Hey Family!
 
First things first, this next week we are going to have P-day on Monday the 27th and not Wednesday the 29th due to a multi-zone conference that we are going to have.
 
This last week was another good and really quick week! We had some really good lessons this week with Dennis. He has his baptismal interview tomorrow. We have gone over the questions with him and he has talked with president over the phone about question 4, which is the one about a major crime and all of the serious stuff. President said that all is good and we can continue with the baptism for this Saturday at five o’clock! Woohoo!
 
We are also teaching a sister named Gladis. She knows that the Book of Mormon is true and believes that this is the church of Jesus Christ. The thing is, is that her family is Evangelic and Elder Barczi and I are working with her so that she can lose her fear of taking action and just do it! She was one of the investigators in church with us this last Sunday. We will be visiting her and working with her as closely as we can. 
 
There are also two different families that are currently inactive and have nine year old daughters that want to be baptized. We have been teaching them and one of them, named Sarah, is doing better than the other one. Sarah’s grandma is active and the mom wants to return to church. The other one is named Ashley. The parent’s say that they want to return to church but their actions do not really show it. 
 
Story time. This last Monday around 2:30 in the morning we were woken up to something on our roof. Our roof is made of a really cheap roofing metal so anything that hits the roof sounds really loud from the inside of the house. But this animal that was on our roof was not leaving, it kept running around. So we grabbed the broom stick and started hitting the roof trying to get this thing to move on. We also used the little cap gun that Elder Barczi has trying to scare it off, but none of that worked. We ended up outside tossing small rocks up on the roof. After throwing a couple of rocks, we thought that that would have done it so we went back inside and it was quiet. But after laying in bed for about 3 minutes it started again! So we took our flashlights and went back outside, I climbed up onto the window so that I could see what it was and I saw a cat with its head somehow stuck between the gutter where our house ends and the next house with its back two legs flopping around trying to get free! The owner of our house lives next door and he came out. After talking to him for a little bit, he said that we couldn’t get up on the house to help the cat out in case it bit us or something like that. So we went back inside that house and laid down listening to a little cat flopping around on the roof. Around 4:15 am the cat finally stopped. But the next morning the cat was still there! We assumed it was dead but it was not. We talked to the owner again in the evening and he said that the cat jumped down looking half drunk and ran off.
 
I love the Plan of Salvation! Mom you gave a talk this last week! That means we gave a talk the same Sunday. I like the difference between salvation and exaltation. Salvation is like immortality that is a gift to all men, good or bad, but exaltation or eternal life is only for those people who make it to the Celestial Kingdom where they can live with God and their family forever
 
Alrighty then! The Lord always watches out for the people who do His work. Doctrine and Covenants 35:14 says, "And their arm shall be my arm, and I will be their shield and buckler; and I will gird up their loins, and they shall fight manfully for me; and their enemies shall be under their feet; and I will let fall the sword in their behalf, and by the fire of mine indignation will I preserve them." I like this because we have the promise that the Lord will be there to help us and to prepare us and He will always help us fight against the enemies, but it does say that They shall fight manfully for me. So we always have our part to do. We have a responsibility to build up the kingdom of God and tear down the building of Satan. If we do all that we can with faith and diligence the Lord’s sword will fall on our behalf and we will be protected.
 
I love you all so much. Keep doing the things that you are. In the mission there is often a reminder from teaching every day that we can always do a little more. Thank you all for your continued love and support. I am so happy that you are my family and not somebody elses! :)
 
Love your brother and son,
Elder Marks

Hey Family! 
 
This week was quite good. It is kinda fun getting to know a new area and new people and everything. I have met almost all of the investigators that we have and some of the members. The one investigator that has a date for the 25th of this month is named Dennis. He is about 21, and has really come a long ways in the last four months or so. His bigger brother was LDS but was killed some years back. That was what set Dennis into some problems with the Word of Wisdom. He had problems with smoking, drinking, wiffin glue and sometimes getting high. Quite a bag of problems! He has now stopped doing it all other that occasionally smoking, but he has now gone four days without a cigarette. This last Saturday the ward had a temple trip so we took Dennis. He had a really good experience at the temple. Afterward he was a lot happier, and a lot more determined to be baptized this 25th without fail.
 
