Elder Yama is the best!

 

Elder Yama is the district leader in our area and for this we´re always pretty busy taking care of the other missionaries in our district and organizing activities and making sure we get their goals recorded and all of that. It´s kind of hard to be the companion of a district leader but at the same time it´s super fun because we stay busy. He´s a hard worker and always has us doing something. We´re always making new arts and crafts or cooking new foods or whatever missionaries do.  He´s a great guy!  He´s from Mexico and he actually speaks a lot of English and wants to learn more so we try to find a balance of him helping me learn Spanish and me helping him learn English which honestly is such a blessing. I could not have gotten a better trainer!!!

 

(It's always fun to find your son in Guatemala on Instagram!)

The conference we had on Monday was with President and Sister Crapo and they made us bring our suits but we ended up not even using them!! hahahaha but it was super fun. I always learn a lot from them.

 

The studying picture was definitely a little posed hahaha but I actually do study from Preach My Gospel it´s funny that you noticed that was the ONLY book missing hahaha but we recently got a lot of manuals from the bishop that I will be trying to study. The only hard part is that they´re in Spanish. I usually study in English but supposedly the manuals are really good so I´ll have to give it a try.

All those water bottles are just water bottles that I´ve bought when passing a tienda when I needed water.  We usually buy those big like 2 gallon containers of water or whatever it is like we saw before the mission and just use that for everything. Sometimes when we don´t have that though, I just take it from the sink and filter it through that water filter into the other water bottle and add some Tang. You find ways to make things work you know? ;)

                                          I'm thinking his knees might a look a little worn :)

Oh here´s something interesting!! I think we might be going to the zoo in like an hour... So next time I can send pictures maybe there will be me with some exotic animals or something!! I don´t know if there are any other animals here in Zacapa besides Chucho´s or dogs but hey... I guess we´ll find out!

The other thing is I got a haircut and I thought I described pretty well how I wanted my haircut but apparently there´s only one hairstyle here in Zacapa and that´s a nice buzz with a little bit of hair in the front to add variety..... I worked so hard to grow it all out and then I only wanted a trim and now I have to grow it all back again.... Ugh. Hahaha All is well on my end though!!

Love you TONS—

Elder Lott

First Baptism!

Can you believe another week has already passed?? Does it pass as fast for you guys as it does for me?? Yikes.

Well the most exciting part of this week was that I had my first baptism!! We were able to hold the baptismal service for the hermano that have been helping this last Saturday!! It was such a good day. Super busy cause we were running here and there trying coordinate and making sure everything was set but that´s what made it so fun!!  More pictures of the baptism to some soon.

The day before we went on splits with the zone leaders so they could do the baptismal interview and I was with Elder Mortensen! He was the one in the pictures that I sent! 

We spent the day and I had to lead all the lessons and everything cause we were in my area and it was super scary cause I’m still just a little “Gringo” out here (I still feel like such a baby out here)!  Elder Mortensen said I actually did a really good job! Divisions are always kind of intimidating though... You would be so proud of me though cause I coordinated the whole baptism IN SPANISH!  Yes! 

Elder Mortensen pushed me to make lots of contacts and just talk to people. Just share my testimony and it really helped a lot. This is his last transfer here on his mission and then he goes home so we talked a lot about what he wished he would have done or little tips and tricks that he has learned over the years and it was a lot of fun.  He´s a great guy! We were eating actually what´s called Pomela or something like that.... It´s like an orange but it has like a tart aftertaste.  It was super weird. The fruit though is actually really good here.... We don´t have it a ton but when we´re offered like bananas or oranges or anything like that, yes it tastes like it was right off the tree. It is SUPER good.

Oh speaking of babies out here in the field though we just got some new missionaries from the CCM! They only have like a week in the field so I guess I´m not quite a baby anymore haha ;)

One of the days we had a power outage in Zacapa!  It was so dark everywhere!!!  We were teaching this man and when the power went out we were able to use the sunlight for a while but when that went down, it was pitch black!  I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face!  So we busted out the old candle and it was awesome.  I felt like Nephi or Alma or something—preaching in the olden times.  My companion felt the same!  Maybe Alma and Amulek?  It was a fun lesson either way.  The power outage was an adventure but when are we not having an adventure!?!

We actually just had an internet crash at the other place we were.... Good thing there are lots of places where we can go and find 2 or 3 computers that we can use haha in this case... Just a little bit down the street hahaha!

Hmmm... Are we walking a ton... I´m going to have to go with yes on that one. We do walk quite a bit. However we do ride the bus quite often as well so not like a TON a ton? But like a pretty good amount... Like my calves burn by the end of the night... Hahaha! Shoes and insoles though? Good shape. All is well with those. I think the insoles are really saving my life hahaha cause my feet don´t hurt throughout the day which is really nice haha!

One meal a day with members.... Unfortunately no.. We don´t have a lot of members in our area.... They´re all in the sister´s area hahaha it´s such a bummer!! It´s okay though. We´re working hard to change that ;) however we do have the bishop in our area and he feeds us and gives us rides and all of that a ton so that´s super nice. Usually we´re on our own for meals though... It´s not all bad though! We get to have a nice variety! Sometimes we cook some meats like bacon or sausage and it´s always an adventure! Haven´t found anything new though. We can buy top ramen though hahahah and yes we buy that from "maxi" is what it’s called. It´s like the Walmart here. It´s good!

