Dear All,
It's been another pretty good week here in the coast of Guatemala. Yes, it's still at least 90 degrees outside, often more than 100, and we're about to head into summer here. That's fine with me, because the Lord wants me to be here. If he wanted me somewhere else, I would be somewhere else.
We finished up divisions with the Zone Leaders last week, and that was fun. I learned a lot from Elder Acosta. Then, we had a meeting of District Leaders with the Zone Leaders on Friday. Since then, my companion and I have just been sweating and working hard here in Puerto San José. We've got some good possibilities for baptism this month as well. We have at least 2 people who could be baptized very soon. I'm happy to be here, and even though I pretty much never stop sweating, it's worth it, because the people here are really great.
I went to church for the first time in the branch this past Sunday. We have literally the smallest chapel I have ever seen, and we don't even fill it. 51 people attended church on Sunday, and most of them left after sacrament meeting. I blessed the sacrament for the 2nd time in Spanish (the 1st time was in the CCM) which was good. We teach the Gospel Principles class which is fun. We have some good converts here, and we have some good challenges as well. We'll have to get working with the leaders to get the members in action. Once we get the members in action, we'll have success. I know it. The members are vital in missionary work, because we leave after a couple of months, but the members pretty much stay here forever. They're here to be able to teach and support our converts after we leave, and to help us bring them into the church while we're here. That's what happened with Alonzo, who we just baptized in Villa Hermosa. We brought a member, they got along really well, and the following Sunday he came to church. He then asked us "Hey, when will you be having baptisms?" That's the best when they ask that question!
Yesterday was P-day, and we went to the beach. The whole zone came here to our area and we went to play in the sand. We can't get wet, but we can go play in the sand or just relax. It was great. The sand here is black, which is pretty cool. I guess it's because of the volcanoes that there are here in Guatemala, I imagine that this is volcanic earth, at least in part. The coolest part is that in part of the area, you walk along the dirt/sand road surprising a ton of little tiny crabs. They're literally about 3/4 inch in their biggest direction. Some are smaller, and some a little bigger, but most are basically about that size, about the size of a big spider.
As for my companion, he's a pretty good guy. He likes to go running in the mornings, so it's something that we've been doing. The area is really, really big, so we can do a lot of running if we want to.
I also directed my first district meeting today. I gave the lesson about how to begin teaching, how we can gain confidence, and how people can better understand our purpose as missionaries. Many people just think we're here to teach them and talk about God, but they don't realize that we're here to baptize them into the true church of Jesus Christ.
We've got a zone conference on Thursday, and all we know is that President Brough has some higher goals for us to reach. I'm a little nervous, but definitely excited to see what the Lord has revealed to President that he has in store for the mission at this time.
I love you all. Thanks for being great and keep up being great!
Sincerely,
Elder Banks
It's been another pretty good week here in the coast of Guatemala. Yes, it's still at least 90 degrees outside, often more than 100, and we're about to head into summer here. That's fine with me, because the Lord wants me to be here. If he wanted me somewhere else, I would be somewhere else.
We finished up divisions with the Zone Leaders last week, and that was fun. I learned a lot from Elder Acosta. Then, we had a meeting of District Leaders with the Zone Leaders on Friday. Since then, my companion and I have just been sweating and working hard here in Puerto San José. We've got some good possibilities for baptism this month as well. We have at least 2 people who could be baptized very soon. I'm happy to be here, and even though I pretty much never stop sweating, it's worth it, because the people here are really great.
I went to church for the first time in the branch this past Sunday. We have literally the smallest chapel I have ever seen, and we don't even fill it. 51 people attended church on Sunday, and most of them left after sacrament meeting. I blessed the sacrament for the 2nd time in Spanish (the 1st time was in the CCM) which was good. We teach the Gospel Principles class which is fun. We have some good converts here, and we have some good challenges as well. We'll have to get working with the leaders to get the members in action. Once we get the members in action, we'll have success. I know it. The members are vital in missionary work, because we leave after a couple of months, but the members pretty much stay here forever. They're here to be able to teach and support our converts after we leave, and to help us bring them into the church while we're here. That's what happened with Alonzo, who we just baptized in Villa Hermosa. We brought a member, they got along really well, and the following Sunday he came to church. He then asked us "Hey, when will you be having baptisms?" That's the best when they ask that question!
Yesterday was P-day, and we went to the beach. The whole zone came here to our area and we went to play in the sand. We can't get wet, but we can go play in the sand or just relax. It was great. The sand here is black, which is pretty cool. I guess it's because of the volcanoes that there are here in Guatemala, I imagine that this is volcanic earth, at least in part. The coolest part is that in part of the area, you walk along the dirt/sand road surprising a ton of little tiny crabs. They're literally about 3/4 inch in their biggest direction. Some are smaller, and some a little bigger, but most are basically about that size, about the size of a big spider.
As for my companion, he's a pretty good guy. He likes to go running in the mornings, so it's something that we've been doing. The area is really, really big, so we can do a lot of running if we want to.
I also directed my first district meeting today. I gave the lesson about how to begin teaching, how we can gain confidence, and how people can better understand our purpose as missionaries. Many people just think we're here to teach them and talk about God, but they don't realize that we're here to baptize them into the true church of Jesus Christ.
We've got a zone conference on Thursday, and all we know is that President Brough has some higher goals for us to reach. I'm a little nervous, but definitely excited to see what the Lord has revealed to President that he has in store for the mission at this time.
I love you all. Thanks for being great and keep up being great!
Sincerely,
Elder Banks
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