Week 53...8/10/15...Week One of a New Year! ELDER GALICIA, the bus and Enry Gamacho

I've officially completed a year in the mission as of Thursday! I burnt a shirt with Elder Elggren. It wasn't much of a sacrifice since it was so ripped and dirty. But I was pumped to pull out two of the new shirts I've been saving in my luggage! Man, they are WHITE!!!! My other shirts are a nice brownish, yellowish, greyish color.

Me burning a shirt to celebrate a year on the mission.

Elder Elggren who came into the mission with me celebrated with me since we live in the same house!

This week was crazy! Right after I got off the computer the Assistants called me and told me that I was going home!!!! Wait no that's not right... Oh ya, they told me that my companion had emergency changes. (Gotcha didn't I?)  I was sad to see him go but we spent the rest of the day saying goodbye to everyone and then bright and early in the morning, actually, it wasn't bright at all, we got on a bus and rode 3 hours to Reu where I got my new companion! ELDER GALICIA!!!! He's from Mexico and he's super cool! I met him my first chance while I was in Reu!  

I'm really gonna miss shooting slingshots with Elder Tumbacco. Uncle Trav sent us two in a package, and we found the perfect use for them. So there are tons of banana trees in our areas and they are largely made of water. They have huge leaves that connect with a stalk to the tree that if you hit just right with a rock from a slingshot.... they break and fold down. It's pretty satisfying. This week was my week to catch up with Elder Tumbacco who was ahead of me by one leaf. 

Elder Tumbaco

Presidente Ruiz drove me and my companion and Elder Perieda, my grandpa in the mission, to our areas. On the ride home, he told me congratulations on the Book of Mormon test. I said thanks.  Then he asked me if I knew I was the one with the highest score in the entire mission! I WAS BLOWN AWAY! I thought it was just a coincidence that my name showed up first on the list!! Not gonna lie though I was pretty pumped! 

So we got back to our areas and we started to work.

This week we have been working a lot on opening our mouths to let everyone know about the restored gospel. I had an amazing experience! On Wednesday we had to leave our area to go to San Marcos at night so we could be in Xela early the next morning. The bus that was supposed to leave at 7 but didn't leave till 8:15 A guy was sitting next to me when I woke up from a short nap of waiting and I instantly had the thought to talk to him. So I did but our conversation died. But I had another impression to talk to him again so I did and that lead to me and him having a 2 and a half-hour conversation about the church. I almost taught him all of the lessons we have to teach. He soaked every word in with so much intent and just amazement. I challenged him to go to the church that is near his house and he said he would definitely be there. And then I challenged him to get baptized and he accepted as well!!! I was so blown away! Such a prepared person! He asked soooo many amazing questions! His name is Henry Gamacho and now if all goes well he should be a possible baptism with his wife this month for those in San Marcos. I was so happy to be able to be a part of God's great work helping him get to know the restored gospel.

Xela was good and the Taco Bell was even better. I went on divisions to San Rafael and they were great as well.

Me and Elder ZARATE IN XELA WITH TB!!!!!!

First Taco bell in Xela! It's been sooo long!!!!

The next biggest part of the week was the Sacrament meeting. I was asked to give a talk on the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I just felt so powerful and the Spirit was so strong there. The language just flowed out and I was using words that I didn't even know existed... I hope that everyone understood me..... But I would just have words come to my mind as I was testifying and they came out. It was such a great week full of The Spirit.

I love this Church. It's true. I love this Gospel and this work. 

I have currently memorizing The Living Christ and it's amazing. I know He lives, and I know He loves us.

I love you all and miss you a ton!

Love,

Elder Pugmire

I was soooo tired yesterday I fell asleep taking dats(datos or key indicators from the mission) from my district and I called them all super late. I just couldn't keep my eyes open any longer.

Today we went to look for Quetzales but we didn’t find any. Elder Woods and Elder Elggren

Well I did find one Quetzal but it wasn’t a bird. . . (currency)

Me and Elder Kanahele one of our Zone leaders. He's from Hawaii

Me and my new comp Elder Galicia! He's from Mexico!

