Monday, June 20, 2011
Working in Guatemala City
Well Hello!
It's that time again. PDAY!!!!!! Well, everything's going fairly well here in Guatemala. I told you in my last letter that we were in Zona 18 of Guatemala but I forgot that that's kind of big. We're actually in an area called barrio Colombia. Other parts of our area are Alameda 1, 2, 3, and 4, and Santa Faz, just in case you're interested in finding it on Google or something. Well, sounds like everything's going well with the family. Sounds like the trek went fantastically. James, sorry about the kidney stone. There's a ton of missionaries in this mission that have had problems with those and I've heard they aren't fun. Hopefully I don't end up getting one.
Well, you asked how the food is. It's been a bit hard because my companion didn't receive any money in his account this month and I only received 3 week’s worth. We called the office elders and they said that they had already put money in his account and that they couldn't do anything about it. So we've been living pretty frugally. But it's good; it gives me an appreciation for what we have. And don't worry; I'm getting plenty of food, just in the form of tortillas, beans, and eggs. Really though I love the beans and tortillas here. You can get so much food for so little and the mission definitely gives plenty of money for us to eat. We had lunch today for about 2 dollars. I think my biggest addiction here is the pineapple. HOLY COW it's good. And you can get a whole, ripe, delicious, juicy, best thing you've ever tasted for a little less than 25 cents. Mmmmmm. We don't have time to really take an hour for dinner so we just usually work solid from 2:00 to 9:30 and eat after we plan at 10:00. I wouldn't want it any other way. It feels so good to work solid all day and then get home and just eat and go to sleep. Then the next morning we start again. =) I use my water bottle filter thing every day. It really comes in handy and the filters last about a year. Also I got to use my backpacking filter the other day when we ran out of bottled water and it was after 9:30. Sweet! Thanks a bunch for that. As far as the mosquito net, we don't really have any problems with mosquitos or bugs at night so I don't have to use it.
They have all of the greenie missionaries on a pilot program that they're going to implement throughout the world in August that they're just trying out on us. The only difference is that in the morning instead of having one hour of personal study and then one hour of companionship study, you get an extra hour of companionship study to receive structured lessons on how to teach from your trainer. It really makes us more effective at a much quicker pace. Included are various videos and exercises that we get to do. They said that the new program makes it so that new missionaries are ready to be trainers after just 3 months in the field. I'm just hoping I get sent to Polochic where I'll have to learn the entire Kek'chi language. My companion said he's going to strongly recommend to the president that he sends me there. He was in an area in Coban where they lived in a chapel and their closest investigator was about 1 hour away. He said they went without water for a few months and only got to shower when it rained. He walked around with a machete and rubber rain boots everywhere he went. Awesome. Ha-ha. Actually I think his circumstances were a little unusual, but still, I think it would be really cool to be so secluded and work with those kinds of people. We'll see, I'll serve happily wherever I am called.
So, this week, we've definitely been tested and I'm beginning to learn that this is really hard work. I think that every appointment with an investigator that we had from Tuesday to Sunday fell. They would tell us that we could come by and seemed happy to have us and then for some reason or another they would make up an excuse of why they couldn't listen. Hopefully this week they'll listen and know which way to go. It's frustrating but I know we're working hard and I know that as long as we keep it up we'll have success sooner or later. We have been having some success with a few less actives though. There sure are plenty. Just in our ward, there are about 600 members but our church attendance is about 90. So I guess if we can help out with them and try to get a little more support in the Church here, that will help a lot. But, all we can do is press on and try our best. I'm not too discouraged, just makes me want to be that much better.
Our zone is great. Since we're in the city everybody's really close so we can have activities every once in a while. I think the highlight of my week was that contacting activity that we were able to do on Thursday. We went to the central market here and shined shoes for free. =) The look on their faces was pretty awesome when they realized that a free shoe sign meant 2 minutes that they were trapped listening to the gospel. =) They usually just laughed because they knew they had been trapped. But it was really effective. I think we got over 50 references just in our zone in 1 hour. It was also nice just to do something a little different from the usual. We even had this giant shoe that said, ¡LUSTRE GRATIS! Ha-ha, we had elders shouting and everything.
Just so I don't forget, this is the address for any mail sent to me for the next two years. DearElder also sends to this address. Packages are so expensive, please don't feel obligated to ever send me any.
Elder Lloyd
Misión Guatemala Ciudad Norte
Apartado # 951-A
Guatemala, Guatemala
C.A.
