Thursday, May 31, 2012

May 28, 2012

Hey I'm sending this to both addresses so you guys have a better
chance of getting it. I’m glad you guys are down at the cabin
I wish I could be there too I miss it so much (please fix the
snowmobiles). This week was pretty good. We are still reaping the
fruits of our amazingly successful week a couple weeks ago. We had 3
investigators in sacrament meeting for the first time yesterday and we
have put baptismal dates with 2 of them, a married couple who
is the bishop's cousin and that has helped us so
much. But we are definitely enjoying the work. I completed 4 months
just a few days ago and 5 doesn't seem too far in the future. I only
have 3 more weeks with Elder Llewelyn so we are going to work hard to
get them baptized on the 16th, our last Saturday together.
I think it is going to happen. Another family's baptismal date fell,
but it is very hard to get with them so we have to work hard to meet
with them and to get them married so we can baptize them. That’s
really our only star investigator families. I’m having a lot of fun
but I’m working hard too. We just keep getting deeper and deeper into
the rainy season, I can’t remember the last time I saw the sun but it
had definitely cooled off a ton. It doesn’t rain all the time. Yet.
But the storms are getting worse and worse and there are more and more
every day. Like it looks like it is going to storm in the next hour or
two. I love it though with my little umbrella and my ziplock bags. But
we have our first missionary mall casualty; my backpack strap rubbed
against one of my shirts too much and now there is a hole. I put
packing tape on the strap to prevent this on my other shirts. I'll
send a picture. Everything else is holding up though. I want someone
to look up a lot of spanish jokes for me and send them please the kids
love them and I would love some recipes too especially with rice. And
I want pictures of graduation and stuff that would be nice. Well I
love you all and I hope you all have a great week up at the cabin.
Drive safe and enjoy your summer! Love, Elder Kilts

May 22, 2012


Hey everyone this week was great. Probably my favorite so far on the
mission. We had a new weekly record of 9 news with 4 families this
last week and one of those was the cousin of the bishop here. We got
the reference last Monday and we have taught him 3 times already just
last week. We teach him again tonight and also tomorrow. He can only
go to church every other week so we have to wait 6 weeks to baptize
him. Which I believe he is going to happen. So yeah a very successful
week we were very blessed and guess what we did on last Sunday to have
such a successful week? We had a fast as a zone to be an example to
the rest of the mission and it happened. Fasting really works
hopefully yall can see what it did for us over here.
I think we are almost in the rainy season. Today is pretty dry and hot but all
last week it was just steady rain and little downpours every now and then.
Our house went from a steamy 80 degrees to about 71 or 70. So I like
that. But the big thing today, and the reason I’m writing on Tuesday
is because we went to the temple today! It was so great. We had to get
up at 3:45 to make it on time. We had two elders who stayed the night
in our house because the bus from there area (45 minutes away) doesn’t
run at 5 in the morning. So we got there at about 630 and the session
started at 7. Elder Falabela the area 70 was in the session with us
which was cool and I got to buy lots of stuff at the distribution
center. Lots of DVDs and manuals and pictures and stuff. So it was
pretty sweet. So yeah that was our week in a nutshell.
We’re working hard every day and we are having a great time. We have changes
in about 4 weeks so I may or may not go somewhere else we will see. But
my comp and I are really going to try hard and we are going to start
to see the baptisms in this area. Dad it sounds like things are going
by so fast over there. I can’t believe it’s been a whole year since I
was graduating. And I wish I could have gone to BYU with you I really
miss that place. And in a couple years you’ll be able to stay in my
apartment if it’s raining haha. And give Bivens my address it’s the
apartado postal 951-a address. Or give him my email too. That’s good
they split the Ogden mission too didn’t it go all the way up to Paris
ID? And I remember Steve I talked to him at the north Sanpete
tournament a couple years ago. Have a great last week and enjoy your
time up in the cabin. I would love to be there with you guys. Mom you
sound like you have enough to keep you busy. What are you going to do
in 2 weeks when all you have to do is get Zack to find a job? Maybe
you can send me some of that cotton candy? Haha but send me pictures
of graduation because I can’t believe it’s already here. But I will
try and write you guys again. Mom could you put $20 in my
account so I can fix all of my pants? We shouldn’t use mission money
for it and its $3 per pair. Thanks! Well I will write you all in a very
short 6 day week from now and just remember I love you all and I pray
for you all many times a day. Have a great week. –Love Elder Kilts

May 14, 2012

We had a great conversation with Elder Kilts on the phone. We put the phone on speaker and sat around and talked together. We all had a minute to talk alone then I had my mom minutes at the end. He sounds in good spirits and has a tiny latino accent that I'm sure will get stronger as time goes by!