Crazy looking beetles worry… selfie overload

We saw a Toucan!!!! Hopefully, you can spot it.

Week 52...8/3/15...BOM Test, lost shoes and Rain

How does time even work? I feel so lost and confused sometimes. Like how in the world has a year already passed by?! So much has passed! But, I feel like I've been able to learn so much in just so short of time. This week was awesome and it went by just as quick! I spent the nights Monday and Tuesday reading from the Book of Mormon Another Testament of Jesus Christ. We were challenged to read it in a month. At 12:30 Tuesday night I finished it just in time for the test on Wednesday. On Wednesday, in the morning, we got to head up with Zona Tecun Uman to San Marcos to have a Multi-Zona Reunion. It was really good! We also took a test on the Book of Mormon. We got the results, well some of them, today. They came in like this... Interpret it as you may. (Photo attached ) 

Editor's note: We can't understand Spanish well enough to understand this . . .Either he got in the group of 67 that passed and set the standard for the mission or he is one that has the opportunity to retake it :).  His name is first but I don't know if it is based on anything.

I learned a bunch from all of the messages! And I got to see Elder Garboza one of my old comps! He's already a Zone Leader! Man, I miss that kid! He's a great guy and he told me that he thinks he is going to move out to the states with his mom so I'll probably get to see him afterward!!! 

After we got home Wednesday we had an awesome meeting with the stake leaders and all of our ward mission leaders. I learned how important it is that all of the members magnify their callings and I'm determined to really magnify my calling when I get home.  But right now I've got another one that I'm really focused on.

I went on divisions twice this week with Elder Sanchez and Elder Carrion.  Elder Sanchez is probably one of my favorite Latinos, he's a super hard worker and knows the scriptures really well. They both were really good! This week the highlights were two things. One Rain. Two moving. Thankfully not at the same time. The Elders in Malacatan were looking for a new house because their old was just was... well trash. Ours wasn't anything special either but they only found one house that would really work for them. The problem was due to our budget it required us to move in with them so we could cut the rent in four. So we ended up moving on Friday. On Thursday. . . Holy moly it rained sooooo hard. Just take a look at the photos. They're blurry from the rain it literally was pouring.

The bummer of my week was I lost my shoes. Getting into a tuc tuc I handed my shoes to another Elder and told him to put them into the back... That's where I forgot about them... and now
I'm going to head to go thrift shopping to see what I can buy.

The spiritual moment of the week was definitely the Fast and testimony meeting. It was sooo awesome! After fasting and listening to the testimonies I just was mesmerized by the love that Jesus has for us. It just struck me as amazing that he came down to redeem us all and pay for our debts just for love for us. And then I was just overcome with a feeling of love and wonder that Jesus and our Heavenly Father came down to restore the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a Boy of 14 years of age and that at the age of around 14 I too came to know that this is the true church of Jesus Christ, the only one to have all of the truth in all of the face of the earth. I testify that this is true. And I have no doubt in my mind or heart that this is the true church. Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and the Book of Mormon is true. I love this gospel and I know families can be together forever through the authority that God has given man.

In the name of Jesus Christ amen.

Love,

Elder Pugmire

Week 51...7/27/15...Hemana Berta and her daughters Dulce Rubi and Tania

Hey family and friends here's another email from your friendly Elder Pugmire 

Well, another year has almost passed but I still have absolutely no idea what I really want to do for a job when I get older. I hate decision making. I'm sooo bad at it! Uhhhhhh! But I guess it's gonna have to come someday whether I want to or not. Yesterday I saw a whiteboard that was full of a physics problem, one of the classics that a box is being pulled up a slope and the other one is tied to it falling.... it was half-erased but there was still enough there for me to remember that that is something I will never go into!

