Last Message

Here's my last message…I love you all!!!

I'm going back to Esperanza with Elder Martinez like right now!!!

Love,

Elder Lott

That was it...short and sweet!  A special thanks to all who have followed Elder Lott through this precious mission experience.  He will be reporting his mission in the Woods Cross 11^th Ward (1335 West 1500 South, Woods Cross) on Sunday, June 18^th (Father’s Day).  Our Sacrament Meeting starts at 1:00 p.m.

Only one more pday and a baptism!

There is only one more pday after this and then I get home. Can you even believe that???  I'm pretty anxious!

My interview with President Crapo was super awesome. He talked to me about the flight plan and what's going to happen this last week.  We talked about dating and marriage of course and we also talked about like 7 tips that will keep me on track always so it was really neat!

Getting to the mission office was an adventure cause neither of us really knew how to get there but luckily we made it.  We had to take like 4 buses to get there and cross through like 5 zones but we made it.  President Crapo will soon be released and goes home on the 30th of June, I think. He didn’t invite us to lunch but I invited my companion to Wendy's and we ate like kings.

I think I'm gonna go back to Esperanza with Elder Martinez and maybe make a quick stop by Las Ilusiones to say goodbye to David and Janet because it's right next to it.  It will be fun to go back with Elder Martinez because everyone loved us a ton so it will be fun to go back together!! 

Monday is going to be crazy busy!  We have to go the sixth avenue to buy souvenirs and then head out to Esperanza and we will be running the whole day but I will still try to write you.  My companion is going to have to write so we'll have to make some time in there.

I haven't started emptying my suitcases yet but I definitely need to do that....

YESSSSSS this Tuesday we have the conference with Elder Renlund and we are PUMPED!! We have to wake up tomorrow super early but it's so worth it.  The conference is back in Zona 9 in the chapel in Montufer.... that really doesn't mean anything to you guys but that's where we're headed. At least we know part of the way because that’s where the mission offices are in Zona 9.... I'm not sure where Montufer is but we'll make it.  We have to get up at 4:30 to make it to our stake center at 6:30 and head out from there with the other missionaries!

Guess what!  We had a baptism this last Saturday!! By surprise!!!  Her name is Adric and she's 16.  She was a reference from the members and it was awesome!  In like two weeks we went through ALL the lessons.  She was super ready to receive the gospel!  It was soooooo awesome!!!

It’s been a good week with the interview with president and the baptism as the big highlights

Well, we’re off!  We're going shopping and my companion is going to cut his hair and then off to play soccer!  I'm so excited to see everyone and will be there before you know it!

Love,

Elder Lott

It's real...I'm coming home!

I just got a copy of my travel itinerary.  I’m honestly super excited.  I can´t believe how close it is. It’s so crazy!  I have my final interview with president this Thursday!   I´m not sure if they send a taxi but if not we go by bus.  The mission office is in Zona 9.  It’s at 12... I´m hoping he´ll give me lunch haha!  

My companion is enjoying doing all of these fun end-of-mission things with me.  It´s pretty fun for him, I think! I wish I could have been with a missionary that was finishing his mission because there are lots of fun things to do at the end like going to the sexta and central market and I think they take us to the zoo before going home.  Sexta is sixth in Spanish and it´s the sixth avenue where there´s a whole street of just stores to buy fun things.  AND, I get to go to one of my areas to say good-bye.   I get to pick the area but I can´t go outside of the capital back to Zacapa because it´s too far away.  I just don´t know where I want to go...I want to go back to all of my areas and say goodbye to EVERYONE.

I spend the last day of the mission in the Assistant´s house with all the missionaries that are finishing the mission and then the assistants take us to the airport in the morning!  I´ll be with Elder Vasquez for my last day in the mission... Crazy huh?

This week has been pretty normal... Running around visiting all our investigators and helping the members!   We helped a cute little old lady weed her garden.  We helped put a roof on a house and we helped one of our converts paint her house…tons of crazy things!

