[Nick] A thoughtful quick response to moms letter

Mommy, That was a very thoughtful and inspiring little letter. That really does inspire me though, just that thought of "Faith" or "hope", makes your mind start running. 
Sometimes I think to myself  "man... all these missionaries say "I know this is true" and "I know that is true" " and think to myself, Do I "know" this is true? No. I cant say that. But I do have faith that it is so. 
To me that is really the purpose, to not know. If we knew that god existed there would be no "test" because we would all know what to do, or what the answers were to that test. What is the purpose of the Veil if we "knew"? What is the purpose of this test, adventure, and journey (Life) if we "knew" What is the purpose of Faith if we "knew"? The purpose of not knowing is the purpose of faith. To act on something that you hope or have faith to be right but cannot prove, even if the odds are against you. 
Thats why i´m here really. To gain knowledge, by confronting and acting upon trials, with faith guiding my actions at what i believe to be right. Hope that makes some sense. Just sharing my thoughts on faith.
Hey by the way Im on hah I dont have much time cause the internet is Really slow. I´m going to send some pics. Also  We´ve got another baptism coming!


THIS IS THE MAJOR LETTER FOR WEEK OF DEC. 5 th 

Hello hello hello, Family... I´m really sorry.. but i wont have a very good letter this week... SHORT. due to the internet again. Were changing next week though. also I PROMISE that next weeks will be long and Good. I . have a good story to tell! I´ll prewrite it at the apartment. but i´ll just let you know whats been going on real quick.

Elder Rangel and I are doing great! busy busy busy! We´ve had to sprint from appointment to appointment a few times this week and it sure has been great. We have another baptismal date and four more coming soon were praying! He is still a bit shy but i´ll fix that. im going to pull the "mute" trick on him. I wont talk. No matter how uncomfortable he feels. He really does know the stuff just doesn´t have the confidence yet. I´m going to try to send some pictures at this next internet place to let you get an image of him in your head.
We stick to all the rules and follow the times to the second. I´m sure thinking this next week will be a pay off of all our hard work we´ve done this past week. Thank you for your letters and love, i read and appreciate all of them even if my replies are short or even non existent. Thank you thank you thank you

Training Elder Rangel from Mexico NOV 28 2011

Well I'm sorry but due to problems with the new internet place my letter will not be very long or well written. My apologies.

I received my trainee this last tuesday. His name is Elder Rangel. He is from Mexico and he does not speak English. YES!!! I´ve loved it so far and I´m learning quite a bit, very fast. We haven't had any problems or conflicts at all (Referring to the language) He is you average high belt wearing, none sports playing, friendly funny guy. He plays the Guitar which is Great! Elder harding had one he gave me so we play that at nights when we find the time. Strangely he really loves ''death metal'' not what i expected but its his favorite kind.

We have been working none stop and already have 20 progressing investigators!! But I hope to push our selves even harder this week. He is quite shy when it comes to approaching strangers and i usually do most of the talking but thats not going to happen this week! he´s going to do just as much as me now that he´s seen the approach a few times. We laugh a lot and play a lot of Futbol with investigators hah It has been a lot of fun and i have noticed that my spirit has been improving and improving. It wasn't bad really from the start but through our day to day happenings i just have a little bigger smile now. I know its because we´re doing everything we´re supposed to and the lord is blessing us for it. I´m glad I received a humble and fun person to be with. I believe we will have a lot of success together and i hope to keep getting happier and happier as the mission goes on.
Life here in the mission has been great. Things are constantly changing and I'm always finding new things i can work on. I tell ya what i´m going to take advantage of every minute i´ve got here.
I love the emails i´ve received and i run out of time before i get to answer them all so thank you so much for all the love i´ve received and i hope you all know i love you all so dearly. Thank you thank you thank you

Next week I get a trainee NOV 17 2011

Well here we go, I´m getting that opportunity i have been hoping for.
I´ll be picking up my trainee tomorrow after noon down in Xela. We´ll
be staying in the same area and i´ll be with him for the next two
changes.

I´m SOOO PUUUUUMPED! haha it will be so much fun. I dont
speak the language super well yet and I'm not sure if he will either.
Although there is a 5/6 chance ill be working with a latino and i
really hope that i get one. It will be awesome for my spanish. It may
be difficult at times if there are words i don't know but its more
important i show him how to act then how to speak. Yes speaking goes
along with action but! you can speak all you want but you don't tell
people you love them, you show them. Hope that makes sense? I cant
wait to get started with him and i hope he´s one that wants to push
his self cause I´m going to need him to do so. Not just for his sake
but for my own, I´ll tell you right now that I´m going to learn just

as much as he will during this time, if not more. WOO HOO!!!
In other news you´ll never guess who spoke for our stake conference
this past sunday. Don L. Clark of the seventy Mary N. Cook, Jeffrey R.
Holland and Dieter F. Uchtdorf. Im going to take a shot in the dark and
say "I bet my stake conference was better than yours". Although we
only watched it on the TV it was so great!! Holland speaks a little
spanish! We got to hear it in english, the first guy was in spanish
and was translated and we were stoked that we would get to hear
holland in english from his own mouth but then he started going off in
spanish! We all laughed so hard. He didn't speak spanish the whole talk
just beginning and end but it was cool to hear from him. Uchtdorf was
great as always and so were the others. They mostly talked about being
a worthy temple recommend holder and using it. Obviously because of the
new temple in Xela. What a great stake conference.
Well no insights or cool stories to tell but I´m sure i´ll have one or
two this coming monday. I love you all. Every single one of ya. Family
friends and acquaintances. Thanks for everything you do, have done, or
will do for me.
Love Elder Wimmer

