12.28.15 Another Quick Email After Chrismas

December 28, 2015

Hey everyone Merry Christmas!!! and Happy New Year, this week was an awesome week for us, we saw some HUGE miracles up here, we are even going to have a baptism this saturday!! we are running cuz there is some stuff we have to do, so here are some highlights.

             Carlos and Celica are progressing well, the 2 are past 1 nephi chapter 10 and have only had the book of mormon for 1 week! Carlos is in chapter 18, they are progressing super well. This week he has left with us everyday to go teach, he actually teaches with us and testifies of the truth of what we teach............. and he isn't a member............... and he looks kinda rough like gangs, but doesn't matter, he is a stud. He even told us this week what we do good and bad when we teach people...... haha this kids got a big head

              Diego had some evangelical prophet lady give him a paper with apostasy lies about the mormons, one of them being that the missionaries at night turn into wolves.............. how did she know. So, our lesson with him was just answering questions and explaining the lies that she fed him, but everything is good cuz this saturday he said that he is ready to be baptized.... super excited cuz my area here has not baptized since june!!!!

                This week my comp followed the spirit to contact a house way up on the side of the mountain. Turns out, the guy is late 20s, not married, doesn't go to any church, had a mormon cousin who died in an accident, and has always wanted to go to the mormon church to see how it is and what we teach..................... it was an inspired contact. He accepted to go to church this sunday with us while we were contacting him, we are visiting him friday.

                On my birthday, we were running around teaching and visiting that we didn't have anything planned dinner wise, but at 8 a random member called us and said that she had had a feeling to invite us over for dinner, a steak dinner, but she didn't know why, she didn't know it was my birthday, best surprise birthday steak dinner ever. The spirit works for everything!!

                  We had a ton of miracles this week, and a lot more things that i want to tell you, but there is no time. I love you all, hope that christmas was awesome, and i hope that new year's is even better!! We are doing well and we are in good health, i feel old now that i am 20, but honestly i haven't been thinking about it that much. Love you all, study those scriptures, and keep the sabbath day holy!!!

picture of me with a drunk byu fan wandering in the street

Love

Elder McLeod

12.21.15 Already The Week Of Christmas

December 21, 2015

Hey guys, sorry we were running around last week, we only had 5 minutes to get on literally, so i didn't get to write a bunch, but right now I have a little more time so i'll write some more. I can't believe that it's already christmas, it's crazy how fast the time is going!!! It has gotten really cold here, my comp is super sick with the flu, I hope that I don't catch it too. the markets here are crazy right now with all kinds of cool stuff, next monday we are going to go to the huge market in the center of Xela to go look around and maybe buy some stuff.

                This week was another awesome week for us. First of all this week we were able to find 13 news which was awesome, last week was also a great week with 12 news, we are super excited and working really hard. Someone that we found who is super positive is Carlos, an 18 year old guy from Honduras who lives here with his aunt and his cousins, we contacted them all and they are all reading the book of mormon right now!!!! They are super interested, but only Carlos could come to church this week. He stayed all 3 hours and loved it, haha he even already has some friends in the young women's group!!=)

                  Another family we have consists of Dali, Anna, and Olga. Olga is the mom, dali and ana are 25 ish and are the daughters of olga. They are all super catholic, but this week dali and ana read from the beginning of 1st nephi until chapter 10 so they are progressing well!! They came to our ward christmas party this week which was awesome, they are really good at basketball which is awesome because today the young single adults are going to be playing a game of basketball with them. They will be coming to church this sunday.

                 Another family that we contacted in the street consists of 5 people, the dad which we don't know, the mom, and their 3 kids. This week we taught all of them but the dad because he was working until late, we taught the restoration, they were super interested in the book of mormon and reading it, they said that they are going to read this week as a family which would be awesome!!!

              This week we had our ward christmas party which was a huge hit!! We brought 3 families of investigators with us which was such a huge miracle, and the members got pretty excited about it too which was awesome! All of the acts were great, but when we did our act everyone was dying!! We did minute to win it on the stage, and we invited families up from the audience to participate, it was hilarious!!!!! At the end of our act, we brought a cake out for the new sister from New Zealand who is sharing the area with us!!! Haha in Guatemala we do something which is called the mordida, where the companion pushes the birthday person's face into the cake!!! Well sister Fale from new zealand had never heard of nor seen the mordida before, so what happened was super funny!=) pictures below

                 I am super excited for christmas, we are going to be caroling in the villages at the base of the volcano, and to a bunch of less actives! There is a lot of service to be done in this epoca of the year, a lot of people are going to hear the gospel of christ!!!! I love the people here so much, they really are the descendants of the lamanites, and as they hear this gospel, it's like 2000 years of dust is being wiped out of their eyes, it really is one of the coolest things ever. I love the people here, and I also love all of you guys a ton, i hope that you guys have an awesome christmas, but to have a great christmas you have to focussed on the meaning of christmas=) Eat well, have fun, and we will talk next week!

Love ya

Elder McLeod

12.16.15 Running

December, 16, 2015

Hey everyone we are running around preparing our ward christmas party act, we are going to do minute to win it guys versus girls (couples) it's going to be sick. This week was awesome with lots of miracles, but monday i will be able to sit down and write, love you guys, have a great weekend!!!!

Elder McLeod

12.7.15 Xela Here We Go Again!!

December 7, 2015

 Well friends and family I got the call this week and it looks like President wants me back in Xela!!! I will be in Xela Centro, it's the zone with the mission office in it,  i am excited because my comp is a stud! His name is elder Guzman and he is also from my group!!! Really I think that I am only going to be with Latinos but its whatever, I am pumped but at the same time super super super sad that I won't be here the 19 for the baptisms.................... they will send me pics, but it's not the same, at least they will be baptized.  But it's crazy that we are already 1 week into december, less that 3 weeks until christmas!! It's craziness, this week was crazy also

            This week we had a ton of meetings............ first we had the multi zone meeting with Elder ochoa from the seventy. It was so cool, he is such a spiritual guy!! I learned a lot from him, he got us all really pumped up to go out and be better  missionaries. That was thursday, then friday we had to go to Xela for the conference with Elder Ochoa and just the Zone leaders.................... we were sure that a huge machete was coming, but it wasn't like that at all, he really helped us narrow down what exactly we need to teach to our zones, especially in this upcoming zone meeting that we will be having this week (now in Xela centro). Those 2 days were all day meetings, so not much was accomplished those days.

            Paola is doing really good, we are going fine for her baptism scheduled for the 19th. She is progressing perfectly, too bad I won't be here to see her get dunked=( But I am pumped for it, she is getting baptized for sure!!!

            This week our sacrament meeting attendance got cut in half because everyone went on vacation, but not just the members went on vacation, almost all of the investigators also................ haha well can't really fight that, but we did have a few there with us sunday, just not a bunch. This week was an ok week, we did have about 3 huge meetings which was rough and we finished a huge service project, so there weren't as many lessons as usual, but we did find some news, new families which is good.

               There really isn't that much to report, all is well and we are in great health. I am nervous for the changes, for my area and companion, When I email you guys next week I will be in Xela. WE are short on time, I love you guys a bunch, I hope that you are all preparing for the christmas season, we are super excited up here because we are going to do a huge mission wide activity for christmas!! Love you guys a ton, have a great second week in december, we will talk next week

Love

Elder McLeod   

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