Sounds like everyone had a great week this week!!!! I sure did too!!!! So this week, my comp and I had to go on exchanges with the Elders in Villamontes, and I went last time, so it was my comps turn to go with them! (neither one of us wants to go, because it is the hottest city in the whole mission) But he said he will buy pizza if I go, so I accepted the offer very fast and I went to Villamontes for two days this week!! It was great getting a chance to go and work with the other Elders there!!! I look up to them a lot, because it is so hot in that city, but they don't complain at all!! 

Then I got back here, and My comp and I noticed that some elders in our zone still needed help, so we did another intercambio with them, and I went to that area again, so I didn't work that much in my own area this week... haha but it's ok, because we were still able to find a lot of new people to teach! 

The Guzman family is doing great! The husband has been kind of sick for a while.  He has some type of sickness but I forgot the name.  He said that He feels like God gave him that trial so could come closer to Him. Then he asked us for a blessing, and he said that same night that he had a dream of him being baptized, and he said that he was so happy!!! So they should be baptized soon!  The daughter of the Mendez family should also be baptized this week, if everything goes well! 

Thanks mom for everything, I love you so much! 

What a great week here in the mission!!!! 

  
Things were just great this week!!! So the whole day Tuesday my comp and I were in Santa Cruz for leadership council, and it was a very spritual experience! Presdent Willard is having a family struggle, and it turns out his grandson passed away, 7 hours after birth, but he still did the conference with us, and he even related this trial to the missionary work, and it was mind opening! 

Then this week we had a couple of great miricles!!! First off, The Guzman family is doing great, and they are going to get married and Baptized the first week of Febuary!!! They realized they need to do it, and even though it will be hard, they are excited for it!!! Then at church, we have this family who is less active who we are teaching, and when we first starting teaching them, they said that all of the kids have been baptized, but it turns out that the last two never got baptized, and we never knew... so now the kids are going to get baptized, and we also have this other girl who turns out she was baptized, but there was a problem with the computer when she got baptized, and looks like she never got registered.. so the mission said we have to baptize her again... haha 

 Also of the guzman family, the other brothers and sister started going to church, and out of that family we have 7 investigators, and all of them were at church. 

Things are going great here, I love the missionary work in this branch, and it is really growing a lot!  Thanks for all of your love and support, Love you so much! 

Hey MOM!!!!

Well mom This was a great week here!!! And it made the week even better, cause I got a package this morning!!! Thanks so much, you guys are the best! I really liked the photo book, its crazy to see how much everyone is growing up!!!

So this week has been great!!! We have been working a lot with this new family that we have found, and they should be baptized this month, the only problem is that they are not married, so they need to do that first!!! other than that they are progressing a lot, and they are really excited to learn more!!!

Sister Betancourt got a new calling this week, and she is not a teacher in the primary!!! She loves her calling, and she is doing it really well! Everytime we go to teach her, she already knows what we are going to teach, and she basically teaches us.. She is reading the book  Teachings of the Prophets, Doctrine and Covenants and the Book of Mormon and she is learning a lot! Well, she is a very smart person, and she is just great! 

This is going to be a crazy week for us here, because we have to send some of the missionaries in our zone to Santa Cruz this week to do some immigration papers, and then on Tuesday my comp and I have to go there also for meetings... But its ok, I am getting used to sleeping in the buses, and they are getting more and more comfortable each time!

Bryson sent me some pics of the snow at home, and it looks so cool, I am really jealous.. If you want to send me some I will gladly receive it!! Haha well love you all family.  Thanks for everything! Have a great week!!!

Monday December 28, 2015

Well mom, This week of Christmas was great!!!! It was so nice to see all of you guys, and to talk to all of you!!!! I miss you guys so much!!!! 

