All right, so big news of the week...I got to call home this past week for La Navidad!!!

So yeah, this past week was pretty ridiculous. Pretty much because everyone down here goes into like "let's go buy explosives and blow stuff up for the weekend", president just told everyone that Christmas was going to be a P-day for us. And we didn´t want to miss all of the awesome fireworks...soooo...we talked to President Maravilla and he gave us permission to sleep in the church for that night which was really cool.

We bought a couple of Roman Candles and did like a little duel type thing, lol, and we brought all of the candy and food that we received over the holidays, camped out in the chapel, and watched the Grinch and some other Disney movies, it was soooo much fun. Then around midnight all the fireworks started going off! I have never seen soooo many fireworks go off at once. It didn´t matter which direction you were looking, you could see explosions and fireworks in every direction and house! And a lot of them were the really big ones too, I don't know how these people got their hands on them but I´m glad they did, lol.

Also this past weekend, right before I called and talked to you all actually, we had another baptism! It was soooo much fun! Her name is Noehlia Dolores Zapata Mejia, Noehlia painful shoe, lol, just a little fun translation of her name. But yeah, she reminds so much of my 1st baptism with Jessica, likewise, she was ready the Book of Mormon, was following through with all of the assignments that we were leaving for her, and best of all, when she did have questions about what she was reading or what we were teaching, they were actually legit questions that were helping her understanding and knowledge of the scriptures grow!!

I love it when we can actually find those that want everything that we have to offer and get that same excitement that we have about the gospel! It's so amazing to see that light in their eyes when you give them a new piece of doctrine that they were missing in their lives and maybe didn´t even know it until then. I really hope that we can find more people with that same hunger and drive to get through to the finish line of baptism where all of their questions are waiting to be answered!

A little something else that we did this past week was place a few more baptismal dates for the month of January!!! One of them is just a pre-teen, has only about 12 years or so [the Spanish way of saying he is 12 years old], but still has that drive that we look for when we try to teach people. His name is Jorge Mario DeLeon, we took him to church for the first time this past Sunday and he just soaked it up! He made friends with all of the other kids and really enjoyed the classes.

Next, we have Mauricio Diez. This man has been one of the most and still is a difficult person to convert...not convince. We have been teaching him since like the 2nd week that we first got here and little by little he is progressing towards his baptismal date on the 8th of January. The problem that Mauricio has is that we cannot get him to go to church with us. And it pretty much all has to do with his work. He is a Tuk-Tuk driver, a little 3 wheeled dome looking car/bike, and has yet to come to one sacrament meeting to experience it for himself.

I'm kinda lost as to what I can help him, to give him that desire to go to church that he needs but we´ll see. He also has a really cool family of 3 boys and his wife is currently working in the states, which I can imagine would be a little difficult for them both. And come to find out his mother who was visiting this past week is Mormon and we didn´t even know it!

Then, last but not least, Sara and Julie. They are the aunt and cousin of Jaqaline, the little 8 year old girl we baptized about 2 weeks ago. While teaching Hermanita Jaqaline, her aunt, Sara, was listening in on the lessons that we were teaching and one day after the lessons she came up to Elder Langi and me and said that her 17 year old daughter has yet to be baptized and would like us to teach about the life of Christ and baptize her. So needless to say we gladly accepted the invitation to teach and baptize her daughter, lol.

And last night night while we were over at their house teaching them, we found out that the mother also was not a member of the church. So, while inviting her daughter to follow Christ´s example and be baptized by someone holding the authority to do so, we also invited the mother to prepare with her daughter for the 15th of the month of January!! They were a little startled by this date, I think they thought it was a little close, but we reassured them that this date was only a goal to prepare for and that if they were following all of the advice and assignments that they would be ready for this date, so they accepted also..

And as it is right now we are preparing to have another 4 baptisms for the up-coming month of January! I just hope that we can justly teach to their needs to the end that none of them fall through.

But yeah that is what little ole Elder Marquis has been up to this past week. I hope that all of this didn´t bore you guys too much, lol.

I don´t know..this past change that we just completed wasn´t a complete and utter failure as far as mission work and baptisms go, but it definitely wasn´t as good as it could have been. I mean we were kinda of just not putting all that we had into the work as we usually do. So the four of us had a little companionship inventory and reset the goals, rules, and just overall tried to fix what it was that we weren´t doing so well. And now it seems that since we have repented of our somewhat lazy manners and have all talked to President Maravilla of these problems, the spirit is working stronger and because of our repentance our investigators and their families are receiving greater knowledge and understanding.

But yeah, since that little experience both my companion and I have been able to hear and feel the whisperings of the spirit soo much stronger. Something that Maravilla told us at this last conference was this - A lot of times we receive the inspiration to go speak to certain people and a lot of the times if or when we follow through with these inspirations...nothing happens. Either they don't want what we have to share or they just simply aren´t ready to receive our message. But, no matter what, we should ALWAYS follow through with these whisperings. Because although many times we do not see the rewards from this obedience, the spirit is testing us...the spirit is doing trial runs or exercises with us with the random people that we see everyday, so that when the time comes that we are walking by a prepared family, the spirit knows that we will listen to his voice and obey His command to listen...This is just a little something that I really enjoyed from this past conference with President Maravilla.

So yeah It was really great talking to everyone for Christmas, its so crazy to hear how everyone is progressing and growing!

Anyways, thank you all for everything you do!

Love you all tons,

Elder Marquis

MERRY ALMOST CHRISTMAS!!!!


So I´m pretty worn out. There´s this pretty ligit little gym over by our house that we´ve started going to every P-day, and I really hurtin now, lol.

It's so wierd to hear the word cold...lol, that will never exist down here.

The mission bag presents went over great. They divided them all up so everyone got a little goodie bag and not just the Latinos. It was really cool because a lot of the gringos didn't get anything either. The party was so much fun though lol.
After the Christmas party we got our gifts I got 5 packages, 1 for Elder Langi and 4 for me. I don't know if Ryan´s or Michelle´s ever got here or not...what did they send?

Thank you sooo much for all of those gifts! I love them! I use them everyday!
And all that candy! What the heck lol! I had like every Elder out there just about chasing me down..Marquis, what you got over there for me, lol!

The party was so amazing, being able to see all the guys in the mission and the food was soooo good! I haven´t eaten food like that in a long time! To end the party off each zone had to do a little skit and ours was on Nefi and his brothers getting the plates with some added humor....so funny, President and everyone else was saying that ours was definately the funniest and the best. That was so fun. The only bad part is that I misplaced my charger and cord somewhere in the house so my camera died on me, but I got one of the other Elders to take fotos for me, so no worries.

About the call this Saturday for Christmas , I´m going to try and call around 7 or 7.30ish. That´s 7ish my time, I don't know what time that is your time...perhaps 8ish or so...I don't know..we´ll see.

Questions:

How is the work going?

It's going well. Just that we´ve been having a lot of activities these past few weeks and haven't really had enough time to work as much as I would like to but it does move on.

How are your investigators receiving your message?

Well, we just put a fecha (baptism date) with one of our investigators for CHRISTMAS day!!! It is with a really cool girl. She´s just like my first baptism...ready, she knows the scriptures, and she understands the need for the things we do. It's going to be a great Christmas!! How great is that for a Christmas present!?!?! And some of the others its just like paperwork...trying to get them married... so hopefully we should have all of the paperwork finished and into the lawyer by Christmas and then we´ll have another family ready for baptism. The gringo family that we´re working with is a little different, Roman and Sharon Gomez. They come to all of the activities that we have and to church on Sundays but they are just holding onto something and we´re trying to find out what that is so we can cut it, lol.

What are their names?

Olivio, Roman and Sharon Gomez, Noelia(the Christmas baptism), Mauricio, and Pedro.

Do you think you will stay where you are for the transfers on the 22nd?

Yeah, from what I've been told I'm going to be staying here for this transfer.

How is Elder Langi?