But this week was great! We had some awesome experiences especially working with the Spirit! Yesterday, we were Looking for new investigators and we were walking down the street I was on the phone trying to set up an appointment and I saw this family that I had the feeling that we should visit them. (obviously the Spirit) I was in the middle of a conversation on the phone and didn't pay much attention to it, so we walked right past them. I ended the conversation and stopped. My comp said ''there was a family back there we should talk to.''  I quickly agreed and now we have a super positive family we're teaching!!!! It was a reminder to me how the Holy Ghost works. It's such a small simple feeling, you really have to be listening to hear it. But were excited to see how this family progresses!

We also had 4 baptisms that were the result of a pure miracle of fasting this week!. We had a mom and 3 kids.  The kids were all ready to get baptized but the mom was still going to another church. But when I was away on divisions my comp called me to tell me that she had had a dream where she saw a man that told her that she needed to change her church and be baptized in the true Church of Jesus Christ and do his work in the church. I'm not sure who she saw but it was enough of an answer to her prayer that we were able to see the four of them get baptized! It was so amazing! It was just such a powerful testimony to me that the power of fasting and prayer is real. She changed from a lady that wanted nothing to do with the church to a great convert!

Hermana Berta and her daughters Dulce Rubi and Tania

This week I had the opportunity to go on divisions with all of my areas and it was awesome! I feel like I'm able to serve others and the Lord so much more! This week has been kinda crazy though. Were going to have a test on the Book of Mormon which we have been challenged to read in just this month of July I've stayed up way past my bedtime reading it so I can finish it before the deadline! I have to get caught up by Wednesday! I have really learned sooo much from it! I love the Book of Mormon and I know that it is true.

I love you all and hope all is well! 

Love,

Elder Pugmire

Week 50...7/20/15...Man Tears, Judith

Alright so this week was great but I'm gonna be short because all of my photos got erased off my back up usb so I'm trying to get them all back. So this week I went on a bunch of divisions with my district to do interviews and help put some baptismal dates. Wednesday we had a District Leader Meeting in the morning so me and the other District Leader, Elder Gutierrez, in our zone woke up early to catch a bus there. It was such a great meeting and I feel a lot more prepared to be a District Leader. They talked about going on divisions, nightly calls, interviews and setting Baptismal Dates. Then we had lunch and Presidente Ruiz told us he was headed to Malacatan so we could ride with him instead of a few hours crammed on a bus! It was Awesome! So we got to go with him and we listened to the Book of Mormon all the way home. It was awesome because sometimes he would pause it and just give us these deep insights into the scriptures. Then we went out to visit for the day when we got home with our other companions. On Thursday I went with Elder Sanchez to San Rafael. We drove through my old Area San Pablo. Nothing has really changed and I saw our old branch mission leader working in his same shop so that was fun. We spent the day going about trying to interview a kid named Josua. He wasn't home the 2 times we looked for him. So we visited the rest of the day and decided to go back early the next day. 

Sister Trinidad cooked this typical dish from Peru!

I found a really cool picture of Jesus

The next day we got to Josua's house and they said he had just left, even though we had just called them telling them we were coming. So, we sat and waited and they brought out a cake because a little girl was turning 5!  They celebrated that with us and then Josua came and I did my first baptismal interview! It was awesome! Then we went home and ended divisions but then I went with Elder Perez an elder from Peru that came with me into the mission to his area in San Isidro. It went really well too! But I came home to the saddest news of my whole mission. When I got back to the house. I went directly for my Beef Jerky that my Mom sent. It appeared as if a Roaring T-rex had shredded it open and as if every single ant in the universe had decided to make its new home in the ruined Jerky. Not gonna lie some man tears were shed. Like those tears that sit in the eyes but you wipe them away before the fall... ya... those are man tears.... Not to sound soft or anything but it was a very hard time for me.....

Then on Saturday we had another Baptism and Judith asked me to baptize her. We had a miracle happen the night of the baptism. It was supposed to start at 6 but we got to the church and there  wasn't any light. We all said a little prayer and a little after we started the service the light came on!!! It was such a testimony about how faith works. We need to first act for ourselves so that The Lord can bless us. Work as if everything depends on you. Pray like everything depends on him and that is when miracles come to pass.

