tHey Family!

This last week actually went quite quick. It was also a really good week. The highlight was definitely the baptism for Sara last Saturday. 

The baptism went great, and as usual we had great support from the ward, which is really nice because it does not always happen like that. There were probably about fifty people there, including eight people who are investigating the church. It was really cool to see Sara be able to take this big step after so much time, to be able to enter into the waters of baptism together with her husband and have him baptize her. Then on Sunday I had the opportunity to confirm her a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It was my first time confirming somebody to the church and it was a really cool experience. 

We were not able to visit Maria and Jaime much this week, though on Saturday they are going to get married they will not be getting baptized until the end of next week, July 6th.

Somebody that we started teaching a couple of weeks ago and has already came to church twice is a guy named Ovidio Ochoa, who is 25 and is the "friend" of a recent convert. He has had a lot of problems in his life and is really trying to change. He used to drink, smoke, and spent about a month in jail. He now does not drink or have problems with the law, he still smokes but it is no longer a pack a day, just about 4 a day. He knows he needs to stop, and more importantly, he wants to leave smoking behind. The journey towards baptism might be a little longer with him but he will eventually make the needed decisions to make covenants with Heavenly Father and get baptized. 
 
I have honestly seen throughout my mission how the Lord protects his servants and keeps us out of harms way. Although small things happen, big things rarely happen. For example, in front of our house there is a park. We were in front of the park and then we left, then about 5 or 10 minutes later somebody got shot and killed in the park. I don’t want to startle anybody, just to let you know that the Lord is watching out for us.

My spiritual thought that I want to share this week is actually an audio from Elder Uchtdorf. When I first listened to this, although I did not cry, I could feel the reaffirming whisper of the spirit testify to my spirit that these things are true. The other thing that I read that I loved! was from Dad’s Ward Conference talk about consecration. The big thing that stuck out to me was that being simply dedicated to something is not enough. The need to commit one’s will to the Lord and be consecrated is what is needed. The best thing that we can give to the Lord is our will.
 
I love you all and am pulling for you. You are all in my prayers along with your different needs and desires.

Love, your brother and son,
Elder Marks

Hey Family!

This last week was a good week but felt a little long because I have been looking forward to going back to Jalapa. Being here in Jalapa today has been really great, it’s always is fun to see some of the same people who I served for 6 months.

Big news with Jaime and Maria, we talked with them yesterday and we asked them how they felt about marriage and baptism and they said great! So we asked them when they wanted to get married and baptized and Maria, without and hesitation said, at the end of this month, so we asked, “how about the 29th” and they said, "sounds great!" We are super excited for them and we are going to be working closely with them all this week and the next helping prepare them for the 29th.

We are all set also for the baptism for Sara that is going to happen this Saturday! Her husband, Otto, will be the one who baptizes her, so that is really good. It will take place this Saturday at about 6:30. 
 
Thank you, Dad, for the thought that you shared about the "Sandpoint Seven" Those things are the small and basic things that help take us to live with God again. Sometimes it is easier to do them and other times it is harder, Keep up the great work!

Other then those two big things, this week was fairly normal. Also, I am going to keep this  short due to the fact that I am here in Jalapa. I am looking forward to talking more next week. Know that I love you all! 
 
God loves us and is very aware of every one of us and our situation, and know’s exactly what we need. There is a missionary in this zone, who whenever anything good or bad happens, says "God’s Plan." This morning on a bus he got robbed and they took his backpack, camera, personal card, and about 250Q, he even got hit in the face by one of the guys. When I was talking to him this morning, making sure everything was ok, he just smiled and said, “God’s Plan”, faith that God has a plan for us.
 
Love you all tons!
Elder Marks! 

Hey Family,
 
This last week was a really great week. First off, we did get to go to the sealing of Miguel and his wife Ilse. It was an amazing experience to be able to be part of the temple sealing. I even got to be a witness. The spirit really was super strong during the ordinance. We got some great pictures but I will have to send them to you next week because right now I am in Las Margaritas saying goodbye one last time before the change in the mission, so the internet is super bad and does not even let me send you guys a message through Messenger.
 
We also went to the temple again with Sara and had another amazing experience in which she could feel the spirit confirm to her that this is all true and now she has the desire to be baptized again. She will actually be getting baptized next Saturday on the 22nd of June. This time she is really going to take the step and get baptized; we are both really excited for her.
 
Maria and Jaime are doing well. He will have to have surgery but he is thinking that he will do it at the start of next month. With them we are thinking for seeing if they can get both married and baptized on the 29th of this month.
 
Dad, the aquarium turned out great! I really like the look of it. What are you going to name the fish? Maybe something like Alexander.
 
I am just about done with the book Saints, I only have one more chapter to read. Reading the book has been a real testimony builder. Being able to read and really understand the story and to be able to feel the spirit reaffirm to me the truthfulness of all of the historical events that really did take place.
 
I hope that you all of a great week! Continue strong with your different goals! Keep doing all that you can to be great! 
 
Love you all,
Elder Marks

Hey Family!


This last week was another good week in which we were able to see some good things happen. The week was also very full of other activities and running around that we had to do. Overall it was a great week!

First things first! My eyes are terrible. I went the eye doctor and my vision is way worse then it was last time I went to the doc. I now have the perscription of  '4.25 in each one of my eyes. I need to get new glasses and/or contacts but I have not made any decision yet because I wanted to be able to talk to you guys first. Now for the real good news. :)

On Saturday we had the baptism for Diego Arevalo! Things went really well and he had great support from family and friends and just overall from the ward. Diego was so ready to be able to take this big step, and his non-member family members were there to support him, so that was really good. And the next day, Sunday, he got not just the gift of the Holy Spirit but also the Aaronic Priesthood.

This week we also had mission council, the visit to the eye doc, we had to do some running for the sisters because that’s just how it goes, and overall we just weren’t able to do a whole lot this week. We did have a teaching moment with Sara in which we were able to find out that she feels that there are just a couple of things that she needs to do or change before she should be baptized. She also said that she will get baptized, but after she is ready.

We had a lesson with Jaime and Maria Colon and they are still progressing well. They are now starting to understand the Book of Mormon more and they really want to be able to get married and baptized. They are also going to start putting goals to stop drinking coffee. The only possible future problem that they might have is that at the end of this month or the start of the next month he might have to have surgery due to some problem that he has.

During some study time this week I read a scripture in James that kinda made me think. The scripture is in James chapter 4 verse 17, it says, "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." It’s a short scripture but it’s true. There are a lot of people in today’s day, including myself, that sometimes we know that there are things that we need to be doing but we don’t do them. For example, in the mission there are so many people that say that they know that they need to go to church or get married and they never do it, they are living in sin. The invitation for everybody is to look for small ways that we can do better and find new ways to be able to receive blessings from God.

I love you all and hope that you have great week!
 
Love you all tons!
Elder Marks