10 Months out in the Mission and Tons of Walking this Week

Hola mama! Thank you so much (for the birthday wishes)! This will be my first birthday in the mission! hahahaha. I’m glad to hear about the fun things you guys did for the 24th and that over the weekend you guys went to visit grandma and grandpa.

We had a pretty good week last week. On Monday we would normally go shopping for food but we didn’t go because we were a little tight on money until the end of the week. That’s not a huge problem because we did have some food in the casa and members and people who are super kind and charitable enough to give us food. One of the greatest things I’ve seen on my mission is how willing people are to share what they have. They at times don’t have a lot but they share what they have and not only to the missionaries but to all people in general. 

Tuesday we had a district meeting where we talked about goals and had practices like we were sharing our goals with either the Branch President or the Bishop and to ask them for help to carry out those goals that we have. It was a really great meeting! We also found out we can pass by every once in a while with the Hernandez Velazquez family and have short visits with them. We still don’t know for how long but short visits are better than nothing :). We also ran into the Branch President that day and he passed us 3 references! With E. Aguilar, I don’t think he ever gave us any references, it was really awesome!

Wednesday was the first time since I’ve been in this area, and I think in a long time, that we had a meeting with the Branch Mission Leader. We met with him in the casa of the Branch President. It was a good meeting, but it was about the same things that we talked about during Branch Conference last week. There are lots of goals and plans being talked about to help improve this area, but here we need action to be taken to carry out the goals and plans. That evening we had a lesson with Luna about the Book of Mormon and also talked about some of the basic beliefs we have in the church. It was a great lesson and she even told us she would like to be baptized one day. 

Thursday I hit my 10-month mark in the mission! We found out that 2 references we received from our zone leader Elder Talbot live far away and we don’t have the dinero to travel right now. Our mission is one of the top 10 least paid missions in the world. We are hoping that the mensualidad (monthly payment) comes soon so that we have money to travel and to buy food for the casa. We had a 3^rd lesson with one of our investigators named Jazmin. She owns a tienda and runs it with her 3 kids. She is very interested in learning about the church but at the same time doesn’t like making commitments with God. We are trying to help her though. She is a really good lady. 

Friday we had a lesson with the assistant of Victor named Claudia. She is a really great lady and has had some crazy trials in her life. One of them being that her husband died 2 months ago and she has 5 kids to take care of. The oldest is 15 and the youngest is 4. She is a super nice lady and is very strong as well. We gave her a Book of Mormon, talked about what it is and how it can help her. We also invited her to come to church. It is awesome that she is working with Victor because he can help us teach her by sharing his testimony and experiences. 

Saturday was a very tiring day. We walked a ton. We went to visit an investigator that I swear lives 2 miles away down a hill. He wasn’t home so we went to visit a reference from the Branch President that lives close to the investigator but he wasn’t home either. His wife told us to come back a couple hours later. So we walked back up the hill, the very long hill, to the center of Villa. Then we decided to visit Lorena, but where she lives we had to walk down a huge hill. After we were done visiting her, we walked back up the big hill, then back down the other super long hill, unfortunately, neither of the investigators were home still so we walked again back up to the plaza. It wasn’t a very effective day because no one was home and we had to walk a ton but it was still a good day though.

I really like that thought you shared about charity. In our principles of the gospel class, we taught about charity and it was really awesome! It is one of the most important Christlike attributes we can have because it can be one of the hardest to have. I like your thoughts though so thank you for sharing it! I will look up those scriptures as well. I want you to look up a scripture too in James 1:19. It is about how we need to be slow to speak and quick to listen. More often than not people are too quick to speak, to talk about or share what they think is best with what other people need to do but really what people need is just someone to listen first. Think of ways that you can listen better to help people! 

Thank you for your email and birthday wishes!! love you Mamá!

(Pictures from the casa)

First Week with Elder Zapata, and First time Getting Stopped by a Police Blockade

Hola Mama! I’m doing really good! As for things with my new companion they are going really good. Oh guess what? Fernanda has a friend who works with computers and he was able to recover the pictures that I somehow deleted last Saturday! And other than yesterday, the rest of the week was good – more on that later.

