Friday, February 26, 2016

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Weekly Letter - February 23rd, 2016 - Bautismo por Fuego

Bautismo por Fuego – Weekly Letter – February 23rd, 2016

This week was so great! On Wednesday of last week we got a new batch of Nortes and there are 3 hermanas from Utah and one elder from North Carolina and it´s kinda funny since he has such a strong accent. We got haircuts so that was cool. So things here are kinda unorganized and we actually only have 6 weeks and another district has to stay for 7 so that´s funny. I also bought a super cool Real Madrid soccer jersey so that´s cool. Thursday we learned more how to teach the Doctrine of Christ. Friday we took an oral Spanish test then we got a new District Leader who is my comp Elder Huber. During personal study I prayed super hard for some inspiration and I got some. I read in Luke 15 about the prodigal son and it´s such a good chapter. Jesus (like the father) is always waiting for us to return with His arms outstretched no matter what we´ve done. Saturday we studied for a long time then we taught a new investigator. I also finished 1 Nefí in Español so that´s cool!

Sunday was the best day of this week. In district class and sacerdocio I didn´t feel the Spirit so I was upset. In the CCM I literally feel the Spirit every day multiple times. I was upset that I wasn´t feeling it. There have been times in my life where I´ve gone for months w/o feeling the Spirit so it´s very important to me to feel it always. I prayed so hard in Sacrament Meeting that I would feel the Spirit and I was repenting for whatever I had done to have that happen. After, during the very first talk, I felt the Spirit so strongly and for the rest of the meeting and day. After lunch we learned about the Doctrina de Cristo and temples then we watched some talks from Elder Holland which were about the Atonement which were so good. “Missionary work is not easy because eternal life is not easy. Jesus atoning for us was not easy.” Missionary work is hard, I can testify of that. But it is worth it.

Monday we took another Rama foto then we learned how the LDM is used in conversion. We also taught lots of investigators. Yesterday was so good too. One of the hermanas is struggling with the language and asked us for a blessing and since Elder Huber is DL we asked the ZL who asked Presidente and he said yes. The ZL gave the blessing de consuelo in Spanish and the Spirit was so strong. After dinner we had another Elder Holland devotional. He is so cool. One thing I loved was “be persistent”. Even if we don´t speak the language well, the Spirit is the universal language. After, we had probably one of the strongest district meetings. I love my district.

During personal study, I made a scripture chain about hope. It starts in Matthew 11:28-30 then to Alma 24:10 and others I forgot. I have it written down so I´ll share that next week. Today we went to the temple and it was so good. After the session, we were sitting in the Celestial room and I opened the scriptures to D&C 76 which is about the kingdoms of glory and while sitting in the Celestial room I read about its glory. Dang I wanna go there. Well that´s all! I pray for you every night and I love you all!

Yo sé que esta obra es la obra de Dios. Es la obra de salvación. Yo sé que Dios y Jesucristo viven y Ellos nos aman y nos conocen personalmente. José smith fue una profeta de Dios y restauró la iglesia a la tierra otra vez. Esta iglesia es la verdadera iglesia de Jesucristo en la tierra hoy. Yo testificó que el Libro de Mormon es la palabra de Dios y es verdadero. Lo fue tradujo por medio de José Smith. Thomas S. Monson es el profeta de Dios hoy. Escuchen a sus palabras. Yo testificó de la Expiación de Jesucristo es el mejor regalo de Dios. Yo he salvado por medio los méritos de Jesucristo y su misericordia. Lo tiene la poder para sanar nosotros. La obra de Dios no es fácil porque salvación no es fácil! La Expiación no fue fácil! Pero es la obra de Dios y lo será traer a todas las personas en el mundo. Jesucristo es mi Salvador y sus también. El quiere ayudarles. Yo digo estas cosas en el nombre de mi Salvador y Redentor Jesucristo, Amen.

I love you all!!

