Otra semana ha pasado

Hey family, Well. Things are going well. I'm really sorry if sometimes it seems like I am writing the same things over and over again every week, but that's what you get when I am in the oficina. Like I said in my last week's letter, this week was change week. There is a TON that goes into transfers in the mission. I hadn't ever realized it before, but the assistants have to do a lot to make sure everything goes really smoothly when everybody has to change areas. We started last week making all the preparations and finished up with transfers on Wednesday. We had to make sure that everybody had bus tickets and everything ready to travel. Also we had to make sure we had splits arranged for everybody who had their companions leaving the areas. One thing that was kind of my fault was that I forgot to tell a Sister missionary she had a change until an hour and a half before she had to get on a 10 hour bus ride to go to Peten. Whoops. She made it okay though. But we had a lot of long days and late nights in the office this last week. We also had to make sure everything went well to get the Elders finishing out their missions back home. Elder Allen left for Oregon so we were a little sad to see him go, but it was really cool to see just how relaxed he was going home because he knew he had done everything he possibly could in these past 2 years. It makes me really want to finish out my mission doing everything I possibly can to serve the Lord. It really is a great feeling when you know the Lord is happy with what you have done. One interesting experience in all the stress and things of the week was having to train the new Elders coming from the MTC and also training their trainers. We were doing so much to get changes ready to go that we really didn't have much time to prepare for their training. So, we had a 4 hour training with them completely guided by the Spirit. There were times when I talked for 30 minutes without knowing anything beforehand that I was going to say. I think the highlight of the week was learning how to drive a stick-shift. Haha. So we don't have a car, even though the assistants of this mission have always had a car. ( I guess the area office thought our car had gotten stolen a few to many times). Anyways, there is a senior couple here that has a pickup that they let us use anytime there is something where we need to transport (suitcases or furniture). So for the changes they let us borrow it for a couple of days. The problem was that Elder Allen had always driven and I had never had a time to learn to drive stick. Well, Tuesday night on the way home, we realized that Elder Allen and Elder Saavedra would be with president Watts all day so I would be alone with my companion Elder Willardson all day with the truck. So we stopped on the side of the road and switched places and I got a 20 minute lesson on driving a stick. Well, that was it. I then had the truck the whole day to drive all around Guatemala City. I was sweating like a mad man! I've never been so nervous in my life. As soon as I got out on the road after the change conference, it seemed like all the wrecks and traffic and construction started. It was actually really fun. I finally got the hang of it though. Luckily I had a lot of practice driving tractors (Thank you Brother Wilson for 5 years of peach and cherry harvest!) So, I learned how to drive a stick in 20 minutes! My new companion is Elder Willardson from California. He is a great guy. He is 100% surfer and his dad too. I still am in a threesome because Elder Saavedra has a month extension on his mission until the 19th of November. So we're really excited to be together. Elder Willardson is a really great guy. He has a great way with the Elders. He really can help them. He only has 4 months left in the mission so he'll be going home before me. I have really been enjoying being with Elder Saavedra. He is a really good Elder. He is having a rough time staying excited here in the office because he has been in the office for a total of 13 months of his mission. he was also finance Elder. He is really trying to learn as much English as he can before he goes home. His English is great, he just doesn't like to practice very much. But English means money. So for the whole extra month that he is here we are only speaking English to him. I've been really rough on him correcting his errors, but that's what he wants. He's come a long way just in the past week. Well, everything else is going great. Sounds like things are going well at home. Well, love you guys. Be good. Read your scriptures EVERY day. Have a great week! Love, Elder Lloyd

