October 31st, 2016 - Weekly Letter

October 31st, 2016

Weekly Letter

Happy Halloweeeeeen!! 

Oiii Feliz Halloween de Usulután!!  This week was crazy, but it went really well. Firstly, I heard about Grandpa Dennis...that's sad, but I know that I'll be able to see him again...I wish I could've seen him in person, but I'll have to wait a little bit for that. I loved him a lot and have a lot of great memories with him picking plums in the huge garden at Grandma Loveless' house. Good times.

This week we taught a LOT! We did interchanges with the asistentes Tuesday-Thursday and I was with Elder Sabey. I'll send pics. It was like a high school reunion. He is a crazy kid. We had a lot of fun haha. We did a lot of interchanges within those interchanges, because there is a lack of faith in the zone. We gotta help them out a lot. As a zone this month we only had 6 baptisms and 5 of those were from our area.

The best part of this week was yesterday. We baptized the family Garcia which is actually the family Carballo and that was so awesome. They are one of the best, happiest, most converted families that I've ever taught and met. He's gonna be a bishop one day. And I'll still be here in the mission when they get sealed. I'm so excited for them!!

For this coming week, we're hoping to baptize 2 more people. 1 for sure. Her name is Larisa and she's the wife of a member who was less active and he smokes still. She's been visited by missionaries for 2 years about. She had a dream that she needs to be baptized and we're a starting to go and read the Libro de Mormón with her every morning to help her understand more and help her testimony. She is one of the best, most sincere people that I have ever met.

We're all good here. The rainy season has stopped finally until next year so that's a blessing. I'm super happy and excited to work and we're gonna change Zona Usulután and make it so much better than when we found it.

I love you all and thanks for all of your prayers and letters and emails and I'll talk with you all next week! Have a fantastic week and Haz Lo Justo y que Dios les bendiga.


Saluuu Pues!!


-Elder Loveless

Best and Worst of the Week:
Best-We baptized the familia Garcia.

Worst-Only 3 people went to church and Grandpa died...but I'll see him again (:

Letters and/or Packages:
Letter from Sister Killian; Packages from Denise and the Halloween package from you guys.  (Yeah he got it in time - so glad - you never know how long it takes for a package to get there!)

Nine Months - Yeah!!!

October 26th, 2016

Nine months ago tonight our family said goodbye to Elder Jon Loveless at the Salt Lake International Airport.

We love and miss him tons!!!

Wedding

"Wedding of Family Garcia!  Happy Day!"

New Companion

"My companion is strange...and has a neon green onesie - bahaha!"

Mac-n-Cheese

"My companion and I found legitimate American Mac-n-Cheese.  We bought every box in the store!!!

(Good to know he has a microwave!)

October 24th, 2016 - Weekly Letter

October 24th, 2016
Weekly Letter

Hello cheros and cheras all around the world. This week was another crazy one, but always full of great things and spiritual experiences. We planned an entire wedding in less than 24 hours on Tuesday and that was crazy. We were running around from about 10 until 4 finding papers and witnesses and it was a lot of fun. It rained Sunday-Friday and for that, I'm sick again...ugh. We taught a lot of lessons and we got really wet. Proselyting in the rain is crazy. The Lord is really blessing our efforts. We found a lot of new people and that was awesome. We found some really great ones and a lot of them went to church.

The people that are closest to baptism are: The family Garcia that got married today, Hna Larisa, and Melisa is doing good, only that we haven't found her for quite awhile. Fam Garcia is set to be baptized Sunday morning and the parents and the 9 year old son will be baptized. The 9 year old- Brian, asked me to baptize him so I'm pretty happy (:

Yesterday was stake conference and we brought...*drum roll please* ...18 investigators to church and 8 less actives! We were so excited. We made them real live American Mac ´n Cheese and then right after, we all got into 2 buses and went to San Salvador for a huge Mormon get together with Elder Dallin H. Oaks! There were over 16,500 people there. How awesome it was!! He spoke and his wife and also some of the members of the 70. Elder Oaks spoke so good and spoke on repentance and the power of the Book of Mormon.

