4-15-2013

What's up everyone!!

This week we were really busy.  Every second of everyday we were doing something.  The majority of the week was spent visiting inactive members, and it paid off. This week we had 35 people at church.  That is a pretty big improvement on our 22.  We also had two people that have been inactive for 13 years that live in Cubulco come, which was pretty awesome.  They are Mother-in-law and sister-in-law of our only baptismal date.  Her name is Ingrid and once again she did not make it to church. She is very prepared, and even told us that she has a testimony, and that The Book of Mormon has to be true, but her inactive member husband drinks on his only day off, which happens to be Sundays.  He doesn´t let her leave the house, which means she can´t come to church.  I really hope that she can find a way to make it this week or else her date will drop again.  

As of our other Investigators...  The firefighter was in the Cap all week for work so we didn´t have the chance to visit with him.  Our other investigator that was really progressing, Martina, was out of town most of the week as well.  We visited with her last night, and she had not read in prayed since our last visit.  I hope she can start progressing again soon or else we cant keep teaching her.  We also found someone new this week.  We met her last Sunday because she was at conference with a friend.  She has three kids that are of baptismal age, and has family that are members.  I believe that they are going to progress really quickly.  Other than finding her, we haven´t really found many new people in my time here.  

We bought ground beef the other day and we are going to make tacos this week with the stuff that Mom sent me!  I´m excited to eat some "real" Mexican food.  At the grocery store we went to even had flour tortillas!  We can only go to the grocery store like once a week because we never have time.  This week I should eat pretty good. 

To answer Moms question, Transfers are every 6 weeks.  My training is two transfers long, so I'm going to be here for at least 6 more weeks.  My companion will have six months in this area after my training is done, so he will probably leave and I will stay.  That means that I will probably be here in Rabinal for the next three- four and a half months.  Ill let you know when I get the package! I cant wait!  I just got a letter from my bud Parker!  Thanks for writing me man!! Congratulations to everyone who is getting your calls!! The mission is awesome!  Some advice I have is that no one will ever regret serving a mission, but they will regret not serving.  

Love you all!

Elder Bashaw

 

 

 

4-8-2013

Querido familia y amigos,

The best part of my week was conference!  I have never been this excited to listen to the Prophet speak!  I have decided that conference weekend is my new favorite holiday, and the best part is that it comes twice a year.  For conference we went to a town like 45 minutes away from my area to watch it in the nearest Chapel.  All of our branch had to travel and almost all of them were there on Sunday!  I got to watch it in English in a different room.  I don't think I would have learned as much if I had to listen in Spanish.  My favorite session of my life was the Priesthood session on Saturday!  Uchtdorf´s talk was especially good.  I think he is my favorite (other than the prophet of course).  He is just so sure about everything he is talking about, and he is powerful in a different language from his first.  I hope to bring the same spirit to my investigators and teach with such conviction.  I don't know how I am going to wait 6 months for the next session!

Something else awesome from this week was on Tuesday.  We had divisions with the Assistant to the President.  He came to Rabinal to work with us all day Tuesday and I learned a ton!! He is a very powerful teacher and he taught me a ton about following the promptings of the spirit.  He went with us to visit the Firefighter also and he is starting to progress again.  The way he teaches is pretty awesome.  The majority of the talking is the investigators, and the majority of what he uses are questions.  I am starting to realize that when us as missionaries are asking inspired questions, the spirit is doing most of the teaching.  That is exactly what we need to be doing to have true conversion.  I can be the most eloquent teacher, but without the spirit I am just saying words.  

The other 3 days went normally.  We went to Cobulco twice and both times our progressing investigator wasn't there.  She got a new job and is almost never home when we can teach her.  We are constantly looking for new people there to teach and we are trying to find all the inactive members there.  We are still working with our other investigator Martina also.  She finally started reading, and we hope that we can get a baptismal date with her this week.  She still has a lot she has to overcome before she can be baptized though.  

That is all for this week.  I hope all is going well at home.  I hope everyone had the opportunity to watch conference, and if not find it on line somewhere.  We have the great opportunity to listen to a living prophet and we have to take advantage of it!  Love you all!

 

Elder Bashaw

Yeah Pictures!

 

 

 

 

Me and my comp Elder Trujillo

 

 

On the way to one of the members houses right outside of the city

 

 

Well Its someone to teach right?

3-25-2013

What's up!!

This week was probably one of the fastest of my life.  Time really flies when your on a mission.  I feel like I am learning and growing a lot everyday.  My area is still tough, but maybe thats why Im there.  The President must trust me enough to be here.  To answer a few questions, I am not in the Jungle.  I guess it usually never rains here. Until this week that is.  I have never seen rain like this in my entire life.  It surpassed raining cats and dogs and went straight to waterfall status.  I swear there was more water than air. (that is probably not true haha).  I guess the real rainy season will start in about a month and last for about 2 or 3 months after that.  Its pretty exciting.