Hot, Hot, Hot

Hey guys, Well, here I am once again in Peten. Things are going great and I am loving it up here again. It truly is the home of the Mayas. Sounds like you guys had a super busy week. You guys are always traveling around the whole US. I guess if it was any other way it wouldn't be quite as exciting. The start of the week was concilio with all the ZLs and President. We were assigned two 1-hour presentations for the meeting. It went well, we talked about the importance of working with members and ward leadership and the importance of the Book of Mormon. That is a great book. It has so much power and is essential in our conversion. The meeting went well and we were all edified. Plus Sr. Watts made us chicken cordon bleu afterwards. Soo good. =) After concilio we packed up and headed to Peten. We were all excited because we had some awesome seats in a really nice bus at 9pm, but I forgot to buy one ticket, so we had to go on the 10:30 not so nice bus. After 10 hours in the bus we got on another bus to go 2 more hours and start splits in Sayaxche, a super-hot area. It was a rough day because we were all so tired, but it turned out good and we were able to help all the missionaries. We then traveled the next day and were able to go to my beloved San Andres. It was really nice to be back there and get to see everybody. We got to visit some of my recent converts. It was especially cool seeing Tony and Bertha because they have grown a ton in the gospel. They are reading through the Book of Mormon and are now in Helaman. They know all the hymns. Tony is the President of the Sunday School and Bertha is a teacher in Relief Society. They have been members for 9 months now and are making plans to be able to go to the temple in January to be sealed. They also should be able to go do baptisms for the dead with the ward in November or December. =) That was the good part of San Andres. The discouraging part was that the missionary work there has really slowed down. =( It was sad, but we are going to see what we can do with changes in a couple of weeks. Oh well, the Lord puts missionaries in all areas for a reason. The good thing was that most of my recent converts are doing really well. I think 13 or 14 of the 16 are completely active. It was suuuuuper fun to be there again though. The people are really special. We then traveled to a place called Poptun where we worked a day in splits and also spent Saturday for General Conference. That was an interesting experience. Poptun is super far into the jungle, but they have a whole District. The only thing is that the district building is still really old and not too up to date when it comes to electronics. We got everything ready to go for the conference and when it started up, we only had the conference in Portuguese! We were super worried, but luckily there was a maintenance man there that knew how to work the transmission box and got it switched to English. Had it not been for him, we would've seen it in Portuguese. We missed President Monson's first talk on the ages for missionary service, but after that we were able to see everything. We had to leave the second session on Saturday an hour early to make the 2 and a half hour trip back to Flores for the Priesthood session, which by the way, was awesome! We then spent Sunday and today here in Santa Elena (Flores). The conference was awesome and a huge boost spiritually for me. On the mission it is sometimes easy to get so busy that the simple spiritual aspects of the work can be overlooked. This work is definitely true and I am super grateful to be a part of it. Well, time's up and the chicharrones I ate this morning are starting to fight back. Love you all and Hope you have a great week! Tell Aunt Barbara I say hi and that I'm praying for her. Love, Elder Lloyd