Hey it was great to talk to you all yesterday that was probably the
fastest 45 minutes of my life… You guys all sounded so great and it
was great to hear your voices and I’m sure Christmas will be here
before you know it and me, I’ll be talking to you all again. This week
has been hard for some reason. We had a hard time getting members

to leave with us and it just seems like our appointments fell through a
lot. But we have some great plans for this week and the bishop’s wife
called last night and they have a great family for us to teach. So we
are pretty stoked to teach them tonight. And we might get hot water
sometime in the next week or two. We got this thing called a
calientador which is a big shower head that plugs into the electricity
and heats our water instantly. We had one in the old house and it
should be nice to get a hot shower again. And the mission offices
moved so ONLY USE THIS ADDRESS FROM NOW ON:
Elder Joshua Kilts
Mision Guatemala Norte
Apartado Postal 951-A
Guatemala, Guatemala C.A.

And I got both letters today; they both entered the Guatemalan postal
system on the same day even though you sent them two days apart. It
was so great to get letters. The weather here is changing a lot. It
is starting to rain more and more and soon it is just going to rain
all the time. Winter here starts in May. It’s not because it gets
colder (because it doesn’t) it’s because it just rains all the time. I
had probably one of the most weirdest things yesterday to drink at a
member’s house. It was oatmeal (here it’s called ‘’Mush’’) flavored
and it kinda smelled like playdough. But it wasn’t too bad. In the
house we like to drink sprite or orange juice and also Gatorade. I am
so happy they have Gatorade here. There is a store called Pais where
it’s just all imported stuff from the US but we don’t have one in my
zone so I have never been. The closest one is right across the street
from our zone. The street is the zone boundary. But we love to find
American food here. Like Kraft mac and cheese and jiff peanut butter.
And I’ve even found where I can get some kinder brand Swiss chocolate.
We love American stuff here. We eat pizza hut or McDonalds about once
a week, and when we go to the temple we can go to either Wendy’s ihop
or chilis. If you know where to look you can get some good stuff here.
It is definitely great here and I love the work so very much and it’s
so worth the sacrifices. Jake thanks for always keeping me updated on
how much longer I have until I get back, and you all look a little bit
older in those pictures. Except mom and grandma I think you are both
getting younger ;) I love getting pictures and mail too. My companion
loved the pictures of me and him thanks Emily and I will draw you a
picture! Zack you look so grown up in you senior pictures and Sam I
saw that little ‘’gang sign’’ in that one picture haha ;) Jake I can’t
believe mom let you grow your hair out that long. Emily you look just
a bit older but don’t grow up too fast because I’m not there! It was
great talking to you all yesterday and It totally just made my day and
my week. And I can’t believe it’s almost been 4 months! It really does
seem like you guys just dropped me off just barely but I’ve been in
this country for exactly 3 months today! Well that’s about all the
time I have for today and it was so great to get a phone call, letter,
and an email from yall all in like 2 days. Can’t wait till Christmas
to do it again! Have a great week and work hard in school only 2 weeks
left right? Love you all and don’t forget to write!
Love,
Elder Kilts

May 7, 2012

Sorry I am getting behind on posting Josh's letters!

