Trials and blessings...and wanting to be a better person.

Hey Family!

Well the week went by so fast I don't even know what to talk about....

The District had really low numbers the past week so we had to think of some stuff to do to raise them. We did something that's called choque de fuerza. We all went to an area that needed the most help and worked there for about 2 hours. It helped so much! They had lots of new investigators and a few new baptism dates. Then I did interchanges with one of them in his area for that day. It was really cool because we went up to the first visit and I started looking at the door and inside the house...then I realized that when I was a district leader here a year ago I had visited them. But they didn't recognize me haha. But hey, we put a baptism date with the wife! Her husband is a member and has been trying to help his wife get baptized. We were able to get a lot more success this week and the Zone Leaders seemed to be pretty happy!

I also did interchanges with another Elder in my area one day and interchanges in my area with the zone leaders another day. We were able to put 8 new baptismal dates this week! The only thing now is to help them with the desire that they have to change. We had a few awesome lessons with our neighbor that's an investigator with our other neighbors that are members hahah. She was so excited to go to church with her family. She was going for SURE! But then on saturday she told us that she had to take her Piñatas to the city so she couldn't go. It was very sad but she says she will do everything she can to go next week. Shes Ana. The lesson I talked about this last week. 

I am very grateful for the trials that I am going through right now. I hope they help me after the mission to be better. I don't want to return to my old life. And that's why I am so grateful for the mission. It's not easy but the blessings are huge. I love you all so much!

Love Elder Markham

A hard week, but loving the work!!

Hey Family!

I don't have too much time this week so I will tell you real quick what we did. 

Well my companion was sick all week so I had to spend all week trying to get the members help us that we could get a little work done. The problem is that everyone was working. We had a few good lessons and found a few new people. But it sure was hard. Friday we got everything ready for our activity we did this Saturday and Sunday. We had an open house in our stake center. The missionaries taught different things in different rooms. I was Nephi and I talked about the Book of Mormon! It was so cool because I got to dress up and everything. I was also able to see the Zapeda Family, and since they knew I was going to be there they brought my a huge bag of pan dulce haha. Then I also got to see Orlando and his family. His family still hasn't been baptized yet but the missionaries there say that he's sure awesome and strong in the church. When he saw me he gave me a big hug and wrote my name on his hand haha. We did this Saturday andSunday. It was awesome because we had tons of people there! And everyone said that they loved it! 

There's also a family in our ward that I guess the husband lives in Portland....they are going to give me his address. They want me to find him and baptize him because he's not a member...yet haha.

Last night we had the best lesson of the week. We were teaching a single mother with three sons and her mom. We just talked about the life of Christ and the Apostasy leading up to the Restoration because we didn't have too much time. It went awesome and the Spirit was super strong. The single mom started to pray when we ended, and during her prayer she started crying, afterwards we waited for her to stop a little then we asked how she was feeling. She said that she thought God wasn't listening to her and that He didn't love her anymore, but when we came by we helped her remember that He does love her and that we had answered her prayer. We taught her a little more about the love of God and we will be returning tomorrow to put a baptismal date with her and her family! 

I love you all so much! 

Love Elder Markham

More pictures sent by Elder Togisala's Momma...it was Elder Togisala's birthday!!  And another picture of Garrett dressed as Nephi!

Garrett is Nephi!

Garrett portrayed Nephi from the Book of Mormon at a Stake Open House today!  A friend that he baptized last year sent me this picture that she took (Thank you Karen).  He has always been my Nephi!

A New (and Old) Area for Garrett!! Back with the Zepeda family!

Hey Family!

It was the longest week ever with changes this week! Guess what!? Yep! I'm back in Ilopango!!!!!! This is my third area in the zone! It's so close to Alta Vista that this morning we had a meeting in the church over there. I was able to go to the Zepeda Families house and buy some pan dulce. Well I didn't really buy it. I said I was going to buy one little thing. Then Karen Zepeda, who I baptized a year ago, filled up a huge bag and gave it to me to eat for free! haha, I walked up to the store door that they have to surprise them. Only Karen was there today and when she was walking out she stopped and said, ELDER MARKHAM!? Haha it was awesome! She says she's going to the temple for the first time tomorrow! I'm so happy! I should be abe to see the whole family Saturday and Sunday because we will have two activities with in the stake. Saturday is going to be an open house and I'm going to dress up like Nephi (A Prophet from the Book of Mormon) and give a little presentation. 

So my area is called Valle Nuevo. I'm the district leader here. Which is pretty funny because I'm district leader for the same district as the first time I was district leader, just in another area. Which means I'll be able to work with the elders that are in the area that we baptized Salvador Hernandez! I'm pretty excited for these next few changes. Especially since this area is one of the first areas that the members started to grow! So it's a pretty big ward. And the members are awesome!!!!! We have a dinner list that the members sing up to give us dinner every night! I have never seen that here! Something else that I've never seen here that I saw yesterday was the members going by Sunday morning leaving tithe offering slips! We also have a great ward mission leader and ward council that are really willing to help us. The only  thing I don't understand is why didn't the last two missionaries take advantage of it?? Because there aren't many investigators here and so we are starting from zero pretty much. My companion is from the Dominican Republic. His name is Elder Castro. He's a good guy. He has about 8 months in the mission. 

Well it was a crazy week but I'll be able to share some more experiences this next week! I love you all so much!

Love Elder Markham

Garrett with his companion Elder Castro (sitting diagonally from Garrett) with Elder Togisala sitting next to Garrett and Elder Togisala's companion sitting across from Garrett. (Thank you Amber...Elder Togisala's momma for sharing!)

Lots of upcoming Baptisms...but a new area for Garrett.

Hey Family!

Wow! It was quite a week! Soooo many things happened. But I have good news and bad news...

Good News.... Well Saturday we found another family that is super awesome. The guys wife is the only member of the family but she hasn't gone to church for a long time. We were able to talk to them and they committed to go to church with us Sunday. But just the dad and his two daughters. Maria and Beranice Hernadez also went, Paz and Sergio as well, and one of my ex companions brought his girlfriend to church.....which I will explain here shortly. So to shorten things up, we had 8 investigators in church yesterday! It was awesome! Ok so about my ex companion. Do you remember one of my companions in Santo Tomas? He's from Honduras and also served here in San Patricio. Well he came back for her but she's still not a member yet. So with his help we've been teaching her and her 8 year old son and they will be getting baptized on the 27th of February. We also met her sister yesterday and she also wants to get baptized that day. Just the week before will be the baptism of Maria and Beranice on the 20th of February. In March we have a few other people that have baptismal dates and should be getting baptized here soon. I am so thankful for the Lord´s help. We couldn't have done it without him.

Bad News...I have changes this week. We don't know what day I'm leaving because it's going to be a bit different than how it was before. But I will be letting you know about my new area this next week.  **Mom's note: (This is only bad news because this means that since Garrett is leaving the area, he won't be able to participate in all the baptisms coming up.  It's hard for the missionaries to bring the Gospel and work hard to find and teach these people about Jesus and then have to leave before their baptisms...but Garrett understands he needs to do what the Lord asks of him and he is willing to go and help bring others to Christ)**

I love you all!!!! Thank you for all your support!

Love Elder Markham

Some new pictures from Garrett's friend Aldo!  So happy that they feed him so well!  We aren't sure if the sunshine is making Garrett grow, but clearly he is one of the taller ones in El Salvador!

This was Garrett's changes today...excited to hear where he is going!