Also super cool spiritual experience. We were visiting a new family and after the lesson, I asked for a reference and they told us about their neighbor so we went there and he was so cool. His name is Luis and he asked us how he could get his hands on a Liahona magazine. He said some friends in San Miguel brought him to church a lot of times and he loves the Liahona so he wanted a couple. He's awesome. We are gonna try to visit him this week. Also today Family Garcia was married and so all is checky lecky for Sunday.

The Zone Leader life is still so crazy, but it's awesome too. I love you all and wish you all a happy week (: Share the gospel too!!

Saluuu Pues!!

Con Amor, Elder Loveless


Best and Worst of the Week:
Worst- I'm sick.
Best- We brought 26 people to church. 18 investigators and 8 less actives!

Letters and/or Packages:  None

October 17th, 2016 - Weekly Letter

October 17th, 2016 - Weekly Letter

A whole lotta LOCO!!

Hey everyone! Saludos de Usulután: Land of craziness. This week was crazy. We're working our butts off. I came back to the house every night absolutely exhausted. The zone is a little rough because this zone is very new. It just was opened last change so we're still learning how to balance everything and I'm still learning the craziness that it is to be a zone leader.

We have a ton of baptisms set up for this month, but a ton of work to do so that they follow through. We brought 11 investigators to church yesterday so we've gotta better that and bring more!

We had a multi-zona with Presidente and Hermana Vásquez and the asistentes and that was really good. We learned a lot about how to have a better attitude like when we were new missionaries and nothing could stop our ánimo and we wanted to baptize everyone. It really helped me out a lot.

We had a family of 3, Fam Garcia, pass their baptismal interviews so we just gotta get them married so they can be baptized. They're so awesome and the kid, Brian, wants me to baptize him so I'm pretty stoked (:

It rained a ton and we were pretty much walking through water up to our knees. We ate really good and this week I really learned a ton about love and service. My companion has taught me that we need to express our love for the investigators and also always be reminding them how much God loves them. Also yesterday we had a good spiritual/ funny experience. We made a daily zone goal to invite every person in a green shirt to baptism. We were in a lesson and we were doing the closing prayer when it just hit us both so hard that the dad was wearing a green shirt. My companion was so funny about it and said that the spirit gave him revelation that he needed to invite the dad to baptism and he and the whole family of 4 accepted dates for the 26 of Nov. It was funny, but also really cool.

I love feeling the Spirit and being a missionary, we get to do that always. The kid that was gonna get baptized yesterday pretty much just disappeared...his dad that doesn't live there just showed up the day before the baptism and took him...that was interesting. Also Usulután is literally the craziest place ever. People here are literally the craziest, weirdest people ever. But it keeps me laughing baha. I love being a missionary and serving the Lord!  I know this is His work and the Spirit is the key to EVERYTHING!   I love you all and hope you all have a great week. I'll talk to you next week!

Saluuu Pues!

Elder Loveless

Best and Worst of the Week:
Best- We worked so hard and I've never been more exhausted in all of my life.
Worst- The kid we were gonna baptize kinda disappeared...

Letters and/or Packages:
This week I finally received the drive with the music on it!

Saying Goodbye to Everyone

"Saying goodbye to everyone in La Union!"

October 10th, 2016 - Weekly Letter

Cambios!!!

Hello everyone!! This week was a little bit crazy. And by a little bit, I mean a lot a bit. Monday I got a call saying that I would be leaving La Unión. I was a little sad because it's my first area and all and the people are so great...but it's all good. Tuesday I said bye to everyone. That was sad...  Also so every time there are changes, I've always seemed to get strange calls...and that pattern continues. Except this time it was from The Man himself- Presidente Vásquez. He called me to tell me that I was going to be a Zone Leader!! That was a very unexpected call. Wednesday Elder Butler and I went to San Miguel and had changes.  He went back with Elder Jimenez and I am now in Departamento Usulután, Zona Usulután, Ciudad (city) de Usulután. We are fairly close to the ocean again so it's still pretty humid here. The people are great and the worst here is so good. My new companion is Elder Dunkle from Vermont. He's been a Zone Leader for a very very long time and has 20 months in the mission so he has a lot of experience. He's a really hard worker and a super great guy.