About our investigators.  As of right now we have 2 progressing investigators.  First is Ingrid.  We have a baptismal date with her, but she has a lot of challenges.  She lives like 30 minutes and 10 Quetzales away from the church.  And on top of that her husband drinks on Sundays and wont let her leave the house.  We are working really hard to help her out, and she has a real desire to learn and change her life.  Our other one is Martina.  We are going to try and get a date with her this week, but she needs to fix a lot before she can get baptized.  She is separated from a guy and right now is living with another guy who isn't the best guy.  She tells us she really wants to change and she understands that the way she is living is not right.  We are working really hard with her too.  We had to stop teaching the pastor this week because he wasn't progressing.  We will probably try again in a few weeks.  We have a few others we are teaching periodically but those are the main ones. 

The majority of our time this week will be finding new people to teach.  That is the hardest part about this area, so if anyone has any ideas let us know!!!  It is really hard to get references from the members.  That is the best way to find new people because they will already have a friend in the church.  So in saying that anyone that reads this needs to help out the missionaries!!  With the members help, so many lives can be helped.  Its a cool experience to work with the missionaries, so DO IT!!! 

Anyways all is going well here.  The lord is blessing me everyday.  I have soo much to be thankful for.  Oh ya I got both your packages today Mom!! as well as letters from Madeline, Alexis, and Sam.  To everyone else, You´re Slackin!! Thank you everyone for your support. 

I miss and Love you!!!

Elder Bashaw

3-18-2013

Hola Familia!!

The beginning of this week was really tough for me.  We weren't finding much success, our branch is hard to work with, and in general it was just really hard.  I learned a really good lesson through the middle of this.  When I was Emailing last week, Dad responded telling me to remember the tender mercies and to be grateful for the small things.  I've decided that in every situation you choose how you respond.  You can look at a situation and say this is really hard and only look at the bad things, or you can try and find the good things and concentrate on those.  After that day, I feel a lot better about my self, and I love my area.  I know this is where I am supposed to be! It still is really hard, but I'm loving it.

Anyways, things are going great.  Me and my comp get along really well, and I am learning a ton!  It is really tough to find new investigators.  None of the members will give us references and almost everyone we talk to on the streets doesn't want anything to do with the Mormons.  It really is a pretty cool place.  Right now we have about five investigators that are really progressing, and we should have a baptismal date with almost all of them by the end of the week.  The challenge is finding people to teach.  We only had three new investigators this week.  To be a new investigator, we need to teach them and they have to agree to have us return.  Three is not very many considering the mission goal is 11.  When we find the right people, they are great.  

Right now we are teaching a firefighter.  He is the one that had a baptismal date that dropped.  He is reading and praying and finally this week he went to church!! The mission rule is that they have to go to church three times in a row to be baptized.  We are going to ask if he wants to be baptized on the 13th of April.  We have an Hermana the lives in a town called Cobulco, which is about 30 minutes away by bus, that we now have a baptismal date for the 13th of April. She has a lot of challenges in front of her, so I pray that we can keep that date.  We are teaching a pastor of the second biggest church here in Rabinal.  We spent about 4 lessons this week teaching about the restoration.  It would be pretty cool if we could help him be baptized, then maybe we could baptize the other half of Rabinal. Those are the people we are really focusing on right now.  It is kind of weird getting so invested in someone else's testimony.  I want them to believe sooo bad, but all we can really do is invite and testify.  

This week at church we had exactly the same amount of people, 22, but we had one of our investigators come which means it was better than last week.  To answer your question Mom we teach a lot in church.  This week I gave a talk on Relief Society, passed the sacrament, lead the music, and me and my comp taught priesthood.  We are working really hard with the inactive members to help them come back.  If we had a bunch of them return, we wont have to do as much.  We hope that they can be pretty self sufficient. 

Something kind of funny, I found out that the mission address in my packet is wrong.  I guess they changed in like November, so it changed just a little after I got my call.  The New address is

Mission Guatemala Norte

Apartado postal 951-A

Guatemala, Guatemala C.A. 

I guess that that happened to just about everyone.  The people in my District told me they still got their packages, but it took like 3 months to get here.  so I will probably get them in about June.  Things I would like in the next package are an IPod cord so I can get some music from my comp, and a canteen( just one of those clear ones with the screw on lids.)

Oh and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! NATHAN!!!!!!  

I Miss you all and think about you everyday.  

