The lonely mountain

¡Hola todos!

Today has been crazy. And yesterday. And pretty much everyday haha. We had to go to the capital on Monday night, because I had to go to migration to get some paperwork all good. And guess what! I´m a legal Guatemalan resident now! Yuh! Had to go to bed late and get up at 4 for that one. But I got to see all of the people that were in the MTC group with me in the very beginning, which was super cool. Most of them aren´t in my mission, and I didn´t really think I would ever get to see them again. 

The day after that, we went to sleep in San Vicente Pacaya. The next morning (today), we woke up at 3 in the morning to climb the volcano. We got our jackets and backpacks and headed up a steep trail up the side of the mountain. Soon the dirt turned into lava rock, and it got really, REALLY cold. We got to watch the sunrise from the top, and it was honestly beautiful. All of the sudden a ton of thick fog came in super fast, and we couldn´t see anything. When it finally cleared up and we could see from the sunlight, the view was really awesome. When we got back down, my companion and I took a really long nap, because we were exhausted from all the things we´ve been doing. But now we´re better. 

We got to go to church twice this past Sunday. We also got to make some really tasty food for some members of the church who were sad. I also learned a lot about prayer. When you´re struggling, you can just go talk to God, and He listens. You can talk out loud if you want to, and you can talk to Him as if He was right there, because He is. You don´t have to talk as if you´re reading someone else´s words, and you don´t have to talk as if He can´t respond. He is always listening, and a lot of the time He answers in the moment like a normal conversation. If you don´t believe me, try it! You´ll feel peace. You´ll know what you need to do. And if you do it, you´ll change people´s lives. It´s true; I´ve done it. Promise.

Love you guys!

-Elder Cloward

Me at 3 in the morning

Before the sunrise

Elder Payan and me. Volcan de fuego (the one behind me) is exploding

The sunrise :)

Me and Elder Osorio with Elder Cruz! We haven´t seen him in so long. In his mission (Antigua), they´re allowed to drink Coca Cola, but we aren´t in the central mission. So he bought one and drank it in front of us...

The volcano was blowing smoke rings. I didn´t know that was possible...?

You can see Palin (my area) in the very middle of this picture. It´s at the foot of the volcan de agua. Looks so far away from the volcan Pacaya!

Remember that villain in Tarzan...?

¡Hola todos!

This week was really fun. We found a ton of people to teach, learned how to cook some tasty food, and did some awesome service. 

Today, we got the whole zone of Palin and the zone of Amatitlan together (24 missionaries), and made a huge churrasco for everyone. We grilled meat, corn, and potatoes, and it was really tasty. The meat was kinda cheap and turned out kinda hard...but it was really good haha. We also played soccer, and everyone was really happy. 

Yesterday we did some of the funnest service I´ve done on my entire mission. If you know me well, you know that I love climbing things. I guess I never grew out of climbing trees, because the service involved climbing up trees and cutting off some infected branches with a machete. It reminded me of that bad guy in Tarzan who tries to chase Tarzan with a machete in the trees and ends up cutting the branches that are holding him up. I almost did that too...yikes. It was probably a bad idea, because we were really high up and we could´ve really hurt ourselves, and a huge tree branch almost fell on my companion, but we were safe and nothing bad happened. After cutting off the branches we cut them all into firewood. My hands are really blistered now, but the lady was really happy that we helped her. They made us a tasty dinner afterwards :).

My companion bought a really big speaker, and even though on the mission we only listen to music that talks about God, we´ve been enjoying listening to really good tunes. Yesterday I was so distracted that I didn´t notice that the water tank on the roof had filled up from the pila downstairs, and the bomba was still sending water up there. All the extra water was flowing out and falling into the street, and the neighbors knocked on the door to see what on earth was going on and why there was so much water everywhere. Oops...

We´ve been working with a family of investigators (Alberto y Delia) and this Sunday they came to church! They loved the things they learned and the way they felt there. They can´t read, but they love to listen. They know that the church is true, and want to get baptized soon also. We´re really excited for them.