- Elder Loveless

**Presidente Lloyd is the in the Branch presidency. Presidente Morris is president of the CCM. They're different. My comp is from Idaho and is a cowboy. We get along really well. The others in my District are all super cool. They all have such strong testimonies.
** The best was Sunday and the worst was...hmmm...just it seems like the CCM is forever haha.

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Pictures - Finally!!!

The Guatemala MTC Missionaries
(Elder Loveless is in the top picture, top row, furthest left.)



February 16th, 2016 - Weekly Letter

Week 3!  Zion’s Camp!
February 16, 2016

So this week wasn´t too different from the others. Last Wednesday after emails, we wrote letters and played volleyball against the Ketchis for like 2.5 hours, which was awesome. After, we just had normal classes. Thursday we taught more lessons to our fake investigators and those lessons were great. It was so cool to be able to feel the Spirit so strongly in a mock lesson. We also got a water bottle with a filter so now I have 2 and I´ll be set for sure for my entire mission. Friday we practiced teaching El Plan de Salvación again and it´s getting easier which is good. We taught another lesson to one of our investigators and it went really well. Elder Huber and I teach really well together. Also that kid is insane. He has more energy than I´ve ever seen in one person..life can be weird sometimes. We also just learned some helpful grammars in Spanish. Saturday we studied in the morning then we did the normal. We had pizza that day and oh boy do I miss pizza. I never thought I would say that but I love pizza! We did weekly planning, deportes then we learned how to apply the LDM better to investigators and its role in conversion. We had a sub and his name is Hermano Cate and he´s super cool. I can read more in the LDM easier and without as much English help so that´s good!

Sunday´s are always the best. We studied all morning until 9 then we had Clase de Distrito which was great. We talked about the Luz de Cristo and I actually learned so much. After, we had the best lesson in Priesthood with Presidente Lloyd about repentance and I felt the Spirit so strongly! After that we had Sacrament and we had some good talks. Taking the Sacrament is such a privilege. We had lunch after, then we had a wonderful devotional about Zion´s Camp which will tie in later. After, we had Presidente and Hermana Morris teach us about the importance of companionships and how to strengthen them in the mission and with your future spouse. They win the award of cutest old people. Sorry grandparents. I still love you. But my reasoning is because they have a double sided plunger that they have tied a string to and a tennis ball to the end of the string. They put the plunger on each of their stomachs and stand across from each other and together they have to wrap the string around the plunger handle until it´s tethered. They are pros. It was hilarious also. After dinner we watched the story of José Smith which was awesome. He has such a cool story and I have no doubt that he was a prophet. After that we watched a talk from Elder Ballard on how we represent the Lord and how we need to do it in a reverent manner, I left my notes in the room, but it was an awesome talk.

Yesterday was a rough day...Mondays. We learned some grammars then after lunch we got the news that we are gonna be here for 7 weeks instead of the 6. It doesn´t seem like that much but this place is how I imagine spiritual prison! I love it here, but it´s like a jail. So that was rough and then also my favorite maestro is leaving us because we´re getting new Nortes tomorrow and new Latinos. Ugh. Rough day. But then we remembered Zion´s Camp and how it was a huge trial of their faith...so we're all praying for patience and humility.  Today we went to the temple which is always great then after writing we are going to the tienda and then sports!! Also all of the Ketchi and other Nortes left this morning so we´re all alone with 1 other district. There are 19 of us in the entire CCM until tomorrow. Also happy birthday to Grandpa and Happy Valentine´s Day!!! Also the food is still good. They have such good churros and I couldn´t resist and ate 5...

