That Missionary Life

June 1st 2026 "This is more than just a moment" - ¥$ I hope everyone had a great May, it's good to be back! Somehow this transfer is almost over, tomorrow night I'll find out if I'm staying or going. I wouldn't mind staying at all, I like my companion and the pueblo of Guayama needs all the help it can get (se llama el "Pueblo de las Brujas" por una razón, there is darkness here). We also get a new mission president this transfer, he's also from Fairfax, VA so he'll probably be really cool. This was the highest number of baptisms in one week we have EVER seen in this mission. The work is hastening! A couple weeks back Elder Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles visited our mission!  2/12 collected Hightlight of the month is when I was formally invited to a freemasonry event (!!) We went to the Masonry Lodge, talked with several members and got to tour the upstairs ritual room or whatever you call it (I was only slightly worried I would...

April 27th, 2026 "Feelin better than I ever felt before today" It sufficeth me to say: I'm staying in Guayama and my new comp is super cool and a breath of fresh air  He is both a super good and spiritual missionary, while also being relatable and fun to be around. And hes like 6'4 so I'm basically hanging out with a less-country version of a-a-ron (shout outs) So excited for this transfer. The ward really is special and now that I'm not with someone set on avoiding member meals (for whatever reason), we can actually build relationships with the members and unite our faith together    Luis, the joven I mentioned a few weeks ago, got baptized this sunday!! He is bien chevere and he doesn't know it yet but he'll be a great missionary. And his mom was there and bawled her eyes out the whole time, we're gonna get her next, promise. She's so sweet, everytime we come over she says "Luis! Los mormónis!" Something about being called "m...

April 20th, 2026 Ayyy,¿qué paso papi? Happy twentieth day of April, I hope today is just like any other day and holds zero significance for you. This week was pretty solid, I got to do an exchange up in Juncos with Elder Guzmán, and since he's Guatemalan and doesn't have a license, I got emergency driving privleges! So, after no driving for about 3 months, I dove into the deep end and drove through a mountainous rainforest full of Borricua drivers at night with torrential downpour and the Tabernacle Choir blasting in our 2026 Camry. I'm still learning spanish and Guzmán is still learning english, so a slight laguage gap existed and conversation was a bit sparse. After 15 minutes of silence, I ran over a frog and he just said "Adios Coqui". I've never felt more comp unity. Then the next night I ran over a cat (genuinely felt terrible but the cat shouldn't have jumped under my wheel if he didn't wanna get run over) and that was the most I saw Elder Guzmá...

April 13th 2026 Buena! Yesterday was one month since I landed in Puerto Rico. Feels like an eternity and and feels like the blink of an eye. Had a exchange with Elder Montoya, who is easily my favorite ginger Panamian from Idaho. On friday we had zone conference! Abour half the missionaries in PR met up and got to hear some inspired/inspiring teachings from our Mission President. Everytime I hear him talk, I get a better idea of just how much I have to learn. Super cool teachings about Faith, I'm doing everything in my power to not spend the whole email rehashing everything. Since Zone Conference is up in San Juan and my area specifically is the furthest from it in the zone, we got to drive up thursday evening and spend the night at the AP's estate. It's cool to see how the 1% live. The best part of zone conference (besides hearing uplifting spiritual instruction, of course) was seeing my old cmm pals (except Ellis ) It was fun to see them again, but even better to hear it ...

April 6th, 2026 No time to lose, we're gonna drop into a spiritual thought straight off the rip Mosiah 27:25-26 "all mankind... must be born again; yea, born of God, changed from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming his sons and daughters; And thus they become new creatures; and unless they do this, they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God." I have seen a man be born again. On my first day in Puerto Rico I met Pedro, an older man living in a retirement home. My comp had met him a few weeks prior and he had accepted a baptismal invitation. Based off my short first interaction, I didn't judge him to be capable of self care or... all there mentally. In the few weeks I've been on this island, I've seen him completely change. He's cleaned his apartment, he's active in lessons and he has such a strong testimony. I've seen him be miraculously healed and I've seen the joy on his face as he...

March 30th, 2026 ¡Feliz Pascua!  This week flew by. First, allow me to address something: I don't actually like Burger King. It just feels very "american" to me. Hours after sending my last email, I went to Chick-fil-a and then I felt at home. And real quick, as always, please please send emails through out the week if you're ever bored, I love hearing from yall :) On Wednesday, I did an exchange (24 hour period where missionaries switch who their comp is) with Elder Santana, it was supa fun! Elder Santana is from the DR and I was worried at first that he wouldn't speak enough english (and I KNOW I can't speak enough spanish) to communicate very well. But I need not fear, his english was great and we had no problem communicating (beyond some humorous moments). Santana is actually on his last transfer, so in a couple weeks he'll go home. We're in very different stages in our mission. Most of the week, finding was super slow. Monday-Thursday, we found 2...