of him, and he loves us and wants the best for us. Our potential is something INCREDIBLE. It´s more than we realize. Satan is going to try to put it into our heads that we aren´t anything out of the ordinary, just another person here on the earth trying to survive.

I´m pretty sure Henry B. Eyring said one time that if we really knew who we were, we wouldn´t do the things we do, we
wouldn´t have any desires to sin! I heard that through the grapevine, maybe i´m wrong, but how true is that statement! We need to look at ourselves through our Heavenly Father´s eyes. Through Jesus Christs eyes, who gave his life for this little missionary in Guatemala, for all of you. I imagine we are pretty special in his eyes. This doesn´t mean we need to be cocky, but maybe we can remember that when we have a tough decision to make.

Well, keep loving life and all of that. I love you all so much, and think you´re all the best! Christopher, I´m jealous of your steps and your basketball skills, maybe i´ll get some steps when I get home and we can be twins... Or maybe i´ll go get some steps tomorrow... haha jk LOVE YOU TANNER!

Well, Love you all! Sorry I didn´t send a picture, this computer is SO SLOW! I´m ok mom and I don´t need anything yet... I´ll think and tell you next week. haha

Elder Micah Melville

Hello Family!

How´s everything going? Like usual, it sounds like basketball is life! Keep working hard and doing what you´re supposed to and you´ll keep it up! Tanner putting up the points huh! Don´t ever think you´re not good enough to play someone, or that you´re not talented enough, because you are! Just don´t be cocky… and be nice to the fat kids! Haha

Well, It´s nice and hot here in Guatemala! Our area is HUGE and we´re almost always running from appointment to appointment, so i´m ALWAYS sweating. Remember my Nalgene bottle you sent? That´s been a life saver, I just fill it up before I go and i´m good to go! We had a little bit of rain yesterday, but not much. It´s crazy, it was hot and sunny one minute and within 2 or 3 minutes it was pouring! These next few months should get interesting!

It´s pretty amazing how fast things can change. Things have gotten a LOT better with my companion this week. Of course
we´ve had some tough times, but we´re learning and growing and figuring out how to work things out. I´ve learned to just kind of roll with the punches, swallow my pride, and be sure that i´m doing what I need to be doing and everything will be ok… sometimes sooner than later, sometimes pretty far down the road. Thanks for all of the advice and help with that, you all are awesome.

Yesterday we were teaching one of our investigators who has a baptismal date, and her brother. Her dad came and decided he wanted to talk a little bit, and wow, can I just tell you, he KNOWS the bible. He knows the bible back to front, front to back, and is WAY smart. He´s like the 7th day Adventist version of Brother Perkins… haha Anyways, it just happened to be that I was on divisions with Elder Moya, as well as this other new missionary that is staying with us and has joined our companionship as a triple because he and his companion were fighting bad enough that he needed to change or something like that. Well, to make a long story short, this guy just drilled us with questions, TOUGH questions, and the three of us just had to put our trust in the Lord and do our best to answer his questions. We did our best to answer his questions, but when it came to the point that we could have gone on forever, I just decided to bear testimony of what I knew. It was a tough but awesome experience.

Something I´ve learned about the bible is that it is SO confusing! That is why we have so many churches on the earth today, because there are so many different ways we can interpret it. Every church uses the same bible, but teaches different doctrine. It really bears testimony of the need for the Book of Mormon, the need for a living prophet here on the earth today, and I love that!

I just have a question. If you were surrounded by people who were telling you that what you believed isn´t true, that the book you have read and studied your whole life is nothing but another random book, that the man who you believe restored the church in this dispensation is just some random person that the crazed Mormons worship, and that you are lost in your beliefs, would you still believe? What if they brought out their bible and showed all of the discrepancies they could find, if EVERYONE around you was telling you that what you believed was wrong… Would you still believe? I´ve had some feelings like this, but I´m really excited and happy to say that I more than believe. I know. I know it´s true. It was a little bit of a shock but I know what i´m doing is right. Think about that, and if you can´t say that, maybe you should figure out if it´s true or not?