Hey everyone how are you all doing? This week has been pretty normal
we are getting settled in to our new house and we are about to go
through my first change. They called with the changes last night and
in my district we only have one leaving and one of our ZLs are
leaving. But I'm excited to be working with Elder Llewelyn for another
6 weeks and we've got some good things happening. We are finally
starting to see some real solid investigators. We have 5 progressing
and about five more that probably will be after we visit again. So we
are starting to see some good success here in Santa Luisa. We have 2
investigators with baptismal dates its just that the we have to get
the mom married before she can get baptized but she has a real desire
she shows up to church every Sunday and I really think its going to
work out for her. But wow has it really been 6 weeks? I'm just thinking
about how fast the next 6 are going to be. My Spanish is definitely
improving. I can understand almost everything people are saying its
just my vocab that holds me back and for me it’s a little more hard to
speak then to hear but I'm working on talking more and Pdays are great
because I get to practice with some of the other Latino elders. I am
really hoping for a Latino comp after this change so that I can maybe
become fluent. But my Spanish and my gospel knowledge are both growing
very quickly. I'm starting to know how to help the people out and I
know how to teach what they need. Its supposed to start raining a lot
here. May is the start of the wet season. We got some really heavy
rain last night but today at least for now it doesn’t look like much
is going to happen. But I guess soon it is just going to rain all of
the time. It really makes our house a sauna because of the humidity
and our house doesn't cool off very well so it is always 80 degrees in
the house. The search continues for a fan. But I really love it here
and the weather is nice and I love the country and the people here.
But it is going to be so much different in the states when I get back
I can promise you that. I'm glad all is well back at home. Dad I'm
pretty jealous you got to go to BYU I really miss that place and it
sounds like the weather was great. What are you going to do with all
that stuff from Hooper especially from the basement? Hope you enjoy
the last few weeks of school and then summer. Mom you guys need to
call at 5pm Sunday afternoon. The times are the same here and there
because they don't do daylight savings.
I'll let you know if I get that mail, and the jellybeans were so yummy!
Life as a missionary is pretty great. I get to share the gospel every
day (almost, my comp was sick and we lost a day) and I get to meet
some of the most amazing people, both members and nonmembers. It feels
great to be teaching and everything all the time it really is
uplifting to do that every day. My best moment so far was probably
when we were with our recent converts that we baptized and he had a
question and the question was how where and when do I pay my tithing.
It just made me so happy to see him so strong in the church already. I
also love seeing investigators and less active members show up to
church on there own its my favorite. To be quite honest I cant believe
school is almost over for you guys and I cant believe Zack is
graduating. It sounds like great things are happening there. Well I
cant wait to hear from you all again and have a fantastic week! Love
–Elder Kilts

Ps- WRITE ME EVERYONE!!!

Thursday, May 3, 2012






Old apartment
and
New apartment



April 30, 2012

Hey so we don’t get to go to the temple tomorrow… We can only go on
Tuesdays and our ZLs have a meeting tomorrow, so we went to the
central market. Nothing really caught my eye but we got to eat at
Wendy’s and I have a whole 21 months to decide what I want. We should
be going to the temple next change so that should be good but we
definitely enjoyed it in the market. Zone conference was great. We
learned a lot that is going to help us in the work plus the
president’s wife, Hermana Watts, made delicious cinnamon rolls. We finally
got to move into our new house and we just love it. There is a
little more space and it is just soooo much cleaner and has no rats.
And our old house was right by the main road so at about 530 or 6 we
would get woken up by busses and traffic and everything else. In our
new house we are in this guarded residential area and there are no
through roads so it is soooo quiet and I have been getting lots more
rest. The only thing is the shower is cold and the house is very hot.
But we can deal with it. Sometimes the cold water is really refreshing
and it really wakes me up in the morning. It just takes me about a
minute to be able to stand under the water but after that I’m fine. We
put a baptismal date with two people. The one person is a mother and
one of her daughters accepted to so that is our two dates for now. We
just have to get the mother married for her to be baptized so we are
going to try to work with her husband. The zone leaders here actually
had to marry this couple before the husband could be baptized so we got
to see how we could do it and we met a few people to help us with
that. I got your package today thank you all so much it made my day
and I really do appreciate it. I’m so excited to get home and dig into
those jellybeans. I don’t have much more time because I got a slow
computer this week but I’ll try and go through and answer your
questions. Dad it sounds like you had a good time in your AD
conference. Did you get a nice rental car? Are you sure Spencer Richards gets
home in a couple weeks???? What the heck?!?!? Has it really
been 2 years? That scares me haha. And Conner is close too wow. I’m
pretty sure the whole bus thing is okay there’s nothing in the white
handbook and it shows how serious we are about these things haha. Have
fun out in Hooper tell everyone I said hi and tell Michael congrats
for me. Mom I haven’t had fleas yet and we have running water.
Usually. If we don’t one day we either go to another elders house or
we go without or do bucket showers. But no hot water. We don’t need to
boil our water we can buy clean water in there 5 gallon jugs like the
ones they have in water coolers in office buildings. It’s what
everyone uses and it is very safe. They also give all the Central
American missionaries filter bottles so I use that too. And I don’t
have flea collars but I spray myself with off every night. It sounds
like school is almost over and I am so excited for you all. Mother’s
day is actually going to be on the 13th so ill have more info in a
week. That’s all the time I have. Have a great week and enjoy the nice
spring weather!!
Love – Elder Kilts

