Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Dec 28, 2015

     Well I don't have much to say so I'm just going to answer a couple of your questions, Mom I have no clue what size shirt president caffaro would were all I know is that he's huge. Second I would probably rather go on a beach vacation than a church one but you guys will have to give me a little bit of time to tan before we go because lets be honest, my stomach hasn't seen the sun in like two years. Christmas was pretty long.  We were in the stake center all day because we had to make sure nobody went over their time but it was pretty fun.  We did a white elephant with the zone that went well. I gave away 5 quetz of toilet paper and M & Ms. Hope you guys have a great week and enjoy the end of your vacations love you all. Love Connor.

P.S. I will now be coming home a week earlier than planned due to some change theyre going to do in the CCM so I will be home the 13 of July. Love you 




Monday, December 21, 2015

Dec 21, 2015

     Okay first off I'm not 100 percent sure what time I'm going to call. I can call at any hour the schedule isn't a problem for me so if you guys can respond to this message in an hour and tell me what time would be best for you guys. I can't call at 7:00 at night but any other time were good to go. So this week was amazing! We're getting close to Christmas and I can't wait. Mom, I've loved the 12 days of Christmas and I think my comp loves it even more than I do. He always wants to open the package and see what candy we're going to get. He has decided however that you guys want to give us diabetes with so much candy. We really love the scriptures that you put on there too.  They're awesome. I got my package from Jon and Tammie which was awesome too. I loved the scripture clues and all the candy. Alright so its been a pretty busy week.  Monday, Pday we went to Mcdonalds which was a lot of fun and then played soccer and signs at the church. Tuesday was divisions with Elder Langy which was lots of fun even though we walked a ton that day. Wednesday I was with my comp and so we went and bought breakfast for the Zone conference. Thursday was the Zone Conference which was amazing. We had some great speakers and I got to see Elder Gudiel. We watched Iron Will and had a ton of really good Christmas food. Friday, I did divis with Elder Wright and we saw this terrifying clown in the street, really freaked us out. Saturday we went to the baptism of some elders in our zone and that took forever but it was good to support them. Sunday was soo much fun. So President Caffaro has asked us to sing Christmas songs in the parks so we went as a zone to this park.  When we got there, we saw that they were setting up for a marimba concert in the park. We asked them if we could sing for a bit and they said ya so we started singing and after a little while they offered us there speakers and their whole sound system. It was awesome. So ya I'll talk to you guys Friday. Hope you have  a great Christmas. Love Connor 

Elder Antonio Elder Ellswoth Elder Rivera Elder Ngungutau Elder De La Cruz Elder Langi Elder Weight Sister Jones Sister Lagos ElderBurns
                                                                  Elder Ngungutau
Elder Weight Sister Artola Sister Cornejo Sister Lagos Elder Diaz Elder De La Cruz Elder Canasas 

Monday, December 14, 2015

Dec 14, 2015

     Okay so first off I don't know what time I'm going to be calling home because my comp and I haven't made the schedule yet.  We're going to work on that this week and I'll let you know next Monday. So its been a pretty crazy week. My new area is La Brigada and I'm still a zone leader but I'm now in the Zona Florida. It's a pretty good zone and we've got a lot of good missionaries. They like to joke around a lot and there is a lot of work to get done here in the zone but I'm sure we'll be able to get it done. My comp is Elder Antonio and he's going to die this change, which will be interesting. It's the first time I've killed someone, so its going to be a fun change. Elder Nugungutau is in my zone as well, which is lots of fun. I'm super happy to be with my kid again, But ya like I said its been pretty crazy. Monday we had to say goodbye to everyone, which was super hard but I was pretty happy to leave the area at the same time. Tuesday we had changes and I got there to my new area without a problem. I got there at like 9 so we got a full day of work in which was nice. My area is a huge maze and I'm pretty much always lost and have no clue where I am. If I didn't have my comp I wouldn't ever make it back to my house at night. So fun story, there's a family here in my area that has a son serving in Jaydn's mission and it turns out that they were comps.  They showed me pictures of Jaydn and everything. It was pretty cool. The mormon world is so small. Wednesday we did the zone council which went really well.  It was a little long but we had a good talk with the zone and everything.  Thursday was the most interesting day for sure. In the morning there was this meeting for new leaders and Elder Ngungutau had to go but had no clue how to get to the church where it was at.  He and his comp got super lost and so we had to go find them and bring them to the church. On our way to the chapel we were crossing a busy street and my comp was trying to cross and he didn't see a motorcycle and so ya he got hit by a motorcycle crossing the street. Luckily, he didn't break anything but he did get beat up pretty bad.  His side really hurts him and his leg is all purple but its all good.  Friday, we did divis with a crazy missionary, Elder R who I've been with before and I haven't missed him. Saturday we went running in the morning and I was dying.  We didn't even run very far. Sunday was pretty good. The ward here is lots bigger than in Barbe and that took some getting used to, but its a great ward with lots of potential. I got the second half of my christmas package and one from Grandma, tambien. Thank you so much for all the love and the gifts. Hope you guys have a great week and I'll talk to you guys next week. Love you a ton. Love Connor