Afterwards we went out to eat in a big mall area, that whole scene was new for him. It was really interesting to see somebody experience all of that for the first time. Taking pictures of things that most people think are totally normal. But when you live way out in Jalapa you really do not see much of that city stuff. Jalapa is a big area, it is one of the biggest zones in the mission with 20 missionaries. Porvenir is a massive area, because it covers much of the mountains. So one day if we want to take a hike we can walk up into the mountains to find some random town to contact. :) We really have only worked in the town of Porvenir, wich is a nice sprawling town with quite a few people. Lots of people to find and baptize. I think this area has potential to be even better than the last area. 
 
The name of the ward is Porvenir ward, and the bishop is bishop Gonzales. Our district is called Chipilapa. The name of the last bishop is Bishop Arrecis in ward las Margaritas. And yes most people are so short here!
 
Some of the other investigators are named Rebecca (mom) and Britnay (daughter of 14 years). They are progressing slowly but surely. The hardest part is that the mom really likes to talk! Which can be frustrating, but also sometimes she says something that is really good to know, it is another patience game! :) They have all of the lessons and read two of the three chapters in the BOM, and currently have one attendance at church. There is also Ashley who recently turned nine. The parents are members but inactive due to work; however, she has other family that are really active so we can teach her and baptize her also.
 
That is so crazy the grand adventure that Kylie is having and now Erika too! That is crazy that they are in New Zealand! It sounds like they are having lots of fun. I think it is a good thing Dad that you drove down to Utah with Erika to make sure the car and everything did ok. The car did good right?
 
The shop looks amazing! It is so much cleaner and organized! It has to be so much nicer to work in. As for as the table saw goes... I’m not really sure what would be better then what you have. Just if there is something else online that is specifically for table saws (for dust collection). 50 sheets is a lot of wood to process into boxes! That will make a lot of boxes!

Poor air quality again! I cannot stand when the air quality is so bad. Hopefully the fires that are closer to Sandpoint calm down a little bit this week. I remember practicing in poor air quality, it is no fun at all. I am glad that the coach is not the athletic director for the Bulldogs. Hopefully they destroy PF! Let me know how it goes.
 
Sorry my English is getting so bad! I am always thinking in Spanish, writing in Spanish, and dreaming in Spanish! Sometimes it is hard to make the mental shift back to English. I don’t remember how to spell!   {It is atrocious - I fix most of it before posting here - Michelle}
 
It is so weird sometimes to think about where I am in the world compared to Idaho! It is crazy how the brain can accept a new language! I am still trying to learn more because I still have a lot to learn, but I think that I am now "fluent". I love being able to see the message of the restored gospel change people’s lives! 
 
I love you all so much! Keep doing all that you can!
 
Love,
Elder Marks

Hey Family!
 
Well we had cambios (changes/transfers)! and Elder Segovia left to San Cristobal I am staying in the area of Las Margaritas for another month and a half! No it is a joke! :) Elder Segovia went to San Cristobal and I am now in... (drum roll please!) Por Venir Jalapa! I am about an hour outside of the capital. My companion’s name is Elder Barczi, he is from Chile also. Just seems a lot less weird and difficult. ;) He has been on his mission for nine months and is 26 years old. He speaks a little bit of English. After one partial day I really can not say too much, but from my spidey senses I feel like this is going to be a really good change. Both of us like a clean house and similar movies and music. We both like joking around, playing sports, working hard and we want to baptize, kinda nice to have a change. :) Elder Barczi was a bit of a rocker before the mission. He had hair down to his belly button or so! He then cut it all off and donated it a kid that had cancer. He also played rugby before his mission. I felt like the Lord was trying my patience with Elder Segovia... I think I passed. ;)
 
The journey to Jalapa was kinda long. We left the house around eight this morning and we went to Milagro. From there we made a couple more stops picking up missionaries with the church bus. We made it to zone 7, Utatlan, the mission office. From there we all got our suitcases and everything in the group of missionaries going to Jalapa. Then two by two we got into taxies to be taken to the bus stop, which is about 30 minutes. Elder Corrales, my “daddy”, was also going to Jalapa to be one of the ZL´s so we went together in the taxi. From there we paid our thirty quetz put our bags under the bus. I was happy when I saw that the bus was a bigger bus, more like a charter bus, just in Guatemala so not the nicest thing in the world but it sure did work. From there it was about a three hour bus ride to get to the zone, where we met up with our new companions. I put all my stuff in the back of a tuk tuk and away we went. (And away we go!) 
 
