THE GOSPEL IS SUCH A BLESSING, COME UP WITH A PLAN AND THEN ASK FOR HELP FROM GOD, ANGRY DOGS

December 22, 2015

Companions

THE GOSPEL IS SUCH A BLESSING
Today we practiced (our Spanish) and I did pretty well.  I'll have points of really good and pretty bad ha ha. Humbling for sure.  Our ward is good.  We have one hermana (sister) that can be baptized once she gets married so yeah idk if it will take long or what but she wants to be baptized and everything so we will see. It makes all the hard work worth it to see someone progressing and changing for the better. This gospel is such a blessing and helps us so much. 

COME UP WITH A PLAN AND THEN ASK FOR HELP FROM GOD
Presidente Markham said the brother of Jared, from the Book of Mormon, was asking for help and said to God,  "What do you want me to do?"  We need to come up with a plan and then ask God. Take some initiative and stuff.  We have had moments where we will not have any success, so we will pray and then afterwards have a great lesson with someone.  We are trying to have the spirit as a guide more for everything. It helps. One time we prayed and were looking around trying to decide where to go and I looked at the houses and one kind of drew my eye.  I don't know why, ha, Christmas lights or something.  I was kind of unsure to say, "That house."  But turns out we both point at that door ha ha and then we taught the home owners a very poderoso leccion (powerful lesson).  It was great.  I'm trying to improve everyday. 

FELIZ NAVIDAD

ANGRY DOGS

P.S.   Almost kicked one dog's head in, but it was spared ha.  For reals though.  It was trying to like attack me and Elder Montero.  We were walking-jogging this street that was just full of angry dogs barking at us.  It was like the ninja turtle showdown with those weird monster things ha ha.

Hooligans!  IDK whose playing with the nativity at the templo (temple)...

Lunching like champions with coconuts and straws.

One of the best lunches ever.
A bunch of Taco Bell.
Tasted like heaven.

 

WIND, EARTHQUAKE, DOG BITE, BLESSINGS, AND DRUNKS--LESSONS AND BAPTISMS--LIFTING--I HAVE FAITH

December 15, 2015



WIND, EARTHQUAKE, DOG BITE, BLESSINGS, AND DRUNKS
Guatemala is pretty good.  Still hard, but I'm starting to get into the swing of things, I think. Windy here but nunca frio (not cold).  We were also in a super small earthquake...ha ha...super weird. I almost got bit by a dog but I like for some reason jumped it like all ninja style in the dark; it was crazy. Blessings for sure, ha ha. So many dogs here I try not to hit them cuz they are all crazy, ha. Also, lots of drunk people here and people who think my companion is a Gringo, ha ha, but he's a Dominican Republican. 

LESSONS AND BAPTISMS
How many lessons do you typically teach in a week?  Do you have anyone that is interested and scheduled to be baptized?  We teach somewhere around 20 - 30 lessons a week. We will get people to commit to baptism dates the 1st time we meet, but what's hard is all the following up cuz they are always ocupado (busy) or not esta (ready), ha.  It's frustrating but I try to have a good attitude. 

LIFTING
...eat right and take care of your body...For desayuno (breakfast) we had water mashed potatoes ha ha and eggs.  Pretty bland but it's whatever.  It's hard cuz we walk for super long and stuff and we can't really eat dinner so its hard to even maintain. But yeah the Lord will bless me.  I was talking to President Markham and he said don't worry too much about it. We talk lifting ha ha.  He's a tank.  He says he keeps lifting so he can take down all his sons when he returns ha ha. They are great. 

I HAVE FAITH
We prayerfully studied how to get more investigators and so we will be doing an English class.  I have no idea how to do it but I have faith ha ha. 

Love

Elder Sweat

COLD AND WINDY, WE ARE SO HAPPY, IT'S A PERSONAL CHOICE TO FIND THE TRUTH, MORE CUT---BUT SMALLER, THERE IS BEAUTY ALL AROUND---WHEN THERE'S LUNCH AT HOME, SNIPPETS

December 8, 2015

COLD AND WINDY

It's the "cold" season, ha ha, but they are selling coconuts, papaya and piña, ha ha. It's not too cold here. It gets pretty windy, though.  

