Hey Family!
 
Well I officially got my toe taken care of yesterday. That felt so good! Now they do not take all of the nail off, just part of it. Getting the shots in my toe was the only part that hurt. She put about in five of them, but after the first two or three I couldn’t feel anything. I will spare you guys details but let’s just say I’m surprised how far up into my toe those scissors went to be able to cut the root off the nail, then watching the doctor pulling on the nail with all of her strength to be able to pull it off. It was super ingrown and it would have been better to go in about two months ago. I can walk but the rule is not much because if I do it will have problems again, and I have to use flip flops or crocs. She said no working for a week, but also that I could get out and walk a little bit, so we will still be able to do some of the important visits.
 
Now on a brighter note. The baptism for Axel went really well. We had about forty people in attendance, like always we started late. Seriously, I remember Kylie telling us about activities on her mission and people were always late, and its true. People started showing up after five, sometimes up to forty minutes late. Even to sacrament meeting. But everything went well and he was confirmed a member on Sunday. We are hoping that he will receive the priesthood this Sunday or the following.
 
Unfortunately, Mom, that is not the church building. The building looks like a normal church. I will take some more pictures and include more details this next week. I will be sending some things home and will have them in the office in time for when MyanXpress comes. I can’t believe it snowed! Hopefully the heater in the shop just has something that is not quite right and you do not have to get a different one. But either way, that will be amazing to have. 
 
This Sunday Jose Gonzalez, who we have been teaching with all of his family, was not able to go to church because he was sick, but three of his kids came to church on their own! His family consists of Jenny - 16, Fernando – 15, Jackalin – 13, Dielin 9 ,and his wife, Tere – 32, and Jose is 35 years old. His three daughters were the ones who came to church. We are seeing really great progress with them, now if the mom can just get new work or get Sunday’s off, she can start attending also. She works cleaning a school, and at the end of this month she has a break, so she will start being able to go to church with her family. A family baptism would be a great Christmas gift for the family, and us. :)
 
Do your guys remember Gladis? Well she showed up at the baptism on Saturday! And then we passed by her place on Sunday and she went to church with us. We will be starting to visit her again. We are also going to have the sisters help us out a bit. President told us that, even though there are limits, if there is somebody in our area that would be better served by the sister’s, it is ok to them come into our area and help. And the same goes for the sisters, if they have somebody and it’s better for the Elders to visit them, we can cross into their area and teach them.
 
We are trying to go the temple this Saturday with Hermano Santos. He has been progressing slowly. He usually reads the assignments and he goes to church, even though he told us that he really doesn´t like it because it is so quiet and different than the other church that he used to attend. The biggest thing is that he really does not want to get married! So we are thinking that if we can take him to the temple on Saturday, he might be able to have a change of heart.
 
So this change and the next change there is a lot of pressure on zone Jalapa, and especially those 6 areas actually in Japala, to really work hard and not waste a lot of time. So as part of the calls that are done at night, there are always questions like “how long were you in the house of members” and other question like that to make sure that missionaries are not wasting time. Well, one of the sisters thought that I was asking those questions just looking for something that I could get on their case about. She finally couldn’t take it anymore and snapped at me over something really little. She then later told Elder Fogg, the ZL, that she had a problem with somebody in the district, he asked her who and she didn’t want to say because Elder Fogg and I are best friends. She finally expressed her thoughts and feelings to him about the questions that were being asked and that she felt like I was just out to get them, because normally these questions aren´t asked. He explained to her that these questions are coming from president and that the District leaders have been asked to do them. She then realized that I was not trying to catch somebody wasting time and apologized. This just shows two things. I could have done better at explaining myself, and the other is that we should try to have all the details before jumping to conclusions!
 
                I love you all so much and hope that everything is going great!
 
Love, your brother and son,
Elder Marks 
 
Woo Hoo!!! Go Hawks! I hope you guys have a great time at the game and that you are happy with the outcome!

Hey Family!
 
Sorry I wrote so late today, it is because the new district leader is a real stick in the mud and made us go to the waterfalls today. :) That was a lot of fun, I will attach a couple of pictures below.

