Goodbye to Grandpa Bill

If the letter sounds random then it's because I've combined everything that he wrote into one letter.  You can write him at Jacob.Stiles@myldsmail.net - Thanks for sending him an email even if it is just a short note so he knows you're thinking about him

Hey everyone!First of all I'm doing awesome down here in El Salvador! This week was really good! Our whole district baptized people and it was super cool! Me and my companion have done 11 baptisms this month! My least favorite thing here is called Chuka which means dirty in Spanish. It's a drink that has beans, a pink liquid and chili in it and it's really gross. The weirdest thing has been the dogs here. A lot of them look like zombies and have like mold or something growing on them. Just about the coolest car I've seen has been a Lancer. It had a bunch of aftermarket stuff.  It was dumb compared to what you see in Idaho. Funnest part- volcano. Companion- speaks good Spanish. Something scary that  happened was when someone told us there was gang activity and we had to leave.The Volcano that we went to is Santa Ana which is right next to Izalco! The one we went to was a much easier climb than the other.I've realized the importance of working with the members and inviting their friends to hear the gospel because they are more likely to listen. I've got to confirm a lot of people now.  Between me and my companion we have baptized 11 people. We will most likely get the 2 most baptisms in the mission for our zone. Everyone that we have baptized have been looking for a change in their life. I've baptized the Pulunto family, Hector Vigil, Delmi, Fatima Florez, and Anna and Stefani Ayala. Those are a couple of the names that I have baptized and confirmed. I haven't eaten anything super weird but the food is just different. We cooked something that was rice and milk that's kinda like oatmeal. Our kitchen in our house is just a table with a microwave. We are moving this weekend to a nicer house with an air conditioner. This week was good! Just like all the other ones.  A story this week is we went to an investigators house to see when he wanted to be baptized and he said at 7.  We thought he meant the next day but he wanted to be baptized that day!  So we had to run to the church and get everything ready. Then while we were there a mom of one of the baptisms came in and told us she was going to get baptized too! She then called her Priest and was yelling at him saying she was going to get baptized in the Mormon church.  It was all just super crazy and there were a ton of people there.Oh that's really sad about Grandpa but I know he is in a better place and that he is with our Father.   I kinda had a hard time thinking about him dying on my mission before but now that I have a greater view on the plan that our Father in heaven has for us I know he's in a better place.  Knowing more about the Plan of Salvation has really helped me a lot in the mission.
Thanks for everything!

Jake 

(Click on photos to enlarge)

Volcano

This week was super awesome! We ended with 6 baptisms this month and we were the 3rd highest baptisms in El Salvador! We have been doing super awesome! 

We don't have much time to write but I will give you a ton of photos to make up for not being able to write! We went to the volcano and it took up most of our day.  I took a bunch of pictures with all of our members of our district!

Love, Elder Stiles

Baptisms!

Jake's email is Jacob.Stiles@myldsmail.net if you have time to write him a quick note. Thanks!

Hey Everyone,

This week went by super fast! I'm not sure where the time went but we just went out to work this week because we have a bunch of people getting ready for baptisms! We had a family (man and wife) that got baptized and also a little girl named Fatima. It was really awesome! It was nice to see that all of our hard work finally paid off! I got to confirm one of them in Sacrament and it was kinda nerve racking because I had to do it in Spanish and it was way different. I think my Spanish has really improved this week and I've gotten a lot better at teaching the lessons.

I still kind of feel sick lately but I don't have the same thing that everyone else has. I didn't go get tested but the other guys that did have to take like 2000mg of medicine everyday to get rid of the parasites that they have. Elder G has Giardia... however you spell it...

This week we saw some miracles just by walking around and 2 people came up to us and said that they have been wanting us to teach them which was really cool because if everything that happened during the day didn't happen we wouldn't have seen that person. 

Elder G rides motocross which is pretty cool... 

No, we didn't have to travel to Zone Conference. President Hintze came here and he talked about how we need to open our eyes and see the Lords hand in all our work which was really cool and I've learned a lot lately!

Mike and Shawna Bishop sent me a package with Dockers pants, a tie, jerky, gold fish, macaroni and Starbursts.  It was awesome!

