November 24, 2015

Hey everyone

This week we had changes and my new companion is Elder Larsen from Logan, Utah. He has 21 months in the mission so I think I may be his last companion and I also think and hope that I will be in this area for a very long time because of it! He is awesome and we have actually had many cool miracles here already. 

We got up on Saturday and I got a call that every missionary wants to receive. A man called and told me his girlfriend had attended church 4 times and was ready to be baptized, he even told me the day she wanted the interview and the baptism. We called her and she was awesome, so ready, she was even going to institute and learning there, she has a testimony but she lives in the area of the sister missionaries who we share a ward with. So we passed on the reference but it was quite the miracle and shows that sometimes the people come to you when they are ready. 

We got up on Sunday and went to pick up our investigator Zoyla Mecler and she came out with a big bag. We had planned her baptism for the 29th of this month because she had only attended 1 time and drank coffee Tuesday and the rule is she has to wait 10 days to be baptized. She told us that in the bag were her clothes for the baptism and we said are you sure. She told us she had already told all her family and they were going to be there and that if it didn't happen today it would never happen. So we called Presidente Markham and he gave us the OK and we made it clear to he that she needed to stop drinking coffee and she said never again will she touch it. So after a lot of running around to say the least she was baptized with all the family in attendance. It was an amazing miracle and the whole family thanked us after because they are all members! 

I am thankful to be a missionary. One thing I know is the spirit is in this work and i would do nothing on my own without it's guide. I hope you all have a happy thanksgivin, I will as well because we have a member here that said, Elders this week is thanksgiving and i know you eat turkey this day. I will make you turkey this Thursday. Miracles haha Love you all, 

Elder Daybell

November 17, 2015

Hey Everyone, 

This week was great as we went Wednesday to the temple. We did an endowment session and then after the temple president asked us to help for 30 minutes with Sealings. I got to be a witness at the sealing sessions for the dead. That was really cool and my first experience of a sealing. After we went as a zone to a place to eat where they make huge sandwiches and if you finish all of it, you don't pay. We only had 1 Elder in the zone finish his entire Sandwich and he is the skinniest in the zone. It was a fun Pday. 

As the subject says this week we have changes, they still have not told us but we are certain that Elder Aza is leaving and I am staying. We have the secretaries in our zone and they know the changes about 2 weeks before the changes, they have been messing with us about the changes. They can't tell us, but they certainly like to play around with our minds. 

This week we had Hermana Zoyla Mecler attend church with us. She is awesome and has many desires to be baptized after an accident that happened about a year ago. She is going to be baptized this Sunday. She is very sarcastic and has a good sense of humor. She reminds me a lot about one of the cars from the movie Cars because she has the same voice as the Old car that sells bumper stickers, it has been great to help her along this path. 

We also had many other miracles but as it says in the book of Mormon there is not enough space to write "even the hundredth part" of all that has happened! I know this church is true and I love this gospel. Have a great week! Love,

Elder Daybell

November 10, 2015

Hey Everyone, 

This has been a great week and the best part... We helped a family prepare to be eternal! They are now in the path where they need to be to become and eternal family. And even before their baptism they had been talking about going to the temple in a year to be married for all eternity! Wilmer and Yesenia were married this last Saturday and baptized like 30 minutes after their marriage. Many members attended and even brought more decoration because as the lady who did the marriage put it " The Elders have no creativity". But it was nice to have the help of members who brought balloons and a cake that was so delicious! 

We were so happy with the progress of Wilmer and Yesenia that we realized something after the baptism: We need to find more investigators. Right now we are in the process of finding and it is tough. We are working with Juanita still but she can't seem to give up coffee. We are working with that, but we will see what happens as we look for news in this week. 

Tomorrow we are going to the temple for Pday. I have not gone for almost a year. The last time I went was the 30th of December 2014. It is such a blessing to be in an area so close to the temple. Sorry there isn't much time but I know that this church is true. Simple as that. I love you all and hope you have a great week. 

Love, 

Elder Daybell

November 3, 2015

Hey Everyone, 

This week has been crazy and full of good and well not so good news. But that is mission work. 

We had an investigator who was going to be baptized this Sunday but she drank coffee and so we had to push back her baptismal date. It is always hard to push back a date but it is necessary sometimes so that people can repent. 

