Elder Owens' Guatemalan Mission

"My son, prophesy unto this people (thy siblings)... I am angry (grief stricken) with this people (my children)... for their hearts have waxed hard, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes cannot see afar off... ever since the day that I created them, they have gone astray, and have denied me, and have sought their own councils in the dark." "He (I) bowed himself (myself) to the earth, before the Lord (my Father)... Why is it that I have found favor in thy sight, and I am but a lad, and all the people (those of this world) hate me... wherefore am I thy servant? (Thy spokesperson?)" "Go forth... do as I have commanded thee, and no man shall pierce thee. Open thy mouth, and it shall be filled, and I will give thee utterance, for all flesh is in my hands, and I will do as seemeth me good." "Say unto this people: (plead with thy brothers and sisters:) Choose ye this day, to serve the Lord God who made you. (to listen to your father who loves yo...

Man, I've been reading this same thing in all the other missionaries emails, but I'll attest to it; the days are long, the weeks are short. This week was a pretty great one.  Not because it was easy, but because it was rich with learning. If we're not out in the street, I'm here at the casa studying.  This week was more difficult than the others.  I hardly ever understood anyone, and we weren't able to make contact with a lot of people. But I've spent a lot of time (when not rigorously studying Spanish (I try to learn around 40 new words a day) reading in Acts, Romans and Corinthians; the experiences and teachings of Paul. One scripture I want to share is: 1 Corinthians 1:5 ;  "That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge."   Everything that happens in our lives, happens for a reason. Through all things, we can improve. If we are not winning, we are learning; and thus, still winning. We only lose when we decide to ...

Semana 8 July 6, 2022  Oh boy. So we got here in Guatemala on Thursday.  Flying in was beautiful.  It's super green and there are volcanos everywhere.  We stayed the night in a hotel and they fed us some basic Guatemalan food, eggs, beans, chicken, and tortillas.  In the morning we were shipped off to our different areas and we met our companions and were briefed a little bit about what it's gonna be like here.  Then we were sent back to where we live.  So right now I'm serving in the Santa Maria area, Palmita district, Zone Pal-Central, Guatemala City Mission.  Still don't know what any of that means, other than the fact we have the nicest apartment in the mission, which is pretty sweet.  We've got hot water and a washing machine,  which is utter luxury here.  So we plan out what were going to do each day, and then we basically go do it.  For example, yesterday we went and met some people on the street, found two people that a...

Semana 6 June 25, 2022 This week was a little crazy, they moved our P-day to today, but we had to turn in the phones yesterday, so no phone calls this week. As a district we held an English fast every other day (We only spoke Spanish), which wasn't too difficult; good practice for going out to the field soon. Casa 28 is as crazy as always, pretty sure the reception desk knows us all by name. This was my last official week here but I don't fly out to Guatemala until Thursday. They say we will have a new schedule but that has yet to happen. We had hotdogs for one of the dinners and pretty much everyone in the casa got sick except for me and a few others. So don't eat the hotdogs. Not much else to report but I got a bunch of pictures this week. Since this is the last email I'll write from Mexico City I wanna say that my time here was amazing. In the month I've been here I've changed tremendously. Even if I went home tomorrow, I would be a completely different perso...

Semana 5  I feel like I say this every time, but it does not feel like it's been 5 weeks. Time absolutely flies down here. Today is a "normal" p - day and everyone in the casa got everything necessary done really quickly so we plan on playing an extra long game of ultimate frisbee later. This week has gone really well. I was able to practice my first 40 minute lesson en Español and it was amazing. As a district we also held an English fast and spoke only Spanish yesterday. It was pretty tough, but was extremely beneficial. We started sitting with the Latino districts during meals and that has helped us to practice Spanish as well.  Other than that this week has been pretty mellow. On a less serious note, the Elders in our casa are building a samurai suit out of the cereal boxes we've collected over the past 2 weeks. It's pretty sweet. We have 350,000 calories worth of cereal boxes. Anyways. I hope everyone has a great week. Elder Owens Week 5

So I missed last week's email because we didn't have a P-day. And even today, I barely had enough time, but this is week 4, MTC training. It's so crazy to believe that its almost been a month already. I've been having a blast these past two weeks here at the Mexico City CCM. I already feel like a completely different person and my Spanish has improved tremendously.  Simulta neously, my English has gotten a little worse, but I guess I won't need it too much these next 23 months.  I love my companion and I love my district.  Both have helped me to learn and grow so much.  I had the most spiritual fast Sunday last week and the day after, the elders in my district were able to give each other and the sisters blessings.  I was able to give my first two blessings this week and I'm so glad it was with these people whom I've grown to love.  Still super busy all day every day, but it's all good and enjoyable, as well as spiritually enlightening.  I've seen mi...