I miss you guys with all my heart and love you beyond words!! I hope all is well!!

Love,

Elder Lott

Service and Snakes

Unfortunately this week we weren´t able to have our baptism... he wasn´t quite ready... but this coming Saturday for sure!!!

Yes we did move rooms. They started construction in our other room so we moved. It´s really small but it has air conditioning so it´s worth it.  It´s easy to keep clean because it´s so small too but it is a little crammed. They will finish the construction in this coming week I think and then we´ll move back into another room that´s bigger and has a kitchen so it´s all worth it.  (What is he doing without a kitchen—I need more details!)

You liked my picture of the rainstorm…it was crazy!  We couldn´t cross the street so we huddled under that little roof thing and it was insane. It was cool though because while we were running down the street trying to escape the flood, there was a guy that invited us into his house and he spoke English too!!! YES!!! So we talked with him for a while and he was super nice. Hopefully we´ll get to run into him again. I knew the flood was a way for the Lord to lead us to him :)

We did have multiple service projects this week. We peeled and shucked corn for a family and then we cut all the corn off with a knife.  Apparently that´s how they prepare tamales here... with corn or something.... I don´t know but we worked on that forever!

This pile of wood was our other service project. We helped a family chop all their wood so they could sell it! The man that we helped actually just received the Melchizedek Priesthood and we´re trying to set up a date for the temple and hopefully we´ll get to go with him!! I miss the temple. Wow. I want him to go so we can go with him--not in a selfish way but because I want to go and him to go and we all receive blessings right?? ;)

This little snake decided to slither across the floor during one of our lessons.  Everyone freaked out and then one of the kids came and beat it with a stick.  After they said that it was super dangerous so it was kind of scary but then it was all good ;) 

Life is good though! We had transfers today and I was super nervous but luckily nobody in our district changed. I get to keep my trainer for at least one more transfer WHEW!!  Stay tuned ;)

Love,

Elder Lott

Priesthood Blessing

This week was sooooooo busy! Wowza!  The wedding was a success and now we´re working on preparing that man for baptism this Saturday! Gosh. Missionary work is so crazy but it is so awesome. 

OH I have to tell you this story!! So this last Sunday we had the opportunity to bless a little child that was really sick, wasn´t moving a lot and slept a lot because he was in a lot of pain.... The family wasn´t members but they knew about Mormons and knew about priesthood blessings. The grandmother asked us if we could stop by the house and perform a blessing. We stopped by and talked to them for a little while and explained more about a priesthood blessing and how it isn´t an automatic healing of the sickness. We talked about faith and taught a little lesson. We performed the blessing and after we bore our testimonies and left. The following Tuesday we stopped by the house to see how the little guy was doing. We talked to the Grandma who had asked us to give the blessing and she started crying and told us how incredible it had been. They didn´t have any money for medicine and the medicine they had been giving hadn´t been working. They said that night, after we left, the child woke up and walked himself to bed. The next morning he was feeling normal and acted as though nothing had happened. Wow!  We talked to them for a little longer and when we left me and my companion talked about how incredible the priesthood is. Wow.

There was a flashflood yesterday!! I uploaded a couple of pictures but it was so crazy. We couldn´t cross the street to get to our house!! Hahaha the water was getting high enough to get on the sidewalk and wow it was crazy but it was awesome at the same time because it´s so hot and it´s a nice refresher hahaha

The elections and all of that is over. We didn´t have any problems and all is well here in peaceful, scorching hot Zacapa.

Right now my biggest struggle is just the Spanish... Really... I´m getting better and better but it´s frustrating sometimes not to be able to understand or having to ask them to repeat the sentence 7 times hahaha but hey, I’m learning and they´re nice to me so all is well ;)

Have you eaten anything strange or exotic? (For you Adam)

Strange or exotic.... Uhhhhh... No.... Really just like a chicken... Like a legit chicken though.. It was like good but the thought of like seeing all the bones of the chicken and stuff really just makes you feel kinda weird hahaha

Did you gain any super powers from them? (and another for Adam)

Super powers.... No man... Unfortunately I didn´t sprout chicken wings and begin to fly... But I wish man.

Did you learn how to capture live animals effectively?

No. I am really terrified of live animals. One of the Sisters in our zone got bit by a dog this last week and she had to get medicine and travel to the capital to get a shot for rabies and it was crazy so I actually definitely avoid live animals. I bought a slingshot at the local market (Marcado) and I feel like Link carrying it around man. I´m not quite the shot that Link is but hey I´m practicing and getting better ;) gotta ward of the dogs.  I definitely don´t want that rabies stuff.

What is your favorite spot in Zacapa thus far?

Favorite spot in Zacapa... Probably our house man because right now we have air conditioning and it feels incredible. It´s like walking into a refrigerator. Walking from 100 degrees into 60 degrees ohhhhh ya!

Tell everyone I say hi and miss them all!!

Love,

Elder Lott

 There appears to be some kind of fast food in Zacapa!

MIDWEEK SURPRISE!

So fun to see his handwriting!