Yo sé que esa es la obra de Jesucristo. Yo estoy muy agradecido por la oportunidad para ser un representante de Jesucristo y el Señor. Yo sé que esa es la iglesia verdadera y José Smith es y fue una profeta de Dios y el restauró la iglesia a la tierra otra vez por medio de el sacerdocio de Dios. Yo sé que el Libro de Mormón es verdadero y es un anale de las personas en esa continent. Yo sé que Jesucristo es el Salvador del mundo y el expió y sufrió para nosotros para la razón que nosotros podemos regresar a Dios. Yo sé que el Expiación es real y por medio de lo, podemos ser limpios otra vez. Yo amo Dios y Jesucristo y esa maravillosa obra y yo digo esas cosas en el nombre de mi Salvador, Jesucristo, Amen.

I will write again next Wednesday! I love you all and keep to the iron rod!  

-Elder Loveless

Best and worst of the week:  Best thing is feeling the Spirit always and worst was the news that we have an extra week here.

Sunday, February 14, 2016

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Weekly Letter - February 10th, 2016

Hey everybody!! How´s everybody doing??

Anyways, this week was kind of similar to last week, but I´ll try to write a lot. Also just FYI, since my district came on an off week, our p-day changes every week. It alternates between Martes and Miércoles. Next week it´ll be on Martes. Anyways, this week...We do deportes every morning and we´re all getting a lot better at volleyball. On Miércoles pasado, we learned how to teach the Restoration in Spanish which is cool. We also learned how to teach the Doctrina de Cristo which was super cool too. The food is always good too. We also have a little family that got permission from the CCM to set up their personal tienda here on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and they sell some cool things. On last Thursday, we had some workshops on how to begin teaching a lesson and inviting others to come unto Christ. They were so good. It said that we need to love them no matter what and see them with the end goal of seeing them in all white. We teach our *investigators* pretty much once a night. It´s awesome practice. I don´t know if I talked about our night teacher, but his name is Hermano Guzman and he served in Mexico City. He is probably the most hilarious person here and he loves Mario and Zelda so I always talk to him about it. He´s super funny.  Friday was just a normal day learning lots in the classroom. Saturday we learned how to use questions effectively. My Spanish and English are slowly starting to mesh so I forget how to say and spell stuff in English and I sometimes talk in English with an accent on accident.

Sundays are always good. In district class we learned about obedience which was awesome. In priesthood we learned about giving children blessings and about the Restoration and Apostasy. In Sacrament we all bore our testimonies since it was fast Sunday. After, we had a lesson from Presidente Province on the Restoration and Apostasy then después we had the privilege of listening to Hermana and Presidente Morris. They spoke on our calls as missionaries and how we should act and what it means to be a missionary. They´re a cute old couple. We broke our fasts and ate dinner which was amazing then we watched a talk by Elder Holland and then had the Morris´ speak to us again about obedience.  Monday we took a branch wide photo and then we learned how to use the LDM in the conversion process. Yesterday we just reviewed stuff and then watched a talk by Elder Anderson. He spoke about the relationship between Love and Sacrifice and how Jesus loved us so much that he sacrificed his life for us. Once we love something enough, we´ll be willing to do anything and sacrifice anything for them. After, we had a district meeting and we all bore testimonies and told why we´re on missions. The Spirit was so strong. Then we had personal study and received personal revelation which was awesome. Today, we went to the temple and now we´re writing. It´s funny cause whenever we leave, we have bodyguards with us. They´re all up and down the street and they have guns and stuff haha. They´re all cool. Also, it´s SOOOO pretty here. The mountains are gorgeous and there´s so much green and they make juices out of any fruit imaginable. Watermelon juice is good haha. Also, we asked our teachers why there are so many sirens and ambulances and there are 2 reasons. Because everyone here is a crazy driver and wreck and the other is cause people die lots and some of the sirens here sound legit like Pac Man! Also, the Ketchi elders are super cool. Elder Beteta is awesome. He´s like as tall as me and he´s hilarious. I call him Elder Potato or Obama cause he looks exactly like Obama.

Anyways, Life is good and warm and we learn lots everyday. Also cool experience this past week. I was memorizing the 1st vision in Spanish and once I had it down and I was reciting it, I felt the Spirit so strong testify to me that it really did happen. Anyways, that´s all for this week!