Love, Elder Stiles

(click on photos to enlarge)

Parasites

Hey Everyone,

This week was really slow..  We did have our first Multi-Zone meeting where we got to hear from Prez Hintze! which is my favorite! We didn't do anything very cool because everyone in our house has been sick this whole week.. We've had to just rest because we literally don't have any strength to do anything.. We all have to go to the hospital and give them a sample of our.. umm... #2... but one of  the Elders tested positive to have parasites so I think we might all have them; but hey, at least I've lost a bunch of weight! We have 6 baptism dates for this month! and 2 families which is amazing because in a year I can go and see them get sealed in the Temple! We do have 1 fam and a 12 year old girl that want to get baptized this weekend!

Here are the answers to your questions:

How much do you have to pay to have someone do your laundry? We pay 3 dollars a week

Do you have any investigators who want to be baptized? Yes, we have 3 baptism dates this week!

Have you moved into your new house? We found a new place but we can't move in until the other people move out.

Love, Elder Stiles

Sewing in the Jungle

Skyping with Jake yesterday was awesome.  He said the area where he serves is very poor and they had to leave their area to find a family who had a computer.  He said that there is only one paved road and that most of the houses are made out of tin.  He sent a picture of his shower but apparently you fill up the bucket and take "bucket showers" by using a pitcher to pour the water over you.  He says sometimes worms come out of the water.  He also sent a picture of of new Hawaiian shirt that he bought at Megaboutique for $2.00.  One of the last things he said to us was to count our blessings because we had a lot.  Obviously he is living in very different circumstances than we are here and we should be very grateful for all the luxuries we enjoy.  He said he was happy and that they are very busy.  He's doing great!

Hey Everyone,

This week was amazing! Mostly because we got to Skype home and it was super fun! This week not a whole lot happened but we did get to play soccer this Saturday with a bunch of investigators! The only thing is that when we went out to go and play a thunderstorm came... But we played anyways! We were all just soaking wet and it was awesome! We had the opportunity to bring 8 investigators to church and 7 of them have a date to be baptized this month! Its super exciting. Something I forgot to tell you guys is that they sell Pan Frances (I think that's how you spell it)... but they are people that ride around on their bikes at 6 in the morning and all throughout the day and sell bread. You can buy 5 big rolls for a quarter but that's all you hear all day is them honking their horns. This morning we had the opportunity to do some service for our family that lives in the jungle and we had to move a giant sewing machine into the jungle! It was really heavy. I'm glad we were able to do that for the family so the wife can have a job. Not a bunch happened this week but we should be doing some good stuff this week and I'll keep you updated!

I did get the postcards. Everyone is jealous that I'm the only one that gets mail. Love you mom! :)

Love, Elder Stiles

(click on photos to enlarge them)

House Hunters International

I know he would love to hear from any of you.  Please email him at jacob.stiles@myldsmail.net  Thanks

This week on House Hunters international we travel to Sonzacate, El Salvador.  We are looking for a 2 bedroom 2 bath that doesn't flood every time it rains. We think we found one but we don't know when we are moving into our new house. I cant take a picture of the gym but just imagine our gym at home just really crappy. We can do just about any exercise but it's just crappy. Well part of black stuff on the walls might be mold but it might just be marks from the "accidental" fire... The crabs and potatoes we were giving away last week were just the prize we gave for whoever gave us the most references. Well the baptisms are coming I just don't know when... I bought the Hammock and it cost me $30 but it should last my whole mission. The pictures of the beach were when we first got there so we still had on our white shirts and ties. We changed into shorts when we got to the beach. I just had a Burger at the restaurant at the beach because it was the cheapest thing there. Our investigator that cracked his head open is fine I think. Remind me next week to tell you about my schedule. Well we went exploring this week and found a waterfall.

We had changes this week and Elder Gonzalez is still my comp. Elder McCleery and Scheel are living with us now but our house is too crappy to live in so we have to move.. We might be able to go to a Volcano next week. We have a new investigator that we have to travel through a jungle to get to his house which is super cool. We can also get suits made super cheap here.

Our gym owner came to the gym this last week super high, and brought his iguana that he just shaved with a razor the whole time.. We were like, "Is he scraping the skin or something?", but oh no, he had a razor and was shaving it.   He was just out of it.. all he did was stare at his lizard.  Weird

Love, Elder Stiles 

(click on photos to enlarge)