This last week was good, we had a miracle in Sacrament meeting. Do you guys remember José and his family, the family of 6? About three weeks ago we left them because they were not progressing very well with the intention to visit them again. We visited them again last Friday and we read in Mateo the parable of the Lord of the vineyard, where he goes to the plaza the first hour for workers and agrees to pay them money, and then the 3rd hour and so on, and we talked about how they have the invitation to enter into the Lord’s vineyard and be a part of His church. That they cannot just stay waiting in the plaza and not go to work, we were then really clear again about how they needed to go to church. Then Sunday José and two of his daughters came to church!
 
This Saturday we will be having the baptism for Axel! Assuming he passes his interview and everything else goes well. The baptism will be this Saturday at 5pm.
 
Hermano Santos is progressing well, he is going to church and when we assign a chapter to read in the Book of Mormon, he actually reads it. The only two little problems are that he really doesn’t like the church meetings that much because he does not get to pray out loud and have more energy during the meetings. He also really does not want to get married, which is silly because he has two kids and lives with his “wife”. There is a Spanish song that we hear sometimes. The woman says, "we have forty years together, 7 kids, so marry me marry me”. And then the male voice sings, “I want to be your friends and nothing more". I think that if he can gain a testimony about the Book of Mormon, everything else will fall into place. Also, for our last lesson we read and talked about 1 Nephi 8, which is Lehi’s dream. Before hand I drew a picture representing the dream, so I will attach a picture of it down below.
 
I tried a new type of meat from an animal called tacuasin, which is pretty much just a big rat, but you guys can look up a picture and see what it really is. I’m not sure what it’s called in English.
 
Things with my companion continue really well. He was super ready for the mission and is really ready to jump right in and learn a lot, and he wants to help teach in lessons. He knows a little bit of English but not a bunch, however he does really want to learn more. 
 
Mom, to answer some of your questions: we meet as a district once a week, where we share our different goals and talk about investigators and their different needs. Somebody also always gives a 15 minute talk or lesson. Every night I do calls to the other three areas in the district to see what they did during the day. I then report what the other areas did to the zone leaders. We will be able divisions or splits, but not much because there are two sets of sisters in the district and we won’t do splits with them.
 
That is awesome that the shop is going to have a heater! That will make things so much nicer, you should be able to work a bit better and with less mistakes than when its super cold outside. You can actually enjoy being in the shop, especially if Scareboxes keep selling the way that they are.
 
If the water bladder can stay in the backpack, that would be nice, because there is a good chance I will end up using it to stay nice and hydrated. Also, thank you for treating it with the water proofing stuff.
 
I love you all so much!
Elder Marks

Hey Family!
 
So it sounds like you guys have already heard about a lot of the changes that happened. Elder Barczi went to another part of the mission to train one of the 26 new missionaries that are entering this change. I am also going to have the chance to train!!! I am really excited! Yesterday I went to the capital to pick up my “son”. His name is Elder Rodriguez and he is from Honduras. He seems really squared away and like he will be a good missionary, we will see if goes through those weird teen years or not! :) He does not speak any English but he does want to learn so I will also be able to help him learn a bit. I also have been called to be the district leader here in District Porvenir. The district consists of Porvenir 1 which is us, Porvenir 2 which are sisters, Minerva 1 which are the zone leaders, and Minerva 2 which are also sisters. Now the two zone leaders are elder Corrales and Elder Fogg, so in the district there is my "dad," "stepdad," me and “my son". It the whole fam damly! Sorry, I couldn't resist. I am really grateful to the Lord for this opportunity that I have to serve as a district leader and for the trust to be able to train one of his soldiers. I also feel humble because I know that without His help we really cannot do many things. 
 
I totally forgot about Plantains when I was writing this last week. They are actually really good, and we eat them a fair amount. The food now really does not seem weird, sometimes we still get fed things and we’re not really sure what are, but usually taste fairly good. 
 
I am really happy to hear that you guys had a good day for dad’s birthday last week, that you were able to go the Japanese Garden in Spokane and enjoy some time together.
 
This last week we also had the baptism for Henry, which went really well! Everything went smoothly with the baptism, which is always really nice. His dad, who is inactive, was able to be at the baptism and then he was also in church the next day to see him confirmed. Luckily Henry lives with his grandma on the weekends and his grandma is really active and always goes to church. Hermanito Axel, who is 12, has a baptism date for the 10th of November, we are hoping praying and doing our part so that all goes well. He is part of a inactive family, well his grandma is active but his mom is inactive, but good news is that she did go to church last week for the first time in a long time, so that is really good. 
 
