Week 85...3/21/16...A week of miracles and a tragedy

(Editors note:  A friend of Scotty's was killed as he was returning from a church dance.  He was driving his cousins when the unknown car pulled up and shot them from one car to the other at a stoplight.  He had been the AP before returning home 5 months ago.  http://abc7.com/news/3-returning-from-church-event-shot-1-fatally-in-hawthorne-shooting/1254087/)

First things first. I would like to extend my love and regards to la Familia Fifita. I was one of the first to hear the horrific news that one of my favorite leaders of the mission had been tragically killed on Sunday. I was shocked. We all are, and the whole mission is grieving the loss of one of God's greatest warriors. 

Me and Elder Fifita

When I first arrived in the mission and in our first zone meeting, Elder Fifita was the first person to say hi to me. He was the missionary that taught me how to love the people. The number of lives that he changed and touched seems impossible due to the short lapse of time he was here in Guatemala. I have yet to meet another missionary that has had so much love for the Guatemalatecos and every other one of God's Children than ELder Fifita. He was a great example to me. I will miss him dearly and I know that his family will as well. 

In memorial of Elder Fifita. . .

 these are his scriptures that he let me use to learn some good scriptures in Malacatan.

I later got to see Elder Fifita in the ZonaReu where he inspired the Zone to do the impossible. Breaking a record that had been unchallenged for 5 years. And the next change the Zone broke it again. He was a great leader, an amazing friend, a fantastic teacher, and an inspiring witness of our Savior Jesus Christ. He was the missionary that made the zones not just groups of people but ''FAMILIES''.  

Zona Reu before and after breaking the record.

His example to me I will never forget. It was because of the perfect words of Elder Fifita that my favorite Family of converts got baptized in El Codo. A family of 10 that has given references of 5 others that have been baptized.

The Familia of Hermana Gloria that got baptized because of the exact words ‘’Agarara el mano del señor y sera bautizada.’’ She had always been looking for someone to help her grab the hand of the Lord. And that’s what Elder Fifita invited her to do.

I know that God put him in my life so that I can be the person I am today, and I know that this is true for thousands of people more. I also know that although our grief is great, we have no need to fear. These are the moments that where we NEED to know if the gospel is true.  I like the words of Larry Johnson describing a similar situation, "Is the church true or isn't it? Is the plan of salvation true or not? Did Joseph Smith really see God the Father or didn't he? I know what Elder Fifita would have said. I heard his undoubting testimony declare it. HE KNEW, and I KNOW, that this, THe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Is the ONLY TRUE CHURCH upon the face of the earth, the plan of salvation is real and Joseph Smith really did see the Father and the Son. This is His gospel. And I know that the Mission Guatemala Retaluhleu has just received another missionary to help preach the gospel.  (ALMA 13:24)  God Bless the Family of Elder Fifita because God certainly blessed me with the opportunity to get to know him.

Now on a different note, this week was full of great experiences. We went on a run to every Zone in the mission. Tuesday, we were in Reu with Zones San Felipe, Las Palmas, Reu, and Coatepeque. Wednesday, we were in Tecun with Malacatan as well.  Thursday, we were in San Marcos with San Pedro. Friday, we were in Mazate with Mazate Flores and Mazate Lincoln.

We had a great message. We went with Presidente and we taught the doctrine of the Passover. A little related with my last letter, about the significance of sacrificing the lamb to save the firstborn of the Israelites and how it represents the sacrifice of the Firstborn of God to save all of us. We saw some amazing videos about the Atonement of Christ and we have been using it to teach to all of our investigators.   

The po po in Guatemala.

Our mini missionary that went home! He just got his mission call to the Dominican Republic!

We got home and the Hermanas de Peru (it's an area in Reu called Peru) asked us for help with a family they had been teaching. My companion already had met them in December, but they still hadn't accepted a date to be baptized. My companion told me we were going to challenge them to get baptized for next week. So we went into the lesson but to our surprise, Hermana Acosta challenged them for the 19th! They weren't too sure about it but they all said that they would pray about it. 

I asked the mom, Hermana Mirina, that if she received an answer if she'd be baptized.  She said she wasn't sure still. And her Husband was like ''WHY NOT!!!!!'' If God answers I´ll be baptized!"  So that was awesome! 