A VISIT TO THE TEMPLE NOV 10 2011

Well a wonderful week here in Quetzaltenango. The open house started this friday here in Xela and about 4,000 people showed up! pretty good right?. The next day (saturday) We had the opportunity to go the temple with a family of investigators. We left from Huehue at seven in the morning to go pick them up. We rode in the back of the bishops pick up for a very long, cold, and cloudy 3 hour drive. When we got into the Xela valley the clouds parted and it became a BEAUTIFUL day.
What a blessing. When we arrived the temple was absolutely beautiful!!
it sits on a hill over looking the city, you can see it from almost any where in the valley! We parked in a big open field at the bottom of the hill and walked up from there. When we got to the top we walked through the gates we saw the line we had to wait in. IT WAS GINOMBEOUS!!! This was a bummer simply because long lines are never fun BUT it was also so amazing!! seeing so many people come to see the temple in this foreign country was a beautiful sight. The best part was that after we joined in the huge line, it just kept growing! it was worse than the lines at disney land and lagoon combined! (using worse in a good way) Well after about an hour of waiting a man with a walky talky approached us. He started to explain that the line was getting to the point that if it stayed this way not every body would get through the temple before the end of the night. He then asked us if we could gather all the missionaries and meet up with him again for further instructions. We gathered all the missionaries and met him again. He then explained to us that was a plan A, B, and a plan C.
plan A and B had already been tried so they were resorting to plan C.
He had just made up plan C which was the funny part but plan C consisted of us (the elders) taking specific groups of 45 from the line and bringing them through the temple on the same tour just at a faster rate. We were going to be tour guides through the temple!!!!
and of course being the missionaries he first contacted Elder harding and I were the first missionaries to take a group through! We took a group from Guatemala City and led them for a 15-20 minute tour through the temple. What an awesome experience that was! We took in the end 3 or 4 groups through the temple. It was funny because we led them through even though it was only our first time through as well. Temple was just gorgeous inside. I loved being able to watch families faces full of excitement and amaze as they walked through the most beautiful piece of architecture that Im sure they´ve ever laid eyes on. It was such a blessing for me to go to the temple that day. The next day at a members house they told us in total that EIGHTEEN THOUSAND people came to the open house that day. What an amazing day it was. Our investigators loved it, we loved it, and Im sure the heavens were rejoicing in the success of the church that day in the country of Guatemala.
Well hope that all is well back home and know that all is going just perfectly here. Thanks for the love and support. Love Elder Wimmer

[NICK] Learning...Christ like attributes

  Well due to recent events i will not be finishing last weeks story
unles I type faster than i usually do. Instead I have something i
would like to share with you that has recently helped me open my eyes
a little wider on.. well pretty much everything.
    Over the past few weeks here in the mission i have found myself
becoming increasingly more frustrated,angered, and over all less
patient with the happenings around me. Be it my companion, the
conditions of my living quarters, or simply the people in my day to
day events. I have been in conflict with myself trying to figure out
why I havent been just completely happy! Especially since I'm on the
mission and all. I had been praying for help, I had been praying for
everything around me to realize its self and i had been hoping and
thinking that "oh, things will be better when i´m senior companion" or
"things will be better when this person changes or when someone else
stops doing something". I just didnt understand why I couldnt just, Be
happy! Or why my prayers maybe werent being answered.
    The other day i was reading in the fourth missionary talk where i
found a passage that completely took my thoughts for a run. For some
reason I felt as if I had never read it before even though I had read
that talk at least 5 or 6 times. I´m now going to quote to you the
passage that i read strait from the talk.
    "Every challenge you face, every hard thing you confront, every
bad thing that happens to you, every unfairness, every conflict, every
sadness, tragedy, every disappointment and heartache, every temptation
and every opposition happens for one purpose only: to give you
opportunity to respond by applying in your life the teachings of Jesus
Christ. As you do so you are changed to become more like Him."
        "If you were never presented with some advantage to be gained
by dishonesty, such as recognition, or money, or a better grade on a
test or avoidance of punishment or embarrassment, you could never
develop integrity. If no one ever offended you, you could never learn
to forgive or internalize mercy. Were you never wearied by the
annoying behavior of another or the repeated failures of someone else
you could never become patient. Were you never subjected to the
appetites and passions of the physical body for food, for water and
for sexual fulfillment you could not develop self mastery. Without
opposition the plan would be frustrated, you could not progress and
the purpose of life would be unachievable."
      After reading this I realized that if christ had answered my
prayers and my hopes that he would have been taking away my
opportunity to learn, grow, and ultimately my purpose of life here on
earth. I´ve learned that trials are not just problems which happen or
just come up, but that trials are opportunities for us to become better
people. Trials are why we exist. We are here to accumulate, through
trials, the qualities of christ and IF we handle the trials correctly
and we do accumulate those qualities, we will achieve our ultimate
goal and live in gods presence again.
    Well, believe it or not when I pray now, I no longer do so for my
trials to end and resolve themselves but I now thank him for the
opportunities he has given me to learn, grow, accumulate the qualities
of christ and become a better person. I´m not telling you that the
trials have gotten or will get easier, but i will tell you that my
question on why life gets hard and why my prayers may not always be
answered is now understood.

  Thank you so much for all the emails, letters, love, and support i
recieve. I love you all and pray for you always
Elder Wimmer

[NICK] a WK later....brother can you lend me a dime?

Good morning and happy halloween! I havent seen a single pumpkin, child in a costume, or free piece of candy yet and i don´t think will sadly. But! i will get to see a bunch of drunk people mourning for the dead! A fair trade i say. Well today is a beautiful day here in Huehuetenango, its a partly cloudy day and the city is buzzing with anticipation for who will be the next president here in Guatemala. The elections are this coming sunday so there are posters and people every where showing their support for whomever they desire to win.
Apparently its gonna be a close one!