WE ARE SO HAPPY

(Be bold and you will find someone who wants to hear the truth and will keep their commitments.--Terrell)  Ya, I'm trying, it's really hard but when I just do it super excited and stuff it's so much better. I just over exaggerate and it's not even bad cuz people are so surprised that we are so happy, ha ha.   

IT'S A PERSONAL CHOICE TO FIND THE TRUTH

(I imagine most people were baptized as infants?--Terrell)  Ya, a lot of people were. Lots of catholics and evanjelico. Its hard cuz a lot of people don't want to hear the message. For example, we had a guy that wanted to bible bash for like 20 minutes and we told him we were here to invite, not to argue and that it's a personal choice to find the truth. And then some other old guy from across the street got in it. We didn't really argue;  just kind of listened and answered his questions. The spirit was definitely not there cuz the contention was there and Elder Montero told him that. We closed with a prayer and everything and left. It makes me feel so blessed cuz the bible is interpreted in so many ways its crazy. That's why we have El Libro de Mormon, tambien. 

MORE CUT---BUT SMALLER

I'm losing more weight, ha!  More cut, but smaller, so that stinks. It's hard definitely to workout cuz you are always so gassed out here, but, I try. 

Love,

Elder Sweat

THERE IS BEAUTY ALL AROUND---WHEN THERE'S LUNCH AT HOME

Cooking up a storm.

Legit coconut

Companeros safe and sound

Almuerzo en nuestro casa (having lunch at home).

SNIPPETS 
We had a Christmas devotional and our barrio sang and I had a duet part ha,ha,ha,ha. We also got tamales and panche...sooooo gooooooddd.

So I got a free backpack cuz I was using a huge hiking one and it stained my shirt all nasty ha ha.  I was like noooooo.

A bunch of people set off fireworks here all day and yesterday they burned devils for some holiday thing ha ha; super dangerous.

Comp exchanges:  We mostly contacted cuz I had no idea where I was and then got rejected a bunch. We had a couple great lessons and then when we got home I couldn't find the llaves!!  I was like nooooooooooo.  I'm going to get sent hoooommmeeeee.  So we were kind of like what are we going to do?  But after a while, turns up the hermanas had them.  Some random guy went to the church and gave them the keys telling them they were the elders'.  Miracles, man.  Ha ha.  Was praying so hard.

THE CAGE FIGHTER, SORE AND DEAD, RAIN BLISTER, ALMUERZO, ELDER TREPENIER, COMPROMISMOS, ELDER HAFOKA, COMPANION EXCHANGES, ELDER MEONO, "BUS CONTACTING," CCM DISTRICT, I ALMOST DIED, TEMPLE, ALWAYS IN MY HEART

THE CAGE FIGHTER

Elder Sweat and Elder Brown, the cage fighter

SORE AND DEAD
My legs are sore and dead, all day, everyday, ha. 

RAIN BLISTER

Rain blister that I have had for days.

ALMUERZO
The ward members are great.  They feed us a lot of the time for almuerzo (the first substantial meal of the day taken usually just before noon) so thats' a blessing for us. They all think I'm huge, ha.  I'm like, "Uh, not really."  I'm losing weight, for sure, so that's hard, but I'm working hard. I can definitely improve. 

ELDER TREPENIER

My comp, Elder Trepenier, and me in the CCM.

COMPROMISMOS
I had a two day slump with contacting and stuff, but I'm climbing out of it, right now. We have a couple progressing investigators, but the hardest thing is getting them to church. We either get rejected or won't follow through on compromismos (commitments) even though you can tell the people feel something.  It's hard for most of the people we teach, cuz they are baptized in other religions. 

ELDER HAFOKA

Me and Elder Hafoka, from Australia

COMPANION EXCHANGES
We are on companion exchanges today, so we'll see how it goes.  I have to lead the other companion around cuz Elder Montero is with someone else.  It will be very interesting.  His name is Elder Kendall and he's pretty cool. He's one of the zone leaders for our area. 

