Hey family,
Happy conference week. I hope that you all had a very great weekend and really enjoyed the sessions as did I. I especially, like you guys, enjoyed the talk by Jeffrey R Holland. That was awesome! I love his talks because he doesn't ever beat around the bush, he just goes all out for it. I really benefitted a lot from the talks during the last two days. Also our 9 investigators that showed up to the meetings loved them. The work is going well in this area and we are seeing lots of success.
We had a great week. We were able to find 10 new investigators. In those 10 investigators there seem to be a couple of new ones that seem as though they could really progress. We have definitely been blessed this change with investigators. The first week we got none. But then after that week we have gotten around 10 every one of the 4 weeks after. There honestly hasn't been a day where we've had to invent something to do. There are always lessons. I feel super blessed about that. Now we are just really hoping to be able to put some baptismal dates with some of them. We are asking, but sometimes it can take awhile.
We had an amazing experience this Saturday night. After the conference session we were trying to find somebody to teach with that extra hour of time that we had. But after a little while, we really felt like we should go back to the house and end the night, make a little dinner. Weird, cause we never go in early. But we did and started putting water on to boil when the doorbell rang. We went to answer and a guy was there. He said, "Hey, my name's Arin. I was wondering if you could teach me a little bit more about your church. I've been searching and searching for you guys but never been able to find you. It just so happened that as I was driving past I saw you heading into this house. When can we talk?" Haaaaalelujah! We said, "Well, probably not tonight but we do have something really special tomorrow in the church." We then told him about conference, took down his info, and invited him to come in the morning. Well, guess who was in General conference the next morning. Yup, our new investigator Arin. And again in the afternoon session. He said he loved it and wants to know more as soon as possible. We have an appointment with him tomorrow and are even going to invite him to baptism if it feels right. He honestly has desires to learn about Christ's church and do anything possible to do it. I learned a valuable lesson about heeding to the promptings of the Holy Ghost. Had we not listened and gone into the house immediately, we would not have been there and he would definitely not have seen us going into the house. I'm so grateful that the Lord has given us that gift. I hope I can always listen and follow His guidance.
We have been working a lot with the Lopez family. We are actually passing by about every other night, sometimes every night, just to make sure they are ready for their baptism. They were having a bit of trouble with coffee but we fixed that. =) We actually went to the market this week and bought something called Morcaf. It's this coffee substitute made from burnt cereal grains that all the members drink here. It's kinda lame and basically the same thing, but it has been approved by local general authorities as ok to drink. Well we showed up a few nights ago with this gift of Morcaf for the Lopez family. We told them we had brought a gift for them, but they were only going to receive it if they first gave us all their coffee. The obliged and we left the house with all the coffee in the house. They were actually really happy and thanked us a bunch for it. I know that deep down they knew the Word of Wisdom was important, but just needed a little bit of help to kick the habit. Well, now there's no problem. =)
We are really trying to help Carla get married so that she can get baptized this weekend. Remberto and Sylvia are on track and have nothing holding them back now. Carla's "husband" has some issues with his last names on his birth certificate so they are running into problems having a legal marriage. I don't know, we're just gonna have some faith and hopefully by the end of the week everything will be ready to go. That family is so special to me. I am beginning to feel a strong love for them. I hope that one day they can all make it to the temple and do their ordinances. I've really enjoyed seeing them progress.
We received a huuuuuuuge blessing this week from President and Sister Watts. They added an extra 50 dollars to our monthly food allotment! I am sooooo grateful they did that. My quality of life just went up a lot. Now I can something else besides plain cornflakes, beans, and eggs everyday. =) I actually was able to buy frosted flakes this week. Although there was one blessing from eating poorly. I weighed myself today and I've lost 30 pounds since I entered the MTC. I haven't really noticed it but the scale doesn't lie. Just in these 3 months I've lost 20. I'll try not to keep up the pattern.
We were able to go to the mall today as a zone and bowl and shop at Walmart. That was pretty fun. Once again, it's a little weird to be in a mall as a missionary, but it was still nice to just have a good day with the zone. Also, Walmart was awesome. It's a completely functioning, american Walmart. It's amazing! And it still has beans and platanos so it's even better. I definitely bought some chicken nuggets. =)
We have one week left in the change and will know this sunday if we will be changed. I definitely like this area and we are having a ton of success, but I also definitely would love a change. I would really like to know some other area other than where I am at. But, like I said, we are going to see a ton of baptisms in this area next change, so I wouldn't mind staying. Who knows. We shall see. All I know is that I have at least one more week to work my hardest in this area and do what I can. We'll see.
Well, the time has run short once again. I love all you guys. Sounds like you're still keeping up the crazy pace of life in the casa de Lloyd. Keep up trying to learn Spanish. One thing you should do Mom and Dad is see if you can get a Spanish for Missionaries book. It's a pretty good book and pretty simple. Like it says in D and C 4, if you have desires to serve God, you are called to the work. If you wanna learn Spanish for a mission, you can do it.
I love you guys. Have a great week. I love hearing from you. Que les vaya bien!
Love,
Elder Lloyd
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