I love my mission, there is NOTHING better, and mom, i´m not just saying that so you don´t hop a plane to come make sure
i´m alright… haha Seriously, I´m having the time of my life and I just want you to know that. To answer your Q´s way fast…





We go to our cooks house every day (almost) just elder muñoz and I. I like tamales, We live in our area, Cabs are expensive, the bus is cheap(free if you contact it) We walk to church (no air conditioning, just fans) I´ve been to the mall with the assistants, it´s just like the states, if not better. We went to the temple this past Thursday with the assistants and the youth in our ward, as well as Zandra and Deidy, recent converts, We get to go to General Conference in the Stake Center about 30 to 40 minutes away with traffic, I haven´t heard from other Elders, I think i´m doing ok with my prescriptions, but it would be ok to send some to be safe. Sorry this is so scattered I have to go! I heard the temple is going to look like the san diego temple in quetzaltenango but we have to wait for Honduras to finish the temple or something?

Well, I love you all so much, and I´m way excited for everything that is happening there. Keep it up, and just know i´m LOVING it down here.

See ya soon,

Elder Micah Melville

HEY! ESTAMOS?

Hey! Estamos?
Sorry I'm a little bit late today, we had interviews this morning in another part of the zone, and we are just barely getting around to having time to email!

I love the campout idea, sounds like a ton of fun! I love hearing little details like that, I feel like I'm right there with you. How many Hot Dogs did Tanner eat? WOW easy there big guy... haha I hope you had a bunch of fun and got that camping night out of the way Ricky! How many more camping nights do you have? What are you going to do for your Eagle Project? Send stuff to Guatemala? Do something that you really are interested in, you're going to have to work hard and put some hours into it, so make it worthwhile! Make it something you can look back on and feel good about.

Well, I don't have much time again, I received so many emails this past week! Thank you everyone who sent me emails, they're always way fun to have, and the advice I always get is really good.

This week has been really good, we went on divisions yesterday and I went with a missionary who has one change more than I do (6 weeks). He is a really nice kid and we had an awesome time just doing our thing as the new(ish) missionaries! I can't believe how much time I have out here already! It scares me, I feel like I'm going to be coming home before I know it. No offense or anything, but I don't want to!

Things are going a lot better with my companion. Of course he still gets mad a lot and stuff but we're both learning and growing and starting to understand each other a little bit better each day. We have so much work to do it's not even worth it, wasting time on thinking about anything other than the work.

We have 2 more baptismal dates for April 18th, but I'm starting to wonder if we shouldn't move them up a little bit! Yesterday we had 9 investigators in sacrament meeting, and every day I just can't believe the blessings we're receiving! We're working with yet again another alcoholic named Marco and his poor wife (Aura) and their family, and they're really serious about wanting to change their lives and become better. Hopefully we can help them figure things out!

I'm not sure if you, or even I, understand the PLAGUE that alcohol is causing here. There are drunk people EVERYWHERE and it it destroying the family, as well as just the way the country works. It's easy, all you have to do is take one drink and next thing you know satan has control and you're doing all kinds of crazy things to the people you love, as well as strangers in the street.

I just want to tell you how much I LOVE testifying of my Savior Jesus Christ. The more we know him, the more we try to become like him, the better we can understand our purpose for our lives. We learn why we need to do things like be obedient, make good choices, and strive to follow him. Like I've said before, we need to put him at the center of our lives and everything else will work! OK, now go stand up in the front of the crazy bus that is FLYING around corners, up hills and weaving in and out of traffic, translate what I just wrote into spanish, and yell it at the top of your lungs so that the people can hear it over the crazy reggaeton music and the roar of the engine. I'm not going to lie, there is nothing more intimidating, but at the same time NOTHING better than testifying of our Lord and savior and his restored Gospel on the earth today.

I've learned that EVERYTHING we do has to be with the spirit and we will be ok. We just need to follow the spirit and the people who are ready and are the elect will feel it and accept it. It's our responsibility to do it with the spirit, and our Heavenly Father does the rest. If we don't work with the spirit we're nothing more than Jehovahs Witnesses or Avon Ladies... ( I say that with all due respect.. ha)

Love you all so much, have an awesome week!

Elder Micah Melville

P.S. I'm so happy Aunt Susan is going on a mission, she will bless the lives of so many people. We love the Sister missionaries here!

HEY!

Alright, I have hardly ANY time at all to type! I went to send my letter to the President and it was lost, so I had to do it again.

I´m way excited that everything is going good as usual! I know that I have nothing to worry about with all of you while i´m here, and that´s really good to know. I hope you´re all taking it easy and everything is going great.

This week was INCREDIBLE. We had the marriage of Erick and Zandra, as well as their baptism. Our ward mission leader doesn´t give us too much help, he´s ALWAYS busy, so we had a lot on our plate! We planned it all out and just figured everything out, and it all worked out really well.