Well for this week i have few short stories and thoughts i´d like to share with you so i´ll start typing.

This last saturday we went to visit the family Gonzalas, a family we´ve recently started teaching. They seem quite interested and they said, they are going to attend church with us this coming sunday.
Saweeeet! anyways, when we got to the house their kids let us in and we sat down in the front room with the father as we usually do. The father always loves talking with us especially since he has been to the states for work and also has family there working too. So during our talk about the states he says "I have a question for you" and we said, "yes?" perking up hoping that it would be pertaining to our religion. He then asked us a very different question than we were expecting. "Do you guys have social security numbers?"..... That is never a good question coming from anybody that lives below the border of the states. Very nervously we replied "Yes??" concerned at what he would say next. He then proceeded to tell us about his cousin working in the states.. Illegally. He needed a social security number to be able to stay working there. So the father then asked us and i quote "would it be alright if my brother used your social security numbers until you go back to the states?"... That question was quickly replied with " No sorry (yes we included a sorry for some reason) but we are not able to be involved in those kinds of interactions while we are missionaries". And now might i add, HECK NO. Not only as missionaries but NEVER would i let ANYONE use my social security number! American or Latino! What did you think I´d say?! "Why sure! just leave it under the mat when i get home. Oh hey and could you also put that money that you stole from my savings account back when you´re done with it? that´d be great thanks" Anyways, he said "oh ok ok, its just he's in a tight spot and i just thought i´d ask for him." we resumed our conversation and eventually got talking about his home and financial status and how his experience at the states was. He said he wanted to go back really bad but didnt have the money. I don't know how close he felt to us and I didnt feel as though we were super comfortable with him yet, but his next question made me feel as if he was QUITE comfortable with us. "Do think there is any way that i could borrow 5,000 dollars from you guys? I just really need get to the states to earn some more cash. I would pay you back eventually for sure though."...... either i REALLY under estimated how close we were with this man or I am REALLY sure that the people here in guatemala think we just carry around thousands of dollars with us every where we go. We replied with the same answer that we gave him the last time, but this time he wasn't satisfied with that answer. I will finish the rest of this story later today because we have to leave now. But if we dont come back...
Until next time!

IMG_5511 (1).J

ps I just sent a picture and I'm sending another. 
Both from TODAY! right after playing futbol. P day pics woo hoo
Elder Delgado is the other elder. He is so awesome. we took the pic
because he wore barcelona and I wore real madrid and they are rivals
haha but we ended up on the same team and also ended up DOMINATING the game hee hee I scored 6! times.
yes Im bragging but I dont care.

[nick]WK 7 How much?

Well as i was hanging on for life outside the sliding door of the bus/van I was thinking what i would write about. I decided that... i had no clue. no new stories really because due to the new change all we´ve done is visit members mostly and yet some how we have still found a lot of new investigators which is wonderful. and so since i didn't have any really great stories i thought id tell you just a little bit about the finances of the country and we´ll see where it goes from there. So, here in guatemala the worth of a dollar is about 7.5 quetzals. In other wards yes, if you came here for a vacation practically everyone from the states would be considered "rich". To give you an example of the worth here, we live off around 40 dollars a week. thats including food for the week, taking buses, and P-days which includes eating out, a lot more bus rides, paying for the soccer fields and internet. We do all of this for 40 dollars. One random example that still amazes me is that for one of those small bags of chips here its about 7 american cents. also a regular size water bottle is about 15 american cents. Also i can go out to eat for and get a chimichanga with beans rice a soda and a smoothie for a little under 4 american dollars. its pretty crazy. To give you an idea of your average income its around 2,000 quetz a month which is roughly
250 american dollars. Thats the AVERAGE income per month. You couldnt even afford an apartment to live in, in the states with that income let alone buy groceries and transportation. The quality of living is obviously VERY different. being here has really given me an amazing appreciation for my lifestyle that i have back at home. I´ll describe you you´re average house here. Absolutely NO ONE has any of the
following: washer and dryer, dish washer, completely sealed windows, carpet, or drinkable faucet water. about 50% of the houses have hot water. There is NO sewage system and there is ZERO A/C or heating systems.  about 50% have four wheeled vehicles and zero percent might i add for the male teenagers have x-box´s or PS3s.  I am not exaggerating(?) about any of those. It is a wonderful and easy lifestyle we live in the states and i hope that you are all VERY grateful for where you are right now. Im not saying this for you to feel bad for me or the people that live here im saying this so that you will appreciate a little more the next time you take a hot shower or walk on your carpet, drink from the faucet or drive your car to work. Well thats just a little of the lifestyle here and i´m loving it! i hope that i can be telling you a good story next week! Thank you everyone for the amazing love i have recieied in my life and thank you for being an influence on my life in one way or another. Love Elder Wimmer

[NICK]WK6 a quick area move, to a nasty dirty apartment

Hello family, I'm on. Nothing special to share this week but the next i should have a story. We´ve got changes to a new area. although though its only the area right next to us, im really excited for something new. We went this saturday and did some major cleaning at the new house. The last elders apparently didnt realize there was a trash can in the house or they just misplaced there trash on the floor but their place was naaaaasty. (nobody was there cause the elders moved areas before the actual change).
As far as theTemple dedication. That is still a mystery. I kind of have a feeling i will be there but we dont know for sure yet. Cross your fingers! I dont have any good long stories but i did see something kind of funny recently. We were walking down a dirt road and came upon a mother cow and its calf walking the same direction we were. the calf was trying to get milk from the mothers utters between her back legs  AS she walked which was obviously proving a difficult task for the calf and an annoyance to the walking mother. Now what happened next may havejust been by chance but something tells me that the mother was trying
to prove a point. The mother kept walking, lifted her tail, proceeded to poop on the head of the young calf. I believe the point she was trying to prove was, DONT SUCK MY UTTERS WHILE IM TRYING TO WALK. and the moral of me telling you this story is... Patience. Good things come to those who wait, and those that don't, get pooped on.