Tuesday was a really good day. We went to visit the Hernandez Velazquez family and Fernanda, Andrea and Luna so Elder Aguilar could say goodbye. We finally got to the office, switched companions and Elder Zapata and I came back to Villa del Carbón. Our taxista was super awesome and bought us an ice cream that a guy was selling in the street. After we got to the casa and dropped off luggage, we didn’t have any members to eat with so we went and ate with the Hernandez family and talked with them for a bit so they could get to know Elder Zapata and he could get to know them as well. We also passed by date un roll to introduce Elder Zapata to them. He is very good at getting to know people quickly and what their interests are. He knows how to ask inspired questions and then listens to the response carefully to know how to respond instead of just jumping in and cutting them off to say what he thinks is best or just trying to teach a lesson. With Fernanda, Andrea and Luna he talked to them to know their needs and what is impeding them from coming to church, and then helped them resolve those things so they could hopefully attend church. I learned a lot my first half day with him.

Wednesday was interesting. We had a district meeting and on our way back to our area, just outside of Villa, there was a blockade of police trucks. They diverted the bus to the side, stopped it, then one officer came on and asked for all the males to get off the bus with our bags so they could check to see if anyone had any weapons or guns. That was the first time that ever happened and honestly, I was a little nervous but everything turned out okay. After they were done searching, we continued on our way. We ate with the Hernandez Velazquez family and had a long talk with them. They are super, super good and have a lot of charity and love. We explained a little on deeper doctrines and that they need to continue learning about the gospel and teaching of Jesus Christ. It was an awesome talk.

Thursday we ate lunch with the branch president and his wife. After the meal we talked to them about the list of things that the members can do with the new converts. It was a good talk we had about working together to help the branch grow and become stronger and find more people to bring to the church as well. The branch president is looking to us to help the less-active and inactive members a lot. We try to help a little bit but our main responsibility and goal is to find, teach, and baptize new members. We are doing what we can to help though because the branch really needs help. We also had a lesson with a newer investigator. It was a really great lesson and I was able to learn myself with how Elder Zapata explained some things. I have a lot to learn still…. I just need to keep studying. 

Friday we went to visit Doris and had a really great lesson! At the end we invited her to be baptized on August 25^th and explained that that day is our goal for now and if she wants we can move the date back if she doesn’t feel ready by then. She is scared because that is a big change in her life and is worried what her family and other people will think. We explained that we are here to help guide and help her on this path so she can feel ready and overcome the obstacles along the way and also invited her to pray about the lesson and to know if she should be baptized on August 25^th. She didn’t accept the date but she did accept the invitation to pray about it, which is still good. 

Saturday during companionship study we came up with a new way to contact people. Well it was my comps idea. We took a shoe box and taped it shut and then cut a hole in one of the ends big enough for someone to reach in with their hand. We put pamphlets and cards inside and we take this box and ask people to reach in and pull out a pamphlet, and whatever they pull out is what we talk with them about. We didn’t get a chance to try it out yet but I am excited to. We went to visit Victor a bit later in the afternoon to see how he is doing. He said he is doing really great, he feels calm and happy. This man is one of the most amazing people that I know. He has always kept the commitments we gave him and is doing his best to live the commandments and do what is necessary to improve his life and become closer with God.

Sunday we had a Branch Conference and the Stake President, his counselors and other members from the stake were there. There were more or less 65 people in church today. The first hour of Sacrament was normal. Vianey had to give her second talk as a member and she did a really good job again! The second and third hour was a combined meeting to talk about what the branch needs to do to get members to come to church, to help the missionaries find new investigators and contacts and what the members need to do to help with the construction of an actual church building. It was a really great meeting. After the meeting we had a big lunch with everyone who was there. While we were eating lunch we got a call from one of the zone leaders telling us that we need to drop the Hernandez Velazquez family for now. He didn’t give us any reasons why. We are really confused because they are the only progressing investigators we have. We don’t know how long that will last but we’re praying for help in knowing what we should do now.

Also yesterday we went to visit Victor in his restaurant and he gave us free tacos! One taco he gave had the meat called tripa in it, which is intestines..... I was super hesitant to try it because of my time studying anatomy I’ve seen intestines of cadavers. I tried it though and it was actually not too bad, not my preference but really not bad. Anyway, I have to go now. I love you so much! I hope you have a great week!

