Hey Family,
 
This last week was crazy. That's about it.
 
Love you all,
Elder Marks
 
 
Just kidding! Although this week was very busy with changes and everything, it still was a great week. Elder Ribeiro flies out today to go back to Brasil, and my new companion is also from Brasil! Or like we use to tease Erika about. BRA-sil LOL sorry Erika! :)
 
We honestly did not work in our area even once this week so there is no new information about people who are progressing or anything like that. It’s really unfortunate that we were not able to, but that’s just how it goes sometime. On Thursday we have a couple of meetings so we have been preparing for those. Luckily, when these meetings are over there are not any more for a couple of weeks and we will be able to really focus on the WORK. Next week I will be able to give a good report as far as the progression of some of the people that we are teaching. 
 
Elder Anderson once said, "My Philosophy is to stop putting question marks behind the prophets statements and put exclamation points instead." To me this is a great reminder for us because General Conference is this week so we should really prepare ourselves to be able to receive the revelation that we each need.
 
I love you all so much and hope that you have an amazing week and a great General Conference. 
 
Love,
Elder Marks
 
p.s - This is a quote that I heard today that I really like and I thought it would be worth sharing with your guys. "You cannot stop a day you cannot stop an hour but you can control how it will be used." Have a great week! Love you all tons!

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

Hey family,
 
I hope this email finds you all happy and doing well. Another week has gone flying by here in the mission, I now understand what Kylie meant when she said that days feel like weeks and weeks feel like days. Things are getting crazy.
 
We had interviews with President Shumway yesterday and he said that, he thinks, if missionaries want to, they can do in their last three months what they did in their first 12 months. I guess I've got some work to do. :) Things in the office are going well, I really do not mind working in the office because it is not everyday or all day, just sometimes. And a job worth doing is worth doing right. 
 
We went to the temple with Welder, Paola, and their daughter Joana on Friday and had a great experience. After they came out of the waiting room in the temple we asked them to share their feelings and thoughts. They both expressed the deep feelings of peace and joy that they could feel inside of the temple. They also both expressed their desires to get baptized on the 22nd, Sunday morning. We talked with President again about whether Joana should be baptized or not. President understands the mental problems that she has and also said that she may not really have sins that she needs to be cleansed of, but he said, what will happen in one year when they want to get sealed as a family. It's a great point, this is something that is best done as a family and mainly for that reason she will also be baptized on the 22nd of September, this Sunday. 
 
We also had the chance to go to the temple this week as a zone, it was great to be able to spend time inside of the temple and participate in a session.
 
Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes. Haggai chapter 1 verse 6.
 
I read this scripture this last week and it made reflect about how sometimes we just end up going through the motions but maybe our actions don't mean as much as they either once did or as we want them to. 
 
This short scripture can be applied to so many different things, for me I just want to make sure that I am not just going through the actions but that the things I do are meaningful not only to the people that I help but also to the Lord
 
I hope and pray that you all have a great week and continue focused in your goals. You’re doing great!
 
Love you tons!
Elder Marks

Hey Family,
 
This last week was a really great week, that also flew by! The weeks seem to be passing like days. 
 
This week we had eight interested people in church, three of which were from the Chang family. Sounds Asian but they’re good ol’ Chapins (Chapin is the name for Guatemalans). Chang is the last name of Welder and his wife and also their daughter Joana. All three of them were in church and are still progressing. We have planned to go to the temple with them this Friday so that they can experience a little about the temple. Their daughter is special needs but understands enough to have the need to get baptized. They have accepted a date for the 22nd of this month. It will be a Sunday morning. A lot depends on if they all come to church this week or not. If for whatever reason they cannot come, then they would have to wait a little longer before they can be baptized. 
 
Reginaldo came to church again this week, and this time his sister, who is 62, came to church with him, her name is Liseth. She has lots of faith but never really goes to church, so it was really cool to see her support her brother, but also take a step towards living with God again. They are both progressing well and in the next couple of weeks we should be able to have a little better feel for the future.
 
Of the other three people who came to church, they are family members of people who are members of the church that are being re-activated. This week we are going to try to work closely with them so that they too can start to progress.
 