[nick] WK4 mount kolob (dont miss this one!)

welllllllllllll hello people who read this. This last thursday i had a chat with my companion that i wanted to work harder and that i felt i could do more of.. really whatever he´s got., four days later on Monday, Elder harding (my companion) decided on a good place to find some new work. I was really excited to hear this of course. Im now going to start typing the experience that i had from my journal entry the morning after. "Well yesterday morning elder harding told me that we would be going up to a city called Talmiche to look for some new work. I said great and we left later that after noon. Talmiche is a city that takes 2 HOURS of HIKING to get to. The people here in Guatemalaaparently do not know what "swtichbacks" are because we hiked STRAIT up the mountain on a dirt road. we stopped a few times to drink of course for about five minutes each. Do lunges for about 2 hours strait with a back pack full of heavy books and you might understand how my legs felt after we had reached the top. When we arrived we found beautiful lanscape with crops, cattle, and little shacks spotting the round, rolling, and seemingly endless hills. It was dusk when we had spotted the house we wanted to contact. It was on top of a hill and enclosed by corn leaving only one or two ways in to the house. As we walked through the fence to get to the house two of the most vicious and unhealthy looking dogs came barreling towards us barking, growling and looking to gnaw on our bones. One of them specifically came and started nipping at my feet, of course i tried retaliateing and attempted kicking him in the face but i absolutely could not lift my legs high enough after climbing Mount Kolob. Hearing the commotion, im guessing, a lady came to our rescue and called for the dogs to stop. They immediately did so and ran back to their Dog house with only my right leg as reward. we talked with the lady, introduced ourselves, told her who we are and why we were here and asked if there was anything to do for her. She was very accepting and kindly let us chop her wood. We started chopping her wood and as we did so talked to her about her family, work, religion the usual small talk. She has 6 kids ranging from 12 to 26, her husband worked in the city and she stayed at home cooking, cleaning, farming, and tending to animals which includes one kitten, two dogs, two puppies, 10 or 12 chickens, four cows, one donkey, and one duck. she was not attending a church but believed in christ of course. she has lived there for many many years and loves her family a lot. During all of this conversation of course we were still chopping wood. we chopped wood for about an hour and eventually she said we could stop, invited us in to have some corn and we gladly accepted. I was especially grateful to stop because i had blisters on both of my hands now and they were both full of slivers( in order to finish this story i have to be less descriptive due to my short email time) We went in and she gave us some nice burnt corn right from the middle of the fire. mmmmm. i took a bite and immediately received third degree burns to my tongue and mouth, but dont you worry, she gave me half a lime as well. im guessing just in case we got thirsty or burned our tongue, which i had. How thoughtful of her, after our long hike and chopping her wood, she gave us half of a lime to quench our thirst. It was the best she had to offer though and i knew it. What an amazingly humble and kind woman she was. after we finished our corn we decided to leave, surprisingly not because we were full from the corn and lime but because it was dark and nearly 8, So we set up another appointment for THE NEXT DAY and headed for down the mountain... in the rain... in the dark... down the trail were 3 people had been murdered earlier that week. I prayed the whole way down the mountain and eventually we arrived home in safety...... we did our usual nightly planning prayers chat and got in bed. As i layed there on my pillow looking back on the day, i had hiked Mount Doom, i had been attacked by hell hounds, i had chopped wood till my hands were blistered and slivered, i had burt my tongue, cooled it off with a lime, i had walked through the dark night, the pouring rain, and life endangering trails and.... And i absolutely could not wait to do it again the following day. It was the lords work and the lords way and he allowed me to do it for him. The lady and her family all sincerely enjoyed our visit and knew that we came as missionaries of the lord looking to help, love, and just get to know her and her family. What a blessing it is to be a missionary of the lord, to be able to help others and experience first hand his work moving forward. It was my experience Done in the lords name and i hope there are many more days like this one to come.

[nick] WK 4 internet cafe'

(Is it harder for them to give up coffee or beer?)

> BOTH. i hate to say it... but its not as easy as you think to get
> people to be babtized here! the pastors here PREACH TO THEM THAT WE
> ARE THE DEVIL. about one in twenty people let us in and usually just
> cause they couldnt find an excuse which is sad. but im still loving
> it. I love contacting and trying new ways with people. our newest
> thing we try and my personal favorite is to say hey we´re new here in
> this area and we would just like to get to know the people more and
> see if theres anything we can do to help you? chop wood, move dirt,
> wash your dog, share a message? thats what i love to do. Service
> service service. i love it!
>
also just so you know im only doing a little time now but ill be back
on later. (confusing i know) but also just so you know, Always send
stuff! emails or whatever. i may not always reply but i ALWAYS read
them and they always mean alot to me. From tyler rhett jessica laurie
family friends. but if you specifecly ask me to write back i usually
will


(Where are you using the internet?)


 we are in a small cyber cafe in the central part of huehuetenango, it
>> looks very much like a small italian town with colorful connected
>> houses and stuff. the only difference is that every one is mexicanish
>> and scary looking instead of attractive and nicely dressed