In 3 Nephi chapter 11, Christ has every single person in the city come unto him, one by one, to feel the marks in his hands, feet, and side. It then says that after everyone had their chance to know that He is Jesus Christ they all exclaimed in one voice saying, "Hosanna!" But what does hosanna mean? What were they really saying? Hosanna means save us of save us now! The very next part of the chapter is when Christ gave the authority to Nephi to baptize and he established the way that we are to baptize people. Christ’s response to the cry save us now was to give the authority and the knowledge of the way that we baptize. Baptism is one of the very important saving ordinances that we can do. The Lord is powerful and through his help all of us can be powerful instruments in the hands of the Lord, whether we are full time missionaries or not. I love you all so much, I appreciate all of your prayers and letters showing your love and support.
 
Love,
Elder Marks 
 
p.s. - Exciting news! I'm going to the doctor this week to get my toenail ripped off! That should be great. It is in-grown for about 2 months now, but it is finally to the point that we have to take a day to go to the doctor. I know, Mom, I should have gone about a month and a half ago but I was just being a silly boy! :)

Hey Family!

Well the highlight of this week was being able to go the temple as a zone and actually being able to do a session. The day was really good and peaceful. That was my first time doing a full session in Spanish. The last time we went to the temple was 7 months ago so I used a translator headset, but this time no. 

The rest of the week had some good things happen but also some things not so awesome. First off, Rafael told us this last week that he has decided to stay with his church, but that just because he is in a different church he still wants to friends. It’s kinda like breakin’ up with somebody. "I don't want to be with you but we can still be friends!" That news was unfortunate but we honestly saw it coming with the way that he had been putting a little bit more distance between him and us. I guess that agency thing is still in play! :) But a couple of good things happened, we are totally ready to have the baptism for Henry this next Saturday! And we moved the baptismal date for Axel from this Saturday until the tenth of November. This will allow him two more church attendances, which he needs to be baptized according to a new rule for kids under the age 14. This will also allow us a little bit more time to work with his mom so that she can start going to the church again. 
 
We have changes this next week. Things between my comp and I are really good but it is always exciting to see what the changes are.  Sunday we will find out what we have as changes and then Tuesday we will make the changes. Something that we do already know is that three of the four areas in this district are going to be split: Porvenir, Minerva, and Chipilapa. The motive behind it is to be able to have more baptisms in this area, to be able to split this stake into two different stakes. So we will see what happens. I am excited to see what the future has for us. 
 
That was actually really nice to get an update from home with all of those things that I never hear when I'm here. Although I did hear that Trump’s grandma is a refugee. :) I'm happy hear that football is going well and that the Steelers are doing well. I was also happy to see the picture of you and mom at the pumpkin patch and Dad had on his Steelers sweatshirt. I miss playing and watching football, I miss making knives and cool things out of wood, and watching TV, I suppose there is plenty of time to do all of those things after the mission. But it is really nice to get an update. We should send a box of gum to good ol’ Pete.
 
I think that I am to the point of fluency in Spanish and can always say what I want to say, but sometimes I have to use different words then normal because there is still so much to learn. The food here is good but really nothing special like I was thinking before my mission. Almost everyday for lunch we eat some type of meat or liver (which is terrible) with rice and either a salad with just lettuce or cucumber. But we also eat a fair amount of beans and eggs, and a bunch of chicken. We always have to buy water, There is a really good chance that if we drink the water out of the tap we would get sick so we always just have water in the fridge. And when we do not have water we have really good filter water bottles that we use.
 
We always walk, nobody in the mission has bikes because they would get robbed. We don't do our own laundry but we do pay a member to wash it, she actually has a washing machine also that that's fairly spiffy. 
 
The workout thing definitely is tough on the mission, almost none of the houses have workout things, only if missionaries decide to do their own out of concrete. I bought a fitness band that I use sometime and then some pushups and that type of stuff, but it really is hard to even maintain, my arms and legs are already so much smaller, it is sad. But I will be getting a gym membership for sure when I get home. I always am trying to work on my posture but it is nice to get a reminder. I don't want to come home like the hunchback of Notre Dame!  
 
