Guatemala City South

 Hey mom, wow thanks for that great email. i really loved hearing that and it really hit me alot. (yesterday in church was nice - i bore my testimony - it has been awhile - i have had such a problem standing up - me knee clicks and hurts like crazy it takes me a minute to stablize myself - but i'm on this new medicine and it is helping - so i decided that pride was preventing me from getting up and sharing my testimony - anyway i got up and talked about you (of course) about how elders cannon and montgomery were great mentors and now you are a mentor to youth in guate and how it goes on and on - sister magda is a great mentor to you and me and we can take the example and be great members of the church.  I love what bishop cook said that sis barrett said at girls camp - because of the fires they had to re-route and they went to snowflake - they hiked 11 miles to the temple and then did baptism and talked about standing in proxy - sis barrett then commented on the ULITIMATE proxy was when the SAVIOR stood in proxy for each of us during the ATONEMENT.  Doesn't that just make the atonement become more clear and personal to you.  It did me.  I want to REMEMBER that - "The SAVIOR stood in PROXY for ME and suffered the things I would personally do - because He loved me soooo much".)
First off i just wanted to say happy 4th of july.

 it was funny today for our pday we played baseball and we all sang the national anthem. im so dumb though i didnt pull my camera out. so i didnt get it but next year i´ll record it. but it was really neat. i just cant even express how much i love the states. the freedom that we have and all the things that we have been given is just something no other country can have. i love this country here in guatemala and i absoutely love the people. but in all honesty i love america and the safety we have there and all the blessings we have. but there is always something we can learn from the two countries and from every single person who is in this world. but anyways well i better get to my week. i dont have much time left. by the way. our new president is pretty strict. for the moment we cant do chat so we will have to be talking through this email system but we´ll see what happens in december for the call home. i still think i´ll be able to use skype. i still havent met him yet but really soon i think i will get to meet him. it is so weird, i have a president i dont even know, and it is just weird to me that president alvarado isnt here. but yeah ok here is my week.

Monday - so last monday was my last day with elder alfaro. and it was a pretty good day. all we did was go to the church and played sports for a little bit. i played risk again and it was fun, then after we went to our favorite place where we ate at mira flores and it was super good. i had a sub sanwich from subway and it was super good. haha but as i was eating i accidently dropped a little bit of meat down my shirt so that was funny. haha i went that whole day with that stain. haha. but yeah so after that we headed back where we went with our mission leader hermano erik and elder alfaro said bye to him for the last time. and that was pretty much our monday. my last day with him so i was a little happy. i was just so ready to move on to the next change and get things going in this area. so yeah. haha

tuesday - So tuesday in the morning we went to the changes in montifer and there i saw a bunch of my friends. in which one of my bestest friends elder erickson came to my zone so i was really happy about that.

and it was really weird. president alvarado came without his plaque. it was weird to see him like that. but president stay couldnt come because he had to deal with someother stuff in training so we still havent met him. but i did happen to get one last pic with president alvarado and he gave me some really nice last words that i loved. he just thanked me a lot for all the stuff i have done and encouraged me to stay strong in the mission and work hard until the end. it was really nice.

so now the moment you all have been waiting on. My new companion. his name is Elder Maybe. he is a really cool guy and is from california. he tells me he lives like 15mins from redlands and is from a town called riverside california. just a really cool and nice guy. he used to be a zone leader before so we are going to be working really hard here. after changes though we went to kfc to eat and it was good. so after all that we returned to the area and we just went with a couple members so that elder maybe could meet them and they all welcomed him really well. they were happy to see two gringos here now and that we are ready to work hard and tear up this area which is what were going to do. but that was our tuesday.

Wednesday - haha, so on this day in the morning we almost died, ha, we went to visit this one guy to ask if we could press service in his colony but as we went there, this huge satan black dog came and attacked us. it was funny, it got a hold of my backpack and then my comp hit it with his backpack so then the dog got pissed at him and started attacking him. but then one of the guys came out and whistled the dog in to save us. haha. but yeah then we went and just  visited a couple other members and we also went and visit one reference that we have. her name is anna ordenez. she is a really cool lady who is like 60 years old but is super nice and really receptive. she is baptist which were finding out is almost like being a mormon so it is interesting to teach her. but we´ll see what happens. but yeah it went really well. then i got really sick that night and had helicopter. its where you have diarrhea and your throwing up at the same time. but yeah. after that i felt better. but that was our wednesday.

Thursday - So on thursday we went and visited a couple people again and went and talked with the bishop a little so he could get to know my comp as well. then we just went contacting pretty much the whole day and it was really funny. we found some really interesting people who just acted a little weird with us but then out of no where it started raining really hard. it stunk but we were let in by this one guy who was a really nice guy. we just stayed there until the rain passed over then we were on our way. then we went to this one families house where we had a fhe with them and it went really well. we taught this lady who is a member and the husband who isnt. and we taught about the family and they loved it. but anyways that was pretty much our thursday.

Friday - so on friday we went contacting again and it went alright. really interesting people again. haha there was, this one older lady who we were telling her about how cool the church was and all the stuff that we did and she loved it. she just kept saying how it is so great the things that we do and was happy that there are people like us out here. i kept telling her she needed to come to church but she says that her husband cant leave his bed so she cant come but maybe one day we will get her to come. then there were some other people and they were funny too. then we had another fhe with this family and we taught about forgiveness. it went really well and we had a fun time with them. then we went with the family reyes, or latina crystal and we taught them the first lesson and they loved it. we needed practice so it was good practice and it was good for their testimonies. but yeah it was a good day.

Saturday - saturday was a really really good day. we just went to the market to look for a mirror and while we were there, so then we walked behind the market and we found this trail. so we followed the trail and it went to a little place that we found out is apart of our area. it is a really humble area and i forgot how much i missed that. i love that type of living. the people are really nice and so much more receptive. it was sweet. we got into a ton more houses then we normally get into and we found some new investigators so it will be good. but yeah. then we went and taught our english class which i must say is so much easier with a comp that knows english. and then we went to my convert jenifers house and visited with her. it went well and we taught about fasting and why we do it. here in guate the area presidency asked all members and missionaries to fast for the security of guatemala and for central america. so who knows what is going on but we had a continent wide fast for us so that will be cool and assuring. but yeah. it was a good day on saturday.

Sunday - so on sunday we just went to church and it went good. my comp had to pray and direct the music his first sunday and it was funny. haha then after church we went and had our monthly meeting with the bishop and informed him of our plans and where we currently stand and how we are going to be better in our work. he really has a lot of trust in us and it makes me happy to see that. so that was good. then in the afternoon we went on divisions with some of the youth and it went well. i went with one kid and taught our investigator dany and he liked the lesson we taught. then we went and visited with one family and had dinner with them and taught them about prophets. it went well and really helped my testimony. but yeah sunday was a good day.

So sorry this letter may be a little short. but we are being limited on time now. only 1 hour and no chat for the moment. but i am doing good an i am losing myself in the work here. i love the mission and i feel like this change is going to be really good and a lot better. we are going to have a lot of success and good fun things will happen. lately i have been studying about the atonement and the importance of it and i love that topic. it is so cool. without it we really cant be saved. it takes an imperfect person and a perfect person and makes them one. it is amazing that God would have enough love for us to do such a thing. but yeah i love this church and this gospel and president thomas s monson. i know he is a true prophet of god and im glad to have a family like you guys. i love you guys. its a good bunch that im happy to be around for eternity so yeah. haha well i love you all and miss you tons and i´ll talk to you next week.

Love elder shipley