Week 38
Tengan un buen dia todos,
This week was pretty cool. We found a lot of new investigators who were pretty positive, although we weren´t able to bring any of them to church. One of them, Ricardo, is a super cool dude. He is super funny when we are just talking to him normally but when we taught him about Joseph Smith and The Book of Mormon, he was super interested and listened intently. The best part is that he understood every thing and is really excited to find out if it is true by praying! It is always super cool to teach him.
My companion is doing pretty good for his first week. He is really learning how to teach the Restauracion (I can´t spell it in English any more) well. We planned how we were going to teach it at the beginning of the week and then ended up teaching it probably 20 times during the week.
This Sunday was finally just normal, in that nothing crazy happened. Cindy and Catia were in church and I am super excited for their baptisms this weekend!
Until next week,
Elder Vierkant
Week 39
¿Qué tal?
This week was off the wall nuts. I really feel like it flew by like a bat in the night.
Tuesday I went on intercambios with Elder Ford. His area is super small compared to all the other areas I have been in. Luckily, we found out that there is a whole colonia in their area that they didn´t know about, which should help them find a bunch of new people to teach.
Wednesday we had to go to San Salvador for immigration for my companion. They had changed spots, so we ended up having to search a bit to find the building but it was on the other side of the block so it wasn´t so hard to find it. Afterwards we went and got McDonalds with Elder Naillon, Elder Applegate and Elder Anderson. After 9 months of not eating McDonalds and 3 months of just eating beans and papusas, it was amazing! The bad part of the trip is that we ended up getting home pretty late because San Salvador is so far away. We were super rushed to get stuff done.
Thursday we had a multizone. The president came and taught us a little bit but we spent most of the time learning about the new heath care system and then about dengue prevention. I think dengue is the same as west nile virus but I am not completely sure. But apparently if you get it twice you have to get sent to another mission or something so now I am sleeping with a mosquito net at night. But this meeting took a long time and we ended up being pretty rushed again to visit all of our appointments.
Friday was pretty normal, all though some of our plans got ruined for the day and so we ended up winging it, which worked out OK. Cindy and Katia had their baptismal interviews today. They are the coolest family.
Saturday was super nuts. We had the baptism at 6 but we got their early and found a ton of dirty water so we had to drain it and fill it up again. Then all the people took for ever to come, (punctuality isn´t a big thing here) and then President Hintze showed up right as everything was ready. Just after he got there, everyone showed up and the baptism went well. I am super duper happy for them. the two of them were super prepared and we just had to be there to help them along the way a little bit.
Sunday was pretty normal, we worked hard and had a pretty good day.
I love you all, have a good week
Elder Vierkant
Week 40
Pasen un buen dia todos,
Well, just another crazy week in El Salvador. I don´t know if it is living in El Salvador or being a missionary, but things are crazy here.
This Monday we celebrated Hermana Escobars birthday and my companions 24th birthday. We had a piñata and chocolate cake. I forgot how good chocolate cake is. I don´t think I even liked it that much before... Afterwards we went and had a family home evening in with the Santa Maria family. It went really well. Everything else kind of fell through.
Tuesday we met somebody who believes in another prophet from America. It was really interesting to talk with him but we couldn't´t get any where with the sharing the gospel with him, so that was a lame.
Wednesday was just crazy. First, we had to go to San Salvador again for the new missionary meeting. We got up at 5:00 and got there at about 8. We ate breakfast there and then we went to the chapel right next to the temple. There, we had a meeting with president and the assistant's. The whole meeting was to comfort the news and to make sure that we were doing what we were suppose to during training. Afterwards we went straight home to do interchanges with the zone leaders. We got there at about 2:30, just in time for me to do a interview for a baptism. After that we went and met investigators of the two pairs of sisters. With the second investigator I did another interview. Between the two inter views I was interviewing for about 2 and half hours. After that we finally went and taught a few more people in the zone leaders area.
Thursday was pretty normal. We had zone and district meeting and ate pizza afterwards. We also found and inactive family with help from a member. They seem pretty cool and I know our visits will help them a lot.
Friday we found a really cool guy named Miguel Angel (I swear half the people are named that here, that or Edwin). He owns a business selling corn on the cob at carnivals. He listens really intently and helped us teach to his nephew when he didn´t understand what we were explaining.
Saturday we had an activity in the church. All the missionaries in my ward had to put on a skit and in the morning we wrote one about the Plan of Salvation. It turned out really well. A lot of investigators came and they all liked it, is great.
Sunday was great! Want to know why? Because the wife of Transito said she wants get baptized this Saturday!! Yes! After 3 months of working with here I am super incredibly happy. I know for a fact that it will bless her life. It also gave me a great testimony of prayer. We prayed to know the date she would get baptized and we KNEW she would and could be ready by the 28th. She seemed like a stone, but I know with a lot of prayers, from me and others, she was finally able to say " Yes." Now we just need the actual ordinance to take place. We visited Miguel Angel and his wife with his nephew and niece. We taught them about Joseph Smith and now they are super excited to go to church this next Sunday. They were even asking me if their bibles where Okay to bring.
