Hey everyone!!!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

So just to answer your question about the river (Mom asked if there were bridges to cross the rivers he talked about last week, or if he got into the water)....I was knee deep and I did have my backpack on my head, lol, but don't worry we found a couple of other ways to get there without rolling up the pants and taking off the shoes, lol.

Man, so me and my comp. Elder Guerra have made it a goal to be the compañerismo maravilloso...which means to have baptised more than any other area in the mission. Our goal for the month of November is 11 baptisms with 3 families...right now we have about 5 families and 14 people that are SUPER positive that we are working with right now, so hopefully I can stay focused enough to reach this goal!

Yesterday, in church it was pretty good although the assistance (attendance) went down a little bit we still managed to have 6 investigators show up and they really enjoyed it. So now we need to stay focused and hold it so that they can receive all that they need.

We've been keeping up with the investigators that we in Aiyutia and for the most part everything seems to be rolling along pretty well. My comp. and I have built an amazing system to teach, its very simple and pretty much it is just giving them what they need teaching them with love, and being VERY direct and honest about everything. To be honest this is probably the best companionship I've had yet. And if we had the chance to have more time together we could have baptised a lot of people here. But unfortunately, last night we got a call from the Zone Leaders, telling us that Elder Guerra has emergency changes and that I would be helping another Elder.

Those quotes from Elder Yamashita are really good and hopefully we can learn to be better missionaries while we're here...Something that I really enjoyed about Guerra is that at times...a lot of times...he has helped push me...that is what I have been looking for my entire mission, is a comp. that can except who I am but push me and encourage me...and it's obvious with the success that we were having that it works.... I'm going to end my mission baptising more than I ever have..!

Anyways, I have some reallly cool and funny stories to tell you about me and Guerra...but for now this is going to have to do...lol...one hour just isn't enough these days..., I remember wishing on various occasions that God would give us an extra couple hours every day so that we could reach a couple more people..but that's not going to happen so, I guess we just have to plan a little better, lol, and be wiser with our time!

Love you all,
Elder Marquis

p.s. I got the books that you sent and the package of goodies...sadly between us, the members that help us teach, and the primary....those chocolates didn't stand a chance, thank you so much!

This week has been amazing!

Puchica!!!

So... I'm back In Reu. again...this time in an area called Perú and my new comps. name is Elder Guerra. He's from El Salvador...pretty sure hes going to be the one to kill me off..oh no!!!
(Last companion..will send him home) This week has been amazing! As I'm sure you know we had a baptism this past week for Raymunda which was super amazing. It is the first time I think in my mission that I've come to an area were there was a fecha waiting for me lol. But we also found one of their old investigators and taught him and baptised him this Sunday past, which was a miracle because the members and missionaries have been trying to get this man baptised for over 9 years! His whole family was super happy that at last they were all baptised!

One of the best parts was at the end when it was only him and us there he walked over and unplugged the drain and said, YA ESTUVO, which is like THAT'S ENOUGH, and watched all of his sins just drain away with the biggest smile on his face, lol it was so cool!!! I don't know...there's such a great feeling of accomplishment when after working and working and working to finally see the fruits of your labor...like to finally see another baptism after all this time, my body was just tingliing, lol, no se...but its just a great feeling!

We also had about four investigators that came to church with us which is always a good feeling. But the best one was this hermana named Amanda. We contacted her this past week and taught her but when all was said and done, she was like, you know what...If you come to my church on Saturday( She's a 7th day Adventist ) I'll go to your church on Sunday...and we were like, Ok thats fine, lol, and her mouth dropped and was a little taken back that we accepted, lol.

But anyways, Saturday rolled around and we showed up at her house nice and early, and the first thing she said was, you guys are really going to go...then anwsering her own question..obviously you're going to go or you wouldn't be here....but then we got into the tuk tuk and headed off for her church.
Now, we always walk past churches and the pastors and everyone always says hi and what not...but when they said hi to us this time...and then we entered their doors, lool, their jaws just BROKE! and about smashed to the floor!, lol. As soon as we walked in it was like there was a magnet attached to everyones heads...and everyone just about broke their necks to look at us wondering why the 2 little mormon boys are in their church, lol!! But the best part is how when the preachers began preaching, not one of them would look us in the eyes, kinda strange, but not really, lol.

Anyways, Sunday rolled around and Amanda did come to church. I know she felt the spirit and I know that she knew that the lessons were real...but she just had the look of no matter what happens I AM NOT GOING TO ENJOY THIS!!! Which actually made it really enjoyable....it's like when there's a little kid that wants to laugh but he's just not going to do because he knows that your trying to make him laugh.....type of situation, lol.

Then after church some of the members offered to take us to another part of our area called, Aiyutía. And OHHHHHH BABAY!!! It's a good walk, lol. Just getting there was a trial of crossing not one but 2 rivers and then once we got to the other side it was an hour walk to the village, but it was fun, lol!! Most of the walk was through sugar cane fields which kinda made me think of Fenders Farm and doing the maze walk lol, baggy moment, lol, but yeah it was totally worth it. Because apparently the Elders here never came out here so the members were super happy to see us and we found a couple families where the spouse still wasn't baptised which is always a nice little treat for lil ol Marquis, lol. Then the walk back was nice, a little rain drizzle and moon light to light our way....it was pretty cool!!