I had the opportunity to baptize Zandra, and Elder Muñoz baptized Erick. I´m not sure whos fault it was, but I could NOT get Zandra under the water! Ha I honestly felt like we were in there wrestling in front of everybody! It took me 3 times, but it all worked out fine, thank heaven. Hopefully i´ll be able to get some more practice here in the next little bit!

This week we had the opportunity to go on divisions with the Zone Leaders, it was one of the coolest things ever. I went with Elder Waldo, and he taught me a lot. Everything that they do is through the spirit and inspiration, and I have a strong testimony of that. Divisions came at the PERFECT time. I had an especially hard week with my companion, who at times seemed like he was being disobedient just because i´m trying to be obedient. I wouldn´t change for the world though, because these are the times that the REAL learning starts.

We contacted a family the other day, then Elder Jenson and I went back to teach them (He is the new Assistant, from California, and he´s awesome). We taught them for the first time Saturday, and invited them to come to the baptism that night. Well, the Hombre´s name is Enrique, and he came to the baptism, as well as church, and told Elder Lanham and I yesterday that he wants to be baptized. Prayers are real!

I´ve been thinking recently a lot about the Plan of Salvation. Through teaching and listening to the assistants and the other Elders talk, I´ve learned a ton. Something I´ve learned and realized is that it is NOT easy to get into the Celestial Kingdom. We have to work hard EVERY single day if we really want that reward. There will be a LOT of member of the church who only reach it to the Terrestrial. This being said, we need to be giving a CONSTANT upwardly striving effort. Every single day we need to be giving all that we can to live a Celestial life while we´re here so that when the time comes, we will be able to have a Celestial life after this life. The Celestial Kingdom is the ONLY place we can be together as a family after this life. It´s hard, and we´re not perfect! We´re going to make mistakes but thanks to Jesus Christ and his mercy and grace we can do it! Elder Holland said ¨Salvation isn´t cheap´´ and it´s completely true! If it´s not hard, you´re not working hard enough, and the small things will make the difference, so that one day we can have life eternal and live as a family. Alma 37:6-7

Love you all so much, sorry this is scattered!

Elder Melville

Hola from....EL CARMEN!

Hola Familia,

Wow! I don´t even know where to start this week. I´m way excited for all of you, ýour emails were awesome! Thank you so much, I really appreciate all of the little details, It´s kind of weird that those would be the things I would like the most, but the little details in the emails, and the pictures in the mail are my favorite! (Ties are a close second... haha jk)

Tanner... A golf cart? ha I remember wanting a golf cart! You could probably get away with driving a golf cart down here, the police would be fine with it! The only thing you´d have to worry about is it would get stolen so fast. How would he drive it up there? Are we big golfers nowadays? Sounds like fun!

Christopher... What do you do all day now that basketball is over? ha That´s one of the best feelings ever and one of the worst at the same time! You can just relax, but at the same time it´s boring! I can guarantee it I won´t be able to sit still when I get off of my mission. It´s CONSTANT running from one cita (appointment) to the next! That´s the way I like it! The work is so much better when you´re hussling and getting the work done! My companion is mad at me right now because he wants to go to a family home evening for 2 hours tonight, but I want to put another cita so that we can do the family home evening for one hour and go to another one after that! He´s pretty mad that I suggested it, but I´m getting used to it and we´re doing a lot better as a companionship!

Dad, I really appreciate all of your warnings in your emails of things to watch out for and be careful of, but I feel a little jinxed! First it started off with the bolos, and one kissed me, then you talked about girls, and they started to say crazy stuff to me while i´m walking in the street, after that it was to be careful and take care of myself - avoid injuries.

Well, the other day we woke up way early to go do service for a Hermana in the ward. We got up there and found out that we were going to take off her roof. The roof is just big sheets of metal, kind of like the metal on the sides of trailers, with the canals in it. It´s called lamina here, I think that translates to... Laminate? (Ha, Learning Spanish is helping me with my English, and the German is just about COMPLETELY gone) Anyways, so i´m up on top of this cinder block house covered with laminate tearing the laminate off of the house. We get all of the laminate off of one side of the house, and find out we have to put it all back on after this guy puts new support beams. Watching him put the support beams on made me a little apprehensive, he was using wire like twisty ties to hold it all together, and one of the beams was all twisted... ha VERY INTERESTING. To make a long story short because I don´t have much time, Elder Muñoz and I were on the roof trying to screw the laminate back on. Elder Muñoz was drilling the holes and I was going after him putting screws in the holes.