Great as always, lol. He reminds me of a cross between, Arnold Schwatzerneiger, Erkle, and some funny Hawaiian dude.


Cultural experience to share?

Iguana is everywhere right now and im thinking of definately buying some! mmmmmmmmm!


Spiritual experience to share? (We LOVED your idea about being firm in your testimony and praying with your contacts!! We should ALL be like that!)

Ummm, not really this past week. Although, we are trying to teach a new way now in our area. We have a member with one of those huge blowup movie screens and we´ve been hitting up all the hot spots showing church movies and teaching the lessons to the crowd and it seems to be a real crowd pleaser. Kinda like when the missionaries used to stand on the boxes and teach in the parks....just a little more up to date, lol.

Love you all tons,
Talk to you guys on SATURDAY!!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday to Shaun and DAD!


E. Marquis

Well how the heck ya'll doin, lol??

The Christmas party got moved till tomorrow so that we could have our P-day today which was nice. Me and E. Morgan went out and bought a game to play for this Christmas since we aren't allowed to leave the house. Supposedly it's pretty crazy, like fireworks from 10 in the night on Christmas eve to like 6 in the morning, and then the party animals are all cruising the streets so they said we can't leave our house. I think we're going to try to sleep in the church that night though so we can use the oven and all be together... so we'll see.


Yeah, we can definately trade books. (Mom has a small, leather version of "The Infinite Atonement"..Elder Marquis' is big and thick) I think that small one would be pretty sweet to have, such a good book! There's this other one I read too, called "The First 2000 Years" , it really helps to understand a lot of the plan and the small intricies about the power of God.

I also want to send some souveniers home to you guys but just haven't had the time...OH!..I need the shoe size of EVERYONE, like in the immediate family and nieces and nephews old enough to know what's going on, lol.


But yeah, we're super close with a couple of guys that we've been working with for like the past month. This next week is going to be like all activites and stuff like that so I really hope we can get everyone to come with us and join in the festivities.


And with the Christmas packages that you all sent (Christmas Stocking project )... what's going to happen with that is everyone is going to get a little something. President was like, "Well it's not really fair that only the Latinos get something, the Gringos are my children too" , so I'm pretty sure everyone is going to get a little something of the stockings that you all made!!!! And I'm almost positive that whatever you all sent is going to be MUCH appreciated by me and the other elders! Thank you guys so much for everything in advance!


I hope you dont mind but the suit that I have is kinda really big on me now, so what I was thinking about doing with that extra money you guys sent, is going and getting a new suit made. One kid got one made and he threw the Guatemala flag on the inside and it looked sooo sick! (I guess that is a good thing :) And the best part you can get them made down here DIRT cheap :) !!!!


So yeah, I'll be sure to take lots of pictures this next week of all of the festivities and stuff.


Love you all tons,
E. Marquis

Poem by Sally Tielemans, Henderson , LDS Missionary Mom

TEN REASONS WHY A MISSIONARY CHRISTMAS IS DIFFERENT

-Written by Sally Tielemans, Henderson, Nevada -Missionary mom to
Elder Tielemans-Japan Sendai (Now an RM)

1. Last Christmas we were counting our money; this Christmas we are
counting our blessings.

2. Last Christmas we were giving thanks for gifts from stores; this
Christmas we are giving thanks for gifts from God.

3. Last Christmas we valued things that were costly; this Christmas
we value things that are holy.

4. Last Christmas we were wrapping gifts; this Christmas we are
wrapped up in the work.

5. Last Christmas we looked into people's eyes when we spoke; this
Christmas we look into their hearts.

6. Last Christmas we prayed to obtain a testimony; this Christmas we
pray to share our testimony with others.

7. Last Christmas we were impatient with the weaknesses of others;
this Christmas we are working on our own.

8. Last Christmas we read the scriptures as a duty; this Christmas
we read them as a joy.

9. Last Christmas we thought it was enough to celebrate the
holidays; this Christmas we are finding ways to consecrate them.

10. Last Christmas, Guatemala was just a place on a map; this Christmas, it is a place in our hearts.


......(Guatemala inserted where Japan was...)

--
Betty Pearson, Lehi UT,LDS Missionary and Military Moms Michael, Japan Nagoya, 2012
Son, Erik, U.S. Army
Son-in-law, Tyler Frampton, U.S. Army, Korea
5 RM's: Japan, Canada, Germany, Argentina, Italy

"Life down here is sooo great!"

HEYO,

That turkey was SOOOOOO good! I don't think I will ever eat anything as good as that as long as I'm on my mision. We had turkey, mashed potatoes, greens, gravy, and some really delicious natural home made fruit punch, so good!!!

I haven´t received any of those packages from anyone. The office is holding all of the packages that are coming in until the Christmas party that´s next Monday I think, which means that I may or may not be able to write next week....who knows. But if you want you can tell me what Ryan and Gail sent if ya want...lol!

Sounds like the Christmas spirit is just running amuck in the house over there, how exciting! You guys need to be sure to send some Christmas photos of everyone and the tree and Callie, lol. I miss my stupid little pup.


Let's see some questions:

How are you adjusting to city life after being in the jungle?

Pretty well I guess. It's really wierd being able to have whatever I need when I need it though. And the people are a lot different, more wordly...I don't really like that aspect.. but overall it's really nice, for nothing else to at least have a shower lol!

Which do you prefer?

I don't know. I like them both the same really. The work is the same wherever I go. The jungle is a lot more beautiful, but the city life is definately a lot more organized.


Do you ever use a car since you live with the zone leaders? If so, how is that?

No, only the assistant, like Elder Burton, have the use of cars. But we do see the assistants a lot more that we´re actually here in Reu.


Will it be hard to go back to the jungle?

Nah, I don't think so. There is just so much time lost when you´re in the jungle because of how long it takes to travel, but I don't think it will be.


Cultural observation this week to share?

....I'm pretty good at carving stuff with a machete, lol.


Most interesting thing you saw?

My companion and I were chopping some wood for an old woman. Down here you usually chop with machetes, and it was his turn and my comp was just choppin away when BOOM! Tarzan snapped the machete clean in half! ¡Que Poder!


Most interesting contact?

LOL, Ok so first I don't care what anyone says about it not raining anymore, because we got dumped on the other day. Anyways, we were walking along and out of no where it just started pouring. So we ran home, threw our backpacks in the house, grabbed some Books of Mormon and some foyetos, (pamphlets) triple bagged those and ran back out into the rain. We went out to go contact but we were seriously soaked head to toe. I was just running through the rain gutters for the fun of it... I was already soaked and we ran down this alleyway and passed by a couple houses and then my companion was like "WAIT!" So we turned around and we saw this guy just sitting in his house. So we contacted him and turns out that he had been talking with the missionaries before and I'm not really quite sure what happened but they never came back. The guy was like yeah, I've been waiting for you guys to come back. So we taught him about the Restauración and after the lesson we invited him to get down on his knees right then with us and pray to God asking him if what we had just taught him was true. So he did so. And after his prayer I asked how he felt, he told me he felt calm and peaceful. So then we challenged him to prepare for baptism and he was a little sceptical at first but then agreed to prepare and find out more about what it was that we were teaching. This is the key that I´ve found that is necesary to be a successful baptising missionary. You can't show fear about the things you teach, you must give a bold, strong, and undeniable testimony of the gospel. After every lesson you must finish by praying on your knees, and always challenge them to either prepare to be baptised or be baptised in the FIRST lesson, no matter what. I´ve found that when you do these things, success comes at a much faster pace.


Spiritual experience to share?

Just how in tune to the spirit my companion is. We will be walking along and out of nowhere he will stop and say "Elder, we need to go back and contact that house!" And we do and we usually always find someone in that house that is willing to listen to our message.