Overall, I really love this area, and the members here are really llenado with the doctrine. This really is a great area and my comp. is quite the character too. I'm really going to give it everything that I've got. I have about 2 months left and still need to reach my goal of 30 baptisms so...lol...obiviosly 'Im going to have to burn some rubber to find those elected 6...or more, lol!!!

Anyways, love you guys tons!
Elder Marquis


P.S. That photo of Russi got me for a second, lol, I thought that it was Sonney, lol!!
And Lauren oh my goodness, she is getting sooooo talll!!!!!

Friends and family:

Well the ride to San Felipe was pretty fun! As usual the micro-buses that we have to catch there was full again so we were hanging on the outside of the door...which is always a refreshing ride, lol. But I'll just get to the good part, as we were riding a long the driver got a little close to the bushes and trees and little by little before I knew it I was getting ground along the bushes, lol. My shirt..needless to say is completely green, lol. I never thought that someone would try to grind me into the bushes but hey, good times right, lol!!

Anyways, this week was pretty cool. The other day our zone leaders called us up with a pretty cool reference from the stake president, which I'll have you know...NEVER HAPPENS!! So we went to go contact him and the guy turned out to be really positive. The only challenge so far that we have with him is that he likes to work on Sundays. But beside that he's GOLD!!!

We also have a couple of other pretty cool people that we're working with that are pretty positive.

We have changes coming up this Wednesday...so we'll see what comes of that.
The way I'm feeling right now I don't really care if I have changes or not, but I'd like to know one more area before I go home...but if not this area is really cool.

Tonight just to celebrate we are having a little barbecue on our roof and a little fire so it should be pretty fun!

Man everyone is getting a good laugh out of my shirt, lol! It's just a huge grass stain all over my back, lol!!!


Anyways, super cool that MaryKate got married....I'm devastated that Steve Jobs died and excited that the iPhone 4s is coming out and siri sounds super cool!!!!


Love you guys so much!!!!!


Elder Marquis

... conference weekend is like the super bowl

Needless to say that this past conference was definitely one of the best!
I love how President Monson is just so goofy and direct... it's a great combination...HELLO, lol!

It's always so amazing to have direct revelation coming out of these amazing people and I love it...at least for us missionaries, conference weekend is like the super bowl lol.. it just doesn't get much better than that.

That's so amazing that Logan and Ethan got to go there and be apart of that. This is really going to be something special that they will always keep with them. And I'm sure they learned a lot and felt the spirit so strong, that really does sound great!

It's kind of weird to think that my next conference I'll be back in the states to watch it and to receive another type of revelation. Right now, its still personal when I hear them speak but also a lot of what I write down and think about is mostly focused towards my investigators and the members of my ward...but still a super spiritual experience!

As far as our investigators go, we had them go with some really great member families since we had to go in opposite directions to different churches to hear the messages, but yes they loved it! Everytime that I've brought a group of investigators to a conference they always leave saying...WOW, these men truly have been called of God, and for the most part do get baptised..but we'll see, lol.

Now..the Saturday session went normally for us. The church was kind enough that they set up a special room for the Gringo missionaries that we could watch and listen to it in English which, for me is something quite special. Then came the priesthood session...we had a little more difficulty with this and had to carry the TV to the other side of the church so we could get the signal. What happened was that after the afternoon session a father baptised his son and we were in the baptismal room....but how can you get frustrated at that, lol, a baptism for a little moving arrangements...priceless!!!

Then came the Sunday session. Because it was Sunday, there was going to be a greater assistance (attendance) so had to give up the working TV so that the others could watch it in the overflow areas. There was another TV, the only problem was that the screen didn't work, only the sound, lol. So from where we were positioned I sat outside the room in the hallway so that I could still watch the session through the window of the sacrament room and could listen to it from the room, lol...a little bit of a hastle but sooooooo worth it!!!

Just wanted to share a funny little story with you about something that happened with us during conference. This experience whether it be a coincidence or not has strengthened my testimony..Have you seen the movie "The best 2 Years"...the part when they're praying and they ask that the man would call and immediately the phone rang and everyone was like HALLELUJAH!!! Lol, well we had a little experience with that. During the priesthood session, we had a huge thunder storm roll in and something happened and we lost the signal and were freaking out. Until we were like alright, everyone on their knees..we're praying, lol. And I kid you not, the moment we asked that the signal would come back, it did, lol...coincidence or not.. faith and prayer are two mighty tools, lol!!!!


Anyways, I hope that you all enjoyed conference as much as I did, and received some well needed answers as well as I and I hope that we can begin putting these things into practice as soon as we can!

Also, from what I've heard we are going to be able to go to the temple dedication in Quetzaltenango!! But nothing is ever 100% down here but it sure would be an amazing experience to be apart of this dedication...pretty much my entire mission has been focused around this temple and preparing all of my investigators for this, but if not I'll come back one day to enter its halls!!!!

Also Good luck and I'm sooo happy for Marykate and her future husband for this following weekend!!!!!

With love,
Elder Marquis