The Rain Came Down and the Floods Came Up!

Well, it's change week.  My companion has a change and I'll be staying here and getting a new companion.  I am definitely pretty excited.  This week was pretty rough.  Something happened in the zone that made it so we have to be inside our house at 6:30 in the evening for a couple of weeks.  That has made it kind of hard because all of our investigators like to have their appointments in the night time.  I guess we will just do our best and trust the Lord. 

Last Tuesday was a very interesting day.  We started out by going to the temple and doing some other things.  Then we came and used internet.  It started raining super hard and the power was even cutting in and out.  Well, we finished up and went outside and there was a massive lake of water that had puddled up in the road.  It even started flooding into all the houses.  We went back to the house as a district and changed to go help everybody.  We started helping out and the water was only up to our waists.  But overtime it got up to our chests.  It was crazy!  We were even pushing floating cars through it all.  When we started we had noticed that the water smelled pretty bad.  There were also coral snakes swimming through the water, creepy...  Anyways, we helped until 9:30 moving furniture up to second levels in houses.  It was pretty funny because they were all saying; “This is so awesome that all the Mormon gringos are helping us.  We couldn’t do it without you gringos.” There was one downside to it though.  Later on in the evening we were informed that the drains were all clogged and that it wasn't just the rain that was flooding – there was a sewage pipe that burst and filled the entire colony with raw sewage..... sick....  It was a miracle that we didn’t get some major foot problems.  All 8 of us had to go back to the house and shower and sleep in the house.  It was pretty gross and we all smelled horrible.  But we did help out a lot of people and they have a lot of respect now for the Latter-Day Saints.  I did have my camera in my pocket... whoops.  But after a lot of drying and cleaning, it works!  What a miracle. 

We did finally get a ward mission leader this week.  I was really happy about that.  He seems to be pretty awesome.  Hopefully we can work together to help the ward progress.  It will be interesting to start out a change and be completely in charge of everything.  Ready or not, here I come.

By the way Mom, I'm sorry I'm red.  I do use spf 75 every day, but alas, I will forever be a lobster.  The sun is very strong here.  I try to walk in the shade whenever possible.  I am just destined to fry.  But, it seems to be getting a little better.

Well, we started internet late because the internet cafe was full until 30 minutes ago.  And, we have to be in the house in 5 minutes.  Sorry my letter wasn’t too exciting.  We really didn’t have too much success, but we'll work super hard this week, hopefully.  Know that I love you all and pray for your success every day.  Hope you have a great week.
Love,
Elder Lloyd

Great Week!

Well hey!

Well, to answer your question, WE HAD A BAPTISM!  Ingrid Violeta Rojas Lopez is now the newest member of the Colombia ward.  =)  Saturday was one of the best days of my life.  We finally got to see the fruits of our labor.  She was baptized on Saturday at 4:30.  It was scheduled to be at 4:00 but nobody from the ward showed up, so we had no witnesses... lame... Anyways, after awhile and some phone calls we were able to scrounge up some members to help out.  We had a wonderful baptism and she had asked me to baptize her.  I was pretty happy about that.  I wore the baptism tie with honor.  She was then confirmed on Sunday.  It was a great couple of days.  She also told us after the service that she would really like to prepare herself to go on a mission.  I have no idea where she got that idea, because we never taught her about that, but it's amazing!  We let her know that all she would have to do is prepare for a year and in a year she could be out serving like us.  Man, how awesome!  Anyways, we're super excited about her.

As for her family, things are going well.  I have a strong testimony that there have been families prepared in all areas that there are missionaries.  The Lopez family is one of those really special families.  When we teach, they just know it's true.  When we ask them if they want to be baptized, they say yes.  We were able to put another baptismal date with Carla, one of Ingrid's sisters for the 17th of September.  We're hoping that by then we can also get two more of their sisters to want to accept that date.  Pretty awesome.  We've had some pretty special lessons in their house. 

As for Sorayda and her son Ismael, they are kinda still progressing.  They aren't reading or praying.  They really want to be baptized but we don't want to baptize less active members.  I don't know.  We're hoping that in the next couple of weeks we can help them see the real picture of what the gospel is really all about. 

We are still finding people that are interested in listening to us.  There is a cousin of a member family that lives with them that says she's interested in going toward baptism.  The trouble is that there is never a man in the house and it is in the farthest part of our area.  We do have a cita this week and her cousin said he'd be there so that we can teach her.  Ojala!