I´ve been thinking about something really interesting this week. My companion and I were telling riddles, and I remembered that a wise person once told me that the thing that makes riddles so hard is that we all have misconceptions and assumptions that block us from finding the real answer. The answer is something simple and explainable almost every time, but we get locked up thinking in only one specific way, and we don´t allow ourselves to figure it out. That´s how it is teaching people too. Every one has a need. The need can be a reason they aren´t choosing to do what God wants them too, or it could be something that they really want in life. When we find the need of the person, it´s a lot easier to help them, because the gospel answers any question and solves any problem. But we have to find it first. Like a riddle, the need of the person is often very simple. It could be that a family member died and they feel like they´ll never see them again. It could be that they want to feel like someone listens to and understands them. It could be that they think that you need to be able to read to go to heaven. Needs aren´t always simple to resolve, but they´re simple to understand. We just need to not assume we know why the person is doing bad things or not changing, because there´s ALWAYS a reason why. If we assume we understand, we may be creating a wall that makes it so that there´s no way to understand, and we can never help the person with what they really need. The main need will always cause other smaller things. For example, if your husband feels like you don´t love him, he might get mad a lot. But just winning the argument and convincing him he doesn´t have to be mad everytime it happens is like killing the ants that are on the apple. Finding out WHY he´s mad and helping him know that you love him a ton is the way that you get rid of the anthill so that the ants not only go away but also don´t come back to the apple. I hope we can all work to understand people better. Think about the bigger problems and needs, and find out how to help people with what they really need, that causes them to do the things they do. It´s a real thing.

Love you guys!

-Elder Cloward

This dove is domesticated, and walks up to you and lets you pet it and play with it. It came to this family on it´s own two days after a loved one passed away, and just stayed to comfort them. Now it´s part of the family. Pretty interesting, huh?

Elder Payan loves cats :)

It´s lucky these pictures still exist, because my memory got a virus and I had to find someone really smart to hack in a take it off. But we´re all good now!

We all have cats! 

Tasty churrasco with elote and papas

There´s only TWELVE of them. That´s IT!

¡Buenas!

This week for the first half we decided that we weren´t doing enough, and so we put some really good goals and started working a lot harder. We felt a lot better when we decided to live up to a fuller potential, because life isn´t meant to relax, although sometimes we get casual with the important things. We feel like we´re going to find a lot of awesome miracles in the next little while, and it´s really exciting.

Yesterday we saw the coolest thing ever. One of the twelve apostles of God came to Guatemala to talk to us! His name is David A. Bednar, and he is one of only twelve people in the entire world that Jesus called to serve us. A lot of people don´t know that God is still the same as He was a long time ago, and that there is still a prophet and 12 apostles. It´s fun to share that with people. Elder Bednar taught us some AMAZING things. I felt like he really knew what we needed as missionaries, because a lot of the things he said applied directly to me. He had a translator, and so I got to hear everything he said twice! He taught us about how if we have faith, we´re going to go and do everything we know how to do to make God´s work move along. We don´t ask God to do our job for us, but we ask Him to help us to do our part the best we can. He´s not gonna tell us what to do if we just sit there and wait, but if we go to serve, He will tell us the course He needs us to take. Elder Bednar also talked about how we need to learn from the spirit more than from the words that the speaker says. He told us to stop writing down everything he said, but instead to write down only what the Spirit says to us, which is really important because it applies directly to us. It was cool because he didn´t have a prepared talk. Instead, he asked us questions about what we have learned, and let us ask him questions about things that he has learned, and through that process we all learned together. He was also there with the entire area presidency of Central America (three members of the quorum of the seventy), and all of their wives. Elder Bednar´s wife is so humble that what she says really gets straight to your heart. I want to be like that too someday.