The time is going by sooo fast now, I really don't understand it. It's like as soon as you get the language down you just hit a slippery slide and the time just flies by. I can't believe that I'm about to hit 10 MONTHS!!! That´s almost a year! What the heck is going on? Time just flies by! But I guess the best part is that I'm really enjoying it. Me and Elder Morgan, (an elder that's going home this Feburary) ... we were talking and I was just listening to the conversations and we were eating outside with some members, the stars were out, the old guys were talking about the good ole days, and I was just sitting there thinking...I will never do this again in my life. When will I just be relaxing after a good days work with some good Guatemalan buddies just soaking up the life. Life down here is sooo great! Who knows if I´ll actually come home, lol!

Anyways, theres a tid bit for today,
Love ya'll,
E. Marquis

Dear Family and Friends:

Ok so how is everyone doing?

This past week was pretty cool, not really anything huge happened this past week or anything like that. Actually the families that we are teaching tried doing a little..."Lets hide from the missionaries" thing, lol, I don't know.

But we did have one of our families come to church. I don't think that they will progress to baptism because:

1. The father is still has some problems he is working with...
2. The wife is pretty much just loves learning about other religions, so we´ll see.


We did find a pretty cool guy yesterday whose familiy is pretty much all Mormon. It's just that when he was in his teenager years his dad went Evangelico... so yeah.
Hopefully, we`ll be able to get him and his family baptised for this coming, White Christmas.

So how was ya'lls Thanksgiving....any Turkey Bowl?

We didnt get to celebrate it or anything like that on that day, but we are going to have a Thanksgiving feast today!!! There's actually a member thats going to cook us all a huge TURKEY, so I'm super excited...cause I'm really hungry!!!

But yeah that's really just about it.

I love you. and I'm hungry.....


Elder Marquis

We are going to have a "White Christmas!!"

Dear Family and Friends:

Its sooo crazy, we´re starting week 3 of this change and it feels like I just got here. Time is going by so fast now. I love to have this kid with me! (his new companion) He´s on fire! His spanish is still a little sketchy but he doesn´t care, lol. We talk to everyone we see and if its like 8:59 at night and we´re standing outside our door he´ll look at me and be like....lets go find one more family, lol, and I'm not going to argue with that, lol.

So we have 2 really cool families that are progressing. In one family the dad is a 2 time South American Kung-Fu champion, the mother is from Detroit, and the son can speak ka-chickel... And there are a few random other people that we are working with too.

I really don't understand...in this past year this area only baptised 7 people!!! FOR A WHOLE YEAR!!! By the way, we had 2 baptisms this past weekend which were really cool.

Our zone came up with a really cool idea for this coming month of December. We are going to have a White Christmas! Now, we don't have snow down here...it's still like 90 everyday, but, what we´re going to do is everyone of the missionaries are going to place all of our baptism invitations on the week of Christmas!!! So all of our investigators will be white, pure, and clean of their sins, and ready to start a new year, how cool is that?!?!?!?

OH and I got your other package that had my scriptures and jersey! Thank you so much for that and those ties are awesome...I'm wearing the blue one right now lol!

Now for mom's questions:

So how do you like being in a ward again?

I really love being in a ward. They actually know what they´re doing most of the time. And best of all a lot of the members are willing to feed us! This is the first area where members have asked me where I'm going to be eating for lunch or dinner...IT'S SOOOO COOOL!!! And another thing...there is AC!

What towns do you actually work in?

Alright, so I live in Reu, and I work in Las Palmas. Really they´re right next to each other, like in walking distance.

Do they have fast food restaurants?

Heck yeah there is! I got to eat at McDonalds last Monday! It literally blew my mind. I haven't eaten food that good since I was back home!!!! It was sooooo good but it's really expensive, lol. Well, for a missionary it is lol.

Is it still the jungle atmosphere?

No, its all city life now. Everyone has a car, a lot of them are actually pretty nice. People here have money and are a little more snobby...like there is a lot of money flowing through Reu...but yeah it's still really hot and humid on a lot of days, lol. Like now that rain season is over it's just heat and sun...so I'm getting a little darker now,lololololololololololol!

Tell me about your companion...does he have brothers, sisters,??

Yeah, he's got like one sister and 4 other brothers I think. He's the second to the youngest.

You say he is big...like what size do you think he wears? I might send him some TN pajama bottoms :)

He's big but he is really fit. Like he used to do UFC fighting before the mission, lol, The dude´s got a freakin six pack. Like his shirt size is probably a large.

Do you have an investigators you are working with?

Yeah a couple families and a few possible preisthood holders! Going to try and put the fecha for the 17th, so we can have our white christmas!!

Cultural experience to share?

Ummmm...just that I've been looking for some tastey iguana to eat, lol. And of course PB and J´s....soooo good, but a little pricey also.

Spiritual experience to share?

Yeah the other night we had like 5 min. before it was 9 and we were like lets go get one more contact. So we walking around our area and there was no one. And my comp just looked up in the sky and was like, "Lord, please send us some we can talk to." And no sooner had he said that, than a family walked around the corner. So we contacted them and placed a cita for the next day, so cool, lol.

Most memorable contact of the week?

Read the above to find out more of the amazing adventures of Elder Marquis and Elder Langi!!!!

To be continued....

Love you all soooo much,
E. Marquis

...I'm training and soooo happy right now!!!

Dear Family and Friends:

Alright, so I had changes....YES!!!!

My new zone is here in Retalhuleu..Reu. And I'm living with the zone leaders. This change is so weird....I`ll tell you more later.
And I'm training! Lol. It's kinda funny because in real life it takes 9 months to have a baby and I just hit 9 months and I just had my first kid!
His name is Elder Hafoka Mee Ofaloto Langi, he´s the coolest Tongan kid, and huge!!! He´s from Maui, Hawaii, 22, and is super chill and has just about completely gotten me convinced of moving to Hawaii after my mission... hope you all don't mind too much.

I'm sooooo happy right now though! His Spanish is alright...a lot better than mine was when I started. He is always soooo eager to talk and teach and just work. Usually when you have a kid (new missionary) that can't speak they just want you to do all the work, but not him... he loves working and teaching!!! I can almost guarantee that we´re going to have a lot of success down here in Las Palmas!

There are 4 of us in this one area Elder Langi, me, Elder Morgan, and my old companion, Elder Roan! We are all living in the same house which is soooooooo much nicer than my old house... we even have a shower!!! We´re still waiting for some new beds and all the stuff we need but I think we might just use hammocks for a while maybe...who knows.

I now have a ward and the attendance was 119 yesterday! A little more than my usual 50 or so, lol. The people are awesome and this area has a lot of money. I even saw someone driving a Mercedes. Like this area is pretty legit. The building is huge and we even have pews to sit on like we do back home. The bishop is so funny too. I gave him a tie the other day to try and get his trust and he wore it on Sunday which was really nice. The stake president just lives right around the corner from us so we are always eating really good food. It's like I have all of the benefits of being a zone leader without the stress and responsibility. I love training it's sooooooo much fun seeing him and where he's at and thinking I know where you're at man.

Are you really asking me if the weather is cold down here??? lolololololololololololololololololololl!!!! Its like in the 90s everyday. This is one of the hottest areas in the mission. So yeah I'm good on clothes for now, but thank you!

Yes, I'm pretty sure I've lost all of my pictures, but I'll take more, no worries.

I can't believe Christmas is almost here, everyone down here is preparing for it too... just with a little more heat lol.

Those photos of all the kids and Halloween party are so funnn. Little Russi as a tootsie roll, lol, so cute. And the little princesses. There are some kids I don't even recognize, so crazy.

LOl, its sooooo fun talking to all of the new kids (new missionaries) and seeing them going "Man...this mission is never going to end!" and here I am about to hit a year!!!! The time has gone by sooooo fast!

Anyways, thank you all for everything, I love you, and have a great week!!!!
Love,
Elder Brandon Marquis

Dear Family and Friends:

Thank you for your letter. I´ll try to write what I can. I'm having a little party for my district that I'm super late for. Quick news though, our zone had the most baptisms in the mission and my district had the most in the zone....so....my district is the best in the whole mission lol.