[nick] WK 3 language dandy, dinner yum-up

The language is going just dandy. When i arrived Elder Harding said he was really suprised how well my spanish was. he said he was in the advanced class in the mtc and mine is just as good as his was when he first arrived in the field. He thinks im one of the best that have come that didnt know spanish before the mission. That made me feel really good haha cause i didnt feel like it was that great before. I can speak better than i can understand so thats what im working on most. listening. We have only taught a few lessons and they have gone pretty well, i can usually follow along and add my bit every now and then but by no means am i taking the lead on lessons.
Well to answer my typical night ill share an experience of one night i had of visiting a member. it was actually the family that i sent a picture of. the one with just the kids that were all over me. there are those three boys and then one girl that isnt in the picture. the girl is the second youngest and is about as big as the one whos doing the peace signs. They are all CRAZY they dont know my name all they know is that we are "mejor amigos!!" thats what we all call eachother.
The kids always come and sit by,below and on top of me and blow there noses on my pant legs. it was really hard to laugh at that one.. my pants still have a mark from it. any ways ill share my first dinner cita with them. We showed up around seven according to our plans and sat down to a small plastic table on a bench that absolutely should have broken the moment i sat on it. Im grateful for the amazing strength the bench showed that night so we wouldn´t have to make that our next service project. anyways i sat on the left side of the bench and on the right side was the little girl. Elder harding sat on the right side of the table and the mother across from me. the three boys were eating in the other part of the room. I was already nervous because i knew this family was quite poor and would absolutely give there best meaning i would absolutely have to eat every bit of what she served. "She" is Laura, the single mother of the four very young children. She is very humble and hardworking woman. when she finished serving up the food what i found in front of me was a bowl filled with a turkey leg, carrots, potatoes and filled to the brim with oil. I wouldnt be suprised to have found out she had poured the oil strait from her bottle to my bowl no water no flavor just strait vegetable oil. Im guessing its similar to some of the food you ate in china.
Also in front of me was a drink that had the color of chocolate milk which got my hopes up but then i soon noticed the large grey floaties lingering in the depths of the dark thick substance. as i looked around i also noticed that, of course, i had the largest bowl. the more i looked at the bowl i came to the conclusion that the turkey was a giant parasite that she had found and killed to serve us that night for dinner. we started eating and as i ate i increasingly felt my self becoming sick and naucious. while we ate i also came to realize that the little girl next to me had peed her pants, this did not help my nausea. not only had she peed her pants but throughout the entire meal she was wiping her greasy peed hands on my pants. how nice of her to share. poor elder harding tried the swallow no chew tactic and finished his bowl quite quickly. poor guy.... i thought it was a good idea at first as well. Laura being the wonderful lady she is saw that he had finished his bowl quickly and figured that he must be very hungry.. she happily took his bowl and filled it right back up for him. Seeing this i learned from his attempt and ate the food as slowly as possible. I eventually finished mine and didnt even get to see if elder harding finished his because right as i finished mine we had to go out side to take a "phone call". After elder harding had puked his guts out we returned to the table and talked. I was having a really rough time trying to keep my food down after all of these things had taken place but i toughed it out and held it in with all my might. we eventually all finished, talked for a little, then elder harding and i left to go home. My days usually arent usually that wonderful but usually have bits and pieces of that night strung throughout the day.

[nick] WK 2 transportation?

To tell you about the area. we walk most of the time here, we live on
the outskirts of huehuetenango so the houses are a little more spread
out. its kind of similar to kanosh maybe? every one is semi distanced
and all that. its not really a jungle here, its more of... i dunno a
mix of Utah vegitation but its just really dense in some places and
the trees are a lot bigger. there arent aspens though. so its
everything ugly from utah. we proselyte out here and our ward is out
here but we actually spend alot of time in the city of huehue, again
it is very similar to something like maybe in Seans mission but every
one is guatemalan and theres probably alot more trash here too.
EVERYONE just drops there trash wherever they want. its really sad.
when in the city we takes buses usually. either large pimped out
buses or small vans that have the side doors ripped of. i often find
myself hanging out side of those small vans with my feet on the lower
platform of the bus and my hands reaching in and holding on to
anything on that upper inner lip. sometimes they have a bar, sometimes
not and as i do this im usually spooning some small guatemalan man
that has some how found his way in between me and the van. and they
take no speed precautions here so i often find that my forearms are
sore due to clinging on for dear life as the start stop or turn in any
direction in the slightest. for some reason they wait for the last 5
feet to start to slow down at lights or speed bumps, and any time they
do stop, of course they have to get to 50 mph as fast as they possibly
can and FLOOR IT. i will have some mighty fore arms soon. we usually
shop at a small grocery store call maxi. it is a very small smith
probably, they have a semi good amount of american food. speaking of
which, i recieved that package and those marshmallow mateys were no
joke an answer to my prayers, i was saying to my companion all week
that i would die for some real american marshmallow mateys so thank
you!!!!!! i believe i recieved everything!! the ipod the charger and
lots of snacks, you smeaged  that ipod in SO WELL. i thought it was
stolen at first. i loved that package thank you very much also i have
taken out money two or three times for the i home, shoes, and food. i
dont think ill be taking any more out for a while. if i need to ill
let you know. food here is not too bad so far. lots of chicken and
rice floating in oily water. i feel great and ive only been sick once,
phew.. im starting to wright journals again too. i dont have much time
so ill stop there and ill write you next week! ill see if you have
more questions later. i need  a few more peoples emails too. i love
you all so much thanks for the package again and also tell chunie i
might not recieve that letter she sent.. sorry! love every one!

