Christmas Day Skype with My Family, Plus Cambios this Week...

Hola Mamá, how are you? I’m doing good! P.S. I can’t even tell you how much I love the chocolate pb pie oreos you sent me!!! Anytime you are going to send me a package, please include more of those! and sugar cookie and cookie dough poptarts! but mainly the oreos! 😀

Last Monday was a super great day. We had to be in by 6:00 pm, for our safety, so I decided to cook fettuccini alfredo with a sausage that’s like kielbasa. There wasn’t as much as I thought there would be so then I made stuffing with mashed potatoes and gravy. We were super full when we got a message from a member family (Familia Angel) telling us they wanted to bring us food. They are an awesome family and brought us some type of BBQ rib meet, spaghetti, apple salad, Cheetos, bread and grape juice. 😮

Christmas was a super fantastic day! It started with district meeting where we talked about the attributes of Christ and figured out what which attributes we need to work on more. We also got a surprise visit from Presidente Urrea to tell us in person he wants each companionship to get 8 effective contacts for the day. Then we went to lunch with a really awesome young couple before we went to the casa of the familia Angel to Skype with you. I can’t describe how awesome it was to talk with and see everyone! Especially that I got to talk with Shawn in Spanish! After Skyping we only had a couple hours to contact so I asked my companion where he thought we should go. He picked a street that was super great and we were able to find 8 contacts!

Wednesday was kind of rough just because all our appointments fell through and because I felt horrible. We went to verify an appointment for the next day with one of our contacts who sells juices, shakes and what not. I had a cold so I got some juice to help me, but it didn’t set well with my stomach. As the day progressed I could feel something was wrong and I began to feel weak. So we went back to the casa so I could rest and try and feel better.

Thursday I was feeling better. We had a few appointments but only one person was home. One of the appointments we had was with Dalia, the woman who tried to poison me the day before 😬, but when we went she said she forgot about the appointment and was busy. I’m not sure how someone forgets about a cita when we verified with her the day before. So we rescheduled, but we’ve had to reschedule a good many times already so if it happens again we are going to stop trying and wasting our time trying to teach her. But after that we were able to find some really solid contacts, thanks to Heavenly Father!

Friday we had a quick lesson with a young guy named Esteban who we found the day before. It was just to get to know him and who he is, what his beliefs are, and if he has any doubts or questions about anything. He told us that for 2 years now he has had a sickness but doesn’t know what it really is because the doctors don’t know either. Because of his sickness he has a lot of weight and is having issues with his body. After he told us that we started talking with him about the Plan of Salvation and invited him to come to Church. He is an awesome guy and believes in God and is interested in learning more. He wasn't able to come to church this week, but we hope he can in the future and we can continue teaching him.

Saturday we were supposed to have a cita with Edith but no one answered the door and she didn’t answer her phone either so we went to another appointment with a woman and her son just to get to know them. After that we got a call from Edith saying she was busy so we invited her to church and she said she would definitely be there. Then we had a lesson with Nicolasa to finish lesson 3 and invite her to church as well. We also went to visit Dalia but she wasn’t there, so we are going to stop going by to see her. 

Sunday only one of the three people we invited to church came and that was Nicolasa. She has come to church three times and really loves it. We introduced her to the Relief Society President so she can start to get to know more members and have friends that will help her feel welcome and understand more about the church. We were able to visit a couple more people and make a few contacts before we finished the day.

So we found out cambios and guess what! We are staying the same! I am really excited about that! As far as New Year’s Eve, we have to be in early tonight and study – I’m going to buy pizza though haha! I gotta go but I love you so much! Happy New Year!

Christmas Eve Fettuccini

Added stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy

Awesome meal the Familia Angel brought us!

Christmas day meal of grilled cheese sandwiches and soup :)

Cool hat I bought!

A Great Week Visiting Old Friends, Climbing in the House Through a Window, and Finding New Investigators

Hola Mamá! Yes I’m still planning to get on and Skype with you at 4:00pm my time! Thank you for that quote! Last week was really good. Monday I went to buy candy and then we went to Villa del Carbón! We went and visited the family Hernandez Velazquez for a couple of hours. Laura made us food, breakfast tortas, and we talked and had a great time! Oh, when we got there, we were surprised to see Vianey. We even went and visited DateunRoll for a quick minute. Vianey tried to call Victor but he didn’t answer. Anyway, I gave them the chocolates and candies that I bought and they were kind enough to give me gifts as well! I can’t describe how awesome it was to be able to go back and visit them. 

Tuesday was our district meeting. Our district is super awesome! After district meeting we had a lesson with Edith. She was a former investigator; but we found her our first week here, and she agreed to let us come by and talk with her and her sons. The lessons are interesting at times, but we do our best to keep them on track and correct her for some things she doesn't quite understand right. 

Wednesday after contacting for a bit, we were super lucky to be close to the zone leader’s house and ran into them in the street. So they let us go to their house and get our Christmas packages. Also, our power was out in the morning so we had to go pay the bill then go contacting a bit more. We were able to find more contacts; but when we went back to the casa, our power wasn’t on still. We called our landlady and she said because we paid late, we had to go talk to the electrical company. So we planned to do that the next morning.