And as far as changes goes, I'll find out what's going on this night. One of our zone leaders got taken to the office yesterday, so I'm pretty sure he's going to be the new assistant, so lucky. But from what I've been told I'm either going to be doing one of two things this next change. 1. I'm going to be training, most likely a gringo. or 2. I'm going to be the new zone leader for Coatepeque. That's just what I've been told....so we´ll see tonight.

I can't belive you're in California right now!!! So lucky, one day I´ll go there.
You definately need to send a lot more photos of Ryno´s office. Me and the other elders were flipping out over those....suave chapín, lol.

So yeah you guys have an awesome, English filled, Mountain Dew drinking, air conditioned week, and I´ll call you in a few weeks, lol.

Love you tons!
B. Lee Marquis

How are you this week?? Are you still wiped out like you were last week, or did you get some rest?

This week was a lot better than the last. We didn't get to work as much because we had stake conference and a lot of other meetings but yeah, great happy week overall.

How do the transfers work? Do you go to the mission home, or what?

No, we go to the mission office which is in one of the churches here in Reu, and then they ship us off to our new areas.

What was your favorite contact or experience this week?

Probably last night, nothing spiritual, acutally we pretty much just bummed out last night, lol. One of the members was making the amazing little tacos and we just hung outside of their house listening to Enrique Iglesias ,eating tacos, playing with kids, and relaxing. Usually I would be against such things but it might be my last Sunday (Domingo) in Amparo, sooooo yeah.

Spiritual experience to share?

The" Infinite Atonement" is such a good book and has given me some really awesome ideas for teaching and helping my district become like walking Gods here in Coatepeque.

Are 2 more pair of shoes and boots going to last your mission, or should we be thinking of sending you more shoes?

Ummmm. Maybe lol. There is these shoes called, propéts, maybe you can find them on ebay. A lot of the missionaries have them and they look really comfortable. Good looking Walmarts will probably last me just as well too.

Do you need a new belt? Is that something you can get there?

No, I've got that brown one with like a million holes and I've made some new holes in my black one. We're good.

Best thing you ate this week?

Those tacitos that I ate last night, I must have killed off about 30 of those little babies.


How many little kids do you have in your branch, or how many do you come in contact with you every day?

Like 15-20, and they loved those rings and little candies you sent them. Thank you.


Do they love the Elders like the kids here do?

I believe so.....who knows lol.

Love,
E. Marquis

... I had the chance to interview another guy for baptism.

Hello Tennesseans and everyone else....yup,

So, this week has been a loooooooonnnnnggggg one. Ummmmm, to start off I guess I´ll give you the not so good news or as they say back in the states, the bad news, first. Well this happened like Wednesday night. I was sitting at my desk taking stats from my district and my comp was sitting on his bed taking photos of himself with my camera and yeah.....it turns out that in the process of him playing around with my camera that all of the photos I´ve taken since my first area, were deleted...So yeah, I don´t remember when the last time I saved photos onto the hard drive I´ve got and its very possible that I now have no pictures to remember of anyone or anything from the last 9 months of my life....so,, I don´t have any pictures to load or to send to you guys as of this moment, sorry.

Now, lets start this letter for real this time.

Overall my week has been pretty tranquilo, pretty much just waking up, working out, reading, walking, and a whole lota talking, lol. Because of the little incident with my companion and just how I´ve just gotten overall worn down with him, I called the zone leaders and we did divisions with them which I always love.

Now that I´m in a little bit of a leadership position everyone comes to me looking for the answers for all of their problems, which is pretty cool that they feel they can trust me like that, but it´s just like, ahhhhh...I'm still just a 20 yr old kid.. what do you want me to do about it? lol. But it´s nice to go on divisions...I feel like I´m co-pilot for a minute and just learn off of them. Speaking of learning, I am soooo excited to go back to school in like.....12 years, lol.

Also, this past Saturday I had the chance to interview another guy for baptism. This guy was so cool, and can´t really talk about what went down in the interview but just by listening to his testimony and his prayer at the end of the interview, I really believe that he will one day be a future stake president or something like that. It's sooo cool to be able to pass people off for baptism and see that look of relief when it's all said and done.

Now, Sunday, when we walked through the gates to get to church one of the members ran up to me and was like hey..we need to talk, so I was like huh...what´s he want? Well he tells me that the mother of the family that we just baptised left her family the night before, supposedly because the father has been abusive to the family and she just couldn´t take it anymore. So I was like alright I´ll see what I can do...even though I'm just a 20 yr old kid and have no clue what to do in this situation...I´ll fix the problem.

Anyways, after sacrament the branch president announced that my companion and I would be giving the talks today and I really hadn´t prepared for such a thing so I got up there and gave my talk about depending upon the Lord in all things and how we should always be preparing to enter into the temple since they are planning to go there this up coming week. And I think it went over well but who knows, maybe they didn't completely understand me, lol.

After church we went to visit our family and only the kids were there and they didn't really seem to look too sad.. they were playing and laughing and all that stuff. They said their mom was sick and had to go to Coatepeque and the Dad left that morning to go pick her up. So we left and went to the members house that told us about them and talked wtih him about this and he gave us some other crazy excuse about what was really going on. We ended up teaching the members nieces who showed up and I think that the next time we see them we´ll challenge them to be baptised. We´ll see, if I´m still here next week. Anyways, later that night we visited the family again and everyone was there and looking happy and the Mother explaind how yes, she was sick. We didn't mention that we thought the dad was beating her, and taught a lesson about the real love of Christ and how we can always depend on Him in those moments of anger and weakness to help us make better decisions. So I hope it helped.

But yeah, overall its just been a tiring week and I think I am just really tired, lol.

Anyways, changes are next week, the 9th I think, and I think I might get changed out but who knows. And I'm sure that the latinos are going to love those Christmas stockings and yeah, just thanks for everything.

I'm so happy that the kids still remember me, lol. I keep thinking that I'm going to come back one day and no one is going to remember who I am so that's really cool to hear that they still remember who I am, lol.

And you guys should eat all the candy you get your hands on!! One day you´ll get sent to Guatemala and it'll cost you an arm and a leg!
Anyways, love you all a ton, and now I gotta go.

Love you all tons,
Elder Marquis

Dear Family and Friends:

Alright, first off that office is sooo awesome!!!! Me and the other elders here are flippin out over it, lol! (Mom sent a picture of Elder Marquis' brother Ryan in his new office...)

ok questions...
1. Yes, it would definately be better if you could buy a phone card there and send it in a package or something like that for the call for Christmas.
2. No, I still haven't goten that package you sent yet, maybe next week possibly.
3. (Mom asked if he needed more luggage or what he does with all the stuff mom sends him in packages..) Ummm, I'm pretty sure I´ll just weed things out. The stuff I´d be leaving behind would probably just be clothes that are too big.
4. READ IN THE LETTER.. (best contact of the week)
5. ALSO..READ IN THE LETTER (Spiritual experience of the week.)
6. STOP WRITING THAT, lol, its embarrasing, lol. ( Do you know how much you are loved and adored??)

OK, letter for this week. Here we go. No more messing around. Seriously, I'm going to start writing now. Like right now. No, not in a few seconds. Right now....but seriously.

