Hey Family!
 
This week was another great week. One of our goals for this last week was to really focus on trying to get our investigators to come to church. Which always seem to be a sticking point for people. But we printed out invitations for the church and Saturday we tried to make sure to visit our investigators and invite them to church. And it worked! We had seven investigators in church with us this week.
 
One of which is Mariela Garcia. It was her first time attending church with us, she finally came! We taught her the Word of Wisdom on Monday. She will need to stop using tobacco but she can do it. Her son, Andy, who always speaks the truth, said that she has been reading in the Book of Mormon as well. I feel like she is finally starting to make some real progress. Bryan and Marcos were in church and they are both going to be baptized this Saturday! Marta Gomez was also in church with us. Without fail we need to teach her more this week. Then we had Hermana Leti she is probably in her fifties. She is a non-member, she wants to get baptized but is in a difficult situation. She is living with someone who is a member of the church, who is married to somebody else and he wants a divorce but his wife is being stubborn. And he has issues with diabetes, and until he is healthy, he can’t see a lawyer. So we are in a holding pattern with her, but with some time and faith everything will work our just fine. 
 
I cannot believe how many churches there are here. It is unreal, it seems like every 10 seconds we are walking by another church. I really do not like the whole crying, yelling, loud, almost screaming their prayer’s preachers. To each there own I guess. I’m grateful for the reverence that we have in our meetings.
 
I know exactly what tree you’re talking about. I’m glad that did not fall onto the house. Did you use that yellow wedge that you bought last year?
 
Mom, that is crazy to hear that I have a second cousin coming to this mission! I wonder if we will see each other much or not.
 
This week the zone Miligro (which means miracle in Spanish) is doing prayers of faith every night. We have lots of people with dates for this week. So each area has a list of all the area’s different investigators that have a date for this week. And each night at 9:00pm, every companionship does a prayer for every area in this zone. Mormon 9:11 talks about how God is a God of miracles. We are going for a week of Miracles! My talk went well, I know there were some words that I pronounced wrong but I think people got the idea. I spoke of Charity. Moroni 7:42-47.
 
I love you all so much! 
 
Love your son and brother,
Elder Marks

Hey Family!
 
This last week was a good one, it felt like it went by really quick. This last Thursday we had a multi-zone conference. The main topic of the meeting was about the talk that President Nelson gave titled, Revelation for the Church, Revelation for our Lives. 
 
Investigators are good, but unfortunately we were not able to teach many of them this week. Our goal for this next week is to really focus on getting our investigators to church. Marcos is still good, he is ready for baptism. Bryan Valensuela needs to come to church two more times before baptism, and his family was not able to be at church this week because his mom was sick. So unfortunately we have to set his baptism back another week. Then the member that we did the service project for decided that she wants to try to walk again! Which I think is awesome. I think she will be able to, she can move her legs, she just does not have any strength because she has not used them in so long. 
 
I think all of the sad dog commercials that have ever been produced were filmed here. Seriously though, there are so many dogs just around. Some of them are quite sad looking. Patchy hair, red eyes, super skinny. 
 
Quote of the week: “Choose your goals. Work towards them! Direct your thought. Control your emotions. Get into action, and ordain your destiny.” Fulton J Sheen, Catholic Archbishop. I really like this quote. I think it hits so many things right on the head. I think you guys have set your goals for changing your health, you’re working towards them, directing your thoughts and getting into action. You guys can and will do it this time!
 
I love you all so much and appreciate your continued love and faith and prayers in my direction!
 
Love,
Elder Marks
 
P.S. I’m giving a talk in Sacrament meeting this week so please wish me luck! And I’m not sure how long it takes for the wedding pictures to come back to you guys, but it will we awesome to get those when you get them.
 

 
Hey Family!
 
First off, I got the package! It was awesome to get and be able to read the cards from everybody. It was nice of Todd and Shawna to send one, and Geoff. And now I have the Alphasmart, which is exactly what I wanted, so thank you for getting me one so quickly. Dad, I liked the note to you typed on the file for me.
 
We had some more new investigators this week. A couple of them honestly seem like they were just saying the right answers so we would leave. But one of the other one’s name is Angel, he is the son of a member and his wife is a member. I think he wants to be baptized, but is not really sure that he does yet. The other one’s name is Ancel, he is really awesome. We have actually been able to teach him once or twice, but he works so much that it makes is a little hard to be able to catch him while he is at home. But he has attended church once and was at the Sunday morning session of conference.
 