Victor's Baptism and Cambios

Hola Mama! Other than pictures getting erased off my SD card (more on that later), everything is going good! With cambios Elder Aguilar is getting transferred to San Lucas en Tula and I’m staying here. Elder Zapata is going to be my new companion. Only thing I know about him is he’s been in the mission longer than me and he’s from Monterrey, Mexico.

Tuesday we had a district meeting then intercambios. I went with Elder Rivera and my favorite part was when we went and helped a member move to another apartment. Her 22-year-old son was there to help us with some of the heavy items. Although it was hot and we had to carry everything down a huge hill and walk back up it a number of times and were sweating like crazy, I loved it. I actually really love helping people move, it’s one of my favorite ways to serve. When we went back to the DL’s casa, we ordered a pizza and played soccer in their little study room that’s like 12 feet by 8 feet. It was lots of fun! Oh and after the district meeting, we had an arm wrestling competition with us 4 and I won! :)

Wednesday after we got back to our area we had an activity with Vianey and Priscila. It was a competition to see who could contact the most people within an hour. It wasn’t really a fair competition to begin with because it was Elder Aguilar and I against them and we’ve been trained and have more experience talking to people in the streets about the gospel. They were prepped with a little crash course and we explained what to do and they gave it their best shot, but they lost. It was fun and awesome that they wanted to try contacting and actually did it too. I know that God will bless them for their efforts. Elder Aguilar and I were able to make some really good contacts. We have a plan next time to have them come with us to contact altogether to really show them how to contact, share experiences as converts, and to help other people understand and relate.

Thursday in the afternoon we went to see Victor to finish teaching him the lessons he still needed before his baptism and also to see if he was ready. He told us he was really nervous and scared for a number of reasons so we talked with him to help encourage him and help him know that any doubts or negative feelings or thoughts were because Satan didn’t want him to be baptized. Victor is incredible and I know Heavenly Father has great things in store for him. Satan also knows of his potential and doesn’t want him to reach it. It was a really great talk and I think it really helped him, not because of what we said to him but because of what he felt from the spirit.

Friday we had an appointment with Doris, one of our new investigators, but we weren’t able to find her for some reason, so we went contacting and were able to make some really great contacts to try and teach. Elder Martinez also came to interview Victor for his baptism. He was really nervous but his interview went really great. He was still a little nervous about his baptism but both Elder Aguilar and I both felt and knew that he was ready. 

Saturday was an awesome day! Victor’s baptism went great. We could all feel the spirit very strongly and Victor felt super happy afterwards. The bad part of that day was when all the pictures got erased from the card in my camera and when some guy driving a car stopped to flip me off and yell at me because I’m American. We just waved at him and wished him a good day then I did my best to forget about both those things and move on. It also rained and hailed super crazy hard that day with thunder and lightning. It was crazy and awesome too. There was a fair of Barbacoa going on this weekend here too and we had tons and tons of people visiting from other places. The bad part was there was tons of people smoking and drinking pulque, which is an alcoholic drink so the air just smelled of cigarettes and alcohol.

Sunday was a great day. On our way to church we found La Negra, the black dog who follows us. She was super happy to see us and tried to follow us into church but we had to shew her away. Elder Aguilar confirmed Victor a member of the church and that was a super awesome experience. During the Gospel principles class, we taught about temple work and family history and it was an awesome lesson because the spirit was very strong there and helped teach with power and clarity to help them understand the importance of both those things. After church Victor invited us, the Hernandez family, and some other members to his restaurant to celebrate. He cooked up a bunch of food, put it on a pan with tortillas on the side and we all dug in and at tacos and had cake for dessert. Holy smokes it was so good! I ate 12 tacos and honestly could have eaten more but I didn’t want to gorge myself, plus we had dessert too.

I have to go now but I love you tons! I hope you have a great week!

Victor's Baptism! (more pics later) 

Entrance to our casa

Our casa

Elder Martinez, Elder Rivera and me in back.
Elder Aguilar in front.

After district meeting fun...

