Week 10

Okay guys. Hows it going. Ive killed 34 cocroaches hah. Christmas down here is super hot and no snow. hah, i literally am dreaming of a white christmas. just a short one today,


Well, days are long and the weeks are short out here. Xiomara calindras and Her boy Moses are going to be baptised on friday. and Our investagador Jorge Ovispo was confirmed into the church yesterday. So weve been having some good fun down here.


Have a nice week and Christmas?? thats gonna be this week i think. Love yall


Elder Owen

Week 9

Another short letter this week. sorrry, im sure skimming through broken english is the highlight of the week. lol


So this week Jorge Ovispo was baptised.... But not confirmed. so thats interesting hah. and so he has to get confirmed soon, or his baptism is not valid. which is sad cause he really loves the church. He is just really chill about things.


Some funny things this week
A little kid started touching my arm and said what happened? i was like thats call hair buddy, he said no the stuff on your skin(freckles) do you have zika? nope, just my skin thanks. Its just what happens to greengos.


Oh so my companion is interesting. hah, we had to get to this house to present ourselves, say hello and all that. And the only way to get down was bak the way we came or down theres rocks with little holds carved into them. So of course i went to more fun way, and so did he. but he thought it was very dangerous and was super nervous. wish i got a picture for yall. think about new born bambi hiking. oh baby, classic.


So theres this dirty hippie here, who, every time i see him hes picking up garbage. and he has like 5 huge bags that he lugs around. Super cool dude, ill get a picture. i aspire to be more like him,. joking nut really a guy i wanna be like is my stake pres. here. hes a cool dude. theres this cornor that drunks hang out by and i stay away. They always try to yell at me and our rude. and agresive and i hate agresive people, so i just think that i would rather not. but guess who i see of there with them? the stake pres. and hes inviting them to church. and is actually friends with them, cool dude. so i think we, especiallly me, could swallow our pride and talk to people and love them. cool lesson to be learned.


Love yall


31 cucaraches


Elder Owen

Week 8

Firstly. Im gonna start with my thoughts of the wek. So everything/everyone is short here. the baptismial font is way shorter than the one in the states. And ill do a lot of baptisms beccause im the only one they trust to get the bigger people in the water lol. People here know a little english and love to make joke and be rude about m ebeing from texas. the drunks always wanna yell at me about trump. ugh.,


So i dont have time, but i had a cool expirence this week. we had a refenence to teach this lady clear out in the boonies, in Iberia, part of the mish. We hike up to get to her house and we walk through a metal fence and it was her door. we walk in and theres her house. so she invites us in and gives us some chairs to sit in.She has dirt floors and the chair she gave me was a red plastic lawn chair. She doesnt have a job or a husband, but she has 4 kids. they cook with a fire. like a campfire. and she really loves the church. As i was sitting there i realized, nothing that i have really matters. Like physical things, have no worth. Obviously there are things i like. i mean like a bed. but, people live with out it. Cool lady, good soul. He kids are suoer happy too. My dad always told me expirence s worth a lot more than things. Its true. haha
I love the mish. Its good stuff. Love you guys a lot.


Elder Owen

Week 7

Well hello. I have had a week. Its been nice, working hard. serving people. I helped paint a house for a lady. Shout out to my mom for teaching me how to paint a wall.. thanks. But, really. this week had been fantastic.


I got to baptize somebody this week. The first time ever. It was the sisters investagador. Her name was Katherine. and I was super nervous. and it was funny cause when i went to put her in the water she was stiff as a board. so she like didnt move at all and it was just funny. But, the sisters also had another investagador there named Jose. He is deathly afraid of water, so baptizing him will probably be similar. haha


So my weeks been pretty normal. Hiking, teaching about the gosepl you know. the usual. I joked last week about parasitos. But, now im pretty sure i have one haha. So thats cool. Im always hungery though. So yeah. A random lady in the street hugged me and I just froze, missionaries are not supposed to hug ladies, and i said im a missionary a couple times and. Ill just say i have never felt more awkward in my life. oh, and i killed 19 cucarachas. Like 10 today while cleaning my kitchen.