Thursday we had a lesson with Orma about the Plan of Salvation. We taught using scriptures, analogies, personal experiences and it went really well. She understood and accepted everything we talked with her about and this time when we invited her to be baptized, she accepted! Her baptism is scheduled for the 23rd of February. We then went to an appointment with Nicolasa and taught her about the Plan of Salvation. It also went really well. Nicolasa is a special lady and is very interested in the church. We found out she actually went to church the past Sunday, just to another ward. She really liked what she saw, heard and felt and wants to come back again. We are starting to progress more in this area with investigators and teaching people and it is awesome!

Friday we had intercambios and I was with Elders Mencia and Ivie. It was super awesome. We found two new investigators. After the lesson we went to the church and had an FHE devotional that we planned where we talked about Christmas and Jesus, sang songs and had treats. It was really awesome! There was a ward party afterward and the members were nice enough to give us some food to take home because we couldn’t stay. When we got back to the casa, the other companionship wasn’t there and they had the keys to the house. We didn’t want to wait for them outside in the cold so we ended up climbing in the house through the window on the second story using each other and blankets to climb up. One Elder was having a hard time climbing so I had to basically grab his arms and just pull him up. Everyone was like “Oh holy cow you are so strong!” It was a fun experience so we took a picture to remember. 

Saturday was super cold while we were out walking from place to place and especially when we were coming back to the casa. Lunch that day was pretty rough too. The family we ate is a super awesome nice family, but I just couldn’t do it. They made us rice that was cooked in the broth of fish and had pieces of fish and crab in it. Then they served a soup that had huge chunks of fish and vegetables. I did my best and ate all of the rice and vegetables in the soup. Luckily they gave us coke to drink so I drank a ton to drown out the taste. I just couldn’t eat the soup and I feel super bad about it. Thinking about it, I actually don’t see what the big deal is about eating fish because it is a very healthy food. But when it’s in front of me and I can smell it, it makes me want to vomit. Maybe one day I will conquer this challenge. After we got back to the casa we prepared our talks as we were speaking in church on Sunday and singing in a choir.

The program we did in sacrament meeting was super awesome! My talk was about ministering to others as Jesus did and I was actually excited about it. And to make the meeting even better, one of our investigators (Edith) finally came to church for the first time! After church she said she really, really liked it. The environment, spirit, friendly people, our talks and song we sang really helped her feel welcome. She said our church is really different from all others. 

That sums up the week. Love you so much! Talk to you and see you tomorrow!

Baptism of Alfredo and Linda!

Hola Mamá, Yes we did end up having both baptisms this past Saturday and it was awesome! More on that later though. So last Monday our DL and his companion moved out so there’s only the two of us in our apartment now. We always had fun with the four of us, but oh well. Now the food we buy will last longer :). After p-day ended we went to look for some contacts and we found Sylvia who is a Jehovah’s Witness. This time I was able to give her a Book of Mormon and we talked with her a bit and are going to go back for another visit later.

Tuesday was our district meeting and we talked about how when we talk with people, whether in the streets or at their doors, we need to talk specifically about how the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored. We have a goal for us to talk with at least 25 people every day. We were able to talk to quite a few people that day, but weren’t able to get to 25 due to appointments that we had. It was a good day. Also, it’s getting colder and colder here!

Wednesday we had 5 lessons during the day. One was with the woman Orma. She has some very interesting ideas because she has studied with lots of other religions, read and heard from many people. She is still a kind woman and is willing to learn. Later we had a lesson with Alfredo, Linda and Angel. We finished teaching a majority of the commandments. They only needed one more commandment and lesson 5! They also planned on getting married on Friday so things were falling into place for them to be baptized on Saturday!

Thursday we had a surprise visit from the APs who came by to see how things are going with training, have a short teaching practice, take our status and check the house for cleanliness. Later, we had our lesson with Alfredo and Linda who were super kind enough to feed us dinner. So we ate first then had the lesson about Laws and Ordinances – the last lesson they needed before their baptismal interviews. Before we left we gave them all a blessing. They were feeling a little nervous but especially Alfredo and Linda who were feeling very pressured for their wedding. So we gave them a blessing of comfort and guidance and they told us they felt a lot better.

Friday we had one lesson in the morning that went good, one other fell through but then we had baptismal interviews with Alfredo and Linda. I didn’t find this family but I’m very grateful I got to be a part of helping them progress to their baptism. They also got married before they had their interviews. It was a pretty good day!

Saturday was super amazing. We went to the church to clean and fill the baptismal font. Everything went well with the baptisms. There were quite a few members that came to support them. It was just amazing! Right after the baptism, we had to go to the park in Atizapan as a zone to contact more people and give out Book of Mormons wrapped up like presents. We also gave out hot punch and doughnuts. It was super fun and we were able to contact 115 people as a zone. We were in the park from 4 p.m. until about 9:15; so we got back to our casas late, but President allowed it for the activity.

