I don`t like people playing with my emotions.

This week was a pretty exciting week, a little laid back in other cases but still good. I get up at 6:30 to work out, it`s gotten to the point where I havn`t had much need to set an alarm, because whenever I do I wake up one minute before it goes of and get annoyed at it. Elder Cummings on the other hand has gotten into the habit of sleeping in a little bit, hehe, I havn`t really stopped him from doing so, so I uess it`s a bit on me as well.

The news with Wilson is that we havn`t been able to meet with him because he`s having this whole thing to `celebrate` the death of his grandma I believe, so he asked us to hold of coming over for a bit, not that he doesn`t want to continue investigating, but just to respect his guests. He loves the missionaries and the Book of Mormon, he`s probably past Alma by now, he reads so much, but still hasn`t come to church. Oh well, the chapel in La Tinta is said to have about three weeks left, that`ll be a good help for us in La Tinta. Investigators need to go to church three times before they are baptized.

The baptism of Christian Estevan Sanchez Martinez went really well and he was dunked and engulfed in flames. (That is to say, baptized by fire. If you really don`t know what I`m referring to go read scriptures)  The funny thing is we actually didn`t plan to well before it and planned most of it while at the baptism while everyone was sitting down, the turn out was more than Estefany`s and just as spiritual, in fact Estefany gave a powerful talk about her own experience just two weeks before.  Elder Lopez did the dunking this time as requested by Christian.

We road around in Tuk-tuk`s a bit more, they`re like little three wheeled taxi`s, most of them are red but there is a yellow one that I believe is very special, we got to ride in that one.

I actually lost the phone for a day, we had a lesson with Sophia and I left it there on accident, because I used the flashlight on it to sing the himn and didn`t realized I didn`t put it back into my pocket afterward, we got it back the next day with no troubles.

No mail this week as we don`t have any event that merits someone taking the pouch from the mission home to us, but in two weeks we will have another zone meeting and I`ll get mail then.

Now you`re probably wondering about changes, (or transfers as they aren`t called here) I have an interesting story with this one, so we receive a call to say who`s staying and who`s going Saturday night, and then Sunday night we find out where we`re going and who are new companion will be.

So on Saturday night we received a call, I`m of course thinking of being changed into the mountains where I`ll learn Q`eqchi and all that. We were told that Elder Cummings was going and I was staying, much to are confusion, why would he go, he only has one change here and I have three!? Well.... That`s that, now my mind turns to more of who my new companion is going to be.

Sunday after church I start cleaning parts of the house while Elder Cummings starts to do some packing, then we get another call from Elder Bobadilla, (district leader) they had been told wrong, I`m leaving and he`s staying!

Where?

To Kanlun, my companion will be Elder Barker!  Kanlun is by El Estor.  More details next week.

I`m still in La Tinta right now, but I`ll be heading off to Kanlun and by Wednesday be there. We`re really excited. I will miss La Tinta though.

That`s all I have for this week, Elder Cummings` new companion will be District leader, Elder Morris.

Pictures won't upload this week.

Thank you all for your support,

Nekexinra

Elder Norte

Reference week I guess.

Date:  May 19, 2014

Area:  Lat Tinta, Guatemala

Companion:  Elder Cummings from Idaho

Week 22

This week started it out kind of normal I guess, but throughout the week we got so many references, 6 references received and we contacted 3, if that seems low to some of those return missionaries, well tough, I`m in the mountains and this was awesome. References are just great as they are usually people who are going to progress a lot faster and be led to be dunked sooner. Speaking of dunking, we have another baptism planned now for this upcoming Saturday, I`m all about the fast baptisms lately.

His name is Christian and he`s already been taught everything by Elder Moberly, but he moved before they put a date and so we get the baptism, HA. We haven`t been able to teach his Mom, but Elder Moberly said that she was ready for the waters as well.

With Wilson we have not asked him to baptism, I thought about it, but I really want to do that after he`s attended church once, but he`s still awesome, but we`re not going to be visiting him this week because he has things to do, but we will call him periodically to check up on him.

The references we contacted this week we`ll really be starting to teach this week, so we`ll see how it goes, good prospects though.

With Estefany`s family, her mother and sister are now interested in learning more about this church, we should start teaching them this week as well, not sure why we didn`t this past week, but things go by quickly.

