June 23, 2015

Hey Everyone! 

    I would like to inform everyone on Guatemala weather right now. One everyone is saying that it is winter here but it is hotter than summer. They say it is winter here because it rains about everyday, the thing is the heat of the sun and heat here does not change. But after a night of raining and a sunny day the vapor of the water leaving the ground and the heat of the sun makes it even more hotter than the summer here. I have never sweat more in my life than this last week and cannot believe they call this winter, I'm gonna have to show them what a real winter is one day! 

    This week has been a week full of miracles! Every week has been a week full of miracles but we saw some amazing things in this week as the hand of the Lord directed us to some wonderful people. The first miracle took place as we were talking with our Ward mission leader. He really wants to see a lot of baptisms like us and so we talked about it and he told us that his family members that lived next door were members but they went inactive and their children are not members, we left right there with him and went and visited with them. They received us well and we were able to talk with them about eternal families. The parents got excited with the idea that they could go to the temple this year to be sealed to their children. The next day they all came to church and loved it. All they needed was 1 little visit and now they are going to keep going to church. I have seen that sometimes that is all it takes 1 little push and the Lord does the rest. 

    We have had some great investigators and a lot of the baptisms we will be having the next 2 weeks come from the reactivation of an inactive person. These are the best I believe because 1 gets to enter into this Gospel and the other recognizes again the importance of the Gospel in their loves. This week we have a baptism for an Hermanito Marcos who is 8 years old but his parents aren't members. He is a cousin of Nelson and was always there to listen to us and sometimes says the prayers. After a week of praying and thinking about it his mother finally gave permission for him to be baptized this Sunday the 28th and she is going to leave work early to be able to attend. The 5th of July we have 3 baptisms planned for 2 more kids from families that are beginning to come back to this Gospel and for 1 Young man that we found and have been visiting with other young men from the branch. It has been great to see the progress of this branch and be a huge part of it. When I got here there was an attendance of 30 to 40 each week and now we are seeing 50 to 60 everySunday. The Lord is hurrying his work along here! 

   Quick cool story: Last night there was a scorpion in our house, it was huge! We killed it and got it out and immediately sprayed the bug repellent all over the house to avoid more. Experiences in Guatemala. I took pictures but I forgot to bring the camera cord so until next week! 

    I have seen a ton of miracles in this area and have seen that the Lord is preparing people to hear this message. I have also seen this work goes faster with the help of the members! I hope you all have a wonderful week! I love you

Elder Daybell

Splits with Elder Salcedo

Pizza with his District. 

A family in Max's area. 

June 16, 2015

   Hey Everyone,

This week has been a week full of miracles that I won't be able to explain them all. We had District conference this week and we were able to have 8 investigators attending with us. It was so great because the last 3 weeks before we only had 1 investigator attend 1 Sunday our of those 3 weeks. All of our investigators that attended are awesome and have testimonies, 3 of them have committed to baptism the 28th of this month and 4 others could be baptized the 28th as well with a little help from the branch. We talked with the branch in the consejos de Rama in order to get them pumped and they have all committed to sacrifice a little so we can have a day of white for this branch the 28th. This will be good for this branch to get them excited and involved in the missionary effort. 

    we were able to see miracles through references of a recent convert who told us of a friend who was inactive in the church. So we went to visit her and invited her to church on Sunday and as we were talking to her she asked about the age of children for baptism because she wants her daughter that is 9 years old to be baptized. We had a little lesson and she got excited and her daughter as well and after church she said that they would continue going to church and that the daughter Joselyn would be baptized the 28th. She just needed a little push and now she is excited and going to continue in this church. We also found a Brother and a Sister that are living alone together because their parents died. Their parents were members but went away from the church before the children had the chance to be baptized. We were able to pick them up and go to the conference and it was cool what happened. We visited them after and the Hermano Amilkar was talking about serving a mission, the examples of all the missionaries got him excited to serve a mission which he could leave for in 2 years. He is a little nervous for baptism but still wants to do it so he can serve a mission. His sister Jesenia is going to be baptized the 28th as well. 

