Man this week was such a crazy week!! I sent off a christmas package on the 8th so i hope that it gets there before christmas, I think it will. I received 2 packages and 2 letters this week, a letter and package from people in each of the two wards that I have attended, thank you so much!! I love hearing from people back home, I miss and love everyone and I hope that everyone is doing good. I love the christmas season, everyday here the city gets more and more excited for the 24th and the 25th. This week there were multiple parades of kids and adults with whistles and lanterns at night, all were celebrating the birth of christ, and every parade had a 3D nativity scene being carried by 4 men. Everyone here is getting more and more hyped for the holiday season, and I cant help but get more and more excited everyday too!=)
The week started off kind of weird, we had 2 earthquakes!! But dont worry mom, they were very minor, and there was no damage whatsoever, they just woke us up=) It was kind of weird though waking up to my bed shaking, haha just part of the adventure! My comp thinks that they were somewhere in Southern Mexico, but we arent sure. I realize that my pictures didnt send last week, I will try and send them today, but I am not sure they will go through. the computers here are not too good.
Early on in the week we had a lesson with a lady named Santa Cruz, haha ya she has an awesome name=) But, when we went to teach her she wasnt home. So we decided to wait for her for a little bit but contact near her house. We ended up contacting 4 women that we saw sitting on the corner. They were really nice, but at first wouldnt tell us their names because they knew who we were=) Haha, but eventually we got their names and where they lived (All separate families and houses), and we are going to contact them this week!!! Even though Hermana Santa never showed up to the appointment, we got 4 more appointments out of the trip!
On Wednesday, we contacted a man named Luis whose mom is an active member. Luis lives about a 30 minute walk along the base of the mountain, a little farther away than most of our investigators. When we met with him, he told us that he had had lessons previously with the sisters that had served here almost a year ago, he also tolds us that he had accepted the baptism invitation from the hermanas!! Wow what a find!! So of course we set a date to come back later in the week to meet with him and he accepted. So we came back towards the end of the week and we taught lesson 3. The spirit was way strong as we explained how important baptism is and how only through baptism can we return and live with heavenly father. At the end I extended the baptismal invitation to him....... and he said yes!!! But not to the date that we had asked, he doesnt want to ´´rush things´´ he said. So of course we invited him to church, he accepted, but only if we would walk with him, so of course we agreed. So Sunday morning rolls around, and we hike all the way back over to his house. When we get there, his son comes out and tells us that he doesnt feel like going today. Haha we had him go back and tell his dad that he should really come with us, but the boy came back and told us the exact same thing, that he didnt feel like going today. Talk about letting all the air out of a balloon! haha we were pretty disappointed, and we ended up just walking his elderly mother and his son to church instead. We are going back this week to visit again with him and find out what happend, hopefully next Sunday he will be well rested and eager to come to church with us.=)
My comp. and I have this agreement that whenever we pass someone and they call us Elders, we have to stop and contact them=) So this week as we were walking across the bridge back into the central market one afternoon, the same policeman that we see everyday addressed us as Elders....... so we contacted him! It turns out that his name is Fidel Castro!!=) Haha not many missionaries can say that they have a lesson scheduled with Fidel Castro this week!! It was a really cool experience, but it gets even better. As we were contacting Fidel Castro, a random man came up to us and started asking really good questions, so my comp. finished talking with Hermano Castro while I began contacting the new man. It turns out that the man had heard a little about the church and was super interested! I explained to him a little about the Restoration because his questions were practically all about the Restoration of the church, he was super optomistic and really interested=) He told us that he will give us a call when we can meet with him this week, and that he is going to try and be at church Sunday ! He didnt come to church, but we are hoping that he gives us a call any day now.
On Wednesday, we went to go and teach Hermano Arrmando. But, he wasnt home, so we decided to wait for a little bit. Outside of his house were 4 kids probably 13 or so years old, playing soccer. They invited us to play, and so while we were waiting we decided to play a little street soccer=) The kids were way good, and we ended up playing for 30 minutes, it was so much fun!! Eventually we had to leave for our next lesson, but as we left his street, down the hill towards us came Hermano Arrmando on his bike! He apologized multiple times and said that he would not miss our next appointment. We then left for our appointment with Carmen and Carmen......... who had left town apparently is what their neighbor said. So instead of going and contacting, we back tracked to Hermano Arrmando´s house. When he answered the door we said that we were here for our 3rd appointment, and that he couldnt miss it!=) He let us in and we taught lesson 3. Again we explained the importance of baptism and the blessings because of it, at the end I was able to extend the baptism invitation to him.......... he said yes, but only if he receives an answer through prayer that our church is the true church of God. That night I prayed so hard that he would receive an answer, we have an appointment with him this Friday so I guess we will have to wait until Friday to see what happened.
Our appointment with Gilton and his family fell through 4 times this week!!! They always end up scheduling stuff right when we are supposed to meet with them, haha I pray that this week we will actually be able to meet with them and not have to reschedule. But, even if they do cancel again, we are not going to give up! They told us that they would come to church this week again......... and again they didnt come. We even called them an hour before church and they said that they were coming. They didnt end up coming, but we saw their kids in Sunday school class. Apparently they just dropped off the kids and picked them up after, we didnt even get to see or talk to the parents! Im not sure why Hermano Gilton and his wife didnt come, but tomorrow we have lunch with them and we will find out then. My comp. and I strongly feel that they are ready for the church, and until we strongly feel that they are not ready we are going to keep trying with them.
