Monday, November 28, 2016

Our awesome Thanksgiving dinner!

Awesome Thanksgiving!!!













A crazy little 3 wheeled motorcycle thing...


The beautiful view from our area!


November 28th, 2016 - Weekly Letter

November 28th, 2016 - Weekly Letter

Being a missionary is great!

Hey family! Happy Thanksgiving this past week! I hope all is well in your fun places.

This week was really good. We had a lot of time in the area which is super nice because there's a lot of work to do. The Family Benitez is awesome. We had 3 lessons with them this last week and I had the 1st lesson where I cried. That was intense haha. But the Spirit was so strong and Melany and Luis went to mutual on Thursday. The mom, Sandra, one week has Saturday and Sunday off then the next week Thursday and Friday. This week she is gonna go with her kids to mutual. They accepted baptismal dates for the 24th of December. They are really so cool.

Hermano Oscar went to church again and is really getting a lot happier. He likes going to church and we taught him how to pray and he's doing so good. We're really working with him on reading the LDM. He has a date for the 17th of December.

Other than that, we did a lot of contacting. The people here are not super receptive..it's a lot harder to have lessons because the people here don't have time or things like that.

On Thursday, Thanksgiving, we had some fun. We were thinking of families we could call to give us dinner (; and Elder Togisala and I are the only Americans in the house and we wanted food so bad. So he called a family that lived in the states for a long time and knows what Thanksgiving is and asked if we could join them for dinner. Elder Togisala called and said that we're so grateful for them and then asked and they said yes! So we went there and ate a HUGE Thanksgiving dinner:  turkey, bread, mashed potatoes and creme soda. It was awesome. I was so happy. (I will send pics don't worry.)

Saturday we had emergency changes and Elder Segura came here to be in trio with us. He's kinda a punk...but it's fine. He's from Argentina.

We're working super hard and on Thursday I will be able to take my driver's test so I'm studying like crazy so I don't fail again...like they all say, third time's the charm! This week we have interviews with Presidente and Leadership council on Friday. It'll be busy, but super good. I really am enjoying it. I also hit 10 months yesterday! In my studies I learned a lot about miracles and the Holy Ghost which is cool!

Thanks for everything and I hope you all have such a great week. I love you all!
Saluuuu Pues!
Con Mucho Amor, Elder Loveless

P.S.  Also, yes we felt the earthquake pretty strongly, but everyone's okay!

Best and Worst of the Past Week:
Best-We got to work in our area all week!
Worst- The mission has lots of work to do...But we can do it!!

Letters and/or Packages:
I got a package from Gma Val.

Saturday, November 26, 2016

November 26th, 2016 - 10 Month Mark

10 Month Mark - 
Out of the single digits and into the double digits!!!
November 26th, 2016


Monday, November 21, 2016

November 21st, 2016 - Weekly Letter

November 21st, 2016 - Weekly Letter

¿What's Sleep?

Oii! Hi Everyone. This week was a success..I guess you could say. I'm not super stressed yet so that's good!

This week we got to meet all the greenies on Tuesday and had a meeting with them in President Vasquez´s house. Wednesday were the cambios (changes/transfers) and that was crazy. It was a success, but still a little bit crazy haha. Thursday the old peeps went home so we had to take some oldies to the airport at 4 a.m. Elder Stout stayed here until Friday so he could drive us around and he had his 2 companions with him. Friday he went to his new area and we started to work super hard.

I only slept in until 6:30 a.m. one time this week. I'm exhausted. My companion Elder Arango is awesome. I love him a lot. Oh, and there are 4 tests you have to pass to get your license and I passed 3 and the 4th I failed 2 times because of the vocabulary. I hope I can pass it on Friday. I have to study like crazy or I can't drive until January...

Our area is really small and everything is literally uphill. It's a crazy good cardio workout. We have a lot of investigators, but we are finding a ton more. The weather is perfect and the view is gorgeous. We had a super cool experience. We were walking super fast to our dinner appt. because we were a little bit late and then someone yelled at us to stop. So we turned around and went to talk with them and it was a teenage girl (13) and her mom and brother came out and they told us that they want to be baptized and they want us to teach them. They have a cousin who is a missionary and they want to be members too! Their names are Luis, Melanie and Sandra. So cool. The people in Centro are a lot less receptive. We get lots of doors slammed in our faces. In Oriente, everyone lets you in. Here..not so much. But we're super excited and we're gonna baptize in December. Everything is great and I love my mission more and more each day. I love Presidente Vásquez as well. And Hermana Vásquez. They´re the best. Anyways, hope you all have a fantastic week and I'll talk to you all next week! Love you all!

Saluu Pues!

