It's Cambio Week...

Hola mamá! How are you? The power went out like 5 times while I’m trying to write you and on the 5^th time it went out for 45 mins, but I’m doing good now. So guess what? I’m getting transferred to an area called Jasso in the Zone Tula. It’s north of here. My new compañion is Elder Herrera and he is from the northern part of Mexico. We both came to the field at the same time but I don’t really know much about him. I know things will be really good with him though. They are taking both missionaries that were in that area out and my new comp and I are going to ´open´ this area without knowing anything. It will be interesting but not impossible. Elder Zapata is staying here and getting a new companion. 

So for the rest of the week, on Monday after we wrote, we had planned a lesson with Beatriz but weren’t able to get another male to accompany us so we had to cancel and reschedule. Tuesday we had our district meeting and I got asked to be in charge of the devotional that we have before the actual meeting. Both the devotional and the district meeting were really good. After the meeting we had intercambios and this time Elder Rivera and I were together. While we were out we found a really awesome family who invited us in to their house and gave us food. The husband (grandpa) is the only member of the church. They told us that they used to feed the missionaries in the other area they lived in and they loved to have them visit so it’s really awesome we found them so the missionaries in this area can start visiting them again.

Wednesday morning we had interviews with Elder Grimaldi and he gave me some really good advice for some of the things that I want to improve. I’m very grateful for his help. I’m trying to improve and do a lot of things and it was good to know he is really trying to help me. Thursday we went and visited Jazmin in her little tienda and talked with her about our purpose as missionaries like how we are here to help her come closer to Christ and not to force her to do anything. She told us she would like us to keep coming back to visit her.

Friday we got a surprise visit from our zone leaders Elder Talbot and Elder Madden. They came to study with us for a bit and also to check and see how things were in our casa. Then we went to the mission office so I could sign some papers to renew my visa. Sometime next month I will go to the immigration office/building to actually renew it. It took some time but I finally got it done. After we got back to our area and were eating lunch with the Hernandez Velazquez family, I got a call from one of the secretaries asking me if we could go back to the offices because I signed some papers incorrectly. It takes us four hours to get there and back so we went first thing Saturday. We also planned to go visit Victor Saturday when we got back to see how he is doing but unfortunately we weren’t able to.

Sunday was my 11-month mark in the mission!! After church we went to see Victor to see how he is doing and to eat with him as well. The food he cooked was amazing. He wasn’t at church because he was having some problems. My companion and I felt horrible because we didn’t visit him at all this week. He is such an awesome guy though. 

I gotta go now. I love you so much Mama!!!! Tell grandma I love her please! I hope you have a great week! Trust in God and remember to doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith, or Heavenly Father, or the Gospel, or the Book of Mormon, etc.!

💙💚💛

#Parkfuerte!💪🏼

My destroyed package sent via USPS

Fortunately only one thing got destroyed. The poptarts and
pringles were pretty smashed but still edible.

Amazing Trip to the Temple and Saying Goodbyes....Just in Case

Hola Mamá! Como estas? I’m doing good! To answer your questions, our temple trip was really good! I got 4 names done with the help of my district! More on that later. Also, one thing that I’ve learned from my companion is to really listen to people and ask them questions to get to know them better. Not just yes or no questions but ones that require a longer response. He is really good at listening to people and then asking them questions to really understand their needs. That is something that I need to work on a lot more. 

On Monday after our p-day time, we had a lesson an inactive, recent convert named Beatriz. I think I talked about her before. We talked with her about families and temples because her husband died, I’m not sure how long ago. But we talked about how ordinances we do in the temples, along with family history work, can help our families on the other side of the veil, so she can do work for her deceased husband. She was very interested about that and wants to keep learning more! It was really great!

Tuesday we had a really great district meeting where we talked about how we need to trust in the spirit, especially during lessons we have during the day. Then we had a couple of practices to help us evaluate ourselves. It was really good. After district meeting we came back to our area and ate lunch with Victor. Although he put nopales (cactus) in the food he cooked, it was still amazing! I even ate some chilis that were super fetching spicy but I’m trying to adapt myself to the spicy food here. It’s rough but I’m progressing little by little.

Wednesday was super long but because we went to the temple, it was amazing and worth it. I got up at 3 am to start the boiler, then went back to bed until 4 when we had to get up and great ready to leave. We had to be at the stake center by 7 and when all the missionaries from our zone arrived, we got into a combi and headed to the temple. It was really, really great because I had four names that I brought that Elders Zapata, Grimaldi and Rivera helped me do the ordinances for. It was just really really awesome! We had lunch after and then headed back to the stake center so we could go back to our areas. 

Thursday as we were walking in the street there was a family sitting outside and the father yelled at me. I thought he was just saying “Hola Güero” because many people say that to me, so I just kind of ignored it, but he kept talking. So I decided to talk to him and we discovered that he and his family were interested in hearing about the gospel. The live in the Federal District in the city so we wrote down their information to pass to the missionaries where they live.

