My best week.

HEY FAMILY!!!

 

Well I would like to start off by saying this has honestly been one of the best weeks in the mission. I am doing really good and I am super happy to be where I am. Coban is the best and my area is the best but let me just tell you about the week.

The week went by very smoothly. We were teaching and preaching like champions. We got to the Gutierrez`s house to teach her and her daughter to get them ready for baptism but to our surprise her husband was finally there. We started to get to know him more and more and we decided to have the wife and the daughter help us teach the Restoration to him. We helped him understand why the church is different and how come we truly believe we are the true church. He began to ask questions and we decided to come back in two days and watch the Restoration with them. We came back on Saturday night and watched it with him. The Spirit was strong and we asked him if he would start reading the Book of Mormon with his wife and daughter. He agreed and he agreed to go to church the next day. We were waiting for them in the church building and sacrament ended. I was thinking in my mind, "What happened she always shows up for church." We called them after church and their daughter had gotten sick and they couldn`t make it. We asked if we could visit them later that night and they said that would be great. We went to a member`s house, Alfonzo, after church to eat lunch and he wanted to leave with us and also his twin brother! I thought that would be great because he is a returned missionary and already has a family. We ended up doing divisions with Hector, his brother, and my companion went with Alfonzo. We had a really good lesson with someone we had found a couple of days before and after we all met up to go to visit the Gutierrez Family. I was pretty excited because we are getting her ready for her and her daughter`s baptism. Alfonzo asked what we were going to teach and we thought maybe we should teach the Plan of Salvation but Alfonzo said maybe we should teach how the Gospel blesses families. We entered the house and everyone was ready. Alfonzo asked if they would all sit together and we began to teach the principle. Alfonzo started out by asking the husband what his responcibility is as a husband and a father. He told us what he thought and the Spirit was already very strong. Alfonzo then explained how a marriage is like two oxen with a yoke if the other falls the other cannot progress. He explained how his wife and daughter have already accepted a baptismal date and are progressing and the husband realized the importance of it all. I then shared my testimony of the Gospel. How Jesus Christ really does make it possible for the home to be a place of refuge. Where we can go to find peace and happiness because our parents taught us good principles and we have always known we are children of our Heavenly Father. I never thought that day that the husband was going to accept the gospel but he did. I asked him if he would follow the example of Jesus Christ and his family and be baptized by someone who possess the Priesthood. He accepted a baptismal date and the whole family is going to be baptized in February.

I tell you this big long story because it has been the only thing on my mind for the past 12 hours. I have seen a miracle and I have been so overwhelmed by the Spirit when I felt like I was not talking, but someone else was talking for me. This mission is so incredible. The Gospel really does change peoples lives if they accept it.

Okay I hope this story has not bored you family but I think it was something very important for you all to read. That really there are miracles in the work. I have put my heart into this mission and God is compensating for what I do. Maybe I am not the best missionary and I still have a lot to learn but I love this work and I love these people.

Thank you family for everything you have done for me! Sorry that I was a crazy kid in high school who would dance with the manicans in Old Navy! But don`t worry I still do when no one is looking! I love you all and I hope this will be a good story to read in your scripture study at night!!

I love you!! Love Elder Colton Steamberry Llewelyn, whose also named Rubin.

 

11 Months....What the freak!

Dear Family!!!

Happy 11 months!! What the freak! I can`t believe it either. This time is passing way to fast and it makes me a little nervous but I guess that is how things are. This week was amazing! We had a lot of people in church and it was just a good week! Everyone else sounds like they had a good week also. It makes me a little sad that there is not a lot of snow but I think that just means the sky is waiting for me to get home and after we can go snowboarding and all that jazz.

Well this week started out really amazingly! On Tuesday, we went to visit a family that we have recently found and we showed up and everyone was very excited. We begin to talk about the Book of Mormon and I asked them if they have read. They all said yes they had read 3 Nephi 11. She began to explain what she had read and then she asked us about baptism. She asked how long does she have to wait to be baptized! We told her that she can get baptized when she wants. We put a baptismal date for February 18th!! I am super excited!! It is crazy all the small miracles that happen here in the mission. I can`t believe it! Also we talked to Marcia (the Kekchi that we baptized) and we are getting her ready to go do baptisms for the dead!! She is pretty excited but a little nervous. She doesn`t speak much spanish and so it is hard for her to understand everything all at once so we need to review some of the things but she is happy which makes me very happy! Her family lives in the Polochic where Elder Cheney is serving and he is going to go meet her family because she wants them to go up and teach them! So I got to call Elder Cheney! It was the best! He is doing really good and we are just growing up so fast!

I hope you all enjoy the pictures! I personally like the one where Derek is sticking out his tongue. He is probably my best friend here. My companion is getting used to things, he is still getting accustomed to some things but that is how it is! It is weird to see someone just barely starting out because I feel like I am just barely starting out!! haha

Well I love you family!! Keepin it real from Guate!! Chaqui la quip!!