-Elder Loveless

Best and Worst of the Past Week:
Worst-I failed my driver's test...twice...because I don't understand Spanish words about driving.
Best-Miracles happen a lot! (See big email)

Letters and/or Packages:  None

Monday, November 14, 2016

Baptisms

Baptisms


Day of the Dead

Day of the Dead Activities



Tarantula!!!

The tarantula that Elder Loveless found in the shower!!!


Elder Loveless and his super big burrito!


November 14th, 2016 - Weekly Letter

November 14th, 2016 - Weekly Letter

Transfers Week!!!

Hey everyone!! So today I'm writing you all from a new location-the mission offices. How cool hehe. Anyways, this week was INSANE! Elder Dunkle and I did a lot of interchanges with the Elderes from our Zona and that went well. I was able to do 2 baptismal interviews for our district leader Elder Rojas and they are siblings: A teenage boy 17 and a girl 11. They've been investigating with their family for about 1 year and their mom has never given her permission so that they could be baptized so I prayed a lot. They both passed and their mom gave permission and I was soooooo happy!!!! They got baptized on Saturday.

We also had a Zone Conference and that was fun too. Thursday night I was doing interchanges with an Elder in the Zone and we were in the house and I was writing in my journal, when suddenly I got a phone call. I looked at who it was and I almost peed....Every time that I get phone calls around transfers time it's someone important telling me how much trust the Lord and Presidente have in me and they've given me a new calling. Welllllllllll that pattern has not ceased. It was the man himself, Presidente Vásquez. He and the Lord have called me to be the new ASISTENTE to the Presidente here in Centro. That was the scariest phone call I've ever received. Thursday night I packed and had emergency changes and Friday morning I came here to San Salvador. I'm in a trio with the asistents right now until Wednesday when the gringo, Elder Stout, stops being asistent. They're also training me to be asistent and I have to get my driver's license which I'm actually really scared about. People here drive INSANE! My companion is Elder Arango from Guatemala. He only has one more change as an asistent so we'll have a lot of fun together. We live in the capital San Salvador in Col. Las Americas. We drive a 2015 Nissan Navara which is a truck so that's cool. We also live in the same house as the Zone Leaders and one is from Ogden, Utah and the other was my ex ZL in La Unión, Elder Zúñiga. We have lots of fun.

We don't have a ton of time to work in the area because we're always so busy. Today we had to take an Elder to the airport and we woke up at 3:35. We wake up early. It's pretty crazy. I'm more tired than I've ever been in my life. Only about 8 more months of this (;  But I am really excited to work with Presidente Vásquez. I love that man with all of my heart.

Also today we played paintball and that was a lot of fun. All is well! Also don't be worried if I don't write on Mondays because it's rare that we have times to write. We'll do our best though to write. Wish me luck! I love you all and I hope you all have such a great week!

Chau!
-Elder Loveless

Best and Worst of the Past Week:
Best-I had changes.
Worst-I'm always so exhausted.

Letters and/or Packages:
3 packages from the fam and 2 from Gma Barbara

Monday, November 7, 2016

Elder Loveless and his comp Elder Dunkle.

November 7th, 2016 - Weekly Letter

November 7th, 2016 - Weekly Letter

No escogí la vida misional, la mida misional me escogió a mi.


Hey all! This week was just wonderful. We were busy like normal. We worked super hard and we are seeing results.

This week we didn't have any baptisms, but the zone is doing a lot better and we are gonna baptize this Saturday. One elder got sent home so we had emergency changes and an elder came here actually from La Unión and so Tuesday we just waited a lot for him to get here.

We had a lot of FHE's and a lot of investigators are lying to us which is kinda frustrating. They tell us they'll go to church then don't answer the phone or hide from us...it's annoying, but we're still being blessed for working.

We met a jovencita named Karen and she'll be 15 next week. She is such a happy person. We met her last week and she couldn't go to church, but yesterday she went and she absolutely loved the church. She is so good and so sincere. She expressed to us that for some time, she didn't believe in God and she thought she couldn't receive forgiveness for her sins, but she is so excited to learn about God and Jesus and how much they love her and all of us.

Wednesday was a national holiday called Día de los Muertos or Day of the Dead. It's always Nov. 2. We went to the cemetery and we received 164 contacts which was awesome. My companion also made lasagna which was really good.

Friday we had leadership council and went up to San Salvador again so we woke up at 4 AM. The consejo was awesome. We focused on the Restoration and how much power it has and also how we can teach better to needs. It was such a good council and I saw a ton of my friends (:

We're all doing good here and working super hard. I'm enjoying the mission more and more every day and learning a lot. I love you all and always pray for you guys. Have a great week!!

Con Amor, Elder Loveless


Best and Worst of the Week:
Best...Hna Karen!
Worst...People aren't going to church.

Letters and/or Packages:
None, but I forgot that last week I got a letter from Bishop Randall.