Quetzaltenango Guatemala

Quetzaltenango Guatemala

10.03.16 Last Week Going Strong!

Hey everybody today is the last p day i'll ever have as a missionary!! Sad to think that this is it, but I am super happy and content because I know that i served 100% and that I left it all on the field. I don't regret anything, I wasn't a perfect missionary either, but I was constantly progressing, learning, and improving over these past 2 years. Last night some older lady in our ward came up to me and said, now elder mcleod, never go inactive!!! Haha I just told her that I only converted 1 person in my mission, it was me. And it's the truth, I know it's all true, and I'm so stoked to be able to apply what i've learned in the mission to regular life!  This week was super short but awesome, here's the update-


This general conference was awesome, I loved the talk by Dallin H. Oaks, THe talk by Ballard, and the talk by Nelson, those 3 were my 3 favorites! This was my 5th and final general conference in the mission....... haha I was blessed to be able to start and end the mission with a general conference.


This week Brenda came to general conference and she loved it. Her daughter is super cute, pics attached! This week I had my final interview, then my comp got called to train so he had to go to the new trainers meeting. This week we had a ton of meetings so our days weren't amazing, but we did work hard when we could. We contacted like animals and we taught as much as we could, I'm happy with how it went.

Ya so my comp is training, he is super pumped but super scared! This will be his second time training, the first time he trained, he trained a kid from brazil, but now he thinks he will be getting a gringo so he's nervous. Turns out that my grandchild is training also!! So i'm a great grandpa in the mish!!! Haha that means that the kid I trained ended up training also, and his kid just got called to train this change!! Haha it doesn't happen too often so we are excited haha.

So Today we will just finish saying goodbye to people and take care of some bank stuff. Yesterday I said goodbye to a ton of families, and today will probably be the same.

Well we are gonna go get stuff done, but I love you guys a ton! Have a good next couple days. I'll see you guys on Thursday!!


Love


Elder McLeod

9.26.16 Well today is day number 726...... my comp told me

Hey everyone how's it going!! This week was a killer week for us, we are working super hard up here, calvario is seeing a ton of miracles!!! My comp told me i've got these many days in the mish, i'm not keeping track i promise, i'm not baggy.

This week we had 8 investigators in church!!! That is not a typo, we had 8 and we were stinkin psyched!!!! The members were are super jacked, everyone keeps joking with me and telling me that i'm baggy, but after all 8 of the investigators walked in they stopped talkin trash, It was pretty awesome.

Margarito, is a beast. Haha he is dreaming like crazy, but the best part is that he told us a bunch of doctrinal dreams that he had had a couple of years ago, but that he had never found the answers to what his dreams meant, he searched in all the churches but never found the answers, until we started teaching him!! IT was stinkin legit, he is super sick so he couldn't come to church, but we will be getting baptized in october for sure.

Patty is reading  like crazy, she always has awesome questions. She came to church on sunday and has come 4 times now, I think she will be getting baptized in october also, but we will see, miracles always happen!!

We contacted 50 people this week, that is a heck of a lot for our area size and dats history. We were killin it, we didn't find too many positive people but we did find a couple.

Besides all of that stuff, we have been working hard and trying to find the chosen people. This last week was super fun and successful, and I want this week to be just as if not even more successful and sick. We are working hard till the bitter end! But always enjoying every minute of it. We are in good health, it rains a lot but it's actually pretty nice. I love all of you guys a ton, this is my second to last p day as a missionary, it's sad, but I always knew that one day it would eventually have to come to an end. Well, have an awesome week, we will talk next monday!!

Love

Elder McLeod

9.19.16 Week 1 With My New And Last Comp

Hey everyone how's it going! Here we are, 1 week down and only 2 to go with my new and final companion!!! He is a really cool guy, last week I wrote about him so you already know where he's from and stuff, we have been getting along super well, this half change that i'll have with him is gonna be so sick.


So Brenda came to church on sunday! And she brought her 4 year old daughter ashley, she was sooooooooooo cute not gonna lie. They both loved church, they only could stay for 2 hours but that's ok, they loved it and said that next week they are going to come back!


We learned how to make some traditional guatemalan dishes, when I get home i'll make them and they are gonna be soooooooooo good.


