Week 34 Izalco District, El Salvador--March 14, 2016

Let's talk about love

so maybe ive mentioned a few of these thoughts before but i dont remember anything about anything ive said ever. so here we go. one of the things that people hear a lot from returned missionaries when they get back is how much they love the people from their mission (country, state, etc). and i always thought (for a while anyway) how weird it was to say that you could just straight love every possible person from a country. but then you go on a mission. so lemme preach for a second about the workings of love. at first in my mission i thought man i just need to be out on the mission for x months and i will just automatically love the people. i mean after so many months you just magically know a language and love people right? wrong. love comes, not just from time, but from knowing. think about all the people you really love in the world. and notice something, you know them pretty well. and think about all the people that love you. they know you pretty well. the ability to just love all the people in my mission doesnt come because its just more convenient to work and say that i love these people but rather because we develop the ability to recognize all these people for who they are. now its impossible to say that i know all of these people really well to be able to love them. but i look at a man and know that he is a father. he is a son. he is a brother. he is a worker. he is a dreamer. a woman is a mother, a sister, a daughter, an aspirer, a laugher. a child is a brother, sister, future father or mother, future leader, soccer player, student. and how many people do we know that are like that? i am a future father, i am a future worker, i am a leader, i am a dreamer. and so is just about anyone else i know. i am not here to brag and say that i am now an amazing person that can love just about every darn person i meet. some people are certainly harder to love than others. but there has never been a person that ive known really well (their trials, their hopes, their past, their present, or their possible future) that i have hated. its impossible. and that is exactly why jesus christ loves all of us, every single one, so perfectly as well. because there is no one else that knows us better then He (our trials, our hopes, our past, our present, and definitely our future). that is the reason He can love so purely. so let us practice this pure love with more of the people we meet. if we can begin seeing them as they are, children of God, and just get to know a little bit about them, we can develop this perfect Christlike love. that is something that i have been learning and, in my new area here, have realized as in only a few short weeks in San Julián i feel a great love for these people, some that i may only be just getting to know. i love each and every one of you and hope for the best in this next week. imma pray for you all in the temple tomorrow!
Elder Abilez

Pupusa Count: 30

WE BOUGHT BANANAS

Week 33 Izalco District, El Salvador--March 7, 2016

I don't have a clever title

so really nothing of great significance happened this week. our investigators are working towards baptism little by little. they all have attended church the required 3 times so now its just a matter of helping them receive a testimony and the desire for baptism. we had a busy week and were going between san julian and izalco often but it was nice to be able to see a lot of the two areas. yesterday we had a stake conference in sonzacate so we got to travel there and see even more of the country. its been a good time. i am going to try to send a number of pictures so that is just about all for now (also the videos i took dont fit unfortunately). love you all so much have a good week!


Pupusa Count:  28

companionship unity

typical fried banana breakfast (more typical to have friend platanos but this day i only had bananas)

las granadinas ft. volcan izalco

this pic doesn't do it any justice but this tree over in the bebedero is HUGE! also I took advantage of the setting sun. enjoy

la semilla de un zapote that i ate for breakfast one day as well

con palomo

Week 32 Izalco District, El Salvador--February 29, 2016

I guess I will just talk about the area

Hey! so not much to say this week or anything extraordinary to report so imma just talk about the area. so its huge. normally there are 4 missionaries here but there arent that many missionaries in our mission right now so its just us two. but its cool. in our zone theres the volcán izalco y santa ana. izalco is the tallest and santa ana is the biggest so we hope to go to one or both of those at some point. our branch is itty bitty in this little church building that is actually super cool. not too many members that attend but there are plenty of less actives to work with here. we have, up to this point, 4 baptismal dates that we want to be focusing on. Katia, Karla, Blanca, and un anciano que se llama chesperido. theyre all really great and each have their own little demons to conuer before being baptized. we hope, however, to get them baptized in this month of march. pray for them so that we can see some miracles! its a bit hotter in this area but its not bad at all. lots of coconuts, bananas, mangos, and just big tropical trees in general. its a great, beautiful place. cows and horses, goats and chickens. its way fun. alright cool i hope i have successfully painted my area into your minds. love you all! go read the ensigns! messages from our prophets are the best and i have already read all of the march issue and it was super good! (well i read the liahona but same thing really) okay have a great week!

elder abilez

pupusa count: 22

Week 31 Izalco District, El Salvador--February 22, 2016

Ch-ch-ch-changes! O sea, I´m definitely not in Layco anymore...

Hey! I got transferred! Also im a little annoyed to find out that nothing that i sent last week reached you guys but i dont know what i can do about that in another country so sorry. well i finally had to say goodbye to layco and am now in san julián in the zona izalco! im in a pueblo! when i found out i was goin pueblo i was a little worried. there are certain comforts to being in a huge, nasty city. like restaurants or people with couches. but! when i got here and saw all the farmland and realized i was breathing air for the first time in 6 months instead of bus exhaust i knew that i received a gift i never knew i wanted. and there are some huge houses here! like super nice houses too its weird. its a little town with a little town square and park and stuff. theres no super market just tiendas but its a lot of fun. the people are really friendly and i think i have already seen just about everyone that lives here. our area, however, is huge and covers a lot of other little neighborhoods. its a great place and im happy to be able to be working here for a while. also, my new companion is elder ramos! he was in my first zone in layco and he is from guatemala! its been fun being with someone i already knew. alright thats all i got for now because imma try to resend maybe those other emails that didnt go through. have a great week i love you all bye!
elder abilez

pupusa count: 12

We went to el palacio nacional last week! on the inside it looks like the haunted mansion... 