So everything has been going great here.  We have this new family that we are visiting, and they are just the best!!! The grandpa is a memeber, but none of his kids, then a couple Sundays ago, he brought his son, and his daughter in law with their kid to church.  Then he told us we need to go and visit them. We went there and had an amazing lesson.  This week they came to church again, and they just love the church, and there kid love primary!!! 

I bought myself a sweet soccer jersey for christmas!! Haha 

This christmas in the mission was a lot better than the one last year, last year it just wasn't that fun, but this year my comp and I really made the best of it, and we really enjoyed it! But I was thinking mom about what you said how the laminites had all types of false traditions from their fathers. It is the same here. So many people do things only because it is a tradtion! LIke everyone here has been baptized as a baby even if the parents aren't catholic, and they only do it cause they heard you are suppose to.

But everything is going great here, thanks for everything family, I love you all!!! Have a great New Years eve.

Monday December 21, 2015

Well mom, This was a great week this week! 

So first off, we had a great christmas conference in Santa Cruz, and we learned a lot.  As a zone we sang Angels we have heard on high in english, and it was great!!! 

When we got back to our area my companion and I started working really hard to find the people that we had not been able to teach this week, and like everyone was gone, so we were really worried that we were not going to have anyone in church.  When the meeting started it looked like no one was going to be there, then about halfway through like all of our invesigatores started coming, and we had 12 investigatores at the end. In our gospel doctrine class there were 22 people who were all less actives that we are visiting or investigators!!! And that doesn't include their kids! That's a lot considering that the church attendance that week was only 102... haha 

We are really excited for chirstmas, we even have a little tree in our house!  It's going to be a great day!!! I'm so glad to hear that you guys are all doing to great!! It's always so great to hear how the family is doing! I love you guys, and I am excited to talk to you all on Christmas!!! today I will call at like 1.. is that okay? Then on Christmas at 3?

 Well I love you family, thanks for everything!!! 

This is a bug!!!

Monday December 14, 2014

So we had an amazing week here! Even though it is so hot here! This week the heat got to like a new record for me of 115, I have never been somewhere where it gets so hot.... But other than that everything is going great! 

So this week luckily we didn't have to do any traveling or go anywhere crazy.  But this next week we are going to be traveling a lot.. we have to go to Santa Cruz again for the christmas conference with president... My companion and I have to travel so much that its crazy, but its ok! 

So the Rivero family is doing good, The mom can't get baptized because she is not married, and her husband is still in rehab, but she asked us if her kids can get baptized, so we asked the branch president what he thinks and he says we should baptize them, because the mom is practically a member, that she even pays her tithing every week! The Betancourt family is doing great, they loved the temple, and they have already set a date to get sealed next December! This week I got an email from the Millares family, they are doing great also, The dad got the Melchizedek priesthood, and they reminded me that they still have plans to get sealed in September! They are doing so great, I hope I see them when I go to Santa Cruz! 

Everything is going great here with my comp, we get a long great, and we have a lot of fun here! Mom I bought some sweet new shoes of ECCO for 9 dollars in this market place!!! 

Well I'm glad everything is going great for you family, and that this time of Christmas is so joyful! I love you all, and I will be Skyping the 25th at 3 your time if thats ok with you guys! Well love you all! 

Monday December 7, 2015

Well Mom, It has been a crazy week this week...

So to start things off, My comp and I left monday night to go to Santa Cruz, and we got there at six in the morning.. We went to Leadership council. In the council president  told everyone about the miricle we had with the Sister Betancourt, and he just talked about how great Yacuiba is!!!  We had an amazing council about the importance of keeping the sabbath day holy, and wow I think it was just one of the best councils ever! I learned so much.  I understand so much more about the sabbath day!! That day is now so important for me!!! Then we went with some Elders to do divisions in Santa Cruz.  Tuesday night we got on another bus, and came back to Yacuiba!!! We went with all of the Elders in Yacuiba and we went to Villamontes. We got there in the morning and had a great zone meeting then we went and ate lunch and then we had a zone conference with President Willard!!! It was great, we all learned a lot!!! Then on sunday President came to our branch!! It was so great!! After wards president met with Romina Betancourt, and it was so cool!!! 