I don´t even remember what exactly happened but we got too close and the laminate opened up and the twisted beam totally bent and the roof caved in! All I could hear was the sound of metal bending and twisting and things falling and next thing I knew Elder Muñoz and I were laying on a piece of laminate on the ground with boards and all kind of dust flying everywhere! We just sat there looking at eachother for a minute, and then busted up laughing!

It was one of the funniest things ever, but in reality, it was such a blessing that we were ok! Of all the things that could have happened, NOTHING happened. My backside was a little sore and my elbow is a little scratched up, but we are completely fine and are still working hard. I debated whether I should tell you this but it´s true, our Heavenly Father is watching out for us and everything is ok! I really don´t want you to worry about this because we honestly just laugh about it all the time and everything is great. haha. I blame Dad. (ha jk)





Well, I have some good news! We are going to be WAY busy this week, because we´ve finally got all of the papers and everything ready to help Erick and Zandra get married, and then after that, baptized! Their wedding is Wednesday at 6, and the baptism will be Saturday at 7! Is that not the greatest thing ever? This BOLO that found us as we were going home one night has completely changed his life, and is starting his life in the gospel. We are receiving blessings RIGHT and LEFT right now with investigators and work to do, so, thanks a million for your prayers! Zandra asked me to baptize her too! I´m so excited. I´ll send some pictures and stuff on Monday.

Oh, If you haven´t figured it out already, I´m here in El Carmen for 6 more weeks until we find out if we will have changes again! I´m staying with the same companion, and I have the opportunity to learn more from E. Muñoz! Elder Lanham got a new companion, and lets just say i´m WAY excited with how everything will be at the house. I love it.

Thank you so much for all the letters and emails, I really appreciate them! Tell Grandpa and Sherrie thanks a million, as well as Grandma Gaylie, I love her emails! I´m also WAY excited to hear that Bob is home and doing well! Tell him hi for me!

We believe that Estuardo (Deidy´s husband) would be baptized but he can´t come to church because he studies on sundays and won´t give it up... I´ll keep you updated.

If you can do me a favor, give Jordan Dodson a heads up, an Elder named Elder Beck was at our house and saw my pictures you sent me of my birthday... Wanted to write Jo Dodson after seeing the pictures and I gave him the address. He´s one of Dustin Lockes friends from brighton and he´s way cool so I gave him her address... ha Elder Beck´s companion is Elder Peterson... He went to utah state and knows Kallie and Ashlee! We were SO close to going wakeboarding together before the mission but I couldn´t go for some reason! He saw the pictures and said ¨hey! I know them!¨


Elders Hautau and Misini are doing awesome, they´re really tearing it up and I feel way lucky to have had such awesome companions so far.

Last night we got to go to President´s house because one of the secretaries and Elder Lanham´s companion are both leaving the office, it was crazy! Hermana Baldwin cooked peach cobbler, your famous pineapple coconut cake that dad loves (ha, I felt right at home!) Ice cream, and chocolate cup cake things. I really don´t know why i´m so lucky and blessed... Seriously.

The spanish is good, but it depends on the day, sometimes I just cannót speak to save my life, and sometimes It just comes like easy... So i´m just fighting and studying as hard as I can to get it!

We went to visit the family Pacheco yesterday and one of the boys (15 years old) was smoking, they´re hard but hopefully we can help them. They just need to follow the commitments we leave!

I´m alright healthwise, I´ve been having colds like usual every now and then, but everything has been great!

Wow, sorry for all of the last minute stuff! Hopefully you can understand my email! ha Just know I´m loving my mission so much, we´re having success and I couldn´t be happier! I miss you all so much and wish I could see you sometimes but there isn´t anywhere else I´d rather be!

Love you all so much!

Elder Micah Melville

HEY! I'm ok from the tongue, just like a bouncy ball

¡Hola Familia!

¿Cómo Estamos? Yet again it sounds like everything is going great in Utah, I´m really grateful to hear about that! Dad, I´m especially grateful to hear that work is going well! In zone conferences President Baldwin talked a little bit about a statement President Monson put out telling everyone to be careful with their money, because we´re going through some tough times.

Well, unfortunately, Guatemala is feeling the hit too. It seems like EVERYONE we talk to is telling us how they have lost their jobs and there is no work anywhere! Seriously, i´ve heard so many stories lately of families who have only been able to eat a little bit of bread, and who are living on NOTHING. Literally, nothing. The other day there were so many lessons in a row of people just saying how they´re not sure how they´re going to make it or what they´re going to do. They want us to help them find jobs and all kinds of stuff like that, and it is a little bit overwhelming!