I sure love you all and loved getting all of your email this week!
 
Love, your brother and son
Elder Marks

Hey Family!
 
Ok, well we had the chance to go to the temple with Gladis this last Saturday. The tour went really well and we had good weather while we were outside. At the end of the tour the investigators always has the chance to enter the temple and sit in the reception to pray and hopefully receive an answer. After about two minutes Gladis stood up and was ready to leave. The sisters who work in the temple always ask the investigator how their experience was in the temple. Gladis said that she did not really feel that much. Later on the bus back to Jalapa I was talking to her more about what she felt in the temple. She told me that she felt something in her chest and a huge feeling of peace, and that she felt that God answered her prayer about being baptized on the 27th of this month. Sweet, right? The next day we had a really great lesson with her, talking about the answers that we receive and the importance of following the answers that we get. She told us that she felt that what she felt was an answer from God and everything. However, when we started talking about the baptism, she told us that she does not want to be baptized on the 27th or any other day, and that she does not want this in her life. I guess we planted a big seed, and maybe down the road other missionaries will knock on her door and she will have a changed heart. I guess that is the thing about free agency and that we can’t force things onto others. The missionary purpose states invite others, not convince others. 
 
On the bright side, Axel is still doing well and we will be having his baptism on Saturday the 27th. There is also a kid named Henry, who is only nine, but wants to be baptized. He lives with his grandma on the weekends. He might be young but we’re not going to say, “No, we are not going to baptize you because you are young”. 
 
Rafael really is not progressing much more. Ever since his pastor said something to him about how he needs to think about how many years he has going to this other church, he has made himself a little more distant. But the thing is, to God it does not matter if we have 60 year attending one church that is not the true church, what is important is that we find the true church. Even if it is only for one month and then we die, it is better than the 60 years not attending His church. We will see what ends up happening with him.
 
It is raining a lot more here these last few days. Almost everyday it rains, I sure am glad to have a good rain jacket. It has also been nice because the weather has been a little bit cooler, so it makes working a bit nicer. It sounds like the weather there is starting to drop off cold. I miss walking out on the front deck and being able to see the clear sky with stars and feeling that really crisp air.

The plow looks sweet on the truck! That thing will be so nice to have this year and the years to come for plowing. I am also glad that it went on without to many bad words! :) And that the electrical part was easy and that up is not right and down is up! J
 
A couple of things that would be nice to get in a package:) Underwear! No just kidding. But just the backpack, (assuming that you are able to find it), something that might seems a little weird is some new socks. A lot of the socks that I brought with me have holes in them and I am starting to have to throw some away. I have looked for dress socks here and I can find some, but they are either really thin, or scratchy and uncomfortable. If I could get a six-pack of Reebok mid-calf or low calf socks, that would be really nice. Bacon cannot be found in Guatemala so far, so that would be great to get, but I know that’s impossible so maybe just some beef jerky. :) If some black pens can be found that write smoothly but don’t put out a lot of ink, that would also be nice. Maybe one of those little squeeze juice things that dad and I like, perhaps cherry limeade. Those are the only things that I can think of that would be nice to have, as well as anything else that you guys choose to include. That makes sense about wanting people to receive smaller packages. Sometimes missionaries receive packages that are like three different bags packed! Unfortunately, countries like Chile cannot send packages to the mission. Gracias!
 
I love that one of the biggest things that you noticed about reading the Book of Mormon this time was about how being carnally minded is death. It reminded me of a verse in 2 Corinthians 7:10 that is talking about the two different types of sadness, the first is the sorrow of the world that produces death and the second is Godly sorrow that produces repentance. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. 

I love you all so much and thank you all for your love and support.

Love,
Elder Marks. 

Hey Family!
 
Well first things first, General Conference was awesome this weekend. However, I did not watch the Woman’s session. Conference is so much more awesome in the mission! At home it is a lay on the ground with your blanket experience. There were so many great talks. I really like the talk that President Nelson gave about the importance of the name of the church. I love when he said that when we talk the name of Christ out of the name of the church it is a huge victory for Satan. Wow! I also really liked Elder Holland’s talk about the forgiveness. It was perfect for a couple of the investigators that we had, as well as Dennis. I liked his quote about these little things we sometimes we let go of are like the food in Grandmas refrigerator. They are well past their expiration date and it is time to throw them out!
 