Victor's Baptism, Take 2

Baptism Celebration Feast

Celebrating Victor's Baptism

Some Great Lessons, Giving Blessings and Preparing for a Baptism

Hola mama! I’m doing good! How are you? This week was really good. The weather here is crazy BTW. It was fetching cold through the night last night and in the morning but right now it is warm! Holy fetch! That’s nuts about how big the fire is in Fruitland! That’s great that you got some rain though!! I will continue to keep praying for it! So on Tuesday last week we had to travel to go to our district meeting. It was really good. When we came back we went to visit a new investigator, but she was busy so we scheduled an appointment for another day. We also went to visit Fernanda and she told us one of her new employees, Lucia, is interested in learning about the gospel so we went and had a lesson with her. A member was walking by when we were teaching her and came and taught the lesson with us. It was awesome.

Wednesday was 4^thof July which I’m really sad that I missed there. I love all the pictures you sent! I couldn’t really celebrate here but I took some of the flags you sent me and put them around my study area :). During the day we had a bunch of things planned to go do but we couldn’t do all of it. Elder Aguilar was struggling that day. We were able to find one contact though. Overall, it was a good day!

Thursday, we went to have a lesson with Victor but he was busy and super tired. We talked for a minute and verified how things are going with him. He said he’s not having any problems with smoking or drinking alcohol which is really good. He is super awesome. We went to visit a new contact, Carlos Eduardo. He is a teenager and we had a lesson with him, his brother and his mom. We talked about the Plan of Salvation but they weren’t really open talking with us. We had to ask questions directly to get them to talk. It was a good lesson, but we are going to try and have a different game plan with them next time.

Friday was a really, really, really good day. It was really cold at first. After our studies we went to visit a reference from a member who works at Herbalife. The lesson with her was really awesome. While we were talking, we could really feel the spirit with her. It was awesome to teach her and I know that she felt the spirit as well. At the end I invited her to be baptized and she accepted. Also on Friday we had a lesson with Victor about the Law of Chastity. When I first came out on my mission, it was a bit awkward to talk about that but I’ve learned that it really is necessary. It’s a commandment that we have from God that we need to follow and live. If we want to have more trust and love in our families, we need to live this commandment.

After that lesson we went to see Lorena and Maria. Maria is the investigator who doesn’t want to listen to us or talk to us anymore. She thinks we changed her baptismal date so we could baptize Vianey and Priscila instead. But she wasn’t coming to church constantly and she is living with her partner and they are not married so that’s why we had to move it. Anyway, we went by to visit Lorena cause she has chicken pox so we went to see if she wanted a blessing and see if we could help her and her family with anything. One of Lorena’s daughters has chicken pox as well. So we gave them both a blessing. It was really good to talk with them and see how they are doing and try to help them.

Saturday after our studies we went to visit an investigator named David. He is really interested in learning about the gospel but he can’t come to church because of work. He is good guy and some of the things we talked about, he has said none of the other religions he has talked with have told him about those things before. Also on Saturday the family Hernandez talked with a counselor about things going on in their life to help them strengthen their family. It was a good day!

Sunday there was about 30 people in sacrament. Unfortunately, none of the people that we invited to church came. Something we’ve been struggling a lot with is getting the people we invite to come to church. We don’t really know what to do there but we are going to keep working and keep praying, try to change the way we invite them and tell them about the blessings they can receive from coming to church. During the 2^nd hour of Sunday School, we always teach the gospel principles class and on Sunday we talked about service. Everyone participated. Victor was funny he brought chocolates and candy for everyone to share.

Later, after church we went to the plaza to go contacting. We found one guy who was cool to talk to. We talked about what we do as missionaries and some of our basic beliefs, the difference between our church and some other religions. He really is interested in learning more so we scheduled another day to talk with him. We also went and ate with the Hernandez family. They planned a picnic thing for us and brought a grill in their jeep. On the way there it started raining really, really hard so we went to their house instead. It was sooo good. Holy cow!!! We talked with Laura and Juan about when they are going to be baptized, so we told them to pray about it and see if they want to be baptized this Saturday with Victor or if they want to be baptized another day.

