Week 56...8/31/15...Weeks fly by. Bad back and service come together

Alright, this week is already over! So this email is gonna be pretty short because we've got work to do for The Lord. But here are some of the highlights this week!

I FOUND A DOG NAMED SCOTTY!!!! 

I WAS SO PUMPED: One Because it’s the first thing or person I've found with my name that isn’t toilet paper. Also that this dog was in good enough condition that I was willing to pick it up.

Some nice cows!

We met a ton of awesome new investigators! We just have been contacting and asking for references from everyone! The best one we got was from our ward mission leader, Hermano Joel. We met this lady named Sandra. She's been to the church activities a couple times and is just so prepared for the gospel! It's amazing! The best compliment came from Joel.  He told us his family had had this reference for years and years and everyone was free to give the reference to the missionaries but no one ever did. He told us he just never felt like they were the right missionaries. So that was a super nice compliment that he trusts us that much! It also means we've got to go and work with her a ton! 

I did a bunch of divisions this week too! They went good but they stress me out being away from my area. I'm still wrapping my head around the fact that my area is like 6 times the size of how it used to be with all of the new areas in my district that I'm in charge of.  I find myself getting to bed later and later and waking up earlier and earlier. But it's a good life.

This week we worked sooooo hard! We had two service projects.  For one of them, we woke up at like 4:30 to go help some investigators of the church ''sembrar milpa'' or plant corn. Man, it was exhausting!  

Planting Corn

Sweaty Selfie

We worked soooo hard! I was sweating like crazy till like 11:00!  But, we met a few cool guys that we are going to go contact this week and the family we helped came to church!!!! Then we can home and they gave us coconuts! And I got to try Iguana! It was like a mix of fish and chicken, it was actually really good! So it was totally worth it! They also had a sweet little dug-out pool in their back yard that the little kids were kind enough to show us how to jump into. 

The awesome little pool of water that comes from a natural spring.

Investigator in the pool showing us how to use it.

That pool has fish all over it.

The other service that we gave was unexpected. We had just got out of a tuc tuc when we saw this lady on the side of the road standing next to a huge bag of crushed plastic. I don't have a photo of it but it had to of weighed at least 100 pounds.  We offered to carry it for her but she said her house was really far away and that her husband was going to go carry it. So we did what any good missionary would do, and pretended like we didn't hear her and picked it up and started walking. Man, this lady was not lying. SHE LIVED SOOOOOO FAR AWAY FROM THE ROAD! I don't think anyone in their right mind would have found her house if they wanted to! I carried it most of the way on my back, how they do it here. When I wasn't carrying it we shared the load half and half. It was raining and we went up and down several slippery hills.  Amazingly, we didn't fall! But I think the biggest miracle happened after we got to the house. We started talking to the lady and we had the feeling that we needed to talk to the husband.  We waited for him to arrive... AND GUESS WHAT!!!!?  It was one of the guys we met planting corn! I don't know how we would have found him if we hadn't helped this lady!!! SUCH A MIRACLE! After planting corn and plus my amazingly comfortable mattress (loaded with sarcasm) my back was dead! But it was totally worth it! We met 2 awesome families that we are now teaching!

River in the back yard of some investigators.

That’s a dead dog in the river….. They're always so clean…

Guy crossing the river (yes the same river the dead dog is in).

The other fun thing of the week continues to be the political campaigns. UHHH they drive me insane!!! One in San Rafael they have these ''caravanas'' basically the loudest and rowdiest parade you can think of that lasts like 30 minutes... AND THEY HAPPEN EVERY SINGLE NIGHT!!!!!! It's insane! The big thing to show your political pride here is to load your pickup with people with whistles and blow your whistle and honk your horn to annoy the other people enough so that they vote for you. I'm not quite sure if I understand the logic but I mean... that's what happens. Also, we had 2 candidates for the President visit. We were just about to bring some investigators to church. One of the ladies had just told us she couldn't leave her house under any circumstance that day. But as soon as she heard the helicopter above her house and landed close by, she bolted to go see the candidate.... leaving us and her house completely abandoned. But I mean that's cool. It's sad how people will dedicate so much to political things and so little to our Heavenly Father. But we are working on it.  That's it.

Can you spot the Presidential Candidate in his helicopter?

