¡¡Bienvenido a Guatemala!!

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 dropped us off at the Mission Home in Antigua. There I had the privilege of meeting my mission president, President Probst. My first meeting with him went really well. President Probst has only been the Mission President for about a month now, so he's trying to adjust but I am eager and excited to get to work with him for the next 2 years.

After meeting with the President the mission provided pizza for us to eat since we didn't have that much to eat that morning. Afterwards I got assigned a trainer, Elder Chavez. He is from El Salvador, and it has been a pleasure to work with him so far. We only communicate in Spanish so it has been a challenge but I'm all here for it. He has shown an interest in learning English so we plan to have some talks in English before we go to bed. The name of my new area is Florida Guatemala/ San Francisco, giving me USA vibes for sure. I believe that we cover two wards, one this Sunday and then we switch off to the other the following Sunday. I don't know the names of my ward yet but I will tell you guys in my next email After I got assigned a companion we took an uber to our new apartment. When we arrived at the apartment it started to rain super hard and we didn't have a key so we waited for an hour in the rain jajaja.  But man when we first walked in the place it was a huge mess. There was literally trash everywhere and the bathroom was on a whole other level because the water wasn't running and the sink got ripped out somehow by the previous elders. The mosquitoes also set up base in our restroom so me and Chavez went to war with them our first day. After that we had to go buy new parts for the sink in Plaza Florida. Today me and Elder Chavez spent the whole morning cleaning up our place. We still have a lot of work to do, it's been a grind but I'm confident we can get it turned around later on this week.

So far this week we have been visiting members. We have a little boy named Rodrigo on a date set for baptism on the 28th. Me and Elder Chavez went to visit him yesterday to teach him about the restoration and its purpose. He was smiling the whole time during our lesson and he even shared his testimony about prophets which was sweet to hear. Rodrigo's father is a recent convert to the church, he's only been a member for about two years and he plans on baptizing him which will be awesome to witness for sure.

This week I also had appointments with the first counselor in our ward and the bishop of the ward. I had a great conversation with them this week, and I can tell that they are eager to have me and Elder Chavez in the ward; I have a strong feeling that me and Elder Chavez can get things moving around here. OH yeah speaking of the ward, the members here in the city live in neighborhoods called zones which are separated by gates, me and Elder Chavez dont have a card to get into most of them so we usually just wait for people to let us in. Inside a zone it's usually just an area filled with homes, shops, stray dogs, and people that like to flex their motorcycles by racing down the streets. 

Overall my first few days in Guatemala have gone pretty well. Despite the craziness in the city with the non-existent traffic laws, vendors everywhere begging you to buy their products, having to sprint to catch a chicken bus that hardly has time to wait for you, and trash cans getting lit on fire during the night to be used as stoves, it has been a pleasure to live here so far. I moved to GOTHAM y’all. However, I know that the Lord has work for me to do here. Everyday is going to be a grind but I know that Christ is walking every step of the way with me. Let me know how I can pray for you this week!

Elder Flores

Highlights

  • I offered to serve the members of the ward, and hopefully the people that me and Elder Chavez teach in the future by offering piano lessons as well as English lessons. I have piano lessons with a few of the kids in the primary this saturday! Let me know if you guys have any other ideas of how I can serve the members of my ward 
  • There's a few ward members that live right by where me and  Elder Chavez live and they offered to have us and the rest of the elders in the district over for lunch this saturday. I believe we are going to have PUPUSAS so I CAN'T WAIT it will be a feast for sure.
  • Tried chile rellenos this week and man was it delicious,chile relleno is a bell pepper filled with meat and vegetables, covered in whipped egg whites and fried rice. It's really good.
  • reunited with Elder Degrey who is an elder that was in my former district at the CCM, and is now in my mission district, we got Mcdonalds and I got a triple Big Mac which I don't believe is in the US; it was good to catch up with my man and just knowing the fact that we are in this together 
  • A stray dog followed me and Elder Chavez on our way home after visiting the hermanas who are making us pupusas on saturday. He walked by our side all the way back and he was outside waiting for us this morning. I made a new friend jaja.











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