Elder Bashaw

3-11-2013

What's up everyone!!!!
So first thing is first.  I have my new area.  I am in a place called Rabinal.  It is outside of the capital. It took me a day and a half to get here. In all it was about nine hours of riding. I have been told by a lot of people that it is probably the hardest area in the mission.  We only had 22 people at church on Sunday.  That is a little different from what I am used to.  My trainer just finished getting trained.  He only has one more month of mission time than me, and I am actually older than him.  He is only 18.  We get along great.  He is a really good guy.  His name is Elder Trujillo and he is from Ecuador.  He is really short and speaks almost perfect English.  When we are out of the house we only speak Spanish and in the house we speak English so that he can practice.  I am learning a lot and hope that I can be 100% fluent by the time I am done with my training.

This week I am really learning patience. I don't know what it is, but things here are really hard.  No one is willing to take a minute to sit down and listen to us.  We have one person with a baptismal date.  His name is Ruben.  We haven't even gotten the chance to teach him yet this week.  He is a volunteer fire fighter and is always super busy.  Actually he is too busy.  His date just dropped because he didn't go to church on Sunday.  We have three or four other possibilities but, other than that we are nocking on a lot of doors and talking to a lot of people on the street.  That is a really hard way to work though.  It gets a little discouraging after a little while. All I can do is work hard and trust in the lord.  I know that this area is where I am supposed to be.  I just need to find the reason why. 

A little bit about my area... It is really hot here.  It kind of reminds me of Vegas a little bit. It is pretty dry and desert looking.  It is known for their witches.  Half the town believes in witchcraft and the other half are Catholic.  I told someone that I was from sin city and they said, so you came from one sin city to a different one.  One thing that I can say for sure is that I am going to have a lot of stories from this area.  I am learning tons everyday here.  There are some interesting people we have taught, and I am sure that I am only going to find more. 

To answer your question mom, everything has to be sent to the mission home.  I haven't gotten a single letter yet.  Get on it People!!! haha.  It is going to take a while for me to get any mail now that I am so far a way from everything.  There is a lot that I can not get now that I am outside the Capital.  If you could send me Peanut Butter that would be heavenly.  There aren't many places to buy a quick bite here so we make all our food now. 

That is awesome that Ryan got his call!! Tell him congrats for me!  Oh ya and Elder and Sister Bashaw(Grandma and Grandpa).  The MTC is awesome.  They are going to love it!  Anyways, things here are good.  I am working really hard and hope that I can see the fruits of my labor.  I know that the Lord is guiding the work and there is a reason I am here.  Miss and love you all!!!


Elder Bashaw

3-4-2013

Hola Familia!!!

 

Things here are going great! We only have one family with a baptismal date, but we going to try and get three more this week.  The person we are teaching who is deaf, Saira, we decided that we cant baptize her right now.  Her only support at church is us which means after we leave, she would more than likely go inactive.  All we can do is pray and hope that someone moves into the ward that knows Guatemalan sign language.  The Perez family is the family  that we have a date for.  They have a few things to work out before they get baptized but they are doing well.  

We met a family this week that I believe are the definition of prepared to meet the missionaries.  The father is a member but has been inactive for fourteen years, and the whole family is eating up everything we are teaching.  Everything we tell them to do, they are doing. We will see how they progress over time. The only problem is that I am leaving this area on Wednesday. :(  There are a few people here that I am going to miss a lot.  The members here are a lot closer to the missionaries than they are in the states.  Most of the time, I did not even know who ours was.  Here every member knows us, and we know basically every member.  

Also this week, I got the opportunity to help out with a bunch of Zone leader work.  Two of the seven days this week we were searching for new apartments for the missionaries for two different areas.  With all the missionaries coming in we need a lot more areas.  This week there are 41 new missionaries coming into the field with only 11 leaving.  At this point half of the mission will be either training or have a trainer.  I'm pretty sure that this is to get ready for the split.

Today, my comp got two of his wisdom teeth out, which means, that we haven't been able to do anything today for p-day.  It ended up working out because I need to pack for Wednesday.  I really hope I get to go up north out of the city, but I know that wherever I go is where I am supposed to be.  The church is true!! Do all you can to help out the missionaries.  It makes our life a lot easier when the members are willing to help out.  Here we can get just about everything, even candy bars and stuff.  The only thing is they are expensive.  One thing they don't have at all is reeses.  Anyways, thanks for all your prayers. Have a good week!!!

 

 

Elder Bashaw

2-25-2013

 

Well to start off, I´m here!! The field is pretty awesome.  I left the MTC on Tuesday morning pretty early.  After that we went to the mission home and met the President and the APs.  The President is awesome!  The more I hear about him the more I like him.  The only problem is... they are splitting our mission!!!  As my mission is right now, we have 10 zones.  5 of which are in the city and the others are in the Jungle.  They are splitting it exactly in the middle.  The city and then all the cool stuff in the north.  President Watts is going to be the president of the city. I don't know which one I go to for another little while.  The mission does not split until the end of June.  

