January 19, 2015
Hey everybody I hope that you all had a great week!!! My week was such a rollercoaster, things happening and changing like crazy. Like I said at the end of my last letter, my comp had emergency changes Tuesday morning. The president needed him up in Heuheutenango, which is like 2.5 hours north of Salcaja, he is doing good even though he is in a tough area. Ok so since Aguirre left, I got a new comp, his name is Elder Herrera. He is from Mexico, but he lived in Logan Utah for 10 years, so again I have been blessed with a companion who knows English=) He is a really cool guy and I have learned so much from him already!! He only has 7 months in the mission, but he has already trained 2 other missionaries, he really is a super smart guy. Him and I get along really really well which is such a blessing, honestly I can feel the spirit growing so much now within our lessons! I hope that him and I will serve together for a while here in salcaja.
This week we taught Hermana Haiti and her three daughters Amy (11), Samurai (13), and Princesa (14). We actually were able to teach them two times this week, we taught them both the restoration and the plan of salvation. What I love about them is that they all love to have fun, but when they feel the spirit you can see it in their countenances. The spirit has been super strong when we teach them, my comp and I have been teaching together really well and he is teaching really how to teach each person differently. He uses a lot of demonstrations or examples that the people can relate to or understand, I love it cuz it gets even the younger ones involved but it still relates to the adults and everyone feels the spirit as a whole. They are very evangelical, but especially during the plan of salvation, i felt that they were not just listening to our lesson but were understanding and realizing the truthfulness of it. Princesa especially felt the spirit, She asked a ton of questions which we answered with scriptures and testimony, and then she would kind of sit back and deeply ponder what we were saying. After our lessons the daughters especially talk in a quieter more reverent voice with us, I am so excited to be teaching a big family like this, I really feel like they will progress here in the next couple of weeks.
This week we taught Hermana Ingrid the law of the Chastity and Word of Wisdom. She easily accepted the Law of Chastity, but the Word of Wisdom she stopped us on. She told us that she has been addicted to coffee for years and years and years and that it would be practically impossible for her to give it up. But, we testified to her with the power of the spirit and promised her the blessings of health and knowledge promised to those who obey this law, the spirit was incredible, I knew that she was feeling it just as strongly as I was, and that is why she agreed to give up her beloved coffee!!=) Before we visited her house we had gone and bought her a big bag of morecaf, (for those of you who don't know what this is, it is a cereal substitute to coffee that you brew up and drink hot and black just like regular coffee, but it does not have caffiene, or the coffee bean with its chemicals in it.) At the end of the lesson after she had agreed to keeping the Word of Wisdom, I pulled out the huge bag of morecaf and gave it to her, haha she just started laughing and was super happy and excited. I love Ingrid and her family, and I love that she has chosen to follow the path that the Lord has ready and waiting for her!!
This week we also taught Kevin the law of chastity, temples, and tithing. He really is the perfect investigator because through his readings of the bible and the book of mormon, he had already come to the conclusion to himself that these were things that he was already going to do=) Honestly he is bien pilas (which means super smart in Guatemalan Spanish), I love the kid!! The 31st is still the day, but he is ready right now.
This week my diet changed a little bit and I was able to experience a little bit more classical Guatemalan food, haha we ate pigs feet!! It honestly doesn't taste bad, but they are just all bones and fat so they are really awkward to eat. There is no taste really, so that is a blessing=) But besides that, we have been eating pretty well and I feel like I am actually gaining back some of my weight. (hopefully it is somewhat muscle).
This week we were able to teach a lesson with a woman named Amalia. This lady came to church with us last week, but this week was our first lesson with her. She has two little kids, and she is a single mom who works in the mercado every day selling little beanies and mittens and stuff like that. She is a super nice lady, but she needs something more in her life...............................the church! We found out that she has been reading the book of mormon by herself for a little while now, and she knows it is true!!! This is awesome, but she doesn't want to leave her old church which is some super small church in someones garage a couple blocks over. We changed our lesson from the restoration to the book of mormon and the importance of having the authority in our church. The spirit was super strong, her eyes were watery as we explained that God loves us soooooooooooooooo much and that he wants to help us, but also that faith without works is dead, meaning that she needs to go to church, the true church. She promised us that she would continue to read and pray about the church, we are meeting with her again this week.
Sorry this letter is shorter than my usual letters, this week was one of those put your shoulder to the wheel weeks. We taught a good amount of lessons, but not a ton of different people. We are looking for more families to teach, I hope that this week we can achieve our goal of finding 2 or 3 more families who are ready for the gospel in their lives!! Thank you all so much, I love ya and I hope that you all have another awesome week. Yesterday this was my response to a lady who asked me how long I have in the mission, I said, ´´I only have almost 4 months.............. wow I already have almost 4 months!!´´ Haha the time is flying by, Its crazy how quickly the mission moves. Well I love you all, thanks for the emails and the prayers, have a great week!
Until next week,
Elder McLeod