We had Zone meeting this week which means that we get mail! I got three from Grandma Mary, (love the puns)

Three from Sister Rowan Barnson

One from Grandparents North

One From Mom,

One from Karoline,

And one from Jessy

I think that covers all of them, I have a folder of all the letters I`ve received and it`s kind of completly full to bursting, I`m going to find something to do with them.

ANTS

Some adventures that I had this week, some of our appointments feel one day, so we decided to go explore a part of town that we havn`t quite been in that is part of our area, so off we go, we find river stuff, anthills and an abandoned house, more or less just concrete walls. In said house I took a picture of a big leaf as big as my face, but this isn`t a big leaf at all here, that`s a normal leaf, I got a picture later of a bit leaf, I`ll leave it to Mom to sort out which is which in the pictures I send her.

Our multi Zone conference was held in Chulac, a very beautiful place that wish to go to, if you think the pictures I have of La Tinta are great, well, there`s much more beauty to be had in the mountains instead of in the vally surrounded by the mountains. (A note on Chulac, I was forgetting the name, but then I had a memory about Shrek, where they have the little booth that says Dulac... Or whatever the place is called, is a perfect place, but only I say Chulac)

abandoned house

Market not on market day

It rains more for sure, but no problems with leakage, we don`t swim here.
The mosquitoes are a constant annoyance, not a lot, just enough that I always have itchy feet.
There have been accounts of bed bugs, I havn`t had to deal with them yet, but we`ll see what experiences come my way.

I learned great things in Q`eqchi` this week, the most notable is that in order to say `to kiss` you say `to suck face` .... Yeah, it`s funny, Q`eqchi` does that.

Next time I send an email I`ll know if I`m being transferred and if so who my new companion is. I find it funny that those in the states don`t know until the last second who they`re going to be with. I find out early, part of being in the mountains.

I love you all, Pray always as I got advice from my Mom to do,

Elder White String,

Spaghetti with cheese, sauce, and garlic sauce - one of my favorite meals

Laj Saqi Noq`

Elder North would love to hear from you. Check out his blog for all the details on how to write him.  

elderjernorth.blogspot.com

Two sides of the Chicken Express sign

Keep your light so shining.

Date: May 12, 2014
Area:  La Tinta, Guatemala
Companion:  Elder Cummings from Idaho
Week 21

Me and Elder Barker

If you`re wondering about the title of this weeks e-mail, well, it`s not based off of any experience this week really, but just a remember to keep your light so shining. Also one of the most important lessons I`ve learned from my Dad has kept in memory since he told it to me. Which is the object lesson when Jesus explains that one wouldn`t hide his candle under a bushel when he needs light. We need to therefore let our lights so shine for us to see and for others to see as well.

So, no mail this week, but that`s fine, we`re going to have a zone meeting this coming Thursday which means that we will receive mail! Whoo! This week started standardly, not really too much exciting to say, so I`ll take the time right now to update on some of our more prominent investigators, that is to say, two.

First up we have Aroldo, now... We aren`t actually teaching him anymore as of yesterday because he left to work somewhere else and will not return for a month so I hear, it`s sad, but the man wasn`t progressing, for two reasons. One, he wasn`t praying, and second, he wasn`t coming to church, but he is smart and with his information in our area book he shall be taught again.

Second is Wilson. Oh man! We love this guy, not just for the fact that he invited us to have some dinner consisting of something called Pachay, which is more or less chicken with a certain seasoning that was great, but this man loves the Book of Mormon and is telling us that he`s reading 10 chapters a night, and he really is. We also gave him a book of Mormon to give to his brother, and he loves it too! Soon. Oh so soon we`ll be asking him to baptism and placing a date for him.

On Thursday of this week we had a multi-zone conference, where we got together as three zones and listened to Elder Ochoa of the seventy, out of our three zones there are only one pair of sister missionaries, so it was about sixty elders and two sisters. This isn`t because sister missionaries don`t exist, they just don`t send them to the Polochic because it is a bit more dangerous, not really any more dangerous than any other place but then it`s compounded with the fact that you`re hours away from the mission home and good facilities.  Elder Ochoa talked to us about faith unto repentance, he`s a very happy and fun guy, I really enjoyed my time at this conference.