Thursday was day 1 in Usulután. People here are crazy...we met a lady who was 107 and was flirting hardcore with us...interesting.. But that day was good and it was mainly so I could meet the investigators and the ones with baptismal dates. We have a lot of investigators and about 14 have church asistences. I was happy to see that.

Friday was Consejo de Líderes or Leadership Council, at Presidente´s house in San Salvador so we woke up at 3:15 and then when we arrived, we ate McDonald´s. I got to see a ton of my buddies there. It´s for all the ZL's Hermana Leaders, and Asistents. That was a very good conference.

Saturday we had District meeting and that was good. We worked hard and had 2 baptismal interviews done.

Yesterday we had 8 investigators at church and 1 baptism so that was cool. Her name is Stefany and she's 16. We'll have 2 more baptisms this week! We have a lot of really really good investigators and we're super excited for this new change.

Being a Zone Leader is crazy So many more responsibilities and in the Zone there are 6 companionships. I've never been more tired in all of my life, but don't worry, we're happy, healthy and working super hard!

I love you all and wish you all such a fantastic week. I'll talk to you next week! I love you all!

Saluuu pues!!  ¡Viva El Salvador!  Zona Usulután!!

-Elder Loveless


Best and Worst of the past week:
Worst...I don't know if there was. I'll miss La Unión.
Best...I had changes and now I'm a Zone Leader!!

Letters and/or Packages:
Package from the family and it had candy in it! and peanut butter!

October 3rd, 2016 - Weekly Letter

October 3rd, 2016 - Weekly Letter

Árchangeles, Brujos, Niños, Chuchos y CONFERENCIA Oh My!

Hello everyone!!! I send my love from El Salvador! This week was a great one and for sure a crazy one. I will explain the heading here soon.

So this week we were baked. It was scorching hot. That was fun. We were very busy this week which I like. We found a lot of new investigators and were able to put 3 baptismal dates. Hna Vanessa wasn't able to attend church, but she is progressing well. She's praying every day and she feels good after and she reads her Book of Mormon always. She has a dog (chucho in Salvadoreño) and it's the dumbest, meanest dog ever. Before the mission I somewhat liked dogs..or could put up with them. Her dog has changed that. He chases us up and down the El Salvador streets at night and we're running around screaming like little girls. That dog is evil. We've decided that it's Satan's way of keeping Hna Vanessa from talking with us. It's almost bitten me 3 times. I do not like that dog...We have a FHE planned with her tonight and I hope that goes really well!!

We have other people that are doing good, but not anyone in specific that's progressing really well right now. Saturday was Día del Niño which doesn't exist at home, but I had to plan an activity for that. Let me tell you, having 40ish bad behaved kids together was scary. Thank goodness we have Hermanas in our district haha.

We had a guy stop us one day and he told us he knew what we were missing and what we were searching for (all in English). He said he's and arch angel named Mikal and has wings but can't show them because the US government will come here looking for him to take him to jail. He also told me that I am a magician...that was interesting and I almost burst out laughing...I honestly believe he's one of Satan's followers. He also told me that I can fly whenever I want but that I have to return to earth and that the moon was a meteor that is gonna destroy the US. It was quite interesting..

Conference was amazing! I love conference. My companion and I watched it all in English and that was good. I had 4 favorite talks: Gary E. Stevenson about the Book of Mormon, Kazuhiko Yamashita about be ambitious for Christ, Robert D. Hales about how Love and service = less suffering, and my all time favorite of this conference was by Russell M. Nelson about Joy. I was studying joy this morning. That talk was great. It doesn't matter our circumstances, we can and should always find joy in the Gospel. That's really given me a new perspective on life, the Gospel and my mission. In my Spanish scriptures it talks a lot about joy so I'm gonna try to translate: Condition of great happiness that is the result of living with righteousness. The purpose of this earth life is that all have joy and this plain joy is received only through Jesus Christ. Wow, this conference was wonderful.

This week is transfers, but we still haven't received the call to see who has transfers. I'll let you know when I know. Yesterday was also Elder Butler's birthday!!!  We're all doing great and working hard!! I hope you all have a great week and I'll talk to you next week! I love you all!!

Saluuuuu Pues!!

Love, Elder Loveless


Best and Worst of the past week:
Best-Conference!!!
Worst-Crazy People!

Letters and/or Packages:  None