ELDER MEONO

Me and Elder Meoño, from Tooele, Utah

"BUS CONTACTING," 
Oh, yeah!  When we ride on a bus in the city it's hard because we do "bus contacting," haha. It's crazy!  We step on and just start yelling, "WE ARE MISSIONARIES, REPRESENTATIVES OF JESUS CHRIST!"  and so on and everyone is kind of just like, idk.  Haha.  It's scary, but kind of funny.  It builds character.  (But, we generally don't  use buses.)  Now people are trying to avoid us.  Haha.  They go to the other side of the street or on a different street.  Haha. Must be doing something right if we can we can still contact them, ha. Hard, but good for me, for sure. 

CCM DISTRICT

Our CCM district

I ALMOST DIED
We also took a long route to President and Sister Markham's house for orientation. It was such a relief when we got in there.  I almost died. We were really late, had no idea where we were going, and jumped off buses onto other ones and took taxis and stuff.  Haha.  It was stressful, but funny when I think about it, now, ha.

TEMPLE  

Flag at the Temple

ALWAYS IN MY HEART
SAY "HI" TO THE FAM FOR MEEE.  Always in my heart.

Love,

Elder Sweat

A WORD FROM PRESIDENT MARKHAM, 6:00 A.M., KEEP PUSHING, ELDER MONTERO, LINDA VISTA

A WORD FROM PRESIDENT MARKHAM

"Please enjoy this photograph of Elder Sweat, whom we had the joy of welcoming into our mission on November 20, 2015.  We truly appreciate your efforts in preparing him according to the standards of the Lord now that the bar has been raised for missionaries entering the field of labor in Guatemala and everywhere in the world."  ---Melvin G. Markham, Mission President

6:00 A.M.
So, we actually didn't go to the mission home.  At like 6 in the morning, we got dropped off at a church.  We met a companionship from the mission and we had companion exchanges. 

KEEP PUSHING
This place is so much different than anything I ever expected. I know that I'll become a mejor (better) persona (person) through serving a mission. Right now, it is really hard.  We aren't having as much success as we want. But, when it's hard, I try to remember what President Holland said. He said that the atonement wasn't easy and there was never really an easy time in Jesus' whole life. This motivates me to keep pushing and I'm trying to improve everyday. 



ELDER MONTERO
My trainer is Elder Montero.  He is from the Dominican Republic.  He's a great guy and hard worker. He is also the fastest walker I've ever seen in my life!  I have to literally like jog to keep up with him and it is really hard!  Ha. He is super positive, funny, nice and he cooks a little.  In high school, he played baseball, as an outfielder. 



LINDA VISTA
My area is on the outskirts of the city.  It's mountainous, so it's really hard walking. I'm dying half the time and my legs are always sore and constantly hurting. Its called Linda Vista. But, yeah, the mission is definitely very hard mentally, physically and spiritually.  I just need to push through these 1st couple of meses (months).

Love

Elder Sweat

FATHER TO SON, ASK-SEEK-KNOCK, YOU ARE IN HIS HANDS, TAKE CARE OF YOUR TEMPLE, I'LL GO WHERE YOU WANT ME TO GO, NEVER LOSE FAITH IN YOUR FATHER IN HEAVEN-WHO LOVES YOU MORE THAN YOU CAN COMPREHEND

Dear Elder Sweat,

TERRELL:  So good to hear from you this past week.  It sounds like you are progressing as a missionary.  I hope you and your companion are healthy now.  I'm pleased to hear that you are using your priesthood to bless others.  I'm so glad you had the opportunity to give a blessing before you left.  That was a special experience for me.

ELDER SWEAT:  We are still a little sick but not really. Ya, it was helpful for sure.  Thanks for taking me. 

 

Priesthood Session in SLC, 2012.  Gpa Sweat, Elder Sweat, Aldste Sweat, Terrell, Dante, Skyler, Coleby, Jason, Tyson, and Dusty...Priesthood Power!--Becca

Elder Sweat and Luke in the Salt Lake Conference Center at the General Priesthood Session of General Conference.