Wednesday, I went to work with Elder Rubio.  We went and had some lessons and then we had to take the ZLS of Tecun to a meeting in Malacatan.  Five minutes away they told us the meeting had been changed to Tecun! So we picked up the Zone Leaders in Tecun and brought them along with us! We spent the night in Malacatan. That night the Zone Leaders of Reu told us that there was another family with a baptism date! We were super excited and we decided to go and interview them the next day

 and then we had the meeting in San Marcos with San Marcos and San Pedro.

Then we were going to make the drive down the mountains but we thought it better to get our brakes changed first.  Good thing too! The brakes were completely worn away, and desperately needed the change! Then we came home and went through a ton of traffic to go and interview the family we were teaching with the Hermanas. I interviewed one of the sons named Guakin. He said he would be baptized as long as he got out of work on time, if not he'd do it the next week. We finished interviewing the family and honestly they were not as positive as they had been. We really didn't know if they were going to be baptized on the next day or not. But they committed to pray and ask and act if they received an answer.

The next day we were in Mazate and then we went with Bilbao.  I went with Elder Cook and we went and put a baptism date with an Hermana! It was awesome! Then we took forever to get to our appointment with the Family of  Peru.  When we got there we had a long lesson where we challenged everyone with the date of Saturday being their baptism. AND THEY ALL SAID NO. :( They said they felt like they hadn't received a sign yet.  They knew it was true but they wanted a sign. Then one of the sons of Hermano Francisco and la Hermana Marina said that he was going to ''try it."  He said he hadn't received an answer but he knew what we were teaching was true and that it was necessary and so he was going to be baptized as well. Then Hermano Fransisco said he would be baptized as well! But the others still said they were going to wait till tomorrow.

 Saturday was a miracle. We had our meeting with Presidente and then we got a call from Hermana Mirna. She said she had been praying all night and all morning and then she said she got an answer and she wanted to talk with us. We started our fast and rushed right over praying for a miracle. We got there and she told us she had had a dream, ( I don't understand why but God seems to use dreams to give people answers here a lot more than you would think common.) She committed to be baptized as well! And so did her other kids except for 3 which should be baptized next week. It was a miracle. And we got the opportunity to baptize them. It was honestly one of the greatest times in my life.

The FAMILY! Hermana Membraño Kevin, Brandon, Francisco, Mirna, (un hermano de la iglesia) Jhony, Hermana Acosta (Abajo) Elder Morataya, the youngest daughter, Amorella, Kirai and Me

Jhony and my companion 

Sunday, we had a Hermana come to church. It was amazing! Also, we then went to La Union to interview. I did 4 interviews and they committed to pray and ask God if they should be baptized.

So that what my week.

Brilliando!

Love,

Elder Pugmire

The office after lunch

ZONA REU on the log ride

Me, Elder Morataya, Hermano Jimenez, and Hermano Guinac in XETALUL

Us and the Sisters of Peru

Zona Coatepeque on the swings.

Me, my companion, and the cast of Xetalul

Me and my bud Elder Elggren

 Me, Elder Steiner y Elder Elggren in back

Zona Reu eating lunch

Week 84...3/14/16...Xela, the power of the spirit, and La Pascua

Hey Mom! You should be pretty excited because well it's the first Monday that I've actually gotten time to write today since I've been in the office! Man, this week went by sooooo quick! Some other things you'll probably be really excited to know. . . I spent like 5 hours today cleaning the house. It desperately needed it but it got done. Now the challenge is keeping it that way, which is not easy living with 6 Elders and always having visitors that need to make trips to Guate. But it's a challenge accepted!

Life's really been great! I don't know why but right now I'm in a really good mood, it could be that Elder Elggren gave me the rest of his McFlurry. That was pretty good. Life is good and the Church is True.

So Last Monday we got up early and we and the nurses went up to Xela and San Marcos. We had to go pick up a missionary from San Marcos and we took my mini missionary to the Dermatologist.  Then the Enfermeras had to do a bunch of contracts with some Batres (or pharmacies) and that was our P-day. Hence, no time to write on P-days

The mountains looked just like the promised land when we were going up to Xzela!

