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

I always look so out of place...

Hey, everyone!  I`m doing super good!  All is well.  I`ve made it to another pday and we had a baptism on Saturday and wow everything is good!

The baptism was originally planned for this coming Saturday but we decided that she was ready and we moved the baptism and had it this last week. It was kind of crazy but it was super good.   The other people in this picture are her Mom, Sister and cousin! I always look so out of place :)

Easter was pretty... Interesting... It`s a whole different holiday out here in because the Catholics celebrate super differently. They have like these huge parade floats that they carry around honoring Jesus but it`s with like big like "red carpet" kind of things that the people lay out on the streets. They call it processions in Spanish.  EVERYONE in the whole country has the weekend off... just the most important jobs have to work.  There was this huge gathering in front of the Catholic Church where they all sang and everything.  Easter Dinner... We ate some noodles in Spaghetti sauce with some hard-boiled eggs and tamales.

I`m liking the new area! It`s like pretty flat which is nice and there are tons of people that give us food and everything as well as tons of potential for new investigators.  This is a humble area which allows them to be open to receiving our message.  We are still getting a few references from members so that helps.  It`s decently big and a nice area actually.  I like it anyway!

My companion and I get along super well.  I am honestly hoping to finish the mission with this guy. He is from El Salvador and he`s 24 years old. He almost graduated from the university but decided to go on a mission before finishing.  He is the youngest of 3 brothers.

You saw me on Facebook?  That’s funny!  Yes!  We had a multi zone conference on Thursday and it was AWESOME!  I learned about following promptings of the spirit and usually he`ll whisper something to us and we`ll think about it and then more and more thoughts come but they`re usually from Satan trying to convince us not to do it. For example as missionaries when the spirit tells us hey knock that door and we think about it but then have thoughts of like nah we don`t have time or nah we`ve already knocked that door or no these people don`t want anything and those thoughts come from Satan and we have to listen and act on the first prompting.

I write from the internet café but we are going to leave right now to help with a service project.  We are helping a family move some stuff, then after that we`re going to go back and clean the house and then maybe after we`ll go play ping pong with some members in the church! I love ping pong.  I’m a little advanced for them there but we have some fun hahaha.  The back spin gets them every time :)

Love you all!

Elder Lott

Here I am pretending to cook… with cereal… in my Easter apron.

Shipped off to Canalitos

Well the news of the week is that our little trio got split up and I got shipped off to Canalitos, Zona 24, with Elder Doñas.  It`s like right here next to Lomas but it`s like way up the mountain.  Elder Doñas is the trio companion from El Salvador.  He has 6 months out here in the mission. We are dedicated to his area now and Elder Goodwin stayed back in Lomas and got a new companion from Chile. Elder Goodwin is a great kid!  He had me laughing all the time. We`re in the same district though so we get to see each other pretty frequently and we always talk about how we wanted to finish the transfer together.

It was super crazy and it all happened so fast but here we are getting some work done here in Canalitos.  It’s nice to be dedicated to one area because we`re not running everywhere anymore.  And we have a good time together so honestly I`m super happy.

This apartment is actually super nice.  They had someone come in and do a deep clean like a couple days ago so it`s spotless and now we just have to keep it that way.  This one has like 4 couches in it! 

My companion and I get along really well so far so that`s super good. We`re teaching a couple of families and then a couple of other youth and always looking for more people of course. We left our golden family in Lomas with Elder Goodwin.  They had an appointment with them this last Saturday and they extended a baptismal date and the family accepted!! It`s just a matter of time for them!!

Spiritual experience of the week... probably transfers honestly because in the beginning I was super upset and didn`t wanna go. I wanted to finish the transfer with Elder Goodwin and I tried to convince President to let me stay but then he talked to me for a second and told me that he had received a strong spiritual impression that I needed to be with Elder Doñas to help him and be a good companion to him. He asked me to at least give it a try and now that I`m here with him I feel like President was right on.

