11.23.15 Week Before Thanksgiving

November 23, 2015

Hey all my gringos how's it going! I hope everythings great over there in AZ. Right now we are running a little bit so there isn't a ton of time to write, so i might just do bullet points

            Visited with Carlos y Eveline, right now they don't live together and she actually might not want to get married to him after all.............. huge gamechanger, so she might actually be baptized soon............. we will see what happens, she told us that she wants to be baptized because she KNOWS that it is God's true church.

           New investigator Angeline went with the youth to the coast for their huge youth activity, she has a baptism date for the end of december, she is progressing well.

          This week we had our huge ward mission activity, the activity that the missionaries do. We had 27 families there!!!! 2 whole families of less active, 1 complete family of investigators, and about 5 other investigators, it was an awesome turn out!!!! I thought it would be funny to do a MINUTE TO WIN IT type game night, so that is what we did=) It was hilarious watching these people do super funny things in a minute, everyone loved it and everyone participated which was awesome. the families were winning points for their families determined by  those who won the activities, 1st place, 2nd place, 3rd place, etc. at the end , the 3 families who had the most points won 1st place, 2nd place, or third place. First place won meet the mormons the movie, a bunch of food and candy, and other stuff. 2nd place won the movie and a good amount of food . 3rd place won the movie and a tiny bit of candy. 1st place also won a trophy that says THE SUPER FAMILY OF WARD CALVARIO. It was a huge success, the bishop said that they are going to do the activity  every 3 months and the trophy will go with and stay with the family that wins until the next activity. It was awesome, we took a ton of pictures, but right now I don't have any, next monday I will send some.

                This week as a zone we had 5 baptisms!!! We were the most baptizing zone in the whole mission this week! We are super excited, everyone is working so hard and we really feel like a big family. Tomorrow in district meeting we are going to reward them big time=)

                 My comp and I get along really well, we are doing super well and we have a ton in common. Every night we end up talking until it gets pretty late, honestly he is probably one of the best comps I have ever had, and he is from my group!

                 I love the mission!!! everything is awesome. I haven't gotten the package yet but I am sure that it is in the mission office waiting to be brought up here to me the 3rd of Dec. I've got to go, love you all, I am doing great and am in great health, the church is true, i feel my testimony growing everyday from this gospel!! Have an awesome week, like my good friend from Hawaii says, Give em that good heaven!!!!

Elder McLeod

11.16.15 Just Workin

November 16 2015

Me dressed in the prettiest flag ever on top of Lamanite Temple

Hey everyone hope you all had an awesome week! I am sure that  right now in AZ that the weather is perfect, I don't know why but here the weather hasn't really changed, it still feels like summer here. Well I don't have a ton of time so I'm gonna give the update now

                Eveline and Carlos are doing great, this week eveline bore us her testimony! It was awesome, she knows that this church is so true. They both came to church on Sunday, they have a date to be married in December.

                Asusena is doing great, we are also working on marriage arrangements with her and her less active companion. Their marriage is scheduled for the first week in January.

                This week was a good week for us, we were able to find 15 new investigators! It was awesome, and mostly from just talking to everyone in the street here, references from members are very very few). My comp and I were also able to teach a lot of lessons and put some more baptisms dates! All of them are for December right now, hopefully I am here for them.

                   Our zone is killing it right now, exciting things are happening! Recently a couple of new families have been baptized which is really exciting, things are happening which is good. This pday we went to the lamanite ruins of Zaculeu again, it was super fun, really cool tourist attraction.

                 My comp and I are doing great, we are in great health and are working hard. Sometimes we get a little stressed out, but all in all it's been a blast these last 3 weeks with him. He has a  huge desire to learn english so recently we have been studying english a lot, he is actually learning really fast and loves it, it's super fun/funny listening to him work hard at pronouncing the words correctly.

               Well personal update, I am progressing really well in my studies and am learning a ton every day. Haha i've also been progressing well in just teaching the people, it's been super fun being able to just walk into a lesson with my comp and just follow the promptings that we get, there aren't any nerves or anything, The best feeling is when we are in the middle of a lesson just teaching by promptings we get and i look at the faces of the investigators and they are just staring at us intensely very interested, you can just see in in their eyes that they can feel something different, they are actually feeling the spirit right in front of your eyes. THat is one of the coolest moments in all of the mission.