Me, Julio, and Elder Ponce! Coming back from San Marcos.

In the overlook of San Marcos

Martes. We were planning on going to work in our area on Tuesday but, we got a call from the Hermana Assistants telling us they needed help with their conference. All of the Sisters in the mission came on Tuesday to have a special conference.  Man the Sisters are all so pilas. They had everything so planned out and organized. They put us in charge of the handprint banner and tying the little cards onto the little bags of cookies. They looked really good!

The sisters banner that they did.

Then we had to deal with some stuff that´s been going on in the mission. It was super sad to see 3 of the missionaries in the mission go home on Wednesday. I had gotten to know each of them pretty well and man it was sad to see missionaries with such great potential have to return home for the actions of one of their companions. I was feeling really heartsick on Wednesday, I wanted to know how it was possible that they could be going home. I knelt in prayer seeking to have my soul comforted and that comfort came. I felt peace and quiet. I knew that it was the Lord that had decided and that He was in control. I gained a stronger testimony that the Spirit is the Consolador, the Comforter. He can soothe any wound or anguish that we have if we ask with a sincere desire. 

Miercoles, We had to organize a bunch of changes. We had to close some areas and do a bunch of changes. We went to Coatepeque to bring Elder Bonilla to his new area and we picked up Elder Rock to get ready to bring him to San Marcos on Thursday. We found out that Elder Rock and I have the same birthday!!!! (June 26th for those of you that have forgotten ;)) 

Thursday. We talked to San Marcos and San Pedro. We took Elder Rock up to his new area and we had a bunch of changes in San Marcos!

When we dropped Elder Wilden off in San Pablo I Saw Hermana Marisol and her Daughters!
They all came up running super excited to see me.

Presidente Ruiz talked a lot about the Pascua or Passover/Easter.

I have been studying a talk by Todd B. Parker that is just amazing! It's called ´True doctrine understood changes attitude and behavior.´´  It's amazing! It talks about scripture study and the power that it has to change our lives. We have really been focusing on listening to The Book of Mormon instead of the same music over and over to try and learn something every time we drive. And it's been amazing! We've had some very spiritual experiences as we avoided 2-foot deep potholes and Chu-Cho's  (Dogs) that love to jump in front of moving vehicles. I translated this talk for my companion Elder Morataya this week and my favorite part is when he talked about how every part of the scriptures testify of Christ and that there are many types and symbols of Christ in the scriptures. Talking about Moses: Moses' first plague was turning water into blood.  Jesus' first miracle was turning water into wine.  Moses´ last plague was the death of the firstborn.  Jesus´ last miracle was the resurrection of the firstborn.  Moses parted sea like Jesus parted the water and the earth.  There was also a separation of light and darkness as Jesus separated water and darkness in the creation. The Israelites were saved by water and by fire when we also need to be baptized by water and fire.  In the desert, they ate manna, and what is Manna? it's bread from heaven and who is the bread of life? It's Jesus! And where did he come from? Heaven! And where was he born in Bethlehem, what does Bethlehem mean? HOUSE OF BREAD! They drank water, Jesus is the living water, where did the water come from? The Rock.  Who is the Rock? It's Our Savior, Jesus Christ. 

Man. This talk is amazing! GO LOOK IT UP!!!!! I don't want to copy it all because he says it a lot better! Plus the rest of the talk is amazing as well! But it really has helped me know about the real meaning of the Pascua. Hey, I just found the link! Here's the talk! https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/todd-b-parker_true-doctrine-understood-changes-attitudes-behavior/ 

Friday. We had the same meeting that we had in San Marcos only we had it in Malacatan! Then I went with Elder Bastian. Let me tell you Elder Bastian is A STALLION! He super dope! He's got a change more than I have and it was awesome working with him!

Standard Transport Guatemala.

We drove home and then on Saturday we had our weekly council as the office and then my companion and I went to our area with the mini missionary, Mosiah, and we went to help the Sister Assistants with their activity, it was basically bringing me back to my Party Hero Days doing a bunch of games for the ward. 

Elder Cano and I with la Primaria.

Me and Elder Taylor.

