This past Sunday, we had the district conference. President Ruiz (Mission President) and Sister Ruiz came up and gave pretty good talks. I think we found another golden investigator. We found her this past Tuesday, and we went and gave service Wednesday. But, she lives about 45min. away if your walking, and she doesnt have a car. We invited her to church and challenged her to be baptized, and she said yes to both. But I'm a man of little faith, so doubted she would come, especially living far away. But, I kept her in my prayers, and she came!! It was one of the best moments of my mission to be honest. It really was the best to see her, making the effort, getting up at 5 in the morning, bringing her two rowdy as heck little kids with her. This is the Lords work because only He can touch the hearts of the people like that. So, I pray I get to send you pictures of her baptism in a couple weeks.
I should tell you a little bit about what has been happening in our branch in Rio Blanco, Guatemala.
This past Sunday, we had the district conference. President Ruiz (Mission President) and Sister Ruiz came up and gave pretty good talks. I think we found another golden investigator. We found her this past Tuesday, and we went and gave service Wednesday. But, she lives about 45min. away if your walking, and she doesnt have a car. We invited her to church and challenged her to be baptized, and she said yes to both. But I'm a man of little faith, so doubted she would come, especially living far away. But, I kept her in my prayers, and she came!! It was one of the best moments of my mission to be honest. It really was the best to see her, making the effort, getting up at 5 in the morning, bringing her two rowdy as heck little kids with her. This is the Lords work because only He can touch the hearts of the people like that. So, I pray I get to send you pictures of her baptism in a couple weeks.
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On Tuesday of last week, we spent the whole day cleaning the chapel. We didn't proselite or anything. We're the counselors, and the Branch President is out of town a lot, so we do a lot for this branch. That night, we had to go to our zone leaders house for a multi- zone meeting the following Thursday, which is a 40 minute bus ride from our house. We arrived at the zone leaders house, hung out there, slept, and the next day we had the multi- zone meeting with Presidente Ruiz. It was awesome, but there wasn't a way for us to get back to our house. Here, they dont just celebrate Easter, they celebrate the whole Semana Santa. So after the meeting, there weren't any buses. So we stayed in the house of another zone leader companionship close by. We did'nt get back to our area until Saturday morning. We we're gone a long, long time from our area. It wasn't too great, but I got to work in a couple different areas, which wasn't so bad. So our week was a little weird, but now were here, and since earlier today, we've had electricity too. Sunday the electricity left, and we didn't get it back until earlier today, which is why I'm writing so late. But anyway, tha'ts pretty much what happened this week. Conference was awesome, we managed to bring 5 investigators,
Transfers went pretty well. I went from a place to where I could see the some of the ocean to a place thats 2300 meters above sea level, and I think thats about 7000 feet or so, but Im not exactly sure. So things are a little different, but still good. The work is a lot harder here. I was in a city called Coatepeque, and I had some success there, all due to the help of the Lord, 4 baptisms. It was easier there. Here its very different. Our area is huge, and my companion and I are in charge of two tiny branches, one is the Serchil branch by our house with an attendence of 27 last week, and the other is the Laguna Seca branch, with an attendence of 35 last week. We are the counselors to the branch president here in Serchil, too, We count tithing and make the agenda for sacrament meeting and all the fun counselor stuff. And here, everyone is a farmer, everyone. The houses are so spread apart, and our area is huge, with places that take an hour or two to get there in bus. But Im here for a reason, and I pray that I can help this place grow. My companion is one of the district leaders up here. His name is Elder Lagos, and hes from Costa Rica. Hes a really good Elder. My health is good, and it always has been actually, now that I think about it, so dont worry about that. still part of the family. I read a quote from one of the prophets, saying that missionary work and temple work are exactly the same. You are helping with heavenly Fathers great purpose, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. regarding your prayers. Pray like youre talking with Him face to face. He is our Father, and not some mysterious force that just wants to be thanked for such and such, or one that grants wishes or petitions. Dont just address Him, ask Him to bless the food. One member gave a really good talk about this, and she said that whenever she gives a prayer, she always waits a couple seconds before she says amen. I love you Mom.