Yesterday we visited our baptismal dates that we have for these next couple of months and went to church and everything!  We saw the couple that is working on getting married.  They´re super excited for their wedding.  They just need to save up a little money and make some invitations so I probably won´t get to see them get married…the next missionaries will be able to enjoy the wedding and the baptism :)

Today were going to clean the house and do some grocery shopping and then play some soccer if we still have time haha!

I will see you all soon!

Love,

Elder Lott

I love Guatemala so much!

All is going super well!! We had our baptism this last Saturday!!  There were tons of members there to support her and her family came and I got to baptize her and it was really neat.  I was surprised that she asked me to baptize her too because she has a friend here in the ward that could have baptized her but it was awesome.  I don't really have any good pictures but I did snag a couple and I'll get those to you guys probably next week cause I don't have my camera....

I love watching the gospel change lives.  She was going through a hard time too and said the gospel has really blessed her life and now her and her sister are like helping each other and encouraging each other and its super awesome!

The work is going super well. We invited 4 people to be baptized this last week. 2 in June and 2 in July... the two in July have to get married so we pushed the date back a little for them but we're having tons of success in our area and President Crapo told us that our area is an example for the whole mission. 

Recent spiritual experience.... well the family that we invited to be baptized on Saturday was a pretty spiritual experience. They have been going to church for a while but they're not married so they haven't been baptized so we share a little story from the Book of Mormon that talks about goals and helped them set goals and now they're going to get married in June and baptized in July. Also one of the families that Elder Goodwin and I were working with in Lomas del Norte got baptized on Saturday after a long journey and lots of hard work and effort... that was super special... I didn't get to go because we had a baptism but Elder Goodwin got to go and baptize the Mom I believe... super special!

Elder Renlund is the Apostle coming for the multi-mission conference on June 6^th.  I’m super excited! It will be such a great experience!  When Elder Rasband came, it was the greatest and this will be with like 3 other missions!

Your weather has been crazy.  You think it’s finally summer there are we are entering the rainy season right now... it gets a little chilly in the night but I think it will probably be just about the perfect transition as far as heat goes hahaha!

I don’t have my travel information but President Crapo sent my goals sheet last week.  I just started working on it today... so weird to be working on this...

I love Guatemala so much.

See you soon!

Elder Lott

Mother's Day 2017

Last week was pretty good!! It went by like SUPER quick. We had lots to do so it flew by.  We have been working and helping our investigators and looking for new investigators and all that fun stuff!

We had stake conference yesterday and President Crapo came!  It was a super good conference! We had to wake up at 5 in the morning to make it by bus to the stake center by 8 but it was a great conference. We heard from President and Sister Crapo and then from the Second counselor in the temple presidency here in Guatemala and it was super awesome. They gave great talks. President Crapo talked about getting rid of bad habits and why it´s important and Sister Crapo talked about choosing to be happy through whatever circumstance. The gentleman from the temple presidency spoke about the temple and the importance of making the temple a part of our lives and why it will help us.  There were lots of good talks. 

Mother’s Day is on Wednesday here in Guatemala so I can call any day this week.  We are going to borrow a tablet from one of the members and go to the chapel I think so you guys choose the day and the hour and I´ll be there!!  My companion is going to talk to his Mom tomorrow so I guess I´ll see how he does it and then I´ll just do the same thing hahaha.

Love,

Elder Lott

We were kind of able to talk with Elder Lott today (Saturday) for our Mother’s Day call.  They often get invitations for dinner while at church on Sunday so it’s hard for him to schedule time, get equipment and call on Sunday.  He was a little pixelated and sometimes blurry and always difficult to hear but it was him and we were happy to have a face to face conversation--truly a Mother’s Day treasure! We are counting the days to his return but he is really trying to stay focused.  He is happy and healthy and looking forward to a baptism next Saturday.  He loves Guatemala and has mixed emotions about his mission coming to an end. 

He will be reporting his mission in the Woods Cross 11^th Ward (1335 West 1500 South, Woods Cross) on Sunday, June 18^th (Father’s Day).  Our Sacrament Meeting starts at 1:00 p.m.

I'M STAYING!!!