Right now I'm in a trio with two zone leaders, because I guess they weren't expecting us for another 2 weeks.  They are really awesome.  One is from Utah the other is from Chile.  They are great guys and I'm learning a ton!! I'm in Zone Molino and my area is called Sion.  The people here are awesome!!  For the most part every one is nice and willing to take a minute to listen to us.  The members are really nice as well.  We are almost never without a member which is perfect.  The more that our investigators can make friends with the members the better.  There is a talk, I think it is by President Hinckley that says that new converts need three things.. A friend, a calling, and to be nurtured by the good word.  Also, its a mission rule that we never are without a member after 530.

Now about our investigators.  We have two people with dates right now.  One of them is deaf!  Because of this,  I'm learning 2 languages right now.  I'm picking up on a little bit of Guatemalan sign.  It is really hard!!!!  Everything she says, I need to translate into Spanish, then into English, then I have to do it the other way to reply. I probably wont be to great at it because only going to be in this area for another week.  She is having a hard time fitting in at church because it is really hard for her to talk to people. Anyways,  our other investigator with a date is actually a family.  They have a lot of problems.. The parents of the family are not married, which altogether is not all that uncommon.  They are all for getting married, but the mom needs to get divorced from a previous marriage, in which her husband is in Panama.  Were having a good time helping them overcome these challenges. We are also teaching quite a bit more.. We teach about 4 or 6 lessons a day depending on what else we need to do.  

The People here are sooo humble.  I want to help them all but that would be impossible.  There are very few peoples houses I've been in that don't have dirt floors and tin roofs.  Even with all that, they are always willing to give.  In the last week we've eaten with a member 4 times.  Also just about every one we teach are willing to give us something to drink or a snack.  It is very humbling to me to see how they live and give.  Also, teaching the gospel and thinking of others all the time, has a way of blessing your life.  I have learned and grown so much this week.  I think I'm getting into pretty good shape to because we walk all day, and our area is straight hills.  

As far as mail goes, everything needs to be sent to the mission home.  I don't have the address with me right now, so ill send it next week, or it should be in my call.   I was told that now that I'm in the field that you need to right everything that is inside on the front of the box.  If you don't, they have to open it and check.  As far as mail goes, I get an hour to email now, so it would probably be best if you emailed me.  I have no idea how long it will take to get mail now.  The bracelets, I was told that it is illegal to send them the way I was trying, because they had to go through a pouch system.  I decided to just take them out and try again soon.  

Anyways, things here are going great.  My testimony is growing everyday.  The Spanish is coming, I just need some time.  I know this church is true and the Lord has a lot in store for me.  If I stay in the city my whole mission or, leave I know that it is the right thing for me.  I know that there is no better place that I could be right now.  The church is true and you don't need to be a full time missionary to share it.  I miss you all.  I'm sure your all doing great!  Ill let you know more next week!!  Hasta ver!!

Elder Bashaw :)

2-13-2013

This week has been pretty weird.  Just because I'm beginning to realize
how fast this is going.  The only major thing to happen this week is
that we had the area presidency speak to us yesterday.  He spoke only
and in Spanish with translators for the thirty or so Americans.  I
didn't use them at all and I was able to understand every word.  It
does help that he is American speaking Spanish, but it was still
pretty cool having the gift of tongues.

This new group of Latinos is the first with only two weeks.  That means that they are going to be
leaving with us on Tuesday.  One of the kids in this group is awesome!
 If I could have a trainer like him, I would be in heaven.  It's a
bummer that he is going to Honduras instead of my mission.  Something
else we did this week was an English Fast.  We treat it exactly like a
normal fast but instead of not eating, we don't speak English.  I feel
like that was another one of my break through days.  All of the
grammar is starting to come together now.  I now just need to beef up
my Vocab.  I am going to try and do another English fast starting
after dinner until Friday.  I feel like if I can do this, I'm as ready
as possible for the field.

        Friday is our infield orientation.  I don't know what that exactly entails, but I feel like that is when it is going to start feeling real.  Sunday was pretty cool because I got a
new companion for the day.  The only problem was that he was super
quiet.  I probably only spoke to him for like ten or fifteen minutes
all day!! Something else that happened was we got to watch the talk
that Elder Holland gave a few weeks ago at the Provo MTC.  He is a
powerful speaker.  That means that we didn't end up missing anything
coming here.  I saw people from my old district and a few people from
school, but not Jackson, Parker, or Emily Egbert.

      Speaking of Parker, I just realized that he is going to leave to the field with me!!!
That is pretty crazy.  I wonder how he feels only getting 6 weeks.  I'm
going to have to write him.  Other than that, I don't know when I'm
going to be able to write again, or how the mail will work in the
field.  I'm going to try and write as many people today as possible.
So  it will be about two weeks until you get these.

       Anyways, hope all is well.  Things here are great.  I'm ready to go out and share this
great gospel to the world.  Its true!! and the lord is hastening his
work.  We all need to do our part and for those like Nathan and Conner
or now with the age change, Kendra and Abbie need to prepare them
selves for the work.  The more you read and pray now, the better off
you'll be later.

