Eating Cow Liver!

HELLO WORLD.

       How is everybody doing on this fine Monday afternoon? This last week really seemed to fly by! It was insane. We didn’t get to do a lot in our area, nobody really had time to listen to us which was a bummer. But life goes on, right? There were however two baptisms in our ward this last week by the sisters Hermana Velasquez and Hermana Viera which was awesome! We've been helping with these kids a little bit as well so it was nice to see them take the step of baptism. Sunday I had the opportunity to confirm Lester as a member of the church in sacrament meeting! It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done, but I was insanely nervous. First off, I had to do it in Spanish. Secondly, I’ve never ever done that before. But in the end it all worked out. We don’t really have any new news as for the work in our area. We are still working hard on setting some baptism dates but we will just have to see what happens. This could be my last week with Elder Carlson as well as we have changes next Tuesday. We will see what happens. All I want is to stay here in Toto for at least one more change. I really have come to love it here. Other exciting news of this last week, I ate cow liver which was nasty. Ah. It was terrible.... But I've heard of other missionaries eating worse so I will just count my blessings. :) 

Well everybody, have a wonderful week and remember to choose the right.

Love Elder McLain

Taco Bell!

Hello Everybody! 

Nothing much has happened here in Guatemala since the last time I wrote you all. The work has been pretty slow... But we have been busier than ever. I don’t really understand how it works out that way but it does. As far as our investigators go, Andres who is about 60 really wants to get baptized, but his wife has threatened to leave him if he joins the church... So that's a really tough situation right there. We will just have to keep working with him and hopefully a milagro (miracle) or something happens. The familia Batz has really been progressing lately, and we are going to put a baptismal date with their daughter Diana for the 22nd of November this coming week. I'm extremely confident that she is going to accept. She has been singing in the choir in the ward and come the last two weeks. She has a lot of family in the ward and is always extremely positive. As for our recent converts, Danny has been working super hard, and we learned yesterday that he can serve a mission, he just has to go and talk with the Bishop. He really wants to serve he has just been scared to talk with the bishop, our doubt was that he was too old (25) but I guess they make exceptions for recent converts. Also, one of the highlights of last week, we cant go into malls as missionaries, and Taco Bell is in the mall in Xela, Danny went to Xela Saturday and bought my comp and I Taco Bell. Talk about heaven. :) When I poured out my mild sauce it went into the shape of a heart <3. 

We also had interviews with president last week which were wonderful, he’s such an awesome guy and full of so much knowledge of the gospel. He shared a quote with me, it was something like this, "A man cannot have both doubt and faith at the same time." I really enjoy that quote and have put it into work here. Attitude is everything especially on the hard days, as long as we have faith, we will always get by. 

Well everybody, I will talk to you next week. Have a wonderful week and CTR. :)

10 New Investigators!

     Trick or treat everybody! I hope you all had a very happy Halloween and didn't eat too much candy. I don't think I ate any candy on Halloween, it was kind of sad, but we had better things to do. This last week was really good. The week started out as normal, and it was pretty hard to find anybody to teach. But, Friday my comp went to Jucha and our district came here to Toto for divisions, and that was the best day work wise that I have had here in the mission. My companion’s name is Elder Mendoza, and we taught 11 lessons in the one day that he was here. He taught me how to really work and really what we should be doing as missionaries. He’s an awesome missionary and really I learned so much from him. We went and taught a new guy named Carlos, who was a reference from the sisters, and it was one of the saddest lessons I have had while I have been here.

      Carlos has a wife and three daughters whom have left him. Yes, they had a good reason to leave him, he has a really bad drinking problem, but it was extremely hard to talk to him and listen to what he had to say. I really feel for the guy, he has such a strong desire to change, he is just having problems getting over his addiction. He was crying just about the whole lesson, and in the end he asked us if we could give him a blessing. So we did. We have a lesson with him tomorrow and we have a whole game plan set out to help him stop ,but it is going to take some work on his part as well. But, I know that anything is possible through the Atonement of Jesus Christ and I am extremely excited to see him progress.

     As for other people, we met 10 new investigators on Friday and should be working with them over the next little while. Danny was able to bless the sacrament on Sunday, and I think I know how my parents felt when I blessed it for the first time, because I felt like my little kid was all grown up. It was such a cool experience to see him up there in a white shirt and tie. Our other investigator Carlos who owns a barbershop came to church this week, along with the daughter of one of the part member families. It was the first time that we have had more than one investigator at church! Whoo. We also tried to put a date for baptism with Andres, and he didn't accept, he wants to know all of the commandments before he will accept a date, so hopefully this time next week I will be writing you all with a baptism date for the next Saturday. :)

     Saturday was the Day of the Dead, which meant that every single person here in Toto was at the cemetery. It was crazy, nobody  was at home nor in the streets. So we didn't get much done Saturday nor Sunday after church, because I guess the day after the Day of the Dead everyone goes back to the cemetery and stays there the whole entire day. But, next week should be a lot better. I have new goals and new methods that Elder Carlson and I are going to use to find new people and teach our current investigators. 

    It has been really cold here lately, we are up at 8,000 feet and I guess come December, there won’t be snow, but there will be ice everywhere, whatever that means. So that makes me more excited for Christmas here.We already put up our like 8 inch Christmas tree and one strand of lights. Whoo.

Love you all and I will talk to you next Monday. Thanks for everything.

  Con amor,

             Elder McLain

Christmas Decorations in Toto.