The hermanas in Palin 3 are helping a couple that just joined the church. They just got married after living together for years, and they´re struggling a little bit with their relationship. We decided to pull a "parent trap" and sneakily help them out a little bit. The four of us got them together and taught them a really direct, spiritual lesson about the importance of marriage and the family. Then, we opened a curtain and revealed a table, chairs, and dinner that we had bought for them. We took away their phones, and left them alone for about an hour to eat together and just talk together. When they finished, something was different. I´m not sure what they talked about, but they were REALLY happy afterwards. They were holding hands as they left the building, and it made me think about how when the goal is to live together for eternity, both sides are going to do their part to make it happy and joyful. When the goal is just to be happy in the moment, it doesn´t last very long. That´s why God is eternal, and the world isn´t. Everything that He offers is something that lasts forever. Pretty crazy to think about...

That´s about all. We´re learning everyday, and the time is going by super fast. I love being a missionary :). 

Love you guys!

-Elder Cloward

My son Elder Torres! He had to go home because he got sick. I didn´t think I´d ever get to see him again either, but he´s back in the mission now! I was his first companion ever, and I got to talk to him again at the conference also.

Some really tasty food at a pisto restaurant called Rosy in our area, and the cherry-stem-knot I tied in my mouth. I´ve been trying to do that for weeks!

My friend Elder Alexander! We were in the MTC together a year ago, but we went to different missions. He was my best friend over there, but I didn´t think I´d ever get to see him again. When Elder Bednar came, the East Mission came too and I go to talk to him again! So great.

Fiambre...

¡Hola todos!

This week was awesome. We had some really fun experiences and tried some really weird things. But all in all, only three missionaries ended up sick in bed for more than 12 hours...oof...

So this week we did divisions with the missionaries in San Vicente Pacaya. They literally live in the skirts of a volcano, and so the pueblo is in the middle of super green mountains and valleys, and it's all different in elevation, and there's this super sweet breeze blowing through all the time. It's probably the most beautiful place I've seen in my entire life. Anytime you don't know where you are, you just have to look to find the smoke leaving from the top of the volcano, and you know which way is which. It was really cool to be there, and we also found some really cool people for the missionaries there to teach. It was on the "Día de los Muertos," and so my companion and a couple missionaries just walked on the path to the cemetery, talking to everyone who was going to celebrate the lives of their ancestors, and explaining to them that they'll be able to see those people again. The day we left, the four missionaries had an adventure that they are currently regretting...

They found a place that sells rabbits, and so they bought a couple, and went to a church member's house to kill and cook them to eat. That's not that weird here, but I don't think they cooked them very well, because three of the four just happened to get a "stomach bug" at the same time the day after. It was pretty rough, because all of them had to be inside the whole day...but they're all almost better now. 

Some sad news from this week is that we lost 5 missionaries in the zone. four of them got moved to the Amatitlan zone, just because it's closer. They are all super good missionaries and super funny, so it's sad that they had to leave the zone. The fifth one went to the New Mexico in the United States, because her mission is actually over there, and she has just been here waiting for her visa. She was a really good missionary, and even though she only has 2 months in the mission, she acts like she's been here all her life. Now she just has to go learn English. But I know from experience that God helps his missionaries to learn languages that they couldn't speak before. It's a miracle...

The second of November here is a special holiday where everyone eats this special dish called fiambre. It's basically a salad where they mix together just about every type of vegetable with just about every type of meat, and then they eat it. It's kinda not good. The night that we ate that, we were on our second dinner, so it was a tricky experience. I found a picture that's pretty similar to what we ate. I'm a little happy that they only do that once a year. Most of the food here is suuuper good, but that one is a little different.

We're having an awesome time out here. We're really working to find people that want to be disciples of Christ, and learning a ton along the way. Next week I'm gonna have a really awesome story to share :).

Love you guys!

-Elder Cloward

Elder Jeria, one of the missionaries that left the zone. He´s one of the funniest people I've ever met. In the back is Elder Cascante, his companion. He learned English just by watching movies, and he speaks it really well! Crazy...

Corriendo

¡Hola amigos!