Well, it's about that time to get off of here. I love you all a bunch. Estoy muy bien. He trabajado mucho estas 2 semanas pasadas. Solo quiero decir que la Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Ultimos Dias es la iglesia verdadera en el mundo hoy. Jesucristo es nuestro Salvador. El suplicó el obstáculo de la muerte y del pecado por cada uno de nosotros. El está esperando a la puerto que se llama la Expiación. Solo necesitamos ser humildes y entrar por el arrepentamiento, y podemos recibir la vida eterna. Yo sé que somos hijos de Dios. El quiere que nosotros regresemos y vivamos con El. Estoy muy agradecido de tener una familia eterna, que podemos vivir juntos para siempre. Yo se que por medio de nuestra obediencia, recibiremos todo lo que tiene nuestro Padre.
I love you guys. Hope you have a great week. Know I'm doing great and that you can always count on me to work hard. We'll talk to you in a week!
Love,
Elder Lloyd
It's that time again. PDAY!!!!!! Well, everything's going fairly well here in Guatemala. I told you in my last letter that we were in Zona 18 of Guatemala but I forgot that that's kind of big. We're actually in an area called barrio Colombia. Other parts of our area are Alameda 1, 2, 3, and 4, and Santa Faz, just in case you're interested in finding it on Google or something. Well, sounds like everything's going well with the family. Sounds like the trek went fantastically. James, sorry about the kidney stone. There's a ton of missionaries in this mission that have had problems with those and I've heard they aren't fun. Hopefully I don't end up getting one.
Well, you asked how the food is. It's been a bit hard because my companion didn't receive any money in his account this month and I only received 3 week’s worth. We called the office elders and they said that they had already put money in his account and that they couldn't do anything about it. So we've been living pretty frugally. But it's good; it gives me an appreciation for what we have. And don't worry; I'm getting plenty of food, just in the form of tortillas, beans, and eggs. Really though I love the beans and tortillas here. You can get so much food for so little and the mission definitely gives plenty of money for us to eat. We had lunch today for about 2 dollars. I think my biggest addiction here is the pineapple. HOLY COW it's good. And you can get a whole, ripe, delicious, juicy, best thing you've ever tasted for a little less than 25 cents. Mmmmmm. We don't have time to really take an hour for dinner so we just usually work solid from 2:00 to 9:30 and eat after we plan at 10:00. I wouldn't want it any other way. It feels so good to work solid all day and then get home and just eat and go to sleep. Then the next morning we start again. =) I use my water bottle filter thing every day. It really comes in handy and the filters last about a year. Also I got to use my backpacking filter the other day when we ran out of bottled water and it was after 9:30. Sweet! Thanks a bunch for that. As far as the mosquito net, we don't really have any problems with mosquitos or bugs at night so I don't have to use it.
They have all of the greenie missionaries on a pilot program that they're going to implement throughout the world in August that they're just trying out on us. The only difference is that in the morning instead of having one hour of personal study and then one hour of companionship study, you get an extra hour of companionship study to receive structured lessons on how to teach from your trainer. It really makes us more effective at a much quicker pace. Included are various videos and exercises that we get to do. They said that the new program makes it so that new missionaries are ready to be trainers after just 3 months in the field. I'm just hoping I get sent to Polochic where I'll have to learn the entire Kek'chi language. My companion said he's going to strongly recommend to the president that he sends me there. He was in an area in Coban where they lived in a chapel and their closest investigator was about 1 hour away. He said they went without water for a few months and only got to shower when it rained. He walked around with a machete and rubber rain boots everywhere he went. Awesome. Ha-ha. Actually I think his circumstances were a little unusual, but still, I think it would be really cool to be so secluded and work with those kinds of people. We'll see, I'll serve happily wherever I am called.
So, this week, we've definitely been tested and I'm beginning to learn that this is really hard work. I think that every appointment with an investigator that we had from Tuesday to Sunday fell. They would tell us that we could come by and seemed happy to have us and then for some reason or another they would make up an excuse of why they couldn't listen. Hopefully this week they'll listen and know which way to go. It's frustrating but I know we're working hard and I know that as long as we keep it up we'll have success sooner or later. We have been having some success with a few less actives though. There sure are plenty. Just in our ward, there are about 600 members but our church attendance is about 90. So I guess if we can help out with them and try to get a little more support in the Church here, that will help a lot. But, all we can do is press on and try our best. I'm not too discouraged, just makes me want to be that much better.
Our zone is great. Since we're in the city everybody's really close so we can have activities every once in a while. I think the highlight of my week was that contacting activity that we were able to do on Thursday. We went to the central market here and shined shoes for free. =) The look on their faces was pretty awesome when they realized that a free shoe sign meant 2 minutes that they were trapped listening to the gospel. =) They usually just laughed because they knew they had been trapped. But it was really effective. I think we got over 50 references just in our zone in 1 hour. It was also nice just to do something a little different from the usual. We even had this giant shoe that said, ¡LUSTRE GRATIS! Ha-ha, we had elders shouting and everything.