Peace out,
Elder Vierkant
Week 37
Dear Everyone,
This week was super duper crazy. On Monday I found out that I was training again. I was super sad because I stinking love Elder Gavilanes. We worked super well together. Tuesday I had to go to San Salvador for trainers meeting. It was a 2 hour bus ride there and 2 hours back plus a long meeting, which didn`t leave us much time to work. Elder Gavilanes went to all the houses of investigators and said goodbye.
This Wednesday were changes. We went to Versailles at about 8:00 for another meeting with trainers and trainees. Afterwards was changes meeting. I found out that I would be training Elder Pocasangre or translated Elder 'Little Blood' from Guatemala. I also found out that I am now district leader of five areas in our zone. We made it back to our area at about 2 and ate and had a little bit of companion study to help him prepare for the day. During the day we crossed a river and my comp lost his shoe and so we had to go chasing it down a river for 15 minutes. It was hilarious, but I felt bad for him because it was his first day.
Friday I had to go to San Salvador for district leader meeting. Right after I got back I had a baptismal interview with Carolina. It is crazy to do an interview. The Spirit is so strong and you just feel the spirit guiding you. Saturday, I had another interview for a baptism on Sunday. Sunday was super nuts. There was a question about someone being baptized and we were running around the entire day trying to figure stuff out, then the bishop said he would rather baptize them the next Sunday and there was a girl crying because she wanted someone else to baptize her. Basically it was a mess and I had to try and figure out what to do. But I learned a lot and I feel like I made the right decisions in the moment.
I am learning that you really have to learn to rely on the Spirit in all your actions!
Peace out,
Elder Vierkant
First two photos: me and two of the assistants who were going home. They are super cool. Elder Reynolds, whose brother is the lead singer of Imagine Dragons, and Elder Larsen.
Others: The President and his wife with my new companion that I am training.
Week 35
Dear Everybody,
Just another super great week in the Ponderosa! It was full of drama: love, laughter, joy, sadness, regret, failure and more than all, success. Basically it was a telenovela.
A notable fact about this week was we had a very large amount of people preach to us. One day we were taught more lessons than we taught the people. It was a bit frustrating but, we just try to share the simple truths of the gospel that we can and bare testimony of the love of God for us. After that, there isn`t a whole lot more that we can do. The only time that it really affected us was one of the brothers of someone we baptized this week is very much against what we believe, even thought he very obviously doesn`t even know what we believe because he has never spoken with missionaries. He influenced the mom of Raquel, who we baptized, and she became super unpositive. We are really worried that she might influence her granddaughter, Loli, to not listen to us or go to church.
This week was super cool too because we had three people tell us they want to be baptized, with out us asking them. The only problem is that two of them have problems with a really important commandment, the law of chastity. But we should be able to resolve the problems soon, at least with one.
This weekend we had two baptisms. Raquel and Carla both got baptized. Carla got baptized on Saturday and it was super cool. You could feel the Spirit super strong and some of the investigators, relatives of Carla, that we brought were crying. At that point, Catia, who hasn`t wanted to get baptized for two months finally decided that she wanted to get baptized. It was awesome. Also, we had Elder Ford sing and play the guitar while everyone was changing, it was super good and everyone loved it. Raquel got baptized after church Sunday and it was just as awesome.
Three last things that are pretty cool: I realized that I have eaten a bunch of sopa de pata, which is cow foot soup. I also realized that I kinda like it.
We also had 160 people in church this week, 33 more than when we got here. The last was a really intense experience we had in the morning bringing people to church. We went to get a less active from his house in the morning and we found him drunk. We stood there just trying to communicate how much we love him and how we want to help him stop drinking alcohol. It was super intense and at the end my companion, Elder Gavilanes, got him to go get his alcohol and dump it out on the ground in front of us.
Well, the Lord loves me, you and all of our neighbors. That is why he gave us the Gospel, to be happy and live good lives. For that exact reason, He wants us to share it!
Peace out,
Elder Vierkant
Week 36
Hola Everybody,
This week was pretty interesting. Monday we went to a super cool water fall. It was in the middle of nowhere and we had a cool little hike through the wilderness to get there. It was super beautiful and relaxing. We just hung out there for a while taking pictures and eating snacks
This Tuesday I went on interchanges with Elder Steenhoek, my zone leadder who is from Arizona. It was super fun. We had a pretty crazy experience too. We were walking down the street and we saw a pick up truck backing up down a hill. After a second we realized there was no one in the car except a little kid in the bed of the truck. We saw that it was heading straight for another parked car, so we ran over and grabbed some railings that were welded to the truck and I don`t know how, but we avoided hitting the parked car and we were able to stop the car. It was super intense and neither of us know exactly how it happened, but I know God used us in that moment to help some one.
Cool other little fact that I want to throw in. Alex Boye is in the "Principles of the Gospel" book singing in a congregation.
