Expired Cookies

Hey Everyone,

First the Questions:

How much did it cost you to get your birthday package?  My package cost about $14 BZD to get out,  but only because the lady there is friends with the missionaries.

What were your favorite things you got in you birthday package?  One of my favorite things was the Tie Tack! Super nice to have and it also looks really cool! When we ride our bikes my tie goes crazy!

What is the China Man where you bought the syrup?  Is that the name of a store?  The china man is just like the type of store. The Chinese people here own all the big stores so when we say china man it's just like a super market.

Is the baptism that we are keeping in our prayers for a man, woman, child, or a family? Well the baptism that we were supposed to have this week was supposed to happen but "Tiffany" went to Belize City so she wasn't able to go to church. So I guess we're looking at next week if she gets back! She is super cool! She used to be 'Anglican' before but when we told her about the Plan of Salvation she wanted it to be true and she believes it's the true church. She is a single mom that lives with her one kid at home!

How is your arm? Did you ever figure out what caused the infection?  And about my arm.. Its happening again! It started getting bigger again so today I have a 3 hour trip to the city to get an ultra sound to figure out what is wrong with it. Also my foot is acting up as well so we've got some problems here...

Now the Story:

This week has been really slow.. We have found a lot of people that might be able to progress and really think that this might be the true church. Something cool that happened was that the sisters had a baptism, and this week we had 48 people in church which was really awesome! Not as much as we have been having but now that the elections are wrapping up people have more time to do things. Literally everybody here in our area works for the people that are running for office and they just go around trying to get people to vote for that person so we cant find anybody. 

We went to this store that sells expired food.  So we bought 64 packages of cookies!

This weeks email will be short because we have to go to Belize City but hopefully next week we will have a baptism!

Wish us luck! 

Love Elder Stiles!

Elder Jacob Stiles
PO Box 79
San Ignacio, Cayo
Belize, Central America

jacob.stiles@myldsmail.net
elderjacobstiles.blogspot.com

Happy Birthday Jake!

Hey Everyone,

Well first of all I thought that your card really was funny! Reminded me of Max! We didn't really do anything for my birthday but we went over to one of the member's houses and we had cake! And after that Elder Leslie treated me to some pupusas at an El Salvadorian restaurant! Which were delicious! Makes me Miss El Salvador!

My hand isn't as big any more! I got some medicine to make it go down. We went to change meeting and when I was there it was soo big that it just felt like it was going to explode! It was noticeable in person but it was really hard to get a good picture of it that made it look as crazy as it was. Mostly was just how dense it was!

When we made pancakes with the family we just made pancakes normally with the mix and, yeah, they are a super cool family that we are hoping will get married! They didn't have the syrup so we just bought it at the china man.

The amount of people that we have been having in church has just been dropping mostly because elections are going on. This last week we had 32 people in church... The Branch is really small and right now we are mostly just trying to get enough people to give them callings to try and strengthen the branch. Lately we have found a ton of less-actives that we are trying to get back in church so they can hold a calling. A lot of people have fell away from the church because they didn't get a chance to be involved in the church.  A lot of people want to have the opportunity to speak in church or even hold a calling. We also found a lot of people that have read the Book of Mormon, and Doctrine and Covenants just because.. not for like a religious purpose... but just to do it.  But we are hoping that in 2 weeks we will have our first baptism! Keep us in your prayers!

P.S. and Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes! Loved the E-Mails and the Cards!

Love you all! Elder Stiles!

Elder Jacob Stiles
PO Box 79
San Ignacio, Cayo
Belize, Central America

jacob.stiles@myldsmail.net

Happy Birthday Jake!

 Jake's "enlarged" left hand

Elephantiasis - JK

Jake's birthday is October 17.  If you can send him an email this week that would be great -
jacob.stiles@myldsmail.net.