TERRELL:  How was your last week at the MTC? 

ELDER SWEAT:  Still here.  I leave on Friday, but it's really good.  President Cox and his wife give the best devotionals ever.

Aldste Sweat, Elder Sweat, Terrell, and Dante.  3 of the 4 best looking baseball players and coach in Madison County, but I am prejudice.--Becca

TERRELL:  Be obedient and follow the Spirit.

ELDER SWEAT:  I will.  I strive to be as close to Christ as I can.  It's hard, but faith without works is dead.  

Friends from Rexburg at the Oakland Temple.

TERRELL:  Be bold and don't let inexperience cause you to be hesitant.  

ELDER SWEAT:  That's sick.  Thanks.

"My favorites,"--Becca.

TERRELL:  The Lord will bless you as you need it and your companion will be able to step in to help when you need it.  Go for it every day and be lovingly bold.

ELDER SWEAT:  Yep, trust in the Lord. 

   

TERRELL:  Are you keeping yourself healthy, both in mind and spirit?

ELDER SWEAT:  I have been playing some basketball and working out.  Trying to get some quicker feet. It's hard to run anywhere here.  Haven't drank any pop except for when we went to Wendy's that one time and I wasn't supposed to drink the water.

TERRELL:  I was able to watch the City of San Francisco and San Mateo play yesterday (Saturday).  They are the #1 and #2 teams, respectively.  They were solid.  I loved the intensity of the game.  SF won.  I think you can play at that level, after you dedicate yourself 100% to the Lord for the next two years.  Keep your body in shape by putting the best food you can in it--it will give you the fuel you need to work hard all day.

Team Captains, vs. Prospect

ELDER SWEAT:  Oh, sounds like fun.  I saw some pictures from home and you need to hit the weight room,  Dawg!  

Kiki, Terrell, and Denzel.  Elder Sweat and his dad are constantly competing for "The Most Swole"--Becca

TERREL:  We love you and pray for you.  Continue to do your best in serving the Lord.

Love,

Dad, Mom, and Family

ELDER SWEAT:  "I will."  It's been great here with all my district.  Ha!  Great times and learnings.

TERRELL:  "My dear friends, your faith did not begin at birth, and it will not end at death. Faith is a choice. Strengthen your faith, and live to be deserving of the Savior’s approving words: “Great is thy faith.” As you do, I promise you that your faith, through the grace of Jesus Christ, will one day allow you to stand with those you love, clean and pure in the presence of God, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen." - Elder Neil L. Andersen, October 2015 General Conference.

ELDER SWEAT:  Funny, cuz Grandpa Sweat shared a very similar quote, if not the same.

I hope everything is going great, still. How's the college football world, just the rankings?

Love Elder Sweat

Aldste Sweat, Gpa Sweat, Terrell, and Elder Sweat...True Blue fans!

MEMORIES, LETTER FROM HOME, YOUR FAITH WILL NOT GROW BY CHANCE---BUT BY CHOICE

MEMORIES

Grandpa Sweat, Dominique, Dante, Grandma Sweat and Elder Sweat at Giovanna and Chad's wedding, 2014.  

Twins. 

Elder Sweat and Arianna supporting Tiana at one of her basketball games last year.

Christmas 2014 in San Francisco with Terrell and Dante.

LETTER FROM HOME

Terrell:  Dear Elder Sweat

Hello!  Sounds like you are learning how to teach and contact investigators in Spanish!  This is something that you will likely learn on an ongoing basis throughout your mission.  The more that you can improve your teaching and your Spanish, the better off you will be.  I still like the idea of choosing 15-20 words per day, writing them down, and learning them. 

Elder Sweat:  

I've been trying to speak solamente Español through out the day and that has helped me a lot. I try to memorize around 20 or 30 words.  It's hard to fit in sometimes, but I want to learn. 

Terrell:  

How is Elder Trepanier doing?  I liked your scripture in Matt. 9:37-38.  I'm pleased to hear that you are finding scriptures that are meaningful to you.  It's hard to believe, but your time in the MTC is coming to a close.  I hope that you are making the most of it as it's a great time to be totally focused on learning and preparing to go out into the real world and serve.  I look forward to hearing about your week!  I'm so pleased that you are serving and doing your best.  Stay strong and keep up the good work! 