        This is our district and then a couple of members a really big family that we reactivated. 
                                          Elder Martinez Elder Magdaleno Elder Gllear Elder Wright Elder Marroquin
Familia Yuman 

                                                 
                           Familia Martinez                         

familia Pinera Carolina Maricielo Analice Stacy Justin

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Dec 7, 2015

     Okay first off I have changes!!!!! I know that it passed by super fast but that is because this change was only 4 weeks because of Christmas so the next change or this change will be 8 weeks and won't end until the beginning of February but ya I'm finally going to leave Barbarena. It is going to be super hard. I love this area so much and the members are amazing. I'm going to have to say goodbye to papi ronald which is going to be the hardest. Last night when the assistants called, they told me I didn't have changes and I was dying. I didn't think I could make it 7 months in the same area but then this morning they called again and said that I really did have changes. But anywho we had a really great week. Not really, because I didn't feel like doing anything but we still had a good week. Monday we went and played on a turf field which was super fun but super I was super tired after. I did divisions Tuesday with his Elder that's hard but somehow I made it through the divisions and it wasn't so bad but its pretty hard to get along with him. Wednesday we did service helping this guy move a ton of sand down this mountain which was not fun and we did divisions again. I was in my area with Elder Hernandez. So funny story, we had this drunk guy come and start talking to us and we were trying to convince him to give us his dats to go visit him one day.  He said we had to have a staring contest so that he could know if we were really children of God. So he started staring at me and he had these crazy drunk guy eyes going on and I started laughing super hard so he told me I wasn't a child of God and then he tried to take my ID. Thursday, me and my comp were together because we had the mission council Friday. Love the mission council because they give us super yummy food. We did divisions Saturday too and it went really well. I was in the area again and it was hard to work but I did it. Sunday was fast and testimony and hints for you is that you have to take all the food out of the house and then you should be good.   Hope you all have a great week and enjoy the Christmas season make sure to share the church video on Facebook okay. Love you guys. Love Connor

