Ping Pong is back!

I love Mondays!!!  I love getting to write you guys, it just gives me that boost for the week :)  Sounds like the weather is changing in Utah!  It`s pretty normal here all the time... hot in the day a little bit chillier in the night; but we`re moving into the summer months so apparently it`s supposed to be hot all day... Yikes... Nothing compared to Zacapa though haha!

We have a ping pong table in our church and one of the elders has paddles and ping pong balls so we`ve been enjoying that on our pdays! We also play soccer a lot too so that`s my exercise for the week.... I wish I had a little more time to exercise throughout the week.

I am always looking for better foods but they eat a lot of rice and tortillas and I don`t have a ton of options haha! I`m doing good though!  I`m loving the missionaries in the zone here.  They`re all so fun and it`s awesome. There`s a newbie that just got in and it`s so fun to see him and remember being in his shoes haha.  I make an extra effort to try to help and teach him the best I can.

Yes, I am still filtering my water here in the city.  There are several people who don’t and never have any problems, but I`m never super sure so I filter everything or just buy purified water.  Don`t wanna take any chances ;) A water heater? I think it exists. It`s something called a calentador but I`ve only seen one when I slept in the assistants’ house the night of transfers. That was the greatest morning ever to shower in warm water... Not hot... But warm :)  So ya I just shower in cold water every day... I`ve gotten pretty used to it... It`s only the initial jumping into the water where you have to take a deep breath and then after that... All is well hahaha!

One of our investigators spent the week with his brother who is catholic and now he is a little aggressive with us... But we`re being patient and teaching the best we can... He`ll come around :) 

All is well here.  We`re working hard and life is good.  My companion turned 20 today.  I think we`re going to a big mall here to celebrate—a place called MetroNorte.  I’m off….

Happy Monday!

Love,

Elder Lott

Service Projects and Miracles

Alright, transfer details....there were only a couple of changes.... one of our zone leaders is leaving and like two other missionaries; but I´m staying with my companion and I´m pumped about that. Our little district of 4 is awesome and we´re all going to be staying another transfer together!

Well apparently here in Guatemala it´s starting to be cold and rain sooner than usual. We´ve had a couple of good rain storms in the past couple of days that have been kind of crazy but hey I can´t complain!

All seems to be going well.... Our same 3 investigators continue to progress and we are working super diligently with them. We know that the Lord is helping us and preparing them as well. Truly there are tons of miracles happening in our area and we continue to see the hand of the Lord every single day.  I am doing my best to share this wonderful gospel with all of these people.

  This was a service project we did for one of the members in our ward! It was like my first one here in Alameda! Anyway, he had all that dirt that he needed to move so we offered to help him. We went over there one morning at like 8 in the morning and worked ours buns off until 12 and we only made a dent in it!! The problem is the wheelbarrows that we have to work with are super hard to work with. They don´t haul a lot of dirt so we have to make several trips just to haul a little bit. It´s fun though....we have gone like several times to run over and help him and we finally have it all taken care of!

Miracle of the week..... I´m going to have to go with....we were trying to find somebody that we could invite to baptism and we decided to visit a less active family that someone had referred us to. When we got there we were talking about the church and everything and we found out that when the family was baptized the daughter was only 4 years old so she wasn´t baptized. But now she´s 10 years old and anxiously accepted the invitation to baptism with the support of her family and everything!! It was super awesome. We just have to work with the parents to make sure they´ll come to church again and support her :)

We just see tons of miracles every day and it´s super awesome to be part of the Lord´s work here on the earth.

Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Lott

A View of Alameda

The work is going great. We just work and work and work and we are definitely seeing the fruits of our labor which is so fun to see. We have several investigators that are progressing. One is a younger girl, she´s 18 years old and has a boyfriend who returned from a mission a little while ago but is kind of inactive.... He supports her though and that helps us. She is super excited about the baptism and has a strong testimony so we are just helping her little by little. Another investigator is 19 years old and she has a boyfriend too but they are not married. That´s our biggest struggle with her. She has also been pregnant for like 7 months so we´re working on the marriage with them! Our third investigator is like 46 but he has had a rough time lately. He was into a lot of drugs and alcohol in his life and it has definitely destroyed his health. He has diabetes and he has to connect himself to a machine to take liquids out of his body.  It´s called like dialysis or something like that.  He is humble though and has been really receptive and open to the gospel which is helpful. He always jokes and tells us that if he makes it to his baptism date,  he´ll be baptized; but if not, he´ll be dead haha! No worries though, I know he will make it ;) 

Transfers didn´t happen because they made a change in the rules of the CCM where the Latinos are going to stay 3 weeks instead of only 2 so this transfer is going to be one extra week to be able to accommodate the change in rules... Next week!

I haven´t ridden in a car for quite some time... In Zacapa sometimes the bishop would take us around in his car but not too much and here in Alameda I haven´t ridden anything but a bus hahaha! The buses are always jam packed too and I´m always worrying about my wallet being stolen haha! 

P-Days are great. We get all ready and come and write you guys and then we usually go and play soccer for a few hours and then eat lunch. After that we go grocery shopping and then we have like 2 hours to just do whatever... Sleep, play more soccer... Hang out with the district... Whatever it might be. We only get to go to the temple every other transfer though which is like every 3 months about. It´s alright though... It beats never being able to go hahaha!

No, Mom…there is not a Walmart here for me to just run over and pick up a blanket. We shop at a department store called the Maxi Dispensa..... It´s the Spanish version of like a Walmart... It´s not nearly the same but it has the necessities and that´s all that matters haha! There is a WalMart in Guatemala City but it´s outside our area so we can´t go.... Maybe in the future haha!

I´ll try and grab some pictures of the apartment... it´s a lot bigger and cleaner than the other so that´s good. My companion is good about cleaning and keeping it clean so that helps a ton.

Until next week…

Love,

Elder Lott

Working Hard!

I am doing super good. The week was awesome. We have just been working and working and working and more working and oh when I hit the bed it is oh so nice ;) We are seeing a lot of progress in several of our investigators and that is so rewarding. We just have to keep working hard and we will be seeing baptisms like the middle of March. Super exciting :) 

No I never bought a blanket..... First of all because I don´t know where to look for one and second of all we never have time to look for one haha! I´m doing good though. The weather is changing and it has been a lot warmer lately and I don´t have to sleep with 2 layers on ;) 

Transfers are next week already.... Crazy how fast time flies by.... I will definitely be staying.... I think my companion will too but I´m not positive.... If not... Hopefully I know the area well enough to be able to teach a new elder the area hahah! :) 

Life is good here in... well..... Loud, crazy Alameda and all is well :) 

Con amor,

Elder Lott

P.S.  The temple session was in Spanish... I meant to mention that but I forgot.... It was super different but the spirit was the same. It was super fun and I absolutely loved being able to visit the temple again. 

"Angelitos"

It was so much fun to go to the temple and have a baptism and I had to take tons of pictures to remember it all and share it with you guys :) 

This is another gringo!  His name is Elder Brubaker and he was born in Hawaii but doesn´t remember it cause he was a baby... So he just says he´s from Arizona. He´s super fun and we always get together because we enjoy speaking some English together haha! The temple is beautiful and it was so much fun to be able to go back.

 
Here are pictures of our baptism.  His mother is the younger one with another baby on the way and that´s his grandmother... She doesn´t really receive us but she supports him and that´s what´s important. He loved dressing up in white though and told me that we both looked like "angelitos" and it was super fun. 

We played some Foosball in the Taco Bell that´s right next to the temple and had a little mini party. It was super fun too. This week has just been super fun!  My companion is still a little shy but likes to joke around with me which is fun. We work hard and we have been seeing lots of success in the area which is so awesome.

