The Work Goes Forward (Fast)!

Hey,

How's it going?  Hope things are great.  Things this week were fantastic.  I finally feel like a missionary again.  We actually had success! 

We were able to put 4 baptismal dates.  Yes!  The first was with Densil.  He is the young guy that lived in Houston for 8 years and who knows perfect English.  We had a baptismal date planned with him already for this Saturday but he wasn't progressing enough.  We had a great lesson with him and finally just talked seriously with him about what he wants.  Sometimes investigators just need a knock in the head to help them understand eternal concepts.  We started asking some of the questions from Alma 5 and really seeing how he felt about the plan of salvation.  He knows it's all true.  He's just scared of change.  We were able to watch finding faith in Christ and that really helped him to think a little more about the importance of the Church and baptism.  So we committed him for the 19th of may and are really going to work to get him there.   We're going to pass by every day if we need to. 

Another one is Guadalupe.  She has 3 daughters that have been members for a really long time.  Also all her relatives are members.  The only thing was that her husband was really stubborn and didn't like the Church.  But, he died 2 weeks ago.  So, thanks to the plan of salvation and the scriptures, after asking her the question, What do you think you need to do to make it back to your Heavenly Father again, Hermana?  She said, well, I should probably start out being baptised in the true church.  Well, bada bing bada boom, 19th of May.  She's awesome and she came to church for the first time yesterday.  She's for sure going to be baptized. 

We also found an amazing family!  They are Mari, Marvin, and their 4 little boys.  I told about them last week, the ones that read the pamphlet and seemed really awesome.  Well, they are the most amazing family spiritually I have had in my mission.  They are super poor.   The other night we got there and the kids were only eating tortillas and margarine for their dinner.  I may or may not have given a member money to buy them beans, eggs, and tortillas and went without eating for a day.  We were teaching them and I challenged them to baptism.  Marvin said that, since they had started listening, they knew it was true and couldn't deny it, so there was no way they could avoid getting baptized.  Yup 26th of May.  They also all came to church yesterday and stayed all three hours.  They loved it. 

Well, my  letters short, but I have to catch a bus for the capital in 15 minutes for our zone leader meeting with President.  Hna Watts is making Lasagna tomorrow.  =)  I'm excited.  I know this church is true and know that there are children of Him waiting for us to open the door to His kingdom.  As we share the gospel, we give them salvation.  Have a great week.  Love you all!
Love,
Elder Lloyd

Great Week!

Hey fam,

This week was a great week. 

We were actually able to work again and we had some great success.  My companion has started feeling better and seems to be ready to get going again.  We have had some great lessons and found some great new investigators. 

We were able to put a baptismal date with one of the investigators we have.  His name is Densil and he actually lived in Houston for 8 years.  He's 24 and knows perfect English.  He has had a rough life and it actually wouldn't surprise me if he was part of a gang while he was in the US.  But, we have really been talking about the repentance and how he can change.  He really has changed too.  Every investigator needs their own testimony and their own lesson that changes their life and his was the plan of salvation.  To know that we can live with our Heavenly father again really gave him hope.  We are really working with him for the 28th of April.  Hopefully he will make it.  I know he can.  We'll see how it goes this week.

I was able to go to Carcha, an area in our zone, on divisions this Thursday. That was awesome.  It is so beautiful.  That is the pictures I sent of me on the hill with the book of Mormon in my hand.  It is huge and the Elders there have a lot of work to do.  What happened is that there used to be 3 pairs of Elders out there and 3 areas, but we were short on missionaries and we had to close 2 of the areas there and made it one giant area.  It's crazy!  The best part is that there are a lot of little villages all over the place and a lot of Kekchi speaking people.  It was a great division.  We were able to have a lot of lessons and find 6 new investigators.  Then at night, there was a nice sky full of stars and the fireflies were out by the thousands.  It was one of the most beautiful moments in my mission.  It's times like those that really make me feel grateful that I am here in Guatemala.  The only thing that wasn't so great about the division is that the Elder that I went with is pretty new and has not been working hard enough trying to learn Spanish.  Wow, it was rough.  I felt so bad for him.  He couldn't help me teach at all.  But, we were able to talk about it and set some goals for his study and how he can improve.  I think he's a little more excited now to be able to learn.  We'll see.  Anyways, great area out there and I had a lot of fun. 