The mission is going great, It has started to rain a ton here and my comp and I are always drenched, but it's okay, we will take the rain over the heat any day!!!! Well family, I love to hear how great you are all doing, I love you all so much!!!!

Monday November 30, 2015

So to tell you about my week, I think we had the biggest miricle ever this week!!!!. On Tuesday at lunch we were talking with the Betancurt family and we had a lesson with them to start teaching them and get them ready for baptism.  The wife told us that because she is Catholic, she doesn't want to get baptized, but she supports her daughter in the decision. Then in the lesson we asked the girl when does she want to be baptized, and she said this Saturday.  We were a little surprised, but we said ok, and that we will help her so she can get baptized.  Then everyday that week we were teaching her and getting everything ready for her baptism, and she was really excited.  Then Friday she had her baptisimal interview. (her parents were there) and after she finished it we said that we will get everything ready so she can be baptized on Saturday.  And the family left.  My comp and I started cleaning up everything, and like 5 minutes later the mom and dad entered in again, and the mom looked like she had been crying..  She asked us, "What do I need to do to be baptized?" We told that she needs to attend the church one more time, and start reading the BOM and stuff like that.  She told us that she had been reading the BOM everynight this past week, and she had a magazine from the church about temples that she read all the way through..  So my comp and I called President willard and explained the situation, and he said that if she is ready to baptize her. So we called the Elder to come back, he did the interview, and she got baptized with her daughter!!! It was the best!!! The branch was so surprised also, because she had been receiving the missionary lessons for 11 years and never wanted to be baptized... right now they are on there way to the temple, and they are so happy!!!! They already have plans to be sealed in December also!! She has such a strong testimony about being sealed, and that is the thing that she wants more than ever right now! 

Well that was the best thing that happened this week, Now we have a crazy week ahead of us, My comp and I are going to Santa Cruz tonight, for leadership council, and then on Friday we have to get everything ready here, because president willard is coming to Yacuiba to have a zone conference with the Elders here. We are going to be traveling a lot, but its ok. I have learned how to stay entertained on long rides with out an Iphone and Music.... 

 Well family, I love you all a whole bunch, and I hope you are all doing great!!! 

Monday November 23, 2015

Well great week that we had here! We had so many miricles, and it was just so fun!!!! 

So first off this week my comp and I did inter-cambios with the other elders.  I went with an Elder from Arkansas, and he is brand new in the mission. It was a really fun day.  Now I know how missionaries who are training new white kids feel... 

Then my comp and I have been working really hard in our area to try and find new people. We just had a miracle! There is this one guy in our area who is a less active. He and his family live in the house of the members where we eat lunch everyday. Well they are a super nice family, but the wife is Catholic. The guy has been less active for so long that they really didn't want to talk to us, then one day the husband joined us for lunch.  He seemed to have a lot of questions about the 12 tribes of israel, and the importance of all that, and  as it happened to be a topic that I was studying that week, we answered all of his questions, and then without us inviting them, they went to church.  In the gospel doctrine class we talked about the temple, and the importance of it.  After the class they started asking us a lot of questions.  Our branch is going to the temple this next week, and they have been so interested in it, that they decided they want to go, just to see the out side of it.  After church the 10 year old daughter came up to us and said that she wants to be baptized, and her mom too. So this week we are going to go by and start teaching them!!! 

Also this week the whole Rivero family went to church. (the guy who has the drinking problem) and he has not had a drink of beer for 2 weeks now!  He is also progressing really well, we just have to help them get married... 

Well thanks family for all the love, and all the things that you guys do for me!!! I love you all very much!!! I hope you all have a great week!!!! 