Thank you for updating me for things at home! Muy bien! I gotta go but I love you so much and we will talk next week!

Devocional Navideño y Fiesta!

Hola Mamá!! como estas?? Things are going good here and if all goes right then we will have 2 baptisms this Saturday! so the work is coming along. Yeah its super crazy and something even crazier is that today I only have 9 months left!!!!! I don’t like that time is going by so fast because I love my mission and want to keep working and helping people and changing myself! Oh we went to a Chinese buffet today before we came to write and it was amazing!

The ward here is big but there isn’t that big of attendance here. There’s about 485 or so members but we have between 80 and 100 people in church. Kinda of crazy but we are trying to help the members here as well as find new investigators.

So last Monday we spent the morning as a district practicing our song that we were going to sing for the devotional. Then we got permission to go to Walmart to buy groceries. I got two boxes of Waffle Crisp, a box of Fruity Pebbles, one bag of Colossal Crunch, one bag of S’mores Cereal (they have it here!) and two boxes of pop tarts. I love cereal!! Other than that we went and visited a few investigators and scheduled appointments to go back and teach them later.

Tuesday I woke up with a sore throat and couldn’t breathe super well. I got sick from Elder Loomis who got sick from one of the assistants. But when I realized I was starting to get sick, I quickly went down and made some tea, drank orange juice and during the day I ate halls which helped a ton. During the day we had 5 or 6 appointments and were able to go to 4 of them and actually have lessons! It was great! One of the appointments we had was with a woman named Orma, who is a really nice lady. She is actually the one who contacted us so she is very interested in the church and our beliefs. I see a lot of potential in her.

Wednesday we had a short first lesson with a woman named Cecilia, who is very interested in taking lessons from us so we started teaching her about the Restoration of the Gospel. She was busy though so we scheduled an appointment for another day. She really does seem interested with a lot of potential too. We have been really blessed by Heavenly Father to start teaching more people and it has been wonderful! I know that every person we contact and start teaching won’t be baptized but we are planting seeds for the future. 

Thursday we were finally able to go and have a lesson with Linda and Angel about some of the commandments from lesson 4. It was a lot but because they have their baptism coming up, we have to teach some things they still need by putting them together in one lesson. After the lesson they wanted us to eat dinner with them, but it was 8:30 and we were on the other side of our area. They were kind enough to make the food to-go for us and then call a taxi so we didn’t get home late, and thankfully we didn’t!

Friday was a super fantastic day! We had a short devotional to start, took pictures as zones, then went in the cultural hall to play games. We played minute-to-win-it, Uno, Jenga, Guess-who and a game where you have a plastic helmet and fill a small container on top with water then spin it. There are 8 safety sticks that you have to pull out 1 by 1 and if the one you pull out was the one holding the water, well the water poured out on your head! It was super fun! After games we went outside and hit piñatas, then we had a gift exchange, and ate lunch which was turkey, veggies, mashed potatoes and gravy, rolls and cupcakes for dessert. After we ate we watched Jingle all the Way and it was super great! Then each district sang the songs they prepared, we did the Birth of Christ, and finally had a special surprise visit from Santa Clause who gave us each our own mug of the mission that has our names on them, a bag of treats and socks. I’m super grateful for President and Hermana Urrea and for all they do for us. 

Saturday we went as a zone to a park and separated into different parts then went and contacted people. If the people we talked to were interested and let us schedule an appointment with them and write down their address, we gave them a literature bag that had some candy in it. The goal for each companionship was to get 10 effective contacts and give out 10 bags of candy. My companion and I were able to do it! One guy we contacted is the Director of an Elementary school and was super interested in learning about the church. With each person we gave a bag of candy, I could see them light up and get happier. It was a really fun activity.

Sunday was a little crazy because after we took the sacrament, one of the bishop’s counselors got up and said we are going to hear from one brother and then after him, we are going to hear from the missionaries. I looked at the zone leaders and said “Que?!” We had no idea we were going to speak. So while the other brother was speaking, my companion and I quickly looked up some scriptures about missionary work. When it was our turn we went up and had to wing it with scriptures, share experiences and bear testimony. In the end, it went better than I thought. I don’t like being called on the spot to give a talk but it was a really good experience. 

I’m sorry I forgot to wish you happy anniversary last week so Happy Anniversary! Thank you for sending the package and I will be sure to keep my fingers crossed and pray hard that it gets here on time! Thank you for that quote as well! and updating me with things at home! Love you so much! Have a great week!

Feliz Navidad

Zone picture from Devocional Navideño y Fiesta!

This was the helmet game!

Yummy turkey dinner

Surprise package from home!

More treats that came in the package

I got this Christmas tree too!

I love cereal!!

