The Work Goes On

This last week went by really fast! So fast that I don’t really have that much time left today, so I’m just going to say the highlight of the week. 

Our investigator who was baptized last week received the priesthood yesterday in church, and it was amazing. He is currently working on getting his temple recommend and the bishop is working on giving him a calling in the ward. Besides that our investigator Andres is really progressing and we are working on putting a baptismal date for November 8th for him, but we will see. He is extremely smart and really enjoys coming to church. 

Alrighty all. Do good this next week. Don’t eat too much Halloween candy. And don’t forget to pray.

Love,

Elder McLain

Elder McLain lives in a beautiful place. 

He really likes taking selfies. 

FIRST BAPTISM!!!!

Whats up whats up everybody. Hope life back home has been just fabulous. The mission life has been flying by, I need to take a second and smell the roses (or the garbage that's everywhere you look here). :) But, I miss everyone just wanted to let you all know that. Some of you have emailed me, and I haven't emailed you back. Don't think its because I don't love and or appreciate your emails, because I really do, sometimes P days are just crazy and I run out of time to Email you all back. So sorry for that, but I do love each and every one of you and appreciate everything. 

    This last week was wonderful. The week started out good. We have 2 new investigators who are really positive, and so we were super busy teaching them and getting ready for the baptism on Saturday. We had to plan everything because our mission leader had surgery so that was stressful, but we got it all done and the baptism was absolutely wonderful. Elder Bryan and Elder Babbet our Zone leaders who have helped teach Danny came and Elder Bryan played the guitar. They sang the song Cuando Me Bautice, which is When I am Baptized, and it brought the spirit in perfectly right before the baptism. It was absolutely wonderful. After that Elder Carlson baptized Danny and I was just overwhelmed with peace and joy. Danny is so awesome and he made the right choice, I know that Heavenly Father is extremely happy with him right now. Sunday we had the confirmation Danny officially became a member of the ward. That is what the mission is all about. Seeing that smile on his face when he came out of the water and hearing him explain how he felt, there is nothing better than that. The blessings and joy we receive when we obey the commandments are more than we can ever imagine until we actually take that step into the fog, that's when we see the light on the other side. 

       I don't have much time today so I'm just going to keep it short. 

My weekly challenge: Enjoy time with  your family and or those who you love (if you don't feel like you love your family). Have a family night. Pray together, read a scripture or two. I know that this will help to strengthen relationships with those you love.

Elder McLain and Danny

Baptism day!

Baptismal Date!

Well hello everybody! Good news, bad news and a miracle from here in Chiyax, Guatemala, We will be having a baptism this coming Saturday at 4:00. One of our only positive investigators Danny is whom will be baptized, and it is a miracle that he accepted a date. We have tried for the last month to get him to accept a date, and also the missionaries before me trtied but he just never felt ready to be baptized. So last Tuesday Elder Carlson and I decided to fast for a milagro  and for Danny to accept a fecha to be baptized. When we went to the visit with him that night we brought along a member of the Same age Christian, and we pulled out just about every scripture and thing we could think of to help him recognize an answer and realize the importance of Baptism, and in the end we challenged him for the 18th of October, and he accepted. This may not sound like much of a miracle to all of you but it was a miracle for my comp and I.

However two days after he accepted the fecha, his pastor came from the church he used to go to. The Pastor hadn't talked to him in over 4 months, and coincidentally came just two days after Danny decided to be Baptized. Satan does not want us to be happy and succesful in this life, and when we are closing in on some of the most important choices of our lives, he does all that he can in his power to stop us. For instance with Joseph Smith, right as he knelt down to pray, right before the most important part in the Restoration of the only true church on the earth today, Satan did everything in his power to overcome him and stop him. But, light cannot overcome darkenss unless we allow it to. Just as when Joseph  Smith called upon God, Danny did the same. And Danny, after being offered a spot in the choir in his old church, prayed and has made the right choice. 

We are going to do everything we can to help him out this week, and make sure that he stays positive and is ready for his Baptism. Besides that, we had some good lessons with other investigators and met some new people who hopefully will be positive. We are just going to have to see. But, life here in Guatemala goes on. The culture here is so different than back home.. Haha some things happen that I cant even explain, they would take too long to write out. 

However, I want you all to know that I have a testimony of this church, and I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet, and that we have the true church, with the authority from God, restored to the earth once again.  