With Judith getting baptized!

Judith's baptism, and other investigators, Noelia is a recent convert (the one with the baby).

So ya there we go short and sweet! I'll try to send photos from last week too. I'm trying a new way so hopefully they get there!

Love you all!

ELder Pugmire 

Week 49...7/13/15...BACK TO MALACATAN BABY!!!! ELDER TUMBACO, Carlos, Marlin, Julisa and Lucia, Noelia

UWHOOOHOOO!!!! IM BACK IN ZONE MALACATAN! I'm pumped!  I love this Zone! My first area, San Pablo, is like 20 minutes away from my new area, Libertad 1! So that's awesome!  All of the missionaries are new except for Elder Kanahele who got moved back here to be our Zone Leader. But I better give you all an update about how crazy this week was. I'll start with Tuesday... Here we go. . .

Tuesday: So we got up and headed to the reunion de Districto and we have had the meeting and during the meeting, they told us that the changes wouldn't be in till 2:00 pm. So we ran to eat lunch and then came back to watch the presentation of the changes.

Guamex. The place we always used to eat in Reu. 

That’s a torta that we always ordered. It's soooo good! 

The red furry ball is called Rambutan it’s a fruit that’s super good! But looks crazy! The inside is like a peeled grape and it's got a seed in the middle. 

Me, Elder Dial, and Elder Hill all had changes and we're leaving all of our comps to defend the areas for themselves. I was kinda sad to leave my area because this Saturday they had 4 baptisms Carlos, Marlin, Julisa, and Lucia all got baptized! They're the daughters and son-in-law of Hna Gloria and next week we have a family of 4 lined up to get baptized too but I won't be able to be there for it. I love all the people in El Codo, and I'm unfortunate to be leaving Elder Lagos, I love that kid. But anyways after the district meeting, we took off to get home and say goodbye to everyone. We got home on a bus late so we had to get off at La Colonia and walk with all of our clean clothes to say goodbye to everyone.

That picture is the last photo of me and my comp Elder Lagos at the change meeting.

Then we walked the 3 miles home to eat dinner and say goodbye to the rest of the people we could. We got home and I started to pack. I'm such a slow packer! I had just so much stuff to do and
I didn't get to bed till like 3... 

Wednesday: We were up at 5 and on the bus and in Reu at like 7am. We got breakfast and then we headed to the changes meeting. They did them a little differently this time. Basically, I got sent to Libertad 1, Zona Malacatan to be the District Leader there.  I'm feeling like I've got a lot to learn, which is true.   The thing is,  I don't have very much time to learn it because I feel like all I do is run, run, run. We got to our house and then left to work on Wednesday and when we got back I realized how filthy it was. It's probably because there's a huge hole in the middle of it where the member we're living with keeps a garden of types. So I cleaned everything up a bit and then we headed to unpack and I got to bed late again.

Thursday:  I've never been so tired. I'm absolutely exhausted but we went to the Zone Meeting and I got to meet the district.  It's crazy being back in Malacatan.  Everything is super familiar!  I've seen a ton of familiar faces and even a few have recognized me as ELDER PUG-Mago. (mago means magician in Spanish). 

Friday:  We just worked all day, but in the morning I was super pumped because our area has a gym close, so we are going to be going there in the morning every day! OH ALSO, THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE BIRTHDAY PACKAGE MOM! It was perfect. The last Sunday in El Codo we were cleaning out the Capilla and stumbled upon like 8 old Conference Report Ensigns! I was super excited to read them but I had changes and felt like I should leave them there. But cabal, in the packages, was a huge list of conference talks! I'm so excited to read them! The only thing is there is not any time at all! Right now as a mission we're trying to read the Book of Mormon in a month so any free time I have, I spend reading the Book of Mormon. It's been amazing and I've learned so much from it!