[nick] WK 1 trainer assigned

I first arrived in xela in mid day after a long and windy bus ride i
sat up front next to the driving and asked him about himself and told
him about myself and our church and one thing led to another and i
gave him a book of mormon because he believed what i said was true. i
got his info and gave it to the mission president when i got off the
bus. the mission president and his wife are AWESOME. i love them so
far. i only met him for a half day or so but that was enough to know
he is going to be great. we spent the night there talking about the
rules and how we work and eventually recieved our companions. Elder
Harding from my english class with donkersgoed. He lives in pleasant
grove near the discovery park. he is a big boy not fat at all just
big. he is great and we get along super well. i was so happy when i
was officially assigned to be with him. its nice to talk with someone
that has a genral idea of who i know and where im from. any ways,
after our meeting with everyone we stayed the night in a hotel just
down the street from the mission home and left the next day. we took a
pimped out bus through really curvey roads all the way to my new area
Huehuetenango. when we first arrived our house was away from the city
and we had to walk a little ways to the house during all this is was
raining. it rains every day here starting between 2 and 4 and end
sometime in the night. the house is not to bad. i have a bed. hooray!
we dont have a dish washer or a clothes washer or a microwave. our
fridge is the size of rhetts small one, we have a shower! that is
really just a shower head coming out of the wall in the bath room.and
the water smells like diarhea. I absolutely have to wear flip flops
cause the floor is black and nasty. there are spider webs EVERY WHERE
but im use to them now. We are in the area of las victorias and we
have some cool members! we visit them alot and sadly i wish we did
less... i WANNA TEACH AN INVESTIGATOR. i havent yet. turns out the
people here arent as humble as i had hoped.. but maybe we were just
unlucky cause we went contacting for a total of 6 or 7 hours this week
and we only talked with one person for more than 1 minute.. i know
thats not alot of contacting really but its not very good results for
how many hours we did. I WANNA TEACH PEOPLE. i wanna help people and
work harder. any ways other stuff, I was sick yesterday, sunday,
because i stayed up till one talking with elder harding the night
before. we were in bed and didnt realize how late it had gotten. NEVER
will i make that mistake again. i felt nausious or whatever and very
light headed. we spent the night at a members house who is practically
american who was just awsome. he made me feel like i was at home. his
house was like an american home, IT HAD CARPET. he gave me tea like
mom did and it helped alot and i feel much better today.
I hate to say it but i feel like we arent working hard enough. i
wanna work harder and talk with more people. 80 percent of the
missionaries here dont work very hard it truly makes me so sad.. i was
hoping to have a trainer that worked me to the bone but i havent felt
it yet. elder harding is really friendly and is always helping me and
looking out for me but he doesnt have a very intense desire along with
most of the missionaries. i hope to change that. it will be difficult
to do so but overtime it will become easier. they also have a semi
crude and rude humor here which also makes me incredibly sad. its not
terrible. but as a missionary there shouldnt be anything even close to
questionable. we are representatives of jesus christ and we need to
ALWAYS act like it. i hope to change the expectations of the mission
and i know the lord will help me to do so. i want people to regain
that excitment for missionary work and help remind them why they are
here and who they are here for. They all great but i absolutely know
they can do better. i know that the whole group that came with me will
help this mission as well. together we´ll raise this area up in all
areas.  Sorry, i kinda just needed to get that out to someone.
i hope all is well with dads hip and im glad to hear that chunie hung
out with you guys! tyler and rhett i love you both and keep staying
awesome and never change. unless its in a better way.. you know what i
mean. jessica i hope to see you all healed up soon. keep happy. father
and mother i love you both and thankyou for your love and your emails
ill hear from you all next week. i would still like it if you do the
questions at the top and then the printing pages thing cause ill do
that here to so i can save time. love you all and i hope i recieve the
package and chunies and romneys letter! remember its best to use email
now. they allow us to email friends on this mission. ill let you know
if i do or dont recieve those letters love you all and ill try and
tell you more later. what other stuff would you like to hear

[Nick] Guatemala CCM: ¿futbol anyone?

Well i just got done playing Futbol with the elders , it was so fun. They are amazing. the best gringo player is their average player. I get to go to the temple today for the first time here in Guatemala! wooohoooo!! I’m so excited. I catch my self saying stuff like that and start to realize I’m turning into a Rhett.  Stuff like “i’m so pumped for the devotional on tuesday!” and stuff like “I just heard the greatest song!! here check it out (hymn)”  or “ELDER HOLLAND IS THE MAN!!”. Any ways. i love devotionals now that i’m closer with the spirit and i now realize how AWESOME conference is! i love it. The spanish is coming well! The hardest part for me now is just understanding what the heck they’re saying. i can mostly only talk gospel stuff.. everyday conversation is difficult for me, but i´m practicing. I hope that soon i will be able to understand when people in the hallways ask me random questions. I’m feeling much better now that i’ve got some good friends that i can talk with and i cant wait to meet more. Food is harder to come by here! there is no snacks i can just get out of the vending machines i wanna send you a video tour of the ccm but i dunno how i´ll get the video to you... it stinks. Anywho... this place is way cool and i hope i can get a video to you soon. My companion is practically fluent in spanish which really helpful throughout my time here.

[Nick] "today I leave to GUATAMALA"

July19 email

I'm SOOOOOOOO excited to get there!!! I WANNA TEACH PEOPLE. i still don't speak the language well at all but i know that if i just put a smile on my face and have an excitement for what I'm teaching god will do the rest. I will say that i am really sad to leave my zone though.... THEY ARE SO AWESOME!! I'm going to have so many friends when i get back and i have so many adventures planned already. REMEMBER TO ASK ME ABOUT BROVERTIME WHEN WE TALK its hilarious hahaha I have seen her! the last time i saw her she was doing great! she did talk to me about the feet but not much really ( i have 8 min left for Email) I really wanna find her cause i do need to send the shoes back with her. I really hope she has the good attitude she had when i last saw her. This is where you decide how strong you will be for the rest of the mission. I believe I have learned to forget myself and SERVE OTHERS and in doing that we really serving the lord.

