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

Ma kan li tumin

Hey family,

Well, another week and things are crazy.  It's change week and there's a lot of hustle and bustle here in Coban.  Being zone leader makes it pretty rough for change time.  We are in charge of all the Elders that have to go to the capital or out of Coban in the next 3 days and yesterday from here, Polochik, and Baja Verapaz; where they sleep, how they get here, what they eat, who they do divisions with, and buying their bus tickets.  Yesterday we had to send 5 Elders and Sisters to the capital that also have problems with their visas and arrange divisions in the zone for their companions.  Today we had 3 more that are going to train to the capital and are here with their companions.  Tomorrow those that are finishing their mission and those with transfers to the capital, in total about 10 are coming and staying the night with us.  Then Wednesday at 2 AM we get them taxis and they all head off to the bus for the transfer conference in the capital.  Then Wednesday night we will be receiving all the Elders that come in.  And finally, on Thursday morning at 4am, the Polochik Elders head off on their bus to their areas and we show everybody where to go in the zone.  Needless to say, times are exciting por aqui.  

This week was a little interesting.  I think the Lord has really been trying my patience.  It actually all started a couple weeks ago when I didn't receive my reimbursement for my 950 Quet the rent and laundry lady.  I called up the finance Elders and asked why and apparently they didn't receive my fax of my receipts while I was in Peten and couldn't reimburse either of the months' rent.  So I called my old companion in Peten and apparently when he was cleaning the house he threw my rent receipts away.  So, he had to redo them and fax them in to the office.  I still haven't had my reimbursement come in and called the office this morning and they say they still haven't got it cleared.  Plus it's going to be another 4 to 5 days until it gets deposited into my account.  So, maybe by next Monday I'll have my money.  Luckily I have had my emergency fund of 600 Quetz or else I wouldn't have eaten anything these last 2 weeks.  As it is, things have been pretty skimpy.  On top of all that, we came home on Tuesday night and had no electricity.  Apparently the Elders before us forgot to pay the light bill for 3 months and the electric company had come and cut the electricity to our house.  So, we haven't had electricity since then until today.  Plus, all our food was ruined because the refrigerator was off for all that time.  But, oh well.  I guess things happen sometimes.  I've got about 12 dollars to live on this week.  We'll see how it goes.  Don't worry though; the members give us food quite often.  Sorry, don't mean to complain so much. 

Mom asked me about my companion.  He's Elder Navas from Honduras.  Before the mission he was a professional soccer player and modified and raced cars.  He's pretty rich and I'm pretty sure he's going to keep playing soccer after the mission.  He also says he was studying to be a chemical engineer one semester before the mission.  He has 20 months and Mom asked if he is anxious to go home.  Yes.  It's a little rough, but I am really trying to love him and serve him.  I really use divisions the best I can to help work progress in our area.  I've talked to him a few times about it but he doesn't seem to change. I just think that I have had a negative attitude about it and that doesn't change things.  So this next change I'm really going to try to help him.  

Leopoldo and Carmen are not progressing too greatly.  They didn't get married because we haven’t been able to find them much at home.  We'll try again this week.  We are really hoping that they'll turn around a bit.  We did find a couple of good new investigators. Densil, a guy that lived in Houston 8 years, and Carola.  Densil just told us he really needs our help.  But, I really feel like he wants to change.  Well, time is up.  Love you guys.  Sorry my letter was short and a little negative.  I love you lots and hope you have a great time in Ecuador.  

Love,

Elder Lloyd

Busy week and new shoes to "boot"

Hey family,
 
Things are good here in Coban.  This week went by sooo fast.  I have found that time as a zone leader in the mission goes by way faster that just in a normal area.  The zone is doing really well.  Mom had a couple of questions that I'll answer. 

One of them was if I have to do a lot of splits with the missionaries.  I have to do about 1 or 2 a week.  We usually do them with the district leaders but also when we feel an area needs to do a division.  There are 3 districts in the zone, 12 Elders and 6 Sisters.  We also have to go to one of their district meetings on Wednesday.  This Wednesday was horrible because we went to the chapel to a meeting, but there was also another district having their meeting in the same chapel.  Well, when the other district left, they left the door open and took the keys.  Then the bishop left and locked the door to the chapel with us still inside it.  I guess he didnt know.  Well, once the churches in Guatemala are locked, they're like jail cells.  Nobody goes in or out.  We were locked in there for an hour just waiting until somebody came to open the church.  Oh well.  Oh, we also have to go to other areas when a district leader has a baptism and we have to do the interview. 
 