Me elder Taylor, Hermana Canales and Hermana Galand

Sunday we had miracles! Remember the Joven that we found last minute last Saturday that was a total miracle? Well, he showed up this week to church! We were just in sacrament meeting without having any investigators in church when Jose showed up all by himself! And better yet! He wasn't really by himself! He brought his girlfriend with him! And They both LOVED church! We have a time planned to go with them again this week but we're really excited for them! 

Hope all is going well! We're headed to work on a retake of the Iso Animo video! 

Love,

Elder Pugmire

Week 83...3/6/16...office life...traveling!

Ok so this week has been crazy but I'll update you all on what happened this week next week! Today I'm giving you all the updates about what happened almost two weeks ago, the week of Monday 2/29- Sunday 3/6. Man, this seems like forever ago! Time goes by so fast!

So on Monday, I had what was my first normal p'day in the office. We joined in with the activity of Las Palmas to go play paintball! It's a new paintball place close to Reu! It was super fun but man I got destroyed! I took like 4 hits right in the face mask... But it was great! Then we hurried to get home and showered Julio and  I (my mini missionary) went to Coatepeque to eat lunch with them! They brought a bunch of people to church and we celebrated going out to eat at ROMAX! Which is a super nice restaurant. I had probably the best burger I've ever had in my whole mission. It was DELICIOUS!

Then in the quest to bring even more mini missionaries to the field we picked up another mini missionary from Coatepeque and brought another one that was finishing his mini-mission. The new mini missionary is SO PILAS!!!!! She is 19 and only on the convert of a month! The missionaries told her that it'd be good that she stay home and learn and then go serve a mini-mission next time that we offered it. But she said no. She told us that she had gone against all of her family to be baptized.  She knew that the gospel is true y ''yo quiero predicar lo que yo se es verdad.'' or I want to teach what I know is true. So we brought her to the mission office and then Elder Morataya and I trained 3 other mini-missionaries and assigned them to their areas. Man, we were so surprised by how amazing this convert is! She only came with a Book of Mormon and her Evangelical Bible but she had them all marked up and was by far the best teacher of all the other mini missionaries. It really was a testimony that there always are prepared people waiting to hear the gospel!

Tuesday, basically all we did was plan. We are going to have to shut down 4 areas for a bunch of reasons including that only 8 missionaries are coming in this change and 14 are going home. We chose who would be training next change and did cambios de emergencia trying to figure out who would best help other missionaries in their areas.  It really was amazing to see how revelation really is what guides Presidente Ruiz. We would give him suggestions and even when we told him that two missionaries probably wouldn't go too well together he would just pause and say.... '' actually the spirit is telling me that is the right place for that Elder,'' and he would make the change. I feel like I've got a lot to learn still!

Wednesday was a treat. We had the Area Doctor, Dr. Province, come in and tell us about all the things we need to do to stay healthy.  We got to see the wide array of enfermidades that have happened in all of the missions. Needless to say, some of the photos were pretty nasty, but I'm happy to report that I didn't see myself in any of the slides they showed! YAY ME! Then we had to go and pick up all of the other mini missionaries that finished this week. We ate Little Caesars and then Don Carlos. Then we got a call from Presidente, we had to go to the office again and he gave us some sad news that there would be possibly 5 missionaries going home from the mission. We had to redo all of the changes and plan out what would be best for the mission.

The hotel we stayed in! It was a nice change from normally sleeping on flea-infested beds!

Tecun Uman Statue in Xela

Thursday, We took the long drive up to San Marcos passing through Malacatan.  Because it is about 4 hours of a drive to get to San Marcos we got there at 11. We joined with San Marcos and San Pedro to share a message. We talked about teaching Repentance and baptizing converts as well as teaching with power and authority. We noticed that pride has started to creep back into the mission so were planning out how to ''contraatacarlo'' (counterattack it).

We went to eat at Cozik and then we went to do divisiones with Alameda 1 and 2. I gotta go with Elder Cardenas and it was awesome! WE FOUND A TON OF POSITIVE PEOPLE!!! Elder Cardenas is from Oklahoma and is such a great kid! And a great missionary! 