This could very possibly be my last area... But then again I thought the same thing about Lomas so I have no idea.  My new area has lots of dirt and back roads. There is only one street that goes through this place and the rest are like dirt back roads.  It’s kind of green and kind of desert like.  I don’t know how to explain it in English.  We are in a smaller ward... like 85 people come on average!

Cooking... Usually the members are pretty good here to help us out actually. Yesterday we had lunch and dinner with members and usually we have like at least lunch or dinner every day here so that`s super nice.  As for laundry there`s someone here that helps us with that too.

I didn’t find the cream of tartar at Walmart.  We ended up kind of giving up...and that`s a good thing because we wouldn`t be able to cook it anymore anyway.

Well from what I`ve seen, this area is pretty safe! I`ve heard that in the night time we have to be a little careful but that`s how it is everywhere here in Guatemala hahaha!

We`re going to go clean the house a little bit then sleep and maybe go play some games with family a little later. Speaking of which... we should probably get outta here.

Until next Monday!!! I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!❤

Elder Lott

Two Companions, Two Areas and Two Houses...

Hey! How is everyone?  I`m doing pretty good! Just getting used to the new companion that we have with us but doing good. We are in a trio right now. Our new companion is from El Salvador.  He was in the neighboring area but his companion got sent to another area so he joined us and it has been insane.  We are working in both areas right now so we`re always traveling so much and running here and there.  It’s so exhausting and sometimes we have to sleep in his house because we don`t have time to make it back to ours and it`s just so hard. There is so much work!

The trio is temporary but I think we will stay together until transfers on May 2nd... We`ll see.  We have investigators in both areas so we go back and forth like every single day. We`re exhausted.  It’s too far to walk so we take a bus. It`s like a 30 minute bus ride and then we walk all day in his area or in ours.  It`s the craziest experience! I haven`t done anything like it in my whole mission.

We do have 3 beds in both apartments..... now.   I sleep so good at night!  Sometime we tease our new companion and speak in English and pretend we`re talking about him and he`s all like shut up you two hahaha!

We watched General Conference in the stake center with the other missionaries but all of the members from our ward watched it in their houses.  That was different for me. We didn`t bring any new investigators with us because we are starting from zero and now working in 2 areas we don`t even have time to look for new ones!!  Our converts got to watch the conference in their houses too.  I love General Conference.  I did like the talk specifically saying to listen to the missionaries!  Elder Bednar had an awesome talk about missionaries too!

Elder Goodwin and I both got the picture of our Moms meeting for lunch.  We were laughing and enjoying the moment together here haha!

My haircut turned out ugly again…maybe not as ugly but ugly.

We are cooking but we`re not hand washing anymore. We found somebody to help us haha! I just eat sandwiches every single day.  Sometimes we go and eat like tacos or like pizza or other super fun things so I`m good.

White corn syrup is not to be found in Guatemala.  We haven’t tried the make your own recipe yet because we don`t know what cream of tartar is.  We are going to Walmart today so I’ll check there.  We got permission to go because I’m out of razors.  We can stock up on snacks and goods while we’re there.

I`m feeling... pretty good!  Super tired and with a little bit of pressure but super good!  We are just on a crazy fun adventure doing the Lord`s work and working like crazy! We found a new family yesterday that we`re going to baptize. They`re references from another family and it`s going to be awesome. They agreed to come to church with us right off the bat so that`s a good sign. They haven’t said anything, I just feel it! We had a great lesson with them and when we walked out of the lesson we all said the same thing. Wow! That family is going to get baptized!

Hey I think we`re getting ready to head though. This whole jumping between houses is pretty crazy and now 2 houses to clean as well. No good :)

Love you all!

Elder Lott

I had the wonderful opportunity of meeting Elder Goodwin's mom for lunch.  We could have chatted for hours about our missionaries!  They are great boys doing a great work.  We are on opposite ends of the spectrum.  She is still adjusting to her missionary being gone and I'm counting the weeks until mine returns.

Special Guest

We had three baptisms this week and it was so awesome AND there was a member of one of the quorums of the seventy there too AND I got a picture with him! It was a crazy weekend in the best way. 

