Pray For The Sick And Afflicted!

¡Hola!

I can't write a ton today because Elder Lloyd got sick and we have to write using a tablet that's slow. He got sick Tuesday night and he's a lot better today, but when he gets out of bed and walks around it hurts. 

President Vasquez is going to have surgery too. Please pray for them so they can get better soon. We're still working hard and it's paying off!

¡Levántate! ¡Podemos hacerlo ahora!

Love,
Elder San Diego

One day we went to go cut a bamboo trunk for a member's tv antenna (Tony Campos)

  Elder San Diego and his handy machete

In the background: the volcano of San Vicente  

 last p-day we made baleadas from Honduras!
(Elder San Diego, Hermana Batres, Abby, and Marielos)

  Mama Lydia & Elder San Diego making flour tortillas.

 Hermana Batres and Marielos giving us the thumbs up.

 Mama Lydia, Abby and Mama Lupe making more tortillas.

 We had Noche de Hogar (Family Home Evening)

 ...more tortillas

The finished product: tortilla, beans, avocado, eggs, and sausage. 

 Abby, Marielos, Mama Lupe, and Elder Flores dishing out the food and drink.

 Javier and his grandma Victoria

  Papa Gongora, Hermano Batres, Mama Lydia, and Tía Vilma

  It was also Diana's 5th birthday!

 ¡Feliz Cumpleaños Diana!

"Now Everything Changes!"

¡Hola!

This week has been awesome! On Saturday we were able to celebrate Andy Moreno's baptism and afterward we ate ice cream! He's such a great kid and what he told me while we were changing after I baptized him really touched me. He said, "now everything changes!" I know that someday he'll be an extraordinary missionary who'll give his all to the Lord and His children. I feel that I still haven't reached my true potential, but I can with the time I have left and as I do exactly that, consecrate myself 100% to Him and His work.

Andy's great aunt Ana Gloria is progressing well and has already started to stop drinking coffee! She's going to be ready for her baptism April 11th. Another investigator, Alberto Callejas, couldn't be baptized before because he and his wife weren't married, but they recently got married and he desires to prepare to be baptized on April 11th too! The Lord is really guiding us to those who are genuinely prepared and willing to repent and be baptized!

This week we were able to have divisions with our zone leaders and the other two Elders in our district. While I was on divisions in San Vicente we had a meeting with the District President we talked about and he shared experiences about working with the members. He said that one day they baptized 12 people and in a sacrament meeting they had 42 investigators! Hearing those experiences strengthened my faith that all of us, members and missionaries, can achieve those great miracles if we only work together as He has commanded us. I know that if we can just do that we'll be able to hasten the work wayyy faster!

¡Levántate! ¡Podemos hacerlo ahora!

Love,

Elder San Diego

   Andy Moreno's Baptism!

left to right: Yesenia (mom), Walter (uncle), Elder San Diego,
 Andy, Maria (grandma), Ana Gloria (great aunt), Elder Flores

 We ate ice cream afterwards!  Elder Medina and Elder San Diego

Mama Lupe and Hermana Batres

Papi Tin and Hermano Batres

Gabriela and Tony

left to right: Diana, Abby, Marielos, Giselda, and Guadalupe

left to right: Hermana Vilma, Hermano Campos, Ismael, Hermana Campos,

Carolina Campos de Callejas, Alberto Callejas, Mama Lydia, and Hermano Monge

Prompted By The Spirit

¡Hola!

This week has been great. Élder Flores and I have had many opportunities to give service and it's paid off because it strengthens our relationship with the members and investigators. Almost an entire less-active family came to church yesterday!

This week Andy Moreno is going to be baptized! We're still working with his mom and sister to help them overcome their problems, and Andy's great aunt Ana Gloria is progressing well. She's gone to church these past two weeks and she's quitting drinking coffee. I know that as we keep on helping them Ana will be ready by April 11th and Daniela and her mom Yesenia will be ready in the future.

I had a really cool spiritual experience this week. My companion and I were walking to visit a less-active and I felt prompted to talk to a guy sitting and waiting for his daughter to get out of kindergarten. As we talked to him he told us that the missionaries had visited him before! He also went to the temple open house in 2009! He doesn't live in our area, but we invited him to an activity we're going to have for investigators where they can walk around the temple grounds and learn about the book of mormon, baptism, the plan of salvation, family history, and why we have temples. He said he loves our doctrine and he's willing to receive the missionaries again. There aren't missionaries in that area, but we gave the reference to the zone leaders and they're going to visit him! That experience strengthened my faith even more that there are people out there who are really prepared, all we need to do is find them and help them finish walking the path they started on!

¡Levántate! ¡Podemos hacerlo ahora!

Love,

Elder San Diego

One of the neighbors cats always comes when we eat. I named him Garfield 
because he eats almost anything I give him. 

Teaching With The Spirit!

¡Hola!

This week Elder Zuñiga had changes and now I'm with Elder Flores. This week has been super productive! We're teaching a lot differently than we have before and we're seeing the results in how our investigators and less-actives respond. As we teach I can feel the Spirit even stronger than before and I know that as we continue we'll be able to achieve great things this change with the Lord's help. We have planned to put a lot more baptismal dates this week, and I know that as we continue to improve our teaching even more our investigators will progress a lot quicker.

¡Levántate! ¡Podemos hacerlo ahora!

Love,

Elder San Diego

from left to right: Elder Shipman, Elder Durbin, Elder Soza, 
Elder Coc, Elder Zuñiga and Elder San Diego

from left to right: Elder Soza, Elder Coc, Elder Durbin, 
Familia Martinez, Elder San Diego and Elder Shipman

Time To Work Even Harder!

¡Hola!

This week was great. On Thursday we helped Papi Tin, a member, to plant some papaya seeds and clean up the church's garden a little. It has so many trees! There are banana trees, guava trees, cashew trees, lemon trees, coconut trees, and other trees only from here! It hasn't been taken care of in a while so some parts are a little dry, but were going to see if someone can take care of it.

We got to go to the temple this Friday because we baptized two people this month! We're still working with Familia Moreno so they can get baptized next month. Daniela and her brother Andy are set for March 21st and their great aunt Ana Gloria is set for March 22nd. We've got other investigators that we need to help progress and accept a baptismal date. This is it, the last quarter of my mission! Time to work even harder!

¡Levántate! ¡Podemos hacerlo ahora!

Love,

Elder San Diego

 our church building has its own garden and this week we helped 

Papi Tin (member) plant some papaya trees

  we also picked some coconuts and drank and ate them!

 Me, Mama Lupe, Élder Zuñiga, Mama Lydia, and Papi Tin

 We got to go to the temple on Friday because we baptized two people this month!

 We got ice cream after the temple at this place called Boston. It was really good!