Some of the other experiences I’ve had on my mission – I’ve given a blessing in an alley way in Mexico. There was one day a while ago when I was with Elder Rojas and we came back from a district meeting. A lady and her son stopped us, they were members from another area. She said she wasn’t feeling very good, so we gave her a blessing in an alley way. With Elder Rojas we gave lots of blessings. Also, sometimes the people aren’t receptive here, it’s sad to see; but it’s worth it when we finally find the people who are interested and we can teach them.

I didn’t get to finish sending pictures and I have to go. I will send more next week! I love you guys and hope you have a great week!

9-Month Mark! Plus Some Really Good Lessons This Week

Hola mama! Buenas tardes! I hit my 9-month mark in my mission this last week! I still have 15 months left but I worry that I won’t be able to accomplish the goals I have set and want to finish before I go home. 15 months is a long time but I know it will go by fast. On Tuesday we had a district meeting and talked about things we can do to invite the spirit more into our day-to-day lives as missionaries. Later, we had 2 lessons with 2 new contacts. The first was a woman, Yazmin, and we taught her the Plan of Salvation. It was a really great lesson and she is really interested and wants to learn more. The second was with a man named Gustavo. We talked with him about basic principles and beliefs. He really seems interested and invited us to come back. It was really awesome to find two new investigators!

Wednesday we had a few appointments fall through but we were able to go visit Victor and had a really good lesson and talk with him. We talked about the importance of prophets, revelation, and the blessings we will receive if we follow the prophets. We also talked with him about his baptism and he decided that on July 14^th he wants to be baptized!! He is also doing good with the Word of Wisdom and hasn’t had any problems with smoking. He really is an awesome, faithful guy!

Thursday we had interviews with President and Hermana Urrea at the stake center and they went really good. Hermana Urrea had a scale and I found out that I’ve lost almost 20 pounds since I got here…. Even though my pants and shirts are all big on me now, it’s better than being too small so it’s all good. And I got some ideas from President Urrea on how to take more initiative and become a better missionary and example to all those around me.

Friday we went contacting and talked to about 8 or 9 people in an hour and were thankfully able to get 2 contacts. One was a woman named Martha who told us about how a really close friend passed away recently and how it was and still is hard for her. We talked with her about the Plan of Salvation and gave her a pamphlet to read then scheduled an appointment to passby and teach her family. We also had another lesson with Victor about tithing and the blessings that come from it, then the Hernandez family where Vianey and Priscila helped us teach their parents about the 10 commandments and easy ways to help them remember them.

By the end of the day Saturday, I was so stinking full. In the morning, Elder Aguilar made some bread things that were good but sat like a rock in my stomach. Around 1:30 we went to a super good restaurant for lunch and I ate soup, spaghetti, lasagna de verduras and banana slices with sour cream and chocolate sauce for dessert. It was really, really good but we were full after and Victor invited us to go to his restaurant at 4 to eat tacos. We went contacting for a little bit before then but when we went to eat tacos we were still full. I managed to eat 5 tacos and while they were fantastically amazing, I wanted to die afterwards. We tried to go contacting after and talked to a ton of people but unfortunately, they all rejected us. We were still able to give out pamphlets and cards of Jesus Christ and plant some seeds with the people we talked with and gave the cards and pamphlets to. 

In church on Sunday we started 20 minutes late because there were only 6 people in the building at first. When we finally started there was a total of 17 people there. When it was time for testimonies, my companion and I were both surprised and super excited when Laura, Juan and Vianey got up to bear their testimonies! It was super awesome! I was able to get up and share my testimony too. After church and lunch, we went to the plaza to go contacting. Because of voting on Sunday for elections, there was tons of people in the plaza. We were able to contact and talk to a few people before we had to come back to the casa. We were told to be back at 6 p.m. for our safety because I guess people get crazy here in Mexico during and after the elections and voting. It was a good day though.

Dang that stinks that they cancelled the firework show for the 4th of July! How sad! I will pray that you guys get more rain. That’s way fun though that you guys got to go to Cherry Hill and hang out and that Greg and Peyton went up too.

I really love that thought a lot (from the conference talk Meek and Lowly of Heart) and I think you are right, that it is a quality that we don’t think about as often as we should. This week I’m going to think more about it and try to learn how to be more meek and lowly in heart! Thank you mama! Love you lots!

Me and Elder Aguilar

Our District, Zone Leaders and Assistants from Last Cambio

Zone Conference