Q&A With Kollin about the Eruption and aftermath

[This is a Q&A exchange because Kollin was feeling pretty exhausted from helping in efforts from the day before.  He said it has been a very sad situation there in Guatemala, and the two areas affected the worst that were destroyed were both areas he has served in on his mission.]

Mondays are my p-days with this transfer, but this past Monday we went to Esquintla to help with the volcano efforts.  Hopefully, Braeden gets his stuff (Visa) soon.  He will finish his mission after me now, huh?!? That’s crazy.  I am hoping Dalton will let me Facetime when he opens his call since I received permission. That will be awesome! And, I’m going to beat you in finishing Jesus the Christ.  There is so much information in that book. Thanks for all your support.

Q. Did you get pictures yesterday? And how is it going?

A. Nope. And por alli.

Q. What does that mean?

A. Por alli means like, around there. Not sure how to explain it. Haha. It kind of means “more or less.”

Q. Would you please write about cleaning up? And a little about what your comp is like? Did you see any friends when you went to clean up (like elders/sisters)? I don’t want you to forget.

A. I won’t forget. Ever. It would be difficult to.

Q. What did you work on? Sweeping/shoveling ash? Were the people hopeful or just very sad?

A. It wasn’t clean up. We moved a ton of water, truckloads of it, to a warehouse for storage for all of the people.  There were more than 50 missionaries helping and they were all from only our mission. I helped unload the trucks and helped in organization. It was funny because I took charge in a lot of it. Haha. We didn’t see the people, but I’ve seen the news.  Lots of sadness.

Q. Were any of the areas off limits or still hot to the point of melting shoes? Is there anything needed that or YM/YW could work on for kits or shoes or anything or is the church and outside groups helping?

A. Nope. EL Rodeo is destroyed; covered in ash. L Everything is being taken care of by the church here as well as other groups.  The church in Hunapu was set up as a medical center and the stake center in Escuintla set up for housing.  A lot of orphan children that need homes.

Q. I’ll bet it was an amazing site to see all of you working together.  Can you get your hands on any pictures since yours were erased?

A. I’m not sure.  But, yeah…it was a lot of fun.  Lots of sore muscles. We worked, literally, all day.

Q. Did the children lose their parents or were many already orphans? Will they not let the missionaries in to the areas of destruction because they’re still dangerous?

A. They lost their parents. There were many infants found grasped in the arms of their mothers and were protected because of them.  SOOO many babies and children were found. And I think it is because it is still so dangerous that we cannot go help there.

Q. Is anyone from El Rodeo that you knew missing? Was El Rodeo closest or were there closer areas affected?

A. No. All of the members, I think, got out safe. El Rodeo and El Zapote were both destroyed.  I served in both places. ;/

Q. Where were the other missionaries who were currently serving in those areas at the time it happened?

A. They were in Hunapu at the time. For church.

Q. How far are you from Lake Atitlan? I read it is considered one of the most beautiful lakes in the world.  And what is your companion like?

A. I’m pretty far from the lake, but I think we will be able to go there. My comp, Elder Chavez, is super cool. He’s from Honduras, and he’s super short. (Editor’s note: As opposed to the other 4’10 Guatemalans? ;)) I’ll send pics next week.

I hope all is well at home. I have to go, but I love you all! Bye!

Elder Whelan

I Set Fiiiiiiiiire, to the Rain....

I hope you guys get that reference haha because Adele sings that song. 

[Editor's note: For those of you who weren't aware, there was a significant volcano eruption very close to Kollin's area. Many casualties, hundreds still missing.]

First of all, thank you all for your prayers and concern for me and my mission. For those of you that may not know, El volcan de Fuego erupted in my mission. thankfully no missionaries were close enough to get seriously injured and everything is ok. One of the spots where it hit the hardest was in one of my past areas in Escuintla, El Rodeo. 

I knew many people there and am just hoping they're ok. Please direct your prayers to those that are in pain and are suffering. They need them more that I do. The volcano erupted when my companion and I were working outside and all we could see was an orange brown smoke drifting towards us. All of the ash when it got to us made it hard to breath and to see so we had to use whatever we could to block the ash from getting into our lungs. The streets are all black from the ash. The missionaries from Santa Lucia and Escuintla got evacuated to the coastal areas and are all safe. A total of about 40 missionaries left their areas. But everything is ok. 

In other news, I was supposed to get transferred to a place called Chimaltenango but with all of the emergency changes, I ended up in Amatitlan and my companion is Elder Chavez. 

I'll write more next week and I'll send pics! All of my pics on my camera got erased because I let someone take pictures of my converts and I. They sadly didn't understand english and erased all of my pics..... What a blessing haha. 

Anyway, I love you all and thank you soooooo much for your support!!

Bats

So I killed a bat. 

I feel bad about it to be honest but we were trying to get it to fly out of the house for like 20 mins and I hit it with a broom............ I killed it.....In the end we got it out of the house so that's good. 

We screamed like little girls for most of the time because we didn't want to get bit hahaha. 

ANYWAY, I don't have too much to say. Were going to baptize this Sunday which is going to be awesome!!!! Im getting transferred out of this area and Im kind of sad about it. I love the people here and I don't want to leave the people I've gotten to know so well. I love this area, but God wants me somewhere else, so Ill go! Like Nephi said, I will go and do... So I will too haha. 