Love,

Dad, Mom, and Family

Elder Sweat:  He is doing pretty good.  He got pretty sick and I ended up giving him a priesthood blessing cuz he felt like he needed one, so that was def new. Ya, the scriptures have some pretty cool stuff in them and applicable for today. It was def written for this generation. Ya, we actually leave early.  Not a full 6 weeks cuz of meetings with the stake presidents or something, so really soon, ha. This is the last full week. I'm trying hard to stay focused and not waste time. Ya it will be crazy. More missionaries left today in the morning, so it keeps getting faster and faster. Nothing too much happened this week. Still a little sick, but it's all good.


Terrell:  

"Although your beginning fire of faith may be small, righteous choices bring greater confidence in God, and your faith grows. The difficulties of mortality blow against you, and evil forces lurk in the darkness, hoping to extinguish your faith. But as you continue to make good choices, trust in God, and follow His Son, the Lord sends increased light and knowledge, and your faith becomes settled and unwavering. President Thomas S. Monson said: “Fear not. … The future is as bright as your faith.” - Elder Neil L. Andersen, October 2015 General Conference

Elder Sweat:

That's a sick quote.  Thanks.

Love,

Elder Sweat

YOUR FAITH WILL NOT GROW BY CHANCE---BUT BY CHOICE

SICK FROM WENDY'S, ALARM AT 2 AM, AT THE MTC, MATTHEW 9:37-38, PRESIDENT AND SISTER COX ARE GREAT

SICK FROM WENDY'S
Everything is going pretty well overall. Me and almost our whole district got sick from Wendy's so that was pretty fun. Right now I'm just sick with a cold so nothing too bad now.  My Spanish is going fairly well. Elder Trepanier and I teach without anything but pamphlets, scriptures, and impressions. Our hardest lesson so far to teach is The Plan of Salvation cuz there is so much stuff in it and we tend to try and get too much in depth.



ALARM AT 2 AM
We did have an alarm go off in the MTC and it was like 2 in the morning and we were all super confused and trying to figure out what do do and we found out the there was a malfunction on the computer or something so it was a false alarm. Ha.  Still kinda sketched at first, haha.

AT THE MTC
We have been teaching "investigators." All of ours are committed to baptism right now.
At the MTC, we are eating food, working out, playing basketball, studying and teaching.
We had a great breakfast today and so it's a pretty good day. We went to the temple, ate, emailed, played sports, and studied some, and then had a devotional, so pretty good.



MATTHEW 9:37-38
My district is great, they build my testimony. I've been reading in Mathew.  It's a pretty good book, so far.  You should check it out. Mathew 9:37-38 is one of my favorite passages. I think it's talking about all those serving right now or those who are going to.

PRESIDENT AND SISTER COX ARE GREAT
President Cox is super awesome and he gives awesome devotionals. He had the chance of being drafted for baseball and stuff but he went on a mission as a, like, 1 year convert or something. He and his wife are great. The workers here are also pretty great, too.

Love,
Elder Sweat

Guatemala Missionary Training Center
Robert Thomas Cox, 61, and Rebecca Eugenia Friend Cox, four children, Tulare 2nd Ward, Porterville California Stake. Brother Cox is a former president of the Mexico Leon Mission, counselor in a stake presidency, stake executive secretary, bishop, ward mission leader, temple ordinance worker, and missionary in the Andes Peru Mission. Owner of Cox Farming. Born in Tulare, California, to Howard Marion and Dorothy Marie Cox. Sister Cox served with her husband in the Mexico Leon Mission and is a former counselor in a stake Young Women presidency, ward Relief Society and Young Women president, and temple ordinance worker. Born in Santa Monica, California, to Rollis Lewis and Mary Viola Friend.