This week was independence week for guatemala, needless to say it was crazy, and very hard to do missionary work. But we worked the whole week and had some little success.


We are healthy


Recently we have been finding some huge  tarantula babies in the house!! They are HUGE and have big fangs, pics below.
Well we have to go, we actually have to get some other stuff done, but this week was awesome and I know that this next week is going to be a whole lot better. I love you guys a ton, keep the faith and keep helping the missionaries!!!


Love,


Elder McLeod




9.12.16 Emergency Changes/New Comp to Kill Me

 Hey everyone how's it going!!! Well big news, Elder Riley is not going to kill me, he had emergency changes Sunday afternoon! He got called to huehue to train some new gringo, I'm super happy for him cuz its his time to take to lead. He is an awesome missionary and I know that he is gonna kill it!


Ya so I have my new last comp, his name is Elder Foster, he is from Salt Lake City and is super cool. He is a big football/ baseball player and he also loves hunting! He is one of my past comps kids, so i've heard some pretty good things about him. He has got 15 months in the mish, so he's got some experience and is a good teacher. The guy is super fun, I know that we are gonna get along real well and that we are gonna kill it together these last 3 weeks.

This week Indyra and Patty both came to church again which was sick, they are progressing well and will be baptized......... when, i'm not sure, but they WILL get baptized.

This week we contacted an older lady who did not want to talk to us, but after a little bit of casaquiando, she actually let us come back last night. We talked a bunch with her and she admitted that she is catholic but does not go, nor does she want to go. She told us that when she was little she was close to being baptized, and she showed us her book of mormon.......her 1st book of mormon.........from the 60s......... its blue bro!!


And I told her how sick it was, so she said to me, Well since you appreciate it more than I do, take it, it's yours.


I died, it's so beautiful. We will keep teaching her to see what happens. We also found a new family this week just by contacting, it is made up of a bunch of less actives who are super nice, tonight we are going to meet with them and I'm stoked!


We are probably gonna drop Carolina. She isn't progressing at all and really doesn't want to read/pray/do anything related to God. We will see what happens, this week will be her test cuz we have given her like 10 last chances but she never ever acts. We pray that we can make the right decision.


Well it looks like i've only got about 3 p days left! ITs insane but inevitable. Im excited, but working hard still dont worry. I know that i'm where I need to be, and I know that I'll be here doing what i'm supposed to be doing until october 4th. I'm gonna take advantage of the time that I've got left, I love the mish and I can't wait to tell my kids all about it one day.

Love you guys, stay strong, keep being righteous and have a great week!


Love


Elder McLeod

9.05.16 Successful Week!!

Wow this week was a super awesome/ tiring week! Hope you all had another great week of Highschool, NFL , and College football, I heard BYU beat Arizona on a last second field goal, too bad, but i'm sure it was a good game. Everything here is perfect, the weather is nice, it's always raining a little and it's windy, I love it. My comp and I are working really hard together, this week we found 8 new investigators and had 27 sit down in the house lessons!!! It was an awesome week.

We had 5 people in church which was sweet, Indyra and her sister Patty came. I don't know if I've told you about them, but they are two sisters, both single and 40 years old, one is divorced. They are inactive in their church and are both reading the book of mormon and coming to church. Patty is in 2 nephi 5 and Indyra is in 1 Nephi 17, Patty has come to church 2 times, and Indyra has come 3 times! They are super positive, the only problem like the book of mormon says is that the lamanites cling to their traditions even though they openly admit that their traditions are false. That's been the hardest part, traditions. But little by little.

Edna is the friend of Indyra, she has come once to church with us and she like it. She is finishing 1st nefi right now and is reading like crazy. She is very positive also, but she has the same problem as ever here, she knows her traditions are false, but doesn't want to give them up. Little by little.

Margarito, this guy is a stud. He is an inactive pentecostal member, he is 60 years old and he builds houses. This guy came to church with us this week and stayed the whole 3 hour block! He loved it, he felt really good and he learned a lot. He loved that the church has so many programs geared towards helping the members, on sunday we talked about auto sufficiency which he loved cuz he is currently searching for work. He is currently reading the book of mormon and already has a couple of friends that attend our ward.

