May 22nd

Her Zone won the cleanest apartment contest so they got a lunch made by the Mission Pres wife.  This picture was posted on their blog




hello family. So this last week was ok...kind of disappointing. our baptism fell through. They're still drinking coffee so that sucked but we gave them this stuff that's called morcaf and took away their coffee last night haha. We moved their date to this weekend so hopefully they'll be ready for that. The wife is but the husband doesn't think he is. 


I asked about the volcano that has been in the news up here because it was erupting in Guatemala.  The volcano didn't erupt.  This is the first I'm hearing about lava haha but yeah it ALWAYS is steaming and stuff. 


So we had a lesson with this family called the "Ps". The wife is super pilas but the husband is SUPER catholic. He looks nerdy but I think he beats her. Anyway it was only the second time we had been able to teach with her husband there and when we walked in she looked scared and was like shaking her head and stuff and so Hna. Manzanares was like we're gong to sing a hymn...cuando hay amor (love at home) haha. So we taught the gospel of Jesus Christ lesson about faith, repentance, baptism, holy ghost, and enduring to the end and when we got to repentance she let loose!! She was looking at her husband then and saying "when you repent in means you never do it again not just say sorry and do it over and over again". So there's something going on there. and then she said I can tell you guys have the spirit of God with you but I can't say the same thing with us. When we invited them to church the husband said no we're gonna die catholic and she said I have my own body and make my own decisions so I want to go but then she didn't show up and we asked and she was having problems with her husband. 


Yesterday I went to the dentist and got my tooth fixed. Hna.M and I have both had the cold this week :(

Tueday, May 15th emails

Tuesday’s emails pieced together:

We rode the bus to our meeting yesterday. It was really cool to have Elder Amado come speak to us...now I´m going to pray for our next conference to be with Pres. Monson!! haha Tomorrow we have interviews and I get all my letters!! The assistants said I have like 40 dearelders so thank you :)  I love that!  I just can't wait to get them now! Yesterday we woke up at 5 to get to our conference so I was REALLY tired, but I'm so glad I got to talk to you guys!  That was the best thing ever.

Brian commented that her companion seemed really nice and said he hoped she was treating her good

Of course I treat her good! She is really nice and helpful..I did find out though that I am talking WAY more than I should be in my first transfer.  She makes me actually teach when everyone else says they just bare their testimonies. I guess that’s good though because I am learning faster.  Hna. Manzanares says my Spanish is a lot better than some of the white kids that have been here for a while.

Brian asked about her mission president having a Star Valley, WY connection

THANK YOU FOR REMINDING ME!!! He was at the conference with E. Amado yesterday and I asked and he said YES!! But he was walking out when I got a chance to talk to him. I said we'd talk more about it tomorrow at the interview.

Well Its about that time :( I will “talk” to you in a week! I love you both more than you will ever know! Thanks for everything! LOVE YOU!!

Carolyn and Hermana Gifford (sister from CCM who's from Montana)

Missionaries on P day

Mother's Day Call

Mother’s Day 

Talking to Carolyn was GREAT on Mother’s Day.  She seems to be happy and doing better… adjusting to life in a third world country and missionary work.  This week they will get to go listen to Elder Amado of the Seventy on Monday at a conference, have P day on Tuesday and Wednesday they have interviews with the Mission President.  She will get all her mail (Dear Elders) on Wednesday and she is very excited because the mission office staff told her she had a ton waiting for her!  (“Keep them coming!” – her words!)   I had a full page of questions to ask her and so I got pretty much all my questions answered, finally!  They live in the guest house of a family who is from Guatemala, but they currently live in Utah.  They are thinking of using the main house for the church meeting house since they could not pay the rent of where they were meeting and now the members have to travel 20 minutes by bus to get to the church in Antigua to hold their meetings.  This is a financial hardship on many of them.  So, if they decide to bring the branch back to San Pedro las Huertas, and use the house, Carolyn and her companion will have to move out, because they cannot live on the same property as the meeting house.  (Seems like a perfect place for them to live to me)  Then they would have to find someplace else to live.  Right now they are one of only a few companionships that have a kitchen and cook for themselves.  That is a huge blessing in a country like that!

A fun thing was that we got to speak with her companion, who is going home soon.  We wished her a HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY.  She was like “what do you mean?”.  Well they call their first companion/trainer their “MOM” (“DAD” for elders) and so when we started saying that she was all happy and said, “Oh si, si!  Es mi dia tambien!” (yes, it’s my day too!).  It was really cute.  Carolyn said she spoke to her dad.  She is an only member convert in her family, but she is excited to go home soon. 

Then Brian asked her to speak to us in Spanish.  She has always understood everything we said to her in Spanish, but she would never reply in Spanish, only English, so she gave us the beginning of the first discussion in Spanish.  Man!  That girl can speak Spanish!!! 

She told us about the families that she is teaching.  She is hoping to have a baptism this week, but the husband is kind of unsure still, but then his mother started coming to the discussions and is very interested!

Well, it was really fun and too long until Christmas day, but I’m sure it will come fast!

May 8, 2012

So this week was good and bad like all of them haha.  On Friday we went into the capital for a meeting that only the new kids go to for the 12 Week program so that was good to see everyone. Pres. told the asistants not to bring mail that day so thats why I didn´t get any. 


