Deer Heads in a Bag

Hey Everyone,

In this letter of Bullet Tree Falls we will be talking about long walks, apostasy, and random deer heads.  

This week we found a really cool man named Moses.  He is pretty positive but he lives all the way out in the middle of nowhere. So we have to walk about 30 minutes on this road where his house is the very last house.  We've only talked once but we'll see how receptive he is.  

One of the things we do here in the mission is we kick rocks... but not just kick them... we try and get the rock to go in between the legs of our companion.  If you make it through it's a goal!  Kind of dumb but it passes the time on long walks.  

My companion and I also watched a broadcast from 2014.  It was a CES Fireside for Seminary and Institute.  They talked about how Christ founded His church. One of my favorite parts was where it talked about Baptism for those who didn't have the opportunity.  It gives 4 choices to choose from for those that didn't receive baptism.  It really explains everything well, and I definitely recommend it.

God said EVERYONE needs to be baptized, so there are 4 options if someone has not had the opportunity to be baptized:
1. They go to hell even though God desires all to return to him.
2. God did not really mean what he said.
3. Baptism isn't necessary if you have faith.  (However, there is NO doctrine that says that is      true, or that says "unless a man be born of desire".)
4. God really meant what he said so therefore there must be a way for those that weren't              baptized to have an opportunity (baptism for the dead). - YAY!

This week we made a point in trying to find all the less-active members around Bullet Tree to help them come back to church, but there are so many members in such a small place, and most of them are apostate and haven't been to church in many years, or go to other churches.  One of the Elders in the church left and created his own church, and talks bad about  the Mormons so that causes a problem... But we keep going!

Elder Tuchan and I bought little books, and we are filling them up with words and phrases from the words we hear.  Then we have to figure out what the word or phrase means.  Everyone here thinks that I'm from Guatemala for some reason.  I've had people say that they think I'm Latino by the way I talk, and others say that they hardly understand me... One day I'll be fluent!  

We go to San Ignacio twice a week.  We take a 10 minute cab ride that costs us $4-Belize each way.

The other day we were over at a members house when all of a sudden somebody stopped by and gave us a bag, and inside the bag was the head of a deer... Sometimes the weirdest things happen to us!  

We had a campfire at a member's house, and we found a giant, dead Tarantula. 

We also had 38 people in church which was ten more than last week. Well this last Week we Spoke in Church (Spanish), and taught the young kids, and then the Third hour as well. The missionaries are needed a lot here. 

Thanks for tuning in, and I'll see you all next week.

Love, Elder Stiles 

(click on photos to enlarge)

Screen Printing shop next to our house

Elder Tuchan

Campfire

Dead Tarantula

Our House in San Ignacio

Card Trick for the kids

More Pics from the Zoo

Welcome to Bullet Tree Falls

Elder Jacob Stiles
El Salvador San Salvador West/Belize Mission
P.O. Box 1123
Belize City, Belize, C.A.

jacob.stiles@myldsmail.net

Hey Everyone, 

Well we found out our changes last Monday and I am the DISTRICT LEADER for the Cayo District!  My area is Bullet Tree and my companion is Elder Tuchan from Antigue, Guatemala. He Is very smart and remembers all the scriptures we use! Our area is very cool! It is also very small.  

Our house is a decent size house for two people, so it's not bad.  We only had one problem, and that's when I was looking through the cupboards to see what we had and found that one was completely filled with giant black ants.  So we called Elder and sister Alico to come and bring ant traps.  The Alicos actually brought me over the day before changes.

Each night I have to call three sets of missionaries and ask them for their numbers that they did that day.  Then I talk to them about their day and give them advice on how I can help them the next day.  Then I add all the numbers together and send them to the Zone Leaders, Elder Hansen and Elder Lopez.  Then they call me and talk to me about how we can do better.  So it doesn't leave me much time to do anything else in the evening.... Basically just take numbers, and then go to bed.  Also, every Thursday we have District Meeting where I basically give everyone a pep talk to encourage them the coming week.

I also learned that marshmallows are called "Besitos" in Spanish, which means "little kisses" in Spanish.... And that day I got a chicken heart in my rice and beans which I did not eat!

Here in Bullet Tree we mostly speak Spanish but just about everyone speaks Kriol.  Elder Tuchan is learning English so we mostly talk Spanish.  Oh, I forgot to mention that Monday Elder Freeman and I went to Santa Elena to find George, The Belizian Rosta, and get a picture with him wearing a BYU shirt!  He loved it and said it was his favorite color.  We also met another family of Rostas and I found out the real meaning of  the Bible.  What it really means is Basic Instruction Before Leaving Earth.  Never knew I could be so enlightened by a Rosta

We were able to bring three people to church this Sunday and there were a total of 28 people in church.  I taught both the kids' and Priesthood classes so I hope it's not like that every week but if it is than it's OK! 

Well that's it for this week!  Adios!

Love, Elder Stiles

QUESTIONS (from Alexandra & Kaden)
Do you ever get sore from walking around a lot?  
     We do get sore from doing something called T-25 every morning which is like a workout video that I bought for $4.

Do you see a lot of unusual animals in Belize?
     We did hear Howler Monkeys the other day! 

Are there scales to see how much you weigh?
     Um, not that I have seen. I did see one at the Branch President's house but I didn't use it.. haha wondering if i gained weight huh?? ;)

Have you lost weight?
     Um I don't think I've really lost weight but then again who knows. It's more than likely that you gain weight here because most of the time the food is cooked in unhealthy ways.

Do you get mosquito bites?
     I get them every once and a while but not too much... Most of the time we wear repellent.

(Click on Photos to Enlarge)

Elder Tejada 

Rosta Man wearing BYU shirt I gave him

Black Ants in the cupboard of the new house

Mama Jackson

Branch President's House

Elder Tuchan

Chicken heart I found in my chicken & rice (I did not eat it)

Tiny Rat