A Rough Week but We Are Going to Keep Trying...

Hola Hola! shoot yeah sorry about that. I keep thinking about spiritual thoughts and sending them but when I’m here in internet I forget because I get distracted, but I will do better at that. Last week was actually a rough week and ended terrible, but this week is a new week and so we are going to keep trying!

Monday after p-day we only ended the day with 2 contacts, which was rough, but what made the day super great was one of the Krispy Kreme doughnuts I ate :). Tuesday we had intercambios and I was with Mencia. We had a good day eating some super bomb tacos for lunch, getting lost while looking for a former investigator in a part of the area neither of us had been to, contacting people in the streets, and visiting some member families. Even though our lessons fell through, we did end the day with 8 investigators which was really awesome.

Wednesday we had a lesson with Isaias and it started out really great, with him, his wife, and their two oldest kids where we taught them about the Plan of Salvation. After we finished though they started asking us questions and arguing or talking really intensely about some things that weren’t true. I felt the spirit of contention during that and our lesson went way over so we were late to all other appointments and were only able to make two contacts that day. But one good part of the day was when we visited a contact name Cirilo, who told us he had been waiting for us and is very interested to learn more about the church.

Thursday when we planned to eat lunch we didn’t have four contacts yet so we continued contacting until we had to go to some appointments. Luckily and thankfully, one of the appointments we had was with Nicolasa who is super awesome and gave us food! Oh how grateful I am for all that she does for us. I like to think that I have a “mom” in every area I’ve been in and I like to think that even though she isn’t a member, she is my mom. After our lesson with her we went to a lesson with a 10-year old boy Elias, whose parents and 3 older siblings are all members but he is not. We got permission to teach him and put his baptismal date for February 2^nd. He has been to church more than is required in the past and knows a lot already so we are just reviewing the lessons and helping him prepare to be baptized. He wants his older brother Job to baptize him, which we think is a fantastic idea. Job just needs to be interviewed and then set apart on Sunday to be advanced to a Priest to so he can baptize him.

Friday we had a lesson with Jorge. He is a very smart man and remembers things he was taught by missionaries over 6 months ago. During our lesson about the Plan of Salvation he would participate by relating things we said to him and his own life. It was really surprising and really awesome. For lunch we went to the casa of a family and the wife didn’t have food ready yet so we offered to help and she taught us how to make sopes. It was really fun and they were really good. After lunch we went with the same member to visit and teach Elias. His baptism is next Saturday and we still have quite a bit of things we need to teach him before his interview. So we finished teaching the commandments and asked him the baptismal questions and he passed wonderfully. Also, we ended the day with 7 contacts and some really great lessons.

Saturday we were able to find 4 contacts before lunch! After lunch we were supposed to have a lesson with Edith and her son but they weren’t home either. So, we went to a meeting with a man who still is not an investigator, but he's very good. He is a Christian and has many questions but wants his answers only from the Bible. It is a bit difficult at times to answer his questions but thankfully we have the guide in the back of the Book of Mormon and also the footnotes in each of the Book of Mormon, Pearl of Great Price, and Bible. Because of these tools, we were able to blow his mind and prove that God talked with Moses face to face. A bit later we went to the casa of the familia Garcia Morado to have an FHE where we invited the mom of a member named Diego. Diego has been a member for 2 years and has a little sister named Melani who is 9 years old but isn’t baptized either. We had the FHE to talk with her about the importance of families and get permission to teach her daughter and also teach her to help their family become more united. She did give us permission and is interested to learn more herself. 

Sunday, we had had high hopes about church attendance because we called everyone the night before and they all said they would be going but it was an incredibly frustrating and disappointing day. None of our investigators came to church and we don’t really know why. We tried calling to see what was up and why they didn’t go and to see if we could passby but nada. I'm very sick of people not fulfilling their promises. That is one thing I have learned is to always keep promises.

Wow that’s crazy to me! and sounds like you guys have been doing a lot. Can’t they keep living there until I get back so I can live there? haha. Anywho, thank you for that quote and for your love and support! Thank you for sending the package as well! I love you guys and I hope you have a great week!

Yay for Krispy Kreme!!

Finding Isaias and Norma - It Was a Super Awesome Week

Hola Padres Míos! This week was super awesome! And Tuesday was super awesome. One of the best parts was when we were contacting in the morning. We knocked on a door and a woman answered. When we introduced ourselves and asked if she would be interested in hearing our message she said yes that we could come back another day, and then she said oh hang on and then went back into her house for a minute or two. Then came back out and asked if we had time right now and if we could wait for 5 minutes for her husband to get home because he wanted to talk to us. At first I was thinking okay this is going to be interesting. But when he got there they invited us in to talk with them and they were even kind enough to give us food! We were so surprised and super happy because they have lots of questions about a ton of things. I’m pretty sure we taught a few points from each of the 5 lessons with them because of how many questions they had and it was great! I could feel the spirit super strong and was able to have the spirit help me explain some things. We taught very clearly and detailed. It was a great experience that hasn’t happened very often. At the end of the lesson we invited them to be baptized and the husband, Isaias, excitedly said yes but his wife, Norma, didn’t because she wants to honor her family by staying catholic. We know that if we can get them to church and teach them with the spirit and get them to pray, we can get her to accept to be baptized and they can be baptized with their kids too. It was just super amazing!