    We also have 4 more investigators that came to church on their own for the 2nd time and with a little help from the members of the branch we can help these souls come unto Christ through baptism the 28th as well. My companion and I have been working hard and fasting and praying a lot and after all this time we are seeing miracles. But more than anything we know that if we sacrifice a little, the Lord offers great blessings. This conference Presidente Perdido was released as Branch President and put as a counselor in the District. It was a tough change but the work goes on and I know that when he has time he is going to help us out. I have learned a lot from this guy. I love this area so much, there are so many miracles and the people here are just great. I hope you all have a great week. Alma 5:16 

Love,

Elder Daybell 

Elder Daybell and his District. 

Volcanoes from the Guatemalan Coast. 

A baptism from his area. :) 

June 9, 2015

 Hey Everyone! I have great news, I get at least one more change here in La Noria! My companion and I are staying together and are going to do work in this change. I love this area, I pretty much know this area like the back of my hand, for those of you who know Grantsville this area the town of La Noria is about the size of South Willow and we are working and contacting there everyday. We have other towns that are in our area but they are farther away and we can't work in those areas very long because they are dangerous or so they say. So I know about every person in this area, maybe not by name but by face and attitude. I know as we knock doors who is going to answer us and if they are going to receive us or not. This area has strengthened my testimony that the Lord is preparing people because missionaries have been here for 20 years and although the town is small and have all talked to the missionaries the work goes on and baptisms happen. This is what we call puros milagros! 

    This Sunday Nelson Escobar got baptized and I had the privelege to baptize him! He is the Brother of 2 Girls that we baptized early in the month of May Jenifer and Ericka. We are slowly working with this family as their mother and aunts have yet to accept the Gospel but as they say little by little and in the time of the Lord I know that they are going to accept. We are working with an older man right now and his name is Dionicio Reynosa. He is a little difficult but he loves the church because of the unity. His wife was a member but she died and he talks about her a lot. I really want to see him join the church and have the opportunity to be with his wife forever because I know she is waiting for him to join this Gospel and be sealed to her forever. Little by little I know that he will accept the Gospel.

   I hope you all have a great week and enjoy all the little things of life that sometimes we take for granted. This is the last day of one missionary in our zone and to me he just looked lost, like he didn't know what to do next. I often think of that day but seeing him helped me remember I need to enjoy this time and be grateful for it because it does end and won't happen again. I love you all,

Love,

Elder Daybell

June 2, 2015

Hey everyone!

  Woah it is so hot here! Air conditioning only exists in the supermarket here that we only get to visit 1 time in the week! But I absolutely love the coast and this area. This week has been great and we have learned a lot. We almost had a miracle this week as a young man told us that he had attended 2 times to church and was ready for baptism. We verified everything with the Branch President and started to prepare him for baptism on Sunday. We stopped by his house 30 minutes before his baptism interview to remind him, and his grandma came and told us that there was a death in the family and he went with his family to the capital for the funeral! We were so excited because he is a great young man and is going to be an awesome help for his family to receive the Gospel in their lives as well. He didn't get back until the next day, but he is super excited to be baptized this Sunday. 

   We have also been working with a family where the husband is an inactive member and his wife is an investigator. The only problem is they don't attend church because the husband is a little hard in heart or what we say in spanish a chambone (which basically means lazy person). The wife is awesome for example yesterday we had a family home evening with her and the branch presidents family and she asked a ton of questions about the Atonement of Christ and she wants to be baptized and go to the temple with her husband. The only difficulty we have is that the husband doesn't have quite the same mindset, but I know that little by little we can help this new family get to the temple so they can be together forever.

    Things have been tough but we have been working hard and keeping our head up. Our Branch President is awesome and this Sunday we are renting a bus to go by some parts of our area that our so far away in order to pick up investigators that have wanted to attend, but have not been able to due to the distance and other needs. We are excited for this, but it requires that everyday we need to be in those areas in order to get the word out to everyone. This means we are going to be walking a ton because these areas are an hour and a half away when we are walking super fast! But with a little sacrifice comes a great reward. I have learned a ton about sacrifice and more than ever about the great sacrifice our Saviour made. I may wake up hurting in my body everyday, but that is nothing compared to what my Saviour did for me, He is the reason I can wake up and work hard everyday even if I hurt so much from the day before! I hope you all have a great week,

Love,

Elder Daybell