We just got the info. that my district is now leading the mission!!! This has just been a pretty cool week over all. Everyone in my district baptised and confirmed their converts, so cool.
Also, this past Thursday and Friday we had a special seminar just for our zone with Presidente Maravilla, which was pretty good. Pretty much got our goal refocused not on baptising people...but baptising families. That is what we have been Recalled to do, find, teach and baptise families. I´d like to say that we´re running like a well oiled machine, lol.
This past Sunday the kids of the family Renoc were confirmed, but not the parents. We needed the parents confirmed for the completion of this baptism so we ran to their house last night and were like this, " We have the opportunity to confirm you a member of the church of Jesucristo, tonight, and you can receive the Holy Ghost which will be a protective guidance in your life and the lives of your children...would you like to receive this gift tonight?" lol, and of course they couldn´t refuse that... so we had them confirmed last night at the church. Here comes the part that was really amazing. I´ve baptised my fair share of people but last night I got to confirm them!! It was so cool. This was my first time confirming someone a member of the church and not just watching someone receive the Holy Ghost.. but to actually give it is something so amazing and powerful!
On a little funny note more or less... I was playing around with one of the members dogs yesterday and for some reason this dog loves lemons...dont know why, just does...anyways, I kept playing with the dog like I was going to steal his lemon. He would get all hunched down and stick his butt up in the air and do his little growl and then I would back off. But the last time I actually stole his lemon and he didn´t like this to much because he tried to bite me, lo. He got a little knicked but the funny part is that when he lunged at me I was like AHHH...and screamed like a little girl...and then like 5 min. later the tropic rains kicked in and the loudest crack of thunder I've ever heard slashed through the air and yet again without failing, I screamed like a little girl....so yeah, good times, lol.
Side note, Pres. was joking about me training on the next change, but I dont know about that, lol, who knows.




Anyways, that was my week,
Love you guys tons,
Elder Marquis

...We had a very successful baptism of a family of five, WOOOOO!!

Hola everyone,

So we finished another week here in Amparo, Coatepeque! And I'm pleased to say that we had a very successful baptism of a family of five, WOOOOO!! This past week has just been a complete blur. The whole week has pretty much consisted of divisions. Divisions with the zoneys to interview our baptisms and divisions with my district to interview their baptisms, lol, and then I have more interviews to do tomorrow so....YAY, lol!

I definately love the time I'm having as a district leader. The chance to be able to interview people and tell them, Yes, you're ready...you can receive salvation is something so incredibly amazing!

I`ve got almost 5 months here in Amparo and I think that this next change I'm going to be moved out...which is kind of a bitter sweet thing. I`ve grown really attached to these people and the elders in my district are all like my kids, lol. It's nice to know that they can trust me with any of their problems, no matter how big they are.

I attached some photos to this message, one of which is of my first pair of dead shoes, lol. I guess they just couldn`t keep up with me lol. The soles were already a little loose and the rest of the shoe was starting to fall apart. Then my companion, Elder Centeno, stepped on the back part of my heel and the whole sole just ripped clean off, lol. My foot just kinda destroyed the rest of it lol, good times- good times!!! So yeah I`ve finally gone through my first pair of shoes, crazy!


We`re getting close to Halloween and I'm dying to carve up some pumpkins...downer note...wah wah wahhhhh....pumpkins don`t exist in Guatemala!!!! AHhh, how`s a missionary supposed to celebrate Halloween without candy, scary movies, pumpkins, cold air, and colorful trees, lol??? I don't know... I guess I'm just a little bi-polar with these kinda things. One week I want to live in Hawaii or California and the next I want to live in a place like Maryland...I guess I'm just going to have to make lots of money one day so I can live everywhere, lol.

Oh! And the baptism of the family Renoc was an adventure in itself! First, we went to fill up the font and we ran out of water and there was only enough water up to our knees. Then, we got a call from our family saying that they had an emergency and needed to move the baptism up to 5 when it was scheduled for 7. Then, all of the members of the first presidency (Branch Presidency) were all out of town playing soccer in Coatepeque. And then, the power went out! Lol! Needless to say it was a crazy day. But around 6 o`clock, people started rolling in all of the members of the presidency showed up and we got started.

All of the kids went first, followed by the mom, and we finished with the father to be baptised. But the dads clothes were just a little too big and since there wasn`t enough water to begin with, part of his clothes would continually float up above the water and we would have to redo it, lol. But after the THIRD time with the father we finally had a completely successful baptism!!!!!! (I would have liked to attach some pictures of the baptism, but the family really didn't want their picture taken :)

And that was my week, divisions, pictures, and a baptism.

Anyways, love you all, see ya in a few,
Elder Marquis

" I am going to baptise my FIRST family of my mission!"

Dear Family and friends...and what not, (private joke with mom)

So we just got finished playing futball down here in good ole Coatepeque, and it is hot!!! Me and Elder Radel were talking about how completely crazy it is that we are almost in the middle of October and the temperature should be going down, and the leaves should be changing colors, but it's still hot, hot, hot, and everyday is summertime... I guess I'll just have to wait and see what October should be in about 14 months, lol!!!
Man, the time really is flying, I can't believe that I almost have a year out here! LOL, a little funny.

My district and I were eating at one of the local restaurants here Pollolandia, and we got to go inside and sit down. It just so happened that this place had AC, and I don't know....but I didn't like it too much, lol. I don't get how people can sit in a freezing room all day and enjoy it, blah!!! I couldn't wait to get back outside. I think when I get back I'll either move to California or Hawaii...I think Hawaii´s climate is closer to here....who knows.

Now for a little tid bit about the progress of mi familia. Their name is the familia Rrenoc Xilo (Renock Shi-lo), and they are super pilas!!!! We went in there this past Tuesday with a coulple of the women from Relief Society and taught a lesson about the Word of Wisdom. They were a little weary at first because even down here they have to have their coffee lol. Anyway, after we had explained all of the benefits and some experiences and the sisters bore their testimonies they all agreed to follow this commandment which is sooooo cool! My zone leader, Elder Radel, and I challenged all of them to be baptised and follow in the ways of the church. Almost all of them agreed to be baptised on the 16th of this month. The only two that aren't going to be baptised as of now are the oldest daughter, (but she will be- she really enjoyed coming to church this past Sunday), and the 7 year old son who isn't old enough as of yet. All in all though this coming Saturday I am going to baptise my FIRST family of my mission!!!!! Together they make up a family of 6! So cool and I'm so excited for them all!

That's pretty cool that Shaun and his family are all moving in and sounds like he´s got a pretty secure job coming up in a little while.

For Christmas I thought the conference call last time was super fun. We should definately do that again for this upcoming Christmas...WOW...just 2 months away and I'll be on my second big phone call, lol!



Yeah, Will (Elder Burton--was Elder Marquis' trainer and friend from home) told me that he got moved into the office. Sooooo cool! I also heard that he is companions with my old and one of my favorite missionaries, Elder Dudley!!! What!?!?! (Elder Dudley was Elder Marquis' companion in the MTC)
LOl, we always joked around that they would be together but come on!! I'm super jealous of that companionshíp lol. But yeah, I'm sure they're going to do amazing together!


Well, that's about it for this past week. All the elders in my district set baptismal dates so this upcoming week is going to be busy, busy, busy, interviewing everyone, lol. I really enjoy being a district leader....it's not too much responsiblity that I'm overwhelmed, but it's enough that I still feel like I'm doing something as a leader, lol.

Anyways, love yall tons!!!
Hasta Lunes!
Love,
E. Marquis

...Conference was awesome!!

Dear Family:

(..these are excerpts of Elder Marquis' letter )

Let me share a fun little experience. We´re teaching this one family....I really want to baptize a whole family....and I wasn't really sure how they were really progressing as far as the family as a whole. The dad apparently has been reading and praying about everything that we´ve taught him which is super cool. Anyway, we went to their house Sunday morning to bring them to the conference and they were like um..."We need a little time to get ready and how much is it going to cost?" (because we had to travel to the larger church building to watch it) and we told them that it was free and that we would be back in a little bit to bring them. About an hour later we came back and we were only expecting the Dad to go, but all 6 of them were dressed and ready to go...two of the kids I didnt even know, lol. Anyways we got them on the bus and the members just swarmed them and made all the kids feel welcomed and the parents comfortable. This conference session was their first time to church...I can't think of a better way to start church attendence than by listening to the prophet, lol. Afterwards I talked with them and they said they loved it and the kids got a little stir crazy a little way through so I let them draw in my notebook and showed them how to play tic-tac-toe. I'm going to go this Tuesday to try and place a baptismal date with them...so pray for them!!! This will be my first family baptism if they agree and a well need other 6 baptisms for this area. YAYAYAYAYAY!!!!