I GET TO STAY WITH MY COMPANION!!!!!  YESSSSS!!!!!  I was so happy!!  We´re going to have an awesome last transfer.  So, needless to say, I´m doing mighty fine.  I feel good and I’m happy and our area is doing good and everything is just going super good.   I really think we´ll have an awesome last transfer.  I didn’t get the packet for my return.  Supposedly it comes like 3 weeks from the end. I’m pretty sure that all comes through email and I think that will come within the next couple weeks but I´ll keep you guys posted for sure.

Investigator progress... just a little while ago we baptized a girl and now we are teaching her sister. It was super cool because we invited her to her sister’s baptism and then she felt the Spirit and she´s super interested now so she´s progressing super quick!!

There are 2 sister missionaries in our zone, one companionship! Most of the sister missionaries are serving outside of the capital though for the danger that there is here inside the capital.

Do you wanna know why I haven’t sent any pictures lately? Because ALL of my pictures... I´m talking EVERY SINGLE ONE of my pictures got deleted on my memory card.  It was the worst day of my life but luckily I found a member that had a card recovery program and he was able to recover the pictures.  Such a blessing!  Here are some pictures of our temple trip like not last thursday but the thursday before. 

 (I'm pretty sure this is his companion...Elder Doñas)

 Elder Goodwin

 

 

Remember Elder Figueroa!  We were serving in the same zone but he had transfers.  

He's going to Zona La Laguna tomorrow! 

 

 This other gringo is Elder Wilde.  He's from Sandy.

The session was in Spanishhhhh!  I only speak Spanishhhhhh!  I can´t speak English!  I can only write in English!  Hahaha  (I’m starting to question his ability to write in English!  I hope we don’t need a translator when he returns :)

I will only get to go to the temple one more time with President and the other missionaries that are going home.  I LOVE the TEMPLE!

Hey but I probably gotta head...we´re going to go do some grocery shopping and then to play soccer.

Love,

Elder Lott

40 Day Fast

How is everyone?  I'm doing great! My week has been good! Nothing too crazy, a pretty normal week with lots of work! We have been focusing more on recent converts and less actives right now and in strengthening their testimonies so they can be firm in the gospel.  By doing so we usually find family members or friends there in their houses that are interested in the gospel which is super fun.

It’s like home teaching but home teaching here isn`t a big thing. They`re trying to get the members to do it and encourage them and everything but it`s kind of hard to get the members to go out and do visits.  Let’s just say I have a new appreciation for home teaching!  You really don`t even have to do very much. More than anything it`s just the sacrifice in time.

Our mission is doing a 40 day fast.  We have done these before and it`s a pretty cool experience. You should try it!  What we do is we have a fast for certain things we would like to change or improve on and then we focus on those things for the next 40 days to try to improve or get rid of bad habits or anything like that!  For example, if a missionary struggles with bad words, he`ll focus on that for 40 days! I’m fasting to improve my ability to respond to promptings the first time and not wait for the second prompting.

My companion and I are doing great! I`m really hoping and praying I get to stay with him my last transfer.  Next Sunday we`ll have the transfer assignments.  We are six days away from finding out about transfers.  Then April is over and we start May.  This will be my last transfer. I can`t even believe it!

I bought a quadruple in Spanish. It is so cool!  I only read in Spanish now.  I just read in English when I read letters. I don’t have to study Spanish anymore. It just comes naturally. I feel like I’ve worked hard though to get my Spanish to where it`s at and I’m proud of what I`ve been able to learn. I will probably have a little bit of an accent honestly but we`ll see.  I think you’ll all still be able to understand me.  I’ll definitely be able to help Riley with his Spanish class hahaha!  I’m pretty sure I can still speak English.  There may be a few Spanish words mixed in there.

My heart doesn`t know where it`s at. It`s so excited to see you guys and finally be reunited but it also doesn`t want to leave behind everything that it has come to absolutely love here.  I think I’ll just have to come back to Guatemala soon!

But hey, I gotta jet.  I love you guys more than you can imagine. We have plans today to go to Walmart and Metronorte to eat lunch. It should be pretty fun I guess! I think we`ll meet up with a couple of missionaries over there like Elder Goodwin and stuff so that`s cool!

Until next week…LOVE,

Elder Lott