2011 Dec 19

2011 Dec 19

Hey guys!

I still don´t have my packages yet. Last year, for some reason, we had the Christmas Conference about a month early so we all got our packages earlier but, this year we are going to have the Christmas Conference on Thursday (the 22nd) so that is when I will get the packages that you guys have sent me.

And my head cold is definitely gone. Don´t even worry about that.

Lucia is doing okay. Just that she didn't get baptized. The thing is that she is basically expecting her answer to come as a vision or as a voice that God is going to give her and even though we talked to her about how the Spirit talks to us through our feelings and thoughts and Galatas 5 and all of that, she persists that she will receive and answer similar to the first vision, which is usually not the way that God communicates with his children. So we´ll see. And that is so awesome that Maren´s husband is going to get baptized on Christmas Eve! What a fantastic present for Jesus Christ and for himself.

The temple dedication was a really great experience. I remember going to one way, way back in the day. I must have been 8 or 10 because I don´t remember it that well and i remember not being able to see anything very well because I wasn't that tall yet. I didn't really understand what was happening at the time but this time was really good. We could only go to the first 2 sessions because it is just about impossible to find transportation from Momos centro to San Francisco after about 4:30. But it was a good experience. I liked it a lot. There was a really sweet spirit there and it is something that I will never forget.

And the burning of the devil day I had never heard of before I came to Guatemala. I've never seen it before but I guess what they do is that they build figurines of the Devil and then they burn it and there are a lot of crazy people running around in the streets as well throwing eggs at people and being crazy. Haha, I don´t know if I would recommend it for the states...

That is awesome that you guys are getting so good at harp and that you had the chance to help out with the Christmas program for the ward.

Yeah, I can´t even believe that time has gone by so fast. I don´t know if I have already told you guys this story but back when I was getting ready for the mission, I remember that I asked you what I was going to do with my dishes that I used at BYU while I was on my mission and you said "We are just going to keep it in the garage and you can get it when you come back from the mission in 2 years. I remember thinking "Mom, 2 years is a long time- I don´t know that I am ever going to come back." but here we are, almost done, and even though I have learned soo so much in these 15 months, it feels like I just got on the plane to go to the MTC from Colorado Springs a month ago. SO FAST! I may be wrong but I don´t know if the whole family has been home for Christmas because one of us boys have siempre been on the mission. CRAZY! Think about it: There is a chance that there might even be a sister (or even brother) in law for this next Christmas! Crazy.

Well, I still have to write to the president and my time is running up. So I will talk to you guys on Sunday!

Love, Elder Froelich

2011 Nov 21

2011 Nov 21 PM

I sent you guys a bunch of pictures today. You are welcome and thank you guys for the camera that you guys gave me. I love it.

STORIES: First of all, we went to the temple on Wednesday. So beautiful and I loved it a lot and it was a great experience for me and for the investigators that were able to come. But that is not the story. My friend (who are in these pictures that I am sending you in this email) is serving in the same ward as me (there are two companionships in the ward) and at the very end right before we had to get on the buses to go to Huehue again, he was like, "Elder Froelich I want to go to Hill Cumorah” (a small church book store on the road from where the buses parked to the temple). Long story short, I didn´t want to and it took about 10 minutes to convince me to do it but his persistence finally paid off, I gave in and we went there. As we got there, there is a restaurant that is right next to it, and a random guy came up to me and asked me if I knew somebody named Matthew Froelich who lives in Spanish Fork Utah and I was like "YEAH! He is like my.... 2nd cousin (what is he to me? I don´t know). And then he told me that he is the 2nd counselor in the temple presidency and that he and Matt had served together in some bishopric or presidency. And then we talked about how good of a guy Matt is and everything and then he had to go to some meeting, I think so we took a quick picture (226) and went our separate ways. But it was so crazy. So many things had to go exactly right for this story to have worked out. First of all, I had to know Matt, who is kind of a distant relative. Second, I had to listen to Elder Franco. 3rd, he had to be in that restaurant and that exact time. 4th, he had to notice my plaque among the, at least, 50 other missionaries who were there at the temple. And then the chances that my ward happened to be scheduled for the 16th of Nov and a whole lot of other things that I am not even noticing! What is crazy, as well, is that it all would have been for absolutely nothing if I hadn´t listened to Elder Franco and gone down to the store to look at the backpacks and ties that he wanted to see.

Let´s just think about all of the other crazy stuff that happened in this story and of all the crazy other opportunities that God is throwing into our lives and a lot of times we get promptings from other people that we ignore, but we have to be really attuned to the spirit to be able to take advantage of these opportunities. CRAZY!

Here is another cool story: In the MTC in the states, for some reason (obviously God) I had a huge problem to be able to say the word "ciruela" which means plum in Spanish. I spent 30 minutes seriously just on that word saying it over and over again to be able to say it. So, naturally, it stayed in my brain really well. On Friday there was a conference for all of the elders who are going to train and President was talking and he didn´t know how to say "plum" and he was asking everyone-the assistants, the latinos and nobody knew. Except for me. So I said it and looked pretty smart for it. The same thing happened a little while ago for DNA (he wanted the non-abbreviated version) and I said it. I am so BLESSED.

Also, Nestor is pilas and is going to be baptized soon

I´m excited to train, really excited!

God loves me and is showing me really well with amazing blessings. I just have to notice. J

And there is more that I wanted to say but the time just finished.

I love you guys!

Elder Froelich

2011 Nov 28

2011 Nov 28 PM

Hey Guys!