Wednesday we had our zone conference which was really great. We talked about the importance of talking with everyone and at the end of each day evaluate our contacts for quantity and quality and look for more and do better the next day. We talked about a lot of other things as well but it was really good. We ended late so we ended up sleeping in the casa of the zone leaders and going back to our casa the next morning.

Thursday we visited Esteban to see how he is doing with everything and to invite him to church on Sunday. Then we went to go see Nicolasa and to see if she had talked with her partner about getting married; and yes they’ve talked about it and are planning to, but first they need to find a place that isn’t super expensive. We’re working with members to see if they can help us find someone to help Nicolasa. We also contacted a bit and ended the day with 5 contacts. It was a good day.

Friday we had intercambios and I went with Elder Loomis. All of the appointments that we had fell through, so that was kinda rough. Then Elder Loomis got a call saying that there was a sister missionary in the zone who hurt her foot and wasn’t able to walk, so we had to go find her and try to help her. After we got that settled we continued contacting and ended the day with only 4 contacts in total. I just thought to myself, tomorrow is a new day though.

Saturday, we had another lesson with Lupita who we taught the week before. We had another really great lesson about the Restoration. This time at the end we invited her to be baptized and sadly she declined because she doesn’t yet understand, but I think if we can get her to come to church she will start converting and accept to be baptized. Also, in the morning we were able to find our 4 contacts before lunch. We went to a lesson with Edith where we taught her and then had to re-invite her to be baptized. She was originally supposed to be baptized on Saturday but she didn’t have all her attendances at church. We talked about the importance of going to church and partaking of the sacrament. She needs to go at least 2 more times if she wants to be baptized. We were able to talk with her youngest son, Jahir, and invite him to church with his mom; and to our surprise, he excitedly accepted!

Sunday was a super great day! Esteban, Edith and Jahir, Jorge and his son Daniel all went to church and were there to partake of the sacrament. Our zone leaders told us after church ended that the attendances for Daniel and Jahir didn’t count toward our numbers because they aren’t investigators and don’t have a baptismal date. But if we could go by and find them and commit them to a baptismal date then we could count them. So that’s what we did and they accepted! We passed by with all 5 people who went to church and they told us it was really great. They liked it a lot and are hoping to go back next week. We also had 3 new investigators by the end of the day! We had 3 because we found a kid who is 10 but isn’t baptized. His parents are members and gave us permission to go and teach him!

Man I can’t tell you how much I miss the snow! I saw the video of Koda playing in the snow. Ah I love him and miss him so much! :) Wow how fun that Yvette, Amanda and Stephanie dropped by to say hi! How are they doing?

To answer your question, we weren't able to go by and help the people with the spirits because of the Zone Conference we had but we are still going to try and go back another day to help. Thank you so much for all the advice and things you sent me! It’s not the first time that I’ve been asked to do something like this so at least I have a little experience but yeah thankfully it’s not a huge problem. Thank you so much though! Also, we went to the Chinese buffet for lunch today hahaha.

Zone Conference

From the Chinese buffet :)

Lots of New Contacts, Some Great Lessons and Little Caesars

Hola Mamá y Papá! Things here are going good! This past week was really good! Tuesday during our district meeting we talked about the importance of having a relationship and trust with the members of each ward we are in and will be in. We are going to work on this by calling 2 members each day to see how they are doing and ask if there is anything we can do. Also, whoever we eat lunch with we are going to insist that we clean up and offer to help in any other way possible. I think it will be super fun! Later, we had a lesson with Nicolasa where we taught her about Eternal Marriage and the importance it is if she wants to be baptized that she gets married with her partner. She does want to get baptized so she was going to talk with him and let us know later what they are going to do.

Also we got a new rule this last week that we have to have 4 contacts before we go to lunch. We have to try our absolute hardest and do all we can to get that. If we don’t have 4 before lunch and we want to eat, we have to call our DL to get permission to eat. Due to a bunch of circumstances, we ended up getting lunch from a member who brought it to our casa so we ate before we had 4 contacts. Needless to say, our DL was super mad at us. We ended up having 8 contacts at the end of the day though, so I was super happy about that.

Thursday we called a bunch of former investigators and contacts from some months back and were able to get 4 contacts before lunch, so we got permission to go to the new Little Caesars that opened last week; and oh how I’ve missed Little Caesars! Especially the crazy bread! Later we had an appointment with an older couple who spent a good amount of time telling us about experiences they’ve had with spirits and shadows in their house and asked if we could help. It’s nothing serious as they don’t feel in danger, but they would like them gone. So we need to prepare and figure out how to help them. Then we were able to go find 5 more contacts so we ended the day with 9 in total!