My challenge for the week: 

No matter where you are at in the process of growing a testimony, share what you have. If you dont think you have a testimony or that you can share it, work to strengthen it to the point that you have confidence enough to share it. But all in all be an example for others.

I love you all.

Elder McLain

Hiking. 

He loves the tortillas!

Scenery from Toto. 

Elder McLain loves the children. 

His zone at the temple on his birthday! Great looking group of missionaries. 

Visit to Guatemala City & Conference

Well hello Everybody! I hope life in the states is going well. I sure do miss all of you but I love hearing what's going on back home. 

Last week was really hectic, and I don't feel like I've been a missionary since last Tuesday. Last Tuesday I got the call that I needed to go back down to Guatemala City to get my visa figured out and sign some papers, so we ended up doing just that. Wednesday afternoon I left to Guatemala City with some of the Elders from my district in the CCM, so that was fun, however the bus ride wasn't. We left at about 4 and got there at 8:45, the only good thing about Tuesday was going to Burger King! Artificial food has never tasted so good. :) But we stayed in a hotel that night, However it wasn't like the hotels back home. There was one room with 6 beds and the other with 3 really small beds, I slept in the room with three. Thursday morning started with seeing an Iguana, a massive one out the window which was pretty cool. But after that we went and waited in a building for 2 and a half hours...Then we went to the actual building to get our visa, which in reality took about 15 seconds. We signed a paper and took a picture, then left. They dropped us off at a bus stop and we had 2 hours to wait till the next bus left for Quetzaltenango...So we went to Wendy's. Yet again artificial food.... So good. :) We got back into Quetz around 7. Just about the only missionary work I did was talk to the guy I was next to on the bus and turns out he is really interested in the church and had been talking to the missionaries 6 months ago, but somehow they lost contact. He doesn't live in our zone but I gave his information to the Elders in his zone, and hopefully  Things go good with him. But Thursday night we got back too late to take a bus back to Toto, so we stayed in another Sketchy Hotel in Xela (Quetzaltenango). We did get to go to Mcdonalds...And I got a double Big Mac... I don't think I have ever been so happy. It was fantastic. Then Friday came, and Guess what I ate for breakfast, an Egg McMuffin from Mcdonalds, The perfect Birthday Present, besides going to the temple. We got to go to the Temple on Friday, and I am still in shock. I have never ever been in such a beautiful building. That is my favorite temple, so far :) But the spirit we felt in the temple was amazing. It is always nice to just take some time and get out of the worlds for a minute and just relax, especially as a missionary. After the temple we went to Subway, which usually isnt my favorite but It was better than a lot of the food in the field. So I was Happy. 

Now lets get to the real fun, General Conference. I have never before sat down and watched all 4 sessions including Priesthood Session, But we were able to, and It was incredible. We watched it in English on Saturday, and I took about 10 pages of notes. For any of you who Haven't or didn't get to hear Elder Holland's talk, I encourage you to go and listen. It was my absolute favorite out of all 10 hours. Holland just has a way with words or something. But, Sunday Danny ended up not being able tyo come to the first session, which actually turned out to be a blessing because the second session was exactly what he needed to hear. Especially when Elder Bednar ended up talking to those who aren't members. That was just awesome.  We are gong to go with him tomorrow and hopefully we will get a baptismal date a little sooner than the one we have set. 

 I am 19 now which is extremely weird to think about, I didn't even realize it until about 4 o clock on my birthday, Lets be honest birthdays in the missionary field don't really exist, but that's okay. All I want is to see Danny and some of our other investigators find the truth and be baptized, that will be better than any birthday I can think of.

Some of my favorite notes from conference that I can remember, (I left my Notebook at the house).

¨¨Daily Decisions Determine Destiny¨ And with that we need to ask ourselves with every decision we make, What are the consequences, will this in turn make me a better person?

My challenge for the week. Go and listen or read Jeffery R Hollands Talk from the Saturday afternoon session. It will change your perspective on things. I'm pretty sure they are already on lds.org. But I'm not 100 percent sure.

Anyways, I love you all, 

and I will talk to you next week.

Much Love, Elder McLain

Beds they slept in. 

Artificial food! 

Birthday Present

Quetzaltenango Temple

Haircut. He looks like a giant!