Saturday: WE HAD A BAPTISM! The Elders here have been teaching a girl named Noelia. She made the decision to be baptized and my comp insisted that I be the one to perform the baptism. OH... MY NEW COMP IS AWESOME! His name is Elder Tumbaco! He's from Ecuador and he's a great teacher! I'm so pumped to get to work with him here!

Sunday: The church was great and we had a few investigators come. It was awesome to see all of the members I had met on divisions a few months ago. Also Elder Garcia, a missionary who just finished his mission stopped by our ward with his family to say goodbye to everyone. Then we jumped in a Tuc Tuc and I realized that it was one of the TUC TUC drivers we always would ride within San Pablo! It was soo cool that our paths crossed again. I invited him to church and then we headed out on our way. He always would charge us fairly and more than once saved our lives when we were coming home late from playing soccer, somehow he'd be there to give us a ride even though it was so late.

Monday: We played volleyball as a Zone and it was a blast!  

It's crazy how time goes! But I'm pumped to be able to serve here in my new area! Hope all is well! Love and miss you all!

PS. This is probably the reason I got changed out of El Codo. I've gotten sick a ton there, I got Chickunguya which is a mosquito illness, I had a 104 fever, and it's a disease that actually attacks all of the past injuries which is why it is such a terrible disease for the elderly. It really affects the joints and such. But my wounds from my stitches got enflamed as well as my ankles from when I sprained them in lacrosse. Also from the heat, I've had some really bad rashes from sweating constantly. It spread from my legs onto my arms and I've got little red dots all over my arms. We thought they could have been bed bugs but I went to Xela to a skin doctor and he said it was just heat rash and I needed to get to colder weather. So I'm really sad to go leave El Codo, but I'm hoping that I can not be super itchy all the time. 

Love,

Elder Pugmire

Week 48...7/6/15...They walked and walked and walked andddd WALLLLKKKEED

HEY GUYS! HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY! Every day that I'm here it makes me appreciate the great country that I can call my home. God has, does, and forever will bless America. I love the United States of America, and all those that have, do, and will give something to defend our country.

Here they carry everything on their heads. I'm not quite sure how. This is Yanet who we are teaching.

This week was probably the hardest week of my mission. The problem was that last week our bikes broke. So we have been borrowing bikes from the members but finally, everything we were using or borrowing developed a problem and we had to just resort to walking. Unfortunately, that meant that we needed to walk around 3 miles to get to La Colonia and then another 2 miles down another street. Then we had to walk all the way back to make some of our other visits. Needless to say after 5 days of that we were exhausted. We barely got back to our house before falling asleep. I remember various times this week just walking down the road with my eyes closed.

Me on divisions with Elder Dial. This is a very unique situation. None of the DL or ZL's want to do divisions in El Codo because our house is so Ghetto and it's so hot here.

Borrowing bikes from the members

But really the Lord blessed our hard work. We have been talking a lot with Hermana Gloria's Family and Marlin and Carlos are going to get married next week! And on Saturday or Sunday Marlin, Lucia and Julisa are going to get baptized! Carlos is gonna get baptized the next week if all goes according to plan!

We also are teaching this family that has been receiving the missionaries since like 3 years ago but we taught them this week and challenge them to get married. And they accepted! And Teresa came with her daughter to church and everything. 

We found these huge leaves on these trees!

Me with some ducks just sitting in the middle of the road.

This Friday we had a great conference with our Presidente Ruiz. He came to our zone to talk to us about how we could do more work as a companionship in our own respective areas. He talked to us about how to help our investigator Carlos. He has been really trying to know if this is the true church or not. The problem is that he has a bunch of families that love to talk badly about the church. We've heard from him that they say that we are spies. They say that we are all just terribly raised children from the states that Obama has shipped us out to talk about the Bible to make us better behaved, or that we are the Church of the Devil and do tons of terrible things. Really the hate against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints here is pretty prevalent. Usually, we sit and clear up all of his doubts. But President taught us something just awesome. He reminded us that God is love and contention is of the devil he told us to teach everyone the Doctrine that God is love. When people talk bad about the church, it doesn't come from God. We have been teaching everyone that now and it's really helped! Our mission president is the best! I know that our Heavenly Father blesses those that are diligent and devoted to his cause!