We really became better missionaries this week. We were teaching lessons a lot more clearer in less time. We really felt the difference in how the spirit can testify if you teach clearer. The investigators don´t feel as overwhelmed and they understand the message a lot better. It also builds a lot of unity in the companionship. It was really cool to see our progress.
This Sunday was just as crazy as ever. We finally got the wife of Transito to come to church after trying for all this change over six weeks. We were super elated, but right after, Rachel didn`t show up to get confirmed and we weren´t able to visit her all day because she wasn´t home. Then we went the Transito's house and his daughter and granddaughter said they want to get baptized on the 14th of the next month. Cindy is super prepared and we haven´t really even taught her. She just knows. Katia has been ready for 3 months, but until didn`t want to get baptized, so it was super cool.
Then right after we left Transito's house we went to meet someone who is going to get married and hopefully baptized. When we got there he was getting drunk with his friends. It made us super sad and it took us a bit to kick up our animo, or get animated. THEN, after that we found a less active that was having problems with alcohol, but with Gods help and our visits and his strength, he has been clean for 4 days straight. We were super happy.
From a week that you could liken unto a roller coaster...
Peace out,
Elder Vierkant
Week 33
¿Què tal?
In summary, this week was great. First of all, we were able to finally meet the dad of a little girl that we are teaching with an inactive mom. He is a little bit hard to find but we were lucky because he was going to take his daughter to the hospital but the doctor canceled. We asked permission to baptize his daughter, when she is prepared and he said "yes." Now the only obstacle is to get the mom to church. Quick little story about this family, the dad tricked the mom into marrying him by bringing a lawyer that they were friends with and two witnesses who were friends to make the marriage legal. She thought she was taking out some other random legal document.
Anyways, we had interchanges this Saturday and I went with another Elder in my district to his area. He is newish in his area and we just walked around completely lost all day talking to the most nuts people. I didn`t stop laughing all day because it was just so ridiculous. I drank some coconut water straight from the coconut, we had a huge tropical storm. We also met some people that are from Italy and have Italian accents in Spanish. They also just speak Italian to each other which is awesome.
Saturday, Elder Larsen, one of the assistant's to the president and Elder Steenhoek, one of zone leaders came to our area to help us with one of the investigators. I went with Elder Larsen to teach The Rivera family. It was an incredible experience. Elder Larsen really brought the spirit to the lesson and taught in a way that was super easy to understand with awesome questions. It just blew me away. The family could really feel it too and Carla said she would get baptized the 17th, which is super awesome because she had been saying no to baptism in general.
This Sunday we had Veronica, Carla and Daniela in church. Raquel wasn`t able to make it to church because she was at a funeral thing all night. After church we taught Daniela, who wants to get baptized, we just need her moms signature. We then had a mission correlation meeting that ended up taking two hours and we taught the Rivera family with Hermano Cook (His grandpa is from Wyoming.) All in all, it was a really good week.
Just do it,
Elder Vierkant
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Week 34
Querido Todos,
This week was super awesome. The first thing I want to say Is " Happy Mothers day" To all the mothers. It was super awesome talking to the family through video and I hope they enjoyed talking with me. Sorry that I forgot English.
Yester day we had a baptism! It was super awesome. Veronica is just the coolest lady every and she has been super faithful from the moment I met her. I hope she can always remember her baptism because it is the marking point on her journey to return to live with her Heavenly Father in happiness.
I would also like to congratulate Transito, he got the Aaronic priest hood this Sunday and should be baptizing his daughter this next Saturday, if all goes as planned. Transito is all the missionaries favorite guy. She is such a stud. He always wants to learn, is always reading and wants to share and answer questions and a super happy guy.
We celebrated Mothers day with the Rivera Family yesterday, We basically had to because all our investigators who are all family were there. We met the cutest little kids in the world, less my family. We had carne asada and cake and it was just super awesome.
Paz hacia fuera!
Elder Vierkant
Hola!
Well, I need to be short this week, I spent most of the time sending pictures, so hopefully you enjoy.
This week was pretty dang awesome! We had 4 investigators in the church this week, and two people have dates for when they want to get baptized. The first is Verónica, who is awesome. We teach her the commandments and she immediately obeys them, even if she has a problema with it. For example, we taught the Word of wisdom and she immediately stopped drinking coffee. She has a ton of faith! The Other is Raquel. She understands a lot more then most people that I have ever taught and she says that she feels a lot better in church and when she is talking with us. Someone in her family died (half of the neighborhood, or colonia here is family) and we taught her the Plan of Salvation. She said she felt a ton better and that affirmed my faith that our Father in Heaven has a plan for us and He wants us to be happy, so He sent His Son to teach us how to be happy, which is His góspel. He remove the obstacles in the course of returning to our Father in Heaven.
All in all, it was a great week and I love it here more and more. It is a million and five degrees here and really humid. It is starting to rain every night, which is super awesome.
Hasta entonces,
Elder Vierkant
I chopped some Wood, did some service putting mosquito repellent in houses to stop dengue fever, we ate food as a zone, we went to the beach, we went to some ruins and stuff too. Went to conference. This is about a fifth of what we have been doing lately.