There was an hombre at church the other week, who isn´t a member, but had talked to one of the members saying he needed help. The member had just told him to come to church and see if the missionaries or someone else could help him. He has a family, and his 12 year old boy had taken off and tried to go to the States! Can you believe that? He made it to Tijuana, and was caught and taken to Jail, or whatever they do with people like that, and they were trying to get him back. Well, we´ve been teaching the family (La Famila Pacheco) and we´re doing the best to help them realize that once they accept the gospel and put Jesus Christ first, everything else will fall into place.




Hermana Deidy was baptized yesterday! She was baptized and it was INCREDIBLE! So many members came to support her, and I think it really reflected her conversion. She is ready, converted, and the members knew it! We filled the whole room with the baptismal font and there were people standing out in the halls. Elder Lanham, Elder Mesa, Elder Muñoz and I all sang Nearer My God to Thee, and Elder Lanham and I sung bass. It was awesome. Hermana Deidy had the opportunity to bear her testimony after the baptism, and like always, she blew everyone away. She called each of us missionaries (The 4 of us) by name and told us how thankful she was for us and for the fact that we would leave our familes to go on this great mission. I was in awe! Seriously though, she was ready before we started teaching her. That´s the thing about this. This is the Lord´s work, not ours! When the people are ready, they´re ready, we just need to find them and help them make it happen! We have been so blessed with this, Heavenly Father is just pouring out the blessings with new investigators every day.

Christopher, thank you so much for sharing your answer to your prayers! How awesome are you? You tore it up in basketball, you´re a faithful spiritual giant, and Tanner is the same! I´m a little jealous of you two!

I found shoes, it was hard and I was frustrated and I just walked into a store and said that I just needed shoes size 11 and I would buy them! Well they pulled out about 2 pairs or so and I picked between the two and bought some, so It´s all good!

You don´t need to keep sending packages, but if you´re going to do it, ama ama would be awesome, more green drink, lots of healthy stuff... Muddy Buddies? Haha

We have changes on Monday, and Elder Lanham and Elder Mesa and President are probably doing changes as we speak, we´ll see what happens!

I know the Church is true and I love it! I´m so thankful for your examples and I love you all SO much.

See ya soon!

Elder Melville

LENGUA!

Hola Familia,

Wow, your emails were especially good this week! Thanks a ton! They always give me the motivation to keep going and help me to realize the things I need to do better! I really can feel the power of your emails and I really appreciate them! Keep them coming! I love all the little details and everything. I´m on a slow, weird computer so i´m going to try to do this fast!

Christopher, thanks a ton for the email! I really appreciate it! You´re such a stud, keep tearing it up in basketball, and don´t be afraid to shoot! Go swim at the gym! Elder Lanham can lift weights while standing on an exercise ball like we have up in the exercise room! It helps your core strength a lot and balance. I can only do it on my knees but one day i´ll get there! ha

Tanner, go skiing! ha You´ll be pro when I get home I just know it. I´ve thought about you a lot this week and how different and how much bigger you´ll be when I get home! Keep doing what you´re supposed to, you´re awesome.

Mom and Dad, Thanks a ton for the emails! I´m not sure what it was but they were so powerful this week! So yeah, I really appreciate it! Dad, I´m glad the show was semi-decent! Don´t worry, there are drunks EVERYWHERE down here, and it´s true, they can be pretty annoying. It´s so easy for satan to work on them when they give up all of the control of themselves like that. It´s really sad.

Well, This week has been interesting! I´m not going to lie there is something that goes wrong with my companion and I just about every day, and that has been really hard! He´s pushed me to my limits a few times, times I felt like I was going to BLOW! I very very rarely feel like that! I don´t understand! ha Like I said in the MTC though, when things get hard it only means things are going to be AWESOME around the corner, and that happens! I know it´s true so I have nothing to worry about and all in all i´m REALLY happy.

The other day we were in the store buying our food, and I saw a big nasty looking piece of meat sitting there in the fridge. I went up and was just looking at it and realized it was a HUGE cow tongue! ha It looked a little hairy almost too! I called my companion over and we were both just sitting there looking at it and laughing and thinking how NASTY that would be to have to eat that stuff! I was pretty grossed out i´m not going to lie.