Recently my comp. and I have not been getting along perfectly, apparently Guatemalans really dont like people from the states. Its been a lot of laziness, and because I am so new i dont have the right to point out the laziness apparently. I´ve been praying day and night that we can get along, and I think that we can, he just has some personal things that he needs to figure out. I know I am not perfect, and I am praying that I can become better too, but the problem existed before I got here. I will keep praying and try to do little acts of service, hopefully that will help. Any prayers for my comp. and I would be greatly appreciated=) We work together well, but we are very different, and we think very differently. I know that eventually things will work out, I just pray that it is sooner than later.
This week was a good week, we taught a lot of really good lessons, and my spanish improved. I love you all, thank you so much for everything=) Have a great week!!
Love,
Elder McLeod
Early on in the week we had a lesson with a lady named Santa Cruz, haha ya she has an awesome name=) But, when we went to teach her she wasnt home. So we decided to wait for her for a little bit but contact near her house. We ended up contacting 4 women that we saw sitting on the corner. They were really nice, but at first wouldnt tell us their names because they knew who we were=) Haha, but eventually we got their names and where they lived (All separate families and houses), and we are going to contact them this week!!! Even though Hermana Santa never showed up to the appointment, we got 4 more appointments out of the trip!
On Wednesday, we contacted a man named Luis whose mom is an active member. Luis lives about a 30 minute walk along the base of the mountain, a little farther away than most of our investigators. When we met with him, he told us that he had had lessons previously with the sisters that had served here almost a year ago, he also tolds us that he had accepted the baptism invitation from the hermanas!! Wow what a find!! So of course we set a date to come back later in the week to meet with him and he accepted. So we came back towards the end of the week and we taught lesson 3. The spirit was way strong as we explained how important baptism is and how only through baptism can we return and live with heavenly father. At the end I extended the baptismal invitation to him....... and he said yes!!! But not to the date that we had asked, he doesnt want to ´´rush things´´ he said. So of course we invited him to church, he accepted, but only if we would walk with him, so of course we agreed. So Sunday morning rolls around, and we hike all the way back over to his house. When we get there, his son comes out and tells us that he doesnt feel like going today. Haha we had him go back and tell his dad that he should really come with us, but the boy came back and told us the exact same thing, that he didnt feel like going today. Talk about letting all the air out of a balloon! haha we were pretty disappointed, and we ended up just walking his elderly mother and his son to church instead. We are going back this week to visit again with him and find out what happend, hopefully next Sunday he will be well rested and eager to come to church with us.=)
My comp. and I have this agreement that whenever we pass someone and they call us Elders, we have to stop and contact them=) So this week as we were walking across the bridge back into the central market one afternoon, the same policeman that we see everyday addressed us as Elders....... so we contacted him! It turns out that his name is Fidel Castro!!=) Haha not many missionaries can say that they have a lesson scheduled with Fidel Castro this week!! It was a really cool experience, but it gets even better. As we were contacting Fidel Castro, a random man came up to us and started asking really good questions, so my comp. finished talking with Hermano Castro while I began contacting the new man. It turns out that the man had heard a little about the church and was super interested! I explained to him a little about the Restoration because his questions were practically all about the Restoration of the church, he was super optomistic and really interested=) He told us that he will give us a call when we can meet with him this week, and that he is going to try and be at church Sunday ! He didnt come to church, but we are hoping that he gives us a call any day now.
On Wednesday, we went to go and teach Hermano Arrmando. But, he wasnt home, so we decided to wait for a little bit. Outside of his house were 4 kids probably 13 or so years old, playing soccer. They invited us to play, and so while we were waiting we decided to play a little street soccer=) The kids were way good, and we ended up playing for 30 minutes, it was so much fun!! Eventually we had to leave for our next lesson, but as we left his street, down the hill towards us came Hermano Arrmando on his bike! He apologized multiple times and said that he would not miss our next appointment. We then left for our appointment with Carmen and Carmen......... who had left town apparently is what their neighbor said. So instead of going and contacting, we back tracked to Hermano Arrmando´s house. When he answered the door we said that we were here for our 3rd appointment, and that he couldnt miss it!=) He let us in and we taught lesson 3. Again we explained the importance of baptism and the blessings because of it, at the end I was able to extend the baptism invitation to him.......... he said yes, but only if he receives an answer through prayer that our church is the true church of God. That night I prayed so hard that he would receive an answer, we have an appointment with him this Friday so I guess we will have to wait until Friday to see what happened.
Our appointment with Gilton and his family fell through 4 times this week!!! They always end up scheduling stuff right when we are supposed to meet with them, haha I pray that this week we will actually be able to meet with them and not have to reschedule. But, even if they do cancel again, we are not going to give up! They told us that they would come to church this week again......... and again they didnt come. We even called them an hour before church and they said that they were coming. They didnt end up coming, but we saw their kids in Sunday school class. Apparently they just dropped off the kids and picked them up after, we didnt even get to see or talk to the parents! Im not sure why Hermano Gilton and his wife didnt come, but tomorrow we have lunch with them and we will find out then. My comp. and I strongly feel that they are ready for the church, and until we strongly feel that they are not ready we are going to keep trying with them.
Recently my comp. and I have not been getting along perfectly, apparently Guatemalans really dont like people from the states. Its been a lot of laziness, and because I am so new i dont have the right to point out the laziness apparently. I´ve been praying day and night that we can get along, and I think that we can, he just has some personal things that he needs to figure out. I know I am not perfect, and I am praying that I can become better too, but the problem existed before I got here. I will keep praying and try to do little acts of service, hopefully that will help. Any prayers for my comp. and I would be greatly appreciated=) We work together well, but we are very different, and we think very differently. I know that eventually things will work out, I just pray that it is sooner than later.
This week was a good week, we taught a lot of really good lessons, and my spanish improved. I love you all, thank you so much for everything=) Have a great week!!
Love,
Elder McLeod
