May 5, 2015

Hey Everyone,

  Today is the 5 de Mayo but the Guatemalans do not celebrate this holiday. But nonetheless it will be a good day just as this week was. We have been working hard here and this week the baptisms of Hermanas Jenifer and Ericka and Norma came to pass! They are some amazing people and have strong testimonies of this church. And the Hermana Norma doesn't have much and she had a rough past life but she is looking at Baptism as a way to start over again and be a new person.

   We have been working with one man Josue or Joshua in English who is awesome and believes everything of our message and loves the concept of the Book of Mormon because it shows Gods love for all nations but the only problem is he hasn't come to church.We have made plans to visit him with the President of the Branch today and hopefully get him excited for church this week! 

   My new companion is Elder Rojas from Costa Rica, he is a new missionary straight out of the CCM and I will be his trainer for this change and possibly the next. He is awesome and has a huge testimony. I am happy to be working with him and being a teacher outside of the teaching haha. I feel bad that I have to walk super fast but he keeps up and possibly very soon I will be the one running behind him. It's crazy how I am the trainer but I am learning so much from this guy. it's so awesome how we have the opportunity to learn and grow from every person we meet. Every person, contact and member I have met here in the mission has helped me to learn and grow. 

    I hope you all have an amazing week and enjoy mothers day all you mothers out there. But I can't lie.... I have the best mother of them all and I get to talk to her in 5 days! Wooh!

Hasta Luego,

Elder Daybell

April 28, 2015

   Hey Everyone!

This week has been something special and with changes tomorrow it is going to be an interesting week this week. They called me on Wednesday and told me I would be training and that I had to go to a meeting on Friday in the capital at 10 in the morning but our area is 4 hours away and because we have to have 1 hour of study with our companion we woke up at 3 in the morning and left at 5 for the capital, this was a long day, I was so tired but so pumped to train. Tomorrow I will have to do the same but I will come back with my companion who I hope is right out of the CCM. I am so excited to train! And I did not get to go to the temple of Quetzaltenango because the branch couldn't find a bus for that day so they changed it and I am sure I can't go now. But we have 5 investigators that are going to attend with the branch.

     Elder Williams and I have been working hard here and we have had many miracles in this week. This weekend we are going to have 3 baptisms of some young women that have been attending for awhile but didn't get baptized because the Grandmother hasn't let them but finally gave permission and they have been working hard to stop drinking coffee, and also of a lady who was baptized in 1999 but didn't get confirmed for more than a year after so she has to be baptized and receive the Holy Ghost within a year. We also had a less active member Javier and his Wife Melany who is not a member attend church this week and they were super interested in the temple and are going to go with the branch this week. For a branch that has been slow in the past things are really speeding up and the number of people attending is getting higher and higher each week.

     I am so happy for this chance I have to be here in La Noria Tiquisate and help to build the kingdom of God in this part of the world. I have learned to work hard and love the people and that the hearts of people are changing. This branch has been here 20 years, the people in this small area have probably been contacted by the missionaries a thousand times but maybe just the 1 time they say yes and listen they feel the spirit and change. God is changing people to hear this message and with how fast I have seen some people change I know without a doubt that these are the last days and we need to thrust in our sickle as it says in D and C. I hope you all have an amazing week and work hard always!

Love,

Elder Daybell

April 21, 2015

Hey Everyone,

   This week has been crazy and full of miracles. But there isn't a lot of time so I will try to write and explain fast. This past week a lot of time was spent looking for some new people and new miracles to happen in this little branch. We had a ton of new people that we talked with and were all excited for the church and then Sunday came and several left on emergencies and others just didn't come to church. But there were 2 girls Jenifer and Erika that we have been working with for a long time and they came to church again. We made plans with President Perdido to go and visit them and talk with the Grandma (She is the reason they haven't been baptized because she hasn't given permission).

   After a long lesson and talking the plan has been made for the 3rd of May for the baptism of these girls. The only thing they have to do is stop drinking coffee. We gave them Morcaff which is a coffee of cereals and was made by a member here in Guatemala. It's like Coffee but it isn't! So that was a big miracle for us and as well this week we have a baptism of a lady that was baptized 23 years ago but she wasn't confirmed until more than a year after her baptism so with these numbers she has to be baptized again. I feel bad for her with the confusion but everything is going to be sorted out in these weeks to come! 

   In other news for this week the Branch is going to the temple in Quetzaltenango and as there aren't many priesthood holders going it looks like Elder Williams and I are going to have the chance in a lifetime for this mission to visit the other temple of Guatemala this Saturday. Presidente Markham has talked with our President of the Rama and has given an ok but we are going to make sure so that we don't just go without permission. I am excited and will let you all know how it goes! I love you and hope you have a great week,

Elder Daybell

April 14, 2015

Hey Everyone,

    I hope that you all had a great week and are ready for this new week. It's crazy how fast a week flies and then to think back on all the things that I did! Crazy how many things happened and what I learned just in 1 week I wish I could share it all but it's just impossible!

    This week on Saturday was the wedding for the Hermana and Hermano Reinosa. It was a cool branch event as just about all the members of the branch were there and it was funny when they asked if there were any objections and the phone of the Hermano Reinosa went off nice and loud. Everyone was laughing! And then the next day we had the baptism and it was just the same as the whole branch came to attend the baptism but this time they all went in bus to watch as their brothers and sisters entered into this wonderful gospel with them.  