Brenda. Brenda we contacted while eating ice cream haha. She is a single mom, also inactive in her family's church, and wants to know the truth. She is reading the BOM and praying everyday, but she hasn't been to church yet. She has a 4 year old daughter named Ashley who is super cute, once they come to church I know that Brenda will want to keep going. Its cool cuz she gives us free ice cream a lot=)

Carolina, well she is a different story. Single mom of two boys, her husband passed away about 2 years ago, and she has been struggling every since. She has many addictions and problems that hold her back from feeling the spirit. It's been tough with her, she did come to church once and she liked it, but because of her addictions it makes it really hard to teach her, her addictions have affected her ability to learn and process information a lot, we have to explain everything super slowly, but little by little she's progressing.



Cantel has a new branch president, he has a pupusa business here in our area. He told us that whenever we want, we are welcome to come and eat whatever we want for free!!! We did it today, haha they even give us imported barqs root beer for free=)

Well, it looks like there are only 4 weeks left (My companion told me exactly how many days I have left haha), but i'm not counting my time. I know I'll be sad when it's all over, but I'm excited to go and apply everything i've learned but in the real world. Im working as hard as I can cuz I know that I can make a HUGE difference here in these next 4 weeks. I know that we will see MANY miracles in these next 4 weeks, but only if we have the Lord's confidence. We always have confidence in the Lord, but does he have confidence in us???? that's the big question, and if you aren't sure, go and earn his confidence. Have a great week, Gain his confidence, We don't receive blessings when we need them, but only when we obey the commandments upon which said blessings are predicated.

Love you all

Elder McLeod

8.29.16 Week Of Good Food!!!!

Hey everyone!! Hope you all had great weeks, as August is heading to a close the greatest sport in all the world is just beginning, FOOTBALL!! Sounds like my Campo Verde is killin it out there, hopefully this year they get past that 2nd round.

Well this week was awesome, 1st of all I got my new comp, his name is Elder Riley!! He was in the CCM with me in Guatemala almost 2 years ago. He went home shortly after we got to the field, but has returned to the mission. He is a stud, we get along sooooo well , he's probably gonna end up being my favorite comp!! It's nice cuz no one is baggy, everyone wants to work hard, haha its sad that there aren't too many companionships that function this well, honestly I've been super blessed to have been put with him.

So this week we ate good. Dinner 3 nights, lunch every day, haha people were giving us pizza and pupusas, barqs root beer, cake, tons of fruit eggs beans tortillas, and TACO BELL!!!! Thats right, Today I ate taco bell for the 1st time in my whole mission, (23 months), it was the best thing i've ever eaten. hands down. 3 Beefy 5 layer burritos and tons of hot sauce with a whole bottle of red grape sparkling cider. We were so happy.

This week we had a lady named Carolina come to church, her husband passed away about 2 years ago, and she has been single and struggling ever since. Her son Eric is 12 years old so he could be a deacon, We are super stoked for her cuz she came to church and wanted to stay till the end! She stayed the whole time and really liked it, she even wanted to sit in on the primary to see how it was, she said she loved it, especially the children's hymns.

This week my comp and I contacted about 50 people, and pretty much no one wanted anything. BUT, we didn't give up, we actually had some pretty sweet lessons regardless of the uneffective contacting. Here are some quotes from the week from some of our investigators. ¨¨Every Time you boys testify about these things, I feel something different and special in my heart.¨¨ ¨¨the plan of salvation is perfect! No human being could have created it, its perfectly just, and loving, its God's plan.¨¨ ¨¨So, my catholic baptism didnt count, I realize it now.¨¨  ¨¨I want to do the Lord's will, make me a list of all of God's commandments so that I can know them, and keep them!!¨¨

This week was awesome, I'm so happy that Its Elder Riley who's killin me, he's such a bro, it's gonna be such a blast, WORKING till the end, but enjoying every minute of it. I love you guys a ton and I hope that you are growing spiritually every day like I am. If you are not, just realize that our earthly existence is so we can progress, if we aren't progressing, then we are just wasting our time. Love you guys, keep the faith!!