[Nick] I'm............ (guat. MTC)

July 20 2011
I get fifteen minutes just to let you know that i'm alive and well! its very different here. I don't know many people which is sad and i need to get to know more but i am still excited to work and learn spanish

[Jessica] 3 down 5 to go

July 20 2011

Hello Family and friends!!
It's another Pday at the MTC. It is SO good to hear form you all! And the care packages are overwhelming and threatening to make me gain a few more pounds. I seem to have gotten my appetite back. I had a baked  potato and half of a brat. With a side of milk and croutons, of course. I feel I'm in the beat now. The language is coming, slowly but surely, and while there are still times I think about jumping out the window, studying hours on end, I've found my rhythm I'm getting along SO well with my Elders. I love their guts!... most of the time. They are so cute and annoying. Mom, you don't have to keep telling me to think of them as Nick. They are Nick, and I have five of them.... heaven help me.
I have two investigators right now. Rommy (rommi) and Nathan (nah tin) Rommy is a Muslim who doesn't believe that Christ died for our sins. And Nathan has a hard time believing that there is only one true religion. Rommy is coming to Church this weekend and Nathan said he would "try" and start reading the Book of Mormon.
Turns out I'm really good at beach volleyball. Better than most girls here anyway. I don't know if thats saying much though... Most of the girls are bigger than me, so you'd think they could hit a bit harder. They can't. They also can't take a spike to the face, I learned.
Sorry! I'm rambling.
Nick left yesterday, so I am officially alone. Yes, I cried, a bit, big surprise. NOT. The rest of the Dutchies left on Monday. They are now in the Netherlands. Jealous!!! But I've grown more comfortable with the MTC. I don't hate it, but we're not going to be BFFs when I leave.
My companion is great, she often reminds me of ... a lady in our ward who I will not mention... but she's a bit of a nazi sometimes. Her boyfriend is coming into the MTC today. She's freaking out. He's 24 years old (a convert).
I only have 5 1/2 weeks left here! A whole month has gone by! I felt every second of it... But I feel it getting faster :)
Lots of love!!
Tot ziens!!
Zuster Jessica Wimmer






Cutting those lumps out!!!?!???!!?!
July 22 2011

For now, this is Jessica's last letter as a missionary. She has come home since then, she is having her bunions operated on. Many of you know of her foot condition, for those who do not: Bunions are a growth defect, that typically hurt when walking, climbing stairs, jumping, etc. They have not bothered her until this last week when she started noticing pain in her second toe. The pain started when she jumped about a foot off of the ladder from her bed. We have seen multiple doctors and have operation appointments set to get this taken care of as soon as possible. The healing process can take anywhere from two to six months. District leader promised a 99.9% chance they will send her back to the Netherlands. We are anxious, but feel quite confident.

[Jessica] week two

Happy Birthday Yesterday Mom!!! Have you used your fabulous gift yet? I am a little jealous that I don't get to partake. Though you probably could send me some in the mail. People have received some pretty weird stuff, I mean, I got breadsticks, I didn't expect that. They only told us you couldn't send pizza in a package. Someone else got a watermelon, it was pretty fabulous. I'm really missing moms cooking.. I'm starting to wonder if you are getting my letters.... I sent one last wed. with the draft of my email... let me know if you got that one.

Just so you don't think I'm totally jipping you when it comes to letter time, I only get 30 minutes to email. After the 30 min timer goes off, the computer kicks me off and if I didn't send the email, it doesn't get sent. so I'm writing as much as I can as fast as I can.

The MTC isn't so horrible, I don't love or hate it. But I am tired of having to have someone with me at all times. I like my alone time, often. I like being a solo sister though, it is a blessing from God. I get to do somethings by myself, and sometimes I am forgotten, which I LOVE. Because I get to walk by myself, it's a lot of nice pondering time for me. This is from my journal last night: Right now I'm doing very well. I'm very comfortable where I am. I haven't felt this kind of peace since I've been here. I'm sitting alone down the hall from the cafeteria doors. There are about 20 sisters sitting along the walls, we;re all waiting for our companions. There is a coordinating sisters meeting going on right now. A sister is in an open room playing the piano (poorly), but it is still very nice. I got to talk to nick for a couple of minutes. He seems SO HAPPY!!! He is just SO positive every time I see him. I really don't know what I would do without him. He is such a rock for me. He seems to be loving every bit about what he is doing. He loves learning the language, and he loves teaching his investigators. I do envy him a bit, he gets to speak some english with his investigators. I have 3 investigators, that I can speak absolutely NO english to. If you can't say it in Dutch, you won't be saying it. And the investigators aren't very patcient with your slow moving speech. It is a bit stressful. Sometimes after a bad lesson, I just go into the bathroom and bawl my eyes out. Then other days I have a great lesson (only 1 good lesson so far) and I think "Yes! this is it! I've got it!" then the next day starts and I'm in the bathroom again. It's become my own little sanctuary. As sad as that sounds it is quite nice because it is the only time I can speak out loud to Heavenly Father and express my feelings with my whole being and voice. I've rarely had to do that in my life but it  is such a wonderful feeling afterwords when you've exhausted yourself and all the Dutch you know.

Honestly I think the worst of missing home is over. I struggled A LOT for a few days last week but it's better now. I no longer have to live second by second or minute by minute. It is now living moment to moment and hour to hour. I am seeing that as a good sign. I am trying my best and am so excited to hear about what goes on with everyone.