This Saturday we have a wedding to go to and after we are going to baptize the family! Wilmer and Yesenia Garcia have put the date for their wedding and baptism and I am so excited. They are a great couple and have a huge love for the gospel. And now, after a lot of time to get things sorted out they are able to get married and baptized! These are the moments we always live for in the mission. All the rejections and contacts and lessons are all taught and done with the objective to bring a soul to God's church. 

Recently they showed a video here about the atonement and missionary work. It really helped me to understand that yeah the mission is tough but what Christ did was harder. Jeffrey R. Holland said (As far as it is translated correctly from my mind) "I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience". I know that my savior died for me and atoned for every single one of us and that I have grown closer to my God through this experience. I love you all and hope you have a great month of thanksgiving for all that we have been given. 

Love, 

Elder Daybell 

October 27, 2015

Hey Everyone, 

October is coming to an end, that is so crazy. I cannot believe how the months fly by! But we are working hard and loving life as missionaries. We have had many wonderful experiences and I have learned a lot in this week with all the splits we had. Every week we have to have 3 and I have learned that it is pretty tiring but it is lots of fun, I have also learned that a week goes by a lot faster than before! 

This week we had interviews with President Markham and it was awesome. He talked about making the atonement personal in our lives. He also tried to focus us a lot on our responsibilities as missionaries in bringing people to Christ and having them make the atonement more personal in their lives as well. 

We have had a lot of success in our area and this week we are going to baptize Juanita. She is a former investigator that we started visiting and she has gone to church 2 times now. She is a little strange and says lots of things that don't make sense (for examle one time she told us about her little tree that was dying and so she inserted a little bit of her blood into the tree and it survived) but the gospel is for everyone and we are so excited for her! We are also working with a family, Wilmer and Yesenia (Jesenia) Garcia. They are going to be baptized in this month of November, we just have little complications with them but we are closer than ever with this family. 

Sunday we had a huge miracle, a full rack of ribs for each one of us! It was so delicious! How I miss good barbecue, but I am also loving the tortillas. 

This was a great week and I look forward to this week that is going to be full of miracles and wonderful experiences, I am happy to be a missionary and there is no place that I would rather be right now! I know the church is true and I know the atonement is for each and every one of us to apply personally everyday! Have a great week everyone! 

Love, 

Elder Daybell

New Zone Leader

Dear family of Elder Max Turner Daybell,

It is with appreciation that I inform you that Elder Daybell, has been called to serve as a Zone Leader in the Guatemala, Guatemala City Central Mission.  This comes as a result of revelation from the Lord. He has demonstrated diligence, hard work, faith, love and has obtained the respect of the rest of the missionaries.

As a Zone Leader, I will work closely with him to motivate and influence the rest of the missionaries in his zone. At the same time, Elder Daybell will be expected to lead and exemplify every aspect of missionary work.

I appreciate having Elder Daybell as a servant of God here in the mission field. I truly know that he is a special son of God.

Yours faithfully,Melvin G. MarkhamMission President

October 20, 2015

Hey Everyone, 

Changes happened and I now find myself in the area of Prados 1. My companion is Elder Aza from Peru, and he was my district leader for 1 change in Tiquisate before I became district leader. And now we are Zone leaders together here in The zone Villa Hermosa. It's a cool area and is in the capital area of the mission, it is actually the closest zone to the capital in this mission. I am learning a lot about being a zone leader but today is when the real actions begins. As zone leaders we have to have splits 3 times during the week with the Elders in our zone and today we are beginning with all the splits for this change and I am heading to another area today and who knows what else will happen during this week. 

It was hard to leave my last area because I made so many friends in such a short time but thanks to today's technology I will still have communication with them. I even got an email from 1 of them today. This new area is great and we have so many investigators that are progressing and so much area. This area is huge. The members are also very nice and help a lot with the food, and they make great food. One Sister here asked me what kind of food I liked and when I told her ribs she said that she would make us ribs this upcoming Sunday! Wahoo what a miracle! 

Today I got to know the zone and it is full of great missionaries who are ready to see miracles and help lots of people come unto Christ. I am excited to be in the service of my God and I know that this service comes by serving our fellow man. I am excited to be a zone leader in order to serve and love the missionaries in this zone. My first duty as a Zone leader was look for a house for some hermanas that are opening an area here in this zone. it is hard to do house hunting here in Guatemala I am glad for how easy the process is there in the states. I still don't know much about this area or have had much experience here but little by little I will see the miracles and let you all know as we go along! 

