Week 12: What Week Is It?

Casa de Oracion

1.      How did the baptisms go?  I hope you got some pictures!

- Baptisms are today

2.      How are things going with the youth groups you are organizing to help you?

- I came up with a new idea for the youth of both branches this week to get more youth involved.

3.      How much soccer do you play? Do you like it more now?

- We don’t really play…I mean we can but I haven’t. I’m not here to play soccer bro. LOL

4.      How are things going with 2-hour church? 

- Church feels the same honestly.

5. I noticed in some pictures that elders wear their nametags when baptizing.  Is that a requirement?

- I don’t know. Pretty sure everyone does. LOL

Missionaries write their name on this plate in the area

This week went by like a whirlwind too. Not too much happened either. We ran out of our travel money so we didn’t have many options. We tried something new as well. We are in charge of about two or three areas (all huge) and we really wanted to visit the less active members on the coast so we used bikes.

We thought this was a good idea and a good way to save money but it turned bad really quickly.  First, we forgot sunscreen and second the tires on the bike popped. So then it turned into a terrible idea. By the time we got to Puerto Arista to a member it was 2 hours later and I was literally a shrimp. LOL

But the visits were good so it was all worth it. We also had to return in a moto taxi holding the bikes out the side because we didn’t have time to walk back. So much for trying to save money. We also saw the promise from President Doman come to pass about having the Book of Mormon in hand always. The promise is that people will come to us. They will wonder what it is and we will see the fruit of our labors. We went to the pizza shop to order some food and the lady at the register grabbed my Book of Mormon and was very curious.

She asked why we always had this in our hands (don’t ask how the workers at the pizza place know we always have it LOL). We answered her question and now her and her sister are investigators---very good ones too! They have many questions and questions are good!!!

We also spent time with a lot of less active members this week. It seemed that the thing that’s was keeping them from coming is they felt like they couldn’t go or they felt left behind. I would just like to say right now if anyone is reading this and feels this way or doesn’t feel like you should go to church for whatever reason, stop thinking those thoughts right now. 

Go read 2 Nephi 26: 25, 33. These are just two of the many examples of the nature of our elder brother Jesus Christ. He is ALWAYS there with open arms. He and our loving Heavenly Father ALWAYS have love for us and want us to come to them. But that’s the thing--we can’t sit back and say when is my Savior gonna come and give me peace? When am I gonna feel God’s love? We cannot expect to get those things when we don’t do anything! Yes, they have love for us--that is an eternal love. Yes, their arms are always extended our way. BUT WE NEED TO COME TO THEM! We have to put in a little effort. We need to get down on our knees and pray to them and ask for the comfort we need. We will receive it.

We will receive all the help we need but we need to humble ourselves and come unto Christ, our loving Savior and come unto our loving Heavenly Father and be embraced by their love by their comfort. This is what our Savior wants from us. This is what our Heavenly Father wants of us but we have to try to come unto them first.

Love y’all.  More next week!

Week 11: The Plan of Salvation and Forever Families

1. How did your baptism go?
-It didn't happen but we are hoping for all seven to be next Monday at the beach.

2. I saw a picture online of zone conference in Tonala.  What did you learn about? I also noticed that you looked sunburned. Are you?
-I'll write about it in the email.

3. Have you tried the bbq sauce with them down there yet?
-No I haven't had a chance.

4. Can you give me more info on pictures when you upload?
-I will when I upload.

6. I noticed that there are new APs. Does your mission president like them kind of young in the mission as APs?
-Both the APs have a lot of time in the mission. Reyes was in the office for awhile and the other one was out for quite a bit of time.

7. Have you been able to set up your camera for Wifi? Does your building in Tonala have Wifi?
-I don't know how to do the Wifi.

8. How are your shoes holding up?
-The shoes are doing good.

Mom side note:  They walk a lot and he says that he aches.  

9. How many investigators do you have?
-At the very least 30 every week because every week we send our top 30 to president.

Tonala Zone

This week went by so fast. I'm so confused too because I really can't remember much of this week. We were all over the place. Just a fair warning too, there is not much comedy relief in this email. 