April 23, 2012

Hey how is everyone doing? We don't get to go to the temple until next
week because we have zone conference on Wednesday and president doesn't
want us to have 2 days in a row with out working. So we should be
going next Tuesday if all goes according to plan. So that should be
our Pday so that is when I will probably email. It sounds like track
is doing good dad. I'm glad you guys don't have to run in the freezing
weather like last year but I honestly can't believe it has been a year.
The time is already starting to fly by. Guess what? this Wednesday I
will have been gone for 3 months! and guess what else? I'll be 1/8 of
the way done with my mission! wow that makes is seem like a lot huh?
Tell Michael i said congrats and I'm really glad he made that decision
to serve a mission. Mom I'll try to answer all of your questions. I'm
doing great and I am healthy and haven't gotten sick yet. I'm not really
too homesick. I mean I miss everyone but I'm definitely enjoying my
time here. For mothers day you guys will be calling our home phone.
They should be sending us information and stuff about it this week so
I will forward it to you. But next week I will have a time for you to
call and you'll call our phone. That’s the only option they don’t let
the missionaries in central America use skype because there are parts
that don’t have it and they want it to be fair. And we eat more than
just mac and cheese but its just easier to do that and pasta plus we
get fed by members often. A really common Guatemalan meal is eggs &
beans with fried platanos and bread. Its pretty good. Tonight were
having fhe with this one family and she is going to make us papusas
which are more el Salvadorian than anything but they are good. And we
have a couple of citas this week where we are going to eat pizza. So
its pretty good here. We have one member that does our laundry every
week so we don’t have to waste 4 or 5 hours of our week. And we are
moving into our new apartment on Friday. The bathroom is in the house
but the only sink is out back. I’ll send pictures and I'll draw a floor
plan for you mom. I haven’t gotten my package or anything else in the
mail. Elder Storey got one today so you can see when his mom sent it.
The mail gets to our ZLs every Friday and we get it Mondays on pday
but we call and ask what we got so its not a surprise on Monday. But
you guys can all send dear elders and mail they are both about the
same time to get here. I send a letter every week but the first week I
forgot to bring it to district meeting to get it sent so you should
get two here soon. And Kody if you are reading this I have had a
letter for you for almost 3 weeks but I didn’t want to send it to
Provo because I knew you guys were almost done with school. Whats your
home address??? Thanks bro. Well it sounds like everything is just
great back in the states. This week was pretty regular we are still
trying to catch the rat on our porch and we are just about ready to
move on Friday! We met with a couple families that we have been trying
to see for at least 2 weeks now, and they both have great potential.
Yesterday at church we had a short little earthquake. Just like on or
two big shakes and nothing else. It was cool and everyone talked about
it yesterday during the day hahaha. I thought a big truck was driving
by until my bench moved. But it was different. I don’t really have any
pictures for this week. I’ll send some from zone conference and from
the temple maybe next week. But the time is definitely starting to fly
by and I am enjoying the work here. I’m so excited for buds leaving on
their missions in the next couple of months and I’m excited to hear
when the rest of you get your calls where you are all going (Dan,
Tanner). Write me letters! Send me dear elders Porfa!

Love,

Elder Kilts