Love,

Elder McLeod

8.22.16 New Companion...Changes



Hey everyone it's pouring rain right now and we are running around so that my comp can say goodbye to everyone before he goes home! THis week we had 2 new people in church which was awesome, we also had 2 less active families in church which was so sick. Our attendance in church was 132, the highest in about a month which is good. We are super healthy, but super tired. Oh and about 7 months ago My comp and I reactivated a 21 year old inactive kid in Las flores, and TOMORROW he leaves on the mission!!!!! So stoked for him!!!!=) His name is Joseph and he is going to serve in Bolivia Cochabamba!!pics below

My comp says it's time to go, haha i didn't even have time to read all of the emails that are in my inbox, but oh well that's fine. Next week I will have more time and i'll have more pics to show you guys, have an awesome week and know that I love you and pray for you all the time. The church is true, the gospel is true, and i've only got 1 change left, haha but let's not focus on that. Well, have an awesome week, see you on monday.

Love

ELder McLeod

8.15.16 Quick Update

Hey everyone, this is my comps last week in the mish which is crazy. I hope you all are doing great, we are doing awesome here in Calvario Xela. The huracan thats been hitting guatemala has affected us a little bit, its been raining non stop here in the valley, but over in the coast apparently its a whole different story. Its funny cuz if it rains a lot, the attendance in church drops a ton............ haha dont understand it=)

WE learned how to make a 3 milk cake!! ITs so good, ill teach ya when I get home dont worry, we do it so good that our investigator was ranting about how we could sell cake haha, ya we cant do that, but its super fun to make and its an easy way to gain confidence quick with people.

My comp had his last interview with president this week.............. on his birthday (the 12th), haha he is pretty baggy but he told me that he wants to work hard till the end which is awesome. He only has 8 days left in the mish, haha so next week I will be receiving my new, and last, companion!

This week we found some new investigators who are super good at reading scriptures which is super rare here. They love to read and they always ask us questions about nefi and lehi, and always, why did nefi have to kill Laban??? Haha I love these people!=)

We went to a mayan altar this week and saw some hand carved mayan stuff from over thousands of years ago! It was super pretty, I love the mayan culture here its so interesting.

So I love you guys a ton and I need you to keep reading your scriptures and praying, and keeping the sabbath day holy, MAKE IT A DELIGHT!!! Love you guys, have a great week of highschool football!


Love,

Elder McLeod


                    

8.08.16 Stake Conference And The Flu

Hey everyone hope you are having a good first couple weeks back to school!! Can't believe that summer is gone and now we are rolling into fall, but that's good cuz that means that football is starting up!!!! Not to mention that the olympics are currently taking place, means i'm gonna miss a ton of sports action, but that's ok. i heard that the USA is dominating, but thats all ive heard and i don't really know what's going on.


We had stake conference and had 4 investigators in church which wasn't so bad. Elder Alonso came to speak and did an awesome job. During the whole conference there was crazy lightning and thundering going on outside, and it was cool cuz it was hot so all of the doors and windows were opened so we could feel the strong winds and see the lightning and thundering during the conference.


This week one of our investigator families invited us to come over and eat lunch with them. They are going to be putting a restaurant soon, so they wanted us to try all of the different types of bbq wings that they are going to be selling! We ate so many wings it was amazing! They have tons of money so they import everything from the states, haha they used sweet baby ray's bbq sauce!!!! It was awesome, pics below. They also gave us crepes with hershey's chocolate on them, nutella, and real vanilla ice cream, it was soooooooooo good.


So this week i got super sick...... it was weird cuz it happened so fast, one moment we were eating lunch at a members house, and the next i was throwin up and in bed. I got a random 102 degree fever, everything just happened super super fast. Don't know what happened, but it did. I was asleep until 7 pm, we then went out and got an important lesson in, then went home to sleep again. This was friday, by saturday night i was 100% ok, but today they still want to test me to see what i had. Hopefully everything comes out clean and we are good to go. I feel perfectly fine right now, but who knows what happened, and hopefully it doesn't happen again.


This week we continued with our list of less active families, so far we have found more that 10 less active families,and we are working trying to reactivate them. We are also asking for references always, less actives usually have the best references, so we are working shoulder to shoulder with the less actives.