Spiritual experience to share?
Just how completely awesome conference sessions are!! This was my second session here in Guatemala and I only have another 2 left. I don't know, lol, I didn't have any changes, same companion, same area, and sometimes it is hard to work with him.... But during the priesthood session Elder Uchtdorf talked about how pride is the downfall of all men and how we should never wish bad things upon other people and when we do so it's because of our own selfish, prideful desires. SOOOOO....sounds like a have a lot of pride issues that I need to lose here fast, lol.

1. Did you get the package the Zone leaders had for you?

Yup,I got it, that was the one with those papers in it, thanks.


2. That reminds me, I need to look for you a shaver. Do you really have power to have an electric shaver?

Yeah, most of the time we have power,lol.

3. How cool is your priesthood lineage? I LOVE to see it in print traced right back to the Savior!

Yeah, I like to whip that out sometimes when I'm teaching so they can actually see. Visual aid lessons seem to be the most effective here.


4. Did you LOVE the family picture album? I made that online at Walgreens. I thought that was pretty cool!

Yeah, that was pretty cool! Haven't see ya'll in a good time so that was really nice. And all the natives here love seeing what a gringo's family looks like. A lot of times the kids have never seen a white guy or an entire family of white people so that's always funny to see there expressions, lol.


5. Weirdest thing you saw this week? :)

Probably a family of 5 riding on a 100cc motorcycle with what looked to be a 90 year old woman at the back of it.


6. Have you seen your Mission Pres lately?What do you remember from what he taught you?

No, I haven't seen him in a few weeks, but supposedly he´s coming down this next week for a special conference with our zone.


Love ya tons!!!!

Elder Marquis

 

Dear Family:

(Mom told Elder Marquis that dad was stuck out in the middle of PA and was only eating McDonalds :)

Well to start off I would kill to be able to eat some McDonalds lol. AHHHH, and a large drink, sooooo good.
Those big telephone wire spiders are called Golden Orb spiders and are very common in most of the tropical humid climates. Yeah, those babies are pretty ugly looking, lol.

No baptismal commitments this week...again...but close, hopefully.
I'm working with like 5 teenagers that are friends of the kids at church and one family that I really want to baptize. The father is coming along nicely but the mother is an Evangelico follower, and she really doesn't want to leave her church for the truth...but we´ll see.

I have 6 elders in my district. This past week I got to do my first interviews, which went pretty smoothly.

How has your week been?

My week has been super wet, lol, and I need to wash a lot of clothes but those babies take about a week to dry and I don't know if I'm going to have changes or not until tomorrow, hopefully yes, lol.

Last week you mentioned maybe having a meeting with a man you meet on the bus and your "perma-fried" guy on the street...were you able to visit with them this week?

I went out looking for them and couldn't find the guy on the bus and the perma-fried guy is still fried and can't really progress. But we´ll see.

Has it been really raining alot? I saw that there was another tropical storm this week. Do you have a "Go Kit" for emergencies?

Yeah, it´s rained a lot everyday since I started the mission lol, It's rain season lol. And yes, I have one prepared just in case something does happen, but very doubtful.

Me and some of the mom's on my missionary mom site are really going to try to make Christmas Stockings for the Elders and Sisters in your mission that wouldn't get anything. One mom's son, Elder Fetters, works in the office and is going to get us a # so we will know how many to make. If you have any suggestions of what to put in them, that would be great!!

They like candy and a lot of the missionaries socks have holes. I don't know, just stuff, lol.
But that's cool that you know Fetter´s mom, lol, he's one of my favorites. Almost all of the guys in the office are pretty sweet.

Do you want me to find you an electric razor and try to send it, or can you find one there?

Yeah if you can find one, that would be cool. I don't know exactly where I could find one down here lol.

I am trying to send out another box by the end of this week with a few pants in it. Need anything else??

Those Reeses were awesome!! lol.

Where will you listen to conference next weekend? Do you get to listen to all sessions?

Well, if I have changes I don't know where I'll be. If I don't, then I'll come here to Coatepeque at the stake center so I can listen to it in English.


Most interesting contact of the week?

On Wed. or Thurs. I went on divisions with some of the elders in my district and got to do my first interviews which was pretty cool. And then later on that night we went to the stake presidents house who lives in their area and ate dinner with his family. That was really cool because he can speak English so I could actually have an intelligent conversation for once, lol. What's really cool is that he had a carpet rug in his house! I haven't seen that in sooooooo long, lol, I didn't even put my feet on the rug because I didn't want to get it dirty. And something else pretty cool, he learned his English in England, so he had a little English accent when he spoke. I want to live in England soooo bad one day!


Do you know how fantastic you are and what an amazing man you are becoming and how much you are loved???

Yeah, but I still having some trouble speaking Spanish which stinks. UHHHH, I have almost been here 8 months!

See ya in a few or so...lol.


So yeah, thats about is for this week.
Love yall a ton,
E. Marquis

...Cool to turn a fight into a baptism...

Dear Family:
Sooo, you guys want to go on a mission too huh? Getting a little jealous are we? lol. Sounds cool though. Do you guys get to choose where you want to serve or do they call you like mine? If you do get to choose I'd go for England, the European area, or Italy! That's going to be a really cool experience.

1. So how are you doing?

Doing good, the zone leaders received another box from you guys for me. But, since I didn't shave this morning they said I need to shave first, soooooo, yeah, lol. I hate shaving, such a waste of time and I end up using sooooooo much shaving cream. I think I just might end up buying an electric razor here if I can find one, lol....

....I do like the look of wearing a suit. I think when I get back I'm definately going to be doing some type of business work where I get to wear a suit and maybe speak some other languages....I really want to learn more of them now that I have spanish more or less down, lol.

2. When the next transfers be?? Do you think you will transfer or stay there?

The next one is going to be this coming week on the 28th. And I don't know if I'll go or not. In reality I would really love to go to a new area..I have been in this one for 2 transfers now.

3. How is the work going? I know new converts are probably hard...anyone interested right now? How is it coming with the inactives?

Well we do have this one guy that is looking pretty positive, Celestino, he's about 32-33, and doesn't go to any church. He's reading and praying and doing everything that he's supposed to do, so I've got high hopes for him! The rest of our investigators more or less are all coming from the teenagers. We´re going to go out today and try and put some baptism dates for this weekend so wish me luck, lol.

4. What was your most interesting contact of the week?

The most interesting one, was when we were coming back to Amparo from Contacting in El Tumbador. I like to read the pamplets when I ride the bus just to make sure I got everything. And I was reading about the plan of salvation and out of the corner of my eye I could see the guy sitting next to me more or less reading the pamphlet too. So after "we" had gotten through a few pages I turned to him and started talking with him. His name was Angel, and he had just been deported from the states but his wife and kids are still living up there. So we started talking and got on the the subject about how gringos won't let them live and work up there and really he just wanted to fight. (They must be deporting a ton of people from up there and especially from Arizona?) Anyways, I didn't want to fight so I started asking him questions about his family and if he missed them and how big a part did they play in his life. And with this I led into the plan of salvation and gave him a run down of where we came from, why were here, the importance of families, and where were going when we die. Right before he got off the bus he started asking me about what all you need to do to become a member and be baptized and I made an appointment to visit with him later on. Just cool to be able to turn a fight into a baptism, lol. But we´ll see how that one turns out, lol.



5. Have you seen any interesting "animals?"

Well there are those humungeous spiders that waant to eat your face...and there are these really cool looking birds down here called the quetzal. They have these really long, colorful tail feathers which are really cool. And yeah, all the normal bugs just a little bit bigger, lol!!

