Hola from HOT and Sunny Patzicia!

Hola Family,

Hows everything going? The Internet has been going weird AGAIN, and so far I haven´t been able to read your emails, but I decided I was going to start writing, and copy it over when the internet becomes available. Can I just tell you how CRAZY the past few weeks have been? I have had some really interesting stuff to tell you, and of course, the weeks when I have the most to say, I have the least time, or the internet decides not to work. Oh well, that´s life, and i´m still just loving it!

So two weeks ago, we woke up and went outside of the house and we saw a bunch of the ward members out in front of one of the non-members houses across the street. I saw a garbage bag in the shape of a bowtie outside of the house, and a big blue tarp tent in the front yard. Whenever you see a garbage bag in the shape of a bowtie in Guatemala it means someone has died. Well, the wife had given birth the night before, and within minutes the baby had passed away. We were given the assignments to speak at the funeral (In their front yard) and then we went to the cemetery. It was pretty sad but really interesting to see how they do everything here in Guatemala. The awesome thing is, that the members helped! Your prayers were answered, and the members helped this family, who just a few days before we had knocked the door and didn´t want anything.

I talked to the Dad at the funeral, and he said that he would like us to go over to his house and have a “Prayer” with him and his family. How awesome is that!? ¡GRACIAS! to the members, we found a new family to teach, and we had the opportunity to go and teach them the Plan of Salvation. We have been teaching them, and although things started out really positive, the members started gossiping, and broke this poor Dad´s heart. Now he doesn´t want us to go visit him thanks to the things he heard the members say, and we´re continuing our search for new investigators. This is something that I´ve learned to accept… Not our will be done, but the will of our Father. Thanks to the example of Jesus Christ, we can learn to accept things like this and move on.

Ok, so that was 2 weeks ago. Last week, a young single adult in the ward died in an accident on a motorcycle (Please be careful). Just like the tradition follows, we went to his house the night after, where there was a service. A bunch of ward members gathered in his house, and our ward mission leader gave a talk, as well as another Brother in the ward. They asked me to direct the music in the service… haha I was pretty nervous for that, SO MANY PEOPLE and it was all a capella. There were a bunch of people crowded into the house, and I thought to myself, ahh I´m so lucky to not have to be giving a talk here, this is a BIG funeral.

Well, I thought too soon. The next day they had a service, where upwards of 500 people showed up at the church, the majority non-members. The bishop decided it would be awesome to hear from the elders. I was SO nervous and couldn´t decide what I wanted to say. Obviously I was going to teach the plan of salvation, but how!? I was so nervous I could hardly focus on preparing. I got to the funeral feeling VERY unprepared. Thanks to that humility I felt like I had the spirit with me and just got up and taught the plan of salvation with everything I had, and it turned out alright! Even though I felt like I was teaching the whole pueblo and their dogs, I felt calm, collected, and just let the spirit guide. I´m so thankful for this blessing I was blessed with. I know it wasn´t me, but it was a blessing from my Lord and Savior.

We have been working hard and we were blessed with the opportunity to find a family of 5 yesterday, with the potential of more. They seemed really positive and had a ton of questions. The investigators i´ve taught with the most questions are the ones with the better probability of being baptized. We did something this week and found 12 references, and i´m SO excited for what lies ahead. The changes are coming and I don´t want to leave Patzicia. I don´t want to leave and I´m pretty sure that i´m not going to leave. We´ll see what happens. Not my will but the Lord´s… remember? Haha

I received an email from Brother Redd, and i´m really excited that they are coming! Here are the answers to his questions.
1. The Stake Center is located in the exact same place where the Randall Ellsworth chapel was located, It´s really big with a green roof. To get to the Stake Center you just need to turn left on the street after the Puma station in Patzicia, at the bottom of the hill. The other chapel is located up towards the volcano. To get to that chapel they need to turn left right before the little bridge to cross the road. There is a sign that says “Acatenango.” They need to heads toward the colourful cemetery, it is to the right and a little further above if they are facing the cemetery.
2. I don´t have the addresses of the buildings right now… Would they be located on lds.org? Sorry! The addresses here are way confusing, we just ask people in the general area if they know where we´re trying to go. Everyone in Patzicia knows about the “Iglesia Mormona Arriba” and the “Iglesia Mormona Abajo.” The church up on the hill is smaller and older, and the church down below is the Stake Center, where the old chapel was.
3. As long as there aren´t changes, and as long as they go to the meeting at 10 AM in the Stake Center, we´ll be able to find them after the Sacrament Meeting, when we finish in our ward at about 11.
4. The wife of the Stake President says she knows where to take everything to find the families who are really in need. She says she can help find all the families members/non-members if you would just want to leave it with her, and we can help her. I´m still trying to figure that out.
5. We talked to the primary president and they are trying to figure everything out to sing for the tour. If not, my companion and I will do it! Haha. They like chocolates (Snickers, Twix, etc…)


You have no idea the problems I´ve had with internet, I´m going to have President Cua call Brother Redd. Every time I try to email this email the power goes out. I didn´t get to answer all of the questions but hopefully they´ll be able to resolve it when Presidente Cua calls! Love you all so much and i´ll see you soon. Every day i´m trying to get to know Christ a little bit better… Get to be more like him and REALLY know him. I know he lives and loves us all. I love you all so much and i´ll see ya later!

Mom, I don´t need anything! I´m happy! We´re visiting 2 member families tonight who have plans for my birthday… I just keep getting blessings!

Love you all so much,

Elder Micah Melville