Life on the Road

Hey guys! Well, It's 7:30 on a Saturday night and I am tiiiiiiiired. We had a week chalk full of AP fun. Our goal this week was to cover half of the areas outside of the capital and do some divisions and training. We left Guatemala City on Monday at 3pm and went to Salama. That was a funny bus ride because my companions are used to the comfy office life and we took one of those huge buses with the neon lights, stickers, and loud ranchera music. I was completely used to it because I had lived that for 7 months in Coban. But they just thought it was horrible. haha. By the way, we don't have a truck anymore because a new senior missionary couple came needed it. So we had to do the whole trip in bus. Oh well, it keeps us humble that way. Anyways, we got to Salama and I went to Rabinal. We were trying to get as many visits with missionaries done in one week as we could so we divided in 3 and went to 3 different areas. It's a little rough for the Elders there because of the lack of support, but we had a great division aún. =) The only not fun part was the bucket showers and sleeping on the cement floor covered in huge cutter ants. After that we went up to Alta Verapaz and I was able to work in an area called Val Paraiso. That area is beautiful. It's right in the mountains and really nice and cool. One thing about divisions that I realized this week was that the Elders think that they need to kill the APs working them to death because they're "always sitting in the office." What they don't realize is that if every area does that during a week, it makes for a pretty rough week. Haha. So the Elders in Val Paraiso made me walk about 5 miles with them right off the bat. It was a great division as well though. We found a couple of great families. Their bathroom was the biggest nightmare I have ever seen. I'll just tell you that all the walls were made out of cardboard. After another night of sleeping on cement we went up to Coban. Home sweet home. I know I was only gone for 5 days but I was already missing it. I was going to go with the Coban 2nd wards area, but the Elders got sick. So I was actually able to go with Elder Proctor and his new companion Elder Dold in my old area. That was fun, but also a little challenging. We passed by one of the families we taught. It turns out that the husband is cheating on his wife with the schoolteacher of his oldest son. He comes home really late every night and has also taken up smoking and drinking. He also denies that he ever thought the church was true and that he was just baptized to see if we would ever catch him in his lie. This is one of the hardest things I've ever dealt with. I don't understand what's going on. Well, I do, it's Satan, but he seemed like he was doing so well. The man that was one of my best investigators and converts went completely off the deep end. I just hope that he can work things out. It doesn't look like it'll happen quickly, but I pray he fixes it. But, after the day with Coban it was off to the Polochik for us. That was awesome, except for the tiny horrible bus we were in for hours on end. I finally learned what roughing it on your mission is like. Those Elders are so far out in the middle of nowhere. It is really cool that there is so much success in the church though. The mountains and valleys of Polochik and Senahu are scattered with chapels. I stayed with the ZLs in Teleman, Polochik, while Elder Allen and Elder Saavedra went up to the mountains of Senahu. I was a little jealous they got to go up to the mountains, but I knew I'd get a chance to see it later on. Polochik is hot! I was sweating the whole time I was there. We just went there to be able to train the zone leaders a bit on their assignment so we were not there for too much time. We actually got there yesterday at 6pm and left this morning at 3am. By the way, I'm tired. We were in buses from 3 am to 6pm. The funniest moment of the trip to Polochik was that the ZLs didn't go there to wait for me. I got off the bus as my companions drove away and sat on an old tire waiting. Now remember that people speak Kekchi in Polochik and not Spanish. I felt just like John Groberg on the Other side of Heaven. It was quite funny cause I was just sitting on the edge of a muddy soccer field with my little suitcase, gringo as can be. =) So we came back today and are tired! We'll have just enough time to write and go home. By the way Mom, I live in a house with all the office Elders. It's also pretty much the mission home because any new elders or ones that are going home spend the night there with us. It's really fun. And the house is super nice. We pay like 700 dollars a month for it. (An average house rent in the mission is about 100 dollars a month.) Plus it has a real hot water heater, a washer, and dryer. Luxury! This week starting on Tuesday we will be doing visits with 3 areas everyday here in the capital. Then the next week we will be in Petén. So it's pure divisions and traveling for us this month. That's great though. I know this church is true and that the Lord loves us. I learned something extremely important in my divisions this week. No matter who we are or where we are, the Lord helps us live the gospel and be in his service, if we are willing to do so. He is so aware of every single one of us. With so many different Elders, he knows just what they need and how they can reach their potential. I also know of the importance of sharing the gospel with everyone. I was sitting in the bus with an empty seat next to me so I prayed to our Father in Heaven to ask if he could give me somebody to share the gospel with. Less than one minute later the bus stopped and picked up a young man that came in and sat right next to me and started talking to me. He also bought me a soda so that was sweet! But I was able to teach him the restoration lesson and give him a pamphlet and get his address and phone number. The next day the Elders in San Jeronimo were able to find him, teach him, and give him a Book of Mormon, and he's going to church tomorrow. It was an awesome experience and a testimony that the Lord puts prepared sons and daughters in our path so that we can share what has blessed us so much. I know that God lives and loves us. Prayer really does rest the weary. Love you guys and hope you are all great! Thanks for the letters! Love, Elder Lloyd

Life in the Office

Hey guys,

Well it's sad news to hear that grandpa passed away.  Although it is sad, it isn't bad news.  He will be much happier now that he has more opportunities.  He was really suffering quite a bit.  The good thing is that we really can be together forever.

Here I am as a new Assistant to the President inthe Guatemala North Mission.  Don't worry, I'm not letting it get to my head.  It's a little weird here in the office.  It's weird not to work in the field.  It reminds me a lot of working in an office at home.  It drives all of the Elders crazy to be in here.  Oh well.  It was really sad leaving Coban.  I got on the bus Wednesday at 2 in the morning and left my beloved home.  That place is paradise.  The work is great and the people are even greater.  But the Lord has called me here.  I got here that morning and was put to work to help everybody get to their areas.  It's a bit stressful.  Then we went home and got everything arranged in the house for our trio and ate with Hna Watts.  She cooks really well.