So this week we had a zone conference here in the capilla (chapel), I will  talk about that in a minute. But first,  as we were sitting there, we got a phone call from a member. One of our youth died. He and his family were fairly new converts so that was pretty sad. We were running around this city trying to figure out what was going on but once we finally got to the family we had the opportunity to talk a little. He was 15 years old, his first day on the job, when he got hit by the bucket and arm of an excavator. One thing I will say is yes life is hard. Many things happen in our lives that test our faith. But in those times and always, we need to keep our faith of the plan-- the wonderful plan that our loving Heavenly Father has provided for us. The plan of salvation is one of the many things our Father in Heaven has provided us with to be able to be with him again, with our families forever, and be perfected for eternity. When we lose a friend or family member here on Earth, yes it is rough, yes it is sad, but it is not the end! This plan gives us an eternal perspective. This gospel gives us the ability to know this life does have meaning and we will see our family and friends again after death. But the important thing to remember is we are still responsible. We have to continue to learn and grow in the gospel. We must continue to keep the covenants we have made to the Lord. As it says in Doctrine and Covenants 82: 10, He is bound when we do what He says but when we do not what He says we have NO promise. His word is right in front of us in the scriptures. His plan for us is in them and as we follow His word, we have the promise from Him we will be with our families together forever. But it is only by and through Him and His gospel that this is made possible.

If you haven't already done it, y'all should make a group of youth to help the missionaries out. The Gathering of Israel is hastening. We need the youth to work alongside the missionaries to get their friends coming and part member families coming and less actives coming. The youth may not think they are of any help but they are! We cannot do this alone--well, I mean we can but if we want to reach more people, it is through the youth and family.

The zone conference was pretty good. I love hearing from the Domans. Hermana Doman gave a really good spiritual thought that I will share a little bit of. She focused on the aspect of faith. Faith is important. It's the first principle of the gospel. She talked about fear's role in faith. Fear's role is to destroy faith. Fear is a powerful thing with people that are investigating the church. They probably often have the fear of change, the fear of what people will think , which is why we need to be stressing faith to people that are investigating the church. Our faith should be centered on our Savior Jesus Christ because it is through Him and through our faith in Him that we are able to receive comfort and feel joy in times where without faith we would probably have fear. 

It is very important to remember that our faith is like a muscle. We need to be exercising it and working it out to get it stronger because it's hard to just have this huge amazing amount of faith. But the way we work our faith out is by reading the scriptures, praying,  going to church, and living the gospel. Pretty simple right? It's hard sometimes but it is something simple. Through strengthening our faith we have something to lean on through the toughest times in life.  

Talk to y'all next week. Hopefully I'll have more to talk about.

HASTA EL ARBOL
TGM!!

Week 10: Settling In- Chickens and Bats

1. Did your baptism happen?

Baptism didn't happen but we have 6 fechas por the next two weeks so it's alright.

2. How is the language coming along?

Language is fine. I need to get better at keeping up but other than that it's fine.

3. With not too many priesthood holders, how does church go?

Church is good. It's kinda the same honestly. Just at Cabeza de toro it's a little different because it's all women and children.

4. How are you getting the youth involved there. 

Having English classes, doing sports activities, and telling them they will get pizza if they complete the goal

Well all I´m gonna say is I did not just survive the first whole week with an only Spanish-speaking companion, I thrived! LOL. It was really fun. The Spanish is coming along. My ability to not drip sweat in this heat has not gotten any better. It doesn't help that our other area is right on the beach and it is so nice with the wind. 

The people are great here. We have 6 baptism dates set up and it's pretty exciting. For one of the baptism candidates, it's a little tricky because we need to set up a wedding for them. That is a little tricky in Mexico. But it will happen before next week! 

Not Really Sure Why He Sent This Pic---LOL

The food has been pretty good too. When it comes to the fruit in our house, we have pretty much only eaten fruits and vegetables which have been good. We cut up piñas and oranges and apples--you name it, we ate it. A few days for breakfast, I straight up boiled two papas and then put salt on every bite. It was actually pretty good--practically french fries.... right? 

