Well another week has flown by, it seems like yesterday I was in Utah in the MTC!!! haha crazy, the mission is such a blast, loving it!! This week me and the kid had a lot of ups and down, but a lot more ups than last week that's for sure. Here we go
I guess I will start with something awesome, so this week we visited with Lilly and Dorus, the 2 single ladies that live together with their kids, (mother, son daughter, and her daughters kids). We have been teaching them for a while now, but they still haven't been baptized. Lilly just needs permission from her catholic husband who is in the US and won't give permission, and Dorus just needs to marry her boyfriend, other than that they are ready for baptism. We taught about baptism and its importance, and now they understand and are working towards baptism. BUT, the son of Dorus can be baptized, so we asked him the baptism questions and he passed everything........ long story short he is going to be baptized this friday!!! The actual interview is Tuesday, he is super smart, no doubt he is ready, so it looks like the kid and I are going to have our first baptisms together! One day Lilly and Dorus will be baptized, they both admit every time that they know without a doubt that it is a true, they just need to prepare to be baptized.
This week we had our branch conference which was awesome! We had over 150 people which was the biggest ever. We had a bunch of awesome musical numbers by the young women and the primary, the spirit was there and it was great for our little branch. I still have the opportunity to play the piano in sacrament meeting every sunday, haha at first it felt like more pressure, but now I realize it is a blessing! I am glad cuz now I won't forget how to play, and I love to see people stop singing in sacrament so they can sit there for a second in their tears, it is awesome to see members here in our little branch feel the spirit and strengthen their testimonies, it strengthens mine also.
Hector is progressing really well. This week we went to go and visit/teach him. When we got there, he spent 15 minutes just thanking us through his tears, I don't know how we hold ourselves together anymore haha. When he had thanked us, we began to express our love to him and how his life is going to change/be super blessed, and he began to bawl and bear testimony to us, WOW HOW POWERFUL IT WAS! We taught the restoration to him and he accepted it all without a doubt, after we invited him to read the book of mormon and pray about it, this was his response, I promise you boys that I will read this book every single night and that I will pray about it to God and ask of its truthfulness, I promise you that, my word is my promise, and my word never lies. he is progressing very well, we just need to get him to go to church, that is the hardest part, that is the hardest part for every investigator.
This week we received a really crazy reference from a member, the biggest church here in cantel is the Battaniye with over 400 members that assist every sunday!!! We received a reference from a member for the pastor of the Battania, we went and contacted his house and he was there! We talked for a while and he was super nice, turns out that he has a friend in Xela that he has worked with for 12 years that is a stake president over there in Xela! He said that they are best friends and that he wouldn't mind talking to us missionaries. He invited us over this next monday afternoon at 3 and even gave us his personal cell number. We aren't going to bash or anything, we are really going to pray and prepare to teach him with the spirit. We are going to continue to pray for miracles and maybe this next monday at 3 we will witness a miracle. If not, so be it, but we've got faith that if it is his time to feel the spirit and make a change in his life, it will happen.
This week we had a ton of great lessons and a lot of people are reading the book of mormon. The only difficult part is getting the people to assist church, this sunday we have a lot of people that have committed to coming, hopefully they will pull through and end up coming. My comp and I are doing really good, he is already teaching really well and uses his testimony a ton which is great. He is already getting accustomed to Guatemala and the missionary life, he is every trainer's dream.
This week was a week of hard work like last week, but this week we saw a little bit more of the payoffs than we did last week. Juan Garcia and his wife are progressing like crazy and are going to be baptized in May, they just need to continue to strengthen their faith and keep assisting church. Out of all of our investigators, right now we have what looks like 4 people that are ready to be baptized, I just hope that I am here when it happens.
Thanks you guys for your prayers and your email, I love hearing from as many people as possible!! Love you all, have a great week and don't forget to hit up the temple at least once a week if possible!
Sincerely,
Elder McLeod