Elder Beals lost the battle with a low lying tree branch

Pizza with the Elder from Vilamontes

Monday November 16, 2015

So this has just been like the best week here!!! I love it here!!! This week my comp and I had to take some materials to the Elders in Villamontes, so we decided that we would do exchanges with them while we were there. So I stayed with them for two days, and went on an exchange one day with one companionship, and the other day with the other Elders. It was super fun, Villamontes is a really cool city, the only problem is that it is really hot, and it is huge!!! and there are only four missionaries for the whole city!!! Also while we were there we ate cow head... I'm not a big fan of it.. 

Then I got back with my companion and we have been working super hard together in our area to be able to find new families to teach, and we have been having so many miracles!!! There seems to pop out a familly around ever corner!!! 

The branch that we have here is just so great!!! We have this one that is progressing really well for baptism, but the only problem is that the dad has a really bad problem with drinking, and he is embarresed to go to church... His wife goes everyweek with the kids, and she really wants to be baptized, but for now we are just waiting for the dad to come around.. 

Well family I love you all, and Im so happy for all of you!!! I hope you all have a great week!!! 

Monday November 9, 2015

Well  I have not been able to say that I have had a new area for these last 7 months, but now I finally can!!! I'm in an area that is called, Yacuiba!!!! Its a small little city thats by the border of Argentina. It's kind of like Bermejo, but it's bigger. Im also a Zone Leader here now. My new companions name is Elder Arenas, He is from Peru, and he is just the coolest guy ever!!!! He speaks way good english, and he has like one month more than me in the mission! 

So this week has just been great!!! Monday while I was still in Guapilo there was a soccer tournament in our ward.  Our bishop called president to get us special permission to play in the tournament!  We took second place... Then on Tuesday in the morning they called me and told me that I was going to get transferred, but they didn't know where, that I just need to get my stuff ready. Tuesday night there was an activity and they asked the missionaries to plan it out. So mom we used the activity from Bom journey, and did the Iron rod, and it was so great!!! We had the bishop, and another guy just tempting everyone to let go of the rope, and we had tons of obstacles!! its was so great!!! Then at the very end the bishop told everyone that I was getting transferred.  It was really hard to say goodbye to everyone. They all wanted to take pictures, and I felt famous for a little, so many pictures were taken!!! 

  

Then we had leadership council all day Wednesday and Thursday. It was great, President always helps me to find new things, and to be a better person!! Then Thursday night my companion and I got on a bus, and we had an 8 hour bus ride all night here to Yacuiba... Then friday morning the elders from a little town called Villamontes, called us and said they need a baptismal interview for there investigator.  So my comp and I got in a van, and drove two hours, gave the interview and drove back.... haha we have been traveling a lot! 

The Branch that I am in is great!! They love the missionaries a lot here, and really rely on them. I'm really excited to start serving them!!! 

Well that's how my week has been, love you family!!! 

Monday November 2, 2015

Well it was a great fun, and hot week this week! So there was a huge heat wave that came in this week, and we were practically dying... Then the rain came in yesterday, and it has not stopped raining since... 

This week my comp and I were contacting this one area. and we saw a family sitting outside, so we went up and contacted them, they seemed very happy to see us also, and let us come it. As we were talking with them. the wife told us that before she lived in Cochabamba, and she helped on the outside contruction design of the temple. She said the missionaries taught them there, and that when they moved to Santa Cruz they lost contact with the church. Her whole family is members, and her brother was even sealed in the temple. They accepted baptism, and said they have always been waiting for the missionaries to come back and find them, and now we did!!! They are super great. and I'm excited to teach them. (if I dont get transferred this wednesday)

I'm sending you a picture of an old man named Brother Peña. He is just the coolest guy ever, he was even the first bishop in Bolivia, and the 2nd stake president! After that he was a counselor to the mission president for 6 different presidents.. Then he was a patriarch, and now he is our ward mission leader! He is the coolest man ever, and he has the strongest testimony!!!!