    One thing that I have learned is that this branch is full of miracles. This Sunday an inactive member decided to attend church with his wife who is not a member. Yesterday we went with the Branch President and his family to have a family home evening and we got to talk about the faith and they were really involved! We have been having great success here and have only been inspired to work even more harder with the interviews that we had with President today! I am so happy to be teaching this wonderful message each and everyday and to watch as people feel the spirit from the words that we say. This message is true and is for each and every one of us. I hope you all have an amazing week! I love you all,

Elder Daybell

April 7, 2015

Hey Everyone,

   This Easter Weekend was a great start to this month with the General Conference. I wish I could share everything that I learned but I was only able to watch 1 session in English because the internet was dumb after the 1st session. I watched in Spanish but it just isn't the same I feel. But I loved the powerful way that President Eyring began the conference speaking about the law of the fast that we need to observe and the story he told about the blue shirt with yellow stripes and the blanket. As he talked a lot about the poor I thought a lot about the people in the area that I am at. Never in my life have I seen as many naked children because the parents are washing the little or only clothing that they have for them. I know all I can do right now is help these people with the word of God but I have gained a testimony through this area and the words of President Eyring on the tithing and how these funds truly help feed the hungry and clothe the naked. 

     As for the work here it is going absolutely great! This Saturday we have the wedding of our investigators the Family Reinoso and the next day Sunday the baptism of them! I am so excited for this weekend this family is so awesome. The names of the family is the father Nicho and the mother Maria and the kids, Angel, Oscar, Lesli, Nicho, Angie, and valerie. Of the family that will be baptized this week is Hermana Maria and Lesli and the sons Angel and Oscar. And Already the family is making plans to attend the temple in 1 year from this month. 

     Now as a lot of you know I am in a small area where the work is a little slow and I am definitely learning some patience here that is for sure. But I want to share what I have learned from James 1:22 in this week. You should all read it. But it says that we should be doers and not just hearers. So everything that we have heard from the conference we need to apply to our lives to better ourselves spiritually and otherwise we are just hearers. As well as it says in Juan10:27 the lambs follow Christ so first we need to hear the words of Christ and do what they say. I hope you can all be doers in this week and do what the Lord would have you do and I am going to do the same. As the work is slow here as I have heard I am going to put forth the effort to be a doer to change that slow progress to where the Lord wants it to be. I love you and hope you all have an amazing week! 

Love,

Elder Daybell

March 31, 2015

Hey Everyone,

   This has been a tough adventure getting to know a new area but we have been doing some work here. The president of the branch and the branch have been helping to raise one money for a family of our investigators to get married the 11th of November and this family plans to get baptized the day after. It has been cool to see their change just because 1 member shared a verse from the Book of Mormon and the father felt the spirit and came back to the church after years of inactivity and invited his family and they in turn have felt the spirit. This is the power of the Book of Mormon. I am glad we have the rule here to walk with this Book of Power in our hands. 

    Yesterday for Pday we helped Branch President with a service in order to prepare an activity for the primary that we have some investigators attending. We helped chop palm leaves and put them on top of like an outdoor hut or something like that. I forget the word in english for the things that give shade. Oh and something funny that I wanted to share is the name of the Branch President is Presidente Perdido. His last name is Perdido which means lost in English. To me it's funny with the form of Spanish because sometimes in Spanish they put the describing words after the noun so sometimes the people think we are talking about some Lost President of the branch and then we need to explain his name to everyone. 

   This week we are going to be working hard as usual and I am so excited for general conference this week in order to be able to learn to the prophets. We learn great things from the prophets and need to follow what they say. One thing we are doing here from the devotional we had from Elder Neil L. Andersen is he told us that we should memorize 10 scriptures from the Book of Mormon as well as 10 from the Bible. It's a little difficult but slowly I am adding to my list and I know these scriptures in Spanish so after the mission I'll have to memorize them again in English! I hope you all enjoy conference and listen and feel of the Spirit. I am so excited I can't even explain it. I hope you all have an amazing week! 

Love,

Elder Daybell

March 24, 2015

   Well I got to know my area after 2 days of knowing where I was going but not going and it is absolutely beautiful to say the least. We left the city of Tiquisate and headed out by orchards of Palm trees where they harvest oil. And in the middle of 2 orchards and a river is the town of La Noria. It is a super small town and we have already contacted every house but we will continue working hard here. We have a small little building in this area and it is pretty awesome. I also love that there are a million Mango trees and coconut trees, I just pick the mangoes and eat them there are we are working! I also got to drink some coconut milk and eat coconut here, it was awesome. Some other cool things about this area is everyone knows everyone but not by their real name, everyone has a nickname so if we ask them where a person lives using their real name they don't know who it is, but if we use their nickname...Everyone knows who we are talking about. 

     The branch is awesome here and the members have quite the testimony. We also have some great investigators here that we are working with. We had a family attend church where the father is a member less active and his family aren't members but they are planning on continuing to attend church. The father wants us to work with his family to so that they can all be members too. It's pretty crazy how even with how small this area is there are still miracles happening and we will continue to see miracles happening here until Christ comes. I have loved getting to know the people and members here, it has been a new experience that is certain but I love this area already, it is so beautiful. And a little hot, at the end of the day everyone is outside on their porches sitting in hammocks and just hanging out. 

     The biggest goal we have here is to reactivate a lot of members because we have a solid 30 to 40 attending every week but there are about 100 more that are less active members. I am super excited to work here and help the kindgom of God grow in this area, even if it just means helping people find their testimonies again! I love this area it really is a little piece of heave, it is so beautiful here. A little far away but that doesn't matter. I hope you all have an amazing week!

Love,

Elder Daybell

Elder Daybell in front of the Church building. 

Zone leaders and Elder Daybell and his companion.