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Nov 30, 2015

     Well it looks like you guys had a pretty great Thanksgiving. I did get to go to dinner with some members which was super nice of them and it was a great dinner. But one question, Chase why are you hiding in the picture of dad with the mash potatoes? Are you really that scared of the camera? No but we had a great week. Monday was normal right playing soccer all day and eating at Guateburger which was some crappy hamburger place they just put up that we wanted to try. Mom to answer your questions we only do our own breakfast which means its cereal and bread pretty much everyday. Lunch we go and pay a comedor to cook for us and we don't ever eat street food because that's nasty and you will get sick and die if you eat street food.  Just cause I'm thinking about it, I got your Christmas package today with the twelve days of Christmas thing.  It came super fast and so now I'm going to have to carry it to my new area and wait until the 13 to start opening it. Other Question, I did find the 10th day in the package so I don't know if it got robbed or if it got forgotten or if its the envolope that was in there but ya also got a Christmas gift from the Mikesells.  Tuesday was a sad day because we had to say goodbye to Jose, a member that had been leaving with us everyday for like 2 weeks. He went the USA to visit some family and friends and to celebrate thanksgiving he took us to lunch and bought us some sweet bags. Wednesday we did divisions with Cuilapa which was lots of fun. I spent the day with a greenie from Mexico and it was pretty funny because he still talks with a little mexican accent. Thursday we worked super hard and I forgot it was Thanksgiving until the end of the day when we went to eat. They made turkey and mashed potatos and salad so ya it was a pretty normal dinner. Mom there aren't a ton of turkey in Guate but there are a few. Pretty much everyone owns chickens and there are a couple that own turkeys. Friday we were going to do divisions but we weren't able to because the other Elders never showed up. But we were able to have a branch activitiy where we watched meet the mormons. It went really well and I learned how to make popcorn in a pan. It was interesting but we figured it out and everything went really well. Saturday and Sunday  we had district conference, which is stake conference but in a district. President and Hermana Caffaro were there and everything was just great. 

Sound like you guys are really getting into the holiday spirits and enjoying yourselves quite a bit. Mom sounds like you Grandparents day went really well, some times I feel like you did why am I contacting or why am I still teaching this person but then God always sends me someone amazing to make me realize why.  Love you all Love Conn

                                               The member that headed to the states

                                                     Elder Magdaleno Jose (Pimpi)

              This was my Thanksgiving dinner and a cake we gave to Hermano Ronald because we love him 


Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Nov. 23, 2015

     This week was pretty normal to be honest I don't think anything really happened. So right now I'm sitting in the internet cafe right and the kid that runs it is playing the Imagine Dragons album that came out like a year ago.  I've never heard it, so its pretty amazing and I'm super happy. They've got some really good songs. But anyway like I said it was a pretty normal week. Monday we played soccer all day with a bunch of members and all the elders of our district. We had a pretty good night. We've been able to do divisions with the members almost everyday because there's one member who is 20 and doesn't have anything to do so he leaves with us everyday of the week which is great. His name is Jose but everyone calls him Pimpi, I don't know why, but he's awesome and he's leaving to the States this Wednesday.  I'm going to miss him a ton when he goes but it'll be good for him. Tuesday I did divisions with this newbie from Cerinal. He's from Utah and this kid is like six foot five, he's huge. He doesn't talk much but it was all good because we had Jose so I just talked to him all day. We taught a lady Tuesday that talked for an entire hour and we couldn't get her to stop. It was a pure miracle that we left with only an hour. Wendesday we had a meeting with the Assistants where they trained all the new leaders in our zone on how to do their job. It was super good. It was the first time I had been to one which was odd because you're supposed to go whenever you become a new district or zone leader but I wasn't ever invited so I never went. I also went to Taxisco that day but it wasn't too bad because It rained the entire day so I got soaked and didn't die from the heat. Thursday we did divisions again and I was with an Elder From Tonga which was interesting because he doesn't speak English or Spanish so it was a little bit of a challenge to talk to him. It was pretty fun to be with him It reminded me of when I was with Elder Nugnugtau. Friday we were together with my comp and we had a pretty good day. I don't really remember what happened but it was a good day.   Saturday we had a branch council which went well but we started an hour late and so that was a huge waste of time. Sunday, Justin and Stacy got confirmed which was really cool. If I didn't know better I would think that they were members for their whole life, they're so pilas. 

     So first off Kate we are not in the rainy season anymore so I'm not getting soaked. Its actually getting kind of cold here but when I say cold I'm talking like 55 to 60 degrees. Dad, our mission is baptizing about 80 to 90 a month with the goal of 200 every month, so we have a long way to go but were going to do it. I's true that they don't celebrate thanksgiving but a family did invite us over for turkey and a thanksgiving dinner. I hope you guys have a great week and enjoy Thanksgiving. I'l be there for the next one. Love Connor

                                         This was my foot after an entire day of rain and wet shoes. 