Next major event this week was a Baptism!!! The baptism of Estefanya Ecrigèl Arruè Megchùn, and I was the one to preform the baptism. The services were great and although only about 15 people were there the people that mattered were there, namely her non-member mother and sister, her very best friend that has helped us a lot Sister Dora and her 7 year old son and a few others.  The service was supposed to start at 4, but ended up starting half an hour later, people are late here, but it`s not late, it`s actually on time. It still kind of irks me, but I`m used to it.  I`m not sure if they do anything special afterward, much to my knowledge they don`t do too much, I am sure they got together and had a nice dinner. The spirit in the services was incredibly strong, I hope to help more people feel it.

Estefanya Ecrigèl Arruè Megchùn and Elder North

At the time of the baptism there was nobody here.

Another thing that happened this week was a very large storm. As I put it, ¨I thought I knew rain.¨ It rains hard here and then if there`s lightning you can expect there to be the shake you to your bones kind of booms. I love it though, not the best for teaching as you can`t hear much.

There was also Mother`s day! But do I really have to mention too much about that, every family with a missionary out should know. Well, we had a nice chat, I really enjoyed the start where I surprised Dad a little with more Spanish skills, it was a joy to hear the voices of my family, something interesting though, I got to hear the voice of my little brother Zane, for whatever reason this was just very special and I give a special thanks and I love you to that wonderful brother. He`s also sounding better with pronunciation. Keep it up Bro.

This week will be awesome, why, because like all other awesome weeks we get to learn and move forward. With a few bumps in the road, but still, let your light so shine.

Elder Jered Lamont North, Laj Saqi Noq` , Elder Norte

Elder North loves mail, it takes awhile to get to him so get a letter in the mail today or use dearelder.  It's free!

Elder Jered North
Guatemala Cobán Mission
Apartado Postal #34
3ra Calle 2-02, Zona 3
Cobán AV 16001
Guatemala, Central America

It costs $1.15 to mail a letter to him. You can use regular envelops and stamps just make sure they equal $1.15. If it weights more than a regular letter you should take it to the post office to have it weighed.

OR

Use Dear Elder (www.dearelder.com)

its Free to my mission. Just got to

dearelder.com, create an account

and it will track the letters you send

so you can go back and view them.

On the drop down menu just put in

Guatemala Cobán Mission and then

address it to Elder Jered North.

They get mailed out once a week.

This will be the best way to contact

me since I don't have that much

time on e-mail each week.

Surprises!

Date:  May 5, 2014

Area:  La Tinta, Guatemala

Companion:  Elder Cummings from Idaho

Week 20

In looking at the title of today's weekly report, well, I got only a couple of surprises today that I will be listing later. 

First off, letters I recieved:

Bethany Blackham,
Caice South 

Mom

So a bit about this week, we have all these new people we found in the last week that we`re pretty excited to start teaching, some as it turns out are not going to progress faster than others, but that`s how it is, and we as missionaries can`t just say, ¨We`ll that problem is something we don`t want to deal with.¨ Never give up, Never surrender. God has not and will not give up trying to help every one of us progress in this life so we as missionaries should not give up on any of the investigators, although there are times where dropping an investigator is valid.

I believe it was Wednesday, but regardless, we had the biggest rainstorm I have ever experienced here, it lasted for probably 4 hours and it rained HARD! The very good news about this is that our roof is fixed and we were not swimming, besides, swimming is against the rules of the mission.

For the next two days we experienced very cloudy days where we didn`t get to see blue sky, one of these days was the day I finally think I found out what 100 percent humidity is, and let`s say that it`s not that pleasant. I was thinking, well it`s cloudy so it`s not going to be too hot. Nope, very hot, lots of sweat. The next day was just as cloudy, but not as humid. I came to the realization that most of the humidity is in cause of not a lot of wind here. The best weather for me here is before a storm, where there`s a lot of wind and it makes the air better. More brisk and crisp I would say.

An update on some of our investigators, we were able to finally meet with Wilson, and he had questions for us, surprisingly for me his questions weren`t directed at the restoration, but more about the second coming, so I`ve been studying that lately to better answer his questions more, and it`s a very interesting topic that at times you find out that it`s one of those events too grand for our mortal minds to even manage.