MTC PHOTO OF THE TALLEST, Guatemala "The Blue and White", ANNOYED AND BODY LANGUAGE, WE ARE GETTING BETTER, LATINOS, I BOUGHT THEM WITH MY MOM, WENDY'S AND POP, HARD TIMES FOR A LOT OF PEOPLE, EXACT OBEDIENCE BRINGS MIRACLES, BUILDS CHARACTER

MTC PHOTO OF THE TALLEST

P.S. GMA SWEAT, ELDER SIMS IS RIGHT NEXT TO ME, HA

Guatemala"The Blue and White"

We went on a tour of the Governors Palace.  It was pretty cool.  I'm pretty sure that no one lives there now. We also went to an underground mercado which was very interesting. I bought 2 Guatemala soccer jerseys.  I don't know if i mentioned this last time, but when we were on the plane to Guatemala, the whole Guatemalan soccer team was on our flight.  They had a huge trophy with them. 

ANNOYED AND BODY LANGUAGE
We went out tracting for like 20 minutes today in a large plaza.  Elder Trepenier and I talked to one guy and he said he read the bible all the time.  He didn't seem interested, but we talked with him for a while and I gave him the Book of Mormon to read and he said a bunch of other stuff that i didn't understand.  I think it was about the Bible and philosophy, mostly, I think. Ha. We tried to get info but he only gave us his name and said something about not having a phone or not wanting to be annoyed or was annoyed about phones?  Ha, idk.  I only smiled and tried to read his body language and nod my head.  Hopefully he didn't like say anything tooo bad about the Book of Mormon and stuff cuz I was agreeing with him. 

We had a pretty good talk tho overall. We bore testimony about the Book of Mormon and I told him how it has accounts of when Jesus visited the Americas, so maybe that sparked his interest, idk. I had a real strong feeling or urge to help him out and answer all his questions, but I could only understand very minimal, which stinks. 

When we were getting the other missionaries, he was reading it so who knows.  Maybe cuz I told him the Bible and stuff was great, too and that we can get answers from both. 

WE ARE GETTING BETTER
Anyways, Spanish is pretty hard but Elder Trepenier and I have taught 2 "investigators" and committed them both to baptism with like no notes during our teaching, so we are getting better.  

LATINOS
All the Latinos and more than 40 Nortes missionaires left, so the place is empty.  We have like 4 districts or something here in total, so really empty, ha. The guys that left were all pretty cool. I'm especially going to miss the Latinos!  They are awesome!  

I BOUGHT THEM WITH MY MOM
P.S. to mom, I gave one of my ties away, but i got a tie in return.  I don't trade them here, even though a lot of people want to.  I always say, "Naw, man, these are 100% polyester, machine washable, and I bought them with my mom,"  People respect that, ha.   A Latino was giving me one of his ties as a gift and so i gave him my solid, machine washable navy blue tie. I told him that's how Americans do it, ha, cuz he was a little like naw, its good man, at first. 

WENDY'S AND POP
We went to Wendy's and the only thing to drink there was, unfortunately, pop, so I drank it, ha, it was pretty good. 

HARD TIMES FOR A LOT OF PEOPLE
This city is pretty crazy.  Armed guards and barbed wire everywhere.  Lots of poverty.  It's really hard times for a lot of people. We were told that the average Guatemalan earns $600 a year, so that puts it into perspective.  While we were placing a Book of Mormon, these kids asked if we wanted our shoes shined and stuff.  I felt way bad.  I told them, "No thanks.  Sorry." You also see like 7 year-olds running around with squeegees trying to clean people's windows.  Women with babies, like strapped to them with some native cloth, trying to do stuff to get money. Like one lady, when we first got here,  juggled and asked for money. I really wanted to help them out, but the only helping I can mostly do here is bring people happiness in their lives from the gospel. 

OBEDIENCE BRINGS MIRACLES
Obedience brings success, exact obedience brings miracles. So I'm trying to be as obedient as I can, which is hard sometimes.  But, when there is a will, there is a way.

BUILDS CHARACTER
P.S.  Sorry about all the grammar mistakes.  Trying to hurry while using a Spanish computer, so, ha, kind of difficult at times. Builds character, though.

Love,

Elder Sweat