Jan 25, 2016

     This was a pretty great week, like always. We had a really hard time finding lessons this week but we worked hard so that's all that really matters. We did a lot more service again this week and I'm still super tired. I think its because I have so much time as a zone leader and I'm getting ready for a break, I know I have at least one more change as a zone leader and then I'll hopefully be done. Dad, I'm hoping I finish my mission outside the cap training or something like that. I'm pretty sure I only have one more area left. I'll have one more change here in this area and then go to my next area for three changes and then I'll come home. My comp only has one week left and he's pretty baggy but working really hard still. He's a great comp. We get along super well and we're always laughing about something. This week we did divis twice. Once with Elders Ngungutau and Weight and the other with Elders De La Cruz and Elder Gomez. Tuesday, I was with Elder Weight and it was sooo much fun. We messed around a ton and just had a great time. We did a lot of walking and not much teaching but it was still a fun day. Then Wednesday we went and cleaned all the gardens in the stake center, like hardcore gardening. We trimmed trees and hedges, pulled weeds, cut flowers and just went crazy cleaning and messing around. I played this game with some other Elders where one person says a word and then everyone has to think of a song with that word in it. It really tested me but I did a really good job. After that we did divis because my comp wanted to go to church in Brisas because that was one of his old areas. So I went to church Sunday with Elder Gomez from Canada which was pretty fun. Sunday we had a lunch with some investigators so that they could say goodbye to my comp. We got a reference from a member that was a miracle. Its this lady that is going to die really soon and she wants to be baptized so we're working on getting permission to baptism her without going to church. We went and gave her a blessing yesterday and we're hoping President will be understanding on this one. 

  I hope you're all enjoying the snow. The last three days here have been super cold, like the coldest I've ever been on my mission and it just came out of nowhere. Well love you guys a ton and hope you have another great week. Love Connor

                                                                The best zone ever!!  (Zona Florida)

                                                           Elder Canasas

                                                 This was my very safe very secure ladder

                                Found this shirt in a paca 5 quetz, thats whats up, like 60 cents

Jan 18, 2016

     This week was super long and I was sooo tired yesterday. So happy its p-day and I can finally take a break. But ya, we didnt really do that much in divisions with the zone but we did do a lot of service which wears one out. So Tuesday we had the district councils like normal and everything except the assistants showed up to give out some chicolte to the zone about obedience which was good. It didn't really affect me because I don't have an obedience problem but like I said it was good for the zone and fun to see the assistants. Wednesday we were working in our area like a normal day and we had  a really good day, like 5 lessons and a bunch of contacts. Its kind of hard to work with my comp in our area because he's finishing his mission and I don't know the area all that well but we both work really well in divisions so I'm thinking that these last two weeks of the change we'll do a bunch of divisions which will be fun. Thursday we had divisions with the APs which was a lot of fun. They're doing divisions weird now so that we both go to the area of the APs and work there. I was with Elder Bently, who is a new AP and works super hard. It  was a lot of fun and I was able to learn a ton from him. Then at night we stayed in the white house which is super fun because there are 6 missionaries in that house. Friday was also divisions with San Jose. I was with Elder Diaz who is from         and like the Elders from        all the elders from       are really weird and hard to get along with. Also,  this missionary's breath always stinks and you can smell it from like 5 feet away, so that was pretty rough. But we had a lot of fun and had a lot of success so you could say it was still a great day. Saturday we did service helping some lady in a wheelchair move stuff out of a bedroom and then celebrated Elder Ngungutau's birthday with a piñata and some cake. It was pretty fun we had a couple missionaries there and then some members from his ward. After that we went and helped set up another birthday party for the member that gives us food which was also super fun because this guy is hilarious and he was pretty stressed so we took the opportunity to mess with him.   Sunday  like I said we were super tired so we didn't work super hard I'm sad to say, but we had a lot of fun. I super jealous to see you guys went skiing. I miss it so much and can't wait until next year. Sounds like everyone is having a good time in school and working hard. Kate you didn't write me! whats up? Kenna, super happy you're having so much fun with Emmy, and that you're loving basketball so much.  Love you guys a ton. Love Connor

                                                               me and my comp

                                                            Elder Bentley Elder Taya Elder Andersen Elder Rodrigez

                             Elder Antonio Elder Ngungutau Elder Diaz Elder Langi Elder Weight

Too Much Fun with the New Camera

     Well this week was pretty intense. First off I did buy a new camera and its soooooo amazing and it only cost me a 1000 quetz. So this camera is touch screen and the screen on back can flip up like a cell phone to take selfies so I've got a ton of selfies for you. It's got a  ton of settings too which just makes the camera super fun. So ya, getting my camera stolen was probably a really good thing. I took like 70 some odd pictures this week so I'm pretty sure in my last 6 month I'll have more pictures than in the first 18. Monday we really didn't do much, just kind of sat around and relaxed in the chapel. Tuesday was pretty normal.  We had our district councils and all that jazz.  Wednesday we were on Divis.   I was with an Elder from ..... and you know how those elders are but we had a really good day and found some really promising investigators which is always a huge blessing.  Thursday  I was with my comp and its a little bit harder when I'm with him because he's dying but he's still doing a great job and working hard.  Friday was divisions again and I was with another .......... and man it was a little bit harder. This ......... is the oldest missionary in the mission with a whopping 27 years and he acts it. He's probably the most boring missionary I have ever been with but we had a really good day that day too. Saturday we had interviews with President Caffaro and they went really well. I got a lot of complements and figured out that President is super close to sending like half the missionaries in my zone home so I have a lot of work to do. The good news is that our zone is doing much better than when I got here. The missionaries are working much harder and we're seeing a lot more miracles than we were before. We've been seeing a lot more miracles in our area too.   We've been finding lots of people that love the gospel and progress super easy. Like they read the folletos and pray and they want to go to church, its amazing. Well I love you guys and I'm sorry my emails are getting shorter but I just feel like I don't have as much to tell you anymore. Dad to answer your questions we have mission council once a month, which is just the zone leaders and president where we talk about the mission and things we can do better. Then after every mission council we have zone council where we pretty much just tell everyone what was said in the mission council and district councils happen every week. I'm still writing in my journal every day so I've got everything there for you to read when I get home. Love you guys a ton and hope you have a great week. Love Connor

Jan.4,2016

     Alright, I've  got some good news and some bad news. First off, we are now in 2016 or the year that I will come home. Okay the bad news is that last Monday I had my camera stolen, but before you go crazy thinking I was robbed at gunpoint or something crazy like that let me tell you the story. So we were all at the stake center Monday playing games and everything, having a good time with almost the entire zone.  One companionship was having an activity with their recent converts and they left a side door to the church open. So some people passed by, walked in, and found our bags and took everything out of them. By the time we saw them, they were taking off so we couldn't catch them. It sucked and we all got really mad at the Elders that did the activity because the people walked right past them and the missionaries welcomed them into the building and so ya. In all three cameras were taken and 100 quetz. Other than that my week was awesome. We had a baptism and mission council and both were awesome. We won the week too! To win the week you have to have one baptism, 8 fechas, 5 investigators in sacrament meeting, and 10 investigators progressing. It was pretty hard but we did it, and president put our names in his weekly email to the entire mission. Our baptism that we had was pretty much a gift. It was a little girl that just turned nine and her parents are both active members of the church. They were just busy last year when she turned 8 and never got around to baptizing her.  We really didn't need to teach her anything. Sunday we found an amazing investigator named Samuel. It was like our third time teaching him, He's the husband of a member of our ward, but the thing is that he was totally prepared by God to listen to us. He answered all the questions perfectly and I thought that he was really a member and that he was lying to us but he's not. He's just perfectly prepared for us to teach him. We have quite a few other investigators that are doing well and I think well probably have like 3 or 4 baptisms this month. Dad we had 6 investigators in Church yesterday which was pretty good. I promise I'm staying obedient dad although there is a little bit of a problem with that in the zone right now but I'm taking care of it and its already a lot less than when I came. Well I love you guys a ton and hope you're all having fun at school and work right now. Love Connor. 

                     New Year's Fireworks, baptism, the great letter, and I don't know what else.

                                                                Elder Antonio

                                                        Elder Ngungutau Elder Weight

                                                                Elder Antonio Marvin Ovalle