Ear Update

Maham y Daddy O 

Hey guys hows it going over there? It's pretty good here. It was a kind of weird week though because we got to go to the capital, Guatemala City! It was pretty cool. We left on Wednesday, stayed the night there and came back late Thursday night. It was quite an adventure. I ate in McDonald's for like the 2nd time ever on my mission. It was soo good I cried. Hahah!  It was like an actual hamburger, AMAZING. We also found a Hard Rock Cafe but we didn't go in. I was really impressed by the capital actually.  It's so different than the Guatemala I know.  There are like actually street and buildings that aren't made entirely of cinder block. I saw the Doctor and he said that the hole in my eardrum is really big. I basically don't have an eardrum. But there is nothing they can do here it has to wait until I get back. He also said that it was stable and there is no infection or anything. I just have to keep water out. I also can't change altitudes. So it looks like I won't be going back to San Marcos or San Pedro any time soon.

This week we had some cool experiences. We had 4 investigators in church and we challenged L's little brother with a baptismal date and he accepted and is going to be baptized this Saturday. But L still hasn't come to church, which is kind of frustrating. But we aren't going to give up on him. 

Also this week we found some cool new investigators. One is super Evangelical dude. And he asked us a question that I couldn't respond to. It was about the adulterous women they brought before Jesus to be stoned.  His question was why didn't they bring the man before Jesus too because they had both committed adultery. I was like uuuuuhhhhh I don't know, but is that going to help you with your salvation? And he was like well not really but I want to know. So we told him we would study it but I haven't found an answer yet. Another question he asked was when we shared John 3:5 that says basically if you aren't born of water and of the spirit you can't enter the Kingdom of God and he was like "but what about the thieves that were crucified with Jesus, he wasn't baptized, he just believed in Jesus' words and Jesus promised him that they would see each other in paradise. We where like uuuhhh. hahah this guy had some good questions. All in a good days work hahahah. 

But I love you guys and I'll talk to you next week. If you have an answer for any of the questions that would be cool.

Elder Tagg

Kids celebrating Guatemala Independence Day with some street "music"

Rainy Season

MAHAM Y DADDY O 

Happpy Birthday Dadddddddd! Mwoooo 50 years old!  You're a big boy now!  

How's it going guys? This week has been pretty good. Not really much happened.  We taught some good lessons, found some cool people, and had a sweel time. I can't believe how fast the time goes by though. I feel like it was yesterday that I left the CCM. But that acctually happened a year ago. HAHA! Crazy! 11 more months! But anyways... 

Right now we are in the rainy season and almost every day at four o' clock it rains like crazy. Everything gets wet. Also the 15th of September is coming up here soon which is the independence day here in Guatemala. Everybody puts up flags and the school kids put on a program where they do a parade/band thing. It's alright but the they don't really know that their music doesn't sound like music.

Oh and L (our investigator)  is 18 yrs old. He didn't go to church again, but I'm not going to give up on him.

Anyways I love and miss you guys. Tell Nathan I love him and not to be a bum. Tell Drew i love him and that he should leave for his mission before going to a year of college.  Tell Audrey I love her  and not to have a boyfriend. Tell Bryn I love her and that she is perfect the way she is. Maham, I love you you're the best Maham ever. Daddy O, I love you you're the best Daddy O ever.

Love you guys 

Elder Tagg

Miracles Do Happen

Maham y Daddy-O,
 Hey guys what's up?  Everything over here is going pretty good.  I'm pretty good, but lately I have been thinking a lot about home. I don't know why, maybe it's because I am going 'down the hill' now. If the mission was like a mountain, and the year mark is the peak, I have now reached the peak and I'm going down the mountain. Everybody knows going down the mountain is a lot faster than going up. So yea, maybe that is why I have been a little baggy (homesick). I have a goal though, to only be a little baggy when I'm in the house in bed.  So far it's working out pretty well.  I also have another goal to read every book in the mission library before I end the mission. I'm reading Jesus the Christ right now. It's really interesting, but sometimes hard to read.  I struggle finding motivation and everything like that.  

So this week we baptized R... it was awesome. He bore his testimony after he was baptized. It's always awesome to see your convert share what he has come to know. So that makes me happy. But I'm also kind of sad because L... didn't go to church this Sunday so we have to postpone his baptism. Sometimes it's really hard because people don't want to give up their time for the Lord. But I know that he will be baptized and will be a missionary some day. ITS ALL ABOUT THAT FE (faith).  You gotta have fe or else milagros (miracles) won't come to pass. 

So this week we had a multi-zone conference with half the mission and with a general authority from the first Quorum of the Seventy Elder Alonso. It was really cool. We learned a lot about the atonement.  He told us that if we taught the atonement well and with the Spirit that our investigators would tell us to baptize them.  So my companion and I  put it to the test.   I really tried to put the atonement into practice in my life and in my teachings this week and we were sharing a lesson with a part member family of less actives.  We shared a message about the atonement and how God has prepared a way for us to return to Him and that by do the things He has sent us here to do, we are able to put this plan into practice.  The Spirit was so strong.  After our lesson the Father of the family who isn't a member came out of the other room where he had been listening and thanked us for helping his family. He said he understood our lesson perfectly and that he was going to go to church with us one Sunday.  So when that happened we were totally shocked because that Dude never wanted to talk to us before, and now he was telling us that he would go do church when we didn't even invite him.  I know that the promise Elder Alonso gave to us that day came true and that miracles do happen.  

Brillando!

Love you guys

Elder Tagg

PS some old photos that I'm finally putting up.  Evan's camera hasn't been working so these will have to do for now... 

A recent baptism right after he transferred from the mountains back to the coast

Another recent baptism.  His pants are looking pretty large on him (!)