6. Have you eaten any weird foods?

Over my whole mission I've eaten cow brain, cow tongue, some animals... (edited..), some of the grossest tamales that you could ever imagine, and lots and lots of beans and rice. And about 20 tortillas at every meal. lol.

7. The language...have you had a time where you made mistakes with the words and it came out weird, and they thought you were funny?

lol, Yeah just about every time I talk, lol. But the other night I was suuuper tired and we were talking with the branch president about some stuff and when I get tired I start talking like dad...kinda studdering and mixing up my words. So I'm already just about to drop from exhaustion and he asked me a question and I wasn't really paying attention so I just want to say...I don't know...which is, yo no se or no se, and how it came out was I don't no se, lol, and everyone just loved that, lol!!! So yeah I mess up my spanish quite often, lol.

8. Cultural observations to share...we love these :)

Well, no matter what you eat you will always have tortillas to eat them with, corn tortillas, always, lol.
And the other day I was having a little conversation with this little girl and right in the middle of it she just squatted down and started peeing and I couldn't help but bust up laughing, lol. Good times, good times, lol!

9. Spiritual experience for the week? (We love these too, no matter how large or small)

On the way home last night, we were walking down the road to our house, and always, there is a guy that is always sitting on the side of the road. He always looks like he's perma-fried, so we don't usually pay him any attention. But I was walking by and I felt something jerk at me and tell me that I needed to go back and talk with him. So I did, cause those inspirations don't come around every day, and we started talking and he couldn't get taught in that minute, but we are going to visit him tomorrow morning. Just cool when you listen to the whisperings of the spirit and it actually leads into something good, lol.

10. Did the kids like the little dinosaurs and punch balls? Should I send some fun little things like that for them for Christmas? How about CTR rings?
Do you think we should send some Elders or Sisters a Christmas box, that wouldn't get one? How many if we do?

Yeah, the kids freaked out over that stuff. Glow in the dark stuff and balloons barely exist down here. And like I said before almost every missionary down here is from Central America so almost all of them are poor. I don't know how much that would cost but I'm guessing a lot. But if you still want me to check I will.

11. Do you know you are wonderful and we love you to pieces??

mhmmmm.

...about the changing of the seasons...That sounds pretty sweet. I really miss the changing of the seasons and even the cold, lol. And one of my new goals...to learn Italian, German, French, Portugese, Chinese, I really would like to learn them all if I can...who knows maybe one day.

Love ya much,
E.Marquis

...I have grown to depend on the spirit...

Dear Family:
I´ll have to write you a long letter next week. We just spent the last hour looking for some place that has internet, it's like finding a needle in a hay stack lol.
Just a quick couple questions....
Is it possible to get the recipe from Sister Sonney for making homemade rootbeer? That would be great!! I answered the questions and I love hearing from you guys and hearing all the stories, even about Callie watching her bones lol. And thank you sooooo much for those packages you all send! I love getting a little piece of home every time lol.

1. Are you able to print things off the computer on email days? If you are I think I will write you a letter that you can read later, and just ask my few questions. That way you will have lots of time for a nice LONG letter :)

I can print things off, but I don't usually because the way things work out down here is there just isn't enough money to do extra stuff like that lol.

2. Do you use the backpack we sent you out with, or have you had to get another one?

Yeah I still use that one everyday...the camel back would be nice but all of our drinking water comes from little bags of water...so can't really do that. But the bag is still in good shape.

3. You were Will's companion at his 7 month mark and you thought his spanish was pretty good. Do you think YOUR spanish is pretty good? How is that going for you?

Well, I still think that his is and was much better than mine lol. I can understand just about everything, just need to continue learning more words to broaden my vocab. And as far as speaking goes I can carry on a conversation pretty well but still need to learn a lot more about the grammar...I hate the grammar, lol.

4. When will you next conference be? Have you received the box with the socks yet?

The next conference is going to be this Wed. James B. Martino of the 70 is coming so that should be fun. And yes, I did get that package with socks! THEY FEEL SOOOOOOO GOOD!!!! The jerky went bad and molded before I could get to it but everything else is still good and well, and many thanks for the shells and cheese and Mrs. Dash! I just made some potatoes and it was almost like home, lol.

5. How is it going with working with the inactives? Are you having any luck reactiviting any?

More or less. It really just depends upon the families and how strong of a testimony they have of these things. Something that I've noticed though....is when there is a lack to follow Christ or you believe that there is something more important than going to church, partaking of the sacrament that Christ gave his life for...everytime the real issue comes down to selfishness...all sin derives from selfishness.

6. Most interesting contact of the week?

The coolest contact I had this week was when I went on divisions to another area. We found this 23 year old kid sitting on his porch and he had a Razorbacks shirt on...football team...and I was like. Dude that shirt is soooo cool, in english. And he responded yeah they're my favorite team, I really miss college football from back in the states. And I freaked out because I finally found a latino that could speak english! So the comp I was with, a latino, sat there while me and this kid just talked and talked and talked in english about everyting. Football, iphones, stores, food, everything. That was so cool!

7. Cultural observation to share?

Well this is one thing that I refuse to change because I think its just down right gross. Whenever we have the opportunity to eat some meat I like to cut my meat up with a knife and eat it with a fork like any normal human being, lol, but they will make sooooo much fun of you if you do this. Here any type of meat must be eaten with your fingers and by doing this, this somehow makes the meat taste better....I don't know how...but I guess it does,lol.

8. Spiritual experience to share?

Just how much I've grown to depend on the spirit. Through the spirit I can find those looking for the true gospel, lean upon Christ when I'm having a hard time, and have all the love and protection that anyone could ever need.

9. Name one thing that is great about being a missionary!!

I get to learn a new language and say whatever I want to in english and no one understands me lol. You can have a lot of fun with this when you are having a bad day.

10. Do you know how much you are loved and adored??
uh, huh.

Love you all, see ya in a few months.....
Elder Marquis

Angelina and Juan from Pueblo Nuevo. And Cesar from Amparo. They're soooo cool!!


Answers to a few of mom's questions:

1. Hey...we keep hearing about mudslides in Guatemala. I think it was in the Quetz mission, but have the rains effected you at all?

Not really by mudslides but a few of the boys in my district had to be evacuated from their homes for a few days because of the flooding and they live right on the beach. But we´re all good now.


2. Do you like those Koolaide packet things I send you for your bottled water? There are sales all over right now to get rid of the summer stuff...

I do love koolaide and crystal light and that stuff but the fizz stuff is a little wierd...just the regular stuff would be cool!


3. How are the shoes holding up? We had the missionaries over for dinner tonight and one of them told us last winter his shoes had holes in them. I asked him why he didn't tell his mom and he said cause she would just go out and buy me an expensive pair...so make sure you tell me if you need something...it would make me crazy if you needed something and didn't ask.

There good...thats why I brought a bunch a pairs remember, lol. But yeah almost all of my areas have been like hiking through the jungle and stuff so those boots are definately my favorite especialmente con el agua!


4. How much time does it take on PDay to take care of your shopping, laundry etc. Do you have time to play at all?

Yeah I get all of that stuff out of the way...and to be honest I try to steer clear of the sports aspect. I see it as more as a waste of time. But we have started running a few miles everyday in the morning to get a good workout.


5. Have you finished the BOM since you have been in the field? What do you study everyday?

I finished the book of mormon and libro de mormon in the CCM. But I do read the Libro De Mormon aloud to help my pronunciation and I study a lot out of the preach my gospel.


6. How are your investigators coming along?

So so, we had to drop the family that we put dates with because they just weren't progressing and had no real drive to change their ways for the better. So we´re trying to reactivate all of the inactives down here...for now.


7. Cultural or food observations? What do you eat everyday besides rice? (make sure you take the vitamins I sent you in your last package.)