Elder Cardenas in Alameda

What the mountains look like

We found 3 people that when we challenged them with baptism they told us that they would do it if they got an answer to prayer. Here in the mission San Marcos and San Pedro are in the mountains and the common belief is that in the mountains you don't baptize, which is not true. But many have come to believe it, and when someone believes something that's what they end up doing. And if you don't change your mind the results you see will never change either. I asked Elder Cardenas if it was a normal day finding so many positive people like we had. He told me it wasn't and that it was due to the fast we had just ended. They had been fasting to find positive people to teach and the Lord answered their prayers.

We've started a culture in the mission since January to fast every Wednesday. Me and Elder Morataya have been talking about it and we've been able to feel so much closer to the spirit than ever before! I have a testimony about fasting that literally brings the spirit to our lives and we can be more susceptible to his promptings. We stayed the night in San Marcos. And Friday we finished running the errands we needed to do in San Marcos and San Pedro and then we drove home to Reu. Then we worked in our area for the rest of the night. We found some positive people! A joven named Oliver who is the brother of a menos activo! So that was awesome! We're going to start to teach him! 

Saturday. We had our weekly meeting with President Ruiz at the office and also me and my companion had a meeting with him.

Elder Keck and Elder Ormsby in our correlation meeting

(rt to lt) Me, Elder Mosiah Vasquez, Elder Morataya and Julio Esturardo Gonzalez in the same meeting

Then we went out to take some medical tests for some other missionaries and then started our fast. Then we went to work in our area again, Me and Julio went contacting all the rest of the day. We went back with a couple of the people we found Friday and I think we are just going to keep looking. It was like 8:30 and we still hadn't found anyone to come to church with us on Sunday. I told Julio that we needed to find someone that could come to church. Literally 5 seconds after we walked past a door, I felt like we need to touch it. So we went back and touched the door. A Joven of about 17 years came out and we started talking to him. He told us that like 2 months ago the Hermanas missionaries were teaching him but they left and he never got the opportunity to go to the church. We invited him and he said he would totally go! He was actually super excited! But he told us that he might have something he needed to do Sunday that he had already committed to doing. But that he would come next week. Then he gave us his address and we headed to buy things for Sunday.

Sunday! We had one investigator in church! His name is Ricardo! He came last week too! Elder Morataya found him right as we dropped them off. He had been crying because his wife had just left him and he didn't know what to do but he came to stake conference and his question that we told him to bring was answered. Today though was really tough. Right as we went to get him his Aunt came out and was like ''what are you doing going with THEM?'' She tried not to get him to go but he told her that he felt really well last time and that we had come in his moment of need and for that, he was going to come to church! Also, Elder Keck and Elder Ormsby brought a bunch of investigators! One of them was a guy that I had invited a few weeks ago that also had come last week! I interviewed him and he knew a lot! But he had a lot of doubts and he committed to pray and ask God if he should be baptized.  I think that he should be baptized in these next few weeks! 

We've started to listen to the Book of Mormon on CD while we're riding in the car. It's not nearly the same as reading it but we've learned a lot I really like what I heard in 2 Nefi 9  39 O, my beloved brethren, remember the awfulness in transgressing against that Holy God, and also the awfulness of yielding to the enticings of that cunning one. Remember, to be carnally-minded is death, and to be spiritually-minded is life eternal. 

In Spanish is saying Animo Carnal and Animos Espiritual which is basically emotion. Saying that those that rejoice in things of the world is death, but the things of the spirit can bring us to eternal life. 

Life's been good but busy! Hope all is well!

Love,

Elder Pugmire

Week 82...3/2/16...Zone Running

(editor's note:  his English is rough but I love hearing how he thinks in Spanish.)

Alrighty, so this week was pretty great. We've been working really hard with our mini missionaries. Me and the mini missionary, Julio Stuardo Gonzalez, took a 3-day trip this week to go and motivate zones of Malacatan, San Marcos, and San Pedro.

