Dear Family,
First I´ve got to apologize for the tardiness of my email. I´m sure you all assumed that something catastrophic happened and that I´m either dead or maimed in some way, but I´m not, I´m just fine. Hahaha It´s just that lately the Mission´s Schedule has been switched around so bad that I haven´t had the opportunity to write my family until now this week. On Monday, the mission had its Christmas Lunch all together in a big convention center. They served us a “gourmet” lunch and everyone that had mail waiting for them received it, all wrapped in Christmas wrapping. I didn´t receive anything…I was a Little upset about that. Something has been happening lately with my mail…I haven´t gotten a scrap for about 4 months. But I´ve decided that that´s just fine. I´ve only got a month and a half left until I get to speak with all of you in person, so I´m really not upset about receiving written communication any more. Plus, I think it would kinda be cool to receive envelopes and letters once I´m home that were supposed to get to me in the mission. =P Anyways, after the Christmas lunch there was no time to get online and write, so they told us that our P-Day would be on Tuesday instead. Then they spring it on us Monday night that on Tuesday there was going to be another sports activity on P-Day and that if we didn´t want to go, we didn´t have to, but in order to use Internet in the morning we were going to have to organize it with my district and write somewhere within my district´s boundaries. That made a mess for sure! But eventually I get it all organized for my district that we would use Internet together in the sisters’ area. However, the internet that we went to was rather crappy and it didn´t have enough machines for all of us to use at the same time. So my companion and I went looking for another Internet close by. In route, we found Sister Pierce and Sister Redden, the Mission nurses who are both part of my district, and they were setting up a stand in the local market to preach to everyone about the Gospel. It turned out that the Sisters had been praying me there, praying that I would come help them and teach them how to make their contacting more effective and make their market stand activity work. I had done something similar in Momostenango with Elder Kahawaii every Wednesday in the central park, so I knew what to do. I showed the Sisters how to effectively contact, and when I looked at them after my demonstration they had their jaws on the floor and their eyes as big as dinner plates. Hahahah It was awesome! So Elder B and I said goodbye to the Sisters and kept looking for a good Internet. We found a good one, but all the computers were occupied, so we were out of luck. So that´s why I didn´t get to write yesterday either… I´m sorry if anyone freaked out or was let down, but now I´m online, making sure I get a good email sent for this week. =) I hope everyone had a wonderful week and is exercising faith and doing their best to do better every day.
This last week was full of meetings and traveling and NOT being in my area, and I fear that this week too is going to be exactly the same, so I probably won’t have a lot to report about the work we do in my area. However, in the time that we HAVE had, we have tried our best to find the inactive and less active members of the Branch and start serving them. President Lorenzana and President Cifuentes, the Xela Stake President, have assigned Elder Bergquist and I to focus on the reactivation and the retention of members so we can increase the attendance at church and strengthen those that have already been baptized. Elder Solis and Elder Barrios have been assigned to focus on finding and baptizing new investigators. So that´s why you haven´t really heard much about new investigators or baptisms. But you will hear a lot, I hope, about reactivated and truly converted members. =) Of course, there will be some members of the inactive families that have not been baptized yet, and we will baptize them, but it wont be because we knock doors for hours on end. Haha I feel really wonderful about this new direction in our area because this is what I have been good at for my whole mission! And I love teaching Elder B all about the most important parts of the mission work and the important lessons that he will learn throughout his time here in Guatemala. I´m finally leaving behind a great legacy, finally making the people want to remember the Tucker name with love and gratitude. It feels wonderful! And the best part is that it wont end the moment I´m released…it´ll never end. What I´ve learned in the mission will become a way of life. Service, love, friendship, and charity. It´ll be who I am for everyone that cares to accept me. =) I´m not gunna be nosey, I´m not going to be a nuisance, I´m just always going to offer my help, knowledge, and love…especially for our family members! I want my whole family to be strong, blessed, and obedient to the Lord´s Plan. So I´m gunna do everything you allow me to do to achieve that goal. =D
Alright, I´m out of time and I´ve got to get moving for the day. Wish us luck in finding and reactivating all the lost sheep and we can find! We´re going to be fasting for these families and I´ll tell you their names as we find them. For now, pray for Esgar Reyes, so that he can feel the need to be baptized and complete his family. =) And pray that the Gil (pronounced “hill”) Ramirez family feels the need to return to the Church together as a BIG}, already baptized family! =)
I love you all and miss you so much. I´m not counting down the days, but I´m aware that I only have 8 weeks left. That´s such a small amount of time…I´m almost done. I´m coming home with honor and blessings and plans for my future…it´s gunna be awesome!
Love Always,
-Elder Preston William Tucker
P.S. President Lorenzana said something last night during our meeting that made me think that he´s not going to change anyone in the zone this change that´s coming up in two weeks. So, it´s possible that the Lord will allow me to finish my mission and my legacy here in San Carlos Sija with Elder Bergquist. Please pray that this will happen…that would be the best Christmas present I could receive in the mission. That´s how I want to end, helping the people I love with the companion that I Love as well. Emotionally, it would be easier for me to leave the mission if I change to a different area with a different companion because then I wouldn´t have established connections and relationships to say goodbye to…but the Lord never said things would be easy…he just said that they would be worth it. =) I love you all and hope to have good news next week about how the work is advancing. Have a wonderful week.
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