Pictures Needed

We will be sending a birthday package to Elder Lott mid August and would love to include lots of updated pictures.  Please email me a picture wishing Elder Lott a happy birthday or simply send your favorite family (or individual) summer photo to be included.  All pictures are needed by Monday, August 8th.  Email to:  lottkim@comcast.net

Thanks!
Kim

Unknown Adventure Ahead

Well it looks like my time here is up. My 6 month stay here in Alameda has come to an end.  I have transfers and will be in a new zone and new area tomorrow. In the morning the taxi will come and pick me up so I have to pack all my bags and everything and be ready for the morning. I´m super nervous and super excited at the same time. I have no idea where I´m going or who my companion is so it looks like you´re going to have to wait one more week for that.  It´s hard to have changes and go to a new area with a new companion and everything but at the same time it´s exciting because it´s a new adventure. Today I´ll be running around saying my goodbyes to all the members and converts that I have gotten to know in this area.  

All is well though. I don´t have much to report until next week and then I´ll have a TON!!

My testimony is stronger than ever. It has grown so much on the mission and I know without a doubt that this gospel is true. 

Love,

Elder Lott

Here are some pictures to make up for the lack of information ;)

Crazy Week!

It has been a crazy week! Lots of running around and changing of plans but it has also been a good week. We have had several lessons that have really actually been super good. I´m starting to really enjoy spending time in this area and the people and members here so that must mean I’m going to have changes ;)

Well turns out we didn´t have a baptism...not because she didn´t want to or because she wasn´t ready but because our leaders said that we needed to wait. We´re not sure why and it was pretty frustrating because we had everything planned out but apparently they talked with President and decided we needed to wait. We can´t argue with them so we´re going to wait until the 13th of July.  Transfers are on July 12th so we’ll see what happens.   

It was a good week though. It was hard to tell the family that we were going to have to wait because they were so excited about it and they were pretty discouraged when we told them they were going to have to wait but it has given us an opportunity to grow closer with the family and to help them strengthen their testimony of the gospel so it´s alright :) We had another conference on Wednesday with President and those are always really great!

It is still raining a ton and it´s pretty crazy. It´s made me miss Zacapa a little bit and the heat. The cold has started to set in and I don´t know how I feel about it haha! As for health, I´m doing good and staying healthy. I´m eating more fruits so that´s good. Hopefully I don´t get any crazy parasites ;)

Can you believe that at this time last year I was in the CCM eating a giant cake shaped like the American flag? This is my second 4th of July here and I’ll be home for the next home.  Crazy!

I truly miss you guys and love you guys SO much.  Happy 4^th of July!

Love,
Elder Lott

Officially Half Way...

The most exciting news I have is that we had our 2 baptisms and it was an incredible day and then they were confirmed Sunday. We were running all over this whole week getting everything planned and prepared and it was all worth it because we had a great turnout. We made little invitations and invited everybody and there were like 60 members that came to support these little ones in their baptisms and it was awesome. We have found a member that has a car and he hooks us up sometimes. He also knows how to make homemade donuts and he helped us with the dessert for the baptism and it was just so awesome. I baptized the little boy and my companion baptized the little girl and it was just super fun. It was a crazy and fantastic day and I loved it!  We´re already planning another baptism for this coming Saturday and life is just crazy right now but it´s so awesome at the same time.  

Yes! I am wearing flip flops. My other sandals broke and I had to buy new ones and the cheapest find was a pair of flip flops. I only use them to shower with so I can live for another year.   It´s super weird and I will never use them again after the mission hahaha!!!

(Brayden could never stand ANYTHING between his toes.)

No, this is not a roofing project, that´s just us on the roof... That´s just how the roofs are out here... Flat.... We just climbed up there to take a picture.  There have been tons of changes in our zone and now I just have a little district of 4 and it´s a riot. These two elders are fantastic and I love working with them! The darker one is Elder Flores from the Dominican Republic and the other is from Ecuador, his name is Elder Gaibor. We´re always running around doing things together and it´s super great.  I´m getting better at being a district leader. I´m getting the hang of it ;) 

The Reese´s came from a little shop in Pinares... Another area... They bring all sorts of good stuff from Mexico and sell it here in Guatemala and I´m just taking advantage of it... I´m going to buy another bag of Hershey’s chocolate chips today.... It makes me miss home so much but it´s so good.

 

Did you like the pictures... I know I haven´t sent any recently but it´s because every time we get to the church where the Wi-Fi should be, it´s not turned on or something like that and I haven´t been able to send pictures but whenever I can you know I´ll send pictures :) I had a couple of good ones and I was excited to send you the father´s day pictures.

Love from Guatemala,

Elder Lott

Innocent...

This week has been kind of a crazy week. Wednesday we had a multizone conference with President Crapo and 3 other zones. I didn`t get to see any of my companions though so that was kind of a bummer but we did get to learn lots about planning and how important it is to really plan your day and your week. When we have an effective planning session, we have an effective day! It was a good reminder and I enjoyed it! Then on Thursday, I went on divisions with the Elders in my district and I went to their area in Pinares and got to meet their investigators and work there with Elder Flores but I forgot my camera and I didn`t get to take any pictures this day and I was so bummed. Next time I won`t forget though. 

My investigators are doing good. We are going to have a baptism this Saturday with two little kids--Moroni and Mia. They’re brothers and they’re super awesome. They have really grown to love us and have developed a testimony of the gospel even though they’re only 9 and 10 year olds. They`re so... Innocent... I don`t know how to describe it but they’re so excited for their baptism and so are we! I`ll grab some pictures for sure. We have a couple more but they’re a little further down the road. We’re on fire though and it`s so awesome. The mission is so great!!!