Friday we met with a young man who is a member but the only member of his family. We want to get his help so we can try to start teaching his mom, and ask her permission to start teaching his 9 year old sister. So we are coming up with plans to start teaching them. Later we had a lesson with Jorge, who we found last week. He had taken lessons from missionaries in the past but they stopped passing by. Anyway, we talked with him about the Restoration and he remembered quite a bit of it from the lessons he had previously, so it made it easy to teach it! We gave him a pamphlet about the Word of Wisdom so we can talk about that in our next appointment with him and invited him to church on Sunday. At the end of the day we found 16 contacts! Our ZLs were blown away. It’s thanks to Heavenly Father we were able to find all of them!

Saturday was a crazy day filled with appointments. We had four scheduled in the late morning and early afternoon before lunch, then after lunch we had 6 more scheduled. Out of all of those we were able to have only 3, but one we had was with a woman named Lupita who was very interested to know if we can see our family again after we die. We explained the Plan of Salvation and she understood and accepted everything we taught her. We didn’t feel it was the right time to invite her to be baptized yet but we have another visit planned this coming week so we are planning to invite her then! In the afternoon we had a lesson with Edith and had a short visit with Nicolasa. She has talked with her partner about marriage, which they both want to do, so they just need to pick a day and start getting the paperwork ready. It was a good day!

Yesterday we had 3 investigators that came to church. Nicolasa was able to go to a different ward with her daughter and they got there on time so they count! We also contacted a lot yesterday and went by to see how some people were doing and it was really good. In the night it got super cold here! But yeah things are good! :)

Wow I did not know that CJ and Jess were moving but that’s super awesome! I like that quote that you guys sent me; and in fact, I have the talk from Elder Holland on a flash drive and it is a super great talk! You should listen to it all! It’s super incredible! Thank you so much for your email and love and support! I love you guys so much! Have a great week!

PS we went to Villa del Carbón today and saw the familia Hernandez Velazquez and Victor! It was super awesome and fun! Pics to come!

Finding 3 New Investigators, Plus a Wonderful Surprise Visit!!

Hola Hola! I’m sorry I didn’t write yesterday, there was problems with the website but yeah we have a little time to write right now! This past week we were able to find 3 new investigators, one of them is Esteban, more on him later but he is a super awesome guy.

Tuesday - Holy fetch it’s 2019!! So many things happened this past year, I can’t even believe it. I was able to end the year with 12 baptisms, one for every month of the year! That makes me super happy. I was also able to meet some super awesome families and other people in general. I had some tough times with companions, the language, quite a few things, but I’m grateful I had the opportunity to have those difficulties and learn and grow from them. Thankfully, I still have time left in my mission to keep learning and growing, I just need to be more diligent and try/do better and harder!

Wednesday we had a lesson with Nicolasa that went super good, well until the end. We taught her about the Word of Wisdom and she agreed to what we asked her to do. We also taught the law of Chastity and she accepted to live by it, but then she told us that she isn’t married to her “husband”. They have two daughters in their 20s and have been living together for a long time, but aren’t married. She is such an awesome lady so we are going to keep teaching her and try to see if we can convince her and her “husband” to do what they need to do to get married, so she can be baptized. We also were able to find 9 contacts by knocking on doors that day.

Thursday we were able to make Esteban a new investigator! We believe he understood everything we taught him in our lesson about the Plan of Salvation. We explained all about baptism, how it is done and what it means to be immersed in the water then to rise out of it; and after we explained it, he gladly accepted to be baptized on the 2nd of March. It was super awesome! We also met with Alfredo, Linda and Angel to make sure they are continuing to grow their testimonies.

Saturday most of our citas fell through but we were able to find 8 contacts. It took time and perseverance as it always does but thankfully we were able to find them. One man we talked to told us after we introduced ourselves as missionaries “No thanks, I’m an artist.” So we said well we are here to share a message about Jesus and his restored gospel to which he replied, “No that’s all lies.” And then shut the door. That was the most interesting rejection I’ve gotten but oh well. At least we gave him the opportunity to choose.

Holy smokes Sunday was a fantastic day and it was all because of a surprise visit I had at church. We walked in and I didn’t notice them at first, but my companion was behind me and told me to turn around and look in the corner. So I turned and saw Vianey and Victor! I wanted to yell in excitement but I refrained. It was fantastic to see them. Victor even brought me tacos! I shared them with my companion later that night and oh man they were so good! Their visit made up for the fact that none of our investigators came to church. Nicolasa did but went to a different ward that started later but at least she went to both hours of church. The surprise visit from Vianey and Victor was super awesome though! 

Wow that’s awesome you had so many people for New Years! Did you guys light off fireworks too? Did Shawn put on a show? Any who thank you so much for the email! I don’t have a lot of time to write so I wasn’t able to write everyone. Tell them I’m sorry!

Thank you for all your love and support! I hope you guys have a great week! I love you!

Me with Vianey, Victor and Elder Hernandez