Hey everyone!!! Hope you all had an awesome first week of august, and for the cousins, the last week of summer break=) Sorry, love you guys! So like the title of my email says, A lot happened to me this week, Sorry I’ll start with confirming the baptism of Noemi=)
So sunday after church, Noemi told me that she was ready to be baptized and that she wanted me to baptize her, sweet!! So we got everything ready, scheduled the interview, filled the font, and went to bed super happy and nervous. So monday, after I emailed you guys, we went down to the church to get everything all ready to go. Noemi arrived to her baptism at 8 pm and not at 6.30, but that's ok because the members got there at 7.45 ish so it all worked out here in chapinlandia=) (you won't understand that joke if you never have been to Guatemala sorry)
The baptism was awesome, probably one of the coolest experiences that i have had in the mission so far. Everything went smooth, no double baptism or anything=) Previously I had invited her to bear her testimony after being baptized, so after she got all changed and everything, she bore her testimony in front of the 35 plus members that were present. What a powerful testimony that girl has!!! AFterwards the bishop had me stand up and bear my testimony, and then break the news that I was going to have changes the next morning. It was super sad, I was emotional, a bunch of members were emotional, it was an emotional night. I really felt God's love when I was putting on my white shirt and white tie, my eyes watered up, and I was literally on the verge of bawling out of happiness, haha if you haven't served a mission it's hard to really understand the emotions that I was feeling. So ya she got baptized, and the following morning she came and knocked at our door at 6 in the morning to say goodbye one last time. It was super sad, but at the same time I felt so much joy to have been the missionary that **changed her life forever.** Never going to forget Her or that night, I love cantel and the people there, and i feel like i accomplished my purpose there in Cantel on my last night.
So ya I had changes, we are now in Huehuetenango, about 2.5 hours north of Cantel. My area is now super small, our area is comprised of about 7 streets, and we are in a ward of 175 that attend every sunday!!!!=) Everyone is either member or less active haha, it's a little tough but we are working tough. My comps name is Elder Chavez, he is from chiwawa Mexico, but he is from the mormon colonies and speaks perfect english so he is practically gringo=) We are working really hard together, harder than ever! We are opening the area so we literally know no one haha, but in one week we were able to accomplish a lot of things which was great. the area book had thick dust on it, the elders who were here before us died here (it was their last change in the mission) haha so really we are starting from scratch here=) This week we were able to bring an investigator to church which was such a blessing, the members were really excited to get involved in the work when they saw that we had brought a new friend with us. Everyone here is catholic and very stuck in their traditions which is different for me, but I am learning every day, and we are trying different tactics.
I know this email is super short in comparison to how my emails are usually, but we don't have a ton of time, plus we don't have a ton of investigators since we are starting from zero. Next week I will have a lot more to talk about I promise, I love you all!! Have an awesome week, and dad I hope you had the greatest birthday ever!!! Love ya bro, stay young!! (only 40 for the 10th time=) Thanks for all the help and support, hope all is well at home and that your birthday was sweet! I'll send pics of the baptism of Noemi if I can get them from my old comp. Love you all, hope to hear from you soon, keep the faith!
with love,
Elder McLeod