The Spanish language is coming right along. I finally feel like I have quite the hold on the language. I can express myself and ask questions and everything and I feel pretty comfortable with the language but I still say my personal prayers in English...that´s like the only opportunity I have to speak English :)

The truth is this area is pretty crazy....we leave everything behind in the house but we leave with faith! I´m truly grateful for your prayers and know that they are giving me strength and support every single day.

Love you all!

Elder Lott

"Que bonita sus ojos"

This week has been honestly just fantastic! We had a baptism Saturday. We baptized a little nine year-old that just loves me because I´m white and have blue eyes. He always tells me how bright and beautiful they are... "Que bonita sus ojos" he tells me haha! In fact, he even asked me if I would baptize him!! It was such a neat experience. We got all dressed in white and it was so fun to walk down into the font with him with his wide eyes looking up at me with pure excitement. (the water was freezing cold by the way and that was a little bit of a shock for me but it was worse for the little guy cause he had to get dunked ;) and then today.... WE GOT TO GO TO THE TEMPLE!!!! It was so amazing!!! I miss it so much!!

I’m still a little bit sick but mostly just like runny nose from the cold and stuff and sometimes I have a little cough but I´m drinking more water and taking my vitamins and I´m getting rid of it so that´s not a big problem. My testimony is growing like crazy. Every single day it is strengthened. It´s crazy how our testimony really is like a muscle and when we exercise that muscle it grows. When I´m out testifying of the truthfulness of this gospel every day, wow it has grown tremendously! I´m on a spiritual high…the baptism and the temple have just been the best. Definitely the highlight of this transfer has been this week!

Look!  I´m eating something that maybe you guys are eating ;) It´s not quite as cheap but it is a little piece of home and it is so worth it hahaha :) There are a lot of food places here in the city that are places like we have at home so that´s fun!

This Jenga picture comes from our meeting at our District Leader´s house for Pday.  We played Jenga and Uno and stuff as a district and it was super fun. This is my new companion.

I will be sending some pictures of our baptism but the truth is that it´s kind of hard to take the camera out of the house because.....it´s a tad bit unsafe... I actually don´t carry much besides my scriptures hahaha ;)  We have been able to bring some of the Priests along on some of our visits and it has been fun to think that just a short time ago I was one of these Priests... They seem so little though!

Everything is so crazy and so busy but that´s a good thing right? I think that´s all I got for today..... There´s probably something more but I can never remember it all... I need to start writing it down.

With love,

Elder Lott

Getting Better :)

My cold is finally getting better. I don´t know that it helps that I have to wake up and take a freezing cold shower when I’m already freezing cold in the morning..... I think it´s kind of hard for my body to stay healthy but I´m finally feeling tons and tons better. I think I had something else though because I actually was having pain in my neck and my lower spine as well as some crazy headaches but I´m actually feeling tons better. I think I have finally gotten rid of it :)

The truth is.... Not much to protect me from the mosquitoes.... During the night we run around in sweaters and my whole body is protected... I think the only time that they could get me is when I´m sleeping at night but I can´t do much there. I try to sleep with everything but my face covered but I don´t know how I move or what I do in the night haha! Nah I´m not experiencing anything from the mosquito virus. I´m completely healed and the Lord is taking good care of me :) 

The apartment is TONS bigger than the Zacapa closet. I feel like I´m living in a mansion after that haha! We have a member that does our laundry and she uses a laundry machine actually.  She lives super close so we are able to drop clothes off and pick clothes up pretty freely and it´s super nice.

The members here are super awesome! They are super loving and accepted me in as part of the family super quick. They all love that I´m a white boy with blue eyes. Every single person here loves the eyes haha it´s a secret weapon I guess ;) We are often invited to eat which is super nice and there are several members here that can join us on our visits. It´s super different than Zacapa but this is one of the positive differences right? ;) 

I think we might be having a baptism this Saturday.... It´s a little unsure though so we´ll see.

Love,

Elder Lott