My new companions are Elder Allen and Elder Saavedra.  Elder Allen's a pure cowboy from Baker City Oregon.  He's awesome.  Elder Saavedra is from Argentina.  He's also a really great guy.  It's funny because they were both my Zone leaders in Peten 8 months ago and we're companions now.  They both go home in a month.

On Thursday we had a meeting with President Watts to plan out what we wanted to do these next 6 weeks.  This is what made us all happy.  He said that neither he or the area presidency want the Assistants in the office.  They want us out in the field training missionaries and helping them.  President said that he hardly even wants to see us in the office this whole change and wants us in divisions every day.  So starting yesterday we are officially traveling division missionaries.  Divisions are awesome and what's really cool is that we have 3 people so we can do even more work.  President let us take a few hours alone yesterday to plan every day of the transfer and who we would go with.  On monday we will start with Baja Verapaz, Alta Verapaz, Coban, and the Polochic.  We'll then come back on Saturday to have Sunday and Monday here in the capital.  That next week we'll be here all over the capital in divisions as well.  After that week we are headed off to Peten. =)  I'm so excited for Peten especially.  We'll be there for a week and a half and get to spend conference weekend there.  Then we come home for a couple of days to rest before our mission tour with Elder Duncan, area Seventy.  We get to fly up to Peten and come back, have a meeting in the capital, and then have a combined meeting in Coban with the missionaries from Coban, Polochic, and Salama.  And that just about finishes up our transfer.  It's gonna be awesome!

Divisions are really cool because the Lord really guides you as a leader.  They are also really nerve racking because you know you have to be the greatest missionary you can be every moment because they're watching your every move.  That's a good thing though because it keeps you really focused on the work.

I got to go in a trio with the zone leaders in Alameda yesterday.  They are in the zone that I started my mission in.  Man I'm glad I got to serve outside the capital for so long.  But, even though it was a little feito, we had some great success and they are great elders.  It was also great because I got to see a lot of the families from my first ward at an activity they had going on in the church.  We also had an activity in the ZLs chapel that 20 investigators attended.  It was a huge success.  Too bad we can't get that many in sacrament meeting!  Maybe we should strap fireworks to a guy and have him run around every Sunday too.  =)  It was a cool activity because today is September 15, the independence day of Guatemala.

My new house is awesome.  It's once you get in the office of a mission that you really realize how much money the church has.  It's ridiculous how much we spend every day!  At least I have a hot water heater in my house now.  =)  I won't complain.

Anyways, I don't have much else to talk about because I haven't done much this week.  I officially don't have a proselyting area... =/  That's the lame part about being Assistant.  No more baptisms for me...  Oh well, there is still the chance that I train to finish out my mission.  That would be so amazing.  Anyways, love you guys.  The gospel is true.  Shall we not go on is such great a cause?

Love,
Elder Lloyd

P.S.- Here's a picture of how the men carry fire wood here.  That thing weighs more than 150 pounds.  They weigh like 80.  Also a Kekchi family in their ropa tipica.  Everybody dresses like that in Coban.

Transferred from Coban

Hey guys,

Well, another week and more transfers.  These 6 week transfers are going by so fast now.  It's actually kind of sad.  Things hit me yesterday that I'll really be leaving Coban tonight.  My bus leaves at 2 in the Morning and I'll get there at 7 just in time for the transfer conference at 9am.  It's a tired trip.  

Yesterday we went to the highest mountain in all of the Coban/Alta Verapaz area.  It was sooo much fun.  I've wanted to do that ever since I got to Coban 7 months ago.  It was unfortunate though because we brought some of the Sisters in the zone along with us and they showed up an hour and a half late and couldn't stand the hike.  As we were about an hour from the top, one of the sisters caught up to us to tell us that one of the other sisters was at the bottom dying because she was super sick.  So, I took another Elder with me and we ran down the mountain to see how she was and if she needed a blessing.  We were able to get down in about 20 minutes after it taking about 2 hours to get up.  We got to the bottom and she said she was perfectly fine, just waiting patiently for us to finish the hike and have a good time.  So, we started up the mountain again and hiked an hour just when the APs called us to tell us that one of the Elders on top of the mountain had to take a bus to the cap 2 hours later so we had to turn back.  So I didn't get to hike it, but it was still an awesome activity.  