Just so I don't forget, this is the address for any mail sent to me for the next two years. DearElder also sends to this address. Packages are so expensive, please don't feel obligated to ever send me any.
Elder Lloyd
Misión Guatemala Ciudad Norte
Apartado # 951-A
Guatemala, Guatemala
C.A.
Well, it's about that time to get off of here. I love you all a bunch. Estoy muy bien. He trabajado mucho estas 2 semanas pasadas. Solo quiero decir que la Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Ultimos Dias es la iglesia verdadera en el mundo hoy. Jesucristo es nuestro Salvador. El suplicó el obstáculo de la muerte y del pecado por cada uno de nosotros. El está esperando a la puerto que se llama la Expiación. Solo necesitamos ser humildes y entrar por el arrepentamiento, y podemos recibir la vida eterna. Yo sé que somos hijos de Dios. El quiere que nosotros regresemos y vivamos con El. Estoy muy agradecido de tener una familia eterna, que podemos vivir juntos para siempre. Yo se que por medio de nuestra obediencia, recibiremos todo lo que tiene nuestro Padre.
I love you guys. Hope you have a great week. Know I'm doing great and that you can always count on me to work hard. We'll talk to you in a week!
Love,
Elder Lloyd
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
First Area (Vampires!)
Hey family!
Sorry I haven't gotten you a letter in a very long time. We didn't really get a p-day this week. Well I bet you're dying wanting to know where I am. Well, I am in the capital in Zona 18. They start out all of the missionaries in the capital for to be trained. It's great here. It is the city though and its pretty busy and packed. The people are so poor. Most of them live in sheet metal houses and few of them even have roofs. If they do it's usually a tarp or more sheet metal. There are areas in our zone where the people have cinder block homes. Its pretty crazy though. Lots of dirt, lots of garbage and fleas! =) The worst was on my second day I got fleas in my socks and boots and they just feasted on me. Oh well. I sprayed everything really well with permithrian. We live in a 'really nice' house. Haha. We at least get to shower. But it really is a mansion compared to everything else and we live in a gated part that's really really safe. Wow, the first couple days were rough. And you're right Mom, I did have a couple moments where I was like, what the heck have I gotten myself into. But then we started teaching and finding people, and I started to have fun, and I started to love the people. It's awesome to be with such humble people. As far as my companion, you're going to love this, he was in the El Salvador military. =) He works so hard. He wears combat boots to proselyte and he walks faster than anyone I've ever met. The amazing thing is that he's so nice, and cares a lot about me and the people. He has been really good to me this week making sure I get used to all of the new things. Although, he eats really weird and I'm pretty sure I've lost a little bit of weight. =) He's great though. His name is Elder Gonzalez, he's 20, and he has 14 months in the mission. It's kinda cool, they sent most of the new North American missionaries to our one zone so we get to see each other often and get to ask each other how it's going.
We don't have monkeys sadly, however we did kill a vampire bat in our sink last night and there are quite the variety of cockroaches. Things are soooooooooooo cheap here. We went to their thrift stores this morning and my find of the day was a Mountain Hard Wear shirt for 5 Quetzales or around 75 cents which would of cost around 40 dollars in the states. They have ties for 3 for 10 Quetz. We also went grocery shopping and bought more than enough food for a week for the both of us for around 30 dollars. We get around 140 dollars each for the month to live off of, including everything. So it's pretty cool.
One cool thing is that my companion knows Kek'chi. =) I am learning during my language study every morning for 30 minutes. Awesome. It's really cool and a lot of the words have like 5 or 6 implied meanings so there are way less words to have to learn. But it's bien raro el idioma Kek'chi. Pero es bien chilero. I'm loving Spanish. Not to say that it's easy for me to contact. I still get scared every time somebody opens the door and I have to talk. But I'm getting better little by little. My companion is awesome. I wish you could know just how great of a missionary he is. The other day we knocked 40 doors and we talked to each of them for at least 5 minutes about the plan of salvation or something else. 40! And out of those only one person said they didn't want to talk to us. He's such a great example.
We have a couple of families that are interested in the gospel and we hope keep progressing with them. We have a strong ward of about 100 members. I got to speak in church yesterday with all of 2 minutes notice. =) It was good though. I'm trying to get to know all of the people and the area. One of the problems we've been having is that there are never men in the house when we get there. The first day with my companion, he didnt really seem to mind that we had no males in the house. But you'd be proud, I talked to him about it and he said ok, from now on, we will never enter a house unless a man over the age of 18 is there. That's how awesome my companion is. Now we just gotta convince some members to go out with us so that we can get into those appointments.
