¡5 Tarantulas in our house this week!

Hey Family,

Well, let’s see if I can write a lot in this letter.  This was an amazing week!   The baptisms were wonderful.  You could really see their testimonies grow through all of the excitement of preparing for and performing the baptism.  It was awesome.  

Well, Mom had a ton of questions so I am going to try and answer all of them.  One was how our member involvement is in the Branch.  We are trying to work really hard with referrals rather than doing much contacting.  That is a new goal of the mission, to not tract too much but to be involved and using the members.  They are pretty good at giving referrals if we make sure and show them we love them and are there to serve.  As for going out and visiting with us, they aren't the greatest.  Lots of people say they'll go but when it comes time to go, they kind of flake.  Oh well, we can walk faster without them.  ;)  There are a few that work with us every once and awhile.  We do really try to take the members with us as we contact the referrals they have given us. 

Tracting here definitely does not work.  Guatemala is so weird.  If you get in on a tract here, you have no idea where the lesson is going to take you.  Yesterday we were tracting and got nicely invited in to give a lesson.  After singing and introducing ourselves, the man introduced himself and then started screaming at us that we were liars and that we were going to “heck”.  Weird.  He started calling us angels of Jose Smith and all sorts of other things.  The great thing is that I never feel scared in those situations.  The Lord always protects us.  He gives us the safety to quietly but powerfully bare testimony of the truth and invite the person to listen, and then always allows us to leave unharmed.  

Tracting also brings other strange things, such as fleas, scorpions, dogs, pigs, parrots, poisonous caterpillars on your arms, or even witchcraft.  That's the weird one here.  There are a lot of people in our area that believe in and practice witchcraft.  It's just not that great to tract.  

We didn't have a ward mission leader here so it was a bit difficult.  Our branch president is a little weird and does things his own way instead of following church protocol.  I went up to him last Sunday and suggested a person that might be good to be our mission leader and within 30 seconds he had entered quorum meeting and was setting that person apart to be ward mission leader.  Definitely not how it should be.  Man...  Oh well.  We are working hard with our ward mission leader now and he really is doing well.  He organized everything for the baptism and we didn't have to worry about anything.  It was soooooo nice.  First time that has happened. He's cool.  He's 19 and he's just about got his papers in for his mission.  It'll be cool to hear where he goes.  

There is one family that I am really getting close to here.  They are the Soza Monterroso family.  They are the first family that joined the Church here in San Andres.  They are really supportive of us and always want to help in the work.  We are trying to teach as many of the referrals as they give us and we are seeing some success.  

As for my shoes, they are doing ok.  I had one pair of rockports that got a hole in the sole that were getting quite uncomfortable, but I had a guy try and find a new sole and resole them for me.  Well, that didn't go too well.  He got a really tiny sole and the shoes don't fit at all.  Not to mention they make me look like Mickey Mouse.  Oh well, I have my other pair of Eccos and my Ecco boots.  They're slower to wear down, but I think they'll hold through the rest of my mission.  

It's almost time for transfers again.  I am thinking I might be training again because there are a large amount of new missionaries coming in.  We'll see.  

The great news of the week is that the young family that lives in the 8' by 8' house has a baptismal date for the 18th of February.  They all came to church this last week and are super excited.  We just need to marry them and make sure they keep coming to church.  We are really excited for them and as long as we stay on top of things, they will definitely be baptized.  Also, if they come to church these next two weeks we will be able to move their baptismal date for the 11th before our transfers on the 14th.  It's going to be great.  

The bad thing about that family is that they fed us on Friday...  Oh....  Not good.....  The water they used for everything, including the more or less liter and a half of juice we drank, was collected in a bucket from the rain water that falls from their tin roof.  Needless to say I have really bad diarrhea.  I have never had food affect me so bad in my life.  It even gave me a fever that Friday night.  I've never had such bad diarrhea in my life.  Last night was crazy.  It got so bad that I took out the prescribed diarrhea pills from my first aid kit.  The only thing is I was reading it and it said, 'May cause some severe side effects, including in some cases death.'  Well, no thanks.  Not going to die to stop diarrhea.  Anyways, if it doesn't stop tonight I'll call the nurse and see what I have to do. It's not been too cool.  Oh well, as long as I just drink 7up it seems to be ok.  Don't worry, I'll get over it.  Good thing is they're getting baptized.  I am never eating there again though.  

Well, on that note, I have to go.  The last question was if kids in Guatemala have Seminary.  They do.  Here it is at 5am every morning before school.  I thought 6:30 was bad!  Have a great week.  The church is true.  Christ lives.  He helps me in every moment of my life.  Until next week!

Love,

Elder Lloyd

P.S.  ¡5 Tarantulas in our house this week!

Baptisms

Hey,

Well, a great week.  Things went really well.  We had 3 baptisms!!!!!!!!!!  Well, 4, but one was 8 so it was a ward baptism.  Who cares, it was a super happy weekend!  We also had brownies, which were super good.  

