A Week of Miracles

I’m now writing from a little internet cafe in the middle of nowhere.  Last week was a wave of emotions for sure. I was excited and nervous at the same time and that was weird. My new companion is Elder Martinez from Mexico!  He has the same amount of time that I have in the mission. We are scheduled to go home the same day.  He is great!   He´s super laid back but likes to work hard which is like me! He doesn´t get stressed out or mad and we have a lot of fun together! We are actually going to have a baptism today at 6 and another one this coming Wednesday!  The day I got here we immediately started seeing miracles and it was awesome. He told me what a blessing it was that I came and we´re both super excited to be working together!

Our investigator that´s going to be baptized today has been with the missionaries for like a whole year now and hasn´t ever made the decision to be baptized but we had two super good lessons with him and during the second lesson he accepted our invitation and is actually super excited. Same with our baptism this coming Saturday. His name is Edgar and he kind of had the same problem but then we started talking about the example that he would set for his family and he accepted our invitation too and it was just incredible because with only a week here in this area and boom 2 baptisms. The Lord is truly preparing his children. We just have to do our part and he will do the rest. 

Elder Flores didn´t stay in Las Ilusiones because President Crapo doesn´t have any spare missionaries right now.  Elder Flores will serve here in our zone just for a little while until we get new missionaries.

The Gomez family will be baptized this coming up Saturday! I will be going back to talk to the bishop and get everything set up and I´m going to swing by and visit them too to see how they´re doing!!

Our area is gigantic and it is actually like 10 minutes from Las Ilusiones on foot!  Oh my goodness it is more mountainous then Las Ilusiones. I am absolutely exhausted at the end of every single day. I´m going to have to take tons of pictures of the area because it´s gigantic but super awesome!

We´re in a family ward that has like 150 people that normally attend so it´s one of the bigger wards that I´ve ever been in. OHHHH but there is a senior couple in our ward and they are the greatest!!! The Sister, Sister Reyna is her name is going to cook me HOMEADE BROWNIES this coming Sunday and I am beyond excited!!! How I miss homemade treats from my Mom!!! This is actually probably one of the richer areas I´ve been in. There are tons of members with cars here that give us rides!!

Unfortunately, we don´t have anybody to cook for us in this area and I can´t even describe how much I miss having Janet cook for us every day. We have to go looking for food when we want to eat lunch. Elder Martinez says he knows how to cook a few things but never cooks haha so I don´t really know. We do have several families though that invite us over to eat every once in a while :)

Living conditions...well...the house was kind of a mess when I got here but every day we take like 30 minutes to clean the house and it´s looking lots and lots better. I´ll try to take some pictures for you guys. Our house is a ton bigger though so that´s fun. Hot water...well…kind of.... We have to fill this big tub with water and then there´s this little tool that gets super hot when we plug it in and that´s what heats up the water. Not the same but it´ll do.

Nah, writing in English isn´t too hard for me. It´s kind of hard to speak it though and I don´t really understand why.  I haven´t been with an English speaking comp in my whole mission. Can you believe that? It´s alright though because I feel like I have basically mastered Spanish and when I got to this new area I tried to tease everyone and say that I only had like 4 months in the mission and that I was just starting and everything but they all would tell me that can´t be true because you speak Spanish perfectly.  I definitely have that accent though. I´m secretly hoping that my last companion speaks English so I can practice lots right before I get home.

I have never been so busy in my whole life. We are running here and there in our own area and then sometimes we go and help the other elders in their areas and sometimes we have to go run errands for others and we´re always talking on the phone with the assistants and just everything it is super super busy but the time FLIES by. 

All is well.  I love and miss you all tons!

Have a great week :)

Love,

Elder Lott

Zona Esparana...continuing forward with faith!

This week was an amazing week actually. We completed all of our goals and we found a family of gold!! We have been chatting and talking with them and they just absolutely love us!! They always invite us to dinner and talk about how much we`ve blessed their lives and they accepted our invitation to baptism. The Gomez Family... Oscar, Noemi, and Jasmine. There are 3 more littler ones but they`re not quite ready yet ;) It has been super fun to share the gospel with them and to see how big of a blessing it has been to them. 

Oscar is doing good.... We actually played soccer with him today and I think he sprained his ankle but he`s doing good and he`s still coming to church and the activities and everything the only bummer is that he wants to wait on his baptism. It`s alright though. We just continue to teach and support him and sooner or later he will come around :) Jessica unfortunately moved... far away.... So hopefully the missionaries over there will be able to find her and help her!

In my studies of the Book of Mormon, I`m in Alma 42. I have been reading a lot about the Plan of Salvation and we actually learned about that in our district meeting last Wednesday.  It always amazes me just what a perfect plan our Heavenly Father has for us. We are truly here to learn and grow and make mistakes but we have to learn from our mistakes and that is where the Atonement comes in. It`s really interesting and it is such a blessing. 

What have I done to serve Elder Flores this week?  I helped him put away his clean clothes, and I made his bed. I think those were the only real acts of service that I provided this week but I am always on the lookout for more ways that I can help so I`ll let you know how it goes this next week. 

Anyways I don`t have much time left but I have some super big news... 

We talked to President Crapo today and we have emergency transfers. Apparently there was a small problem in another area and he needs my help. So I`m going to be transferred to Zona Esparana and President has high expectations for me. We talked about what he expects of me and what the Lord expects of me and I`m super nervous but super excited about it. I still can’t believe it. Now, I`m not ready to leave yet.  The taxi will be coming tomorrow in the morning and I have to pack my bags and say good bye to all the members and investigators here in my area. I will have tons of details to give you next week but as for now... That`s all the update I can give you... I will continue forward with faith.