Observing my palace

Catedral

el centro (del pais)

palacio selfie

Christian!

Week 30 Layco District, El Salvador--February 15, 2016

No time

So cambios are this week. I ran out of time sending all those pics. We had a baptism for Fabiola! Pupusas! Tell my mom happy birthday (its tomorrow) Love you all bye!

Elder Abilez

Pupusa Count: 58

300 pupusas!

La Luz del Mundo -  view from outside our house

I was there...(this was in the national library)

he's got nerves of steel!

bday celebration with gerson, fabiola, and yasmyn

Fernando!

familia soriano!

bautismo!

Hermano Rivas!

Calixto y Hermano Marroquin!

Week 29 Layco District, El Salvador--February 8, 2016

what fun is turning 21 when youre a missionary?

its a lot of fun let me tell you! more or less it was a normal day. some bad news, the baptism fell through due to scheduling purposes but its good to go for this next week so no worries! she is still reading a ton and is very excited for baptism. for dinner i ate my 300th pupusa! i switched it up this time and instead of a large one i got three small ones (because i only had 297 when i got to the pupuseria) but all of different types (ajo, ayote, y loroco). but here is what i really want to talk about today. so this week elder piñeros and i were set on working to find less active members. saturday especially we made plans for the majority of the day to work towards that goal. after a few appointments in this one colonia we set out to search for these less actives on the other side of town. we were crossing this one street that we always pass through from this colonia (6 de Mayo) and there was a man standing outside his house. As we passed by he waved to us and said "buenas tardes, cómo están?". I immediately stopped and felt to talk to this man about the church. Right from the get go this guy told us that he is a member and used to go to church a long time ago. In fact, he and his wife were married in the Layco building. They fell away from the church due to some issue with a former bishop in another ward. 15 years or so this man and his wife hadnt been to church. We invited him to come to church and set an appointment to visit them and were about to head out when he began to cry and hugged me. He told us that he was so happy that he found us and that he felt the Spirit so strongly because he had recently started talking with his wife about the idea of going back to church. Even better, they both came to church yesterday! We have literally knocked all the houses on that street and pass by there everyday but this one day Elder Piñeros and I know that the Lord placed this man in our path to finally be brought back to church. Now here is something important. Many people believe that more than anything missionary work is to baptize people. i know for a fact that, while that is crucially important, missionary work is so much more. Why is a single baptism significant? because with one convert we can then convert generations to come. why is a less active important? because when a member turns away from the church we then lose generations to come. never assume that a less active member is just a bad, angry person who has rejected God in their lives. there is a reason that the Savior shared the parables of the lost silver coin, the lost sheep, and the prodigal son. remember that in these three parables all of these things once belonged in the possession of the owner, shepherd, and father. directly it is talking about the less active members. those who have lost their way. so now, i want to urge all of you member missionaries of the church to look to who you can help, who you can bring back to the Lord. Reactivation of a member is just as valuable as a baptism of a convert. The Lord loves all His children and cannot suffer to lose a single one. I promise that in the service for others you will find yourselves. We can measure who we are ourselves by what we do for others. I am blessed and humbled to have been given that gift of learning on my 21st birthday. I love you all very much and am always happy to hear from you every week. Thank you all for the birthday wishes as well!

 

Elder Abilez

Pupusa Count:48

Week 28 Layco District, El Salvador--February 1, 2016

Our House! In the Middle of the Street!

Its actually at the very end of a street...but hey we moved! and our new house is way better! it took us a little more time than we had wanted to do the whole move but...its nice to finally get it all done. i took some pics so dont worry. Lets see...also this week we went to the temple with Gerson, Fabiola, and one of their other friends Fernando. They all said that they really loved being there around the temple and Fabiola told us that she could feel that really God`s presence was there. She`s super ready for baptism! All she needs is the interview this Friday and she will be good to go! We invited her to invite her family members to the baptism but she is a little wary to do so because of the religious nature of all of them. But we are praying that at least she will find the courage to bear her testimony to them. And we know that she has a strong testimony! Today marks 5 months being here in Layco. Its great to see how much this area has changed and grown in the time that I have been here. I know that my time here is limited so I am continuing to try to improve the area and get the work progressing like never before. We have a lot of really good investigators that have been reading and praying but just need to be a little more excited to attend church and accept a baptismal date. I think something great that could happen is finding out in a year or something that some of these investigators that we are beginning to find were baptized. Not much can bring more joy than helping one of our brothers or sisters find the everlasting blessings and happiness of the restored gospel! Share it with everyone you know! Love you all so much! Have a great week!
Elder Abilez

Pupusa Count: 37