Well, things are great, my skins a little burny, but I learned my lesson and now sunscreen is used liberally. I'm loving it here, working hard, and trying my best to be a great missionary. I'm gonna get off and try to send some pictures. Love you guys. Have a great week and good luck with the trek!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nak'atinra La'ex (love you guys),
Elder Lloyd
Sorry I haven't gotten you a letter in a very long time. We didn't really get a p-day this week. Well I bet you're dying wanting to know where I am. Well, I am in the capital in Zona 18. They start out all of the missionaries in the capital for to be trained. It's great here. It is the city though and its pretty busy and packed. The people are so poor. Most of them live in sheet metal houses and few of them even have roofs. If they do it's usually a tarp or more sheet metal. There are areas in our zone where the people have cinder block homes. Its pretty crazy though. Lots of dirt, lots of garbage and fleas! =) The worst was on my second day I got fleas in my socks and boots and they just feasted on me. Oh well. I sprayed everything really well with permithrian. We live in a 'really nice' house. Haha. We at least get to shower. But it really is a mansion compared to everything else and we live in a gated part that's really really safe. Wow, the first couple days were rough. And you're right Mom, I did have a couple moments where I was like, what the heck have I gotten myself into. But then we started teaching and finding people, and I started to have fun, and I started to love the people. It's awesome to be with such humble people. As far as my companion, you're going to love this, he was in the El Salvador military. =) He works so hard. He wears combat boots to proselyte and he walks faster than anyone I've ever met. The amazing thing is that he's so nice, and cares a lot about me and the people. He has been really good to me this week making sure I get used to all of the new things. Although, he eats really weird and I'm pretty sure I've lost a little bit of weight. =) He's great though. His name is Elder Gonzalez, he's 20, and he has 14 months in the mission. It's kinda cool, they sent most of the new North American missionaries to our one zone so we get to see each other often and get to ask each other how it's going.
We don't have monkeys sadly, however we did kill a vampire bat in our sink last night and there are quite the variety of cockroaches. Things are soooooooooooo cheap here. We went to their thrift stores this morning and my find of the day was a Mountain Hard Wear shirt for 5 Quetzales or around 75 cents which would of cost around 40 dollars in the states. They have ties for 3 for 10 Quetz. We also went grocery shopping and bought more than enough food for a week for the both of us for around 30 dollars. We get around 140 dollars each for the month to live off of, including everything. So it's pretty cool.
One cool thing is that my companion knows Kek'chi. =) I am learning during my language study every morning for 30 minutes. Awesome. It's really cool and a lot of the words have like 5 or 6 implied meanings so there are way less words to have to learn. But it's bien raro el idioma Kek'chi. Pero es bien chilero. I'm loving Spanish. Not to say that it's easy for me to contact. I still get scared every time somebody opens the door and I have to talk. But I'm getting better little by little. My companion is awesome. I wish you could know just how great of a missionary he is. The other day we knocked 40 doors and we talked to each of them for at least 5 minutes about the plan of salvation or something else. 40! And out of those only one person said they didn't want to talk to us. He's such a great example.
We have a couple of families that are interested in the gospel and we hope keep progressing with them. We have a strong ward of about 100 members. I got to speak in church yesterday with all of 2 minutes notice. =) It was good though. I'm trying to get to know all of the people and the area. One of the problems we've been having is that there are never men in the house when we get there. The first day with my companion, he didnt really seem to mind that we had no males in the house. But you'd be proud, I talked to him about it and he said ok, from now on, we will never enter a house unless a man over the age of 18 is there. That's how awesome my companion is. Now we just gotta convince some members to go out with us so that we can get into those appointments.
Well, things are great, my skins a little burny, but I learned my lesson and now sunscreen is used liberally. I'm loving it here, working hard, and trying my best to be a great missionary. I'm gonna get off and try to send some pictures. Love you guys. Have a great week and good luck with the trek!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nak'atinra La'ex (love you guys),
Elder Lloyd
Monday, June 13, 2011
Sunday, June 12, 2011
He's Arrived!
Dear Brother and Sister Lloyd,
The following is to advise you that your missionary has arrived in his assigned area of labor. He was picked up last Tuesday from the MTC here in Guatemala where he received some orientation as well as a luncheon in the Mission home.
We are enclosing some photos of your Son. We hope you enjoy these. We also want to make you aware that we have a mission blog where you are welcome to visit to learn of the activities of the mission. The address is www.torreszion.blogspot.com
Sincerely,
President and Sister Torres
The following is to advise you that your missionary has arrived in his assigned area of labor. He was picked up last Tuesday from the MTC here in Guatemala where he received some orientation as well as a luncheon in the Mission home.
We are enclosing some photos of your Son. We hope you enjoy these. We also want to make you aware that we have a mission blog where you are welcome to visit to learn of the activities of the mission. The address is www.torreszion.blogspot.com
Sincerely,
President and Sister Torres
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