Saturday we taught the Familia S  and gave them fecha fijas for baptism 19 mayo!! WOOHOO Hopefully they don't fall through. They are awesome people!   Pray for familia S, Mama Linda (she´s a long story for another day haha), and Hno. V ...his family is converted but he is not yet!! Their dad needs the preisthood!! haha  


Sunday was Fast Sunday and I bore my testimony so I´ve talked in church 3 times in 3 weeks. Also Antigua has a piano and I tried to play....yeah that went pretty bad haha I´ll learn how. 


Yesterday we went to some ruins in Techpan for our zone pday...that was fun. Kind of dumb though...I wanted a full on Mayan temple! haha But it was still fun.That´s about it. 


We get mail on Wednesday becasue we have intrevistas. The asistants said I have a mountain of mail...KEEP IT COMING! haha

Making tortillas in a members home

So here are her answers to all my questions that I sent her.  My questions are in purple and her answers are in black: 

Did you ever get to meet the elder from Etna?  Elder Crook?

NOT YET I´LL LOOK FOR HIM 

Do you need any flea collars or Insect repellent where you are?

I´m good they give us flea juice and repelant   

So where is your companion from?  

Nicuragua I told you last time!!    

Were there always missionaries in your area?  

There have been missionaries in my area for a long time 

Ian said you live in the guest house of a family from Utah.  They are from Utah and they don't have hot water in the house?  

Well she lives in Utah right now but shes Latina 

I still don't know where  you eat.  Do you cook or eat out somewhere? 

We cook all of our food, we´re one of the only companionships without a cocinera 

What is the name of your street?  

San Pedro las Altas. the first house right inside the Garita  

Did they dissolve your Branch and combine it with one in Antigua or do you just meet in the same place in Antigua but still have your San Pedro las Huertas branch?

Same branch we just go to Antigua 

 Do you meet in a church building in Antigua or just rent a space somewhere?

It´s an actual building. 

I heard that you pretty much stay in the same area for 6 months in that mission.  Is that correct, as far as you know? 

I hope not!! It´s possible though. The norm for hmnas is 4 months but since my mom is leavin and I get a new one I might be leaving after 3

Member kids  

How far are you from Guatemala City?

depends on who´s driving haha it took 1hour with the Gainors (the Canadians that live there)

How often will you go there for your meetings?

every 6 weeks for cambios..that´s it 

Do you know when you will have Zone Conferences  or Temple trips?

ZC are everyother cambio and Temple I can go onece every 6 months..only smetimes they have super pday´s where we all go as a mission to the temple 

Temple Ruins in Techpan

Missionaries on Pday in Techpan

Missionaries by Techpan

Antigua, Guatemala

Tour of CCM

Fotos from CCM

The District in the CCM (MTC)

The CCM Pres and wife - The Nicolaysens

Carolyn and Hna Muhlestein

The Nortes Districts

May Day, 2012

So this week! one of my molars is chipped so I need to go to the dentist.  


We teach a ton. We have a couple families that are really receptive and they came to church on Sunday so that was really cool. We are going to have to start coming down to AntIgua for church  because we can't pay the rent on the builing because not enough people pay tithing or something...they just really don't have anything to pay. 


The Volcano is inactive..I made a really stupid joke about reactivating it since we're missionaries haha..


Anyway I sent a letter with a two SD cards in it so you should be getting that soon. I sent it with a lady that went to SL to see her family so I hope she remembered to send it to you!!  (SHE HASN'T!)  I'm sending you a package soon too. In the next package I would like some Burts Bees chapstick the peppermint kind and some kit kats :) haha also MOMMMA I haven't been biting my nails! haha Set a manicure appointment for July 2013 haha... 


So on Sunday I made a calendar of all the months..There isn't a cambio in August so If I want to be back in time for school it's July 24.. if not its September like 13 or something.  July sounds better :) haha   Also I still want lots of dearelders even though I can't recieve them all the time. Anyway this week has been really like a rollercoaster, one day would be really good and then the next would be terrible and then good and then bad..so that kind of stunk but I guess thats missionary work haha.  On Sunday we spoke in church because it was  the 5th sunday and it was about missionary work. that went ok haha.   Then we went and visited with the Canadians ( they are awesome! It was really nice to speak english :) 


Send me info on the Star Valley Temple if you get any!  


Yesterday we came nto antigua for Pday and shopped a little. DAD what do you want for your birthday? I cant figure out anything to get you haha.  


These are her answers to my questions:  Yes I downloaded the pictures you sent.  We get an hour on Tuesdays, District meetings every week in Antigua, We have a lady do our laundry but she's not LDS so we do our whites. Tell Kyler I say congradulations!! 


Love you!

So this is Sharon now.  After emailing back and forth on Tuesday about the Mother's Day call - we are going to use the couple from Canada's cell phone.  It's free!  I got a call on my phone that night.  The man said, "Hermana Brown?"  I said, "this is Sharon Brown".  He said "This is Ian, I live a couple blocks from your daughter down her in Guatemala!"  We talked for quite a little while about Guatemala and all.  He and his wife live down there, but he flies back to Utah once a month for work for a week!  So, Mike will be meeting up with him this week to give him a package to take down to her.  Too easy, right?  Sorry I was soo late in getting this posted.  I've been really busy with the last wee of school.  I should be posting again tomorrow!