Welcome to the Tuj



This is Me, my comp, and Jeronimo right before we entered his Tuj. This is how people take baths here. And they only take one every Saturday, so they can smell nice and fresh for church in the morning, haha It was one of the coolest things I have done my entire mission! The floor is pure dirt, menos the few leaves they throw in there, and then they give you a tree branch with special leaves, and you kind of pat yourself down with the tree branch to wash yourself, it was sooooo awesome!!!! I love my mission!!!



Look at this awesome family! These are the kids of Hermano Jeronimo. They are awesome, and they let us use their Tuj..... which is basically an adobe Sauna- it was soooo awesome!!!

                  

Welcome to the Tuj of Hermano Jeronimo, so basically its a mud cave, that they have made from adobe, and they heat it up inside by burning a bunch of wood in one entrance, and then it gets nice hot and humid inside, and it is sooooo awesome!

Heating it up!



This is where you enter....





Back in the day, when the missonaries didn´t have showers in the Central America missions, this is how they showered all the time.

The only problem is, there isn´t much room in there, haha, they don´t usually build these things for 6 foot tall gringos i guess.




After you relax and sweat in the Tuj, you get out, and sit on a rock, and wash yourself off with hot fire heated water. Only in Guatemala... only in Guatemala.

The water was heated up nice and hot in their big witch cauldron.

What an experience, that really is once in a life time!

The little kids also love to use the Tuj, this is Mica and Axel.

 

 

                             

 



Jeronimo´s kids made homemade bow and arrows just like Tanner makes

Hey, Everybody!!!                                                                                     March 17, 2014

Thanks for all your letters this week, Tanner, congrats on your play, you are such an awesome kid.... maybe work on spelling and punctuation before you make it to JR. high- Aaron, Good luck in your wheel chair basketball game. That sounds like so much fun, what a neat experience. Mom and Dad, don’t worry, I will be super safe, you can count on me to make good choices, and follow the spirit, If we are obedient and in tune with the spirit, we will be able to listen to the guidance that it gives us- and if we listen and obey we will be taken care of.

So, there were changes this week, but I didn´t have them, and neither did my comp. So it looks like I´ll be dominating the mountain for a little while more up in Choqui. I am super excited because we are having so much success, and I´m really happy, and I know I´m happy because we are following the Spirit, and doing what it is God wants us to do.

We are sooo excited this week, because we have so many activities planned, and we actually have progressing investigators! I´m so happy, and praying so hard for everyone of them. We really could have another baptism this month. If we can help Rosenda (our recent convert) help her kids have the desire to be baptized also. They have the attendances, they just need to feel a little more comfortable in the church, and they´ll be good to go.

Really, we are just having so much success, and I am sooo happy, and a little while back I was wondering how I could make myself even happier, and then I remembered that God is happy when we follow his example. And it is when we do his will, that we follow him. I am trying my best to continue to follow God´s will, because if he is happy with me and my work, then I am also happy with my own effort. There is not a better thing I could be doing with my life right now, not any opportunity, job, or prize could bring me greater joy. I am so excited to be a missionary for about 14 more months more, nothing... I repeat... nothing is of greater worth.

Also I had an interview with President Bautista the other day, and was told that he is very proud of my work and knows I’m a really obedient missionary, and he wants me to train in April!!! I am so happy and so excited, because I have wanted to train for some time now. But I know that in this moment my hijo is coming to the mission because there is something that I can teach him and something he can teach me. Anyways, I hope it happens, so I´ll let you guys know in April!

That´s super funny, Tanner is going to be so huge when I get back, and it is going to be so weird!

Anyway, love you guys!!! Talk to ya next week!!!

 



 

There is not a better thing I could be doing with my life right now, not any opportunity, job, or prize could bring me greater joy. I am so excited to be a missionary for about 14 more months more, nothing... I repeat... nothing is of greater worth

 

 

 

Also I had an interview with President Bautista the other day, and was told that he is very proud of my work and knows Im a really obedient missionary, and he wants me to train in April!!! I am so happy and so escited, because I have been wanting to train for some time now. But I know that in this moment my hijo is coming to the mission because there is something that I can teach him, and something he can teach me. Anyways, I hope it happens, so I´ll let you guys know in April!

 

ZONE SANFRANCISCO - This Zone is one of the most challenging zones in the entire mission, and I´m so happy to be a part of it ;)



 

 

Oh! Also something super funny. So an Hermana in our rama, just had a new baby, and she wanted help thinking of names for the little guy, yes it´s a boy. So she asked the missionaries to help her think of names that aren´t that common in Guatemala. So I gave her a list of names, and I put on the list-

Erik

Aaron

Tanner

Adam

Clark

Connor

Austin

Verlon

Charlie

Dalton

and... I thought about putting Lebron or something like that, but then I thought I probably shouldn´t put it on there, just in case she picks the name. ha-ha I´ll let you guys know what name she ends up picking! I am hoping she picks the name Tanner, and dad, sorry I didn´t put your name, because Mateo is very common here, like every other person is named a bible name here, ha-ha.

 

 



Hey, mom, how do you and Tanner always know when Im looking at the moon,  it seems like every time you email me about it, I have another picture to send.



 



I really do think about you guys everytime I look up at it.