POR VENIR, por venir in English means for to come. From what I have seen, this pueblo is super chill. It is a big change from Las Margaritas. For starters it is flat! There are really no hills (the town is in a flat valley surrounded by hills), which is really nice. Most of the roads are made from landscaping stones. I bet in google maps you could do the street view and see what they are. We will be using a lot less transportation here because we can walk almost anywhere. The thing is, is that when we need to go the city for a multi zone or something, it is really expensive. Like 200 quetz (abt. $26), which is a lot.
 
I love that the grass at home is green! Always in the past it would be green for the first month or so and then dead like all of the other yards. But now that we have the sprinkler system we will have green grass all year round. Mom that is awesome that you found another Salvia plant. I did not know that the other one died. Definitely find a way to keep it alive through this next winter. :)
 
That is good to use the money and get those things fixed that Erika's car is in a little better shape for driving a long distance. Oh to be a billionaire! That is sweet that he was able to do that for Erika! That big ol´ tip should help quite a bit (Erika received a large tip her last night working at Jalapeno’s).
 
Coach Knowles is going to be the new football coach! Hopefully they have a decent year this year. I am going to miss going to games this fall.
 
The temple is amazing but sometimes it is a little easy to just go through the motions. There is so much to learn there! That is really good dad that you want to learn more. We are always told about how important it is. 
 
More than a scripture or quote today, it is more of a thought that I had, that my companion and I were talking about last night. Which is the importance of not judging. It is interesting how if we see somebody in the hospital, our heart instantly goes out to them. Even if the accident was completely their fault, we still feel that pull to help and take care of them. But at times people see a sinner in the church and it is a different story. The saying is that the church is a hospital for sinners. It is very easy to judge somebody for sins, or just if they are or are not doing something that they should or should not be doing. And oftentimes we focus on other people’s problems before we address our own. Thoughts more than anything, but interesting.
 
I am looking forward to getting continued updates of how everything is going with everybody! I love you all so much!
 
Love,
Elder Marks

Hey Family!
 
Last week was a decent week. Sometimes I feel like our companionship is walking with one and a half legs, we can still move forward we just have to walk a lot of circles first.                
 
One of the families (the Gonzales family) that we found last Monday came to church with us! That was really nice to actually have somebody come to church the first week. They said that they would and they did! There is a returned missionary whose parents are not members, they both came to church with us also. The dad is more interested then the mom. The dad’s name is Hector, I feel like he actually wants to change and listens to us when we teach. However, the mom does not want to change much, I think it is because she has the big question of who is Jehovah. We will see what she decides to do.
 
So we will find out the transfers this next Sunday and then we will actually change areas on Tuesday.

Miguel and all of his family are members now, besides one daughter who is three years old. They were all able to go to the temple when we went. He has got to be one of the best converts! He is now doing a really good job at making sure that the family has evening prayers and goes to church and does all of the things that he should as the dad.
 
Both Christian and Manuel are still listening to us. :) Manuel’s problem is that he needs to get married (shocker!) but he and his girlfriend want to wait until next year. If they come to have a testimony they might change their minds about waiting and speed the process up. 
 
The people here let their kids do whatever they want in church. I just about had it this last week and said something, but I held my peace, took a deep breath and remembered that I’m a missionary:) Gotta love it!

USE DILL!   {to the question: what type of pickles should be put in potato salad?}
 
Kylie and Erika have quite the adventure schedule ahead of them. Should be a great time for them!
 
Well I gave another talk this last Sunday. It was a lot better than the last one. :) It was about 15 minutes long and was about how the members can help with the missionary work. Really, to help with the work the people need faith and love. References are so nice! Speaking of missionaries, does Westmond have missionaries right now? Are they sisters or elders? Are they still split between Sandpoint and Westmond? Or maybe you do not have any right now.
 
Ok, this week there are two scriptures that I really like that work hand in hand. The first one is in Mosiah 7:29 that says, “For behold, the Lord hath said, I will not succor my people in the day of their transgression, but I will hedge up their ways that they prosper not, and their doings shall be as a stumbling block before them.”  The other scripture is in Mosiah 2:24 that says, “And secondly, he doth require that ye should do as he hath commanded you for which if ye do, he doth immediately bless you, and therefore he hath paid you. And we are still indebted unto him, And ye are still indebted unto him, and are, and will be, forever and ever.” Both of these scripture are very clear and awesome. If we don’t keep the commandments our ways we will be hedged up. But if we keep the commandments we will be blessed immediately.
 
I love you all so much!
Elder Marks