"If you labor all your days and bring one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy" D&C 18:15

Monday, February 24, 2014

PVC pipe

Hola Familia!!!

This week has been a great and very successful week, and I can say that I definitely have mastered my pvc pipe skills. Now when I get back, I will be able to fix any kind of sprinkler system!

So EVERY kind of pipe system, whether sewer, water, whatever, is made of pvc, and they don't even put them in the ground or anything. They just stick up out of the ground!!! So they break all of the time. Now in the United States, you could go to Lowes or somewhere and buy a part and fix the problem, but here in Guatemala they don't have special pipes and converters to fix the problem!!! So what you do, is if a pipe breaks, you take another pipe and heat it up in a fire and expand it just so it's big enough to snug over the other pipe. After that, you put some strong glue on it and call it good! And now after doing it 2 or 3 times, I can fix it in less than 20 minutes.

We've found that this is a really good way to find new investigators, or to help the investigators that we already have. The only problem is that they don't sell short pieces of pipe. We actually had to buy a 25 ft long pipe and it stretches all the way down our longest hallway in our house! It's pretty funny!! But after doing a lot of service, cooking, and putting our faith and trust in the Lord, I would have to say that we have been experiencing a lot of success. This Sunday we brought 8 people to church, which I've never even come close to before. And it was the most in our zone and probably other zones! Of these 8 people, 6 were a complete family, which is my dream to work with a whole family. As they all came to church, all the members were so nice and made them feel welcome. The members told us that they can't remember the last time that the missionaries brought a whole family to church. So I definitely thought that was awesome, and because of all the love the members showed, I know this won't be the last time this family comes to church!

Just having that family come to church, changed the entire attitude of the ward. We gained a lot of confidence with the members, and now they want to actually help us with this family. There is now a strong spirit and a desire to help and serve the missionaries!

Well, it sounds like everyone had a great week! les amo mucho! Tengan una feliz semana!

Tortilla Total 715

Working on the pipe for Hermana Brinda

/Cutting the pipe with a kitchen knife

Elder Corbett and Elder Perry have fixed the pipe

A stove Elder Corbett and Elder Perry made with an investigator

Monday, February 17, 2014

The power of the Book of Mormon

Hola Familia!

Wow, the time goes by fast on the mish! I pretty much spent the whole week up on the mountain working. We have been finding a lot of people to teach so that has been great. Other than that, not too much has happened.

Saturday night I was told that I needed to help change some of the bad habits of the ward, and that I needed to give a 15 minute talk on punctuality. After looking in the scriptures, I pretty muched changed my talk to keeping the sabbath day holy, and told them that the Lord has asked us to worship Him on this day. When we arrive late we miss the most important thing, the sacrament. It went well, and after searching through a thousand Ensigns I even found a story that I could share haha. Let's hope they listened to me and next week they are all there before the sacrament!

Also, Elder Perry and I had a pretty cool experience with the Book of Mormon. I am starting the new missionary revolution here in Guatemala, instead of carry around a huge back pack, all Elder Perry and I have done is carry around a Bible, which has our book of pictures in it, a white board that I made that can fold, and then the pamphlets that we pass out. Then, the other missionary carries his Book of Mormon, plus another one to give out! That way people know exactly what we are here for, and when they see the Book of Mormons that we are holding, they will ask us questions about it, and then that's the best way to start teaching.

But anyways, we were coming home late one night, and these dogs from another church started chasing after us like they always do. So Elder Perry decided to point his Book of Mormon at them. When he did that, the dogs got scared and ran away and started whimpering. Haha,It was sooooo cool. So as we were getting closer to our house we passed by another church as they were playing this loud music, and they were screaming and yelling. So I pointed my Book of Mormon at the church, and right when I did that, the lights shut off in the church, the band quit playing their music, and the people were silent.