I love you all so much!

And I can tell someone has been praying for me, I wouldn't be able to do this on my own.

Love

Zuster Wimmer

Tot Ziens!!!

[Nick 1 & 2] Hello to the outside world

NICHOLAS #2
From: Nicholas Wimmer
Sent: Tuesday, July 12, 2011 11:09 AM
To: Wimmer, Gregory J (GE, Appl & Light)
Subject: Re: I believe this is your address?

Why hello friends and family or to whomever this applies to. This will be my first official Email to the people in the "outside world". I refer to them as outsiders here. kinda like the Nabi on avatar call the humans, or how the indians call john smith an outsider. I have flight plans! Yaaaaahooo!! I'm leaving in a week from today, the 19th! One step closer to going out and serving the people of Quetzaltenango! When ever I work with the investigators here at the MTC it makes me wanna go to guatemala so much more, sprinting from door to finding the peoples issues, problems, and questions, then and finding their connection to our church! A good way of putting it is the people are fish and i am the fisherman, different fish like different bait and in order to find out what kind of bait they like i need to, love the fish, talk to fish, care for the fish and once i've found their bait? I violently pull and drag them to god as they struggle to resist. I'm still working on the ending.

     Welllll i'll try and answer some questions real fast, they don't give us much time on the computer at allll. The spanish is going quite well, i can keep a conversation going well and i can talk about the first vision and the apostasy pretty well. I love love love my teachers, they have such a wonderful excitement for spreading the gospel which rubs off on me. (ps rhett i saw a teacher at the mtc from your mission, i said hello and talked but i forgot her name) any who. there's this thing at the MTC they call studying. apparently they expect you to be able to sit down for hours on end and just read or write. muerte. studying is easily the hardest thing for me here. i have gained ten pounds already! I work out every morning and night and i'm loving it! FOOTBALLLLL. any who i love my companions. especially elder Romney. we're going to be really good friends when we get back i know.

     I love you all and thank you all so much for the packages and letters!! they always make my day much greater! thank you thank you thank you!! DOING GREAT!!! LOVING THE MTC!!

NICHOLAS #1

July 12 email
Well I have P days on Tuesday(today) and I have a half hour to write on p days which is actually a pretty good amount of time. they say other people shouldn't write me on this but it is just so we write our families first. I need Addresses to chunie jackson braden and parker!! email and letters!! If you can send those asap so i can possibly send one today that would be AWESOME. I wrote a letter you should have already received and if not you will today most likely. On my mission life so far and all. I see dallan ALOT actually. I don't get to talk to him much but we run into each other quite frequently. love!

Jessica says The food is NOT good......

Happy 50th you old man!! How does it feel being alive for half a century??

the days and hours go by VERY slowly. But the week has gone by so fast! And you guys set me up! This food is terrible! Sure, its all you can eat but I have a hard time choking down the white rice! You can't mess up white rice, but worry you not, they found a way. their milk isn't too bad, I've had that for every meal. Oh! That reminds me, Rhett! I've been preparing myself to speak Dutch all my life! Don't you ever correct me again. Ik lief mijn melk!!!! HA! Yes, you read that correctly. Milk in Nederlands is "de melk". Next time you should think twice about correcting my divine inspiration!

To answer your list of Qs, yes, a solo sister is common enough that not many question me when I'm alone with my elders. And I do believe God is trying to ease me into spending everyday with a girl. My elders are funny, mature, immature, strange, yet kind. We're basically family now, we get along very well. I have 5 elders. My sis companion is Sister Moore. She is a drama girl, so her loud obnoxious attitude makes me feel at home. The time I spend with her is walking to breakfast and on Pday (which is on Wednesdays) I'm rooming with 6 girls (ahhh!!!) but I like them all. I want to finish this quickly so I'll send my draft in letter form. Sister Gardner is one of them.

Our district is  part of a new pilot program where from day one they have only spoken english for two hours for very important things we needed to know. The rest of the time it is Dutch. I'm good at speaking and reading it, but when someone tries to speak to me it all goes right over my head. But it's getting better the more words I learn.

I'm liking the MTC quite a bit. the only part I hate is not knowing the language but everyone tells me it will come. And I believe it. I just wish it would come faster. I like having a schedule and waking up has been shockingly easy. THe devotionals have bee amazing and so empowering. We had Dallin H. Oaks' (don't get excited yet Rhett) daughter come and perform for us. She is AMAZING. Look her up. The spirit was so strong.

Rhett thank you for the half eaten chips and hummus. (I need your address please)

(Dad correct my spelling!!!) And Laurie thank you so much for the bread sticks!!!! Real food! I was so confused because when I got the box it smelled of pizza. And that didn't sound so appetizing. haha Thank you :)

Thornton family (I'm guessing Jenny) Thank you thank you for the cookies!!! My roommates and I are so grateful.

With how much food I'm getting through the mail, I am going to become fat. But I figured since It's already boxed up I could send some of it to the starving kids in China.

Dad, saying that you broke down sent me into a fit of tears. Not cool. I've seen Dallan and Nick often enough. I have PE with Dallan and ate breakfast with Nick today... Sorry! I only have a few minutes left! I'll send you the rest of this draft and you can insert anything you'd like.

It's good to hear from everyone! I'm glad the 4th was fun.

*To Greg Fam : Send my email address to David. He can email me, I just can't email him. And I need addresses!!

Love you all!!!

   The church is true, see you in two!!!

Gah! Rhett, what were you thinking. I wanted to throw up just thinking of that. haha

Bye!!

      Zuster Wimmer

(Dad, Please correct all of my grammar and spelling errors, theu're driving me crazy. I'm so pressed for time. Thanks!)