Well, we laughed that off and kept on doing our thing! The next day we went to our cook´s house, and sat down to eat! My companion and our cook aren´t friends anymore, they got into a little problem or something so I just do all the talking... But my companion said to ask her what kind of meat we were eating. My first bite I was kind of like.. What am I eating? This meat is WEIRD! Well, I asked the lady what it was we were eating and she said lengua! (That means tongue!) Well, when you´re in those situations you just take a nice deep breath, put your trust in the lord, take nice big bites, and swallow fast! My companion put his tongue on my plate while she wasn´t looking, I told him I was going to kill him, and was probably a little more serious than I should have been. haha I gave part of it back though, no worries.

Hermana Deidy is getting baptized! We decided to go and give her the commitment to be baptized! We were a little nervous but knew we could do it. We got there and asked her if she had any questions, and she said, ¨Yeah, I want to know what I need to do to get baptized!¨ Wow. Tender Mercies from the lord are real. She will be baptized on Saturday, Probably by Elder Muñoz or her Nephew.

Erick and Zandra are awesome, We got him a tie and shirt and pants and he showed up to church looking AWESOME! Speaking of tender mercies of the lord, that was one! Seeing this guy who only a matter of months ago was a bolo trying to figure out where his life was going, completely change his life! We had a lesson with them and Zandra just completely opened up! She was saying how she was praying SO hard that they would find the truth and the things that they needed to do! Erick wouldn´t come home very often, and things were looking REALLY bad for her, but now they´re getting ready to be married and their lives have completely changed. I love this work.

To answer your question, Every time I teach about the temple, I teach about how there are 2 places on earth that I like the most... Those are the temple, and my house. It´s always really powerful to talk about how they feel when they enter their houses from the streets, and I use that analogy to help them realize entering the temple is that same peace, times ten!

Just know I´m doing awesome here in El Carmen! It´s true, times can be hard, but I LOVE IT! There is nowhere else i´d rather be! Love you all so much and i{ll see you soon!


Elder Micah Melville

HEY HEY

Buenas Tardes Familia,

Hey, sounds like everything is going great as usual! I´m way excited to hear about everything going on in Utah. Everybody is working hard and doing their thing! I was really excited to hear you got to go to the temple last week, I really miss the temple! That´s something you should just keep doing over and over for me! Christopher and Tanner are keeping busy and everything too! That´s awesome. How was your birthday mom? Awesome I hope. I got a letter from someone that said they see Christopher driving the Trooper all over! That´s so WEIRD! Just as long as he´s not kissing girls in it we´re good. ha

The pictures I sent last week of Erick y Zandra and kids are great huh? They´re a family we are teaching, and you´re not going to believe this but he is the bolo that Elder Lanham and I talked to that one night and Elder Lanham took his beer can and threw it! They are progressing AMAZINGLY and have been coming to church and all of that. They are great. I love going to visit them and teaching them, their kids are CRAZY but so cute and fun. We are working on their papers to get married, and after they are married comes baptism. Erick is looking for work and she is working hard but we taught the law of tithing last night and they were totally receptive.

Estuardo and Deidy are doing well, Deidy has been ready for baptism for a long time, but Estuardo can´t come to church because he is studying on Sundays in the morning. We had a really blunt, straightforward hard lesson with him this week, it was pretty tough but he was receptive and we´re hoping he´ll be able to work up the faith to make a big change. These people have so much faith I look at them and wonder how in the world I´m supposed to be teaching them with my little faith, when they´re on their way to moving mountains.

We´ve been contacting like crazy and finding new people all the time. We were teaching this family off of a contact just yesterday, and they were way nice and way receptive, but they said they were members of the church called ¨Casa de Dios¨ (House of God). Well, when we had finished they all abruptly stood up and the Dad said ¨I´m going to say the prayer and give you a blessing.¨ We just went with it like it was nothing, because we´ve seen some pretty crazy prayers and blessings like that, but NEVER did we expect what happened next. They put their hands up in the air and started praying and he was quoting scriptures and all kinds of stuff then started talking about anointing us with oil and blessing our feet… The next thing I knew this guy was bending down holding onto one of my legs and one of my companions legs and giving us a blessing to help us. Let´s just say I had to bite my lip EXTREMELY hard in that situation.