 Miss you all!!!  Elder Bashaw :)

2-5-2013

 

       First thing is first, yeah it's Tuesday.  I feel like our p-day changes
just about every week.  This week was different because then natives
all left again and they needed to clean the whole place.  All of us
nortes were able to go to the town and explore quite a bit.  We first
went to this huge map of Guatemala and talked about where all the Book
of Mormon stories may have happened.  It was pretty cool how
Zarehemla, and the City of Nephi were probably right here in
Guatemala.

 

        After we went to a really cool market and explored for a
little while it was pretty sweet!!  After we ate lunch and walked
around this huge plaza.  It was really awesome because I just went up
and started to talk to a few people about the church.  My companion
could not understand anything they were saying so it was basically all
up to me!  I would say I did a pretty good job.  After today I want to
go to the field!!  Its weird to think that I only have two more weeks
here!  I got your package yesterday.  I Loved It!!!!  Thank you so
much mommy!!  Let Nathan and Abbie know that I wrote them like to
weeks ago, so they should be getting them soon!  I plan on writing them
again today if I have the time, if not next week.  

 

      Things are going great.  I think that I am basically ready to go to the field now.  I
feel at least good enough with the language to get around.  I am so
excited to go out there and help the people find the same joy that I
have in my life.  I really hope that my trainer is Latino so that I
can learn faster.  As far as the dearelders go, I found out that they
get printed off in Salt Lake, then sent off as a pouch.  That is why I
get them so late.  I'm pretty sure handwritten letters are faster but
are harder for you guys to send.  My classes are going good.  The only
hard thing is when I need to ask my teacher why you say something the
way they do, because they all grew up speaking the language.  But
since being here I hear the language a lot more.  As far as the
religious side goes its great also.  We still have devotionals on
Sunday and Tuesday, but here it is usually a video.  we have had one
of the seventy come and Elder Christofferson, all the rest have been
recordings.  I am loving the work so far.  The mission is definitely
the place to be!

 

 Congrats to Drew for his call! I cant wait to here
were everyone else is going!!  All is well here!  I will try to
respond to everyone.  

 

Thank you to Alexis, Ryan, Sam, Lilli, and Emma for the letters!  I miss you all!!!                          

 

Elder Bashaw

1-30- 2013

                   


               Time here is flying by.  This week has to be one of the fastest of my
life!  Its crazy to think that I only have three more weeks here.  At
this point I feel like Im ready language wise, but I need to be better
at teaching.  My language going great!  I can easily hold my own in a
conversation.  Especially if it is about the gospel.  Speaking of
teaching,  I have my first baptism tomorrow!! Well kind of. While in
the MTC we have fake investigators that we teach every day.  One of
mine is getting baptized tomorrow.  I guess thats kind of Cool.  It is
kind of funny when that is basically the most exciting thing of my
week.
              Other than that, I finished the Book of Mormon yesterday.  It
took me 38 days.  Its kind of funny reading it on a mission, because
every scripture has to do with missionary work.  In the last 2 days I
have read 42 chapters so I could utilize Moroni's promise in the temple
today... Yup its still true haha.  I got 7 dearelders on monday it was
awesome!! I got more than the rest of my district combined.  It is soo
good to hear from everyone :)  Thanks for sending Austins letter, im
glad he's doing great.  It seems like he left right before me, but I
guess its been like 8 months.  One of the dearelders took 2 weeks to
get here.  I guess that's just how it will be now.  I was spoiled in
 Provo.  If you could send me Austins, Kelsies, and Ryans Adresses
through dearelder that would be great! I want to write them but I don't
have their addresses.  I also wrote Nathan and Abbie last wednesday,
so well see how long those take.  Something else that Id love whenever
you send another package is a family photo.  I love all the ones I
have, but I don't have any with the 6 of us.  The Latinos love to look
at pictures of our families.
             This week we also got a bunch of new
Nortes ( United statesians). Four of them came from the MTC in Provo
and joined our district which made it so it had to split.  We lost two
of the four of us that were in the other MTC together.  It was a
little sad, but now it is a lot easier to speak more spanish.  Before
we had like 12 people that were together that could speak english
better now we only have 8.  Something else that has helped my spanish
was Sunday when we had a latino companion for the day.  It was pretty
cool.  My spanish has never been better.  I was able to speak pretty
close to full speed. I can't wait until I am fluent and can do it
without thinking.  As it is right now sometimes I catch myself writing
in my journal in Spanish.

 Anyways things here are going well.  It
sounds like things at home are great.  I love and miss you all!!

4-1-2013

Hola familia!