As we rode the bus back to Coban through the hills and fields of the aldeas, it made me pretty sad to know I'd be leaving the people of Coban.  This place has really changed me.  I've seen miracles here.  I've struggled here more than in other time of my life, but for a great cause.  I feel just like Alma did when he talked about his joy of being an instrument in the hands of the Lord in saving some soul.  Really there is nothing better than finding people that want to come unto Christ and giving them the key that lets them enter in at the gate of the narrow path to eternal life.  I'm going to miss Elder Proctor as well.  What a great guy.  I'm really grateful I had this last change with him to learn all that the Lord had prepared for us to learn.  We really have felt the hand of the Lord here in this great city.  But, the Lord has other things in store for me now.  

It's looking like I'll be an Assistant to the President...  Not sure how I feel about it.  It's very possible that I won't have a proselyting area again in my mission. I sure hope that's not the case though.  I have 7 months left and it's possible that President could let me train the last 3 months of my mission.  But that's in a long time so I won't think of it too much.  It will be kind of cool because I will be able to go on a lot of divisions with Elders in the mission and try to help them work more effectively.  I also will be able to eat Hna Watts' food.  Ha-ha.  We'll see how it goes though.  

We had an amazing experience this week.  The mission has a goal of finding a 2 new families every week in every area, one through tracting efforts and one from member referrals. President Watts talked to us in concilio about putting goals of faith and asking the Lord to complete with those goals.  So we put it into practice and put the goal on Friday morning to fast starting after lunch and look for 2 new families before the weekend was over.  Well we went out to work and all our appointments fell.  But we continued and talked to a less active family that gave us a referral right there for a family that lived close by.  We went and contacted them immediately and taught them a lesson.  They loved it and invited us back.  New family.  Then we went to a street in our area that we had never tracted.  I had always felt that we should touch doors there since about 5 months ago but never had gotten to it because our area is so big.  So after knocking 5 or 6 houses and getting rejected at every single one of them, we felt we needed to contact one more house before we went to the next appointment.  We knocked and another family let us in to teach them about the book of Mormon.  They also loved it and invited us back for another visit.  All in all, God is very loving and will give us what we need if our desires our righteous.  We were able to complete that goal and feel a miracle in the work.  

On less great of news, the guy that got baptized about 2.5 months ago seems to be with another woman...  =(  He left his wife and 5 kids a week ago and seems to be living with another woman.  His wife asked for an explanation but he said it was none of her business and left.  I don't know what happened.  He was doing so well.  We've tried to find him at work to talk to him but haven't had any luck.  I don't like writing about it much because it's broken my heart, but please pray for him and his wife and her five kids.  She's thinking of moving to Chiquimula to live with her family, but isn't sure what to do still.  I hope everything goes ok.

I love you guys.  I hope everybody is doing well.  Congratulations Levi for becoming a High Councilman. The Lord has great things prepared for our family.  Thanks for the money for the suit.  It's going to be awesome.  I'll take a picture when I get it.  Anyways, got to pack.  

Love,

Elder Lloyd

Working-Working

Hey guys,

Well, another week in paradise.  Things went really well this week.  It was definitely a harder work week, but it turned out well at the end of everything.

The first highlight of the week was interviews with president Watts.  Poor man, he has to do soooo many interviews and he does a mission tour every 3 months to do them.  He does them all in about 3 weeks for about 200 missionaries in the mission.  When he did them for our zone he was in there without resting or eating from 8am to 6pm.  He is an amazing guy though.  He really receives revelation for every one of us here in the mission.  Everytime I go in to an interview with him, he knows exactly what I need to hear, even if I'm not even sure what I need to hear.  It really helped our zone as well.  Sometimes there is a lot of pressure as a zone leader because it's our job to make sure the elders and sisters are having success in their areas.  Even when we are doing so well in our own area it isn't enough.  Elder Proctor and I are really trying to see how we can encourage our zone to do better.  But, with lots of love and prayer it will happen.  It doesn't help when all the Sisters are angry and fighting with each other.  We had to go over and reprove with the scriptures this week in the house of some Sisters.  That was fun....  It's all part of a day's work though.  =)

Another highlight of the week was that I got a new man bag/purse that I had made in the Polochic a month ago.  =)  You can see my pictures to see it.  It may sound silly, but a good bag makes missionary work all the better.  I just hope you guys don't make too much fun of me for using a purse for 2 years straight.  It's comfy...