A New Experience: Washing Clothes in a Bucket. Plus a Mission-Wide Service Project to Light the World

Hola Mamá y Papá! yeah it’s pretty crazy here but I am doing my best to have a good attitude about it all and really it’s not that bad! Every night is like a sleep over with the Zone leaders haha but it’s fun living with more than one other person, we are never bored! This past week we were able to find more contacts but no new investigators. It’s kind of frustrating because we are contacting tons of people but the appointments with them almost always fall through because they aren’t home or are busy so we have to reschedule the appointments. We only have 3 investigators in total so I think mainly this cambio we are here to find new people and prepare them for future cambios and missionaries, but it will be worth it! 

Monday was my 14th month mark and was the first Lunes (Monday) that I had to wash my clothes without a washing machine in all of the mission. It was kind of strange because I put my clothes in a bucket with water and detergent, then took a broomstick that had the top part of a coke bottle cut off and attached to the stick that I used to “churn” or wash my clothes. It really wasn’t bad just took a lot of time. Washing machines are a true gift and privilege from God – oh and dryers too! :) After I get home I will never take them for granted. I do love it here in Mexico though.

Tuesday we had a district meeting and talked about involving the members more. They are very important because they will be there after the missionaries are gone and can be friends with the investigators and recent converts, support them and be there if they need anything. After that we practiced singing a song as a district for the Christmas devotional this week. It’s a primary song called Estrella de Luz. The rest of the day was pretty rough, all of our appointments fell through. We contacted a ton of people but nobody was interested that day. It was disappointing but Wednesday was a new day :).

Wednesday we found a super great part of our area where we were finding quite a few contacts. Then we randomly got a call from one of our zone leaders telling us that we had 30 minutes to get to the casa. We didn’t know why but we were in the other end of our area so we started heading back as quickly as we could walk. About half way there we got a call again from Elder Mencia telling us that we didn’t need to go to the casa and that all is well. We wanted to go back to where we were before but it was too far, plus we had a couple of appointments in the other direction toward the casa. So we contacted until then and found a really awesome woman named Nicolasa. She was super open to talk and is very interested in learning about the church and loves to do service. We had an appointment later with a Jehovas Witness, but she got home late so we had to reschedule. 

Thursday we mainly spent the day contacting. We went back to the part we were in on Wednesday and found quite a few people again. It’s rough to contact here in the evening because it gets dark around 6 and people tell us a lot that it is very late to be preaching in the streets and no one will want to talk to us. That’s when the hooligans and troublemakers come out so it’s very dangerous and we need to be super careful. We are very careful though and try to avoid the dangerous parts cause we can’t go back to the casa until 9 p.m.

Friday we had intercambios with Elder Loomis and Elder Mencia. I went with Elder Loomis and it was pretty good. We had one appointment but he wasn’t there so we mainly contacted. We were able to contact 6 people, and a couple of them are super great. Oh the family we ate lunch with was super awesome. They have a son named Erick who served in Sandy, Utah. I actually got to meet him and talk with him a little during a stake conference we had when I was in Villa del Carbón. Now I’m in the same ward as him and it’s cool to hear about how his mission was in Utah.

Saturday our entire mission had a service project where we went to a park close by the offices to clean it up. It was a fun way to start off December and the Light the World initiative. We split up into zones to clean up the park for a couple of hours and it went really well. We had to go back to our areas after we were done and I was super drained but we went and contacted for a bit. After about an hour or so of not finding anyone, we decided to take a break and sit down to rest for a minute. While we were resting a woman came out of her house and invited us in to talk with her family. They wanted to give us some hot chocolate and sweet bread. It was great and they are a cool family. Oh I also found out that the Elders in Villa del Carbón baptized a little boy that Elder Zapata and I found while we were there! What wonderful news!

This was his reaction to hearing that we got to shake hands and take a picture with Elder Uchtdorf: Holy Fetch Seriously?!?!?!?! Que Genial!!!!!! Estoy super celoso! (Translation: How cool!!!!! I’m super jealous!!!!!!)

Thank you so much for letting me know how things are doing back home and for that super awesome quote! I love you so much! have a great week!

Transferred to Campestre in Alamedas and Training Elder Hernandez

Hola Mamá! Wow this week was crazy and I was nervous at first to be a trainer but things are going really good! Elder Hernandez is an awesome Elder! This will be a great cambio! There was some craziness the beginning of the week but things are going good now and calming down a bit. This cambio we are supposedly going to have a few activities for Christmas so that’s another reason this cambio will be super awesome! 

About last week though, on Monday we deep cleaned the casa then after emailing everyone we went to visit Izabel and Gilberto and their family. We still didn’t know what was happening with cambios but I wanted to take a picture with them in case I was the one who ended up leaving (so it was a good thing he did). Our Zone Leaders told us we would definitely know about cambios by 7:45 the next morning. I felt good about whatever change was coming though.

Tuesday we got a call at 7:45 telling us that Elder Herrera is going to be training and that I am going to Campestre in Alamedas to finish training Elder Hernandez. We needed to be in the offices at 11 a.m. but it was 8 when Elder Stenquist told us this and I didn’t have anything packed. So we took a little over an hour to pack up my 3 suitcases, took a bus part way then we took a taxi to get to the offices. I met Elder Hernandez, we dropped of my things at the casa and then we learned that part of our mission that is in the state of Mexico is being reorganized. All the stake and ward limits are all different and the Area of Campestre is being divided into 2 parts. My companion and I are in part B which was the area of La Colmena before. So we slept in the casa of Campestre A then were told we had to go to the other house in the new divided Campestre. We are basically opening our area which we know nothing about but all will turn out Okay! My companion is from Puebla Mexico, is 18 years old and has 7 brothers and sisters.

Wednesday we had a district meeting and Elder Farmer, who is the new district leader, told me that he and his companion baptized a family that Elder Rojas and I found! How awesome that he got to harvest the seeds that we planted!! Elder Farmer is from Kamas and has 6 months in the mission, was called to be the DL and is also training a new missionary Elder Ivie who is from Saratoga Springs, UT. After the district meeting we had to change casas so thankfully I had barely unpacked when I got here. We had to change casas because of all the boundary changes so while things are still getting sorted out, we are in the casa of the zone leaders for a while. The Area of Campestre is bigger now so there’s 4 missionaries working in it but in different parts, A and B. It’s still kind of crazy and will be for a few weeks.

In the house we are staying in there are 3 mattresses and only one of them has the bed frames. So while one person sleeps on the bed with the frames, the other 3 sleep on the other 2 mattresses on the ground, turned sideways. This is how we have to sleep for the next week or so. It’s really not that bad but we barely have enough blankets. Because it gets colder in the night we have to wear extra clothes while we sleep. Anywho, later in the afternoon we were able to find a few contacts and went to an appointment we had with Linda and Angel (our only 2 progressing investigators). Linda’s husband, Alfredo, is a member but she and their son Angel are not. Alfredo and Linda aren’t married and to be baptized they need to get married. My companion told me they were originally planning to do it in January, but after the lesson, they told us they are planning now to get married the 14th of December and then want to be baptized the next day! They are a super awesome family!

Friday we were told that the district changed that day so we aren’t in the same district as Elders Farmer, Ivie, Juarez or Romero. I’m pretty sad about that, but it’s okay though I suppose. We didn’t have any appointments that day so we went to look for a couple of former investigators and contact new people. We were able to contact 14 people! It was super awesome. We walked a ton and were super tired at the end of the day.

Saturday we had a few appointments with some contacts and we able to find one new investigator and then later in the day we were able to find 13 more new contacts! The new investigator is Edith and although she likes to talk a lot and has some interesting ideas, she believes in Jesus and likes to read the Bible and is very interested in learning about the church. We invited her to be baptized on the 19th of January and she accepted. She told us right then that she had received a message from God that this is the right path for her. She is very receptive to the spirit!

Wow that’s super awesome that you guys got to have a great Thanksgiving and spend time with gramps. We didn’t do anything exciting here for Thanksgiving but we did eat some ramen hahaha! Oh! I want you to see if you can look up a talk from Brad Wilcox called Red lights, Green lights, and Personal Revelation and listen to it! It is incredible and just super amazing!

I love you so much mamá!!! have a great week!

With Izabel and Gilberto and their family before cambios

My companion got bit by something so this member was
helping him clean out his wound.

Our sleeping arrangements for a few weeks :)

A Casa with Concrete and no Insulation Makes for Cold Mornings

Hola Mamá! How are you? First off I wanted to ask if you liked the things I sent home :). I saw the pictures! As far as cambios, we don’t know what’s going on yet. Our Zone Leaders are going to tell us in the night. 

Last Monday was a pretty great day. After our p-day ended we went to an appointment with a man named Juan who actually contacted us last week in the street. He told us he wanted to talk with us because he is looking for peace and tranquility in his life. It was a very good lesson and I was able to feel a very strong, calm and peaceful feeling while we were there with him. He has a chronic sickness and is a very skinny man because there are times he can’t eat with this sickness he has. He is a very smart guy and very interesting too. He knows a lot about the bible and religions and knows how to play a lot of different instruments and also likes to sing opera. We had a good lesson talking with him to get to know him and what we can do to help him.

Tuesday we had our last district meeting for the cambio and what made it sad was it was Elder Donkersgoed’s last meeting before he goes home. Because it was his last meeting the Hermanas brought him a pie and a poster that we all signed and my companion and I also brought dobladas that the family Avendaño Cruz were kind enough to make for us. We had a really good last district meeting and then luckily for my companion and I we were able to go after the meeting to eat lunch with the Familia Avendaño Cruz. The mom, Adriana, is basically the other mom here in Tula and she calls us her sons. After we ate lunch Adriana and her daughter Yarit asked us to give them both blessing of comfort and strength for some hard things they are going through. It was a really awesome experience. I know I didn’t say everything correctly because in blessings and prayers you talk in a different form that as missionaries is not normal, but I gave it my best. Later we had a lesson with Marcos. He told us he was hopefully going to be able to rest from work Sunday so he could come to church. To help him we fasted and prayed a lot. Oh it also rained a lot in the afternoon and evening and it was super cold. 

Wednesday was a really cold day. Our casa is made of concrete and has no insulation and it was about 48 degrees. I was freezing in the morning. I bought a jacket though that is fantastic! I wore it throughout the day along with Nike spandex and sweatpants under my suit pants, two pairs of socks, a scarf and my Bronco’s beanie, that is oh so comfortable :). I was able to stay pretty warm throughout the day. We visited the girl Tania who is from Idaho to try and help her keep reading the scriptures and start coming to church again. Her two little daughters are so adorable too! 

Thursday was another super cold day. I heated up my clothes on the radiator looking heater we have and was able to have warm clothes. One of the lessons we had was with a little boy who is a recent convert, and his family, about the Restoration of the Gospel. We used a picture book my companion has that is actually really awesome and made it super helpful to teach him. Later in the day we found a part of the colony we have never been to and were able to find a few good contacts but ran out of time as the night and darkness came. I think we will have lots of luck in this area so we were going to go back another day.

Friday was a lot warmer and it was fantastic! We went and had a lesson with Marcos about the Word of Wisdom. He told us that he only drinks alcohol every now and then and drinks coffee in the mornings for breakfast; but after we explained what the commandment is, why we have it and the blessings that come from keeping it, he understood it all completely. He told us because it made sense to him he is going to do his best to give up drinking alcohol and coffee so he can receive the blessings and promises that we told him. Because we have cambios coming up and don’t know what will happen, I brought my camera so we could take a picture with him. I want to remember Marcos and stay in contact with him.

Saturday we went back to the area we were in on Thursday. We found a bunch of teaching records from previous missionaries in that area so we took those records and went to search for those people and contact as well. While we were searching, we found a few of those former investigators and scheduled appointments for this next week to go back and visit them. We were also able to contact some new people as well and make appointments to go back next week. We have quite a few appointments this next week and I feel really great about that. Who knows what will happen with cambios but whoever is here will have a lot of people to visit.

Thank you so much mamá! I love you so much! have a fantastic week! Please tell grandpa I love him and oh! Happy Thanksgiving!

Brrrr. It was cold in our casa.

Elder Herrera, Marcos and me

Me and my companion (far right) with the Familia Avendańo Cruz
(Andross, Yarit, Adriana, Hector and Mamá de Adriana)

Overall Good Week of Lessons, Making Alfredo and a Multi-Stake Conference

Hola Mamá! This past week it didn’t rain but I have been using my rain jacket that we got from missionary mall as a sweater. It’s hot in the day and cool and at times cold in the night. Sometimes I don’t have that jacket so I just rely on walking and going into people’s houses to stay warm. I’m not dying though so don’t worry, all is well! :)

After our time for p-day ended last week we were supposed to have a lesson with a recent convert but she forgot so we had to reschedule for another day, so we went to look for some contacts and references we received from members. We were able to find a woman who is a member but is inactive and has been for a few years now because of a situation that happened with her ex-husband. She has their 3 daughters and is living with her mom doing her best to take care of the girls. She doesn’t really want to go to church but she cares a lot about her daughters and gave us permission to teach them. Well to teach her two older girls, who are 12 and 9 years old, and if they want to be baptized she is okay with it. 

Tuesday we had a district meeting where we talked about dropping our investigators if they are not completing the commitments we give them, or if they aren’t willing to be baptized. We don’t want to be wasting their time or the time of the Lord when we can be using that time to find and teach other people who really want to change and improve their lives. We had a lesson with Marcos where we taught him about keeping the Sabbath day holy. This man is incredible. He understood everything we talked about and explained and came up with his own examples of what it means to keep the Sabbath day. He really wants to come to church now and continue to read the scriptures and pray.

Wednesday we went to a lesson, which didn’t really end up being a lesson but more of just talking with this family. They told us that there have been some things going on with their work and they are going to be laid off towards the end of the month. We did talk a bit about trials and paying tithing and fast offerings and blessings that come from keeping the commandments that help us overcome our trials, as well as being faithful. My companion has no sense of time really so I have to be the one to motion or bump him when we need to go. This time I had to hit him with the Book of Mormon when the family wasn’t looking to make him realize we were super late and needed to go. :) We went to an appointment with Izabel and Gilberto but didn’t have a lot of time so just quickly checked in to see how they were doing and invite them to church.

Thursday we went to the stake center for interviews with President. The interviews I had with President and Hermana Urrea went great! Then Elder Donkersgoed and President were very encouraging with advice to help me feel better and know what I need to do to be better. Then I found out later when we got back to the casa that Elder Donkersgoed had a package from you guys that Hermana Urrea had for me at the interviews but forgot to tell me about. Good thing we had intercambios on Friday so I could get it then.

Friday we had intercambios and this time I was with Elder Donkersgoed. He gave me a training to help know what we need to do to have more investigators progressing in our area. We are doing okay here in our area but we really need to step it up to progress more and find those people who are ready and willing now to change and improve their lives. That is something super crucial but of course it starts with us finding those people. Other than that we were able to contact a little bit but were only able to find one solid contact. Luckily the other Elders were able to find some other contacts and investigators. 

Saturday we went to eat with a family and they gave us both a huge bag of candy and treats. A bit later we passed by the house of the Elders Quorum President to see if him and his wife would come visit a few contacts and investigators with us. One of the people we visited was an older lady named Alicia who has many members of her family who are members and even a couple of grandkids who served missions. She loves Christ and her family very much but as far as joining the church goes, she is hesitant and doesn’t want to change religions. 

Sunday we had a multi-stake conference which was broadcast to about 229 stakes throughout Mexico. Everyone was thinking something crazy big was going to happen like reorganizing our mission and the areas/wards therein but nothing like that happened. We heard messages from some General Authorities, Elder Ronald A. Rasband was the last one who spoke. It was a great and amazing conference!

Wow that’s good you’ve made some progress on the shop but good luck with the rest haha! and yes, I will pray for grandpa with his surgery and for his recovery. Thank you for giving me a heads up!

Oh also I made spaghetti with alfredo sauce with polish dogs on Friday because well why not! haha. My comp helped me cook the food but yeah it was really good! I love you too Mamá!

The Weather's Changing but Overall Good Week

Hola Mamá! Things are going pretty good with a few of our investigators! This past week we only found 4 new investigators but its good! It’s rained every day this week in the afternoon and evening and is changing to the cold season here so every night and morning it’s cold!! Everyone keeps saying it’s only going to get worse too. I don’t remember it being so cold like this last year. 

Monday we had to go to the Zone Leaders to pick up some things so we took advantage of being up by the center of Tula to go to a supermarket that’s a lot better than the one we have in our area. After emailing you and doing our wash, one of the appointments we had planned fell through but it was still a pretty good day.

Tuesday we had a district meeting and talked a lot about baptism and the importance of really helping our investigators prepare, how we can know if we have an investigator who is really interested, if they are going to progress and if they have a testimony of the Restoration. It was a really great meeting and great motivation. Later in the day we went to try and find two brothers who live far away. We moved them into the Former Investigators section of the area book during our first transfer here because we weren’t able to get ahold of them or find them in their houses. But one of the missionaries who was in this area before explained to us during zone conference what we needed to do to find them. We were finally able to find them and set an appointment to come back and teach them. How awesome!

Wednesday was a great and wet day. In the afternoon we had a lesson with Marcos, but when we were on our way to where he lives, which is pretty far to walk, it started raining. I had my rain jacket but my companion didn’t have a jacket or umbrella and it rained harder and harder as we were walking. We ended up running in the end to get to Marcos’ house because my companion was getting drenched and my pants were as well. We made it there though and had a super awesome lesson. He is such an awesome guy and participates in the lessons, is reading the Book of Mormon and the pamphlets we gave him little by little. He is busy with work and other things but is interested and wants to learn more so he is making time to read, pray and move things around with his work so he can come to church. I love this guy a lot. He makes me think of Victor from my last area in Villa del Carbón. 

Thursday we had a lesson with Izabel and Gilberto. This time we mainly asked questions to get to know their needs so we can help resolve them and help them feel more sure that this is the right and only true church. Later we had a lesson with Jonathan and Lesli and we talked with them about The Family: A Proclamation to the World and really emphasized the importance of marriage. This time we were able to lead the discussion and include Lesli more. It was a really great lesson. I feel like we were able to help Jonathan realize why he has the doubts and fears he does about marriage and about the church. We still have to keep working with them both but in time, they will change. After that we had a lesson with a recent convert named Antonio and his family. They are a super great family, and not just because they gave us candy for Dia de los Muertos 😀, but because they have great faith and are working hard to prepare to go to the temple. 

Friday was a really rainy and cold day which made it interesting but fun when we went to look for former investigators in La Romera where Marcos lives. Because we were close we decided to pass by his house to see how he is doing. He has been praying and mentioned to us that he feels like he is on the right path and wants to keep learning and progressing! How awesome! Right now he can’t come to church because he works on Sundays from 8 to 12 or 1 p.m, but he is trying to figure out a solution. When we got home we got a call from our D.L. announcing some new rules we have in the mission. Supposedly in all of Mexico we are not allowed to instant message with our families through Google Hangouts on Mondays any more. Another rule we have, just for our mission, is that our time to write President, check referrals and write our families has been cut down to 1 hour. I don’t know why it’s changed but I had a special calm feeling and prompting that I need not worry or get angry but that everything will be okay and I just need to be obedient. This was a very powerful feeling so I will do my best to be obedient to these new rules. - D&C 76: 5-10

Saturday we went to visit with Izabel about how we can help her prepare for her baptism that is scheduled for the 24th of November. They are a super awesome family and have been changing since their son Gilberto was baptized and has been serving a mission. In fact, he will get home this month on the 20th. Later we decided to visit Joel, Maria de Lourdes and the kids to see how they were doing and invite them to church. The kids told us they are super excited and want to go to church!!

That’s good that you got back from your trip in time to have the bonfire at the Zamoras! That is crazy though that there weren’t that many kids who went by for candy. Oh well, it’s their loss! Haha. I love that talk! (Try, Try, Try by President Eyring). Thank you for sharing it with me! I’m going to go back and listen to it! I love you so much! Have a great week!

Finding more investigators, some good lessons and thoughts about families!

Hola Mamá! ¡Me va muy bien! Y tu? Last Monday after p-day we were able to have a lesson with a new family of contacts and teach them about the restoration and them make them new investigators. We had 5 new investigators and it was only Monday!

Tuesday, we had a couple lessons with recent converts to see how they are doing and to start teaching them the missionary lessons again to help them continue to progress and grow their testimonies. Luz Maria was one of them. She got baptized the Saturday before my companion and I got here. She is in her 30’s and has 4 kids. She is now separated from her husband and it’s a tough situation, but we are going to do our best to help her and the family. Another recent convert is a 9-year-old boy who is just hilarious. We’ve been to his house before to eat lunch with his family. They are such a fun and awesome family so the lessons we have are always entertaining. Humberto, the 9-year-old, and his little sister call us their uncles! I like that a lot.

Wednesday we went to an appointment we had with Marcus. He lives in an area we had never been to before and honestly, we didn’t know it was part of our area. Any-who, Marcus is a really cool guy who has dreadlocks and has worked in construction his whole life, helping his dad when he was younger and now starting a business with some family members. He believes in God and Jesus but isn’t in any religion. The lesson we had with him was just super awesome. We taught him about the Restoration, asked him questions throughout and gave him a Book of Mormon and invited him to read it, pray about it and the lesson. Then we invited him to be baptized and he accepted! The baptismal date we put for him is December 1^st and he seemed really okay and happy about it!

Thursday we had a lesson with a couple named Jonathan and Lesli. Jonathan is an inactive member and has been for 15 years. Lesli isn’t a member but is very interested in learning about the church and even wants to get baptized. The only problem is that they aren’t married and he doesn’t want to get married. He doesn’t think it’s necessary but also is afraid of divorce because he has seen many people in his family get married and then later get divorced. He is a very cool and nice guy and doesn’t want to change from being a member of the church but is very confused in many aspects of the church and doctrines. He told us his "wife" can come to church if she wants but she’s not going to progress because he doesn’t want to get married. He also told us it will be rough for her to understand what we teach her, but he doesn’t give her the credit she deserves. So for them, we first have to help Jonathan to get Lesli but at least for now we are going to continue lessons and try to get her to come to church.

Friday we had a short lesson with the son of a woman who owns a small tiendo named Ismael. It was short. He hasn’t been progressing and told us he wants to learn more about our church and the word of God but that he doesn’t want to get baptized and change his religion. We are going to pass by a couple more times to see if we can change his mind, but if not, we are going to have to drop him. Then we went to visit an inactive girl named Tania. I think I wrote about her before but she is from Idaho and grew up mainly in the US. She hasn’t been active for a while and has been in Mexico for 5 years with her husband and 2 daughters who are super adorable. She’s is stuck here in Mexico because her papers and ID got stolen a couple of years back but she is working with her parents to get whatever documentation she can so she can go back to the states. We are trying to help her start reading the Book of Mormon, pray and come to church to re-activate her.

Saturday we went to see Joel, Maria and the kids. At first we were just talking outside with Joel and it wasn’t going good. He told us he doesn’t like reading the Book of Mormon because it is the same story over and over again and he doesn’t understand it (even though he’s only read 1^st and 2^nd Nephi). He only reads the Bible. He also said he doesn’t need to go to church or talk to anyone to get the help he needs because he has Jesus to help him so that’s all he needs is Jesus and the Bible. We were all getting frustrated, until Maria came out and told us God told her she needed to come out into the cold and talk with us to hear the Word of God. We decided to go into the house and say a prayer so we could talk more calmly. In the end we apologized to each other and he told us that he and Maria would be at church Sunday with the kids. Maria is a really special woman and I feel bad for a lot of things she has been through in her life.

Sunday was great! We had 6 investigators during sacrament meeting! Izabel and Gilberto, then Maria with her 3 kids and Joel came! Joel doesn’t count for us because he is a member but it was still super awesome he and Maria were there with the kids and also Izabel with her husband Gilberto. We also had the primary program and it was really cool and fun to see.

So I’ve been thinking a lot about families and found some quotes I want to share with you about family and marriage and how it is the little things that keep us happy together. They are some lessons I want to take into my future marriage, when I get back from the mission haha, and some different and fun ideas to do!

"I give counsel to husbands and wives. Pray for the love which allows you to see the good in your companion. Pray for the love that makes weaknesses and mistakes seem small. Pray for the love to make your companion's joy your own. Pray for the love to want to lessen the load and soften the sorrows of your companion." Henry B. Eyring

"True love blooms when we care more about another person than we care about ourselves." Jeffrey R. Holland

"A happy marriage is the union of two good forgivers."

I gotta go now but I love you so much! Be safe on your trip!

With my amazing Halloween package!

One of the fun "Coco" cookies in my package

Sharing treats with my district

Another fun "Coco" cookie