We have Marcos and Bryan that have baptismal dates for the 28 of April. Bryan is the son of the Valensuela family, which we are working with to reactivate. It is kinda tough with him because he is younger and I wonder how much is understanding and how much he is just kinda smiling and nodding to. Marcos is doing really well. He and his girlfriend have a kid, so obviously he needs to get married before he can be baptized, but they have a date to be married the same day as the baptism. He is reading and seems to be progressing well. It helps that his girlfriend, who was less active, is now active so she can help him remember to read and attend church.
 
One of our other investigators, Marta Gomez, is doing well also. She is super Pilas. Or in English, super awesome. She seems to be one of the few people who actually reads and is not afraid to ask questions, and not questions that are contentious is anyway, but that she actually wants an answer to. Did you guys experience much on your mission that when you were saying the prayer your investigator would also be saying a prayer out loud at the same time? That was unexpected the first time that happened. It was one of my first weeks out, I had to really focus on what I was trying to say. Overall, investigators are going well and we have high hopes for the end of April and for May. In the month of March the mission goal was to baptize on 100 people and we got 102, our goal this month is 110.  It is going to be a stretch but I think we can get it. 
 
The language is doing a little better everyday. It is nice that we have time in the morning that is just for studying the language. Elder Corrales helps me learn Spanish and I am able to help him learn some English at the same time, so that works out well.
 
We dedicated a home this last week. What are your thoughts on dedicating homes? I thought it was kinda cool. 
 
It sounds like the changes that were made in the ward are going to be very good ones. All of those people know how to serve.
 
The food here is actually fairly good. Nothing to weird, lots of chicken, rice, beans, eggs, and tortillas with every meal. The hard thing are these tiendas everywhere. They are little store areas where you can buy chips, drinks, and all sorts of other snacks. They are hard, but I do good at not piggin out too much. We walk so much it is easy to justify. 
 
The Yoda thing made me laugh, every time I talk in Spanish I feel like Yoda. It is not, “oh how is Markos head?” but “How is the head of Marcos?”
 
I love you all so much and am so grateful for your continued love and support!
 
Love Your son and brother,
Elder Marks
 
P.S. Dad, you could find the video clip you have of me crying and screaming my head off when I was little and just have that playing on loop really loud in the shop. We sure did have some fun times working together in the shop. And I am sure that we will have even more when I am home.

Hey family!
 
This was a better week then last week! We found five new investigators to teach. In order to be a investigator you have to pray in a lesson, hear the overview of the Restoration pamphlet and accept a date for baptism as a goal. I feel good about all of them but especially two of them, Jefferson and Bryan. They both are actually a little younger, Bryan is only fifteen but he looks like he is 22 or so. And Jefferson is probably 19 or so. They both actually seem interested. Asking question about what time the church starts and where the church is. Not just “yeah, I’ll read” and then when we return the pamphlet is in the same spot collecting dust. The first part of the week was a little tougher because last week was Samana Santa or Holy Week, so everybody was resting and did not want to hear from us. Another one of our investigators is Marco Antonio, he really wants to get baptized, but needs to get married first because he is living with his girlfriend and has a kid. But I know that he is working with the bishop to get everything taken care of. I think we will have three of four more baptisms this month. We tried to teach Maria Luiza and Dani multiple times this week and they we never home. 
 
The service project went really good. We actually had some people show up this time, which was nice! We were able to do the whole thing in one day. I have some pictures that I will attach below and I will get one of the completed thing and send it along next week. It felt really nice to wear my work pants and boots and get to work. I may have accidentally broken a sledgehammer while trying to bust up some rocks. That was exciting. I also killed a spider with a sledgehammer this week. The spider was a little bigger and nasty lookin’. But it was outside and not near our house so it is all good. Dad, I saw a natural cluster of honey bees up in a tree this week. Hopefully all of our bees are not dead. I am trying to get more pictures but it is a little different here because everybody already thinks that all gringos have money. And from what I have heard, people really do not like getting their picture taken. But I will keep trying. 
 