Monday, November 16, 2015

Nov 16, 2016

     First off I can't believe it snowed and you didn't send me pictures!!! I haven't seen snow since the beginning of 2014 and you didn't send me a picture of the snow. All that aside, it has been a fantastic week. Monday was pretty crazy because we got almost the entire zone together to go and play here in Barberena,  which was fun but a bad idea at the same time because when you get a lot of missionaries together they tend to do stupid things sometimes, not sure why. Tuesday  went really well.   I had to go into the capital to drop off my comp and pick up my new one. We got there at like 9;30 and they just sent Elder Gudiel off in a taxi and left me alone with the other Elders from the zone. We had to wait for a bus to take us out to our areas and some of the missionaries showed up super late so we didn't leave for a long time. My new comp in Elder Magdaleno from Mexico. He's pretty cool. Wednesday, we had the zone council which was super stressful on my part because I had to plan the entire thing since my comp wasn't in the mission council and is new to the zone.  It went really well. We have a lot of new missionaries because almost every area had changes so we got to know them a little bit and then had a spiritual message and headed out. We did divisions that day. I was with Elder De Leon and we had a really good day. Its gotten kind of hard for me to contact because I've been here for so long but somehow I'm still doing it and we're always finding new people.  Wednesday night a bat got into our house. I have no clue how it got in but it did and it took us like an hour to get the stupid thing out of the bedroom but it was quite the adventure. Friday I was with my comp again and like I said he's pretty pilas. He really likes to joke around which is good and his sense of humor is very similar to mine. Saturday we had the interview of Stacy. She passed and I'll tell you more about her baptism later. That day I was with an Elder from Peru but he was pretty normal which is good because the Elders from Peru are usually really weird. Saturday wasn't a great day. We had a meeting and had to go to Oratorio to help the Elders there fix up a little problem they were having. Sunday was the best day ever. We had a multi-stake conference with Elder Bednar and a couple other speakers and it was really good. I learned a ton. Then in the afteernoon we had the baptism. It was probably one of the best baptisms of my mission, one because I love this family sooooooo much and two because the branch really helped us out. It was Stacy's birthday and they had presents for her and a cake and it was amazing. Stacy and her mom even went out a couple of days ago and bought a super pretty white dress and it was just great. After the baptism I went to a viewing of a little baby who had died. It was super sad but a lot of the branch members showed up to give support to the family and so that was good. Then at night Hna Carolina's, (the mom of the two kids we've baptized these last two weeks) sent me a message saying thank you for everything I had done to help her family return to church which was just the best thing ever.  Made my whole mission.   Love you all a ton and hope you have a great week. Love Connor


            This was the bat that somehow got into our house and the family that we got baptized. 
                              Presidente Bilzam Stacy Carolina Maricielo Analice David Justin


Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Nov 9, 2015

     Hey so the big news is that I don't have changes. My comp does and you're right mom, I'm really sad about that.  Its going to be super hard to get used to working with another comp this change. I'm also staying in my area which I'm not sure about because I've already been here for quite awhile but I'm also really happy because I'm going to be able to see some more people baptized that I really love.  But ya it was a pretty good week. Monday we went and played soccer again. We ate lunch with a member again which was good but they made us help them pull water out of their well, which was fun but it gave me some blisters that hurt for a couple days straight. After that like I said, we played soccer and it was fun.  We won a lot more this time so that was good. Tuesday we had the last district council with Elder Call and Elder Ortiz.  It was pretty sad. They shared their testimonies and they were fantastic. We also did divisions that day. I was with Elder C which was kind of hard because he's dead so it was a little hard to work with him but we had  a good day. Crazy story from that night is that at like 11 a missionary in the zone called me and he was completely crazy. He was freaking out saying his comp is gay and that he wanted to leave the house and wanted me to go there. He was literally going crazy and I had no clue what to do. We got him calmed down and everything was good the next day but it was interesting. Wednesday we didn't do much. We had a couple meetings and then a ward activity so we lost a lot of time there. Thursday we had house inspections which was fun because we got to drive around with the Dalys all day in their car. It took all day to go to see all the zone and I saw some really nasty things but it was still a good day. Friday we had the mission council which was fantastic. We did divisions that day too and I was in Nueva with Elder Ortiz another muerto.  Saturday  was a pretty good day and then Sunday we baptized Justin. I don't remember if I already told you about Justin and his family but they are easily my favorite family of my entire mission. Hna Carolina is a member but she had been inactive for a long time and her kids aren't members. She has 4, Justin who got baptized, he's 16, then Stacy who is turning 12 on Sunday and being baptized, then Analic who is 5 and is my absolute favorite and then Maricielo who is 3 and super funny. Anyway that was my week love you all a ton and hope you have a good week. Love Connor