Friday we went to eat with the Hernandez Velazquez family at Victor’s restaurant. Other than that we tried to go visit investigators before we went and then after we ate, but we weren’t able to contact or find any of the people we planned to visit. It was a tough day finding people but we were able to talk to Victor’s assistant Claudia and invite her to church on Sunday. She is really nice; and because of the tragedy of losing her husband, we are trying to work with her and help her feel that there is still hope, happiness and joy and she can find those things if she reads the Book of Mormon and comes to church. She hasn’t come yet because she is afraid, but we are trying to help her overcome her fear and timidness.

Saturday we passed by the Hernandez Velazquez family to say goodbye to Laura and Priscila. We’re not sure how long they will be out of town and we have cambios next week so just in case we won’t see them again, I wanted to say goodbye and thank Laura for all she’s done for us. I don’t think I’ll be here for another cambio, since I’ve been here for 3 now, but no matter what happens, I feel blessed I was able to come here to this area and get to know them and teach them. We also went to visit Lorena and her mom Lulu. Lulu is an investigator but she hasn’t been to church in a long time. She hasn’t been feeling good for a while now so when we went to talk to them, we invited her to come to church and told her that if she does come, God will bless her and help her feel better. We testified and promised her that. 

And the great news on Sunday was that Lulu came to church with her daughter Lorena and Lorena’s two little girls Estefany and Katerin. They only came for the first hour but it was still super awesome that she came to church! I know God will bless her for coming. 

We are in week 6 now and this cambio and wow the time has flown by! We will find out what’s going on with cambios most likely next Monday. I gotta go now. Thank you for your thought and for that challenge. I will do my best!

Love you mama! I hope you have a great week!

My zone in the combi headed for the temple!

Elder Grimaldi and my comp Elder Zapata :)

Saying goodbye to Laura and Priscila...just in case.

Great News from President Urrea about Laura and Juan!

Hola Mama! Yes you should read that story about Victor in Preach My Gospel. I can’t remember where it is exactly but if you can’t find it, let me know and I will find where it is and tell you. This past week was pretty good. It was cold and rainy here all week long. I’m doing good but my companion feels sick. He has some major stomach pain and after we’re done writing we’re going to see what we can do to help him. Other than that, things are really good here!

Tuesday we had our district meeting in Atizapan, which is two hours away. President Urrea and his wife were there as well and she gave us a presentation about Preach My Gospel. We didn’t get back to our area until about 3:45, which is later than usual and were starving so we went to visit Victor to see if we could eat at his restaurant, which he happily agreed to. After lunch we couldn’t find anyone home who we tried to visit of our contacts or investigators. It was rough, but in the morning and afternoon were good, so that made up for it.

Wednesday we went with the Branch President and his wife to a little town in the middle of nowhere called Las Moras. It’s a super long dirt road that has corn fields and houses to the sides of it. Every now and then there is a little tienda but the houses are all spaced apart. It took us almost an hour to get to where we were going and the first family we went to see, wasn’t home. So we decided to go visit a different family of non-members. The lesson we had with them was really really good! At the end, we invited them to be baptized and they accepted. It was really awesome!

Thursday during our interviews with President, we talked to him and got approval to continue teaching and baptize Laura and Juan from the Hernandez Velazquez family!! We are super fetching excited!! We can’t baptize them this Saturday because Laura and Priscila are going to another state to try to find a place that Priscila and Vianey can live in while they are going to school. So we are hoping for the next Saturday. Other than with them, we are struggling with our other investigators because they aren’t coming to church and because of that they aren’t progressing..... it stinks but we are trying our best.

Friday we went to visit Laura and Juan and share the news with them. They were super excited and ready to be able to finally be baptized. I am excited as well because I will have two more baptisms. Now that isn’t the main reason but it is a bonus because I have a goal to have a baptism for every month of my mission. Finding people and helping them find God and receive the help they need comes first, and if they are ready, while I’m in the area, to be baptized that’s great! If not, I hope that I was able to help them and the missionaries who come after will be able to take care of the area and the people to help them progress.

Saturday we had planned to visit a bunch of investigators and have lessons with them and invite them to church. Out of all the people we had planned to visit, we were only able to visit Victor and Claudia in Victor’s taqueria. They were really busy so we weren’t able to have a lesson but we did talk with them to see how they are doing and invite them to church tomorrow. It was also really rainy and cold so there was barely anyone in the streets. 

Sunday there weren’t many people in church. Laura was sick and didn’t come to church and none of our other investigators came to church either. I’m getting really frustrated with this area and the people who say they are going to come to church and then they don’t. If you don’t want to come, then tell us the truth instead of lying. After church we went to visit an inactive recent convert. Her name is Beatriz and she sells shoes with two of her sisters. Her boss won’t let her leave on Sunday’s to go to church so that is why she is inactive. She is looking for another job that she can switch to so she can come to church with her family. We found out most of her family isn’t baptized and they are above 9 years of age so we are going to work with them to see if we can help them come to church and hopefully be baptized.