I had an interview with Presidente Baldwin today, we have them every change. It was really interesting. He is an awesome man, he was a pilot in the air force, and Elder Lanham says he drives just like he´s flying a plane, all focused and drives really fast checking his rear view mirrors a lot. His mission president in Argentina was Richard G. Scott. He is really smart, and is always challenging us to study the doctrine. We don´t prepare how we´re going to teach, we prepare ourselves with a strong knowledge of the doctrine, and everything else works out. Doctrine is what we need to know to be successful for ourselves and our investigators. He is really straightforward and isn´t all warm and fuzzy, but you can still feel how much he loves and cares for the missionaries.

My companion is having some serious issues with his girlfriend at home, a ton of people are emailing him and telling him about how they saw his girlfriend with another guy… Get this, the guy that is trying to steal his girlfriend´s name is WILKEY! I laughed when I heard that. So, it´s been kind of a hard week, but i´m learning and growing and becoming better because of it! He´s an awesome companion.

Last Tuesday I went to try to find some shoes, but I couldn´t find any I liked, and when I DID find some I liked, they didn´t have my size. I guess there aren´t any Guatemalans with big feet, because I´m going to have to look hard. I´m going again tomorrow and I´ll find some so I can run with Elder Lanham. Christopher is going to love life on his mission, hitting his head on door frames and wedging his legs into buses… If I´m having a hard time fitting into places I can´t wait to see where Christopher goes! Prepare now Ricky, Read Preach my Gospel every day! Chapter 3.

Thanks for the BYU Lacrosse updates, I loved those. It looks like BYU is beating everyone up as usual. OH! I saw Dustin Locke a couple of weeks ago when Elder Rasband of the presidency of the quorums of the 70s came. It was awesome to see him and talk to him. He´s a secretary now!

We went and met the guy with a drinking problem that might have beat his wife. He´s extremely friendly and nice and receptive when he´s not drunk and we´re going to help him! I´m excited.

Everything is awesome in the mission, I love you all so much and miss you a ton but I love this work!

Love you all so much,

Elder Micah Melville

HEY!

This is Erick, Zandra, and their two little kids, Jonson y Natali! Last night Elder Lanham and I took this picture in their living space that is just a tad bit bigger than my bedroom.... Their whole house. Aren´t they awesome?


Hey Family!

Well, it sounds like everything is going great this week! I love hearing all of the stories and everything, keep them coming! It sounds pretty frustrating washing those trailers and having it rain and having to do them all over again. I know ALL about that. Haha Just Kidding. Un Chiste! (JK en
espanol)

Well, here I am! The days are FLYING past. I looked at my watch and it said the day was the 5th, and then I swear I looked at it again and it said the 7th! Where the 6th of February went I'm not sure, but the days just keep on doing that, and now we're already at the 9th! So, Just know I'm loving this mission thing, and the time is going by WAY too fast. Of course, there were times this week where I had to pray HARD not to pop my companion a good one, but seriously, I LOVE it here.

I had the chance to go out and do divisions with Elder Lanham twice this week! Wow, I swear I am so lucky. I ALWAYS learn SO much when I go out and work with him, so I am always really excited when I get to go. He can teach really well, and with the spirit, it's really a great experience to go with him.. always! We were looking for this house, but it was taking a while and we went TOTALLY out of our way when we were looking for it (my bad, rookie mistake! Ha) when we found this family, and they were just glowing. There isn't a better way to describe it, they had big huge smiles on their faces and a light in their eyes, and we just KNEW we were supposed to find them. We'll see how everything ends up when we visit them again!

So this week, we were going through a neighborhood trying to contact. We were knocking doors and talking to people but they weren't really receptive. They were really shut down and wouldn't listen to us at all. That's always a little hard when no one wants to listen, but we kept going anyways and just did our thing. We got to the last door on the street, and knocked it hoping to at least find somebody! We talked to one of the kids that lived there, and he let us in! After that we went in and saw the mom sitting there on a chair, she was REALLY quiet and was sewing and fixing a bag. Of course we tried talking to her a little bit here and there, and she would talk a little, but was kind of shy. They said it would be ok if we talked to them and taught them the first lesson (1st vision, restoration, stuff like that) so we sat down and got ready to teach, and right off the bat I noticed that her face was all swollen, bruised, and literally battered. She had big scabs on both cheeks and her chin, and
I was just sitting there trying to figure out what was wrong! After a little bit of time talking to her and all of her kids (there were a lot) we found out that her husband has an alcohol problem, and she wouldn't tell us everything, but I'm pretty sure he had gotten drunk and beaten this sweet lady. My heart just hurt for this lady who had been beaten by her husband when he
was drunk, and as we were there teaching them, pleading with them to listen to this message that can change their lives, I REALLY felt it. I realized how URGENT and ESSENTIAL this work is. She isn't the only one.
There are people like this all over Guatemala, all over the world, and they NEED this message. I've thought about that a lot, and realized even more the importance of the gospel in peoples lives. Peace, Happiness and Love are just a few of the amazing blessings we can receive from our Savior and his suffering for us, and I'm SO thankful to be able to share this message. I'll let you know how everything ends up.