Conference this week was awesome! Dad, do you think the changes will make things a little easier from a bishop’s stand point. It seems like it will in the long run but maybe a bit of an adjustment period. And people asking questions that nobody knows the question to. A couple of things from conference that I really liked was the talk from Brian K. Taylor that talked about being children of God. I love the part when he talked about when Moses was tempted by Satan. When Satan said, “Moses, Son of Man, worship me”, and Moses responded, “Who art thou? I am a son of God!” It is really the full first part of Moses 1 but mainly 12 through 22. You should all read it and think about the amazing power that we have from being children of God. Another that I liked was Lynn G. Robbins. I liked his point about not just going from failure to failure but GROWING from failure. Because as he also taught, repentance is not the backup plan for if we fail, it is the plan for when we fail. We can all take comfort in this idea, I love that God knew that this life was going to be tough and working together with His Son established a plan for in which we can repent and return to live with Him forever. In the Sunday morning session, I like the analogy that Larry Y. Wilson used about the ship in rough waters. He taught that life’s storms is no time to dust off the Holy Ghost. If we know the Holy Spirit in the calm waters, the Lord’s direction will be very clear in stormy waters. This is one of the things that I am trying to develop, learning to listen and act on the prompting of the Holy Spirit. What a great blessing that we have the Holy Spirit to help guide and direct us in this life. And always, Dallin H. Oaks talk of the little things. The little things are what turn into the big, great, powerful blessings that God has waiting for us when we are willing to tend to the small things.
 
Mom, I had some fresh mangoes this week. They were so tasty. I thought of you when I ate it. It was so juicy and tasty. I wish there was a way that I could send you one in the mail. I mean the ones in the States are good but these are REALLY good.
 
We are going to the mission office tomorrow for a meeting so hopefully the package will be there. But if it is not, then we can get it some other time in the future. Sorry Mom, but that picture is not by where I live. I will get some pictures of where we live, We live in a nicer part of our area. Where people have tile and paint. 
 
It sound like you guys have some big plans for the spring and summer projects. They all sound good. I think some people find so much joy in having a garden and taking care of the yard because nature seems to have the spirit. That is so bad about the maple! Hopefully once it gets moved it might live. Flippin deer! They are lucky that it is only pellets and not your pistol. Kinda sounds like classic Robert. Only smoking half of a stogie so that he can quit. It is amazing how many people are just missing some key aspects of the truth.
 
Love You Tons! 
Elder Marks
 
P.S. I shaved my head back down to how Dad use to cut it for me. Unfortunately, I think when I’m a little older I am going to have the classic bald Mormon look. I hope I’m wrong, but I am preparing for the worst. :)

Hey Family!
 
Well we had our baptism for Carlos this last Saturday, which went really well. Carlos was thinking that his non-member mom and sister would not go to the baptism because it was in the evening, but they made the effort to be there anyway which I think was really good. And Elder Corrales and I decided to sing a song, which is a little out of my comfort zone but it went well. We sang Nearer My God to Thee. We sang the first two verses in English and the third in Spanish. 
 
We found four new investigators this week, which is awesome because the more investigators you have the more potential baptisms you have. We really were not able to teach our current investigators this week, which is too bad. Though we were able to teach Maria Luiza once this week, we finished teaching lesson two and introduced lesson three. We were able to have a member there with us for that lesson so that was nice. The members name is Helen and she is a somewhat newish convert, so she was able to help explain things in a way that is maybe a little more clear for an investigator. We really were not able to teach many other investigators this week, only a couple here or there. However, we were able to teach members this week, which was good. Yeah, missionaries are suppose to find and baptize but we are also suppose to help strengthen the members
 
Mom, that sounds like that is correct for where we are! That is our bishops name, he is a really good guy who likes to help the missionaries, which is huge.  So the service project was a little frustrating because nobody showed up! But Elder Corrales and I did what we could. And Friday we are actually going to have people to help us. I’m looking forward to being able to get some work done!  
 
I’m happy that The Sound Of Music was a good time for you guys. It is always enjoyable for you guys when you go down to Spokane for an evening together. But only four channels! Now we have like 9999 channels. 
 
The whole sprinkler thing... I think you have a really good start. I think that it is the pump that is down in the ground in the big holding tank. I’m glad winter is starting to calm down for you guys. Now it is just the mud.
 
It really would be nice to just know all of the mysteries of the universe wouldn’t it? Faith is kinda tough, sometimes more than others. God is so patient with us. But yeah, just keep on keepin’ on. 
 
That is so crazy that Erika is going to be home so soon! I’m excited for her and for you guys!
I am really looking forward to conference this weekend. The Elders from the states are going to be able to watch it in English, so that is really nice. I heard something about there now only being conference one time a year... do you know if this is true of not? I love how almost without fail every conference, we can receive those answers to our questions, or at least some of them. 
 
Thank you for getting a package coming this way with that Alphasmart. I’m looking forward to getting the package. We will be able to take one of the crazy busses down to the mission office one of our P-days after April 3rd. The buses are crazy in the early morning. The traffic is crazy too because everybody is trying to get to the city for work and their day. All of the seats have two or three people and the standing room is next to none for each person. And the bus driver always plays really loud music with way to much bass in the morning. 
 
Love You Tons! 
Elder Marks