December 23, 2014

Feliz Navidad Everyone!

    I hope everyone is having a great time in this period of Christmas and enjoying their experiences. Right now I would give anything to listen to "The Christmas Song" by Nat King Cole but I am hanging in there just 2 more years! We have had many great experiences this week and we had a baptism! We have been working hard in this time and tomorrow we have been granted permission in the mission to be in the home of a member until 12:30 in the morning and we have several families that want to feed us tamales and punch and I have a feeling my stomach will hurt because they seem ready to feed us all! But I am pretty excited to share this experience with the people of Guatemala.

    I am going to be open with you all, until this week I didn't feel like I would have any struggles but this has by far been the hardest week of my mission! First of all we haven't had water in our house for 1 week! We have a sink in the back that drips water a little so we keep that going to keep water for us to take bucket baths! Que Bendicione! And last week after internet we realized that the keys were locked in the study room, entonces, we climbed on our house and into the back part to get inside and we had to break the lock on the back door. And Sunday morning I woke up at 2 sick and spent about an hour in the bathroom! But with trials comes great success right and I just tell myself I have stories to tell my future kids one day about my mission! With all the struggles I have actually enjoyed this week. 

     We had a baptism and this was our miracle for the week and it is a story to tell. Hmo Alejandro is the name of the young man we baptized and he is about 17 and 6 ft or so tall, keep that in mind. We planned to have the baptism at 7 in the morning before church so we woke up at 5 to go and fill the font because the night before there wasn't any water ( for the same reason as our house) but there wasn't any water still. So we decided to postpone the baptism until the next week. During classes someone came and informed us that there was water so we jumped on the opportunity and started filling the font! This was a miracle to have water running because there hadn't been any all week. But the water stopped when it was about knee high which was ok because we could still do a baptism in this! But the water went down a little because the plug wasn't tight so the water was now about mid calf but there was water and there was a son of God willing to enter into this covenant so a baptism happened. The Bishop kneeled in the water while Hmo Alejandro sat down and it took 4 times but the miracle happened and it was quite a memory to have for this young man and for me! 

    There are miracles in all of our lives every day we just need to look for them and there are even more so in this time. Remember who we celebrate this time of year for and remember that I love you all and you are in my prayers. The Church is true! My testimony and the miracles I see only testify more of this to me each day. Merry Christmas and for me you should all listen to "The Christmas Song" by Nat King Cole! But still I love me some silent night which is also a special song to my heart. 

Feliz Navidad!

December 16, 2014

Tis the Season for miracles! We had a great week and there is one experience we had that I want to share with you all! Our Miracle this week began with a lot of Stress. We had like 5 visits planned to fill 2 hours and a half and all of them fell so we were lost. We felt that we had contacted everywhere in this area and didn't know what to do. After a good 5 minutes of discussing we felt that we should knock doors down the linea even though we did that 1 week before but we followed a prompting! We didn't find anyone for the longest time and then one lady opened the door and we began to contact like usual.  She wanted to hear a lesson so like we learn we asked What church do you attend? She said The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We were in shock because we had never seen her in church. Turns out she was inactive for many years but her son is a counselor to the bishop in our ward. We taught to her needs and she has had a lot of struggles which is why she didn't go to church. The lesson was great and we invited her to church and she accepted. Sunday came and my companion and I were asked to give a talk. Mine was o menos by the way but still good. Just before i got up she walked in and by the look on her sons face i don't think he was expecting it. It was a moment that was very special when she walked in and asked where her son was and helped me to learn my purpose more. Maybe I won't baptize all of Guatemala but I am here to help people find the joy that this message brings to all and especially to the family! I know families are forever and I could see the joy between this mother and son this Sunday and like my Mission President says A smiles is the message!
We have a great week ahead of us with a baptism lined up for Hmno Alejandro! He has a great desire for the message and I am excited to see all that happens with him in his future as a member! He's a future missionary for sure! And we are also working hard to spread this message of Christmas! I hope you are all having a great week and a wonderful time this holiday season. But remember the reason we celebrate this time is for our Savior Jesus Christ and all that he has done for us! I love you all and hope you have a great week!
Love,
Elder Daybell

    

December 9, 2014

     Yesterday we received news that we would not be changing! For now, on January 16 my companion will return to El Salvador so I will not be leaving Ville Canales! Yesterday for P-day I learned how to cook platanos and how to make tortillas! It is still so hard but with practice i can learn just like the language!  

     These last few weeks have been a little rough with finding people so we went to the heavens in prayer and pretty much literally! We have a large hill behind us with a village on the side of it so we decided to spend a day there! and it was beautiful to look down on our area and this pretty country! We had a few lessons there but nothing was set in stone so we haven't gone back but it was a cool experience! 

    My faith has been strengthened this week. We were teaching one investigator and she said she wanted to be baptized and loved our message! We had a lesson set up with her on Saturday and when we knocked on her door, she went out a different door to the other side of the house and left, we were informed by the kids. So we went to look and when we saw her... She Ran. No se porque! I said to my companion that I wasn't sure we would see her again and he said just have faith! The next day she came to church! And we have a date set with her for the 21st of this month!! The Lord helped my unbelief like he did with the man who had a son with a devil in him. I know that the lord helps us in our faith in small ways but if we look for them we can find them! 

     We watched the Christmas devotional and I loved the music. I miss Christmas music so much! But I am where I need to be! Remember Christ in this crazy time of Christmas because He is the reason we celebrate this day and He is the reason we have ALL! I love you all and wish you a great week! 

Love, 
Elder Daybell

December 2, 2014

            Wow it’s already December I can hardly believe it! We are doing some pretty great things here in Guatemala. There is this sweet video the church put out called “He is the Gift” and we are inviting everyone to watch this video because it is TAN BUENO! So if you haven’t seen it, Watch it! Good things have been happening and the challenges come but that’s just how life goes as a missionary right?

I hope you all remember the reason why we celebrate Christmas is for Christ and to remember him. The majority of people here are Evangelicos and they are Christian but they don't believe in Christmas as a Holiday because they feel it is too worldly. Most people who we give the cards for this video ask us why we celebrate Christmas because it isn't in the bible. It is hard to get them to understand sometimes but it has helped me remember that this Holiday is to remember our Savior Jesus Christ and his birth and all that He has done for us!

            It's been a bit of a struggle but we have still had many lessons that we believe could lead somewhere. The spirit is strong in all of our lessons and I certainly have help with the language from the spirit. Sometimes I get a little discouraged when someone just looks at me and when I ask them a question they continue to stare and then finally say No Entendi. But that's part of learning the language and that is starting to happen less often! The gift of Tongues is real but it doesn't happen overnight as I am beginning to learn! I may not be able to speak well but I can understand everything that others are saying now so I can tell that is part of the gift of tongues that has kicked in! 

            I learned one of the hardest things yet for me in this area yesterday. I learned how to tortillear! I didn't learn how to make the batter for tortillas that will be next week, this week I learned how to pat tortillas and I still do not have it perfected it is quite the art! Because you don't want to have a tortilla that breaks easy and it needs to be perfectly round! It was quite fun and I can't wait to show you all one day when I become a professional! 

            Yo Quiero que todos de Ustedes sepan que tengo un testimonio de este Evangelio. Tal Vez no hablo muy bien y este mensaje no es perfecto también. Pero se que Dios Nos ama y desea que tomemos de este mensaje  y perseveremos hasta el fin! Les Amo!

Elder Daybell