                                                 Ya I've already got my Christmas tree up
                                                               Bautismo!!!!! Baptism!!!!!
Elder Gudiel Justin Jairo 

Monday, November 2, 2015

Nov 2, 2015

     This week has had its ups and down but it has been a pretty good week. We had some pretty crazy stuff happen and then it was Halloween and Day of the Dead this weekend so its been a little bit different. 

     On Monday we played soccer all day long with some of the young men of the ward and ate lunch with one of the members. We had to buy all the ingredients to make Pollo con Crema and he cooked it for us.   It was amazing but I have to say I like yours better mom. First off the chicken doesn't have bones and the cream is better. After that is when we went and played soccer. We played for like 3 hours straight and I was dead afterward. It was the first time we had played in like 3 months so it was pretty rough. Tuesday we had our district council and it was super baggy. Two elders in the district are going home in a week.  One of them is super excited. He's working and everything but he's also super baggy. Tuesday we did divisions with Elder Ortiz to do the interviews for Hno Jonny, Jesseni, and their two kids. Jessenia passed but the kids were drinking coffee and Hno jonny didn't pass for a question 4 problem.  President told us if that if he goes to church for like 4 months, he will come interview him and see what needs to be done. Honestly the odds aren't very high that Hno Jonny gets baptized. Wednesday we had divisions again and this time I had to go Guazacapan and feel the heat down there. 
I got to be with Elder Speth, the elder from Wellsville so that was pretty fun. He's an amazing missionary and I love being with him. Plus he had a huge package from home and from his girlfriend so he gave me a lot of candy. Thursday we had divisions yet again. This time I was in Oratorio with Elder Cedeno and let me tell you I've never met an Elder who walks slower than Elder Cedeno. I was just walking normal and left him in the dust. It was a little bit frustrating, but I realized the same thing will probably happen when we go on walks when I get home so you guys better start training now to be able to walk really fast when I get home. Friday, I was finally with my comp and we had a really good day. We've been getting a ton of help from the members so we've been able to do divisions with the members the days we're together in the area. Which is good but I miss working with my comp too. Saturday Hna Jessenia was going to get baptized.  We called her 5 minutes before the baptism was going to start and she told us she changed her mind and was going to wait for Jonny. I'm not going to lie I got really mad. Members were already there and they had made a cake and everything. I gave her some chiclote and now I'm pretty sure she's mad at us and won't get baptized either so ya all the baptisms fell. Saturday was the day of urgency too. President set the goals of 100 contacts 6 lessons and 2 lists and 2 new families.  We lost a lot of time but we were still able to made all the goals. Sunday we took it easy and just visited members all day which was really good. This is week 6 of the change so next week I'll probably be able to tell you I have changes.  Love you all and hope you have a great week. Love Connor


This is me and my comps Halloween costume. We wore each other name tags so he was me and I was him. Then that night I was talking with the dls and he decided to shave me leg, so ya that happened.  
 Elder Gudiel