The multi-zone conference went really well this week. The presentation went great and I think and hope that the missionaries got the point. haha! In total, the presentation was about 35 minutes. Things in the office are going well, and we also have lots of time to work in our area, which is great.
 
I think Cooper is a great name for the pup! It seems to fit him well from the picture’s that you guys sent me. It will be cool to know him in December.
 
A lot of this week was dedicated to getting ready for the multi-zone so there really is not all that much to tell, but it was a good week.
 
I hope that you all have a great week and stay focused in your different goals! 
 
Love,
Elder Marks

Hey Family,
 
Well this last week was a good one and it also went very fast. Today’s email might be a little shorter than usual also because my comp and I have to split the time on this computer today.
 
Welder Chang is progressing very well, he has now stopped drinking coffee and continues to go to church. We just wish that his wife would progress a little more. He also has a daughter who is special needs so we talked with president this last week about her and he gave us the list of requirements for somebody to be baptized. She does things that a little kid would do even though she is 12 but she understands the basics of what we teach. For example after we taught about the word of wisdom she would then say the word coffee and say no just pure water. So we will see what happens.
 
We also found a man named Reginaldo this week by knocking his door. He told us that same day in the afternoon he was praying that somebody would visit him or that somebody would be able to help him. The spirit truly led us to his door. He also went to church with us on Sunday and told several members that he would be back next week. We feel that he has great potential. Reginaldo is about 50 years old and lives in the house of his sister, and for work he goes out in the street at night and looks for plastic bottles to be able to sell to the recycle place. He suffers from depression and we think that he is a little bipolar, or maybe a lot. He honestly has a lot of potential and the church is exactly what he needs to be able to feel joy and peace in his life again.
 
Tomorrow and Friday we are going to be having multi-zone conferences, so that should be really good. We have been in the office a lot this week doing all of the preparation stuff. My companion and I are going to be giving a power point presentation of about 30 minutes to be able to help people be more persistent in working with the Ward Council so that there can be more unity in the church and the Lord’s work. 
 
I sure love you all and hope that you have a great week! 
 
Love,
Elder Marks

Hey Family!
 
The first week of this change has been a busy one but also a very good one. In the area of Castillo Lara there are several people who have lots of potential and others who are progressing. One of the families that I got to know this last week is the family Chang. The dad in the familys name is Welder, who has attended church serveral times and was also able to go to the stadium to see the prophet speak on Saturday. Sunday night when we visited him we asked him to share what he felt while he was listening to all of the messages but especially to the prophet. He expressed to us that he felt good while he was there and that he feels that he really is called of God. It was the perfect time to be able to testify to him that those feelings that he had were from the spirit and that the God was talking to him in that moment confirming that this is the true church. The very first day that I was able to visit and get to know welder he asked Elder Ribeiro and I, "what do I need to do to be able to get baptized?" It is amazing to see how the spirit works with people WHEN they are truly looking for the truth. We are hoping that his wife starts to progress a little more with him. Evelyn has gone to church once but she has problems with being able to read and often does not read or keep the assignments that we leave them. We really try to open the heavens and savoring the scriptures together with them.   


Elder Ribeiro shared with me some of the goals for being able to start working better with the ward council and with the members in general. From what I could see after my first Sunday in the ward is that the members have a desire to work, just that with time the members have slowly lost there confidence in the elders. Elder Ribeiro has been really trying to get some of this confidence back, I know that within the next month and a half the members and the missionaries will be well on their way on having "One Church."

One of the goals that we are going to have this week is to be in the office the least amount of time that we have to be here, just enough to get the things done that we need to do. When we are not in the office we are going to work diligently in our area to be able to help the Lords work thrive in this part of the vinyard. 

From the visit of the Prophet on Saturday there were many amazing parts but one of the things that stuck out to me was a plead that he did to everyone. He said, "Please keep the commandments of God." Then he also said twice to do so with a willing heart. This is applied to everything that we do, from getting up on time to contacting on the bus. When he said please keep the commandments of God I could feel his deep concern and desire about people keeping the commandments. I want to be able to do all that I can to stand before God clean and without worry in the last day. I love the Lord and what he has commissioned

I sure love you guys and am very happy to know that you are all doing well. Have an amazing week!

