Change Week

Hey guys,

How are things going back home?  Hopefully well.  Hey just wanted to say that it is always nice to receive letters from anybody that reads my blog or anybody else.  Also, everybody can email me if they want at alloyd@myldsmail.net  I just not supposed to email anybody back so include the mail return address in the email.  They help a lot and I have only gotten 2 letters in the past 6 or 7 months.  I usually get back to everybody that sends me a letter, I just hope they don't get lost.  This is my mailing address. 

Elder Lloyd

Misión Guatemala Ciudad Norte

Apartado # 951-A

Guatemala, Guatemala

C.A.

  

We found an amazing family this week.  They are the Soto Xol (read Shole) family.  We were walking in the street superfast trying to get to another appointment and passed them when in the exact same moment both me and my companion felt super strongly that we should stop and talk to them.  So we did and put another appointment with them for another day.  We went to their house that day and there they were waiting for us.  It turns out that the wife was baptized in Carcha about 6 years ago but didn't really have a testimony when she did it, be she did know that what we share is very important.  It's her, Maritza, her husband William, and her 4 kids that are 8, 6, 4, and 2 years old.  Well, they're pretty much amazing.  We talked to them and put another appointment for the next day and were able to put a baptismal goal for the 14th of July with William and his son that 2nd appointment. It was awesome!  Sadly they didn't go to church this Sunday because they had to take care of a family member that all of a sudden had a baby, but we are going to keep visiting them this week and try to get them to church this coming week.  They are awesome.  It's amazing to feel the Spirit working with you to be the means in helping find people to share the gospel with.  Imagine if we wouldn't have contacted them in the street.  That's twice in Coban that the same thing has happened.  That's exactly how we found the Lopez family.  

Speaking of the Lopez family, they are super awesome.  We are going to go with them tonight and help them with their family home evening because they are inviting their neighbors to it and want us to be there.  They are going to be doing everything to prepare it.  Awesome.

This week is transfer week.  meh....  Luckily I didn't get a change and Elder Proctor and I are together for another 6 weeks but transfers means no sleep for a week.  My body is really starting to get tired.  You wouldn't think that your stamina would change on the mission, but your body can't take all the things we do for 2 years.  It really is a miracle.  Oh well.  I learned long ago that there is great joy to be found in giving absolutely everything to the Lord and suffering for him.  =)  I think some of the greatest moments in my mission have been the most stressful, tired, uncomfortable moments of my life.  Weird huh? 

Well love you guys.  I hope you know just how important the gospel of Jesus Christ is.  Anybody that is not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints that reads my letters, be it a friend, family member, or just somebody I know, know that this is what is missing in life.  God has a plan for his children through the promises we can make in his true church.  Families can live together even after death, through these truths.  There are missionaries everywhere sharing the same things I have dedicated my whole life for 2 years to.  Please talk to them.  Love you guys,

Elder Lloyd

Chicken Enchiladas!

Hey guys,

Well, this week was one of the best. It went by really fast and was full of a lot of things, but it brought some of the greatest joys of my mission.  Man, they've got Toy Story 3 playing here in the internet place.  That's tempting.  Well, here we go. 

The week started out with a rushed trip to the capital to Zone Leader concilio.  When I was writing my short little letter to you guys last Monday and sent it, we had 10 minutes until our bus left.  We sprinted to the bus station and got there right as the bus was pulling out.  That would have been bad to miss.  It was a fun ride because we had all of the Zone leaders together from outside of the capital in the same bus going down at the same time.  I love those Elders.  They really are some great guys.  Then, concilio was really good as always.  I gave a talk with my companion for 15 minutes.  That was the second time I've had to talk as a zone leader in those meetings.  It turned out really well.  We spoke on how to put and hold baptismal dates with investigators and then help the zone to do the same.  Anyways, that was all good, but the important part of the day was that I got to eat mom's chicken enchiladas.  Oh my goo'ness, oh.... my goo'ness.  It was so good.  The only thing that Hna Watts couldn't find were the little canned green chilies, but it was great.  We also had a really good lemon cream dessert.  Those are good days.  I had thirds on everything.  Oh, by the way, the picture I sent of the Elder in the Brown suit is Elder Nelson, our Assistant to the President.  He was in Coban before I came here.  He has a special place in his heart for Coban because he knows how great it is. 

Anyways, that was a good day but we got on the bus at 5pm and headed for Coban.  Around 9pm and about an hour and a half away from Coban, the transmission of the bus se fregó and we were stuck in the middle of the wilderness.  We had 8 Elders on the bus and had to get out in our suits and with our suitcases and everything and hitchhike.  Luckily we had some really nice guy give us a ride to Salama, a completely different zone in our mission, and we stayed the night with the zone leaders there.  That was fun.  I wasn't expecting to get to know that part of Guatemala.  Plus it's also always fun to get a nighttime hitchhike through the jungle.  It was beautiful. 

