New Companion, Elder Roan

 

New Mission , New Area, New Companion and 2 Baptisms!

Buenas Tardes!

Alright so to start off I just had changes yesterday and I'm now in Coatepeque!

It's kinda a love hate change lol. I really liked my old area with food appts. laundry ladies, and hot water. My new house has none of these things. But luckily I do have a companion that's super obedient so I should be able to get s lots of work done.

This past Saturday I baptised 2 more people which was super fun. I had been working with Angelina and Miguel Angel since I first got there so that was nice to baptize them before I left. It"s kind of a bummer that I won't be able to baptize any of my other fechas though (dates).

My new house isn't exactly top of the line like my old one but whatever lol. The first thing I saw when I walked into the house were these 2 giant spiders each one the size of my hand with these huge white sacks of babies...so gross I hate spiders!!!!! But in the end we blowtorched em lol.
And yeah still takin showers by dumping buckets of water on me which is super cold. No fun...

But yeah my new companions name is Elder Roan, pretty cool guy and super obedient. My new area is all jungley like my old one. This one is actually more like Jonesbourgh, kinda farmy with pigs and cows running around everywhere lol. And I have another branch again so we´ll see how that goes.

There is this talk that read thats super good that you all should read its called, The Fourth Missionary. Super good. I was going to send you some pictures but in the rush of packing I left my camera cord and wall charger and also all the pictures that you all sent me and some clothes at the laundry ladies house...lol...so I'm going to have to try and find some new stuff, sorry.

But yeah thats about it for this week see yall in 19 months!
Love yall,
Elder Brandon Marquis

 

 

New Pictures...

NOTE: This week we received the first CD with pictures on it from Brandon. You can see some of the new pictures under Provo MTC, CCM, and Pueblo Nuevo, Nuevo Palmar, and Las Rosas which was his first area with Elder Will Burton.

Dear Family:

Sounds pretty cool that you guys are having a lot of fun. (Mom and dad spent a week together sight seeing in PA) And be sure to wish dad a Happy Father's Day for me.

As far as living standards go, its not really all that bad. I've got a hammock and the members we live with are going install an electric heater for our water.

This past conference I got one of your packages. It was the one with the pants and pens and stuff. I can fit into the pants and they are fine. And thanks a bunch for the candy. It was super cool to get a little piece of the states lol.

This past week we landed another two dates, they need a little more time but yeah well have them baptised by the 6th of July.

Thats so cool that Devons home, I can't really imagine going home, not that I wouldnt mind it, just that thats a LONG time away.

And with the language...its coming along. For future packages Alfredo and candy and American food is awesome!!!!!

...(Brandon just answered some questions I had for him and shared some concerns...)

....Love yall.
But yeah, love you all tons, see ya in 20 months.
Love, Elder Marquis

CCM District

 

Quatemala!!

 

..Another baptism for this month...

Dear Family,
Ok so I didnt get changed....I wish lol. But I'm pretty sure that I'm in the ( Ret-al-wa-ley-ooh ) Retelhuleu mission. And yeah I guess the fun story for this week was from yesterday. Since im with a district leader again we go on divisions a few times a week and...ok side note...When I first came into this area, Pueblo Nuevo = New people, there was me, Burton, Tobar, and Coa. Out of those 4 I'm the only one left here, 1st burton left and then this past emergency change I lost the other two...WHERE IS MY CHANGE!!!! lol.
But anyways back to the story.. I was doing divisions with one of the new missionaries here and we were teaching this one woman, Amalia, who was referred to us and she was all whatever blah blah blah. I just want money kinda thing...but then her daughter walked in, Cecilla, and shes about 25 or so, and started asking questions like, why we´re here so we switched from restoration to plan of salvation, and we taught her, and she was super cool. Asked questions and really wanted to learn. So at the end of the lesson we asked her if she would follow Christ's example and be baptized by someone who had the authority to do so...and she said YES!!!! So BLAM!! If none of our fechas, baptism dates, fall we will have 5 or 6 more baptisms this month!
Now for a little reality...Spanish is freaking hard, lol!! Its coming and I can understand more or less what people are saying to me, but man I can't put it together for nada lol. Hopefully with my latino companions it'll come faster but we´ll see.
And with the boxes, I still haven't gotten them yet. We only get cajas, boxes, when we have conferencias and with the changes this past Saturday the conference was moved to next Saturday so we´ll see, lol.
This is crazy looking at those pictures those kids are HUGE and I don't even know a few of them lolololç!!
It's so weird to think that you guys are still moving around and living your lives, at times I just kinda think that when, or if I get back, lol, that everything is still going to be the same but nope lol.
And the food....you guys dont know how easy you guys have it...when you want something it's right there for you to buy...I miss that. I miss chips and fastfood and Mountain Dew and running water.lol.
This past month the entire towns water has had problems so if we have water I get to shower...if not...then I get to walk realllllly slow in the jungle rain, lol.
Anyways that's about it for this week I think. Love you all super much and can't wait to see yall!!! Nos vemos!...see ya later, more or less, lol.


Hey I just remembered something I wanted to tell you.
My companion is a super light sleeper and apparently I wake him up a lot.
He says that I talk in my sleep and its usually in english but lately he says that I've been speaking spanish in my sleep lol.
Its funny cause I can speak perfect spanish while I'm asleep but not when I'm awake lol!

Elder Marquis

AND HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!!!!!
Sorry I'm not allowed to call for Fathers day...but I can if you want, lol.

"..So who can we baptize week...."

Hey,
So thanks for the uplifting messages!!! And overall we really weren´t hit that hard by the storm. Just a few rivers flooded over and tropical rainstorms and had to stay inside for a few days. And our water is starting to come back which is super cool!!!

