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