Last week in the CCM

Sorry for the delay in posting Elder Lott’s email.  Royal and I have been on trek this week.  It was an awesome experience!  I did get a few answers to some questions.  His letter makes more sense if you know what the questions were so they are in italics.

Last week in the CCM!! I've made it!! This far at least ;) I will head to the mission home and from there I will be assigned a companion and start the work in the field. I cannot even wait. That's crazy.

Will you spend a few days in the Mission Home?  Have you even met President and Sister Crapo?

I haven't seen the President or his wife...and I'm not sure if I'll spend any time in the mission home.. We'll see I guess! 

Tell me about the market.  Do they have granola bars and snacks like we have here?  Is the market just like a grocery store?

The market was definitely a new experience.... It was kind of dirty and gross but at the same time like one of the nicer markets they had... So that was interesting... We got to eat candy and stuff though so that was definitely a highlight... I was able to checkout in Spanish so that's awesome! But yes the market just had tons of snacks and candy like a grocery store kind of! 

Tell me about the bugs...are you seeing lots of mosquitos or bed bugs?  Are they causing you any problems?

I haven't had any problems with bugs at all yet.. But we've had several firesides concerning our safety with the bugs so I'm sure I'll see more of it out in the field... But I’m ready! I'm well prepared!! 

How's your stomach dealing with the change in food?

The first couple weeks my stomach was a little upset but now it's totally good... Nothing bothering me anymore... The food is... alright... nothing better though hahah ;)

I'm doing my best out here! We get to hear from a member of the 70 tonight! I'll tell you all about it next week in THE FIELD!!!

Tell everybody I love them so much and really appreciate the prayers and support

Love,

Elder Lott

CCM Life is slowing down...

Brayden will be leaving the MTC for his mission in two weeks.  If you would like to have a letter waiting at the mission home, you can send it through the church pouch. The instructions are…lay the letter blank side down.  Fold the bottom of the letter about one-third of the way up the page and crease.  Fold the top of the letter to the bottom of the first fold and crease.  Secure the long side with two pieces of tape about one inch in from each end, but do not seal the ends.  Write your name and complete return address in the top left corner.  Affix first class postage in the top right corner.  In the middle write his missionary address:

Elder Brayden D Lott

Guatemala Guatemala City East Mission

POB 30150

Salt Lake City UT  84130-0150

His letter this week was short.  He assured me that he was spending a great deal of time in prayer and continually improving his relationship with Heavenly Father.  He was able to go to the market and replenish his snack supply and he is brushing and flossing his teeth.  He also acknowledged that he has a mother who worries.

Elder Lott writes:

Sun is shining but then again we have been getting quite the rainstorms. Let me tell you, when it rains here... It RAINS. Streets flood and it gets crazy. When it's sunny though it's nice so you just have to wait it out.

CCM life is starting to slow down... We sent off the older kids and we became the old kids and that was crazy.... Only 2 weeks left! But no new victims of the clippers hahaha 

Just gotta make it to the field and then I'll have lots more crazy stories for you! My companions are still good! One is a goofball but he's doing pretty good! None of my companions are staying with me. Most of them are going to Honduras and one is going to El Salvador. 

I hope all is well.

Love,
Elder Lott

First Temple Visit - MTC District

Nothing eventful happened this week... I think the most eventful thing was that we gave Elder Massey a haircut and none of us knew what we were doing so we all kind of passed the hair clipper around and did some damage but it ended up actually turning out okay hahaha too funny. We also got to go to the temple today! We just got back actually! Thankfully President Cox does the session and we can do it in English cause I don't know enough Spanish yet haha. I'm getting there though. The Spanish is actually working out really well. I'm making more and more progress every day--it's awesome. It's crazy how real the gift of tongues is!

The weather is perfect right now. There's usually a lot of cloud cover and some random rain and then the temperature is perfect. When the sun is directly on you it can be a little hot but it's not too crazy at all! The night time I've been sleeping with no blankets--it gets pretty hot in our room... So nope the weather is either pretty nice or a little too warm but I'm definitely not complaining haha one of my teachers is actually from Guatemala City East and I talk to him about weather and stuff and he says I'm going to love it so that's awesome! Short sleeves ALL the time! 

We eat lots of beans and rolls as well as potatoes and then like taco like stuff... burrittos, enchiladas, spaghetti, I don't know... We're pretty pampered here at the CCM haha

I'm halfway done with the CCM. I'm so excited to get out into the field it's crazy. I'm a little nervous but mostly excited. 