I'm really sad to hear that Sister Myers passed away! I didn't know her too well, but I remember taking the sacrament to her a lot, and she was always AWESOME. I hope everything is alright there, and I'm really sad to hear that! That's crazy that Breck and Matt are already coming home... It scares me because I'm really hoping my mission doesn't go by that fast!

I'll try to eat more, but seriously I've never eaten so good and healthy in my life. Haha All I buy is healthy stuff, it's awesome.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! I hope you have an AWESOME day. I love you soo much!

I have to go but I hope you all have an awesome week! Love you all so much, and sorry this email is kind of scattered.

Elder Micah Melville

P.S. the AMA AMA is delicious, it's almost gone I LOVE IT!

BUENAS TARDES!

Hola Familia,

Hey, how is everything going? Awsome I hope. It sounds like things are going great in cold Utah! We´ve had some cold nights here and there if it makes you feel better! I hope you get the pictures i´m sending! There are a few from Antigua, and a few here in El Carmen! I know a picture is worth a thousand words, so my email is going to be a little bit shorter because I´m sending pictures! It´s taking some time!
It sounds like the same old exciting stuff there at home, Christopher and Tanner tearing it up in basketball, Mom and Dad working hard and going to the games... That´s awesome! Keep telling me the little stories and stuff like that, I love it! I always read them and love them even though I don´t always mention them in my responses.

Alright, The other night, I´m pretty sure it was either Thursday or Friday night, I got my package! I´m pretty sure it was Friday, the 30th of January. You sent it the 9th of January too I think. I got my package, and was way happy, when they pulled out another package! I got a package from Gregg and Tammy too! They were both AWESOME packages, and I just want to say thanks a MILLION! The food, music, and little notes and letters were awesome. I have some of the notes hanging in my room, and I already have given out a LOT of the CTR rings. I was MAULED at church. Literally, there was a little boy hanging from my tie swinging back and forth trying to get my glasses. Haha Elder Muñoz was conveniently NOWHERE to be found...

Speaking of church, church was INCREDIBLE yesterday. It was fast and testimony meeting, and at first there were some people there, and it looked like it would be another meeting of around 120 something to 140 people? I´m not sure how many we usually have, but our goal was to have 160 people. Well, the people just kept filing in, investigator after investigator, inactive after inactive, until there weren´t any more chairs and people kept having to bring chairs in! Well, 8 investigators and 187 people later, we had a HUGE meeting! Not to mention the spirit was INCREDIBLE! One of our investigators got up, Hermana Deidy, and talked about how she knew the church was true! Wow, Talk about spiritual power, she just about blew the roof off of the church. SHE KNOWS! I´m SO excited and I KNOW this was a tender mercy from my Heavenly Father. He can do ANYTHING! We were having a hard week numbers wise, and this just totally made up for is. I know that our Heavenly Father knows us individually, and he knows EXACTLY what we need to give us a boost and cheer us up or help us. He is ALWAYS with us when we´re doing what we should, and we are NEVER alone. Erick and Sandra (He is the Bolo) were at church too, and he talked about how powerful he could feel it when people were bearing testimony.. ahh Don´t you love this work? I do.
Ok, I need to go soon but just know we´re working hard and doing our best!

Elder Lanham got me out of bed this morning early and we ran FOREVER! Hopefully by the time he´s done with me there will be another ultimate weapon in the family! Haha jk. My favorite guatemalan food is this breaded cauliflower stuff.. but we ALWAYS have rice, beans, and chicken with bones all over in it. I also love this stuff called Pan Dulce (sweet bread) it´s WAY cheap, and way good. There are tiendas and bakerys EVERYWHERE so i´m never too worried about food. Elder Hautau has an all spanish speaking companion, pray for him, the quetz elder went back and is going to stay in his mission hopefully. We can go to the temple if families go in our ward, 6 week changes, no one knows how long we´ll be in our places or how long we will be with our companions.

LOVE YOU SO MUCH, SEE YA SOON!

Elder Melville