As for the work, we didn't get too much headway with our baptisms and interviews and concilio.  We are still working with familia Gomez to try to put a baptismal date with them.  If you guys can include them in your prayers, that would help a lot.  They were almost ready to say yes, but in the moment, Satan one.  But, one thing I've learned is that nobody ever gets away from the truth.  They'll have a date this week. 

I had another great (not so great) Zone Leader responsibility to attend to this week.  We have 5 Hermanas in our zone and they are really awesome, but we had to change some of the companionships in our zone.  I had to interview all of them and try to resolve some issues.  I guess girls are different from boys.  The joys of the mission! 

The baptism was wonderful.  Because of work and other things, we did it at 8am on Sunday.  We didn't have too many members there to support because it was so early, but we did have the Spirit there.  They are such a strong family.  It was amazing to see the transformation of the family within a matter of hours as they were baptized, received the Holy Ghost, and became members of the Church.  It was great.  The only thing that was rough was that Edwin, the 8 year old son, kicked his foot up when my companion baptized him and did not want to do it again.  We finally talked him into it, but he spazzed and punched his hand out of the water as he went down.  So, he didn't want to do it again so we are going to have to do it this weekend and have him go swimming and stuff to take away his fear of the water.  I think he swallowed water or something.  Still though, it was an amazing baptism.

Today we went to Semuc Champey as our actividad de zona again.  It was awesome.  I love that place.  It's so beautiful.  The only not so cool thing about it is that there are a bunch of European women swimming around all over the place.  The cool part today was that Polochic zone and Salama zone also were able to go so we were about 70 missionaries over there.  Everybody came from all over the place and it was a pretty good reunion.  I didn't get many pictures because I lent my camera to another Elder that didn't have one. 

Anyways, I love you guys.  It's 9:15 so I got to get inside.  By the way my appointment was fantastic tonight and we have an engineer that we're teaching.  Edgar Hass is his name and he's really starting to get the gospel.  Have a great week.  Love you!

Elder Lloyd

Great Week!

Hey family,

Well, this week was a great one.  Hard work, but it payed off.  I have a bus that leaves to the capital in 20 minutes so this letter is going to be a little lame.  We have our monthly zone leader meeting with President Watts so we have to travel a lot.  When we do that we have to take a 6 hour bus ride, stay the night at the Assistants' house, go to the meeting, eat Hna Watts' food (this time it's mom's chicken enchilada casserole), and take the 6 hour bus back tomorrow night.  It's a long trip but it's really fun.  Anyways.

Our investigators are doing very very well.  I think I told you about the Gomez family of about 12 people that we found last week.  Well, we went and talked to them a few times this week and they started reading the book of Mormon.  It was a miracle in church because 10 of them came to church and they loved it.  We had in total 15 investigators in church. 15!  It was amazing!!!  It's a little hard though when we get that many people in there because it's kind of like herding cattle around there are so many.  Luckily we had a very great principles of the gospel class that they all loved.  Also, Marin Lopez, our amazing investigator that's getting baptized, when he stood up to introduce himself he said, "Well, I'm Marvin and what can I say? the church is true.  This is what you need and I invite all of you to continue forward in the truth because it has changed our life."  Awesome.  The Gomez family said that they really loved church and as they left the building they were all saying goodbye to everyone and saying, "see you next week!"  It was one of the greatest Sunday's in my mission.  It's also cool because we have to hike up a big muddy hill/mountain to go take them to church.  

Another cool thing was that the attendance in church as a whole was really high.  We usually have about 140 people in sacrament meeting and the attendance yesterday rose to 172.  It helped that 20 of them were nonmembers.  

Familia Lopez is doing fantastic.  We are really feeling like they are ready for baptism.  They had originally been planning to be baptized on the 17th in the morning before church but we changed it to be sooner this Sunday the 10th at 8 in the morning.  So Mary, Marvin, and their son Edwin are going to be baptized this Sunday.  When we asked them what they thought about changing the date, Marvin said, we know the church is true and we made the decision a long time ago, so when you guys say we need to be baptized, we'll be there.  They really are that golden family that every missionary wants in their mission.  The ward is also doing really well supporting them and helping us out with the teachings.  Tonight, even though we'll be in the capital, they'll have a member family taking them to their house for a family home evening and dinner.  Awesome.  

Well, my bus is going to leave.  I love you guys and pray for your success daily.  Have a great week.  Let me know what I can do to help.

Elder Lloyd