November 30th

Family and friends,

Well this week was a good week. We had 4 investigators in church and they all have a day to be baptized on the 19th of December! They are super pilas and we hope that they can keep having the desires to recieve the blessings of this true gospel.

So this last few months have been super busy that I forget the holidays and birthdays of my family and friends! I forgot that Thursday was Thanksgiving and that Grandpa Deano's birthday was on the 21st! Sorry Grandpa, happy late birthday! and that Grandma Flygare and Teresa had their birthdays also! Sorry! I'm losing it now in the mission! jaja but Happy Birthday!

So this week for Thanksgiving we didn't do anything special. I was on divisiones with an Elder from Nicaragua! and I totally forgot about Thanksgiving! I always forget about the holidays here in Guatemala. But the good thing is that today for lunch, a member made us lunch and we ate turkey, mashed potatoes, salad, and rolls! It was like I was at home for the holiday!

Well we had a great experience this week and the scripture that my mom shared with me today really fits in with this story. So when I was on divisions we were contacting some people and we came to this house and no one answered and this man from the next house over came out and yelled at us asking for who we were looking for. Then he asked us what church we were from. So we presented ourselves and he started to say a ton of bad things about us and that we need to preach the correct gospel and that we need to learn from the Bible because its the only true book. Usually at this moment I get mad and use scriptures to make them mad and that we preach the right gospel and leave them still mad with us, but this time I felt something different tell me not to get mad. So I was patient until I had the opportunity to share with him what we believe, that Joesph Smith isn't a God and was only a prophet. We then shared some scriptures to help him understand that the Bible isn't the only book and word of god, we told him about the Book of Mormon and that Chirst came and visited his own ancestors and that the Bible testifies of the Book of Mormon. We left him interested in what we were talking about and we invited him to read 3 Nephi 11 and we passed by two days later and sadly he wasn't there, but his mom was there and she told us that he had been reading the Book of Mormon those last two days and was comparing it with the Bible and I felt such a warmth come over me. I know that this message can change thier lives. Maybe he won't fully accept the gospel now but it's a big step from where he started and I know that the spirit testified to him that these things were true.

Love you guys!

Elder Flygare

November 23rd

Family and friends,

Well this week has been amazing! We had the opportunity to talk with our mission president and his wife! I love when we can talk to them because I can really feel the love that they have for me. Even when they have never met my family, they express their love for you guys.

So this last week we put 10 new fechas! and this week we have been teaching them so much to help them know that these things are true.

Me and my comp had a lesson with three of the members of the family of 10 and we taught them of faith and repentance and the spirit that was there was so strong. We could feel that they knew that they had to repent, they know that repentance is an important step for us to return and live with our Father in Heaven through the covenant of baptism.

Also, this week I had the chance to go to Guastatoya on Friday which is 1 hour away on bus, to eat with a member that has a missionary in the same mission as Coltons, she said that they have meet before. She made a special dinner for me and she cooked burritos and enchiladas! They were really good, and I'm glad that I got permission from President Crapo to go and eat with her family.

Also, this week we had three investigators in sacrament meeting! It was great to see that three of them good make it to church even though they were a little bit late.

Well, I would like to end with a scripture in Jacob 5:22

22"And the Lord of the vineyard said unto him: Counselme not; I knew that   it was a poor spot of ground;wherefore, I said unto thee, I have nourished  it this longtime, and thou beholdest that it hath brought forth much fruit.

I interpreted the scripture a little bit different. I thought more about our problems and challenges that pass in our lives. When we have the challenges and problems he tells us to not counsel him. He knows everything and like it says in Matthew chapter 7, a good father wouldn't give his son a rock when he asks for food. When we need help, he never gives us the opposite of what we need. He loves us, every single one of us and he will never abandon us. When we pass through challenges and problems he's there and he asks us not to counsel him, because he knows what's best.

I love you guys and hope you guys had a good week and wil continue this week to be a week of success and of great worth!

Love, Elder Flygare

November 16th

Dear family and friends,

Well this week has been awesome. It was awesome for the people that we found and also for the experiences that we had. I am so grateful for the blessing that we keep recieving here in this area. The only thing is that it is easy to find people to teach and for people to say that they are going to pray, but its hard for them to have the desires to go to church. They accept a day to be baptized but don't do anything about it to get baptized.  I hope this can all change with the family that we found this week. This family that we found is a family of 10! and they are really receptive and they want to learn a lot! I wish that they can continue doing what they need to, to recieve their answer, they have been praying and 6 of them attended an activity on Saturday! We watched Meet the Mormons! and suprisingly there were more investigators than members!

So also this week we put baptismal dates with 9 of these 10 people for the 19th of December. I really hope they can be ready for this day. I would like to ask for you guys to also pray for this family. The family's name is familia Castañeda Lopzez and the other is familia Orellana Castañeda. These two families are part of the same family and they always go to one house to hear us teach them. Also, we have 2 other investigators that are kids that are family of some members and they also have been praying to know if they should be baptized. Their names are Dairin (girl) and Luis (huicho is the nickname for Luiz here in Guatemala).

Also this week I have felt the spirit really help me know what I need to do to become better. I have seen the hand of the Lord leading me to scriptures that have helped me know what I need to do in those moments, and one scripture that I love talks about the importance of the scriptures. For me, I look at this scripture as a way for me to keep reading the scriptures even when I feel that every thing is falling down on me. It gives me hope, joy and assurance that if I do what I should be doing, I will recieve help.

This scripture is in jacob 2:8

8 And it supposeth me that they have come up hither to hear the pleasing word of God, yea, the word which healeth the wounded soul.