So another week has flown by.  Time is really starting to fly by now.  I have already been in the field for six weeks.  I don´t know if I like how fast it is all going.  Everything is still going great! My Spanish is coming along and I feel like I am a lot better teacher now.  This week was a little crazy for Easter.  Here it is not just one day, but an entire week. It was especially crazy here in Rabinal because it is a small catholic town.  Every day the made huge rugs in the streets made out of flowers and had processions.  It was a pretty cool experience to see how different everything is. 

We did not have a ton of time to work this week because we had do go to Coban which is about two hours away for a Zone Conference.  It was really sweet. I have decided that we have the best Mission president in the world.  That was all day Friday, so we left Thursday and got back Saturday morning.  We would have gotten back on Friday, but there weren´t any busses to my area on Friday.  The president and the assistants taught everything.  We talked a lot about our personal conversion and the importance of developing this for the rest of our lives.  We also did a lot of practices on just about everything in Preach my Gospel.  It was a really awesome day. 

Anyways about my investigators.  There is not much to tell because we haven't had much time to teach any of them.  The only thing is that we found some really awesome people that might have potential.  Its a mom and three kids that are over 8.  They are really funny and we got along great with them.  They live in Cobulco which is the town about half an hour away.  Ill let you guys know how that goes.  Everything else is more or less the same with all our main investigators.  And some exciting news, we almost met our goal of having 30 people at church!  Yesterday we had 29 which felt like a ton of people in our small meeting house.  We just need to keep that up when it is not Easter.  

I don't have much more to tell.  If anyone wants to send me anything, send 3 Musketeers because my comp told me those were his favorite.  Things are going great and the mission is definitely the place to be.  Anyone that is contemplating going on a mission or not just do it!!! Trust me, you won´t ever regret it!  Love you all hope all is well in the states!

 

 

Elder Bashaw

1-30-2013

Hey guys,

Time here is flying by.  This week has to be one of the fastest of my
life!  Its crazy to think that I only have three more weeks here.  At
this point I feel like Im ready language wise, but I need to be better
at teaching.  My language going great!  I can easily hold my own in a
conversation.  Especially if it is about the gospel.  Speaking of
teaching,  I have my first baptism tomarrow!! Well kind of. While in
the MTC we have fake investigators that we teach every day.  One of
mine is getting baptized tomorrow.  I guess thats kind of Cool.  It is
kind of funny when that is basically the most exciting thing of my
week.  Other than that, I finished the Book of Mormon yesterday.  It
took me 38 days.  Its kind of funny reading it on a mission, because
every scripture has to do with missionary work.  In the last 2 days I
have read 42 chapters so I could utilize Moronis promise in the temple
today... Yup its still true haha.  I got 7 dearelders on monday it was
awesome!! I got more than the rest of my district combined.  It is soo
good to hear from everyone :)  Thanks for sending Austins letter, im
glad hes doing great.  It seems like he left right before me, but I
guess its been like 8 months.  One of the dearelders took 2 weeks to
get here.  I guess thats just how it will be now.  I was spoiled in
provo.  If you could send me Austins, Kelsies, and Ryans Adresses
through dearelder that would be great! I want to write them but I dont
have their addresses.  I also wrote nathan and abbie last wednesday,
so well see how long those take.  Something else that Id love whenever
yous send another package is a family photo.  I love all the ones I
have, but I dont have any with the 6 of us.  The Latinos love to look
at pictures of our families.  This week we also got a bunch of new
Nortes ( United statesians). Four of them came from the MTC in Provo
and joined our district which made it so it had to split.  We lost two
of the four of us that were in the other MTC together.  It was a
little sad, but now it is a lot easier to speak more spanish.  Before
we had like 12 people that were together that could speak english
better now we only have 8.  Something else that has helped my spanish
was Sunday when we had a latino companion for the day.  It was pretty
cool.  My spanish had never been better.  I was able to speak pretty
close to full speed. I cant wait until I am fluent and can do it
without thinking.  As it is right now sometimes I catch myself writing
in my journal in Spanish.  Anyways things here are going well.  It
sounds like things at home are great.  I love and miss you all!!

1.23.2013

What's up???

Whats up guys, Things here are still awesome!!  

We just got a new group of Nortes.  

I'm pretty sure from here of all of the new Americans are coming straight here.  There are two new Elders and 4 new Hermanas.  

I ate one of the weirdest things of my life this week.  It was basically chicken meat loaf and it tasted like cardboard. Definitely not my favorite meal yet.  For the most part the food here is good though, besides the fact that it is rude to not eat every bite.  

My new companion is cool.  His name is Elder Christopherson.  I don't remember if i put that in my last email or not.  I get along with him a lot better than my last companion.  

I got both Mom and Dad's dear elders on Saturday.  I guess dear elder might not be the best way to go just because it took so long.  It was really nice to get mail though. Someone in my district got a handwritten letter yesterday which was post marked for eight days earlier.  

In other news, we got a new group of Latinos here last week.  They are just now starting to warm up and get
used to the mission life.  I haven't found any that I think i'll be great friends with yet but all the natives i've met have been super nice.

Things here are super cheap.  In the last day, i've bought four ties for two american dollars each.  Just about everywhere you go takes American dollars as well as Quetzales.  The exchange rate is about 7 Quetzales to
the dollar.  

In the way of the language... Its coming.  Its not coming as fast as I was expecting here.  My entire district is from the US so it is pretty easy to get away with talking completely in English.  But it is kind of nice to get a taste of the accents.  

I have decided that I can understand every thing depending on who is talking.  Some people I talk to talk as clear as sunshine while others I cant understand a single word.  I know that it will come with a little more time.  

We went to temple already this morning. When we go, there is enough Nortes for an English session.  The temple here is tiny.  It only has 4 endowment rooms that hold about 30 each.

Elder Christofferson (the apostle) came this week.  And it was awesome! He shook everyones hands in the entire MTC.  Me and my district were the special musical number.  We sang because I Have Been Given Much half in
Spanish and half in English.  The Latinos loved it!! 

Ever since they have been trying to get me to sing in the Halls. Just about all the natives here are tone deaf so i basically sound like Justin Bieber (which they have called me a few times)  All in all i'm loving the mission so far! 

Hope all is well! Keep me updated with the sports.  I don't even have any idea who is in the super bowl!

1.15.2013

What's up!!

So I've been here in Guatemala for almost a week now.  I love it here!!

The people are amazing!  The first group we met when we first got here just left today.  The way they do it here is the every two weeks we get a new set of native missionaries.  

There are thirteen of us in our district and we are all Americans. The food here is really good.  It is better than anything we got in Provo. It is basically Mexican food without any spice.  Every meal has a different juice with it, anything from horchata to fruits that i have never heard of!  

My companion is from Utah and he is one of those that has a girl friend waiting.  They were dating for only two months and he writes her every night and talks about how he wants to marry here. I'm pretty sure the Lord is testing and humbling me with my companions.

Elder Christofferson is coming on Thursday and I'm singing at it. It should be pretty cool considering that there are only like 100 people in the entire MTC.  The Latinos that were here were awesome.  We've only known them for a week and they were basically our best friends.  It was really sad to see them go.  We traded ties before they left and I realized that they all love purple. It's kind of funny.  

My pictures have also come in very handy. They love to look at pictures of our families.  Its kind of funny when
we are going through my album and I get to the one from Homecoming. Every time without fail they ask if she is my novia (girfriend).  It makes me laugh every time.

I'm not gonna be able to get many pictures here, so sorry mom.  They took our cameras and locked them up because I guess people kept getting theirs stolen.  Today is my P-day and it has been pretty awesome. 

First, we left the MTC and went to a really nice chapel and played basketball and football, then we went to a mall and ate some fast food. Guatemala City is actually a lot nicer than I originally thought.  After I finish this email, we get to go to the temple.  I'm excited to go in a foreign country.

In other news, mail won't be as hard to get as I originally thought. Church sunday was also awesome.  I could understand just about everything that was going on.  The best way to get a hold of me is still by dear elder, but just make sure that you click the Guatemalan MTC for the mission, and as for packages I guess as long as you put Elder Eric Michael Bashaw for my name they probably wont even open it in customs.

They said to make sure that you DON'T put pictures of Jesus or Mary or anything because then they get suspicious and will go through it.  All mail should take about two weeks to get there.

My address is:

Elder Eric Michael Bashaw
Boulevard Vista Hermosa 23-71
Vista Hermosa I, Zona 15
Guatemala City 01015, Guatemala

I'm just about out of time. I'm sorry for no spaces in the paragraphs and no apostrophes  The computers her in the MTC can't do them.  

P.S. Tell everyone to write me! I haven't gotten any mail since I've been here. Oh ya I love and miss you all!!

1.2.2013

Whats up all!!!

So this weeks been great! I've learned and grown so much.  

I don't think I've ever felt the spirit as much as I did on Monday. Our teacher was amazing!  We had to teach a lesson to him as he pretended to be deaf and mute.  It was so awesome and as long as you relied on the spirit.  

After we taught we had a mini testimony meeting and it was awesome! I'm pretty sure I've said this before, but we have the best district in the MTC.  

To answer some of your questions: Dad I'm in the beginner Spanish class.  I am probably the second best in my district in Spanish.  

The only person that is probably better than me is moving into a higher class starting tonight. He is from France and he took five years high school Spanish. My companion does not try very hard to learn the language, and it is kind of frustrating.  He almost never understands what is being said in class.   

I've seen Stetson five or six times, but i almost never have time to talk to him.  I've seen one or two people I recognize, but don't know all that well.  

