Elder Alex Walbom Guatemala City/Kansas Mission experiences!

It was so great to actually see and speak with Elder Walbom this week! He said that this first week out of the training center has been super tough because of the extreme poverty and the language barriers, but we tried to encourage him and let him know that things will get better.   Also, he was finally able to send us some of his pictures! Here is his weekly email: Hey everyone! So this first week has had its ups and downs. Its definitely been one of the hardest weeks of my life. The mission is intense. The people here are very humble and very poor and it was very shocking and surprising to witness. Anyways Ive had lots of good experiences and weird ones. We didnt have running water or electricity for a couple days and that was interesting. We teach English class twice a week and the people here love it. We basically live off of tortillas and beans here.  The roosters here and there are a ton of them are very irritating in the morning and the...

Elder Walbom left the Missionary Training Center in Guatemala last Tuesday and we received an email from his Mission President which said, “ I am thrilled to welcome your wonderful son to the Guatemala City Mission. It lifts our spirits when we greet the new missionaries and see their combination of faith, wonder, and youthful exuberance. My quiet interview with your son filled me with gratitude for the faith, righteous desires, and testimony he has developed over months and years of preparation.” Elder Walbom related the following to us regarding his interview, “I bore my testimony to the [Mission] President. He wrote down ‘powerful testimony of Jesus Christ’ and told me that he had a prompting and inspiration while I talked, of who my companion should be, and sent me on my way an hour later.” He has 2 companions for the next 6 weeks, both of whom are Latino.   We found out that the new mission is not just Guatemala City and actually goes all the way ...

This week was our last video chat from the CCM.  Next Tuesday, August 20, Elder Walbom will leave the CCM and start his work as a regular full-time missionary in Guatemala City!  Even though he doesn't believe his Spanish is good enough yet, it will surely get better quickly once he is out constantly communicating with locals, and he will most likely have a native Spanish-speaking companion with him 24/7 (trial by fire). I spoke briefly with his current companion, Elder Hunt, who told me that Elder Walbom has been a great companion and helps him a lot, and that he really looks up to Elder Walbom and knows that he will be a great missionary! Here is the group email from Elder Alex Walbom: "Its the last week! The home stretch! And my spanish is nowhere to where it needs to be because you can{t become fluent in 6 weeks but its good enough for the Lord.  Weekly recap I foiled the plans of a group of Latinos. They tried to confuse us with the...