Another one of our investigators Aroldo, has been great for me, because I have seen how much the

spirit has worked on this man, although he is still being stubborn about coming to church. His demeanor has softened and he is understanding and accepting doctrines and concepts so much faster and willingly. He is progressing, and we hope to get him to church this coming week.

So, I know I`m writing a bit later than usual, and this is because today we went to Tactic, which is a fantastic place to visit, it`s not as big as Cobàn, but it is deffinately bigger than La Tinta, and upon visiting I wouldn`t mind staying in one of the hotels there, where as the Hotel here in La Tinta I would think there would be better places to abide. In this trip several pictures were taken. Uploading is hit or miss sometimes though, I`m almost ready to just send a memory card home though, that should be fun for those at home to see.

On to the surprises. 

Surprise Number 1: Our investigator Estefany has accepted to be baptized at last, we found this out yesterday and she will be getting baptized the following Saturday, which is to say the 10th. I`ve heard that a Sister Barnson has had a similar experience. Estefany has chosen me to do the baptism which will be the first baptism I will be the performer of. This has been an awesome experience that I look forward to with anticipation, and a bit of worry as there are things to do and not too much time to do them, but we shall get it done!

Surprise Number 2: I got a call from my Zone Leader, Elder Hill to see what`s up and just how I`m doing, because he`s just an awesome guy! He told about how my mother, whom most of you know well, has been sending letters to more than just me. Honestly not too big of a surprise but I liked it.

This week we will get the opportunity to listen to Elder Ochoa of the Seventy on Thursday at about noon if you really want specifics on what I`m doing. We`re all to prepare a short talk as he`s going to choose a few people to share them before giving his talk, it`s going to be awesome, also I will be receiving my Banuu li us ring, which is, choose the right, in Q`eqchi`, so pictures of that will come next week.

I was able to get money out of my account, I just do it slightly differently than with my mission card with how the account is set up. I took out a total of 500 quetzales, which I will probably be using throughout a period of months or more.

I use my backpack, the shoulder bag is fine, it dosen`t hold as much, but it is terrible for this part of

the mission where you`re in the mountains and such, if I was in a place like Tactic I would probably be using the shoulder bag, but really all of the Elders (at least in my area) Use backpacks.
The smaller bathroom items and such I did use, because it contains all the essentials I need all put together already and I can put it into the backpack by simply picking it up and putting it in. All in all what we packed was great, although maybe hold back on a few of the snacks, those take space, although still very much appreciated and perhaps not worry about having twenty four hangers.

If you can remember the razor you got me for shaving, the one with the extra heads and such, that`s perfect and will probably last a missionary the whole mission unless his hair destroys the razors very quickly.

For mother`s day the times that Elder Cummings parents will be able to call him are from 2-5 p.m and the time that you can call me are from 6-9 p.m. The calls we expect to last a little over an hour, but we`re planning for a little bit more time so that unexpected technical difficulties won`t be too much of a problem.

Investigators are progressing, new investigators are being found, Elders are getting tired but then they sleep and get up to work again, and Elders are happy.

Thank you all for your prayers and your testimonies in your letters to me and for sharing what`s going on back at home.

LOVE,
Elder Jered Norte

Elder North loves getting mail and you can send him mail for free by using dearelder.  So pick a way and send him something today!

Elder Jered North
Guatemala Cobán Mission
Apartado Postal #34
3ra Calle 2-02, Zona 3
Cobán AV 16001
Guatemala, Central America

It costs $1.15 to mail a letter to him. You can use regular envelops and stamps just make sure they equal $1.15. If it weights more than a regular letter you should take it to the post office to have it weighed.

OR

Use Dear Elder (www.dearelder.com) its Free to my mission. Just got to dearelder.com, create an account and it will track the letters you sendso you can go back and view them.  On the drop down menu just put inGuatemala Cobán Mission and thenaddress it to Elder Jered North. They get mailed out once a week. This will be the best way to contactme since I don't have that much time on e-mail each week.

 

Some days are good, some days are worse, some days you get kicked by a drunk.

Date:  April 28

One of the natives

, 2014

Area:  La Tinta, Guatemala

Companion:  Elder Cummings from Idaho

Week 19

The title of today`s email comes from just the week in general, some days were good, meaning that we had a normal day of walking out in the sun and finding new people to teach, and then other days are worse where all, and I do mean all, of our appointments fall through, but don`t get down on oneself, because life and the work moves on.

