Hey family!
I hope this email finds you all doing well and happy. Today Elder Ribeiro and I are going back to Boca del Monte so that he can say goodbye, so it might be a little shorter email today for the timing of everything, but I will fill you in on the highlights.
The baptism for Welder, Paola, and Johana went great! We had the baptism on Sunday morning at 7 am so that we could start at 7:30 because these Guatemalans are always running behind schedule. We actually had really great support from the ward with about 30 people there. We were pleasantly surprised with the people who showed up due to the hour. It was so great to see all three of them be able to take that step. I had the privilege to baptize Welder, and my companion baptized Paolo and Johana.
All of the office elders went to the house of President and Sister Shumway yesterday and they gave us breakfast burritos for lunch and there was a big ol’ mix of kiwi, watermelon, and fresh pineapple to be able to eat, and also muffins. Then we had our pre-change meetings. It was cool to get to see and also be part of the process a little bit. We don't know what the changes will actually be, but we were able to communicate some of our ideas to president as to what we thought some of the changes should be or what would be some good ideas. The normal food was the highlight! LOL!
This week right now that is coming up might be a little tough to be able to work with the interested people that we have, such as Reginaldo and Liseth, because it is the week of changes and there is a lot of stuff that we have to do. Both of them went to church on Sunday again and Reginaldo told a member, who is always helping us with them, that he wants to get baptized! Good things have happened in the mission but great things are still to come! There are some other people who right now we have not taught very much but have lots of potential, so we are going to work really hard with them so that they also have the chance to progres.
Did you guys see that the first Book of Mormon video came out on Friday? It covers the first 2 chapters of 1 Nephi and it is 18 minutes long. They are going to be coming out with another video every Friday. They do not cover every chapter, but they do cover many of the important and awesome ones. :)
This week I was listening to Elder Uchtdorf’s talk in one of the "words of the prophets" audios that I sent home, and it struck me again that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is a massive gift that we take for granted a lot of times. Last year the Prophet invited everyone to repent every day. He reinforced the importance of how every single person has a need to repent every day. It is such a precious gift that we have and we should utilize every day.
I love you all so much and hope that you all have a great week!
Love,
Elder Marks
I hope this email finds you all doing well and happy. Today Elder Ribeiro and I are going back to Boca del Monte so that he can say goodbye, so it might be a little shorter email today for the timing of everything, but I will fill you in on the highlights.
The baptism for Welder, Paola, and Johana went great! We had the baptism on Sunday morning at 7 am so that we could start at 7:30 because these Guatemalans are always running behind schedule. We actually had really great support from the ward with about 30 people there. We were pleasantly surprised with the people who showed up due to the hour. It was so great to see all three of them be able to take that step. I had the privilege to baptize Welder, and my companion baptized Paolo and Johana.
All of the office elders went to the house of President and Sister Shumway yesterday and they gave us breakfast burritos for lunch and there was a big ol’ mix of kiwi, watermelon, and fresh pineapple to be able to eat, and also muffins. Then we had our pre-change meetings. It was cool to get to see and also be part of the process a little bit. We don't know what the changes will actually be, but we were able to communicate some of our ideas to president as to what we thought some of the changes should be or what would be some good ideas. The normal food was the highlight! LOL!
This week right now that is coming up might be a little tough to be able to work with the interested people that we have, such as Reginaldo and Liseth, because it is the week of changes and there is a lot of stuff that we have to do. Both of them went to church on Sunday again and Reginaldo told a member, who is always helping us with them, that he wants to get baptized! Good things have happened in the mission but great things are still to come! There are some other people who right now we have not taught very much but have lots of potential, so we are going to work really hard with them so that they also have the chance to progres.
Did you guys see that the first Book of Mormon video came out on Friday? It covers the first 2 chapters of 1 Nephi and it is 18 minutes long. They are going to be coming out with another video every Friday. They do not cover every chapter, but they do cover many of the important and awesome ones. :)
This week I was listening to Elder Uchtdorf’s talk in one of the "words of the prophets" audios that I sent home, and it struck me again that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is a massive gift that we take for granted a lot of times. Last year the Prophet invited everyone to repent every day. He reinforced the importance of how every single person has a need to repent every day. It is such a precious gift that we have and we should utilize every day.
I love you all so much and hope that you all have a great week!
Love,
Elder Marks