We went to the temple this week!!!! IT was great, technically it was my last trip to the temple until i go through on my last day. I received a couple of answers that I needed to some questions I had. It was cool, I learned some cool things. The spirit is always super strong there, it's always a good experience

Well ya so this week was pretty interesting besides the regular visiting and teaching people. My testimony is growing everyday, and I honestly feel like i'm growing and getting spiritually tougher. Through trials we learn and grow, they are examples of god's love, and I'm super happy that there are a lot here. Read your scriptures and you will be blessed, never stop doing the small things. I love you guys a ton, have fun going back to school, have an awesome week of highschool football!!!!!


Love

Elder McLeod

8.01.16 Weekly Update, Quick

Hey everyone whats up!! It's been a sick/fast week, we are running around like crazy, we've got a lot we need to do, so here's a quick whats up.

We learned how to make pastel de 3 leches this week, wow is it good!!! Ill make it when I get home dont worry.

We found some new people this week, none of them came to church, but they could be pretty positive, we will see what happens this week.I got the flu, it's hitting hard here so we are drinking tons of water and wearing sweaters etc. We are working hard still.

We got news that we will not be having 1 meeting in august cuz our president wants us to use that time wisely to find more new families to teach. So, we won't be having district or zone meetings for a whole month!!! It's gonna be weird, but hopefully we see some results.

          
Well we have to run, we don't have any time, have a great week and know that I love you all. Summer is over and here comes monsoon season! Pumped, well I'll let you go, have an awesome week and keep being righteous!=)

Love

ELder McLeod

7.25.16 Week 2 With Elder Hall

Hey everyone! I think that these past 2 weeks have really helped me with my english grammer, it was bad before, hopefully my letters have been understandable. This week was a good week for my comp and I, it went by super fast though, and our dats werent super high, but we feel like we did a ton even though it doesnt all show up on paper.

               we had a multi zone meeting with president smith on thursday that pretty much lasted the whole day, we learned a ton of stuff about the book of mormon that we are going to be able to apply here in our area. We are finding new families and new investigators who are positive thanks to the book of mormon.

                We did divisions with the zone leaders this week, it was a ton of fun. I stayed here with a Elder Van cat wik our zone leader, he is a chill guy and we had 6 lessons that day! It was super fun, our zone is a ton of fun.

                We found some new families and dropped some old ones who werent progressing.

                I know this is really short but nothing crazy happened this week, it was a pretty low key week.

             I love all you guys, keep enjoying the summer while it lasts! Also keep reading your scriptures at least 10 minutes a day, you will be more blessed i promise you!

love

Elder McLeod

7.18.16 New Comp! He Is A Gringo!

Hey everyone i'm so pumped!!!! I hope you guys had awesome weeks, I definitely had an awesome week also, we had changes on tuesday and I got a gringo!!! His name is elder Hall, he is from Heber Utah, and this is his last change in the mission, so it looks like i'm gonna end up killing someone after all! He is a super chill guy, we get along/work really well. But that means that he will not be my last comp, I will have one more after this change, but that does mean that I'm gonna die here in calvario!


                  This week Norma and her daughter went to church which was awesome, it was their first time and they loved it! The members loved them which was great, they fit right in from the moment they walked in.


                    We had our zone activity today, we went to laguna chicabal! It is a lake way high up in the crater of a volcano!! Its super pretty, and it took a long time to get there, but it was worth it. When you get to the mouth of the volcano, you have to walk down more than 500 stairs!! IT's huge, and super awesome, we also found a bunch of mayan stuff down by the lake.


                   This week a super awesome member of our ward passed away, and we were given permission to attend his funeral and burial. It was cool how the church did it. It was sad obviously, but at the same time I felt a huge feeling of hope as I listened to the speakers and looked at all the people.


                  we visited like crazy this week, even though a ton of lesson appointments fell, we were able to find a lot of new people to teach, including new families.


                    This thursday we are having a multizone conference, my last one! It's gonna be good, i'm super excited. We are then all going to have our temple recommend interviews, and on friday we are doing divisions with the zone leaders, cuz the district leaders can.


                   We are healthy and happy and working hard, he wants to die workin hard and so do I, so we have the same mindset and goal which is great.