Yo sé que esa es la iglesia verdadera. El Libero de Mormón es verdadero. Yo sé que Jesucristo es el Salvador del mundo y por medio de Su Expiación nosotros, yo, podemos ser limpio otra vez. Yo sé que José Smith es una profeta de Dios y el restauró la iglesia a el mundo otra vez y el tradujo el Libro de Mormón a la Ingles idioma. Dios vive y Su Hijo también, Soy un representante de Jesucristo y estoy muy agradecido para esa oportunidad.
Yo amo Jesucristo y Dios con toda de mi corazón y yo dijo esas cosas en el nombre de Jesuristo, Amen.

I love you all and I hope you all have a wonderful week! I´ll write next week on Tuesday!!!

-Elder Loveless

The best thing about this week...feeling the Spirit and the taste of the food. Worst thing...what the food does to your body hahaha. Also sports time is awesome!

#brightonaday post from Kevin Tenney

Posted on Facebook on February 10, 2016

Thanks for posting this Kevin Tenney. This is Jon's boss that he worked for for two and a half years. Kevin's sweet four-year-old daughter, Brighton, passed away two days before Jon left and below is the experience that Jon and Kevin had the night Jon left for the MTC.

This is another moment from the past couple of weeks that really ‪#‎brightonaday‬.
This is a picture of an employee of mine named Jon that recently just left on a mission. His last day was about 10 days before Brighton had passed. I wasn't able to attend his mission farewell & honestly had totally spaced the fact that he was leaving.
A couple of days after Brighton had passed I heard a knock on the door and someone inside got it. I looked to see who it was and my employee/friend Jon was standing there. He was on his way to the MTC and wanted to make sure he saw me before he left. I was so touched that in his final moments before leaving that he thought of me.
As I hugged him, I was tearing up & told him that I thought he would do a great job on his mission & thanked him for coming over. This to me was one of the most Christlike things I have ever seen. Caring about me when there was so many other things he could have been doing. I love you Jon, and hope you know how much it meant to me!

This was a response that was written below this post:
Shauna Cummings Whiting:  I had the PRIVILEGE of sitting on the bus to and from Trek near Jon this past summer. My husband and I talked to him, had such fun laughs and conversations about the gospel. I have 3 daughter's and can only hope and pray that when they're old enough, they'll find an amazing young man like your son. Way to go mom! He's a neat young man!!!!

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

President Lloyd

Fun Fact
Our Jon Perry Loveless is named after his Great-Grandpa John Parry Loveless.
Well, from Elder Loveless' letter today we found out that a member of his branch presidency is Spence Lloyd and President Lloyd said he was friends with Grandpa Loveless and very good friends with our Aunt Margie.  Well, sure enough President Lloyd worked for IFA in Burley, Idaho and cousin Mindi remembers eating dinner at his home and Daren remembers having a picnic with them while visiting Burley.  They were very good friends and when Grandpa retired from IFA, President Lloyd took his place.  Mindi is still friends with his daughters and sent us this pic.
I bet Grandpa had something to do with Jon's mission call - what do you think???

President and Sister Lloyd

This is President Lloyd's e-mail to his daughter, Susannah, after Jon's arrival:
"There is an Elder Loveless from Utah in the group.  He is the great grandson of Jack Loveless who was my predecessor at IFA.  That was a sweet experience to meet him.  However, it made me feel a little old."

The world just keeps getting smaller and smaller!
(Here is another text that cousin Mindi got from President Lloyd's daughter.)


February 2nd, 2016 - First letter from the Guatemala MTC

February 2nd, 2016
First Letter from the MTC in Guatemala

Hello everyone!!

How're you all doing?? This week was crazy, but super cool. Tuesday we flew all night. I flew out with 1 other elder from Gunnison and then 2 hermanas from Utah and Nevada. In LA we picked up 7 more elders and sisters. In total there were 8 elders and 3 hermanas. There are 2 other elders in my distrito going to my same mission. Also Elder Dipko is my age and graduated in my class at Westlake.