Love,
Elder Marks

Hello Family!
 
We this last week was a very full and awesome week! The baptism for Angel went great and there were also changes. One thing that there has not been the last couple of nights has been sleep! :)
 
First off, the baptism. The baptism for Angel went great! It was especially cool because one of the other young men in the ward was able to baptize him. The kid who baptized him is named Russell and he helped us a lot with making sure Angel was comfortable in the church and had friends to talk with. Right after the baptism (while still in the water) Angel gave Russell a big hug with a BIG smile on his face. There was good support from the ward, including invitations to participate in seminary, which he started attending yesterday at five in the morning. 
 
The time that I had as companions with Elder Ulloa was short and went ridiculously fast but it was really good. He was one of those people who is really easy to be able to joke around with and just get along in general. I hope that with his next companion he will also be able to find joy in the work and have lots of success. We got the call of changes Sunday night around 10:45, and as you know I am now going to be serving in the offices. One nice thing about being in the offices as AP is that we do not have to be here everyday, and we have our own area also. The expectation is actually that we have some of the best stats, to be able to give the example. 
 
The first day was exhausting and this morning was also. I left Boca on Monday at about 8 o´clock to be able to get the office so that in the morning I could go with my comp to be able to pick up the new missionaries from the CCM (MTC). We slept from around 12:00am on Monday night and then got up at 4:00am to go get them greenies. :) Then again on Tuesday night we went to bed around 12 and we got up at 2:30 this morning to go drop off all of the deads (people going home) at the airport. When we got back we did take a small nap, so that was nice. 
 
My feelings about being AP are calm. I am happy and excited for the opportunity to serve in this assignment. I really don’t feel nervous about talking in front of people or giving presentations so, that is nice. I feel that I have been prepared in my mission up to this point with other assignments to give presentations and small things like that so that I don’t have any nervous breakdowns. :)  President yesterday said, "Elder Marks you’re perfect for the job." He told me that he was debating between calling me or somebody else and that when he kneeled down to pray he said, "The Lord manifested it to me clearly that this is where you need to be." 
 
"And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased, and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted." Matthew 23 
 
Lots of truth in this scripture. 
 
I love you all so much and hope that you have an amazing week full of success! 
 
Love,
Elder Marks

Dear Marks Family,
 
We are pleased to inform you that your son, Elder Marks, has been called to serve as assistant to the president. We are confident that he will be able to assist us in regulating the affairs of the mission, especially to inspire and teach our missionaries how to be effective in their work.
 
Your son displays Christ-like attributes that will aid him in this great assignment. He is undoubtedly a great blessing to the missionary effort here in Guatemala as we strive to bring our Heavenly Father's children to the knowledge of who they are and what their eternal possibilities are.
 
Your son is truly a wonderful missionary. We are blessed to count him as one of our own!
 
With warm regards,
President and Sister Shumway

Guatemala City Mission


---------

Note from Michelle (mom): We are both humbled and proud of Garrett, to know that he is serving the Lord with all his heart, and to be given this further responsibility and opportunity to serve, not only the people of Guatemala, but also other missionaries who are serving the Lord. Garrett has always had a big heart and a big smile, and we also consider ourselves  blessed to call him our son.

Hey Family!

This week was a really good week, all of the conferences and meetings that we had went really well. And... Angel is going to be baptized at the end of this week on Saturday the 17th!

This week we had an amazing lesson with Angel in which we really focused on faith, repentance, and baptism for the remission of sins. The spirit was very strong and he could really feel the importance of needing to be baptized. It was really cool in one moment in which I shared my testimony and then after a brief moment of silence Angel also shared his testimony with Elder Ulloa and I. After he shared his testimony he expressed that he wanted to be baptized at the end of this week. Yesterday we also went to the temple with Angel and he received a confirmation that on the 17th he really should be baptized.

This last week we also found a new family to be able to teach that is a family of eight! haha, wow! They seem like a really great family who could have amazing potential, but it will really depend in their actions to be able to read the Book of Mormon and also pray and ask of God. And you know that we will be doing all that we can to help them in this process.