Love you all, 

Elder Daybell 

October 13, 2015

Hey everyone, 

This was a crazy week and well to finish it off my companion and I were super surprised to find out that I will be leaving this area. I was only here for 1 change or 6 weeks and now I will be heading out and he will be staying again. It's odd because it does not happen much but there isn't really anything we can do just accept it and work hard wherever the Lord calls us. 

But this week was awesome as we worked so hard to have a wedding and a baptism for Josue Hernandez and his wife Eliana. Everything went great and they are so excited to go to the temple in 1 year. We have already made the goal with them and put a picture of the temple in their house and they are so excited. It was a great baptismal service and the spirit was strong. We had 2 investigators in attendance as well and I know it helped them feel that all was right. I had the privilege of performing the ordinance and was very grateful to be a part of this big step for this family. 

Moving all will be hard, it always is but I know that I have done what the Lord wanted me to do in this short time here. Now I will go and look for miracles in another area and let you all know where that is next week! It will definitely be hard to leave my companion, he is awesome and we have gotten along very well and this is why we were able to see miracles. I will let you all know where I am at next week! I love you,

Elder Daybell

October 6, 2015

Hey Everyone, 

This Conference Sunday was amazing and I learned so much. I loved the ponderize message and have even begun to apply it and have learned so much. The best part about this weekend for me was the miracle baptism we had right before the Sunday morning session. Jessica Matias got baptized and many of her friends that are members attended and her twin sister. It was a great spiritually filled baptism. 

September was a tough month for us, but that meant it was a good month of learning and now we are seeing miracles as we have put that learning into practice. This Saturday we are getting a couple married and then the husband will be baptized Sunday! And then in a year they will go to the temple and be sealed for eternity. We Baptize Families! His name is Josue Hernandez. We also have a young man who went to conference who is planning on being baptized the 18th of this month as well as our investigator Francisco Giron who was in the hospital this week but was able to receive permission to attend a session of General Conference. It has been a great start and I am so excited to help all these people whom I love so much in their spiritual progress. 

As for the conference I learned about ponderizing. But one of my favorite talks was by Larry G. Lawrence about What Lack I yet. One thing I have learned in the mission is that I am here to make changes to my life and always being better and better as a disciple of Christ. I took that challenge and have now made the goal to always ask that question in order to become what my Heavenly Father wants to be. Something my mission president always says is " The mission doesn't change anybody, the atonement changes everybody" The mission hasn't changed me, it has just helped me to understand the atonement of our Redeemer. 

I just want to share a thought from the scripture I am ponderizing which is 1 Nephi 1:1 I love how it says seeing many afflictions and because of his afflicions he was favored in the eyes of God. God gave many afflictions to Nephi to prove his discipleship and Nephi came through and this was why he was highly favored of the Lord. We too have many afflicions given to us and now we just need to decide if we want to be highly favored of the Lord and an instrument in his hands or not. I hope you all choose to be as well! I love you all, 
Elder Daybell

September 29, 2015

Hey everyone. 

This month went by really fast but now I believe that they all do. it was tough but recently we have had such a great miracle. We have a reference from a guy who always visits with us that we are teaching, her name is Jessica Matias. She was attending another church for a long time and attended 1 time with us but didn't like it so much. We committed her to attend 1 more time and to see what she thought and from there she could determine what she wanted to do. She went. And after she said she felt a happiness that was indescribable, something that she had never felt before. immediately after she went and attended her church and she asked God to help her feel the same there to know if it was true. She said she never felt even close to that feeling and that now she knows the church is true and that the Book of Mormon is true and that she needs to be baptized. We are now in the process of planning her baptism maybe for this Sunday. She said something really cool that I liked, she had this feeling and she just wanted even to know about this feeling as well. I know that feeling exists in the true church of Christ and it is indescribable. 

As for the Man we found who has family in Utah, due to continued medical complications he could not attend church, but the cool thing was is that his family from Utah called the bishop and talked with him. They are supporting him and helping us to know we should keep visiting him and not give up on him. It was really cool to hear about this call and how much we as members know the importance of the family and it doesn't matter where we are, we can always support each other. 

I am so excited for this conference and cannot wait to hear about the new apostles and all the changes! I hope that everyone has a wonderful week! I love you! 
Elder Daybell