The baptism was great.  It was a little intense because our District Leader is pretty new so he hasn't done too many baptismal interviews.  Well... he didn't pass one of our investigators so he said they wouldn't be able to be baptized this weekend.  But, after calling the Zone Leaders, he found out that there was no problem and he went back and told the family that he actually did pass.  Meanwhile, I was in the other area of San Jose and didn't know any of this was happening.  I guess Elder Adams was super stressed out thinking the baptism wasn't going to happen.  Oh well, everything worked out and they were all baptized.  

Marcelo, Mileimi, and Evelyn were baptized, completing their family of members.  Also, Alex was baptized.  They are all awesome and are going to be great members.  

I'm running out of time, so I am going to have to make this short.  It's always hard to load pictures and write an email at the same time.  Things are going great in the work here in San Andres.  We are working hard with Toni and Bertha.  They have completely given up drinking coffee and are ready to be baptized as well this weekend the 21st.  It was quite a miracle that they gave up coffee.  They were drinking 6 yo 10 cups of coffee every single day and just gave it up because of a lot of prayer on their part and fasting on ours.  It was so fast!  There's also this thing called Morcaf that a lot of members drink here that is a coffee made of burnt cereals that is approved by President Watts to drink, but we didn't even have to give them that.  They just dropped it.  So, they'll be baptized this week too.  

We are also working with a younger lady Thania that just got married to a returned missionary in our ward.  She knows that everything in the church is true and that she needs to be baptized, but she really just is scared to put a date.  I know she'll have a date for baptism this week.  We'll see.  Anyways, I got to go.  Have a great week everybody.  Keep the letters coming.  They're nice to get. =)  Sorry for the super short email.  Love you.

Elder Lloyd

Smokin' Hot

Hola familia mia,

¿Como les va?  Ojala que todo esté bién.  Todo está bien calidad aquí in San Andrés y esperamos que todo salga bién esta semana que viene.  Pero ¡que calor!  Ok, not going to write in Spanish.  Things are going really well.  We had a busy, hard, fun, good week.  Really things are going awesome and we are having great success.  I'm really tired right now though and I am really having a hard time typing.  Oh well.  

Not a lot happened this week.  We have been working and teaching like dogs this week.  We've just been trying to get things ready for the 3 baptisms we are going to have this week and the 2 next week.  Alex Colindres, Marcelo Gioveldo, and Merli Mileimi are going to be baptised this week and then the following week will be Toni and Bertha Cano.  We're soooooooooo excited!  We just picked up the baptismal clothes this morning and are going to buy some things for refreshments.  We are really hoping all of them come through.  

We got a new promising investigator this week.  Her name is Dania.  She just got married to one of the return missionaries in our ward and seems pretty interested in what we have to teach.  We have only been able to pass by twice, but we are really thinking that she will progress in a short amount of time.  

We got to go do service this Saturday morning with a recent convert from the other Elders' area in San Jose.  We all took our machetes and went over to clear out weeds in a garden.  It's called chapiar, and it's the worst idea ever.  It's pretty much weed-eating without the luxury of a weed-eater.  Luckily this time I walked away without chopping into my leg.  This was actually the first time I have used a machete since I cut myself in the last transfer.  It went well and then we were able to go to the guy's house to eat chicken head soup with tortillas.   Mmmmmm, yummy.  It wasn't too bad.  

I'm really liking jello here.  One thing about here is that sometimes it's so hot that you don't really even feel like eating.  But jello is like a mix between food and water, so it's become a regular item for me.  

This week has been a really good one with respect to the work and all the baptisms we're having, but there is one thing that has come as a surprise.  I don't know what it was about this week, but it seems like a lot of houses that we showed up to, there were people out showering in their front lawn.  It's so weird!  The weird thing is that when you walk up to greet the family and notice it, they don't think anything of it.  It's just weird.  It kinda makes me scared to visit them again.  

Well, I'm struggling with things to think of and it's almost time to go.  Not much happened as far as crazy stories or anything this week, but the work is going so well.  Have a good week.   You're always in my prayers.  

Love,

Elder Lloyd

Ground Zero for 2012 Mayan Calendar

Hey family,

Well, things are going really well here in Peten.  We had new years but it was pretty low key.  Of course we as missionaries didn't do anything but it also seemed like the people in our area were a little tired and didn't do anything either.  We did however go and eat turkey at the President of the branch's house.  One thing that is really big in Guatemala is the fireworks.  We were sleeping just fine but at midnight, it was a war-zone.  We looked out the window but couldn't see anything because of all the smoke.  I'm just glad nobody threw any dynamite sticks at our house.  You can buy these dynamite sticks for 1 Quetzal or like 12 American cents.   I was definitely tempted to buy some, but that's against the rules so I resisted.  

Anyways, I wanted to answer some of the questions that mom asked me in her email.  One of them was How is the education?  Well, let's just say it is not too great.  Usually kids go to school for about 2 hours but it's usually just to go and hang out.  Usually the kids all have really fancy uniforms and it seems like they're going to a high quality school, but it really isn't.  Also, usually just people with money can afford to send their kids to school.  Most of the people that live in Ixhuacut or other poor areas don't send their kids to school.  It's sad.  It really doesn't allow for kids to progress at all.  If their dad grows corn, that's what they do too.  It's sad but that's what people know how to do.