Love,

Elder Pugmire

Week 55...8/24/15...Weekly Run, Changes, Rain, and that's about it, (editor's note: zip lining)

This week was pretty low key. Not gonna lie.

Tuesday we went contacting and we met this super awesome guy! We were looking for his wife but only ended up talking to him. He doesn't go to any church but was super pumped to hear about the true Church of Jesus Christ. And he's been reading the Book of Mormon even though we haven't been able to talk to him again. Today was changes and there's gonna be a whole lot of new people in the Zone because they're opening up two new areas!!!!

Wednesday. . . Alright I don't know what I've told you all about The Benson but it is a school built by members that have a ton of students in it all the time, named after Ezra Taft Benson. Because we live in Guatemala there are no restrictions on freedom of speech when it comes to talking about God within the schools. Basically, the owners of private schools have the ultimate say on anything that goes on within the school. We can show up anytime we want and the teachers, most of whom are returned missionaries, will give us a whole class to teach or we can go and teach individuals who are interested in learning. Wednesday we went with the Sisters Trinidad y Martinez to show the Movie "Meet the Mormons" which went pretty good! Then we went to have a lesson with a super big family. When we got there with the member family we brought with us they were all busy and had a visitor. They told us to wait and when they finished they came to talk to us and were super negative about the Church and said they had had some visits from their Pastors. But thank goodness we had this member family with us. They were sooooo awesome! They taught the whole lesson and because of what they said two of the daughters came with us to church this Sunday!

After that, it was late like 8:45 and it's like a 10-minute drive to get to our area. The members offered us a ride but we turned it down. I told my comp we needed to visit one more person. We went to look for him (Obed) but he wasn't home. His son came out and we introduced ourselves then he went inside to bring out chairs. The Spirit by then was already sooooo unbelievably strong! I turned to my comp and told him that Brian is who we need to visit and that he's gonna be super positive. . . AND HE IS!  Holy Moly! He works with his dad and he's only 16.  He doesn't study and it's super tough for him to read. But he's such a good kid. We went Sunday and he promised to read, pray and go to church next week! I'm sure in the next couple of weeks he will be baptized with his family.

Thursday was good we met this one guy shoveling some dirt and we joined in and set up an appointment to go Friday and finish the job.  He told us his name was Samuel. He was super positive! We also met another super cool guy named Guadalupe!

Friday. . .We did some exhausting service. We dug and hauled like 20 loads of dirt for Samuel and then we had a lesson with him. He wasn't as positive as Thursday and even less so when another investigator told us he had lied to us and that his name wasn't really Samuel.... but we felt good about our service. I was so tired of getting home that I fell asleep taking dats and didn't wake up till the next day. I'm sure that my district thought I had died or something.

Saturday. . . MAN TODAY WAS AWESOME!!! We got to watch a special conference with President Nelson as a zone today! It was broadcast to a bunch of different missions and it was amazing! I took a ton of notes. But what we really learned was we need to do more family history work as missionaries. So my comp and I right after that headed out to start telling the world about how they could look up and find their ancestors whenever they wanted! People were just blown away! We are really gonna have some success with that.

The saddest part of this week was one of our investigators died. We were teaching this guy named Hector and his daughter.  The first lesson I had with him I felt like he really needed the gospel. I think what it really was though was his family needed the gospel. Because later we went with Hector's brother, who's a member, to talk to his family about The Plan of Salvation. I think it brought them a lot more peace and we're going to go back to visit them. We invited all of them to pray about the plan to find out if it is true. The Daughter, Maria, told us she did and now knew that her dad was fine. It was incredible!

To start this week we only had 2 possibilities for baptism but we fasted and ended with 4!!!! Almost 5! It was such a miracle! P'day today was awesome. we went zip lining on a little ropes course with Zona Tecun Uman! IT was awesome!

HAVE A GREAT WEEK EVERYONE

Street Jugglers

Me and Elder Steiner

Me and Elder Elggren

Me and Elder Galicia in a typical rainstorm.

Those are streets, not rivers.

Elder LAGOS GOT MOVED TO OUR ZONE!!!!!

ELDER GARBOZA IS OUR NEW ZONE LEADER!!!!