The scriptures can heal our spiritual wounds. We recieve spiritual wounds when we break commandments, when we sin, when we feel alone, depressed, forgotten, abandoned, or when we lose our faith that things will become better. Lately I have thought a lot about repentance. Repentance isn't a bad thing. Only through repentance can we receive happiness. Only through repentance we can recieve eternal life! and repentance is possible only through the atoning sacrifice that our loving brother Jesus Christ did for us. He suffered for our sins, which was the biggest act of love that our Father in Heaven could do.

I know that Jesus is the Christ. I know that God loves me and wants me to return to him. I know that I can be clean from my sins and even God won't remember them and I know that this church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only true church on the earth. In the name of Jesus Christ amen.

Love you guys! Have a great week!

Elder Flygare

November 9th

Family and friends!

Well another week in Guatemala and I completed another month in the mission this week! Wooohooo! Now I'm at 14 months! Haha! But this week has been a week full of the spirit! So on Monday we left here from Teculutan to go to the capital for another meeting with the president, and all of the zone leaders! So this month we got to hear some great advice from the president and the assistants of the mission. Right now a difficulty that we have seen is that we haven't been finding a lot of new investigators. It's been a little bit hard for people to except us to enter their houses and teach them about the message that we have. But the great thing to know is that the Lord understands and knows our difficulties and our challenges and he can help us accomplish what we need to if we have the faith to do it. So on Tuesday we had the meeting and on Wednesday we got to share the message and the things we learned with the whole zone. We had the opportunity to teach them and help find solutions to the difficulties and challenges that pass in our areas.

Also, on Saturday we visited one of our investigators that is preparing to be baptized on the 21 of November and before he hadn't recieved his answer that he needed to be baptized again but when we passed on Saturday, we asked if he felt like he was ready to be baptized on the 21st and he said yes! He knows that he has to do it and that it's something he wants to do! I was so happy in that moment! I knew that the Lord would answer his prayers and he would help him through his difficulties!

Also, this week during my personal studies I was studing in Alma 34 and the whole hour I only studied 17 verses!

But in this chapter it is talking about Amulek testifiying the words that Alma had declared to these people, and verse 9 says...

" 9 For it is expedient that an atonement should be made;for according to the great plan of the Eternal God theremust be an atonement made, or else all

mankind mustunavoidably perish; yea, all are hardened; yea, all arefallen and are lost, and must perish except it be throughthe atonement which it is

expedient should be made."

And if there isn't an infinite and eternal atonement, we wouldn't be able to rise from our sins, we would have been fallen, lost and abandoned for time and all eternity but that wasn't the plan of god. His plan was for us to return unto him, to have a savior, a redeemer, brother who would pay for our sins. who would bring us back to his fold, and who would to forgive us for all of the bad things that we have done in our life.

In verse 16 he states something super important for the people that repent.

"16 And thus mercy can satisfy the demands of justice, and encircles them in the arms of safety, while he that exercisesno faith unto

repentance is exposed to the whole law of thedemands of justice; therefore only unto him that has faithunto repentance is brought about the

great and eternal plan of redemption."

When we repent, we literally become part of the biggest piece in God's plan and it helps us to prepare to be like him. How marvelous it is to know that someone who created everything on earth; the birds, animals, trees, bushes, mountains, and people; lets us as small and almost insignificant as we may seem to everything there is in the whole universe, he lets us become like him through our brother Jesus Christ, we become part of "His Happiness" everytime we repent and change our bad habits. We become part of His "Great and Eternal plan of redemption.

Love Elder Flygare!

November 2nd

Family and friends,

Well another week has gone by and I can't believe that it's already November! The time flies by so fast in the mission and I can't believe that i'ts almost time for Christmas! Well, so these last two days were Halloween but it's nothing like Halloween at home. The people really don't do anything here for that holiday. But it's weird here, there's dia de los muertos and it's two days. One day is for the adults and they have their parties in the streets and they drink a lot and then the second day is for the kids and the families go to fly kites and to have a picnic sort of thing. But I don't remember that last year. But it only has happened this year here in Teculutan.

Also, this week we had the chance for us to visit a lot of our baptismal dates that we have. But this week was really hard for them to attend church because some of them were sick and so it's been really difficult for us to stay positive as a bunch of difficulties have passed and stop our investigators from attending church. But we hope and pray that they can feel better and that they can attend church next week to help them progress to be baptized at the end of this month or in December.

One thing that I have learned this week in my studies is of the parable of the workers in the vineyard in Mateo chapter 20 and this chapter says that the Lord hires workers at the begining of the day and told them that he would pay them a penny a day, then at the "3rd hour of the day" and the "6th hour of the day" and the "11th hour of the day he told them that he would pay them what was fair. But at the end of the day the lord of the vineyard payed every one the same. One penny he gave to all of them and the first people were mad. They were upset. They asked why they didn't get paid more. But the Lord said well we made an agreement that you would get payed 1 penny, why would you be mad for what we made a deal on?

And in verses 13 and 14 says:

13 But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny?

14 Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee.

But when I was reading this chapter I was thinking a lot about how or why the Lord payed them the same. If the people who worked throughout the sun all the day long got payed the same, why would we work in the heat of the sun. But I thought about it in perspective of eternal life. Some people come to repentance at the "last hour of the day" and they are still permitted to partake and participate of eternal life, and we as missionaries are working throught all the heat of the day and where do we have room to complain. We have been given the chance to know this gospel and to share it with all the people.

Love you guys!

Love Elder Flygare