My district has ten elders and no sisters which is quite unusual.  Most districts have at least a companionship of sisters. Four of us are going to Guatemala, four are going to Chile Santiago west, one to Honduras, and one to France.  The one that is going to France is speaking both Spanish and French.   

There are four people to a room and I have a top bunk.  

As far as my teachers go, I've had like six or seven different ones because of the holidays.  Now that those are all over things will be a little more consistent.   

I got all my travel information for Guatemala.  I'm set to leave on the 8th, but I won't find out till three or four days before if I'm actually gonna go or not.  So if you have any packages for me, it better get here in the next week or else I probably won't get it.  

A few things that would be nice to have are another Long sleeve white shirt, some more snacks (that are not candy), and some more pictures (especially of friends).  

The craziest thing to happen this week is the plague!  Everyone was getting sick starting yesterday!  My district only had like three people left that aren't sick.  We are pretty sure that it is just food poisoning but were not sure.  As of right now I'm perfectly fine so cross your fingers.  

I heard Parker had his farewell on Sunday.  I know he did great.  I still might be able to see him, but we'll see.  I've only been here for two weeks and the monotony is getting old.  Going to Guatemala would be a good change of pace.  Also if I go to Guatemala I will pick up the language much quicker, and I will be able to go to the temple there in Guatemala which would be awesome.  I have not been able to go to the temple since Ive been here because Provo has been getting cleaned.  

Anyways my time is almost up.  Say hello to everyone for me.  I love and miss you all 

Elder Bashaw :)

12.26.2012

Whats Up!

So I'm assuming that you didn't get my letter that i sent on the second day... So I'll tell all the basics again. 

My companion's name is Elder Margaritis.  He is from Mesa and knows a lot of the people I do from school.  

My P day is today, so i get to email you two days in a row! The food is exactly like the canon center.  It is decent but it will get old because everything is kind of the same..  

The third day here we met with our branch president and he told us that there may not be enough room in the Guatemala MTC so we might have to stay here the entire nine weeks.  We won't know for sure until it gets a litter closer.  It'll be a bummer but it it'll all work out.  

In terms of things you could send me,  I need some tweezers, all snacks are always welcome, and I would love it if you could get me a bunch of my friends addresses so I can write them first.  haha. 

Not much has happened in the last day.  Last night we had a talent show then Greg Olsen, the painter, talked to us.  Then last night we watched its a wonderful life.  

The best way for anyone to get a hold of me is through dear elder.  I only get 30 minutes to be on the computer all together so I would like to use that time to write.  It would probably even be better for you guys to write using it, because I can get those almost everyday.  

If dad or Nathan or someone would get on my face book that would be great.  I want my letters to be posted on facebook, so I might be able to get more mail.  

You guys could also post my pictures and stuff.  I'm gonna try and figure out how to attach pictures but there's no promises.  

Alright my times up and I couldn't figure out the pictures.  

I'm glad you guys had a good Christmas.  I read both Mom's and Abbie's emails but i haven't heard from Nathan..  

Maybe next week i will be able to figure out the pictures. 

Hasta Luego

Elder Bashaw

12.25.2012

Que Tal!!!

So today is Christmas!! Its been awesome! 

I opened the packages from you guys and G+G Bashaw.  My favorite thing was the picture book! Its so nice to be able to reminisce about old times. I also now have candy and snacks for days.  Candy is in abundance here so I'm glad you gave me some other snacks to eat.  

My P day is normally tomorrow, but were all allowed to send one today.  Today has been really fun but also really hard.  At every point throughout the day I have been thinking about what I would be doing if I was home.  I've either had something in my eye or I've had some tears welling up.  

I hope everyone is having a fantastic day!  Things have been pretty awesome in here.  Last night we set up a Christmas tree that was awesome.  I'll try to send some pictures in my email tomorrow.  

This morning our entire zone opened our presents together in the hall around our tree.  After breakfast we had our devotional.  Elder Nelson came and spoke.  It is so awesome how great of a spirit you can feel when he even just walks into the room.  

At the devotional I sang in the choir.  It was pretty awesome.  I thought dad would think that was funny.  

On another note, things in the MTC are going pretty good.  We have a great district and we all get along splendidly.  The language is coming faster than I could imagine.  I can understand almost everything and its only been a week.  The hard part is speaking. 

There is a few things that in need.  If you could send my priesthood line of authority that would be great!  

Also it would be nice if you could get people to write me that would be great.  I've only gotten letters from Parker and Alexis.  A bunch more may be on there way, but they haven't delivered any dear elders since Saturday, so i may be getting a bunch on Thursday.  

Anyways I love you all and hope you didn't get too sick eating all of the ebelskievers... I don't know how to spell it.. 

Tell grandma and grandpa thanks for the package.  It was really nice to have stuff to open.  Ill send another email tomorrow

Feliz Navidad