Today was P-day and we got to do a great trip.  We went to the Rey Marcos caves in Chamelco in our zone.  It was about a 30 minute drive and some seriously awesome caves and waterfalls.  In the pictures are all the Elders and Sisters in our zone.  It was a great time and I am really glad we got to go.  It reminded me a lot of the caves we got to go in in Ecuador.  The only difference was that we didn't have to swim.  The Hermanas were all scared and hyperventilating.  But, everybody survived and we really enjoyed.  The waterfalls were also really cool.  It was also only about 4 dollars to get in and for all the equipment.  Pretty cool. 

Well, things are really good.  I love you guys.  This week we have a zone conference.  That should be fun.  Have a great week.

Love,

Elder Lloyd

Sickness

Hey family,

Well, things are good in Coban.  I'm happy and healthy.  Sounds like Mom and Dad had the best 2 weeks ever!  I'm not going to lie, I found it quite funny that you two gringos got put as the witness couple in the middle of all the little Ecuadorians.  I'm jealous you got to go to them temple.  It's been 8 months since I've gone to the temple.  Awesome that you guys got to stay in that hotel looking over the temple as well.  Wow!  You guys have the best luck ever.  Have you ever stayed at a hotel and not gotten an upgrade to your room?  Awesome.  I also really enjoyed the sunsets in Montanita.  It brought back good memories. 

This week started out in the capital with concilio.  That was awesome.  I always enjoy going and being around some of the best Elders in the mission.  Also, President and Hermana Watts always make us feel like a million bucks.  By the way, Hna Watts makes some great food.  I also had my first chocolate chip cookie in a year.  It brought vanilla ice cream and caramel on top too.  MMMMMM!  Those meetings are always really good because we get to talk about the zones of the mission and how they can improve.  Also, President Watts always does a good job and getting us excited to go out and conquer the mission field.  I also like those days because I get to go on the bus rides with Elder Dillworth, the brother of Collin and Andre, two of the guys on the BYU moving crew.  He's an awesome Elder.  He's also been in Polochic his entire mission and is about to finish.  Overall, that was a great time.  Oh ya, I got to give a talk in concilio in front of everyone.  That was a little nerve racking, but it turned out fine.  I talked on how to raise the attendance of sacrament meetings in our zone. 

After we got back, my companion woke up Wednesday morning with "gripe."  Well that gripe made it so that we didn't work the entire week.  I felt bad for Elder Navas.  It was rough because we went another week without doing anything.  But, it did kind of give me some good thinking time.  I really had time to reevaluate how I am doing in the mission and things I can do better with.  I also enjoyed the extra time yesterday to study about Christ and his ministry and atonement.  I really was actually feeling a bit down yesterday after being in the house for 5 days, and I prayed to ask what I could do.  I felt like I should read a Liahona so I went over and grabbed one.  We have a stack of over 100 in the house.  I randomly got one that was the April 2009 copy.  Wow, what a great answer to my prayer.  And what a great Liahona.  I would highly recommend it.  In particular there was a talk by Cecil O Samuelson that talked about the atonement of Jesus Christ.  It was exactly the right talk in exactly the right time for me in my mission.  I know God was listening to me and that he loves me, because he knew exactly how to help me at that time.  But wow, did I study a lot this week.  I read just about the entire New Testament, over 10 Liahonas, a lot of Jesus the Christ, 1 Nephi and a lot of 2 Nephi, and learned a bit of Kekchi.  Oh well, things happen.

My companion started feeling better this morning and was even ready to play soccer with the zone.

Then we were able to go eat McDonalds and shop and use internet.  Oh ya, I also found 5 ties from Nordstrom and other brands for the equivalent of 50 cents each. That was a great find.  Now we are going to go home and see what visits we can make before the evening ends. 

Well, love you guys.  You're in my prayers every day.  Know that the church is true and that Jesus Christ is the very Savior of our souls.  I love Him.  He knows us and offers us all we need and want.  I challenge everyone to take some time to think of exactly what he has done in your life.  I promise that as you do, you'll feel him a bit closer in your life.  Love ya.

Elder Lloyd