                      We don't have much time do to your  lake trip, but next week i'll have more pics and stories for you, until then just know that everything is great and that I love all of you guys. Keep going to church and studying your scriptures. Develop attributes of christ, and obey the commandments exactly. I love you guys, keep going strong, we will see you next week.


Sincerely,


Elder McLeod   


7.11.16

7.4.16 Quick Email, Interview Week

Hey everyone how's it going. This week was another really great week for us, we were able to accomplish a ton, and we had awesome zone interviews with president. we have 0 time so i'm gonna go quick again.



  1. In interviews, president expressed to me how I need to animate my comp, apparently he has been super close to going home all throughout the mish cuz he gets super dis animated and just wants to go home. In the interview he just told me to drag him around to make him work. He told me to wake him up whatever means possible in the mornings=) he is a good guy, but he justs let himself get down really quickly, president even told me to carry around a ball to play catch with him in the streets if he gets really bummed out.
  2. We had 4 in church this sunday, 2 of them were new and they really liked the church! THey got along really well with members, but couldn't stay for more than the 1st hour.
  3. We have a plan to meet every member family here in our area. Our area is super small so we won't have to walk very far. We have plans to meet at least 1 new family everyday, we are doing this with hopes to meet most all of the active and less active families, and find references. We are going to go and fish in the bigger stream, not just the little stream of ¨¨church leader families¨¨ we tend to always fish in. We are excited cuz we see a huge opportunity to gain confidence with the members and meet a lot of new people/ new investigators.
  4. I hit 21 months this last week........ haha everyone in the mission calls me old even though I ¨¨still feel young¨¨. Changes are next week so we will see what happens, maybe they will be changing my comp, but maybe not.
                   
Ya so this week was good. I am super happy and excited to work here. There are a lot of prepared people here for us to find!!! I love you guys, have an awesome week.


Elder McLeod


ps attached pic is of a table someone put in their mayan style restaurant, here you can see what most of the people here cook with, still to this day!

6.27.17 A Week With Awesome News

Hey everyone how's it going! Looks like another week has come and gone, super quickly. I'm here in Calvario still, I love it here, and I think that I'm going to finish up the mish here. Haha this morning the secretaries sent me my travel info.............. what the heck, I try not to think about what that means, but all good things must come to an end. My flight is october 6th, but that's way down the road so we will have time to discuss that later. So, this week was actually pretty interesting for us, we don't have a whole lot of time, but i'll give you some bullet points on what went down.


  • A tornado formed here in the middle of Xela!! It would have been the first in the history of Xela, but it didn't touch the ground, but it got super close! If a tornado were to touch down there would be some major destruction here considering how many houses are made just out of dried mud. Haha and Xela is a bowl, surrounded by mountains so a Tornado would not be too good of a thing to have here.
  • This week one of our super investigators from ixtahuacan got baptized!! IT is a great feeling to know that you contacted someone in the street that then read the book of mormon and gained a testimony and got baptized!! Pics below!
  • We put some baptism dates this week with 2 people, tonight we are putting another, #onfire.
  • My comp is now going to start the workout program/diet that i've been doing, i've already seen a 9 pound increase!!! We get up at 6 am every day, it's super hard, but there is a ton of motivation!
  • we discovered a hidden section of neighborhood that was previously part of another area but a recent boundary change gave  us another neighborhood! It's got about 30 houses in it, perfect for new families!
  • we are healthy and working hard
  • This week my comp and I cooked chow mein, but like amazing chow mein. It was awesome.
  • We are running low on time, i love you guys a ton, have an awesome week, study the scriptures/talks of the old prophets and apostles!
Love


Elder McLeod

6.20.16

6.13.16

6.6.16 Best Changes Of My Life, And Probably My Last Changes

June 6, 2016

 Hey everyone, everything has changed so drastically! I  hope you all had good/exciting weeks, cuz i definitely did and im gonna tell you exactly what happened this week. 