Jose and his family were not able to go to conference with us but we are hoping that they can this next week. His wife’s name is Teri, and she works everyday from the morning until about 3 in the afternoon.
 
We had eleven investigators at the conference with us, three of which Dennis brought. He really wants to share the gospel with some of his friends, one of which is a lady friend, who is not his girlfriend, but just because he is to scared to ask in fear of rejection. The other was his "grandpa" Rafael, and also one of his good friends, Otto. Dennis is staying active in the church, he hasn’t been to any of the lessons with Rafael, which I actually think it is a little better that way.
 
Also, Rodolfo, who is the "boyfriend" of a member (they want to get married but her divorce from her marriage still has not gone through). He went with his son Brandon, who is 15, and is daughter, who is 8, and his girlfriend and her son. Axel also went, and a kid who is 9, named Henry. His parents are inactive and a little against the church, but he lives with his grandma on Saturdays and Sundays. Also Rebecca and Brittany went, they were investigators that we had a little while ago, that we left for a bit because they were not progressing. We visited once this last week to invite them to the conference and they came so we will see what happens with them when we visit them tomorrow. 
 
Mom, thank you for your insight about the importance of the phrase As I have loved you. I am downloading the talk and will be listening to it tonight. Dad, that is crazy that you read the whole The Book of Mormon in a couple of days, that is assuming that you were able to finish it last night.
 
I love the photos and videos that you send me, I have been able to view every one of them. When I get videos I usually download them and put them on my USB so that I can watch them at the house. I love getting updates about the yard, the shop, and all other updates. I like being able to hear your voice and the humor, like about the not new nor improved back yard. :) I remember us talking about how those two apple trees should do the trick and that the bees would be able to cross pollinate between those two, I’m glad that now we know and now you guys have planted the new apple tree to be able to get apples next year.
 
Thank you all for you insights to the different key truths. Different things that you have learned from reading the scriptures or study of different conference talks. I find strength when I read your personal insights about scriptures and especially when I read parts of you testimony. I love you all so much!
 
Love, 
Elder Marks

Hey Family!
 
Well the baptism for Ashley went really well this Saturday! We had a good turn out and everything went smooth. Her dad, who is inactive for work reasons, was able to be there also, which was really good. He wasn’t able to baptize her but he was still able to be there to support his daughter. I will make sure to attach a couple of pictures down yonder.
 
One other highlight of the baptism was the Hermana Gladis was able to be there. We are still teaching her but we have backed off of teaching everything with a baptismal date. Rather we have invited her to go to the temple with us so that she can get her own answer. Where better to get your answer then in the temple. The percentage of investigator who go the temple and then later get baptized are really high. This last week we have taught her a little about what is the temple using the bible. We also read the book of Jonah with her. The short and sweet version is that he is commanded to go and cry repentance to the city of Nineveh or they would be destroyed for their wickedness. He doesn’t want to so he flees. He is in a boat fleeing when a huge storm starts. The other people in the boat tell Jonah to start praying also, but he tells them that he is the reason for the storm and that they should throw him overboard, so they do. He gets eaten by a whale then spit out. Being humbled he goes to the city of Nineveh and preaches repentance and the people believe and they are spared. Then Jonah is angry with God for sparing the people and not destroying the city. This short book mentions the temple a couple of times and we learn the importance of doing what the Lord says to do when he says it. Or, if she does receive and answer in the temple she needs to follow it.
 
Jose and his family are progressing well, it is kinda hard to find all of the family in the house at the same time to be able to teach them all at once. They are planning on coming to one of the sessions of general conference with us this Sunday.
 
It also looks like Rafael will be going to the temple with us. He did talk to his pastor this last week, his pastor told him to think about how many years he has in the same church and how God is not a toy. But he still wants to receive his answer.
 
We have also started teaching somebody named Josefa who is the “girlfriend” of an inactive member named Francisco. We had taught Josefa a little about a month and a half ago without seeing any progress so we dropped her. Then two weeks ago they showed up in church together with the desire to get married and return to church. She wants to hear more and has desires to be baptized! They want to be able to go the temple also on the 13th of this month when we go as a ward. We are seeing more and more of the Lord’s miracles. We have also been teaching a kid named Axel, he is the son in an inactive family that we are working with. He has gone to church twice but it is still a little hard to get his mom to come around to the idea of going to church again. His dad died or was killed in the somewhat recent past. So, we are putting the goal for him and his mom that if she is reactivated and he is baptized they can go to the temple together and he can do the baptismal work for his dad.
 