LOve Yall!!


Elder Owen

Week 6

Hey everybody! Hows it going? I am in honduras now. I love it here, im on the outskirts of the city in tegucigalpa. My companions name is Elder tomala. Well, i am offically a honduran. I live in a thid world country in a little apartment with cocroaches you could put a saddle on it. The power lines hang so low here they hit the top of the Hondurans heads and the middle of my chest. Oh, and the people here speak spanish kinda like how jamacians speak ingles. Its like im learning a whole new spanish.


Well, all i do all day is hike to houses on mountians and preach the gospel. Its a good life to live. I never cook for myself cause members of the church always have food for the elders. And a lot of it haha. In the mtc a lady told me dont eat the food if its pork or fish or you didnt see them prepare it, or youll get sick and die. Well, I eat all the food they give me cause its super good. And i dont think im dead yet. (I might have a few parasites lol)


Well. I have a ton of investagators and they all are needing the gospel. Yesterday we had two come to church. It was interesting though. We called all of them (we had about 9 invited i think) and none were there at the start. So we went out and walked up some mountians to find them. My Dad always told me to go find "the one." the person out on their own, the person with nobody else. Its like how if Jesus was a shepard and we were the sheep. If 1 of us got lost he would leave the rest to go get the one who was lost. And thats what we were doing. So we get to a house of an investagator and were knocking on his door and no answer. For like 10 minutes were there. Cause right now none of our investagators are at church. So with defeat. we go back to church, and whos there? Hermano Seline Our investagator. with a recent convert Jordy. Cool stuff.


Well, Thats pretty much it. Ive killed 5 cucarachas.


Love Elder Owen

Safe and Sound In Honduras

Dear Family Owen and church leaders:

This morning Elder Owen arrived to Tegucigalpa, Honduras. We, the secretaries of the mission, President Ferman, mission President, Hermana Ferman, His wife, were there to welcome him warmly.

He is totally fine, he is so happy and ready to get into the mission field. We are so happy as well, for having him serving in this mission.

Thank You so much! Have a nice day!

Week 5

Hey yall. well, this is offically my last week in the CCM. Time flies when youre having fun... or when your super busy trying to learn a new language in six weeks. haha, i am super excited to leave here. Dont get me wrong ive loved being here, but im very ready to be in the real world!


So this week, i didnt do much. well, i did a lot, but nothing out of the ordinary. I tried to give out more copies of the book of mormon. But it didnt work too well, i met a man who is catholic and doesnt like the church because he said that he believes that God is dead. He said that he would like more information about the churchand we asked him for his phone number, but he didnt know how to write and got on a bus. And another man who kindly listened to a brief lesson about the resturation, but didnt want the book of mormon so he gave it back to us.


So we got a ton of new white people here, I i wasnt too fond of them at first, because their a bunch of hicks. But, ive met some really cool guys, and glad i got to know them. I guess you shouldnt really judge a book by its cover!


Um, i have finally gone to buy a spanish book of mormon and a hymn book and preach my gospel today. so thats neat.. Well thats about it, I appreaciate yalls support and love.


With love,


Elder Owen

Week 4

Hey Y'all. Its been quite the week! Actually not really, its been the same here for since i got here. But, thats fine. Im learning spanish and so thats cool. This email will be short, cause i only have a few things to say.


Um, halloween was yesterday, but Happy Halloween. hope it went well yesterday, for us we (my district and I) wore orange and purple and black, and the sweet staff made us a festive meal... Just one problem, it was a thanksgiving meal. So i mean, nice try. and they had an orange frosted cupcake. so pretty festive.