                  I love you guys a ton, this week was a success, but I feel like this next week will have even more oportunidades in store for us. I love the work, it goes by fast which isn't good, but every moment is special, even when you have to hike up a really steep paped road in the hot sun, they are unforgettable moments! Have an awesome week, thank you to those who are praying for the people that we teach and for us, you guys are the best!!

love

Elder McLeod

mayan descendants worshipping mayan Gods at the base of the Mayan temple

11.9.15 A Week of Huge Miracles

November 9, 2015

Hey fam and friends, hope you guys all had great weeks, I also hope that you are starting to get your christmas trees up because if you haven't, the Guatemalan people beat you. Thats right, all of the people you have money already have their trees up,so if you haven't put it up yet, it's time. Like the title says, we had some sweet miracles this week, here we go

               Miracle number one, Brenda. So my comp and I were praying for a miracle with Brenda so that she wouldn't have to move down to Xela and then come back in january. So this week when we were on divisions, another Elder and I were walking close to Brenda's house when I just got this feeling that we should go knock on her door (we had thought that she had already left for Xela like she had told us she was going to). So i knock on the door and this random guy answers and says, oh the mormons!! Brenda is next door if you'd like to go talk to her. So we went next door, where she was cleaning this other lady's house!!! I asked her why she wasn't in Xela, and she said, Well I got really sick this week and had to go to the hospital where they informed me that I have arthritis and that I need to take special medicine right now, where I live in Xela this medicine does not exist, So I am going to have to stay here for a while. HUGE MIRACLE!!!!!! So long story short, Brenda is still in the game!!! She is super young, (like 34) and she is super sick, it's not a good thing, but the lord works in mysterious ways=) She came to church again and said that everything is true, her daughter even participated in the primary program!!! Super Sick family,getting baptized for sure in weeks we pray!!

                 Miracle number two, Asusena. So this week when we were finishing the lesson with her, she told us out of nowhere, Can I bear my testimony with you guys? Well yes you can............. so she did,, I have been having to massage my baby boy because his body is not growing properly. This week we went to the hospital to see what else we can do, but all they said to us was that he is going to need surgery big time. So, I went home super sad, but I did what you guys said I should do If I feel like this, and I opened the book of mormon and read a bunch, and then I prayed for help. My baby is now perfectly ok, in 1 week everything went away after I read and Prayed, I know this book is true and I know that this church is true.                   Crying my eyes out this lady has a testimony=) Still can't get baptized because they aren't married. Work in progress.

                Right now our zone is killing it, we are progressing amazingly and us and the district leaders are super tight, one is even from seattle washington, he's a stud.

                My comp and I are doing really well, we are working super hard and we are showing faith and doing everything right, but it just seems like a never ending battle to find positive people. We have been searching and searching, but without much luck. So we have been struggling a little bit due to that, but we will continue to focus on our positive investigators (the chosen investigators), and on finding new people.

                 We are working hard, right now there isn't a ton to report other than the miracles that we had this week. Below I am posting some pics.Love you guys, have an awesome week, keep studying the scriptures!!

Love

ELder McLeod

11.2.15 New Comp and New Zone

November 2, 2015

Hey everyone hope you had a crazy halloween, I was expecting a sweet halloween tradition here in Huehue but I was let down, the catholics just did their saint stuff and did a small prayer thing in the park, then went to paint the cemetery, and at 2 in the morning everyone went to go and sing/serenade their girlfriends, haha it's a lot better in Gilbert=) But besides the wimpy Halloween tradition here, this week was an awesome week for my new comp and I, we found a ton of new families to teach and we are super stoked!

             My new comps name is elder Galicia, he is from el salvador and is also from my group!!! He is a super sick guy, this is his first change as a zone leader so he is super excited, I'm excited too because I knew him in Xela, we were in the same zone for a couple of months and we got to know each other really well. This week we worked harder than ever and we found a lot of new families so we are super excited to work here together.

Elder Galicia and Elder McLeod

             Asusena and Mario are doing well, we are figuring out marriage stuff for them, so this week we are going to be busy calling the lawyer who is a stake president and working with him to try and get them married, hopefully by next day we will know how long the wait will be!

             Carlos and Eveline are doing really well too, this week they went on vacation so we didn't really get to teach them, but we did get to help them paint a room in their house to prepare for their kids birthday party. After we painted the room, Carlos took me aside and said something really cool to me, he said, Elder McLeod thanks so much for your help, my wife and I have been talking a lot lately about how much we love your church, you guys all love service and are so friendly, we really love going to church with you guys, I don't feel this way about my church, the catholic church, or the evangelic church, my wife's church, your church is very different, and we love it.     Wow, I was super pumped after he told me that!!!! They are progressing well, But they will have to get married too which could take some time.