Moses 1:20 Says, “And it came to pass that Moses began to fear exceedingly; and as he began to fear, he saw the bitterness of hell. Nevertheless, calling upon God, he received strength, and he commanded, saying: Depart from me, Satan, for this one God only will I worship, which is the God of glory.” That God of glory is our Father in Heaven. No matter the temptations or difficult times that we are going through, we can call upon the God of glory and He will help us. I love you all tons!
 
Love, your brother and son,
Elder Marks

Hey Family!
 
Hey we are writing a little early this morning because we are going to some waterfalls today.
 
Well this last week was a bit crazy, but really good. With Elder Barczi being the new district leader we had to go the city (we just don’t get out to the big city that much, please read like you live in the trailer park of the Conoco.:) We went to the city on Thursday, we left around eight thirty to be to the meeting that started at one. The meeting and everything went well. We were in our taxi to go to Centro Norte, which is where all of the busses leave from to go out of the capital, when we received a call for the office saying that we had to turn around and go back because there were protests in the Centro Norte. That night we did divisions with the AP's then slept in what the mission calls the “white house”. Which is a big house with a bunch of beds for missionaries to sleep when they are getting ready to go home.

The next day when we got back to Porvenir, we had a really good lesson with Jose, who was one of our new investigators from last week, only this time we also taught his three daughters. We also taught a good lesson with Rafael about what is authority. We had to explain that not all people who study the doctrine have the authority, we used the part of the Bible when the 70 are called. He accepted what we taught really well. We also talked more about how it is that we receive an answer to prayer, I think things are a bit clearer for how it is that we can receive our answers.
 
The next morning we were suppose to go the capital again to have a multi zone conference but President Shumway asked Elder Barczi and I and two other missionaries to stay in Jalapa to help with a mini SOY (EFY). We gave a little talk about how to knock a door and enter a house and how to smoothly start lessons. Afterward the youth had the chance to split up and leave with some members to go and try to find and teach less-actives, inactive or recent converts. Overall the activity went really well, it was just missing a little bit more planning. Then in the evening we had the baptism for Sarah. Everything went really well with the baptism! We had really good attendance, about 40 people or so! There were tostadas and cake afterwards, so that was nice. :) I will attach photos below.
 
We have a baptism this Saturday for Ashley who is also nine. In the mission we have a program that is called The Five Families, which is for finding families in which not all are members and are inactive. The idea is to be able to activate the family and also have at least one baptism. President had to authorize the baptism because Ashley is so young, but we have already received the go ahead so this Saturday should be another good day.
 
How is the new coach for the Bulldogs? Have the Dawgs won any games yet this year? I bet we whooped up on Lewiston! Just kidding! I’m sure that game will be interesting. Hopefully better than 41-7! :) I heard that Richard Sherman is now playing for the forty-winers! What happened dude! Unless Seattle got some new hotshots they might suffer quite a bit this year. But maybe this is the year for the Steelers. The last time they won a Super Bowl was when I was in third grade against the Seahawks.
 
A couple of things that I found interesting in the Doctrine and Covenants. Did you know that somebody who is a literal descendent of Aaron, who is the first born, has the legal right to be a bishop? (Section 68:14-18) and that if they are a literal descendent of Aaron and are the first born, they do not have to call counselors (Section 107:76)
 
Now class, if you would turn in your study books to James 2. Just kidding! A couple of verses that are great reminders about the importance of faith and our works. Verses 14,17, and 26 say, "What doth it profit, my brethern, though a man say he hath faith and have not works? Can faith save him? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. For as the body without the spirit is dead, so is the faith without works is dead." It also says that if we have faith like a grain of mustard we can move a mountain. But it doesn't specify that you need faith like a grain of mustard and a really really good shovel and the desire to move the mountain. Faith consists of those two grand parts. If I have faith that I can find new work but I am not willing to leave my house and look for work, I will never find new work. God expects us to believe in Him and then do everything in our power to make it happen. 
 
I love you all so much!
 
Love your brother and son,
Elder Marks