Me and my comp

And me with some of the new kids who are just starting the mission  
Some of the new Elders, Elder Davis, Elder Holland 

Week 54...8/17/15...Rain, Pastors, Shoes, The Spirit and makeshift gas masks

Alright, this one's coming a little late because the power went out about an hour ago. But this week was pretty good! This is the last week of another change! Wednesday is Cambios AGAIN!!!! SO INSANE! I spent most of my time this week on divisions with Elder Perez and Elder Sanchez. Both are great Elders but Elder Sanchez is super cool! We get along really well, probably because he's obedient and really has a great attitude. My comp and I get along really well. We started to play games of chess at the end of the week every week and during part of P-day! Right now I'm winning in the championship 5-2! So it's been pretty fun and we both have a blast!

It rained all week in every area I was in! That's what inspired me to buy new shoes today.

Me and Elder Sanchez In the rain with some plastic things some people let us borrow.

The first highlight of my week was definitely today. My shoes have been in pretty rough shape from walking in them for a year  And after losing my better ones my other ones are full of holes for water to enter.  I went to buy new ones at the megapaca. Which is basically the world's best thrift shop.  All of the clothes and what ever weird item you want can be found there at a dirt-cheap cost. I dropped 100 quetzales to buy some shoes which turns out to be a little under 15 bucks. But that gave me so sweet shoes!  Some Hush Puppies in new condition, some other shoes, and some Nike Golfs!  I was pumped!  Especially after having my shoes in such bad shape this last year! Right now I've got a pair on and my feet are very very happy.

Me and Elder Perez with our mural chalk drawing. (No worries it comes off with water.)

The other thing that happened yesterday, we were walking and it was just about to rain and we were hurrying to try to get into a lesson before it started raining. On the other side of the street was a lady and I had the tiniest of feelings to talk to her. I did the most awkward introduction I've ever done in my mission and talked to her for like 30 seconds about our message. She told us she wasn't interested but I still had the feeling that we needed to talk to her. So I asked her if she knew anyone that could be interested. That's when she directed us to a family of 6 that don't attend a church but have already visited our church in the past! It was so awesome! I love how the Spirit works to those that listen!

On Saturday we did an ''Area Attack'' in San Isidro which is when all of the missionaries go to one area and just invite everyone they can to go to church the next day! Apparently, it worked because San Isidro had 12 Investigators in church on Sunday!!!! It was so awesome!

Just a typical dog here. It's soooooo skinny!

We had another experience on Sunday. We were going around like crazy making sure everyone we had invited was going to go to church. When we walked by a house. My comp stopped and then kept walking and I was in front of him. Then right as we were about to keep walking a guy on a motorcycle came and told us to go in and that he lived there and wanted to hear our message! We were like SWEET! So we went in and started the lesson. We thought at first he was going to be really positive. But right as we got to teach about Joseph Smith it was apparent that he just wanted to contend. He also made it very clear that he was a pastor in a church in our area and told us we were wasting our time talking about Joseph Smith. We tried to remind him of what we had just been teaching about how God works through prophets like He did in the old testament. My companion had him read some perfect scriptures. But when we invited him to read and pray about the Book of Mormon he said he would read it but he didn't need to pray about it and wouldn't ever because he was convinced that it was false and from a false prophet. At that point, I was about up to here with him.  Then I just felt like a wave of the Spirit come over me. I felt like Nephi when he was reproving his brothers, or Abinadi when he was standing in front of Noah and his Priests or Like Joseph Smith rebuking the guards.  I just testified.  Well, I don't think it was me but The Spirit. During my testimony, the rest of the people in the house stopped talking and came out to listen. I finished and turned to my comp and he read a scripture and we ended with prayer and invited everyone to pray and ask if our message was true and then invited them to church and left. It was such an interesting and also amazing experience.

But ya. That's basically my week!

Love you all!

Elder Pugmire

Oh! Another Story. We were just sitting in our house studying when a guy with a blower backpack just walked in our house saying ‘’Voy a Funigar salen si puedan’’ or ‘’I'm gonna spray get out if you can.’’ I got one whiff of that spray he was spraying and we all were out. It was apparently a bug spray because the next day there were dead cockroaches all over the floor! But we finished cleaning the house with makeshift gas masks.

And finally just a casual outlet…. Only it's hooked to the power line!!!!!

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