The missionaries in this zone are awesome.  I've never met a group of more hardworking missionaries in my mission.  One thing we struggle with though is putting baptismal dates with the many new investigators we find.  As a mission we are really working on getting more baptisms and not putting off the dates we already have.  We just had a Stake conference with all of Coban.  It was huge.  We had about 400 to 500 people in 2 different sessions.  Thats a huge deal for Guatemala, especially at 8am.  =)  Anyway, President Watts was there and a recently returned mission president was also there from Nicaragua.  He said that they used to have 500 baptisms in Nicaragua EVERY month.  But, the thing is, 400 of those were always kids or youth and always go inactive.  So, Nicaragua as a whole changed to find more families.  They started baptising over 150 families in the mission every month.  That's what we are really trying to do as well as a mission, focus on the families.  After all, exaltation can only happen in the family. 
 
President Watts gave us a new challenge to the mission.  He wants us to find one new family through asking referrels from members and another family through contacting going between appointments.  Well, we found an amazing family.  They are the Paiz Gomez family.  We talked to them on the side of a hill below their house and the wife said she had a question for us.  The question was, with so many churches here in Coban, how can I know which of all of them is right.  WOW.  We then went in and found that they had a Book of Mormon on their bed.  WOW.  Aparently they have been reading it but the friend that gave it to them a long time ago moved and they didn't know from what church it was.  Then after talking for a bit, she asked us, Where do we go after we die.  Amazing.  We just hope they aren't acting interested when they really aren't.  That happens a lot on the mission.  People just like the company and act super interested, but come time to commit, they get cold feet.  We shall see. 
 
Leopoldo and Carmen are hopefully going to be good for this weekend.  We still have to get them married, so realisticly I think it might move to the next weekend.  They are really progressing though.  It's great to see the excitement in an investigator as they realize the difference the gospel is making in their life.  They will definitely be good members. 
 
I did an exchange with an elder in an all q'eqchi area this week.  That was probably one of the coolest days of my mission.  It was so pretty and soooo different.  It was like a different world out there.  We had to take a 2 hour bus ride out there on a dirt road.  Everybody farms cardomum and live in the thick of all of it.  It was soooo muddy and I had to buy some big ol rubber boots.  I got some massive blisters from it and ate some weird food, but it was a fun day.  Also, the elder, Elder Tanner is a really good guy.  He finishes his mission this week. 
 
Well to finish I will tell you the miracle of the day.  I have been worried about my shoes because they are starting to ware down a bit and I already went through my other pair in Peten.  Well, when I woke up in the morning I prayed to ask that I could find some good shoes.  Well, I entered a paca, thrift clothes from the US, and right there, 2 pairs of brand new Ecco shoes, one brown and one black.  Ya, I was stoked.  Each pair was 80 Quetz, or 10 dollars, and fit me perfectly.  They're worth 150 to 200 dollars each pair.  So awesome. Needless to say, God blesses his missionaries.  Miracle. 
 
Well, I have to go to a member baptism.  I hope you have a great week.  Have a great time preparing for Ecuador.  Love you all.
Elder Lloyd
 
 

Semuc Champey

Hey family,

Well, things are going well, and once again I am short on time because of so many letters.  Oh well, I will get typing fast. 

Last p-day was a little rough because we had to take a couple of Elders to the capital. We also had a zone leader council this Tuesday in the capital with Presidente Watts.  We are 18 zone leaders in the mission and it was a great, spiritual meeting.  I learned a lot and we are really going to try to improve our baptismal dates and in finding new investigators in our zone.  The best part though was the food that Hermana Watts made us.  You ready for this.  Drumrollllllllllllllll.  Cafe rio sweet pork salads.  It was the best thing ever!  So rico.  She even had the sauce perfect.  I think she's magic.  That was a big pick-me-up after the whole thing with the recent situation in our zone.  We also were able to hang out with some of the best elders in the entire mission.  It was a great couple of days. 

We have been working, despite all the things we have had to do.  Also, my companion got sick and that ruined a couple of days for us.  It's been rough, but the Lord is blessing us with success.  We are hoping to have a baptism and marriage this weekend with Leopoldo and Carmen on Saturday.  Hope they make it through.  They're still a little bit scared to do it.  We'll work with um.  The other week we found a family of like 14 people.  They're crazy, but 6 went to church.  We are really going to work with them to put some baptismal dates this week.  Other than that we are really trying to find new people.  We went contacting the other day when I was on divisions with a new Elder and every single door we knocked, they opened the door and either let us in or put another appointment.  It was amazing. 

Today we went to Semuc Champey, some waterfalls 3 hours from Coban.  They were amazing.  The only thing was that we went in a tiny microbus as a zone and it was having a really rough time on the dirt roads.  We even had to get out and push a lot of times.  It was awesome though and definitely valered the pena.  I'll send a few pics.  We did get home late though and that's why we are using internet late. 

Well, ya se fue la hora.  Love you guys.  Sorry my letter was short.  Hope you have a great week.  Enjoy life and especially the gospel.  Ponder it ever once in a while.  Sometimes we get too comfortable with the testimony we have always had.  I realized this week that sometimes we just need to sit and think about everything.  I promise, it works.  It's a good boost.  Well, till next time.

Love,

Elder Lloyd