I had a good experience this week about the selection of my companion. On Tuesday we all went to the mission home and there were all of the new missionaries who were coming into the mission. Long story short, our companions were all chosen and my comps name is Elder Posas. We for sure were not fighting all of the time but it also wasn't initially easy for me to get along with him either. So it was kind of hard to get along with him and I didn't know what to do so I went into the bathroom and prayed and then I ended my prayer and just sat there for a second and then I remembered about Moroni 7:48 which talks about how to have love so I did what it says (I prayed with all of the will that i could muster) so that I could love my comp and it worked. Lessons learned-when you have love, patience comes naturally so focus on love and not patience. Also, I prayed to God with all of the energy of my heart like the verse says and God gave me that love for him. I love him a lot. And even though I feel that we are not completely compatible, I love him extremely a lot. SO all of the scriptures that god gives us are real. He doesn't just say stuff to sound good or fancy. The power and reality of the scriptures is real. My comp is really good though-I am learning a lot from and with him. He is the only member in his family and he doesn't really know his father or mother or siblings. He is a good guy though.

I really like this new ward that I am in right now too. We are in a place called San Francisco and usually it is a sister´s area but we got to go there. So we are there right now. I am really excited about it too. The members are extremely excited to do missionary work. I have never been in a ward where everyone loves the missionaries and wants to help them do missionary work so much. It is a different but extremely refreshing experience.

Also, there are some members of our ward who know Quiche and they were trying to teach me how to say a couple of phrases but it was extremely hard for me because they have a whole bunch of sounds that I have never made with my mouth before. and i got to thinking that that is probably what it feels like for a lot of Latinos to learn to speak English. There are so many sounds that they do not have in Spanish that they have to use in English. So that was a good perspective to get.

Also, lately, i have been getting some divine reprovement from god about my Spanish and about how i have to improve it lately but last night, we had a meeting with the mission leader and the bishop to talk about what we can do to help out the missionary work in this area and my comp was talking to the bishop and I was talking with the lider missional and he told me that I have really good Spanish and that just about everything from the accent to vocab and everything is very good. So that was a really good experience... to know that I am at least a couple steps above a gibbering gringo who doesn´t know anything about Spanish.

Nestor was able to go to the temple (he is the one in the red sweatshirt) and he is for sure going to get baptized in this change. But I am unfortunately not in that area anymore so I don´t know how he is...

Also, yesterday, we went to the sacrament meeting and they didn´t tell me that I was going to speak until, literally, 5 seconds before so I got up without anything specific prepared but I got up there and gave, I think, one of the better talks that I have given before. So that was a good experience.

Right now, we are in the dry, but freezing cold, season.

Also, with that family in the Viña, I didn´t find out while I was the zone leader there and now it is just about impossible to find out. But I will see what I can do.

Also, other things for the Christmas box: candy, chocolate,

Also, I was telling a member how much time I had left on my mission and I realized that soon I am going to have 9 months on the mission. That is crazy to think about because it is only one digit instead of the two that I am used to. Crazy.

Well, I´ve got to go

Love,

Elder Froelich

2011 Nov 21 try again

2011 Nov 21 PM

I sent you guys a bunch of pictures today. You are welcome and thank you guys for the camera that you guys gave me. I love it.

STORIES: First of all, we went to the temple on Wednesday. So beautiful and I loved it a lot and it was a great experience for me and for the investigators that were able to come. But that is not the story. My friend (who are in these pictures that I am sending you in this email) is serving in the same ward as me (there are two companionship's in the ward) and at the very end right before we had to get on the buses to go to Huehue again, he was like, "Elder Froelich I want to go to Hill Cumorah” (a small church book store on the road from where the buses parked to the temple). Long story short, I didn't want to and it took about 10 minutes to convince me to do it but his persistence finally paid off, I gave in and we went there. As we got there, there is a restaurant that is right next to it, and a random guy came up to me and asked me if I knew somebody named Matthew Froelich who lives in Spanish Fork Utah and I was like "YEAH! He is like my.... 2nd cousin (what is he to me? I don´t know). And then he told me that he is the 2nd counselor in the temple presidency and that he and Matt had served together in some bishopric or presidency. And then we talked about how good of a guy Matt is and everything and then he had to go to some meeting, I think so we took a quick picture (226) and went our separate ways. But it was so crazy. So many things had to go exactly right for this story to have worked out. First of all, I had to know Matt, who is kind of a distant relative. Second, I had to listen to Elder Franco. 3rd, he had to be in that restaurant and that exact time. 4th, he had to notice my plaque among the, at least, 50 other missionaries who were there at the temple. And then the chances that my ward happened to be scheduled for the 16th of Nov and a whole lot of other things that I am not even noticing! What is crazy, as well, is that it all would have been for absolutely nothing if I hadn't listened to Elder Franco and gone down to the store to look at the backpacks and ties that he wanted to see.

Let´s just think about all of the other crazy stuff that happened in this story and of all the crazy other opportunities that God is throwing into our lives and a lot of times we get promptings from other people that we ignore, but we have to be really attuned to the spirit to be able to take advantage of these opportunities. CRAZY!

Here is another cool story: In the MTC in the states, for some reason (obviously God) I had a huge problem to be able to say the word "ciruela" which means plum in Spanish. I spent 30 minutes seriously just on that word saying it over and over again to be able to say it. So, naturally, it stayed in my brain really well. On Friday there was a conference for all of the elders who are going to train and President was talking and he didn't know how to say "plum" and he was asking everyone-the assistants, the Latinos and nobody knew. Except for me. So I said it and looked pretty smart for it. The same thing happened a little while ago for DNA (he wanted the non-abbreviated version) and I said it. I am so BLESSED.

Also, Nestor is pilas and is going to be baptized soon

I´m excited to train, really excited!

God loves me and is showing me really well with amazing blessings. I just have to notice.

And there is more that I wanted to say but the time just finished.

I love you guys!

Elder Froelich