I love you all and miss you! 

Love,

Elder Pugmire

OH! Great story! The lights went out again for a few days (no electricity). When they go out all of the Chocobananas get ruined. So the member that sells them told us to come and help her eat some choco bananas.  We ate like 25 each.... and then went home and almost died.

Hna Gloria's kids built this zipline in their back yard with a rope, a tire, and a pulley! It is awesome

I thought you'd enjoy this mom. We played matches with this kid like we always used to play with the missionaries when I was young.

Another one of our investigators hit an owl and we were there to help it get better

 so they could keep it as a pet.

Week 47...6/29/15...Birthday in the mission, Hot, Hot, Hot

So this week has been pretty great but also kinda average! The only crazy thing that happened Wednesday. We announced Sunday that we were going to be showing Meet the Mormons on Saturday. We had clearance and everything and everyone was super pumped to go! But then on Wednesday, we got a notice from a member that they had gotten an invitation to a birthday party and they were going to use the court outside the church for it but they had never said anything to us. We ended up getting a ton of people worried about if the movie was gonna get canceled. So we went to go talk to the people and long story short.... we had to cancel. The birthday parties here are huge. 

Here they don't have lawnmowers just machetes and a stick with a little stick on the end to pull the weeds to a good position to cut them.

My wrist tan photo that you asked for.

Speaking of birthday parties I had probably the best birthday any missionary could ever ask for. We happened to have our Zone Meeting changed from the 25 to the 26th! So that was awesome! We ended up waking up at 3 and walking an hour to go wake up some Jovenes so that they could get on the 5 o'clock bus for the youth activity.

Early morning walk. Notice the times. 

We left around 3:45 am and got there at 4:45 am and notice that even though it's 4:45 am and we're only walking I'm already dripping from sweat.

From our branch 12 of the Jovenes went and seems like they had a blast! 

The meeting ended up being combined with Zona Las Palmas! When we got there Presidente Ruiz and Hermana Ruiz wished me a Happy Birthday and after the meeting, they brought out a cake!!!! Presidente Ruiz had his birthday on the 17th but we just celebrated together! So that was awesome! 

Part of the cake!

Me, Presidente Y Hermana Ruiz for my birthday.
They also said that their youngest son was turning 22 that same day!

Then we got back to our area and we went to visit Hna Gloria's. She surprised us by telling us she made us dinner and we helped make the tortillas! They killed and prepared 2 of their chickens which was super special for me because their family really doesn't have much. It was awesome! 

Me and Hna Gloria tortillando! That tortilla right there is my 1120 tortilla eaten in the mission as of 26-6-2015

Birthday dinner ''mole'' she gave me two plates of this I was so full I almost died.

Saturday we helped out with the birthday party and ended up having to stay extra long to clean it up. Supposedly my comp, who worked as a clown, was supposed to help with all of the games during the party but didn't prepare anything. So with some quick thinking and some of my Birthday Party Hero-ing experience whipped up some quick games and the kids loved it! So that was great! This Sunday we had a super great Sunday meeting where I and my comp gave talks and we had 5 investigators come to church!  Today for p'day we played kickball and frisbee which was awesome! 

Some tough parts of the week have been the heat and bikes. The heat is almost unbearable! My bike quit working on Tuesday from all the mud and my comp's bike hasn't been working since last week but we've been borrowing the bike of a member.  I had to carry my bike about half a mile to get home, but with some engineering and part swapping from my companion's bike it was back on the roads on Wednesday. But soon is going to be ruled unusable because of the crack in the mainframe.

But it's been great! Life is good and I'm living the dream! Please tell everyone thanks for the Birthday Wishes though I'm sure I wasn't able to see all of them.

Love you all!

Elder Pugmire

Rain!!!!!  it finally rained today! Thank goodness... however, the question is whether or not it rained in El Codo sent in the next email...

How they get rid of dead cats here...