                So, as the title says, I just had the best changes of my life! I am now in the middle of Xela, we are in zone xela centro, so we are right in the heart of xela. my area is called Calvario, and it is the best area in Xela! This is the assistants old area, the only reason they arent here now is cuz president thought it was a little too small for them to maximize their potential, so they got changed out, but this area has always been the assistants area for years and years! And with good reason, heres why,
. everyone here is a return missionary, or a super active and super faithful convert
. ALL of the members, including the youth, are super engaged and focussed on missionary work
.There are always activities!! And we really dont need to do that much, the members plan everything!!
. All of the members ABSOLUTELY LOVE the missionaries, they love us, my first day i cried cuz i had never felt so loved in all of my mission by members of the church
. THERE IS FOOD, oh my gosh there is food, my first night i orded pizza hut just to make sure i wasnt dreaming, I ate pizza that night.
.All of the members offer to give us food, practically fighting and falling over each other to give us food, its amazing, i feel so loved/lucky.
. There is NO market, so there can be NO market on sunday, I love XELA!!!!!
                 So obviously im in paradise. I realize that this is probably my last area considering that ive only got 3 changes left including this one, so my comp now is probs my 2nd to last comp. My comp is Elder Backer, he is from Nicaragua and is awesome. He was in my zone in Calvario Huehue about 8 months ago, so I know how he is, he is great. 

                  So we are having a baptism this week on thursday!!!!! Its a reactivated family, and the 17 year old daughter isnt a member, so this thursday shes gettin dunked. then next week we will be baptizing another person, shes 18, and she has been ready for a while, she just needed to turn 18 to get baptized and this week she will be completing 18.

                  This week we found a ton of new people just by contacting, its amazing how many people are prepared here, literally I feel so blessed to be able to be here. My health has improved a ton, i am almost back to normal. 

                   Hey I love all of you guys! This gospel is true, If you arent sure if the commandmants are were the struggle, just test them out! Many times christ has commanded us to try him on his word, just try it out! I know you will be blessed and will never want to go back. Have an awesome week, know that i always pray for you all. We actually have to go right now, but ill email you next week with more info on our area and whats going on here in calvario xela. Peace!!

Love

Elder McLeod 

5.30.16 CHANGES!!!

May 30, 2016

Hey everyone how's it going! I have changes!!!! It's always a little bit sad to leave an area/comp/investigators/favorite members, but for the most part i'm super excited! My health has been pretty bad here, haha just here I've lost about 18 pounds, but now I think I will be in a Xela or Toto, but I guess we will see tomorrow. This week was an awesome week for us, it was a great way to end the change, a lot of cool things happened.


             We had 2 people in church!!! 2 of our friends, Betsaida, and Seleny. Betsaida came for the first time, and she liked it! It was different for her, there were only 23 people in church, but over all I think she really liked it. Seleny came for the 2nd time, but sadly the atmosphere in the church of Ixta is very different from the atmosphere of a normal mormon church. If she lived in A large city where the church is big and the spirit is strong, she would already be a member, but here it's just a little bit harder to feel the spirit sometimes, so she still hasn't felt anything special in church. But that's ok, if she is supposed to be a member, she will be a member=)


            This week we went up to the wistas for the last time to have district meeting. We ate a big district lunch up there in our favorite little chinese food restaurant, it was a ton of fun, practically every companionship in our district is having changes, so it was the last time we were all together having fun.


              This week was the first time in the mission that I've had strep throat, I still can't really talk, haha but it's going away finally. We don't know what happened, but all of the sudden I just got the flu really badly, then my throat was just dead, but luckily it's finally going away. Haha it was pretty touch teaching/praying/talking in church with strep throat and no voice=) I'm sure I sounded pretty funny.


              One of our favorite investigator families made us a steak dinner last night to say goodbye to me=) It is a family of 4, there names are Billy and Dania, and their two kids are Billy and Christian. It was super fun, we ate steak, grilled chicken, and chorizos which are super good. It was fun, I love that family, hopefully one day they will have more desire to know if the church is true or not. I will send you pics next week.


              This week was a pretty good week for us, I'm definitely going to miss the humble people of San Idelfonso Ixtahuacan, I can't believe that my 5 months here will come to a close tonight. Well, I love all of you guys and hope that you have a great week of SUMMER BREAK! Haha well next week I'll let you know where I'll be ending my mission!=)

Elder McLeod