In other news for this coming week, we have more baptisms.  The Marroquin family that we found about a month and a half ago is more than ready for baptism.  They will be baptized this Saturday at 3pm and it is going to be awesome.  Everytime we go over there they always just thank us to death for sharing the gospel with them.  They understand everything and are receiving the blessings of heaven for their obedience to the commandments.  They have given up coffee and are even married, miracle of miracles.  Really though, this family is special to me.  The Lord has been preparing them for a long time and they are seeing the results of their love for God.  They asked for a small baptismal service so we are just going to have some family members and Church leaders there.  We hope it goes really well.  So their names are Carlos, Carla, and their 13 year old daughter Karin.  I can't wait to introduce you guys to them when you come down. Please pray for them.

Besides them we were able to put a baptismal date with a young man, Otto, for the 6th of October.  We are really hoping that he can attend church every Sunday to be able to get that date.  We've taught him a little and he loves the gospel.  He also loves the young women, but we'll make sure the testimony comes first.

We are really trying to look for new investigators now.  We have been so focussed on the investigators we have had that it has been difficult to find new people to teach.  Now we are really trying to pass by with all the members and ask for referrals.  There is great power in a sincere referral given from members to the missionaries.  I hope you guys can think in all your friends and give some referrals to the missionaries.  They are in great need of your help.

Anyways, times up.  Love you guys and hope everybody is healthy and happy.  I miss you guys but never enough to distract from the work.  I love it here and hope that in these last 2 weeks of this transfer, I can give every minute to the Lord.  Have a great week.  Bueeeeeeeeno.

Love,
Elder Lloyd

Baptisms!

Hey guys, 

Well, for some reason my time has gone by really fast.  I do know that my companion had a really good letter home so you can just look at his blog if you want to know more.  I am going to try to get it all in.  It just seems like when I send pictures it always takes a lot of time.  

Anyways, the first thing I want to tell you guys about is Jonny.  This investigator is probably the most golden investigator I've had in my entire mission.  We only taught him about 3 or 4 times but he told us he wanted to be baptized and he was ready.  Well, last week he informed us that he had a month long training in the capital for his new job he had found and that he would also be working every Sunday and would not be able to be baptized.  Really, it hurt soooo bad to know that he wouldn't be able to be baptized.  So we stayed like that.  Just kind of sad because he wouldn't be able to do it.  But, Tuesday morning we got a call from Jonny and he said, Elders, I have some great news.  I'm going to be baptized this week!  He got permission to come back to Coban for the baptism on Saturday and also permission in his new job to be able to have every other Sunday off to go to church.   He was so excited and so were we!  So, Saturday he got back and we reviewed the baptismal interview questions and he had the interview right after and passed with flying colors.  He also asked me to baptize him so that was really cool.  I just was so grateful that the Lord new his need to be baptized and provided the way.  That's 1 Nephi 3:7 in action!

We did a division with another area on Friday so that one of our District Leaders could do the interviews of the Gomez family while I was in the DLs area.  While I was in the other area, apparently things didn’t go too well on the interview.  Turns out that when the Elder asked if the grandma, Ana, had prayed to know if the Church was true, she had forgotten and said no.  So she didn't pass.  Also, the power went out and they weren't able to do the rest of the interviews.  Darn it.  We found out that Ana had a hit to the head a few years ago that makes her forget things easily.  We went Saturday morning and reviewed and asked if it was truly their desire to be baptized.  We even kneeled in prayer to know the will of the Father. After that prayer we knew that Ana was ready and that her grandson Harry was ready to be baptized and needed to do it.  So they did.  It was amazing and wonderful to see the difference the Spirit is making in their lives already.  

Well, I'm really sorry, but time's up.  I love you guys.  Just know how much I love you and appreciate your support.  The work is going super well and I am loving it!  Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Lloyd