We got to go to the temple today!  That was amazing.  Sometimes it's spiritually hard in our area.  There is a lot of sadness among the people and sometimes it's hard not to fall into it.  I have definitely had my times.  But, the temple is fantastic.  It really gives you a boost to keep going and realize your purpose.  I was able to sit in the celestial room for about an hour and just think on things.  It made me really reflect on the importance of my job, and the Lord's time.  We also got to go to Wendy's and the American food import store!  Thank you 3 pound tub of Jiff. Mmmm.  I was quite happy for that find. 

Anyways, I'm doing well.  Changes are this week.  Like you said mom, it would be really awesome to get a change, but it would also be nice to see the success here.  Either way I know it's inspired by God.  We'll see what happens. 

Know that I'm healthy, parasite free, and happy.  Things are sometimes rough, but I know that as I trust in the Lord, He will be able to use me as an effective tool in His hands.  I feel so blessed to be here right now and hope I can live in a way that the Lord will be able to use me to bless the lives of others.  I hope all is well with the family and that you continue to progress.  Love you guys.  Until next time.

Love,
Elder Lloyd

A Baptism This Week!

Hey family! 

How are ya?  Well, things are going great here in good old Barrio Colombia.  It has been interesting this past week.  My companion was sick and we missed 3 working days in our area.  But, one of the zone leaders was also sick and since we live in the same house, we just went on exchanges a couple of days in their area.  I must say, I like our area a lot more.  Their area is so bland.  It's super tiny but it has a TON of people in it.  All it is people and nasty dogs.  Anyways, we didn't get a whole lot of time in our area but we still seemed to have some good success. 

Anyways, we're going to have a baptism this Saturday!  I'm so excited!  Our area hasn't had a baptism in 8 months!  Her name is Ingrid Lopez and she is 21 years old.  We're going to be holding the baptismal service at 4 o'clock this Saturday.  We printed off flyers and stuff yesterday at church and were handing them out to everyone.  Plus, the ward gave us a 100 Quet (12 dollar) porsupuesto for to buy refreshments.  That's enough to feed like 50 people here.  =)  Needless to say, we are super excited!  Oh and plus, I get to wear my baptism tie!  =D

We made a baptismal date with Soraida Villatoro and her son this week for September 3rd.  It's really nice to be finding these people and seeing the work progress finally in our ward.  The ward is still definitely weak, but I think that these couple of baptisms will get them excited to know that the people really are prepared.  Soraida is such a strong lady.  Satan is really working on her and giving her some super hard challenges.  She was offered a job the day after we taught her the first time and she told them no because she would have to work on Sunday.  Now she doesn't have a job and is super poor.  But, there is going to be a job fair in the next couple weeks and that will help her.  She's also having a ton of family problems, but she knows that it's just Satan trying to get her, and that her baptism is the thing that she needs to concentrate on first right now.  So yes, pretty much awesome!  We've been trying to pass by her and Ingrid every day just so we don't lose them. 

We had church yesterday and had 10 investigators again.  We also have been teaching the gospel principles lessons to new investigators and less active members.  That's been pretty cool.  It´s definitely always guided by the Spirit, because I never really practice it.... and it´s in Spanish....  =)

We have changes in two weeks.  We shall see how it goes.  I definitely wouldn't mind changing areas, but I also wouldn't mind staying.  The work seems to be just starting here and is going to be great here next change.  I really would enjoy getting out of the city however.  It's been torture because one of the zone leaders, Elder Hale, was in Polochic most of his mission, and he tells me all of these super amazing stories about life in the Chic.  It sounds like paradise there.  I don't know.  I'm beginning to realize that you can enjoy wherever you are as long as you are working hard.  We'll see what changes bring.

We've got divisions right after we head out from internet.  In both of the appointments that we have we are hoping to place baptismal dates with our investigators.  One is the Najera family that lives close to our house.  There is this lady with a son and a daughter that are members, but she isn't.  She also lives there with her 3 sisters, her other son, and her parents, and none of them are members.  She said that a month ago she had 3 gringo missionaries show up on her doorstep asking for where we lived.  They said they were from the Ilusiones area and were coming to visit us.  She took them to our house and said that they walked in.  The weird thing is that we don't remember ever letting those people in.  I don't know, maybe it was the Three Nephites.  Quite frankly, I don't care, I just know that she takes it as a sign from God that the missionaries have been trying to teach them for years without success and that we are teaching them tonight for the second time.  She also is coming to church this Sunday.  Amazing!  The other family we're visiting tonight is Ingrid's family.  Hopefully we can get some baptismal dates.

Well, I got to go.  I love you guys.  It was great to hear from you.  Sounds like the reunion was a ton of fun!  Keep living this true gospel.  I know it's true and will bring us blessings without end.  See ya!

Love,

Elder Lloyd