All I have to say is that the Book of Mormon has power! I'm not surprised at all, because the book is perfect, and it can bring a man closer to God. When we read the Book of Mormon we gain light and power. It contains powerful words, and when we read it, we gain a knowledge, and a testimony that God really does exist, and the more knowledge and faith we gain, the more light and power we have!

Well I hope everyone has a great week! All is well in Guatemala!! Les Amo!

Tortilla Total 674

The District

Cooking with Fransico, Manllela, Roni, Walter and Suzan

Elder Corbett and Manllela

Monday, February 10, 2014

An amazing week!

Hola Familia!

This week has been a great week! I don't even know where to start. First of all, they split our zone into 2 zones, and so now we have new zone leaders. They are awesome! I also got called to be a district leader. Because the zones are so small, I'm over 2 other companionships, but wow, my district is the best! I love serving and being positive with them. The only bad part is having to stay up so late talking with the zone leaders every night, but oh well!!

We had an amazing week in the work! After many hard weeks of searching for God's childeren who have been prepared by Him, I think we finally found some. We ended up bringing 5 investigators to church, which I have never done before. And with the positive experience that they had, I wouldn't be surprised if it doubled the next week!

This is how we did it. We got our ward mission leader, to take his truck up the mountain and we just piled everyone in. We even brought like 10 inactive members in this big pile of people in the back of the truck!

Then after church, as we were waiting for our ward mission leader to take them all back, 2 of the investigators, Roni age 13, and Walter, his brother, age 11 asked the best question I've ever heard in the mission......So Elder Corbett, when can we be baptized?!?! It was the coolest thing! I pulled out my phone and checked the calender and I was like well, you have to go to church 2 more times, so let's plan it on the 1st of March! haha! These 2 boys will really help the ward. One problem that this ward has, is that there is no one with the priesthood, not even to pass the sacrament. These 2 boys will be able to pass the sacrament!!!

One thing that i have learned in the mission, is that there are going to be good days and bad days, good weeks and bad weeks, even months. But if we are patient with the Lord, and if we are humble before Him, He will comfort us during these bad times, and bless us with great times and experiences on our missions. I am so greatful for the joy and knowledge I have gained about the Savior's love that He has for me and His children here in Guatemala. There's no where I could be, that is better for me, than right here serving the Lord.

I hope that everyone had a great week this week, and that you guys have a great next week! I can't believe that today is my 7 months, wow the time flies! les amo mucho!

Tortilla Total 649

Doing service and playing with a machete

Monday, February 3, 2014

Teaching a lesson with hamburgers

Hola Familia!

This has been a great week, not only because Seattle won the super bowl, but because we have been having a lot of fun with our investigators! Also, I got to go on divisions with one of the zone leaders.

I love doing divisions, because there is always something I can learn, especially with one of the zone leaders! I went with Elder Garcia, and to his area called Brasilia! It was nice taking a break from Las Rosas and experiencing another area! I definitely learned a lot from him. Especially, to just talk to everyone one and ask them if they want to hear a message! I decided to put my own spin on it. I did like the part where we talk with everyone, but the thing that I found out here in Guatemala, is that everyone likes food! So now when we are talking to them we tell them that we know how to cook many different dishes from the United States, and that we would like to come over and get to know their family, cook for them, and then share a little message with them!

After doing that, more people have been accepting of us. We have gotten to know them and be friends with them. We have been teaching more lessons, and It has been FUN!!! Well that's all that happened this week here in Guatemala! It sounds like everyone but Landon had a good week this week! Les Amo Mucho!

Tortilla Total 613

Eating mariscos

Elder Corbett and Elder Perry with some investigators

An activity with Shenny and her family

Another actividad we did with Shenny and her family! We made hamburgers and then we talked about how you would rather have a hamburger with every topping on it, instead of a hamburger with only meat on it. Then we related that to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints compared to all the other churches, and how it's the only church that has all the toppings!

Our grill

The Futbol stadium in Huehue