I have not received any packages in awhile so no to the vitamins...but good idea. And yeah my little snack that I made up that is sooooooo good is this....you get a nice sturdy piece of bread, spread Nutella on it (The best thing God has given to us on this earth...next to the gospel), a nice little layer of strawberry yogurt, and top it off with a little granola!!! SO good! And I do throw eggs or meat into my rice on occasion, lol.


8. Did you get the last package with the towels and socks in it yet?

No but I'm super excited...my socks are kinda starting to get holes in them lol.


9. Spiritual experience to share for the week?

Not really a biggy but yeah. I was on divisions with the zone leaders the other day and we were teaching this man...and to be honest it was hectic. Kids were running and music was blaring. And then I got tired of trying to talk over the noise and I started talking more suavé and quiet and they turned of the tv and the kids settled down and yeah...just because I tried to talk softer and invite the spirit, they got sucked in and were forced to listen, lol.


10. Do you know how much we all love you??
YUP.
Love yall,
Elder Marquis

...For my birthday I placed 4 more dates!!!

Oh my gosh!!! Russi is such a little drool monkey lol!! (Mom sent a picture of Elder Marquis' nephew...Shaun's baby...sooo cute!!)


And taco bar sounds soooooo good!!! I usually just eat rice lol for dinner these days.
Thank you guys soooo much for writing, that was way cool! (Had the family over for dinner and they all wrote a note to Brandon before Mom's letter...)

...Elder Marquis' birthday was August 26th...Mom asked if anyone knew or if they did anything for his birthday...

Yeah, there was actually a surprise conference for the leaders in the mission and president and his wife made some jokes about some ugly looking missionary and then all of sudden the whole room started singing the spanish Happy Birthday song...still don't know that one yet...and she hooked me up with a ton of candy, so cool!

And then that night we went out and visited the family that we´ve been teaching, and I really wanted to place a date with them because I still haven't baptised a complete family yet...and the few days before I had been fasting and praying un montón (a lot) for them and we went and right after the prayer was finished I just asked them...."What are you guys waiting for?...You know you're ready and I know you believe what we´re telling you" ...after an awkward silence, they said "You're right we are ready!" and for my birthday I placed 4 more dates!!! Fun little present for my birthday, lol.

1. Do you need batteries for anything? I didn't know if you needed them, or if you can get them if you do...
No I can buy batteries here when I need them, but thanks, lol.

2. I got the Proclamation to the Families and The Living Christs...I will be sending those out next week or so...is there anything else you need? (Mom got some Proclamations and Living Christs in spanish for Brandon)

The only other thing I need is a photo album of everyone in the family. All you guys, the kids, Callie (the dog :), everyone, lol.

3. Do you have any investigators? Can you tell us about them?

Yeah, we´re acutally teaching like 12 teenage boys that are friends with the members here. They always hang out with us, so we´ll see how that goes.
And this other lady, Juliana Gonzalez, she's super friendly and her family is awesome. We actually found out that one of her kids is a convert Mormon living in Texas. So we´re going to try and teach off of why he was converted and how this has to be the right thing, lol. Right now she is Catholic.

5. Spiritual experience you can share?

My spiritual experiences definately came from the 2 day seminar with Presidente! I don't know how he taught us about our Preach my Gospel´s, but he taught them in a way that it's like I've never read that book before! It was amazing! It felt like the spirit was literally beating a hole into my chest, so cool!

6. I was considering having a subscription to the Ensign sent to you. You might get several copies at once. Is that something that would be good, or do you already have access to them?

Yeah that'd be cool. I don't know how I'd get them though...I'm in Guatemala, lol. And seriously, I don't want you spending a bunch of money on all this stuff, if your pushing it, DONT DO IT!!!! ($10.00 subscription...what a sweet guy!!)

7. Any cultural or food observations to share?

Lol yeah, just a funny observation...Only in Guatemala will you see a drunk man running down the middle of the street in his underwear, in the middle of the rain, holding a screaming chicken...lol...oh these people!!


So yeah that's about it... love you guys un montón!!!
E. Marquis

Happy Birthday, Elder Marquis!!! We love you!!!

Tracting

..I Love My Mission!! (also made District Leader)

This week Elder Marquis just answered mom's questions...but answers are amazing!!

1. So how have you been?
Been doing well, lol.

2. Do you use an electric razor or your straight edge...I can't remember and some moms were asking...
I still have the straight edge, electric razors are really expensive.

3. When you got to the Mission home, did they take a picture of you with your mission pres and wife. I always see these of elders and sisters and wondered if you have one somewhere. If you don't have one with your new president...make sure you get one...K??
Yeah i have two, since i was there for two groups of latinos.

4. How was your Sunday? Any investigators come to church?
Yeah, actually, yesterday was branch conference so we had about 96 members there and a bunch of inactivos and menos activos. So cool!

5.Do you have any investigators? If so, tell us about them...
Yeah, more or less, lol, we´ve been working with these two familias that are super cool! Mirna, Osberto, Osberto Jr., and Carlily are so cool. The two kids came to church but the mom didn't and the dad had to work so who knows. And the other is really cool too, the family Lopez-Lopez. We just contacted them and they were like, Hey white people, cool!"!! lol. so we´ll see how that goes.

6. Do you have a microwave? I doubt it, but just a thought...
Nope, only mission central has microwaves.

7. When are transfers? Do you have any feel if you will stay in this area, or if you will get a new companion?
....Read in the letter....

8. Can you tell me how you feel about your mission? Is it what you expected? How do you handle the trials and such? Do you love it, or is it just really hard? Tell me....

My mission is life. Sometimes it's good and other times you really would like to just quit and go home. And honestly, I don't remember what I expected before the mission. It just seems like this is all I've been doing my whole life and when I think about home or my life before, it just seems like a blurry dream. I guess thats the hardest part, trying to still feel connected with what's going on over there when in all honesty, I don't have a clue and can't really imagine, lol.
Like you guys being able to open your fridge and have ice cubes lol, that just seems like a dream to have ice cubes. The way people live in the states and they way people live here is completely different. Nothing is the same. But overall yes, I love it! At times I hate it, but overall I love it! I love who I'm becoming, I love what I can do, I love the dangerous jungle atmosphere, I love having to shower with a bucket every day, I love not having air conditioning, I love how everyone walks around with machetes, and I love how I can speak another language!
I'm living a life that most people will never even be able to grasp, to even think of. I'm changing people's lives and for this short period of time I have been given the opportunity to act in Christ´s name and give salvation to the people of the Earth. At times its hard, but if I didn't have those times of difficulties I would never appreciate the times when I have blessings and happiness!
I love my mission, all of it, the good, the bad, the rain, the mud, not having power and running water, the people and their simplistic view of the world, I love it!!!!


9. Cultural observation?
Cultural observation is that the family stays together! All of them. They live together, eat together, sleep together, everything is done together.



10. Spiritual experience for the week?
My experience happened yesterday. It was late in the afternoon, about 5, me and my companion have been wanting to do a prayer excursion for awhile now and yesterday we had some time. We just started walking and walking and walking and we found this huge corn field next to a river where you could see the most amazing view of Guatemala.
He went of by one tree and I walked more toward the center of the field. I sat down and began to offer up a prayer. Then I looked up and the sky was an amazing blue and orange and I could see the moon and just one star and there was a fog rolling in and I asked God every question that I have ever had, about the gospel, my life, and everything else. About an hour later I finished my prayer and as I stood up I was hit by the most amazing peace and joy I have ever felt in my whole life and I began to cry from this. In this moment I received my answers and I can tell you that this is the gospel of Christ and we will return to live to a real Heavenly Father and that everything that we have been taught and will learn are all true!

Ok, so I don't really have any time now to write but what I want to say is that Pres. Maravilla (Mada-vEya), just called me with my changes and I have been made an official District Leader. So hope that goes ok, I'm still in my area and I don't know who my new companion is yet, so yeah, lol.

And my camera is a Kodak EasyShare M381, it probably would be a good idea to send a new power cord and wall charger. lol. Sorry....

Love you all,
Elder Marquis