                                     End result of my leg shaving the lower part is a G for Gudiel 



Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Oct 26, 2015

     This week was pretty insane to be honest with you. We had a lot going on but it was a week full of blessings and miracles. Okay so on Monday we went and made Baliadas as a distict in Nueva Santa Rosa. We were going to play soccer with the youth of the branch but it rained all day and when I say all day I'm not joking. It didn't stop raining at all which sucked because I got super wet and it was pretty stinkin cold as well so I was really cold.  Tuesday was when the fun began. As I'm sure you already know, this week we got signed up as translators for this medical group that came from New York. We started working with them Tuesday and it was amazing. It was so much fun to be there with them blessing the lives of hundreds of people using the gifts God has given me. We were there all day,  even though we were only planning on being there until noon, but Amy Balog showed up and started crying and convinced us to stay. She even convinced President to let us stay all day every day of the week. Wednesday we were only there half day becuase we had to go to on couple of visits in the afternoon. But both those days we started working super late but still had a really good day. Thursday we had interviews with President Caffaro, which went really well. He told us we were the best organized zone and everything went really smoothly. All the missionaries showed up on time and everything was great. The interviews did go super long and we didn't finish until like 4:00 and that day we had to do divisions, so it was a lot of sitting around and some more translating but this time for Hermana Caffaro, but hey I got extra brownies. President gave us his camera during the interviews and told us to take a bunch of pictures to go in the Christmas slideshow and my comp went crazy with the camera. He took a ton of pictures and President was super happy about that. That day we got to work really late as well and then we had a crazy lesson with Daniel but I'm not going to go into details about that one. Friday was the last day of the Clinic which was really sad.  It was pretty hard to say goodbye to all those people knowing I'll probably never see them again, and they gave us a ton of peanut butter so I love them to death. Friday we did divisions again which was interesting. I was with a greenie that has daddy issues so we had to sort through all that and ya. Saturday  we didn't do much because it was raining and my comp was sick. Sunday  was amazing we had 10 investigators in Sacrament meeting which was a huge blessing since we didn't work at all this week. 

     This week I've been ponderizing Mosiah 23:10, which is a great scripture. It really taught me about the importance of our trials and the ways they can help us change and grow if you read the verse you also have to read D&C 58:3 and 4 because they really add onto it. 

Sounds like you had a pretty packed week getting ready for Halloween and all that jazz. Everyone in Guatemala hates Halloween because they say in a Satanic holiday and a bunch of crap like that.  Hope you have a great week and love you all . Love Connor

There are so many pictures this week and per the usual, Con didn't tell me who anyone was.  I put them on here mostly for him when he gets home. 
                                                            Medical Group
Elder Call Elder Ortiz Elder Gudiel Elder Wright Elder Martinez

                                                               Interviews with Presi



Elder Simoni Elder Larimar 


Elder Gudiel Elder Wright Elder Daly Elder ortiz Elder Call Elder Martinez
Elder Gudiel Sister Caffaro Elder Call Elder Martinez
Elder Gudiel Elder and Sister Daly
Elder Gudiel Elder Baloy
Elder Baloy Elder Gudiel 
Elder Gudiel Sister Caffaro 
Zona Cuilapa 
Zona Cuilapa 
The one person that celebrates Halloween in Guatemala

Friday, October 23, 2015

Bonus

Hello everyone,

I wanted to send a long some wonderful words and a picture of your amazing missionary sons.

I am a member of the church from New York. I am a volunteer with the Glens Falls Hospital Medical mission. Twice a year our group goes to Santa Rosa and provides a clinic for the community. We offer a woman's, pediatric, general health, and a dentist clinic. We bring in thousands of dollars of medicines as well as medical care. The medical mission has been going to Santa Rosa for almost 15 years. Our team goes down to Santa Rosa twice a year.

For all of these years, missionaries have been coming to the clinic to be translators. The missionaries have been helping to provide service for those in the area who cannot and so not have the ability to receive medical care.

Your sons this week came to our clinic and provided priceless service to the community. The medical providers in our team were in awe of your sons. They were amazing and great examples. Many of the team members in the clinic were amazed at  how obedient and hard working your sons were.

You all have amazing and wonderful sons. They blessed us all this week and provided priceless service to a group of people whose lives depend on the care and medicine they received this week.

I am sending a picture in an email to follow because I forgot to attach it to this email after I typed it all up!!

Sincerely,
Amy Balog