But before all that, Tuesday we had an awesome experience. We had Elder Lopez and his wife, from the 70, come to our mission. I and my companion talked about the Sacrament.  We based our message around what do the real disciples of Jesus Christ do. In Hechos 20:7 it says that the disciples of Jesus Christ gathered the first day of the week to partake of the bread. We talked about how to teach our investigators to get them to come to church. We know that someone that really follows Christ as his disciple will be in church Sunday to participate in the Sacrament. We also made the relationship to how Jesus asked his disciples to watch with him for one hour. We then asked how can we teach our investigators to watch with The Lord for one hour. And we tied it into coming to church. 

It seemed to work really well. We had over 300 people in a church in the mission.  That was awesome! 

But I learned a ton! Sister Lopez was super dope! She shared the story of her conversion. When she was young she and her sister helped the missionaries find her parents that would hide from the missionaries until they actually got baptized! So that was awesome! She was super fun and we learned a lot about how we need to be missionaries that have our spirits present not just bodies present.

Then Elder Lopez was awesome as well! He taught about teaching the chosen people and only the chosen people. As I was listening I had the thought of how just great of people are Elder Lopez and President Ruiz. I started thinking what do I need to do to become so great a man? Then I just had the thought ''I've been living under my own potential'' That's what I feel is the problem for a lot of people. They have such great potential and live underneath it. They settle for so little and lose so much. One of the things that Elder Elggren reminded me of that President Hinckley said was that '' The reason for men´s unhappiness is giving up what they want in the future for what they want now.''  If we fix our view on what we can see how we'll miss a lot of what the future has. So that was what we started to teach to all of the Zones we visited.

Wednesday, we started going out to Malacatan early in the morning. My mini missionary companion shared a really good message about challenging people to be baptized out of love for the people. Then I talked about teaching the people that are prepared and chosen. Basically, we used the scriptures of D&C 29:7 then DyC 41:5.  Then we talked about Judges 7 how Gideon had chosen 300 warriors from 32,000 by putting them to the test of challenging them with a baptismal date. I thought that it was one of the better lessons that I'd shared in the mission with the missionaries.  Then after the meeting, I went with Elder Peterson to San Pablo and interviewed an awesome family that should be getting baptized this Saturday! So we're pumped about that! Then we went to Rodeo to do some other interviews.

Three girls from San Pablo are going to get baptized this week. I did their interviews and they’re super pilas!

We spent the night in Malacatan and early the next morning we went to San Marcos. We talked about the same message and changing the culture of the mountains. I went with Elder Villegas and we went to contact and work a ton. I was surprised. Here everyone says that it's super hard to baptize in the mountains. But I felt like the people were just as normal as the low lands. So that was awesome!

A cool little Grasshopper made from grass. It was 2 quets…

I told my dad I'd send him pictures of a pickup truck that really was loaded… Here it is.

Me and Elder Villegas in Palo Gordo.

Some kids that we helped pick peas! They let us eat a few and they were super good!

Then we went to San Pedro the next day and we did the same thing! It was awesome! I love the mountains  Sleeping in the cold felt soooooo good! Then we made the long drive home to be home for Stake Conference! It was awesome! President Ruiz gave a really good talk about baptism! We had a lot of investigatores tell us afterward that they felt like they need to be baptized! We brought 2 investigators and we hope that they will progress to get baptized this month!

In San Marcos with Hermano Gonzalez, Elder Garboza and Elder Guitierez.

Your standard parking in Guatemala…. I'm not sure how the car quite got there….

We went paintballing on Monday…. I got wrecked but we had a blast. The entrance has a ton of sports equipment that they use to decorate the trees.

But that's what this week was all about! We don´t have many people to teach right now but we are working really hard in the areas all over the mission so that's good! Hope all is well at home! This email was probably kinda choppy because writing it in the office gets really distracting with tons of stuff to do! Love you all!

Love,

Elder Pugmire

Photos of Elder Owen and Elder Gonzalez in Tacana

Xela! My, I and my comp had to wait for the car to get fixed.

The Statue of Tecunuman!

We made homemade mcgrittles! They were delicious.

My district Leader Elder Steiner

Elder Taylor, Elder Virgin, and Hermana Galand for Elder Taylors' birthday

Herman Dzul and Hermana Jimenez, they’re the nurses also celebrating Hermana Jimenez´s birthday.

I was looking into some family history and I found a line that brought me back to ADAM AND EVE!!!!

The meeting of the new mini missionaries