Week 14...11/11/14...Testimony sharing magician, Wilson and the dog dazer

Alright kind of a crazy week. Especially since I'm writing Tuesday. The reason is that the brother of the owner of the Internet shop passed away and his funeral was yesterday. We attended the funeral since they are both members. But we couldn't write because the shop wasn't going to be opened up. And there isn't another place that was open that would let us four elders write for the time we needed. They only gave us a little time to write today so here's a quick update of the week.

Ok, here's the real story, I didn't include it in my original letter because I didn't want anyone worrying. But on Sunday I and Elder Lagos were headed to a dinner appointment around 6 where we were supposed to meet up with the other missionaries. We were thinking that we should stop by and pick up our USB drives that were being fixed by the shop owner. However, we both had a feeling that we should just do it the next day, we saw Wilson (Lysandro's brother) sitting on the curb of the street and we said hi to him, and continued on our way a few blocks away to the place where we were going to eat dinner. We sat there waiting for the elders and we called and called, but no answer, we both had a sickening feeling about it. By then the people we were eating with got a call with the news that there had been a shooting right outside of Lysandro's Cybershop. Not even 10 minutes from the time that we had passed it. We waited for a bit till we felt like we could go look for the other Elders there. We found them there trying to comfort Lysandro and Marisol who saw the whole thing, there were tons of people all over the street with Wilson just laying there dead. The cyber shop was a mess with broken glass from stray bullets but luckily no one else was hit. Wilson supposedly had been a mix-up with some bad stuff and that week 3 more people were shot and killed that were "linked with Wilson". Lorenzo was terrified that he'd be targeted because he was his brother, and ended up leaving for Mexico. So ya, there's the whole story I guess. 

One thing that is very common here are the earthquakes. We usually have 2-3 tremors every week but I rarely feel them. My companion always is like ''Elder, Elder, did you feel that?  Esta temblando!'' I just look at him confused and tell him that he's crazy. But this week we had one while we were teaching this guy who is a recent convert. It shook the whole house for like 5 seconds! Man, it was crazy! Luckily nothing happened but it certainly was an experience.

Also another crazy thing. On Wednesday we went to bring our clothes to get washed by the lady who washes our clothes. When we got back the other elders told us that one of our investigators asked if we could come to do magic for some elderly people at the new market. (And by us I mean me). We thought it could be a good opportunity for service so we went up. I was expecting some little breakfast get together of  15 people or so. But obviously, they were expecting us and about 30 elderly people were sitting in chairs looking at a little table. Around them were about 30 more people curious about what was happening. As soon as we got there they directed me to the table and gave me a microphone.

I tried to take on the stage confidence I usually have when doing magic but it was a lot harder in Spanish. After I introduced myself the lady took away the microphone claiming she spoke ingles and would be interpreted for me. (I continued speaking Spanish and she just repeated everything. Everything went really well and I think that everyone really enjoyed it.

Then in the end, the lady asked me if we wanted to say anything. I looked to my companion and he just gave me the thumbs up and continued sitting in the crowd. So I took my microphone back and told everyone why we were here. I told them about our message of Jesus Christ and how it could bless their lives. I invited everyone to hear our message and told them it was true. I don't really remember much because I think all of it was a different voice saying it. Definitely the Spirit in another manifestation of the Gift of Tongues.

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We continued cutting wood this week and I've got some sweet blisters. But the Guatemaltecos really enjoy watching the Gringos work. I got the Halloween package! Thank you so much it was perfect! All of my housemates say thanks too! They loved all of the candy and Carne Seca (jerky)! Speaking of food. I made the most delicious pancakes the other day. We don't usually eat breakfast but the other day I made pancakes with Nesquick mix mixed into it along with chopped up bananas. Oh my goodness they were sooooo good.

OH one other thing that was super helpful this week. I bought the battery to put into my dog repeller. Holy Moly that thing works wonders. We have this one investigator whose dogs always attack us. But the day I brought the dog repeller they ran up even more aggressive and mad than normal with no owner in sight. But then I pressed the button and they ran right back the way they came and we haven't had problems with them since. We got the chance to work with the AP's this week which was super awesome!

Also we had this one recent convert named Genaro. He is an alcoholic and very rarely is sober. But he is probably the most diligent reader of the scriptures. He always shares what he learned the last time he read. I don't know how he understands or remembers but he does. I really like him. If we could get him to stop drinking he would be so strong in the church. But the other day we showed up to teach him and he had invited a fellow alcoholic to listen to us. He said he had been sober for 2 days and was looking for some more help so Genaro introduced him to us. Now he is one of our top investigators and we have a baptism set up for him in a couple weeks.

Anyway, that's about it!  Thanks for all of your love and support and prayers! It all really helps every day! Hope all is well with everyone! Thanks again!
Love,
Elder Pugmire 

Tell Grant I'm way proud of him! He's such a good kid and man it seems like he's gonna be even better when I get back! It sounds like your doctor visits are tough but hopefully,  everything will get better! You're always in my prayers. That's funny to hear about Zac on his date! Just email as much as you want I'll have time to read it either this week or the next. Thanks again for the package! Everyone seemed to enjoy it! I've gone through a bag of jerky and vanilla tootsie rolls already which were super awesome! The peanut butter I'm savoring though. The status of the package was pretty good though. The sugar cubes, except for a few, all held together. The plastic bags of the gummy worms and caramels have ripped in a few places but for the most part, it was all really good!