Hey Family!
Well, sounds like you have been having a really great time back at home. The beach sounded like a ton of fun. As always, it was a treat to hear about Benj and Melinda's kids and how much they're growing. Thanks for the letters and the constant support. Well, another week. Let's see if I can sum up the gist of it.
Well, for starters, to answer some of your questions mom. I usually walk everywhere. It's interesting because you can't really get to any of the houses on the main roads. They have a ton of these little callejones that are just sidewalks in all of the neighborhoods. We have 6 distinct neighborhoods that we are in charge of and they are all in one ward. We have 650 members in the ward and our attendance is about 80 every week. Tons of inactive members! From our house to the other end of our area is about 3 and a half miles and we definitely walk a lot. There are buses in our area that come every once in a while, but we mostly just use those on P-day to get to the Supermarket.
We do have a ward, but the funny thing is that there's no bishop, just an acting counselor. The problem with our ward is that most of the people don't want any other church responsibilities other than coming to church on Sunday. So the few people that do have callings have multiples. Like our ward mission leader that is also seminary teacher, institute teacher, and stake choir director. It's definitely hard to get some help with our lessons from the members. But we do have a couple guys in the ward that are sometimes willing to help us.
It has been pretty hot this last week. The funny thing is that it hasn't rained in 6 days. I heard somewhere that it got up to 98 degrees the other day. It’s pretty hot when the sheet metal is reflecting the sun in your face. Hopefully it will rain in the next couple days and we can be cool again. It's really bad here when it doesn't rain because that's the only water that some people have. When it does rain everybody's running around like crazy with barrels and buckets trying to get as much as possible.
Well, the Perez family is still coming along. The only problem is that they need to be married. Until they do that we can't even count them as having a baptismal date. We also need to make sure they're serious and get them to the church before we can give them help getting married. We passed by yesterday to get them to church and we were yelling BUENOS DIAS but nothing. Then their neighbors did us the favor of sicking their 3 ravenous pit bulls. Stinking chuchos. I was definitely not ready for that. But we managed to escape from their bites and we continued trying to bring people to church. We're going to see what happens with the family Perez and we hope that they can get to church soon. It's a rule that they have to go 3 times before they can be baptized.
We have another family - the Lopez family - that is going to be some serious baptisms. Only one of the ladies is a member and is bring her whole family to church. In total there are like 10 people. They always receive us in their home and love to talk about the gospel. One of her daughters has a baptismal date and is really excited to be baptized the 20th of August. Our goal is to help the others progress and be ready for that day also. Their problem is that the member lady is married but is with another man and has not been divorced. She can't take the sacrament so we're thinking they all come late so she doesn't have to be embarrassed in front of her family. Kind of stinks cause we can't count a Sunday as one for their 3 required for baptism unless they are there before the sacrament. So, we'll need to talk to her about that and we'll see what happens with that family.
As for our companionship, that's another story. We got another new elder straight from the MTC so we are now a trio. It was pretty cool because I got to be his trainer the first day in the mission. It was great. We worked so hard that day and had a ton of success. His name is Elder Aguilar and he's from Quetzaltenango. He's waiting on his visa so that he can go to Peru for his mission. All I want is to be obedient and help this new elder start his mission well, knowing what real missionary work is like. It's definitely been a little rough this week. I'm trying to stay positive and trying to work hard. We've been going to a lot of member's houses lately just to talk when we really should be working. I try to say something, but it doesn't seem to help. I don't know I'm doing ok. Sometimes when it gets rough, all I can do is pray, or sing a song or something. That seems to work most of the time. Don't worry though, I'm still trying to work hard and teach with the Spirit. We're going to talk again soon and hopefully all will go well. As for now, all I can do is try and love him.