Another question was How is the town?  Well, San Andes has one main road that runs at the ridge of a huge hill that goes down to the lake.  That road kinda splits the town into two different parts, the half going down the hill to the lake and the one above on flat land.  Most of the people that live on the hill down to the lake are a little more rich and live in nicer houses.  Most of the roads on the hill are all paved with some foot paths and stuff.  It's super steep though and it is killer to walk back.  I feel skinnier on the days that I go down to the lake.  The other half has some nice houses, but for the most part it's just poor people.  You asked if it was clean....  Um.... not really.  Haha.  There are definitely pigs and sewage everywhere.  Every house has their own personal pond where all the sewage goes.  Also, a lot of the people have fleas because of the dirt floors and dogs.  Our shoes and pants get pretty dirty from all of the mud.  Most of the roads above the lake are just really rocky dirt roads.  Also, the people in San Andres definitely recognize us.  They are usually pretty friendly.  It's nice.  A lot of the people invite us in, even if they really aren't interested, just to be nice.  The mean ones usually sick their dogs on us though.  

The town definitely doesn't have everything we need.  Anytime we need anything for groceries we have to go to San Benito (close to Flores).  We had an activity on Friday where we went with the quorum president to buy 80 pounds of meat.  It was so gross.  I don't think I ever want to eat meat again here because I know that all meat comes from that one carniceria.  There were so many flies and all sorts of dogs in the place.  Also, they were just using the same knifes for all meat and throwing it all over the place.  I think the worst part of it though was that after a while of hacking on the hunk of meat with a knife, the man got frustrated and went back into his tool shed and got out a full size axe.  He then hacked up all the meat into little chunks.  Ya, nasty.  I ate the chicken.  

Well, you also wanted to know about my health.  I am doing very well.  I have been very blessed with good health in these past 9 months.  I have only had bad diarrhea once and that only lasted 1 day.  I haven't got any parasites yet.  Well, maybe I have some after the Tamales I ate yesterday.  You could taste the dirt still on the chicken, not to mention the feathers.  But, overall, health is really good.  Once in awhile I get a blister or something on my feet, but nothing else.  

Well, last but definitely not least, our investigators.  We now have 6 people preparing for baptismal dates.  The first ones will be Marcelo and Merli on the 14th of January.  They are kids of some recent converts.  The next ones will be Toni and Bertha on the 21st. They are for sure and super excited for their baptism.  They are parents of Henry, a brother in our branch.  Then, on the 28th we will hopefully have Malecio and Delmi. Malecio works driving buses so it is hard for him to get to church.  We'll see if he can make it this week.  We are really happy with the work going on in the area.  We also found a new family who are family members of Abraham, Mariana, and Sandra that just got baptized last transfer.  I think that if we work really hard we will be able to baptize them as well.  We are really trying to work with more families rather than little kids like we were with my last change.  We found another family as well that seem really awesome, but the father sells marijuana.  That might be a stumbling block but we'll keep working with him.  

My companion is doing really well and we are having a lot of fun.  We're learning a lot and hoping that things keep going well.  One of the things we have definitely learned this week is the importance of testifying.  As long as you share your testimony, even people that want nothing to do with you cannot deny the power and Spirit you carry. Always testify so people will know what you believe.  

Thanks for the picture of my nieces and nephew.  They have really grown up in the past year.  I really am grateful for the support that you and Mom give me.  It really is nice to know that I can count on you guys to always be praying and hoping for my success and safety.  I have also been really reflecting on our temporal and spiritual blessings as a family.  We are so blessed to have what we do.  Really, even the most well off families in San Andres would be suffering in the United States.  I have never seen anything like this back home.  

We found a new family this week that lives in the worst house I have ever seen in my life.  It's about an 8 by 8 space with a bed.  Outside they have a place to build a fire and two pots, one for water and the other for beans.  They have nothing else.  The young man is only 21 years old and his wife 23.  They had their first child when they were 15 and 17 and have been suffering ever since.  Neither one of them has any education and the father works cutting grass.  It's sad to see the suffering, but also, it brings such joy to see the love they have for others.  They are so humble and recieve us every time. Because they are so humble, they really do listen.  Even though they can't read or write, they understand the language of the Spirit.  We are really hoping to put a baptismal date this next week with them.  I know the gospel will help them.  

It just makes me glad for what I have and really makes me want to always be good with my money.  I hope that every time you guys eat, you really feel blessed for what you have.  I really realized that as I was eating a chicken head this week.  I really didn't understand the blessings we had until I came on my mission.  I hope that I can always remember my mission and try to better my life because of the experiences I have had.

I hope you have a great week.  You're always in my prayers.  You can always know you have someone who loves you, even as far as Guatemala.

Anyways, time's up.  I love you all and hope things are going well.  I really enjoy the letters.  Just to let everybody know, I can even get emails from nonfamilymembers, I just can't email back.  I like to hear from everyone.  =)  Have a great week.  
Love,
Elder Lloyd