This week went by really fast. I spent most of it getting to know the people here, and now I feel like I know everyone in the zone pretty well, as well as almost everyone we're teaching right now. It's honestly really great here in Palin, and I like it a lot. 

A couple really happy things happened this week, and also some really sad things. One person we're teaching named Blanca told us that she really wants to get baptized and follow Christ. Just that she's been through some really, really hard things in her life, and wants to be able to forgive the people that have harmed her before getting baptized. We are going to visit her with a really awesome woman who got baptized a few weeks ago after passing through similar struggles. 

We're also teaching a man named Cesar. Yesterday we went to his house and he was really sad. His wife told him that she was going to go to the capital to visit a family member, so he gave her the money he had and wished her a safe trip. A few days later he found a note that she had left that said that she was never coming back, and that she didn't want to be with him anymore. It was honestly one of the saddest things that I've ever seen, because they were really happy together, and he had just taken her out to dinner the night before and they had had a great time. But now he doesn't have money and he doesn't know what to do without her. We're going to be visiting him a lot more, because we don't know what to do besides just comfort him a ton and help him to get closer to God. The whole situation doesn't make sense to us, and it's just sad. But sometimes life hits hard and you just have to learn from it, I guess. He'll be okay.

We're having a great time helping the zone, and sometimes we don't even have time to work here in our own area, but that's always how it is. You learn pretty quickly in the mission that the most important person in the world is all of them that aren't you. Sounds kinda funny, but it's how we work here, and I really love it. I've learned so many things here that I don't even know what I must have been like a year ago before being in this country. Good stuff!

Love you all!

A pair of shoes on one of my first days in Guatemala.

What the shoes look like now, one year later. I left them in Siqui because they don't serve anymore.

The view from the roof of the house.

Brrrrrr...

Hey everyone!

So we had changes this week, and I finally got changes out of Siquinalá. I´m gonna miss it a ton, but now I´m here in Palín. This is my fourth area in the mission, and I´ve always wanted to be here. I´m with Elder Payan too, and I´ve always wanted to be companions with him! I´m still a zone leader, and I´m hoping to learn a ton from all of the awesome missionaries here. It´s going to be a really fun change. 

Palín is completely different from anything I´ve seen before. This place is closer to the capital than the coast, and a lot higher up in elevation. It´s around 45 minutes away from Siqui, but the climate is completely different around here. It´s honestly cold here. Most of the time I´ve seen it´s been cloudy with a slight breeze and sometimes a light sprinkle. It feels soooo good outside. The house is three stories! It doesn´t take up much space, but it goes so high up. I´ll have to send some pictures next week. We have an oven, a blender, couches, and a really beautiful place to study the scriptures. The only hard part is that the shower is freezing! It´s so funny how cold water isn´t so refreshing when you´re already cold. Maybe we´ll get a water heater for the shower head soon. 

Elder Payan is from Chijuajua, Mexico. That´s the same place as Elder Alcazar, the companion I was with before Elder Hoskins. It´s right by the border, kinda by El Paso, so everyone there learns English. His English is really good, and he wants to get even better. But I´ve continued my streak of having companions that I can talk to without anyone else understanding. He has almost 11 months in the mission, which is just one change less than me. He´s a really great teacher and he knows the scriptures really well. It´s gonna be awesome to be with him. 

I´m gonna miss Siquinalá. I spent the last day running around saying goodbye to all of my friends there. The lady in the ice cream shop was really sad, and me too because that was some good ice cream. But some of the hardest people to leave were the people that got baptized and changed their lives while I was there with them. I´ve seen them come so incredibly far and totally change who they are, and now I won´t get to see them anymore. The good thing is that the missionaries will still be able to help them as they continue they journey towards living with their families forever. It´s going to be really great for them. 

Next week I´ll  be able to tell more about the people here, because it´s just my second day in the new zone. But I´m going to be doing all I can to learn all of the names and places. The good news is I have a lot of help. 

Love you guys!

-Elder Cloward

My friend Santiago: