Wednesday, March 16, 2016

100 days to go


1-31-16


This week was pretty awesome.  This past tuesday our district leader interviewed or investigator for baptism.  She passed which was good.  Then me and my companion went on splits this past thursday with our district leader and his companion.  I worked in their area so I didn't have the a/c.  Then when I got back I was in heaven.  If this ends up being my last area I won't complain.  Then saturday was the highlight of my week.  Actually like the highlight of this past year cause the last baptism me and my companion had was last march.  So it has been a long time.  I know it is not about getting baptisms, but it is a cool feeling.  So the girl that i baptized is scared of water.  I guess she is scared that she will drown or something.  Anyways when I was baptizing her she went under and she tried to come back up but I was watching her hair and it wasn't under yet so I pushed her down deeper haha I guess I am mean.  Not, I asked her if she was okay after and she said that she was.  We didn't have to do it again though which is good.  It was just an awesome day.  On sunday we had 9 of our investigators attend church.  I was so surprised.  It was awesome though.  That is the most investigators that I have had attend church for my whole mission!  Then we went to lunch and then went right back to the church after cause we had like a one day mission with the members.  I think it was only supposed to be 1 hour but it ended up being 2.  It was to help the youth and stuff to be able to know how to do home/visiting teaching.  So my companion taught for probably half the time and then a sister in the ward.  It was hot in there, so I got a pretty good headache.  After that we taught 2 of our investigators at the church.  After we were done teaching Brother Vince he had his baptismal interview.  Sadly he didn't pass haha just kidding.  He is a great investigator.  So his baptism will be this next week!  It was a pretty great week and I am excited for this saturday.  It will be cool!  This is the last full week before transfer week.  It is so crazy how fast that cycle went.  Well I love you guys and have a great week!

Love
Elder Lott


Dear Mom,

This week was awesome.  It has been a long time since my companionship has had a baptism.  I know it is not about the baptisms but it is cool to have one.  The spirit was strong at the baptism.  It was a really good day.  Then one of our investigators got interviewed yesterday and he passed so his baptism will be held next saturday.  So we have another exciting week coming up.  Also 9 investigators came to church yesterday.  It was really awesome!  I am really enjoying my area and the time is going by so fast.  This is the last full week before transfer week.  I kind of want my companion to stay cause I don't want to lead the area.  We will see what happens but I think it is a 50/50 chance.  Well I was waiting to see if you were going to send an email, but I have to go now cause my companion needs to wash his laundry.  If you send one I guess I will see it next week.  I love you mom have a great week.  Go Broncos!

Love Elder Lott


Baptism Pics


Sister Renalyn Pascua




2-7-16

Wow what another great week to follow the great week that we had last week.  On sunday sister renalyn got confirmed in sacrament meeting.  One of our investigators needed to be interviewed by a counselor in the mission presidency, cause you are not allowed to get divorced in the philippines.  Well you are but you need to meet some requirements and you need money.  So that is why she needed to be interviewed.  It is called co-habitation.  Her husband was married in the past and then his wife left him.  Then now they are technically not divorced but they both have a spouse.  Our investigator is his wife and they have been living together for 8 years and they have three kids, but that is why we had to have her interviewed by someone in the mission presidency.  She passed, and she can be baptized, but he told us to make sure that her testimony is strong before.  Then on saturday we had another baptism.  It was pretty cool.  So our bishop brought in some speakers so he could play the hymns and then when my companion was doing the baptism they started going off.  I don't know why, but it was just really bad timing.  It was a great day though.  Then he got confirmed yesterday in sacrament and he got ordained a priest in elders quorum.  Also on saturday me and my companion borrowed some members bikes for like 30-45 minutes or so.  It was great to be able to ride a bike.  We only had to drop some slacks off at a members, but it was so much faster.  It would be nice to have bikes, but I doubt that is going to happen.  Also I am pretty  out of shape riding a bike.  I can jog and stuff, but I hadn't ridden a bike for so long.  And of course what I have been thinking about this whole week is the super bowl, and how I won't be able to watch it haha.  I am excited that they won Smiling face (black and white)Smiling face (black and white) but of course it is the year that I am gone and can't watch it, figures.  I will just have to watch it when I get home, even though it will be months over!  Well I love you guys.  Have a great week.  Broncos Superbowl 50 champs ya buddy!!

Love Elder Alex Lott







2-14-16

Happy Birthday to me Happy birthday to me haha just kidding.  My 20th birthday was this past week.  It was also transfer day on my birthday.  None of us were transferred though.  That is alright with me though that means that this could very well be my last area.  So this week we were teaching a lesson to an investigator and he asked how old we were.  I said that I was 20 and then I was thinking to myself, wow that is weird.  I think I might feel a little older just since I am out of the teens now!  Me and my companion have a lot of progressing investigators.  Some of them could be baptized this cycle we will just have to finish teaching them and they will have to keep their commitments, like coming to church.  One of our investigators wives had her baby last week and we saw him when he was only like 3 or 4 days old.  He is pretty cute.  This past thursday we had our zone meeting.  Holy cow it was long.  I think it was about 3 and a half hours.  I think probably half of that was breaking down Moroni 7:45 about charity.  It was a good meeting, but I was starving and I am not the only one that was.  On saturday my companion was sick with a fever.  So I just chilled in the a/c all day.  It was pretty nice.  Then yesterday we had like a stake conference type thing because the stake presidency was getting reorganized.  So elder haney came and another area seventy of the philippines.  We were able to shake his hand and stuff.  Also our mission president and his wife came.  It was a pretty good meeting, but I got a little bit tired.  We had dinner yesterday at the stake presidents house.  He was the first councilor in the mission presidency and then he was called as the new stake president and everyone was really surprised.  Tomorrow we are having zone conference.  So it will be exciting to see people in the mission that I haven't seen for awhile.  Well love you guys have a great week.  Happy Valentines Day

Love Elder Lott




2-21-16

Well today I have exactly 4 months left.  Ya buddy.  This past tuesday we had our zone conference in santiago.  Our mission president and his wife spoke to us.  They taught us about Joseph of Egypt and the type of person that he is and that we need to bloom where we are planted and stuff.  It was a good meeting and then we had some lunch after which was pretty good.  Then we practiced contacting after and stuff for like our activity.  Then we ended it with a testimony meeting.  I think I will probably have one more zone conference left in my mission, I think cause I am pretty sure they are every three months.  Me and my companion have just been teaching our investigators and stuff.  We have some that can be baptized in the next couple weeks but they just need to keep their commitments.  It has been raining these past couple days but I am enjoying it a little bit cause it is nice and cool.  Last night we walked home and I had no umbrella and so I got pretty wet it was like a 30 minute walk and by the time we got back to the apartment I was pretty soaked.  So on tuesday I received my letter from the mission that says when I will be leaving and like what airport I am going to come into.  It is called a trunky letter haha, but I was pretty excited to get it!  The weeks are just flying by!  I am just so excited.  I have 4 months left today, I am not trunky though just to clear that up haha.  Well I love you guys and have a great week!!

Love Elder 



2 of my batch mates from the mtc!!  




trunky letter!   3 cycles na lang haha


2-28-16

Wow I can't believe that february is already over.  It just flew by.  This week went by pretty good.  We have a couple that we are teaching and their baptism is set for march 22nd.  They are also planning on getting married the same day, so we will have their wedding and then they will be baptized.  They were asking me questions about weddings in the u.s and stuff and I had no idea since I have never been to one.  The said that we could end up being the best men haha.  That would be pretty cool.  We are teaching this family and they are progressing pretty well.  They have attended church these past couple of weeks.  They ask a lot of questions while we are teaching to which is good, cause they won't know the answer if they don't ask the question.  That is how a lot of investigators are here, a lot of the time they are to shy to ask a question.  We have a lot of investigators that we are teaching and a lot of them are progressing.  The work is going really good here.  On saturday the other 2 elders in our apartment had 2 baptisms, so we were able to attend that.  On sunday I was going to hop on a caribow, one of those buffalo's.  We were talking to the guy and I am pretty sure that he couldn't understand us cause he didn't say anything.  The thing was eating, but every time I put a little pressure on his back he would turn his head and look at me.  Then the guy left so I was like, ugh I think I will just do it another time.  I was hoping he would help me, but he just so left..bummer!  There will be another chance though.  So a couple weeks ago I got my trunky letter and last monday when we went to the mall I took my passport pictures!!  Ya buddy haha.  I was asking the other elders when they will take theirs just cause they still have like 19 months haha. It is crazy transfer week is only in 4 weeks. The time is going by so fast.  June 22nd is going to come very fast!:)  I love you guys and I hope you have a great week!  

Love Elder Lott

Ps- Happy Birthday Mom you old granny haha I love you!






Every time I would try and get on that thing it would turn it's head and look at me





I love this little girl!  She is so cute


3-6-16

Well I say this every week, but that week just flew by.  So we are teaching a couple and they are the ones that have a baptismal date set for the 22nd.  They have to kids under the age of eight and it is just cool that now their kids are praying and reminding their parents to read the scriptures and stuff.  It has been really cool to see the change in their lives even since I have been here.  They attended church this last week which is great so hopefully we will still be able to have their baptism in a couple weeks.  We might just have to move the day cause we have like a training on that day and we aren't quite sure how long it is going to last.  Also they are planning on getting married and getting baptized in the same day so it is going to be a busy day.  One of our progressing investigators me and my companion have noticed that she has became more shy to our commitments and in our lessons.  We are glad that now she has kind of got out of that.  We have this one family that we are teaching and they are really progressing as well.  They are reading the pamphlets that we give them and they are also reading the book of mormon.  They participate in the lessons a lot to.  So I hope the future is bright for them.  This past week me and two of the other elders in my apartment made some hamburgers.  They were so good we had some fries, brownies, and root beer!  After we were done eating we all felt pretty fat.  Guess I better jog twice as much this week!  Then that one pic is of a pizza I made.  It had some microwave bacon from my package and some pepperoni!  Tasted like little ceasars haha just kidding!!  The other pics that I included our from our zone conference a couple weeks ago just in case that you didn't see them!   All the missionaries in our mission are doing this book of mormon power read.  It is pretty cool.  Well I love you guys and I hope that you have a great week.

Love Elder Lott








3-13-16

Well you already got the picture that I sent!  Today I have 100 days left.  I am just surprised how fast the time is going by.  I mean it seems like I just barely wrote my email that I sent last week.  I am guessing that you are thinking that I am trunky, well let me just clarify that I am not trunky.  I don't want to wish away the time that I have left.  I am excited to see you guys though!  Besides it goes slower if you count haha!!  This week was pretty great.  We are getting closer and closer to the baptism that we have next week.  It is going to be pretty exciting to cause there will be a wedding too.  We have another family that is progressing really good as well.  We extended a baptismal invitation to them this past week.  Depending if it has to be pushed back it will hopefully be in april.  So last week we contacted someone and they said that their father was interested to listen to us.  So I was thinking awesome!  So on friday we went to their house.  It started out really good.  When we sat down and first started talking he was like I know about your joseph smith and stuff and he was asking about the book of mormon and stuff.  So it started out pretty good and then just went downhill really fast haha.  Turns out he was a pastor for some other church.  He was really good at the bible though.  So we would try and share about the book of mormon and he was like oh no I am not interested in that.  He said why is there another testament when it says in revelations 22:18-19 that no more scripture will be added even though our mission president told us that that is mentioned in exodus or something.  So that would mean the whole bible is pretty much meaningless.  Also he said he didn't believe the book of mormon cause the picture of Jesus in the front, because in that picture Jesus has long hair and he said in the bible that Jesus has short hair.  Well I would like to see where it says that haha.  We didn't debate him, I think that is what he wanted though.  We just bore our testimonies on the book of mormon and the truthfulness of it.  He was in like his 70's so we asked him if he could still read and he said that he could and that he read the bible a lot.  We offered to give him a book of mormon and challenged him to read it for himself to see if it was true.  This is the funny thing he said I just had to laugh.  He said well I am getting old and I have a cataract in my eye haha!  That was a neat experience even though my head hurt a little bit after haha.  Then on saturday we had a service project with some of the missionaries in our zone.  We went and weeded this big section next to the ladies house and weeded through here plants and stuff.  To bad no weed wacker just your hands or a machete!!  So I got a couple blisters on my hand since I have soft hands now.  We got a little sunburn so we have a couple of rednecks at our apartment now haha!  We played some basketball this morning and it is getting  hot here.  By like 9 it is so hot, at least I get a decent tan.  Well hope you enjoy the email.  Have a great love you guys

Love Elder Lott

That is a vehicle that they use here.  The front is pretty much a big tiller and then they hook a cart to it.  Its called a kaliglig.





crammed in the side car of a tricy




mission blog pics








Happy Birthday Ry!!!





2001  Ryan's 3rd bday
I was pregnant with Jaime and not feeling well so he only got a "birthday cookie" this year.  Sorry Ry.  But he was still happy






 2005 Ryan's 7th bday


2006  Ryan's 8th bday



2007  Ryan's 9th bday



2009  Ryan's 11th bday




2010 Ryan's 12th bday


2011  Ryan's 13th bday





2012  Ryan's 14th and last bday with us. 
 He was so sweet and let Ethan open all of his presents



He was so excited to get these cowboy boots.



Until we meet again Ryan.  And I promise we will meet again.  We love you so much.  I am so blessed to have been your mom.  I can't wait to give you a big hug.  I know you are where you are supposed to be and I am proud you were needed for such a special purpose above.  I hope and pray I can live so I can be with you again someday.  Families are Forever!!!  I am so thankful for my Savior and the example and sacrifices he has made so this is possible.   In honor of Ryan this week, please do acts of service and kindness towards others.  And smile.  He would want us all to be happy.