I'll finally leave my first area here in Coatepeque, Guatemala. The only thing interesting is with our recent convert, Elda. Dad has a picture of her, her son, my companion and I at her baptism. She lives with her Dad and some of her family still, but they basically kicked her out for her decision to get baptized. So we went and talked with her, and she is still firm and faithful with her decision. She really is an amazing person. She had to move houses with her small family, but she still is going to church and reading the scriptures. I really pray the best for her.
But as far as Missionary experiences go, we are teaching this awesome investigator, Elda. Shes 30 years old, and her husband passed a way a year and a half ago, leaving her alone with a 7 and 3 year old. She has such a sweet Spirit, and a brain, which makes for basically an awesome investigator, and person. We are going to baptize her, but she asked us yesterday after she attended church (The first investigator weve brought to church in months) Why our church is true, and others aren't. We gave our best answers, praying they were inspired answers from the Holy Ghost, and she said she would pray about the date to be baptized the first weekend in February. The littlest girl in white is the girl my companion baptized, Marisol. I baptized the older girl who is next to the Sister MIssionaries
There are four of us in our house, Elder Gongora, my comp, Elder Perez, and Elder Castro. Elder Castro was sick, so Elder Gongora stayed home with him, and Elder Perez and I left to go to work. We spent most of the day in his area, which was fine, but it kind of messed up our plans for the day. When it was late, we returned to my area, and I didnt really know what to do. I was thinking, and I realized that I really, and literally, cant do this work alone. So I asked Elder Perez if we could have a prayer, and he agreed. We picked a quite street corner, and I offered a prayer asking for inspiration. When we finished, we walked a few feet down the corner, and we saw this woman sitting outside enjoying the quite night air. We started up a onversation with her, and we got to talking about religion, and she told us about her devout religious background. But we kept talking, and we asked her if she had ever prayed to know if her church was true, and honestly and repectfully, she said know. So we challanged her to pray if our message was true, and she said yes, and also agreed to have us comeback. It was a bigger example of one of the tender miracles of our Heavenly Father. This is His work, and He is all knowing, and merciful.
Things have been slow lately. We are teaching investigators who seem really positive, but still no one is coming to church, and if they dont go to church, we cant really do anything for them. But we are working with this less active family. We have basically reactivated the Mom, and her 12 year old son has already been baptized, but her 9 year old daughter hasnt. We have tried to talk to the 9 year old for months, but she has been really shy and not wanted to say anything at all. But this past week, she told us she finally wants to get baptized, and she is having questions about the gospel!. She knows most of it, we are basically reviewing things that arent so clear for her. We are having a baptismal service the fist weekend in January. It took a while, but we finally got her to agree to a date.
Note from Suzy: As a mother and Al as dad,I have been praying daily my son, Lee, would have clean drinking water. I guess this is a pet fear of mine: Lee will get sick from the drinking water. So I pray. I expressed this fear to Elder Woods who then told me he lives on the second floor of a water bottling plant and he has access to fresh water whenever he needs it. The Lord takes better care of my son than I ever could. Patience is so important here. So thanks for sharing. This week, we saw a little bit of a miracle with some of the less actives in our ward. There is this family in our ward, and they haven't been to church in a while. They have an 18 year old son who is off and on about serving a mission. So we stopped by one day to visit them. It ended up being a powerful lesson. We taught the dad and the 18 year old son mainly. We talked of forgiveness, and how God works in our lives. When we ask for something, like patience, God often sends us a test or trial that is an oppurtunity to develop patience, rather than a simple, petty feeling of increased patience. The Dad really opened up to us, and thanked us repeatedly for our visit, and told us that it was what he needed to hear. I could tell the Spirit was able to touch his heart. The son was also moved by our message too , I think. He seemed deep in thought the whole time, like he knew he had to do something different with his life. The following Sunday we saw the whole family at church. They haven't been to church in months, years maybe. But there is something else to this story. I know also, that this experience was an answer to the prayers of another member who lives close by. She told us that the family was having problems, and that we needed to visit them. She had been praying fervently that someone, (like us) could help the family. I know that you and Dad can have just a big of an impact on missionary work around our home as the full time missionaries, if not greater. Without members, we can't really do much except contact in the streets. Members are vital to this work. Even fervent prayers will help the families around you.
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