Dad, that is so awesome that you went on splits with the missionaries!  I imagine that was quite a new experience for you because it was for me the first time I did it but now it`s what we do everyday! That`s so awesome!! How is Elder Painter? Did you guys just talk about the Restoration of the Church and stuff or did you talk about other topics of the church? That`s so fun!! Well, hey...I can say that whenever we go home teaching again, I`ll be a lot more useful instead of just being your partner ;) 

Yes, they celebrate Father’s Day here. It was this past... Friday I think... I`ve lost track of all the holidays there in the US. Sometimes the people here ask me like when do you celebrate this? And I’m like..... Uh..... I don’t even remember. But I’m going to send some pictures of me and my companion celebrating Father’s day.  They will be coming your way :) 

Oh ya the weather has definitely changed from the scorching sun to the cloudy storms but it`s actually super fun. We run around with our jackets and umbrellas and we plan our visits so that we can hop from like one house to the other in between storms because usually it rains for like 10  or 15 minutes like super super hard and then stops for like 5 minutes and then starts again so we have our lesson for like 30 minutes and then when we hear the rain stop we finish up our lesson and then run to the next house to avoid the rain hahaha! The lightning and thunder shakes our house at night but nah it doesn’t scare me. It`s kinda nice to fall asleep with the rain and everything. 

I’ve gotten rid of my cold--thank goodness! I`m staying healthy as for now, eating bananas and vitamins and lots of chocolate... That`s healthy right? I found a little shop in Pinares where they sell those bags of Hershey chocolate chips that I always ate at home by the handful... Ya... I found those here and I buy like a pack every week... Yikes... No cavities.... ;) 

Love, 

Elder Lott

Lighting the area on fire!

What´s new?  Hmmmm.... Well not too much... Just lots of work and lots of busyness! This last Friday President Crapo came to our planning session and we got to plan with him--just my companion, President and I and it was super awesome! We made the best plans that I´ve ever made and we are already seeing miracles. In these next 2 weeks we have 3 baptisms planned and they are all coming to church and doing their homework and my goodness it´s so fun to see the hand of the Lord in every area of my life.

We didn´t meet with any of our referrals because we´ve been pretty busy with our baptismal dates. We´re going to try and set apart one day this week to just go and find all of these referrals because we have a ton and we need to go find them so we can report back on them :) 

Divisions with the zone leaders was pretty good! I went half the day with one of the zone leaders and the other half of the day with the other zone leader and learned a ton from both of them. One of them has 23 months in the mission and is at the point of going home so I just chatted with him for a while about all his experiences and what he would suggest and everything and it was a fun time. I really enjoyed it. They helped me understand a little bit more about my responsibilities as a district leader and that was good for me too. There is just so much to learn out here and I just can´t keep up but I´m doing my best haha ;)

My companion and I have definitely clicked and the fire was lit and we are just lighting this whole area on fire. We are having so much success and it´s moments like these where you just are so excited to be working here in the Lord´s work. Our plans aren´t falling through as much. Our investigators are genuinely interested in the gospel and everything is just going so good. I don´t want this transfer to end because I´m afraid I´ll be transferred and I want to keep working with all these people that we have to work with! 

As for walking... No we don´t walk even close to what we did in Zacapa. Everything here is pretty close together and we just walk like down the street to most of our appointments but there are some days that we walk like a ton. In Zacapa everything was farther apart and we had to walk a lot in between appointments but here is a lot less walking. Hopefully I´m not getting fatter...

Life is good and I´m enjoying every second.

All my love,

Elder Lott

 Picture from saying good-bye to Elder Brubaker.  

There has to be a story about those ties!

Super Good Day!

Yesterday was a super good day in the work of the Lord! Yesterday our ward mission leader went on all of our visits with us for the whole day. We finished lunch and then went on visits with him for the rest of the day and we implemented a plan in our ward. We went and visited several families in our ward and did a fun little activity with them where they thought about friends and family members and then we said a little prayer and they gave us specific names of people that are ready to accept the gospel. We got like 20 referrals and now we have lots of work to do for this coming week :) We´re hoping to make it a habit and do it like every Sunday. Wow that would be great!

Yes, being a district leader is hard right now, for me at least.  I just don´t really know what to do and what is actually expected of me really, you know? However, tomorrow we´re going to go on divisions with the zone leaders and they are going to help me out and explain and answer whatever questions or doubts I have so I think that will help tons.  I have 2 other companionships in my district so there are 6 of us in total. I talk to them every night about how their day was, what kind of challenges they faced throughout the day, how their investigators are doing, how we can improve and how I can help them…things like that and then I report to the zone leaders.   I don´t get as much sleep as I used to which is kind of a bummer but it´s kind of fun at the same time because I´m enjoying working closely with the zone leaders and other missionaries. I like being in the middle of all the excitement. I´m definitely learning and growing and praying for help and guidance but I know that all is going well. :) 

Yikes! No more enjoying perfect weather for you guys. Now you just get to enjoy the blazing sun and sweating.  But one thing you have is air conditioning! That´s definitely something I miss! The rainy season has finally come but I’m stoked for it because it will finally take away all this heat and get rid of the sun and it´s awesome! I have been taking vitamin c more often and I seem to be doing much better :) 

Elder Brubaker is off to Zona Bosques in Minerva. I´m not exactly sure where that is, but it´s here inside the capital still. Oh also Elder Vasquez, the missionary that I trained, just got moved up to district leader too and we talk about it all the time haha! 

I haven´t gotten any letters or packages... Apparently there are several missionaries waiting for packages and letters.  It must be backed up in the office or something :(

Love you all!

Elder Lott