I got a new roommate for about ten hours. He's a latino, and his name is elder rameriz. He was very kind, and esay to deal with and loves progressive rock, like pink floyd and stuff. Pretty funny right? Well, the first night he got here I was showing him around, and he asked where we did our laundry. first, all of his clothes are "second had" is what he said. So i showed him the laundry room and he got kinda timid and said, i never used one of these could you show me how to figure it out? And that he has only ever used a bucket and water for laundry. Then we went to write in our journals, he didnt even have a notebook and a pen So i hooked him up cause my mom packed me with extra everything. But, what im trying to say is we (up in the USA) got a lot to be thankful for, like very simple things, that we have growning up. Some people will never see our abundant way of living. Also, if you have something that could help someone out. Hook it up. Serve everyone you can, because you've been given the oppertunity to. You'll be blessed.


Well thats about it! Love y'all, hope you have a fantastic week!


Elder Owen

Week 3

Gee wiz. i cant seem to figure this email thing out, but its kinda funny.


Well, so this week has been nuts. All of the Latino elders left the CCM today, and more (and north americans) are coming tomorrow. My spanish is getting way better, just speaking it all day. And im really hittin the books, ive probaly never studied this hard for anything. Actuall, i never really stuided anything so yeah. This is great, I always hear about those dudes who come back knowing how to study, and i thought that was dumb. But, now i get what they mean.


Sunday, I didnt get called to speak, my companion did actually, His spanish skills are improving, but there were people correcting him up there the whole time (a sister ended up asking for his email and, he didnt know what she was saying so he just said gracias, but then she gave it to him. All cause he stumbled over some words in sacrament) Classic Elder Nelson LOL and then we sang I need the every hour as well.


Today has been so cool, We went to the temple at like seven in the morning. Then we got to get out of the CCM to go to the city centre. We went to a cathedral and that was cool, it supposed to be the second oldest one in guatemala. It was beautiful. Then we handed out Book of Mormons (or books of mormons.) and it was super cool, elder Nelson and I are super bad at spanish, but we said a quick prayer and got to work, we were walking around and saw this man just chillin, so we were like, ¿Cómo esta? and then we got to talking about religion and he was very interested, we gave him a book and he wanted more info about our church so we gone hook him up with the elders down here.
Next guy, was a father chillin with his son, and he was just lovin the idea of the gospel blessing families and more scripture about the americas and christ. So hes gonna meet up with some elders as well. Its incredible how much these people want to know more about christ, and his gospel. And though my spanish is broke, I know that I had a little extra help today from The Lord so I could preach about the LDM.


Funny story, we went to a market and they had all kinds of things. All kinds of meet hanging with flies all over. and crazy people selling stuff. But the craziest thing was this man come up to us and start talking And i know he is just super drunk, but you cant not shake someones had thats rude man. So i asked his name and showed me his tattoo of his name. So i said mucho gusto George, he, some how, found a way to get the words out of his mouth, said mucho gusto. and gave me a nice wet smooch on the hand. thats about it.


Love yall.


Elder Owen

Week 2

Hey Yall. Sorry if you got a random message meant for my sister, I don't really know how to use my email still. But, its fine, i have so much time to figure it out. At the end of these two years, im gonna be so good at emailing. (hopefully I do other cool things too)

So this week, ugh. I dropped a pen in a toilet and i had to grab it with my hand, i mean nothing was in it besides some water and my pen... but still, pretty dang gross.

Today i got to go to the temple again, i dont think anybody really fell asleep this time. Its really nice going to the temple cause i get to walk there, and here in the CCM we are gated in for six weeks (if youre white) and you only get less than a five minute walk to the temple, its great. The road we walk along is super busy, theres always sirens and horns honking and tires screaming and the best part is the motos they zip between traffic and over medians and they are just nuts, i hop i dont drive here . Ever. People drive so crazy here, theres police, i think, everywhere and they are the meanest looking people, with sawed off shot guns, its pretty funny.

oh another funny story i had a pen in my mouth (different pen than before) and it flew out of my mouth, and it was during a class so I tried to go and pick it up before anyone noticed me, but then this very kind sister goes to pick it up, and i tried telling her not to, but i was too late and she grabbed the pen right where it all my slobber on it. I could tell she noticed what she had just done, but we never talked about it. It was too awkward.