Voice of Fergie

HELLO FAMILY!!

I think the winter has really umped your funniness because all of you put a big smile on my face! You all sound super happy and that makes me happy. Well like happier... I am in Coban! A big shout out to my grandparents! Get feeling better all of you! Coban is still green, wet and muddy!

This week was a little interesting but at the same time it was a really good one. It is a little weird training I am going to be honest. I talk a lot and I feel like people are getting bored of my voice. I thought I had a voice of Fergie and no one would get bored of hearing it but then yesterday I gave a talk and church... well I feel a little more humbled now. I´ll shut up now.haha

Well my son is growing up to be a big ol Elder Flower!! He is working hard and we are having to do a lot of searching right now for the chosen ones because well.. they are hiding. But last night, we got pumped and this week we are going to find all the chosen ones even the hidden ones. I walk a lot and that powder really helps dad thanks. I am thoroughly indebted. haha was that to much to share. I don´t think so it is part of the mission right?

Alright spiritual experience of the week is the following... We got a call last Sunday from the Elders in another ward and they told us someone from our area went to their church and she is really interested. Well us being us, called her and put a visit with her. We visited her 2 times this week and she has kept all of our commitments and she is learning way fast and the lady that works with her too. She has three kids and they all really like the church and everyone was on their best behavior yesterday except for me who gave a 20 minute talk because I like the sound of my own voice. Since you all know me this might come as a shock but yep it happened. I just kept going and going.. did i feel the bishop tap my foot in the middle of it.. nope just kept going. I hope you all get a good laugh and if it isn´t funny... just say you laughed.

Well I love you all so much!! Thank you for all the prayers and support from the best family every!! I hope everything is going well at home.

I'm a Trainer!

HIII Family!!!!

Alright before I want to clear some confusion up. Brett Paulsen is not my companion he just entered and we have been friends for a while. It was awesome to see him but we are not companions!! Haha well this week was amazing!! I feel a little weird because well I still feel new and I am training someone new, but it is really cool and pretty fun. My new companion is Elder Salguero. He is from Peru and is straight from the CCM here in Guatemala. He doesn`t even have a month in the mission so it is a little different.

Monday after I wrote you guys I went to the bus station with Elder Opazo and we got to the Capital at 9. Then I had a sleep over with Andrew haha it was super fun and it really is the best having a cousin on the mission. You just kind of feel like your at home when you are with them. The next morning we went to the temple and the Area Presidency was in the session with us. It was really cool!! Whoo put that in your journals. haha just kidding but I did. After we had a training meeting with the new elders and we got to know them and I saw Brett!! Whoo talk about feeling like you are at home. It was kind of weird being with someone and I think I have forgotten how to act a little but it was pretty fun!! And after we found out who is our companions and we went back to the houses to wait for the next day to come to Coban!

We had some good days this week but it is always different trying to get accustomed to a companion and it was a weird saying adios to Elder Opazo but it is alright! You just need to do it. I am really excited for these next 2 changes. I am already learning a lot by being a trainer and it is going to be pretty fun. I am really excited because we are trying to focus ourselves on finding families and we are planning on doing activities for three months! I am really excited and I presented the idea alone in front of the Ward Council yesterday... let`s just say we had some people crying. OOofff pilas!! Haha and also Marcia brought her brother from the Polochic to receive the lessons and it is pretty amazing. It is amazing to hear them talk in Kekchi and it is amazing to see a new convert bear her testimony and try and help him figure out to truth. This work is amazing and full of miracles. We are going to set fire to this area!! Whoo!! haha alright well I love you family so much! Thank you for everything!

Staying in Coban Again.....Wahoo!

Hellooo Family!!!

All of your letters were so amazing and I feel the same about you all!! It was amazing to talk to you all and I am super blessed to have a family like you! I am doing really good we are starting a new change! My companion has a change to the capital and well I am TRAINING!! Whoo!! I am super excited! I am leaving today at 4 to the capital and then I am going to the temple tomorrow and then I will be going to some training classes and then I will be meeting the missionary I am training!! I am super super excited and I feel pretty good because I will still be here in Coban!!

This week has been pretty good except for my companion was sick all week and I had to leave with Priests to go and work. It was alright but it was a little hard. But we met a whole bunch of new people and Marcia`s brother came down from the Polochic and we are starting to teach him! Whoo!! I am feeling pretty good and I am loving the new change. It was a little weird helping my comp pack last night just because you get accustomed to things the way they are. This means I will be here in Coban for 2 more changes and that is the best news I could here!! Hopefully for more but we will see!

You all sound like you are doing really good and I hope that you are all happy and loving school!! My friends are all getting married so I hope you all know I need to fit in so help me out. Maybe you could make business cards with all my dats yo!! Haha but really help me out! I love you all family! I will tell you how everything goes into play!!

 Love Elder Colton Llewelyn