So Tuesday was the longest day ever. We flew all night long and landed in Guatemala at 6:45 a.m. here. We went back to the CCM and ate, met with Presidente Morris and su esposa Hermana Morris then we took naps. After, we had lunch, classes, dinner, more classes then sleep. Usually we have deportes in the morning for an hour and a half then shower, breakfast, personal study, learn, lunch, learn more, dinner, learn more then bed time. That's most days for us. Thursday we went to the distribution center and bought our Libro de Mormons. Our teacher in the morning is Hermano Garcia. He's the coolest guy ever. We had a sub this past week in the night. Thursday we learned how to pray in Spanish and how to teach people how to pray. Friday we memorized the invitation to be baptized and our purpose. We also learned how to bear our testimonios. We also taught our first investigator which was just our teacher. As you can guess, all in Spanish. Saturday we reviewed, taught our next investigator and reviewed the baptismal invitation. Sunday was so cool. We had district class then priesthood then sacrament then we watched videos and talks the rest of the day. The spirit was so strong in our district class. That was in English and also priesthood was too. 4 elders in our district including myself, passed the sacrament which was cool. Yesterday we learned how to teach the Evangelio de Cristo or the doctrine of Christ, in Spanish.

And today! Today was amazing. We woke up at 5:30 and walked to the templo which is like 3 minutes away and did a session at roughly 7:15. It was super cool. After, we came back and ate breakfast then we went on a city tour! The people here drive so crazy and people just walk down the middle of the busy roads. There are also sooo many motorcycles and people love to honk. Also we see and hear sirens and ambulances driving by about every 20 minutes so that´s cool. Also people love fireworks here. On the tour, we went to the market which was cool and also the food market, on a tour of the oldest church here in el Ciudad de Guatemala and then to the plaza to place LDM´s or BOMs in English. Our district was the first one to do that so soon. It was sooo cool! Me and my companion Elder Huber placed both of ours. After, we went to Wendy’s and then back to the CCM to do laundry and write you guys! In my district there is myself and Elder Huber, Elder Westra, Elder Purcell who is the District Leader, Elder Brooks, Elder Beck, Elder Dipko, Elder Cole, Hermana Berry, Hermana Becraft y Hermana Rowley. Our district is the bomb. Also the Latinos are so cool. There was a district that was so cool but I don´t know their name. We are Distrito Isaias. So these Latinos love to laugh and joke and they love my jokes haha. Sadly, they all left today except for all the Nortes, or North Americans, and the Ketchi elders. Ketchi (?) is a weird dialect spoken in Coban, Guatemala. Also the food here is amazing. We have fresh fruit every day with fresh fruit juice and then whatever the entree is which is always good. Also Elder Lloyd is in the branch presidency here and he knew Great- Grandpa Loveless and him and his wife know Margie really well. Also just so you all know, I can´t send pictures while in the CCM and I can only email immediate family so email Sister Killian and let her know. Don´t send any packages!! I won't get them. Also the gift of tongues is real!!

Yo sé que esa iglesia es verdadero y la Expiación de Jesucristo es real. Yo sé que el Libro de Mormon es verdadero y es la palabra de Dios. Yo testificó que Jesucristo es el Salvador del mundo y muerte para nuestros pescados. Yo sé que José Smith es una profeta de Dios y que el Don de Lenguas es real. Yo digo esas cosas en el nombre de Jesucristo, Amen.

I love you all!! Have a fantastic week. Also P-day is every Martes.


-Elder Loveless

**He also said that his companion is from Idaho and that he looks like the guy with the motorcycle on the movie Freaky Friday!
**The worst thing about the week:  "Not getting enough sleep."
**Favorite thing about his week: "Everything is so great!  The food, the native elders are so cool, my district is awesome, learning Spanish through the gift of tongues."