La decimonovena semana!

¡Hola!

I have five minutes to tell you all about one of the craziest weeks of my mission yet. So here we go:

The first thing that happened was on Tuesday. I found out at 10 at night that I would be leaving the next morning at 7 so I had to hurry and pack everything I have and get ready to leave. The next day I went to the transfers meeting to find out who my new companion was and where I would be spending at least the next 6 weeks.

After a trainer meeting I found out that I would be training Elder Chitique from Guatemala. He already has 6 weeks in the mission but he had problems with his papers, so he just barely got here to El Salvador. I got transferred to San Juan Opico, which is straight up countryside. I am walking through mountains on trails and dirt roads surrounded banana trees, mango trees and coconut trees. Bummer, right?

Anyway, the next day we had a meeting with the three missions in the temple with Elder Cook from the quorum of the 12 and I was 3 feet from him, which was incredible!

¡Hasta luego!

Elder Vierkant

Opico in relation to San Salvador

Cathedral in Opico

La decimoctavo semana!

Hey everyone!  Esta Semana se fue rapido! Nunca ha ido tiempo tan rápido! Quizás es porque todo va a cambiar y porque estoy animado, pero no se.

It has been a crazy week, it went by really fast. Maybe because I feel at home here now. I feel like this is my life now and I love it. I have gotten a lot more comfortable with Spanish this week, but I still have much to learn. I learned a lot more than just Spanish this week and I would like to share a little bit of that. I would also like to express a lot of appreciation for my zone leader Elder Ralphs, he taught me a ton and he helped me grow as a missionary. He leaves for Belize tomorrow, so I am going to miss him.

This week was weird. We are teaching a 9 year old who is going to be baptized this Saturday. His name is Daniel and he is the coolest little dude ever. His parents are less active but they have been coming to church for almost a month, which is awesome. We also are preparing a teenager named Hector to be baptised, he already told us he wants to be baptised, we just don't know when that will happen. I did intercambios in Porvenir, another area in our district. That night I found out that I will be training right out of my training. I am super excited and I know I will learn a lot but I am also a little nervous because I know it wont be easy. The next day we went to a meeting in the church next to the temple for all the new trainers. There are going to be over 30 new missionaries and only 2 of them are from the U.S. and are Elders (no Sisters). There will also be an Elder from New Zealand.

I need to mention that we also had multizone meeting and listened to the mission president and his wife. That was one of the coolest meetings ever. We learned about setting goals, which is something I have been working to do well. We watched the clip from Alice in Wonderland, where Alice is looking for which road she should take. The Cheshire Cat tells her that if she doesn't know where she wants to go, it doesn't matter which path she takes. This is very applicable to us. If we don't have clear, written goals in life, life will take us where ever and that usually isn't a good thing. Remember to set clear simple goals that are achievable and have purpose. 

More thoughts next week!

Love,

Elder Vierkant

La decimoséptima semana!

Hola!

It has been another fantastic week out here in San Salvador, the land where anything goes. It really is the craziest place. My example for the week are the buses. The buses here are nuts. First off, the buses are like old school buses. They are old rickety machines that have holes in the floor and make loud sounds that are a little bit frightening, but hey, we only have to pay 20 cents to ride the big buses and a quarter for the minibuses. The buses are covered in painted in every color and with all sorts of pictures. There are stickers of religious pictures are all over them. One time I saw one with a picture of Jesus and Satan arm wrestling on the back of the bus. It was one of the coolest pictures that I have seen. The drivers here don't believe in defensive driving or obeying the rules of the road. I don't need to go to the amusement park here, the buses are good enough. But overall, they are safe.

In other news, I met an awesome dude in the street while contacting. He told me that Christianity is a white bible and a black bible, but music, music is the staircase to heaven. He also told me that he made a promise with the Indians and they gave him powers and now he can talk to God. And God tells him ¨I got you in my hands David¨ It was the most interesting conversation I have ever had.

We also found a Little Caesars here in my area. I think it is one of the only in the country but it was the best discovery ever.

This week I was walking in the street thinking about stuff and I learned the rule of sacrifice. In order to gain what we want in life we have to make sacrifices. We sacrifice time to make money. We sacrifice our money for things we need for food, cloths and shelter. The rule applies spiritually as well as physically. Priest before Jesus would make sacrifices for their sins and to make peace with God. Jesus was the sacrifice for our sins and so we could conquer the problem of death through resurrection. We have to sacrifice things in our life in order to come closer to God. We sacrifice time to go to church, people give up cafe tea and alcohol and many other physical pleasures. But the great part about this rule is that, as it seems to me, is we gain so much more then what we sacrifice. We learn important truths in church, we gain health for living the word of wisdom and we can feel the spirit better. As a missionary, I sacrifice speaking English, being with my family and two years of my life. But I become so much more mature, I learn Spanish and many more skills that are very important. Are we willing to give up the little we have to gain a lot more? I promise you as you sacrifice these things, the Lord will bless you a lot more

Elder Vierkant

La decimosexta semana!

Hola!

Happy new years! Feliz Año! I hope its a good one. 2014, the year that I wont ever see you guys. That is pretty cool. New years is nuts here. I was sleeping and then at 12 the world just blew up. I went outside and there was a million fireworks and little m-80`s everywhere. Everyone was blasting music and dancing and yelling. I took a few pictures and then I went to bed when the fireworks died down. 

New years eve was crazy because everyone just gave us food, even the people who we hadn`t planned dinners with. At the end of the night I felt like a balloon that was way too full of air. We then had to walk to our house on the other end of our area and we had to go really fast because it was late. I felt like I was going to die!

Everyone celebrates with the same food. We had bread with rice, a chicken, turkey or chompipollo that is doused in its juices and is well marinated. Usually, there was a salad on the side. It is really good, the first few times. After that it is just all tastes the same.

Talking with my family on Christmas was awesome. It made me realize everything is normal and it will be the same when I get home. It has made it a lot easier.

The other day, we taught the law of chastity to a teenage kid. That seems like it would be really awkward but we had a really good lesson and you could feel the spirit testifying of what we were teaching. I know that living the law of chastity is a commandment of God and that is a sacred and important law that has always existed. I am grateful that I have always had the knowledge of this law to guide me to make good decisions.

I am doing good out here, nothing too nuts has happened to me personally but I am continually learning. I will try to have a crazy experience ready for you guys next week. Love you all!

Elder Vierkant

Where I live.

White boys love their Wendy's!

Wish you were here!

Bowling

This is the best!

Strike of course :)

On the way to Sonsanate.

Me and my companion, twins, am I right?!

Christmas Shirt

Mission Christmas party with friends from CCM.

My District.

I carried that on my head for a quarter mile like the ladies do here. Respect!

Sweet leather agenda cover gift from the mission.

I woke up Christmas morning and opened my Christmas package from Mom and Dad.

These are Christmas candy heaven! 

I love Christmas Trees!

Squatting with jicuma!