This coming Sunday is when we are going to get the changes, so there is a chance that next week I will be writing you from a new area and maybe with a new comp, or maybe everything will be the same. :)

Although time is becoming shorter in the mission I feel that my desires to have the spirit and also to be able to invite the spirit into the lives into other people is increasing. No getting trunky here!

P-day today was a lot of fun. We all got together for the last p-day before the change in the new gated community where we are living and had a BBQ and also played some sports. Oh and also the new house is amazing. There are two things in this house that I did not think I would see till I got home. One is a bit of old carpet on the stairs going to the second level and the second is that there is an AC unit in the master bedroom! It is such a massive change to be in this house after some of the other little lame houses I have been in. haha!

Having the visit of Elder Walker of the presidency of the area this last week was really good. He has the name of a white guy but is actually originally from Argentina. Both he and his wife shared some really great messages. I had the opportunity to get a picture with him so I did, I will also attach it down below. The meeting with a bunch of missionaries was good but not as good as the meeting that was just him and the leaders of the mission, a group of 30.

This week I was reading in the church magazine and read a talk about how we all start our life on borrowed light, and that eventually we have to be able to have our own light. Elder Cook then made the comparison to the three kingdoms of glory and how they are compared to the sun, moon, and the stars. The sun has its own light, how the moon simply reflects the light of the sun, and how the stars simply do not have sufficient light. He then made the point that to be able to gain the celestial glory we have to gain our own light/testimony. While I was thinking about how we can gain our own light I thought of these things: reading the Book of Mormon, praying individually and with the family, going to church, attending the temple consistently, serving others. I guess you could say the Sandpoint Seven. That applies for everyone! Lol

I sure love you all and hope that you have a great week, and also that together and also in an individual way we can gain our own light.


Love,
Elder Marks

Hello Family,
 
Well, with it being such a short week there really is not too much to tell. :) It was still a good week. Time is passing really quick, and I feel like the time is accelerating! Which I guess is good. :) I keep enjoying the time and working hard. 
 
We had a meeting this last week in which we were given new rules and guidelines about the houses that we live in that is actually going to make us move houses. Due to the new rules for where we live, we are actually going to move into a house that is a lot nicer and is part of a closed community. So even though we do not really want to move, it is going to be kinda awesome living in a house that is real. It feels like one of the houses that might be down Jerry’s Way, just the Guatemalan version. :) By mid week we will have the contract signed and be totally moved in, so next week I will be able to send you guys a video of the new house. 
 
Angle Muralles, who is the brother of Sara, is progressing really well. He actually has a date for his baptism for the 17th of this month. He is progressing well in his reading of the Book of Mormon and also in going to church really consistently. Yesterday he went to church alone, neither Sara or Otto went, so even though it is unfortunate that they did not go, it is a good sign because he made the effort to still be there.
 
My companion got sick Saturday night around 2 in the morning and was sick all day yesterday with stomach problems and pain to his body. Let’s just say he could not get to far away from the little boys room (I know you love that expression Dad). Yesterday we did divisions (splits) so that I could at least go to church, but after that nobody could go with us so we stayed in the house all day. 
 
This upcoming week is going to be crazy and full of meetings, but also really awesome. Tomorrow we have our district meetings and all of that fun stuff, then Thursday we have a Zone Conference with Elder Walker, who is now part of the area presidency. Then on Friday we are going to have yet another meeting with President and Elder Walker with just the leaders of the mission, so that should be sweet. Hopefully everything goes well this week and we get some good instructions. 
 
Over the last couple of weeks I have heard references to this passage of scripture, so I finally looked it up yesterday while I was sitting in the house, and its awesome. It is on John 6:66-69.
 
66 ¶ From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.
67 Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?
68 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.
69 And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.
 
There is so much truth in theses short verses. If we are not walking with Christ, to whom shall we go? There is nobody else who offers such protection and refuge from the storms of life. I too believe in Christ, the Son of the living God. He loves us and has the perfect plan that allows us to live with Him again. 
 
Have an amazing week!
 
I love you all,
Elder Marks