Elder Ezra James Flores - Guatemala Antigua Mission

 ¡¡Hola Hola!! Thunderstorms, Roosters waking you up at 4 am, and a neighbor who decides to blast “Baila Esta Cumbia” by Selena EVERYDAY early in the morning at 7am for the whole neighborhood to hear even though there's no fiesta going on, have officially been my alarms to start the day.  I don't need my watch anymore y’all. Speaking of thunderstorms, it rains here like crazy during the night.  To sum it up, it sounds like someone is constantly pouring a bucket of water over my house. It's just super strong; I´ve never heard rain like that in my life. And, add thunder to the mix! I have been waking up to it around 2 am every day this week. Jaja, giving me Old Testament vibes for sure. I will be sure to get an audio clip for y'all next time because it's unreal. Overall this week has been pretty good. To start, Elder Chavez  and I had the baptisms of Rodrigo and Manuel!!! It was such an amazing experience, and I have officially had my first baptism on the mission! I h...

 ¡¡Hola a todos!! This week was pretty interesting to say the least. Y'all may be wondering what I meant by my subject line. Welp, this past Thursday towards the end of our day street contacting with Elder Chavez in sector 7, I ran into an indgenous family on the street who looked like they needed help. The family was made up of a group of two older women, and three girls, plus a stray dog who was walking with them... I tried to ask them basic questions in Spanish such as "cuál es su nombre?", and "que tal", but they didn't respond I am guessing that they only spoke Quichean, which is the mayan language here in Guatemala, They were trying to take two blocks of wood back to their house, and it looked like it was pretty heavy for them, so I offered to help, but as soon as I got close to the family, their dog attacked me. Homie was not having it, I tried to back away but he just kept on barking and barking and lunged at me. I felt his teeth on my leg, but he di...

HOLA AMIGOS I HAVE FINALLY MADE IT TO GUATEMALA  This week was definitely one filled with mixed emotions for sure. I was super pumped to get a negative test result on my covid test, but on my final night at the CCM, I teared up when I said goodbye to my new friends from the Latino district on Sunday night. It hit different because this past week I felt a super strong spirit with them during our time together; they were super welcoming even though I was new to the district. I am grateful for the opportunity to have met each one of them; they are my best friends for sure and I know they will have success in the mission field. This Monday I woke up at 3 am to get ready for my flight to Guatemala city. I didn't get that much sleep that day for sure. Me, ElderGodfrey, and Elder Gergetz hopped on a bus at 4 a.m. that the CCM provided for us to get to the Mexico city airport.  Finally, at 8 am we got on our flight to Guatemala City. From there we were greeted by a ward member who dro...

Welp, the trade to the Guatemala Antigua mission fell through yall. The CCM had a trade package finalized with me, Elder Gergetz, and Elder Godfrey, with a couple first round picks but I heard that there was an issue with our medical records and that the Guatemala Antigua mission declined the trade. Just kidding jaja, unfortunately I tested positive for COVID last week along with Elder Gergetz and Elder Godfrey, two other elders from my previous district 7C. Let’s just say it was a big let down at first, but I definitely learned that the Lord works in mysterious ways and that trials happen for a reason Last week on Thursday after the temple, I started feeling sick. At first I thought it was just a cold because all I was dealing with at the time was a runny nose and a minor sore throat, but I started feeling worseThursday evening. I went to see the doctor at the CCM and took a COVID test. I got a negative result,  but the doctor suggested that I move to house 1 which is the house fo...

Welp guys, it has almost been 4 weeks at the CCM, and on Monday I will be shipped off to Guatemala where I will be spending the next two years of my life. Honestly I'm really excited and ready to go to another country but at the same time there's still some nerves y’know just with every new experience in life, but I know that the Lord will always provide a way for those who are involved in his work. Overall my final week at the CCM was pretty good, I had the opportunity to teach more lessons to Hermano Sosa and Hermana Garcia. I also taught a solo lesson for 10 minutes about faith in Jesus Christ because my companion was sick for half of the day yesterday. It was definitely a challenge for sure, but I am happy with the way my Spanish has progressed so far. This week I also had the opportunity to play the piano for the devotional on Tuesday, I was pretty excited about the opportunity but when I saw there were like 500 missionaries in the crowd including the MTC presidency in the...