Sorry I don't have much to write to you guys, but I'll make sure and write more next week! I LOVE ALL OF YOU SO MUCH!!!!

Elder Whelan

Spiders and Divisions

Hey everyone!!

So this week was good, lots of hard work with my 6 ft 6 in companion who hits his head on about every doorway and low hanging sign we pass through haha.  We have the same investigators that were teaching. They weren't able to get baptized this last week but I'm still holding out hope for them!! I know that they want to take this step in their lives but it just requires a little bit more sacrifice to get them in the water!! I know they can do it!! 

Other than that, so my companion has a the voice of a 12 year old who hasn't hit puberty yet. On Saturday morning I was talking on the phone and my companion goes to the bathroom. So while I'm talking I hear like this little girl scream and realized it was my companion. He backed up super fast out of the bathroom and says, Elder COME HERE THERES A HUGE SPIDER!!!. I went and looked and there was a big spider there hanging out on the wall. I couldn't help laughing though because of my companion. He's so tall and big and a girl scream came out of him hahaha. 

In other news, I went on divisions this last week with Elder Maldonado. He's a kid from Arizona and he's really cool haha. He needed the divisions because he needed a break from his companion Elder Wilson. His comp is kind of negative so he needed it really bad haha. I was glad I could be the stress reliever for him haha. Anyway thats all for this week! I'll try and send pics next week!!!

I love all of you!!

JESUS LIVES

Elder Whelan

Warning! This is NOT a Drill!

So funny story this week. I had to go to the bathroom really bad and we were really close to the house so we went home so I could go. So I ran to the bathroom and I saw something taped onto the toilet. And it read: Warning: This is not a drill, the toilet seat is up. I was like, you have got to be kidding me. A couple days before I had gotten mad at my companion because he ALWAYS LEAVES THE TOILET SEAT UP. And I told him to please close it! haha and a couple days after that conversation I see that dumb little papers taped to the toilet seat hahaha. I was like, dang it Kirk, WHY?!?!?! hahaha my comp is pretty funny sometimes. 

Anyway, so now we have investigators this week that I'm hoping we can get baptized! They're all very positive people and want to make this decision in their lives. But for some problems its making it very hard for them to get baptized. The Familia Vasquez is super cool and Im hoping they get baptized this Saturday. And then Ronald Lopez on Sunday, so that should be sweet!!! I love baptizing so much!!!! 

Other than that not much else to say! I hope I have more to tell you next week! I love you guys!!

Elder Whelan

Fruits of our Labor

Hey everyone!

So remember how I said the work is kind of going slow for us? I thought a lot about that this week and realized that the work is NEVER slow. We may feel that way at times but God always has a plan. There is urgency in the work and God will never let it go slow. What made me realize that was that we did a lot of divisions this week and that's where other Elders will go to our area and help out a little and find new people. 

This last week I left our area and my companion and another elder found a kid that can get baptized this week. So we're working with him and he has a lot of faith. His name is Oscar Vasquez and he's 14 years old. He's very positive and were hoping that he has the faith enough to get baptized at the end of this week. 

God loves us and I'm so happy that I know that. Please continue to pray for us and our other missionaries all around that world. Also for our investigators and members here because they need it a lot. The world today is so corrupted and so many people leave the church for things of the world. Be IN the world and not OF it. We've been taught that by the prophets. Listen to the council of the prophets and you will never stray from the church. 

I'm sorry I don't have much else to say! I also don't have any pictures to send so please forgive me!!! I love you all! Share your testimonies!! Read the Book of Mormon! Be a MORMON! BE YOU! 

Elder Whelan

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Comp Vomited

Hey guys!!!

So everything is going good here!! I'm still here in Las Delicias, I'm starting my 6 month here I'm pretty sure haha. To be honest time really does fly in the mission. I was just realizing the other day that 7 months left in the mission is a really short time compared to how much time I have IN the mission. It just goes to show that when you're focused on the Lord's work and you don't pay attention to the outside world everything just passes by without you noticing! 

Anyway, story time! Sunday night we were walking home and I was talking on the phone and suddenly my comp just starts spewing in the middle of the road! He didn't even stop to puke on the side of the road, he kept walking while puking haha. I had to tell him to stop and puke in a certain spot haha. It was a ton of puke. He was puking the rest of that night and didn't feel good enough for us to go to a place called Panajachel. I've heard from about every missionary here that it's very beautiful and I've been wanting to go so bad. But, I think God had other plans haha. So I had to humble myself a little bit so that I could help my comp out a little bit haha. Other than that it was good. My comp is better and I'm not bitter at all about going to Panajachel! 

I feel that we've hit a bit of a wall in the missionary work here but I know that with faith we can break that wall and start to see miracles and baptisms again. And soon! I hope haha. God has a plan and he's not going to let the missionary work go cold for too long. I love this gospel and I love God's plan for us. I don't remember the words to the scripture so I can't quote it, but if you want to read it, it's one of my favorite scriptures! Alma 29:13

I love you guys!!!!

Elder Whelan