Well, the time is up. I better get going. I love you guys and hope you have a good week. Remember to always pray for help through your trials. Also know that you can find great comfort in the scriptures, which are truly the words of Christ. Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Lloyd
Well, sounds like you have been having a really great time back at home. The beach sounded like a ton of fun. As always, it was a treat to hear about Benj and Melinda's kids and how much they're growing. Thanks for the letters and the constant support. Well, another week. Let's see if I can sum up the gist of it.
Well, for starters, to answer some of your questions mom. I usually walk everywhere. It's interesting because you can't really get to any of the houses on the main roads. They have a ton of these little callejones that are just sidewalks in all of the neighborhoods. We have 6 distinct neighborhoods that we are in charge of and they are all in one ward. We have 650 members in the ward and our attendance is about 80 every week. Tons of inactive members! From our house to the other end of our area is about 3 and a half miles and we definitely walk a lot. There are buses in our area that come every once in a while, but we mostly just use those on P-day to get to the Supermarket.
We do have a ward, but the funny thing is that there's no bishop, just an acting counselor. The problem with our ward is that most of the people don't want any other church responsibilities other than coming to church on Sunday. So the few people that do have callings have multiples. Like our ward mission leader that is also seminary teacher, institute teacher, and stake choir director. It's definitely hard to get some help with our lessons from the members. But we do have a couple guys in the ward that are sometimes willing to help us.
It has been pretty hot this last week. The funny thing is that it hasn't rained in 6 days. I heard somewhere that it got up to 98 degrees the other day. It’s pretty hot when the sheet metal is reflecting the sun in your face. Hopefully it will rain in the next couple days and we can be cool again. It's really bad here when it doesn't rain because that's the only water that some people have. When it does rain everybody's running around like crazy with barrels and buckets trying to get as much as possible.
Well, the Perez family is still coming along. The only problem is that they need to be married. Until they do that we can't even count them as having a baptismal date. We also need to make sure they're serious and get them to the church before we can give them help getting married. We passed by yesterday to get them to church and we were yelling BUENOS DIAS but nothing. Then their neighbors did us the favor of sicking their 3 ravenous pit bulls. Stinking chuchos. I was definitely not ready for that. But we managed to escape from their bites and we continued trying to bring people to church. We're going to see what happens with the family Perez and we hope that they can get to church soon. It's a rule that they have to go 3 times before they can be baptized.
We have another family - the Lopez family - that is going to be some serious baptisms. Only one of the ladies is a member and is bring her whole family to church. In total there are like 10 people. They always receive us in their home and love to talk about the gospel. One of her daughters has a baptismal date and is really excited to be baptized the 20th of August. Our goal is to help the others progress and be ready for that day also. Their problem is that the member lady is married but is with another man and has not been divorced. She can't take the sacrament so we're thinking they all come late so she doesn't have to be embarrassed in front of her family. Kind of stinks cause we can't count a Sunday as one for their 3 required for baptism unless they are there before the sacrament. So, we'll need to talk to her about that and we'll see what happens with that family.
As for our companionship, that's another story. We got another new elder straight from the MTC so we are now a trio. It was pretty cool because I got to be his trainer the first day in the mission. It was great. We worked so hard that day and had a ton of success. His name is Elder Aguilar and he's from Quetzaltenango. He's waiting on his visa so that he can go to Peru for his mission. All I want is to be obedient and help this new elder start his mission well, knowing what real missionary work is like. It's definitely been a little rough this week. I'm trying to stay positive and trying to work hard. We've been going to a lot of member's houses lately just to talk when we really should be working. I try to say something, but it doesn't seem to help. I don't know I'm doing ok. Sometimes when it gets rough, all I can do is pray, or sing a song or something. That seems to work most of the time. Don't worry though, I'm still trying to work hard and teach with the Spirit. We're going to talk again soon and hopefully all will go well. As for now, all I can do is try and love him.
Well, the time is up. I better get going. I love you guys and hope you have a good week. Remember to always pray for help through your trials. Also know that you can find great comfort in the scriptures, which are truly the words of Christ. Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Lloyd
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