               So big news, Brenda our street contact a week ago, the young mother of 2 daughters, came to church with us for all 3 hours! She absolutely loved it, as soon as sacrament meeting ended, the bishops 5 year old daughter ran over and took brenda's daughter by the hand and took her off to class/go play!! IT was great, and then the relief society came over and just practically carried her to class with them. At the end of the block meeting, we walked Brenda and her daughter home, on the way I asked her how she had felt in church, her response was our miracle of the week. She said, I just had this really strong feeling in my heart the whole time, I don't know what it was, I just can't describe it, but it's a really good feeling. I then asked her, what does that feeling mean Brenda? She replied, It was telling me that right there is the truth. Where I was, and what I was learning, was the truth. It was such a huge miracle!!!!! She wants to be a member, the thing is that she leaves for Xela this week to visit her family and won't return until January............................ I won't be here for her baptism, but At least I was able to be here for her spiritual confirmation.

                THis week was an awesome week for us, we had a ton of lessons, and we found a ton of new people. This week we had a setback on sunday because of the cemetery catholic tradition thing, a lot of investigators did not come to church because they went to bring flowers to their dead in the cemetery................. even a third of our ward went................. apostasy but its whatever.

                      The mission is awesome, I am loving every bit of it, the time is just passing super fast which is the sad part. I can't wait until one day when I will be able to come back and visit these people and cry with the families that Iv helped become part of the church!!!!! I love the people here, I hope that this week we have some more spiritual experiences with some of these families! Keep the faith, until next week, love you all.

Elder McLeod

10.26.15 A Crazy Week But No Time To Write About It

October, 26, 2015

Hey family and everyone that I love!! Right now I am in xela because my comp is becoming the new assistant to the president, he is super excited, I know that he is going to kill it!! So I am here in the church offices using the secretaries computer. Today we didn't have pday, so I only have 5 minutes to right, so i'm going fast!

                So my comp got the call, he is going to be an assistant, my new comp is elder Galicia who is a super sick guy from honduras who has just as much time as I do, he is a new zone leader so i will be training him, so excited!!

                This week our zone killed it! Everyone progressed really well in their areas and we found a ton of new families to teach that are super positive/ pilas!

               Got some wendy's today in Xela, so good

               Geronimo and Janet made huge steps this week, he finally said that he would read, he got over his pride and told us that he is going to read! His wife was so pumped that she started clapping!

               Esgar, a guy that we rarely can visit with due to his schedule, told us this week that he is going to read and pray everyday! We are excited because he wasn't even that positive, but now he is going to read and pray everyday, could be a miracle.

              We have to go, sorry guys, we are doing so good, I am happy, healthy, and working hard! I am loving the mission, I love when president smith teaches us and especially has meetings or talks with me, He is such a spiritual guy who is guided by the spirit always. Well, looks like i've got to shut off, tomorrow is changes, and by noon we will be back in Huehue working hard! Have faith and the Lord will bless you, show your faith and the Lord will bless you with what you want. Love you all, keep the faith!

Elder McLeod

10.19.15 Week 5 of "The Change"

October, 19, 2015

Hey everyone how's it going, hope you all had an awesome week! So this week was week 5 of the change, every change is 6 weeks for those who don't know, so changes are in a week from tomorrow. I think we aren't going to have changes, but my comp thinks that he is gone for sure, we will see what happens. This week was a good week with a lot of interesting things that happened.

           So before we had gone to visit eveline and carlos again, we heard from a member that they weren't very excited anymore and that they weren't interested, which kinda freaked us out. So we went and taught them the ultimate lesson, the secret weapon, temples and eternal marriages. Boom, they are back on the map and want to get married in the temple!!! They were stoked after the lesson and told us that they were going to ^^talk^^ more about it as a couple later, and then when eveline ended the visit with the prayer, she said in her prayer, God please help us so that we can become part of your...................... amen. THe thing is,before the lesson she had told us that she hadn't received her answer yet, but in the prayer she almost asked God for help so that they could join his true church!!! Needless to say, they came to church on Sunday for the full 3 hours, big blessing, and they are continuing to progress well.