So we always have district meetings , and an Elder Ashcroft said they alwasy turn into feelstrips (like felidtrip) hah i though it was pretty funny. But during one of them this sweet little elder, Elder lowe, is talking about his life and just stops in the middle of his story, and points at the next elder. and were all sitting here like,"are you done bro?" and he says well i got a whole life of stories so should i keep going? just funny stuff. My district is so much fun, theres no hermanas, which is really nice. Not being rude to the sister reading this right now, but they are distracting, and i think that the elders would act differently if they were around us. so, i guess you could say its a blessing, haha. Speaking of Elder Lowe, his Companion Elder Kelsey is just the most sensitive little fella, and gets really mad when people call hime by the wrong name, all the latinos cannot say Kelsey. So our teacher called him by the wrong name, and he threw some keys at the teacher super hard, the class was quiet till the teacher went home. I love Elder Keelzy so much, he is the dwight to my Jim.

So to wrap it up, my trio is now a duo. Elder adams got transffered to another district cause three guys went home, something about trying to burn the biulding down?? hah no. they were just not liking it, but his new companion has lost 25 lbs since being here.. for two weeks. and nobody knows whats going on, they all joke about it being "super cancer" its funny kinda. but now its just me and elder nelson in our room, one of the only rooms with a bathroom and a shower. so im living the dream.

love yall, hope you have a good week bless your hearts

love Elder Owen

Week 1

Hola everybody. Como estan? If you couldn't tell by that, I'm learning a ton of spanish. Also sorry for the typos and stuff the keyboards down here are very different than the ones back home.So the first day I got here was crazy! It felt like 5 days packed into one! None of had slept the night before leaving and then the night we were on the plane was too exciting to sleep as well, i guess. So we were running on nothing when we got here, and there was no break, I'm still tired and it's been a week. Just kidding.

So right when we got here we started filling out paperwork and then a Hermana calls me and a few other missionaries over and tells us to go to this room and there's a barber in there, and we all got our heads shaved, it was pretty sad letting all my hair go.. but i've come to terms with it now. Haha. So my companions are from California and Canada. The Canadian is a hoot, loves "poking fun at people" as he puts it and then right after "poking fun" he says sury aboot that. Classic canadian. haha. But the first day he wasn't so chipper, he left canada but his luggage didn't and then he got dehydrated and threw up. Not a good day for any of us haha. But, funny story aboot Elder Nelson and I. He Told me that he was scared of me when we met because I was From Salt Lake City, Utah (or as the people down her call it "The Farm.") because Id be this crazy powerful missionary and it'd be hard to keep up with a companion like that, but once he got to know me, he realized, I'm not intimidating at all, and that i'm barely average. So I think that it's going to be me trying to stay caught up with him.

Really a lot of what we do is study spanish, even though I haven't learned too much, I feel like i'm barely starting to get the hang of it. Even though y'all know I don't do too well with english either. that's just the spirit working with me i suppose. The weather is pretty nice here but i hear that my mission is hot and rains everyday, so I'm just enjoying the air conditioned CCM right now. the north americans all love Nacho Libre and the Office, and i can quote those better than the bible, so you could say i'm making friends here.

well all i gotta say is I'm very grateful for this church I can be a part of, and that i've been blessed with the opportunity to be here in central america for the next two years. Keep me in your prayers could definitely use them, y'all are for sure in mine. Feel free to write me back haha.

Love Elder Owen

Safe in Guatemala

Elder Owen arrived safely in Guatemala on 5 October 2016. We received a very short email. Anxiously waiting for more details...

"Hello. I am safe and here in Guatemala, no sleep at all. Having a good time, staying busy, and meeting a lot of people. Love you guys!"

As I was cleaning up his room and packing things up, I found notes he left for me in random places expressing gratitude and love. I am completely certain he laughed as he wrote them knowing they would make me cry. We love this good, young man!

See You in Two!

Honduras Camayagüela Mission

We are thrilled for Justus McKay to have the opportunity to serve the people of Honduras.  He reports to the Guatemala MTC on 5 October.  Stay tuned for updates...