Or a belated birthday card -
Elder Jacob Stiles
PO Box 79
San Ignacio, Cayo
Belize, Central America
Hey Everyone,

Well this week not really much happened.  My bike has broken all week so I finally just bought an air pump and just put it on my bike so whenever my tire goes flat I can just fill it up.
We went over to one of our investigators house and made pancakes for them!  It was super fun and they really enjoyed it!
This last Monday we went to play Frisbee golf for our P-Day.  It was tons of fun!  I can't explain how many times my Frisbee just went straight off into the woods...
This week was just filled with tons of work.  We got 2 Less actives to church which was well needed because one of them knows so much about the church and we could get a branch mission leader!  We also got a lady named Tiffany to church and she wants to find out which church is true.
I also got Elephantiasis this week.  I woke up one day with bumps on my arm and now its huge!!  Just kidding it's not really elephantiasis but it looks like a marshmallow.  It's just an infection but I got some meds to help me with it.  We spent just about all yesterday just sitting in the house because my arm felt like it was going to explode. Got lots of scripture reading done and going in depth in the Book of Mormon!  So much interesting stories here!
We'll see how my birthday is!

QUESTIONS: 

Did you use baby powder or baby formula in your cereal?  Please tell me it was formula because baby powder smells sweet but would taste awful. -  Yes, I did use baby formula! This week I made toast with maple syrup on it.
Do you like your calendar?   -  I love my calendar!
Why did you get threatened to get shot twice this week?  -  Well one of them was just thinking he was being funny talking about how we are on God's side and we shouldn't be worried if we died, and the other guy was drunk.

Love Elder Stiles 

(click on photos to enlarge)

P-Day Frisbee Golf

We made pancakes

Hand on the right has Elephantiasis (not really but it is swollen)

President Monson Is A Boss

Jake's birthday is October 17.  His address is below if you can send him a card - that would be awesome!

Elder Jacob Stiles
PO Box 79
San Ignacio, Cayo
Belize, Central America
Hey Everyone,

Well this week just about nothing happened again.  We have been trying to talk with everyone but no one really wants to listen. The highlights of the week were going to Belize City For a Multi-Zone conference where all the missionaries go to Belize to listen to President Hintze! Which was really cool! We talked about "Calling Upon The Powers of Heaven". Then the second most amazing thing was General Conference! My favorite session was the Priesthood session! Really powerful! President Monson is just a boss about dying during his final testimony but hung in there! It's amazing that he is still kicking and testifying about this gospel!

I met the founder of Skull Candy. We literally just mix all the food we can together. Yesterday I had cereal with chocolate milk inside and also put baby powder to make it thicker.  Oh and I still make up words. Just like in my scout interview...

I'll send a pic of what happens when it rains and we ride our bikes, The Multi-Zone, Me and another elder, and one with Elder Smith,  what our agenda looks like, our desks, my desk, kitchen, the cutest boy ever, and part of our area.

Also I met Dwayne Wades cousin.Oh, I also got threatened to be shot twice this week!

Sorry it's short but I love you all!!!!!!!!

Elda Stiles

QUESTIONS:

How is Elder Leslie doing?  Are his injuries healing OK?  Elder Leslie is doing fine! He still has his stitches in and we're not sure when he needs to take them out. But other than that he has been a little sick with allergies but he is awesome!

What was your favorite Conference Talk?  My favorite talk was Elder Christofferson.  Mostly because it has to deal with the missionary work. Lots of people just believe that if you are baptized and your not a terrible person than you are fine to go up to heaven. People just don't understand here.

Why do you think more people in El Salvador were willing to listen to your message and get baptized than those in Belize? Well here in Belize it's supposed to be the opposite. You are supposed to baptize a ton here. I guess it all just depends on where you are at. The hardest thing here in Belize is that people just don't want to go to church.  It doesn't matter if you tell them that there will be a prize there or anything. The people just don't like commitment here...  Also we have to convince people that "BOB MARLEY WAS NOT A PROPHET!!" It's hard for them to believe but it's true.. NOT a prophet.

Who washes your clothes?  There is a member that washes our clothes for $50 Belize for the month.

Do you still drink bottled water?  We buy big 5 gallon jugs of water but we have to drink purified water.

How often to you clean your house?  We clean our house every Monday. When I got here it was really bad and we still have a lot of work to do.

Do you always get along with your companions?  I always get along with my companions!  I have always been given good companions!

Are you teaching anyone or any families the discussions?  Well we are teaching a man named Umer and he is really cool! He really wants to know the truth and other than that we don't really have anybody that is super positive right now.

Do you eat in member's homes very often?  We don't really eat at members' homes as much here. In El Salv that was just how it was... People loved to eat there.