So, in more detail, we found a lot of new people that I`m getting pretty excited to teach as one, named Wilson, said that he had a lot of questions and we only left him the pamphlet about the restoration and he doesn`t have a Book of Mormon yet, but when we went for the appointment he wasn`t there. That was a bummer.
Another one of our new investigators really likes saying yes, after everything we say he says something to the effect of yes, and then we ask a question and he says yes, we then repeat the question so that he knows that it`s actually a question and that he needs to respond instead of just listening, but he is understanding some of the things we teach and not simply answering without listening.

Another native

Two days this week all of our appointments feel, we filled the time by then visiting some members or finding new people, but it was very depressing for me. I`ve been feeling the more weight of this out of having to plan and do more of the responsiblities, but we`re doing great and we keep going, things will move to be better and tomorrow`s always a new day with new opprotunities and we can say we did what we could, we just need to try again.

Now about getting kicked by a drunk, yesterday, Sunday, one of our members organized nearly half of our branch to visit with one of our investigators to encourage him and support him, so I believe he`s going to be progressing a little bit more, it`s nice because I can feel that the spirit is working on this man.
Anyway, after one of our members bought some soda to share with us and this drunk came down from his house and saw the bottle of soda, he apparently didn`t like it and tried to hit it out the hands of brother Hernesto, his sons I believe came down and started dragging him away and he kicked out hitting me in the leg, not hard though.

That`s a problem here, drinking, one can encounter a drunk wherever and whenever. We don`t have many people smoking though, so I`ve had an encounter with a drunk almost everyday this week, they just like talking to us for some reason spouting out the limited knowledge they know of religion. Because although drunk, everyone knows a bit about God or religion. They`re not a problem, we just listen for a little to not offend them and walk away.

And a few more

Today I did get some letters, from Mom, Jessy, Grandma Mary and Julie Barnson, all I believe were from late March.

We did get some good news Satuday, one of our investigators Estefany, formally known in my mind as Stephanie may be thinking of getting baptized, she`s been ready for a while, but has only needed to make the decision to get dunked, we`ll see if we can put a date for her Wednesday as we didn`t get the chance to talk to her Sunday because she stayed home sick, I did call her to see how she was doing, and besides being sick, she`s doing well.

As for my Kekchi, it`s progressing a bit faster than before because I need to do all the talking in Kekchi and although I can`t say too much past greetings, introductions and other small bits I am focused more on studying as I need to start talking about more with these people.

Beautiful area - This is a Catholic Church on the hill

The weather here is still hot, but in mid May people say that the rain should be starting and that it should be getting colder, the bugs aren`t too bad, just a few mosquitos, we did see a scorpion this week as we were walking.

No interesting meals this week.

These pictures are from a Branch Family Home Evening that we had at a members house.

My daily exercise consists of sit ups, push ups, leg lefts, bicep curls and other arm workouts that take about 20 to 30 minutes, and companionship study is going well.  We play soccer a lot too.

Elder Perez

Elder Barker

Elder Champagne

I love you all, and I look forward to more news and such, we have it heard that Elder Ochoa is going to come visit us on May 8th.

Nekexinra,

Laj Saqi Noq`

Elder Norte

Elder North LOVES mail, it takes a while to get to him but he so enjoys it so pick up a pen and jot him a note today.  You can also use Dearelder.com.

Putting my reese peanut butter cups to good use

Elder Jered North
Guatemala Cobán Mission
Apartado Postal #34
3ra Calle 2-02, Zona 3
Cobán AV 16001
Guatemala, Central America

It costs $1.15 to mail a letter to him. You can use regular envelops and stamps just make sure they equal $1.15. If it weights more than a regular letter you should take it to the post office to have it weighed.

OR

Use Dear Elder (www.dearelder.com)

its Free to my mission. Just got to

dearelder.com, create an account

and it will track the letters you send

so you can go back and view them.

On the drop down menu just put in

Guatemala Cobán Mission and then

address it to Elder Jered North.

They get mailed out once a week.

This will be the best way to contact

me since I don't have that much

time on e-mail each week.