Love, 

Elder Lott

All is well!

I definitely had a good birthday and I was super grateful for all the families that helped me feel loved on my birthday.  It`s true, David and Janet really spoiled me tons. The cake was delicious and yes, I think it was chicken cordon bleu for dinner.  I`m not exactly positive what it was but it tasted similar to chicken cordon bleu so I`m just going to say it was ;) New sweater, new jacket, new socks and some chocolate... My favorites ;) They really went out of their way and I got to celebrate with David because his birthday was the 4th. It was a super fun day!

 

 I love that these packages look like missionary shirts :)

 

 

I will be eternally grateful for these good people of Guatemala!

The other family is the family that we live with, The Gusman Family. The funny guy taking the video is their son. His name is Carlos and he served a mission too and he is SO funny he always has me dying. He loves to learn English because he learned a ton on his mission but doesn`t remember it all now but he actually speaks super well and he loves to bug me about it ;) They always take super good care of us and I`m super grateful for that family as well.

Note:  This video can only be viewed from a computer screen not a hand held device.

Well we actually were not able to have our baptism on my birthday and it was a huge bummer... The thing is, he has decided to wait and think about his baptism and we have decided that someone must have said something to him because he changed his mind so quickly but we`re going to keep working with him and see what we can do. 

We had a district meeting last week where we talked about how President Crapo truly receives revelation and inspiration for these transfers and the Spirit confirmed to me that it`s true and that the Lord has a plan for me here and that I need to help my companion and the members here and that I`m really here for a purpose and I’m at peace with it. I know my companion needs a little bit of extra help or extra attention and the members are really helpful as well.  I think they understand the situation so I`m grateful really for everything that is happening in the mission. 

We played soccer for a good hour and a half this morning and it was super fun. Got some good exercise ;)  I am honestly doing super good and am excited and ready for whatever we have ahead of us. I`m doing good physically, mentally and spiritually and all is well.

Love you all!
Elder Lott

Thanks for the Birthday Wishes!

The mail system in Guatemala has just shut down.  Elder Lott’s package with everyone’s birthday pictures made it to Guatemala but has not made it to him. It is unknown how long the mail system will be down or what will happen to the packages stuck in transit.  We found out last week his package would not be arriving (at least in time), so for his Birthday Missionary Monday we put all of the pictures in a Word document he could open to receive all of our birthday wishes electronically.  Thank you for wishing him a happy 20^th birthday!

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I literally could not stop crying as I read all those birthday wishes and saw all those fun pictures and I basically can`t see through my tears to write this message. I absolutely love it!  Thank you everyone for making me feel so loved and thought of not only on my birthday but always. 

Can you believe another birthday and another year older? I can`t even believe at all that I`m going to be turning 20 years old. I didn`t ever think that I was going to hit the twenties ;) I was bummed about my birthday package and was always asking around for it but I`ll continue hoping and praying and asking around and it should make it here in no time :)

Alright well all I can say about transfers was that like everyone in the whole zone had transfers except for us and I am super bummed about it to be honest but I`m trying to keep a positive attitude. I was looking so forward to transfers and now I`m a little disappointed. I know that it`s for a reason and I know that I need to do something more but honestly these last two transfers have been quite the challenge and I don`t know how a third transfer will go but I`m going to give it my all and do my best and rely on the Lord. I just wanted to have a change you know? It`s all good though. The Lord needs me here for a reason and I just have to find it.

The good news is I`m going to be partying all day today to celebrate my birthday and David`s birthday because he turns 34 tomorrow and I turn 20 on Friday so we`re going to eat cake and lots of food and open presents and I`m going to have lots of pictures for next week to send you and you`re going to love it :) :) 

Other good news is that Oscar`s baptism is actually scheduled for my birthday and I`m stoked. I think it will be a super fun day. Then after that we just have to work hard with Jessica and she should be baptized here in the next couple weeks too. :)

General Conference was absolutely incredible. I loved it! I love conference weekend so much! We didn`t have tons of success in bringing lots of investigators but we did bring Oscar and Jessica to at least one or more sessions. (We walked.) I got to listen to like half of conference in English and half in Spanish. When we had investigators, I would go and sit with them in the Spanish session. The good thing is I can understand Spanish now too so it`s not a problem ;)  In between sessions we always hung out with the other missionaries and ate lunch or went and visited some members that live close to the stake center and just kind of hung out. It`s super fun and I always pack lots of little snacks to eat during conference. I was thinking about you guys during priesthood session and how I wanted to go get ice cream after ;) I loved the talks though and I always feel so spiritually fed afterword and it`s the best!

Recently there has been lots of sun here but the weather here is kind of unpredictable. Somedays it`s super sunny and then all of the sudden it rains or sometimes it`s dark all day and never rains and sometimes it`s just normal and it`s just kind of nuts but the weather here is nice. It`s never like super super hot or super super cold.  

Riley’s driving!  Wow!!! I miss driving tons and I will be super willing to run whatever errands are necessary after the mission just to drive around hahaha ;)

Well, All is well. I`m feeling.... Well.... I `m not really sure... Bummed that there weren`t transfers.... A tiny bit frustrated I guess.... I feel like I have been in Zone 18 for like a whole year now and I`m ready for a change but I know that the Lord needs me here and there are things that I need to do. I just don`t know what it is and I think that`s the most frustrating. Just tell me what it is that you need me to do and I`ll do it kind of thing, you know? But that`s not how it needs to be and I am learning and growing and growing. 

Love to you all and many thanks for the birthday wishes!

Elder Lott