          This week we did divisions with the assistants which was a blast! They are so smart and it was really cool getting to watch how they contact, teach certain lessons, plan, and do other things, it's always nice to be able to learn from them and always find ways to improve. Since we are more than 2 hours away from Xela, they both were with us in our area and ended up staying the night with us which was sick. This change we will be getting a new assistant because Elder Bryan, from payson Arizona is ending his mission, so we will see what happens.

           Jeffry came to church again this week which was awesome, he is a lot more friendly and comfortable with the members and in our principles of the gospel class. He even came with us to a baptism that the other ward was having in our chapel. He is progressing really well, his baptism is scheduled for this saturday but we are thinking that it might have to change. He hasn't received his answer yet, if anything 1 or two more weeks might be needed.

            This week Asusena and her boyfriend who is less active came to church, making it the 2nd week in a row!! THis week we taught her about eternal families also, and then she told us that she wants to be baptized!!! She received her answer and now wants to be baptized and enter the temple, but the problem is that we need to marry Mario, (her boyfriend), and her! But to make it a little bit more complicated, Mario is still married to some random lady, they both want to get divorced, but the process here in guatemala is ridiculously long........... so it might be 4 months they say............ but we will keep praying and teaching her.

              Today we don't have a whole lot of time, so this email might be a little short. I attached a picture our zone below, we love all 14 of them!!! Best zone in the mission. I am learning a lot every day and my testimony is always growing, this week my testimony grew a little bit more on the subject of eternal families and temple marriages, It's crazy how true it is and how important it is too!!!! And it's all in the scriptures which is the best part, the family is the 2nd most important thing in the plan of God, 1 jesus christ, 2 eternal families. We can not be saved, (have exaltation), without our families, it's as simple as that! I feel like I am growing so much and preparing myself for the life that is ahead of me. Like they say, right now we are in the school of how to become Gods, and right now as a missionary I am applying for external scholarships!!! I love you guys so much, keep the faith, share the gospel, and write me back, that would be awesome=) Have an awesome week, the next time I right you I will know if I'll be having changes or not.

Love

ELder McLeod

ps. below is a picture of our monthly meeting with president, the assistants, and the hermana leaders

10.12.15 Top Of The World

October 12, 2015

Hey everybody hope you had an awesome week!!!! It's crazy to think that october is almost halfway over, it's almost halloween! My comp and I were talking about that the other day and he told me that we should dress up as jehovah's witnesses for halloween................ haha not gonna happen but it would be hilarious. This week we had a bunch of cool experiences, and like the title of the email says, we went to the top of the world.

             So Eveline is progressing really well, this sunday she came with us to stake conference and she really liked it!! Her husband had to work which was a bummer, but at least she came with her 2 boys and stayed the 2 hours with us, it was awesome. She is progressing really well, she struggles with her book of mormon study because of how busy she is with her 2 little boys, but we are helping her and I know that she will receive her answer

            Jeffrey is also progressing really well, he also came to stake conference with us which was great, he, like eveline, is having a little bit of trouble keeping up in his book of mormon study, but we get him pumped and ready to go every time we visit him, he seems really excited and he really wants to get his answer.

             This week one of our investigators cousins died, so we went to go and visit the family of his deceased cousin. His cousin was the only other member of the church in their whole family, so his 22 year old deceased cousin's mom has a lot of questions. We went and visited them, they are inactive catholics, and they are a family of 5!! We explained a little bit about the family and the importance of it in God's plan and they invited us over this week to teach them some more.

              On Saturday and Sunday our mission president came up to Huehue to teach in the stake conference sessions. Saturday he came up and taught the priesthood session which was awesome, he really called all of our youth to action, there might have been a little machete, but for the most part it was great.

               Today for Pday we went with our district to the mirador, up in the cuchumatones, the highest mountains in Guatemala. It took us like 45 minutes of just pure switchbacks in a microbus to get up to the huge old wooden cabin that stands right on the top overlooking all of the valley. When we got up there we could see our breath in the air! We could see all of Huehue, and even all the way to Xela! We could see the volcanos from Xela and the other mountains, it was super fun, it really was a breathtaking sight. like i said, on the sight there is this huge dilapidated cabin overlooking the valley, so of course we climbed up in it and took some pics! I attached some below.

                  My comp and I are doing really well. We are working hard, and we are teaching a lot of families, not just single people which is a huge blessing. Miraculously, we have been able to find a lot of them just by contacting in the street, we have really seen some of the fruits of our labors. THis week was another great week for us, but it's still going to be a long process here. Thank you all for your love and your prayers, hope you all have a great week.

With love,

Elder McLeod