I can't wait for all the Elders and Sisters from home to join me in the mission field! I've been hearing from some of them! The Church is true! They're going to love it!!!

As for the support I can definitely feel the prayers. The support and prayers and love is much needed and I'm so grateful for everybody. Thank you.

Love,

Elder Lott

Fotografias

Fotografias de gruop CCM - Junio 28, 2015

Placed my first Book of Mormon

My last letter was kind of lame and I apologize. I was trying to respond to everyone and I just don't have enough time. So I'm going to write mom and tell her to show it to all of you to save some time so I can get into some details with you. 

This week was pretty basic... Lots and lots of Spanish... but what's new? Hahaha here we go though. Today we got to tour into the city. Our first time out of the CCM and it was so nice to get out. But here's the kicker. We went into town into the center plaza with a Book of Mormon and were asked to contact and place our Books. So I did just that. Found a nice sweet older lady and just spoke all the Spanish I knew. Bore my testimony and gave her that book. She seemed way excited about it. She told me she would read it and started reading it before I had even left. So I was super stoked on that. 

Hahaha another story for you... So we have this "investigator" who is really our teacher that we've been working on for some time now and we planned a lesson on the Word of Wisdom. Me and Elder Massey were delivering this powerful message and then we asked Elder O'Driscoll (the boy at the airport that I left with) to bare his testimony and he brought up tithing. Out of the blue just threw tithing at him. So he started asking about tithing like any investigator would and we had not prepared a lesson on that at all. So we totally made up some spanish to try and describe but our lesson went downhill hahahaha we definitely chewed him out after that. We laugh about it now though so it's all good. 

It's definitely rough but I know Heavenly Father is blessing me and is right here with me. I feel the strength of your prayers and I'm so grateful for you guys. 

I love you guys!!!

Love,

Elder Lott

I made it to Guatemala!

Our computer crashed so this update is a little delayed...He said he would email Sunday but Tuesday was the actual email day.  We'll blame that on the immersion program :)

Here is his email:

I made it to Guatemala safely. It's a whirlwind of adventure. I don't even know what's going on. Everything is in Spanish. The instructions, the teachers, the signs, the Latino companionships, everything. Definitely immersed in it.

Hey but guess what?! I got called as a district leader! Already! I'm in so over my head. I'm super overwhelmed. There are so many meetings and talks to prepare and Spanish to learn. But I'm taking it one step at a time and relying on the Lord and it's working. I'm in good hands. I can't believe a week has already passed. It's kind of seemed like forever but at the same time it has felt really really fast.

My companions are awesome. We actually have a trio companionship. So there's three of us that have to keep track of each other which is kind of hard...but it's fun at the same time. My companions are Elder Massey and Elder O'Driscoll. But mostly there's 5 of us because everyone in our room is just super awesome so we all just stick together. That's Elders Lopez, Jensen, Massey, O'Driscoll, and Lott. The 5 amigos hahaha. We definitely get along. I was blessed with awesome guys.

They're taking good care of me. The food has actually been super good. They feed us ALOT.... I have to keep exercising everyday cause I'm afraid to get fat. A couple of my companions really enjoy hitting the gym during physical time so I've been doing some workouts. Definitely been sore a couple of times hahaha.

They shaved my head. They shaved all of our heads. I was bummed.. Maybe you can find some pictures on Facebook! I know we've taken one in front of the temple and one in front of the CCM which stands for Centro de Capacitación Misional. I finally figured it out. So there you go!!  Maybe they've posted them out there haha.

Spanish? Well.... It's coming. Holy cow it's hard though. Everything is in Spanish and all the teachers are very fluent and everybody talks to you in Spanish and you try your best to understand and respond but man it is so hard. It's coming though. I'm getting better everyday.  As far as needs? I think I'm set for right now. We did a good job. I haven't had any problems.  I am in good health! No colds or anything! I have been blessed!

Keep yourself busy. That's what I have to do. I definitely get homesick. All the time. I'm not the only one though and that's good. I can get it all out with my companions. Service is one of the best ways to lose yourself. That's what I'm doing! The schedule here is crazy. P-days just like switch depending on the day. So I'm sorry that Sunday didn't happen but today is the day. I think it's usually either Tuesday or Wednesday. So watch for those days.

I love you guys. I hope all is well.

I'll write soon!

Love,

Elder Lott