 

The tall guy that you see in the picture is Angel.  He came to live with his family here in Lomas del Norte and he was so interested in the gospel and we just started teaching him and he like came prepared because we taught him for like 2 weeks and he was ready to be baptized. It was so awesome.  The other taller guy is Pablo and he´s Angel´s cousin.  He´s the one that baptized Angel so that´s why he´s dressed all in white.  Can you guess which one I baptized?  Yep!  The little guy tucked under my arm.  His name is Gabriel.  I love taking part in miracles! The mission is so awesome!  It has been so fun to be a part of so many cool experiences.

 

I´m going to get a haircut today… I was so devastated by that last haircut, I haven´t cut my hair since January 2nd. I´m super hesitant today but oh well hahaha!

We haven’t been able to make chex mix because we can´t find white corn syrup. We have everything else. We´ve looked everywhere but there is no white corn syrup in Guatemala.   A member is going to look at a place called Pricesmart which is basically Costco to see if they can find it there.  I’m not giving up.  No worries though…

The weather right now is super hot in the afternoon and pretty chilly in the night. It´s nice. I like it.

Gotta go, gotta run... We´re going to make our grocery run and go get a haircut and then we´re going to go hangout with a missionary that´s leaving on Wednesday for his mission and then later we´re going to go play games with Jose Rodrigo and his family!

Love to you all—

Elder Lott

Lomas del Norte

How is everyone?  I’m doing good!! We just had a baptism and I have pictures!  This is my new companion, Elder Goodwin, and Max who was baptized this week in Lomas del Norte.  My new companion is super good.  We get along really well.

Our apartment is the best apartment I´ve ever had in the mission.  I have to get pictures! We have like a couch in our house, hot water, a full on kitchen with a stove and everything.  It´s fantastic!  I told Elder Goodwin... Yikes! You got really spoiled in the beginning of your mission. You have got quite the surprise coming in the future of your mission hahaha!

I was not affected by transfers this week.  I will definitely be finishing my mission in this area... I´m alright with it though. It´s a good area and the members are super great. I will stay with Elder Goodwin one more transfer and then get a new companion to finish the mission... YIKES!!

I need to run...We are heading over to Metronorte today.  All is well in Guatemala.

Love,

Elder Lott

My lesson on Sunday is about relying on the Savior’s grace to become a better teacher.  I asked him if he had any experiences where he felt words had been put in his mouth at just the moment he needed them and this was his response:

Definitely.... At the beginning of the mission it happened ALL the time. I would be thinking and thinking and thinking of what I was going to say and how I was going to respond and then when it was my turn I would start talking and I would say things that I hadn´t even thought of or planned on saying and when I would finish I would be like what just happened?! I have to rely on the Lord ALWAYS though in every situation....

Zona Alantico

Today I have time to answer all of your questions.  I`m doing good though so don`t worry about me. This last week was absolutely NUTS.  Right now I`m in the area called Lomas Del Norte... in Zona 17. It`s a really small area and it`s like only residencial neighbors. It`s super different than anything I`ve ever had.  I`ve never worked in residencial areas before but the members are super great. It will just take some getting used to. My new companion is Elder Goodwin.  He`s from like the Ogden area and went to school at Freemont.  He`s super awesome! 

Wait, is residencial not a word in English?  Oh, no!  I don`t even know!  It’s like gated communities where you can`t knock on doors and everything.  Ohhhhh ya... Hahaha I forgot English. So sorry about that!  It’s a nicer area.  Most of the people have like way nice houses here and it`s like the first time in 2 years that I`ve seen people with iphones.

My cough is doing good. It`s still there a little bit but not as bad just a little annoying.  I took the antibiotic that I had for bronchitis too. I think it helped a ton!  I was so sick of the cough!  I couldn`t take it anymore.

This area is like neighbors with Zona 18 where I was just like a week ago. I could probably walk to my old area. I have to come back to Guatemala after the mission. I love this place and these people so much!

Hey but the bad news is that I`m gonna have to take off. We have a zone activity planned and we`re going to sixth avenue... I`ll send you guys pictures next week!

Love you all!
Elder Lott