Sounds like you had an exciting week! How awesome all the stuff you got to do with your work and then that you went to Duchesne! I really like that quote, thank you for sharing it! I have to go now Mamá. I love you tons and hope that you have a great week!

Zone conference with a special guest, trying to find new investigators, and a birthday shout out during testimony meeting

Hola mamá! Como estas? To answer your questions I’m doing good and my birthday was really good (more on that later). We just found out that we are going to go to the temple next Thursday! I still have some names I can take to the temple too!

So last Monday after we emailed, we went to visit Lorena and her family to give her mom a blessing, which went well. We are going to work with her mom and teach her and help her progress to baptism. We also talked with Lorena’s sister Maria de la Luz and Sylvia. They both don’t really want anything to do with the church right now. I could feel some contention with Maria. I think she is still mad with what happened with Elder Aguilar. Other than that she doesn’t want to get married or separate from her partner so we can’t baptize her until either one of those happens. We are praying for God to help her change her heart but she is a stubborn woman.

Tuesday we had intercambios with Grimaldi and Rivera in the area of Campestre. I was with Grimaldi. It was super hot at first and we walked a ton and contacted a ton of people as well. We had a couple of lessons with their investigators but we mainly contacted. I remembered some of the houses we contacted last time so we passed by them again and found out that the elders hadn’t been back to visit them since we were there. Grimaldi wrote down in his agenda when he and his companion could go back, I hope they actually do it this time.

Wednesday we had our zone conference. Which was really good. We talked about how we need to actualize our area books and how we need to strive more to find new investigators who will progress to baptism and that we need to contact everywhere we go. We got to hear from Victor Manvel Cabriera, a man from Monterrey Mexico that President Urrea knows. He has a story in Preach My Gospel (page 169) about the missionaries that contacted him in 1994. We got to hear more of his story and he gave us advice. He was super friendly. It really was an awesome conference. I also got my birthday package that day!

Thursday after we got back we headed to lunch with Fernanda at DateunRoll. She made us a big pot of ramen with vegetables, chicken and chilis. It was super good and I even ate a couple chilis. They were super hot but I wanted to try to eat them. It was Fernanda’s way to celebrate my pre-pre birthday. Most of our appointments fell through that day but we did talk with Laura and Juan for a bit and when we did, Laura gave us 4 references of family members and people that live close to her who are interested and want to learn about the gospel!

Friday we went to visit an investigator in her little tienda and found a guy in the store talking to her who was drunk and smelled like he bathed in alcohol. He offered to buy us drinks or whatever we wanted because he is rich. Anyway, because he was there we didn’t want to have our lesson with Jazmin so we scheduled an appointment for another day. Then we passed by the Hernandez Velazquez family because we had lunch scheduled with them. We also left a box that had pamphlets, pass along cards and videos in their shop so they can hand them out to people as they go there. It is working pretty well but we are going to make two other boxes and see if we can put one in Victor’s restaurant and also with Fernanda at DateunRoll.

Saturday was my first birthday in the mission! In the morning my companion made sincronizadas (which is basically a quesadilla), with cereal and orange juice. Later in the afternoon we said hi to Laura and Juan (Vianey and Priscila were at a church camp for YSA). Because they weren’t going to be there on Saturday, they wanted to celebrate my birthday on Sunday with their parents and Victor at their house after church. In the evening we went by DateunRoll and made panini sandwiches, then Fernanda gave me a cheesecake she made and it was so good and really fun! It feels strange to celebrate a birthday on the mission but we were able to celebrate and still work as well.

Sunday after church my companion, Victor and I went to the casa of Vianey and Priscila with their parents and celebrated my birthday with burgers, fries, sodas, t-bone steaks, chorizo and cake. It was so fun that I got to celebrate with all of them. We took a bunch of pictures together so we can all remember the fun day we had. At church once again, none of the people we invited to come were there. There were a lot of members though and that was really great to see. We went almost 30 minutes over in sacrament meeting because there were so many people who shared their testimonies. Laura got up to bear her testimony and while I don’t know if it was completely appropriate, I was happy because she gave me a birthday shout out during her testimony. Saying that she gave me a shout out doesn’t sound good, but the way she did it was actually reverent. When we ended testimony meeting, a lot of members came to wish me a happy birthday. Vianey gave me a tie that she made herself from jean material and sewed flowers in it as well. It is a gift I will always be grateful for. Later in the day Fernanda showed me on Facebook all the people who wished me a happy birthday on my wall, that was really awesome to see :).  

I love the pictures you sent as well! I really like that thought you sent me! Thank you for everything! I love you so much Mama!