This past week has been pretty crazy!! And the cool part, this past week has kinda been like a "who can we baptize week"... The zoneys say that we're about to break the record for most baptisms in one change!! All of the people that me and Elder Burton worked on that I thought were ready...we set dates for them!! And by the end of the month we should have another 4 or 5 more baptisms under our belt, lol!!! Its really wierd. Its like you have a week or two of complete nothing and then the next God is like, "Ok you can have a break" and blesses us with baptisms and new investigators and a lot of other stuff!

But anyway, here are my possible baptisms! Angelina Villatoro, a mom whos kids are members and she wants to be but needed to be married. She's awesome! Goes to church every week, pays tithing and is the woman whos house we live in!!

Next, is Sarah, she's a teenage girl who's super shy but goes to church every week. Next, is Edy, he isn't a member but his family is, they are just inactive, and he's the father. We were teaching him about baptism and eternal marriage and that stuff, when he busted down and started crying, he's super ready.

And last is Miguel Angel, he goes to all the activities and reads the Book of Mormon, but works on Sundays. But we should have a new job for him and yeah he too is super ready!!!

So that's been my week for now lol. Oh and I'm learning to play the guitar now. I'm not great but I think im starting to get the hang of it, lol.

Thanks for the pictures of the family and all the letters. Its really cool to see everyone and how they've changed lol. What is Shaun doing with that rug on his face, lol !!!!!!!
And with the packages, no I haven't gotten any yet, lol. We only get those when they do conferences and big meetings like that. But I believe we´re having one this coming weekend so, we´ll see!!!

Anyways, love you all tons and can't wait to see you guys....only....19 or 20 more months to go lol!!!

Love,
Elder Brandon Marquis

Huge Sinkhole!!

Excerpt from the blog of Elder Dave Mays:

....Then the next day we got hit with a big storm, supposedly part of a hurricane or something. Another one was supposed to hit us today at 5, but I think it hit El Salvador instead. But so we started with this Volcano, and then it rained for over 24 hours straight and the president declared it a natural disaster and all church meetings in Guatemala were canceled on Sunday. On Sunday, it had stopped raining, so we started to clean up our own sand and then our ward mission leader got us all together and we went to several different houses to clean up sand for them. Everyone has flat roofs so we got up and swept it all up and then lowered it down to the ground.
The night of the rain though we were on our way back from buying groceries and there were mudslides and rockslides on the roads and everything still had the sand everywhere. Then later that night, Elders Vasquez and Guzmán came in and said a house fell down! What happened was a real sinkhole opened up down the street from us and swallowed a house and there’s a hole the size of a large intersection!!

Volcano Eruptions, Tropical Storms and Prayers

by: Leslie Smith
The latest report from Guatemala from the Area Presidency is that EVERY missionary has been accounted for. They are ALL safe, and those serving in Guatemala City - especially those to the south - have been instructed to stay inside their apartments until the areas have been cleared as safe by their priesthood leaders. All of our missionaries are well and out of any danger. They are using this time as an opportunity to help the people of Guatemala to dig out of the ash that settled on everything.

The following photos were taken at the Guatemala City North Mission Home home by President and Sister Torres.






GUATEMALA CITY - "The Pacaya volcano started erupting lava and rocks on Thursday afternoon, and forcing the closure of the international airport. The Pacaya volcano, which is just south of the capital, started spewing lava and rocks Thursday afternoon, blanketing Guatemala City with ash and forcing the closure of Guatemala City's international airport. Airport official Felipe Castaneda told reporters Saturday that the airport would be closed for the next five days while ash is removed. A TV reporter was killed by a shower of burning rocks. President Alvaro Colom declared a "state of calamity." Three children between the ages of seven and 12 were missing and at least 1,600 people from villages closest to the volcano have been evacuated to shelters."

"The work to remove the ash was going forward, but the rain has complicated it," Castaneda said. The first tropical storm of the 2010 season hit the Pacific coastline of Guatemala and Mexico on Saturday, killing 12 people under landslides and rockfall triggered by torrential rains. Tropical Storm Agatha formed early Saturday in the East Pacific and moved over land in the evening along the Guatemala-Mexico border, said the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami. The hurricane center said Agatha had weakened into a tropical depression by late Saturday evening with winds of 35 mph, and was expected to weaken even further as it pushed inland. Forecasters warned, however, that heavy rains could continue to fall, bringing 10 to 20 inches."


"Agatha's rains caused a landslide in a precarious hillside settlement of Guatemala City that killed four people and left 11 missing, Guatemalan disaster relief spokesman David de Leon said. Most of the city was without electricity at nightfall, complicating search efforts.

Four children were killed by another mudslide in the town of Santa Catarina Pinula about six miles outside the Guatemalan capital. And in the department of Quetzaltenango, 125 miles west of Guatemala City, a boulder loosened by rains crushed a house, killing two children and two adults, de Leon said. "

"The storm will start to weaken and we hope that on Sunday it will be just a tropical depression," said Romero Garcia of Guatemala's Meteorological Institute. "That is not to say that there won't be heavy rains."

"Before the rains, Guatemala already was contending with heavy eruptions from its Pacaya volcano that have blanketed the capital in ash and destroyed 800 homes. Officials expressed concerns that Agatha's rains could exacerbate the damages."

Hermana Torres wrote the following today on facebook, "The 1st hurricane of the season decided to visit us along with the volcano. As a result we are expecting heavy rains, strong winds, power outages, road closures, etc. No meetings today in church. Missionaries staying indoors....con su mochila de emergencia! (with their emergency backpacks) Oh esta....todo bien" (everything is fine.)