The week was pretty cool as events went. We stayed in Cabeza De Toro Casa de Oración (our other area chapel) for two nights. It was pretty nice other than the bats and chickens that we lived with LOL. Then we went to 3 Picos to help them get some baptismal dates, which was really fun and it worked! Then after that we went back to Cabeza de Toro to get people to come to church which worked pretty well. We got quite a few people there and we blessed two babies!! 

Then today we had all the missionaries in the zone come here to Tonala for sports games and pizza. It was good to chill for a little bit and talk with the rest of the zone. 

This week during personal study and companionship study as we were studying about the Book of Mormon, we came across some good scriptures and a good video to help our investigators and less active members with their testimony of the Book of Mormon. The scriptures are Chapter 3 of 2nd Nefi where Lehi is ministering to all of his children. Then he gets to Joseph who is his youngest son, and he explains how he is a descendant of the Joseph that was carried out of Egypt and shared Joseph's prophesies about the latter days.

One of the prophesies was that one day a seer will be brought up and do the will of the Lord and be strengthened to bring forth the restoration of the gospel and bring the writings of the stick of Judah (the Bible) and the writings of the loins of Joseph (the Book of Mormon) together unto the confounding of false doctrines. 

It is so true when. We use the whole word of God--The Book of Mormon and the Bible. It shuts down any possibility of false doctrines because as it says in First Nephi, many of the plain and simple doctrines (key plain and simple) will be lost along the way. But through the restoration these plain and simple doctrines will be brought back to keep out false doctrines. 

I would like to finish with a little quote from Elder Holland which can be paraphrased as: "No bad man could have written this book and no good man could have written it either, if he wasn't lead and commanded by God himself." 

Yo se Esta es verdad El Libro De Mormon. Tiene una Pregunta en el fin de el Libro esta es, despues leeriendo  esta libro Pregunta Dios si los palabras son los palabras de Dios Y Dios dado la respuesta, SIEMPRE pero primero nececitamos leer el Libro y segundo dar un oracion con fe. Por que somos hijos de nuestro padre celestial quiere bendice nos y ayudanos en vida pero nececitamos fe y comparto estas cosas en el en el nombre de Jesucristo Amen.

I know that the Book of Mormon is true. If you have a question at the end of the book, this is, after reading this book, ask God if the words are the words of God. God will give the answer, ALWAYS but first we need to read the book and second, give a prayer with faith. Because we are children of our Heavenly Father, he wants to bless us and help us in life. But we need faith. I share these things in him in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

HASTA EL ARBOL. TGM!!

Week 9: Ixhuatan/Tonala- LOTS of Change Already!

Sooo I am finally writing 3 weeks in. It's been a long three weeks but a great three weeks! 

Christmas Party

My first area was Ixhuatan, Oaxaca in the Chahuites Zone. The people there were so amazing. They helped me out so much. On my first day, my suitcase with all of my clothes was stolen at the bus depot.  It was interesting LOL. But the members took me to go shopping on day three (with permission duh cause I'm an obedient missionary). But we had to leave the mission to get them. We went all the way to Salina Cruz, Oaxaca which is in the Oaxaca mission. After that, I finally started to settle in there. It was really cool. I learned the importance of members with us to convert--especially the youth. They are the heart and future of the Evangelio (Gospel). It was really cool and fun to get to know the people of Ixhautan and I definitely will return. I can't wait. 

Christmas Gift Exchange at Party

Oh yeah about how I left... Well we thought I was gonna stay and the white AP was gonna come down and train me to be a zone leader in a few transfers or as soon as the next one. Then Thursday of last week came and we got a call at 6:30 in the morning on the dot from a different zone leader saying I needed to go Tuxtla for the Consego (which are meetings with all the zone leaders of the mission) and I was supposed to bring my bags. That was one way to really wake me up LOL. 

So I packed and came to Tuxtla. When I got there, I was told I was going to Tonala 1 (and working also in Cabeza de Toro) in Chiapas with the other AP (the one who does not know English at all). That was some interesting news to say the least. But all is well. It was really cool to get the opportunity to go to the Consego and aprender (learn) so much. We talked a lot about goals and our direction. We have to be working with the church leaders and youth to get this work going. Our goal for baptisms this month is 250 (maybe he meant 25?). That's crazyyy. But we can do it. With faith and giving it our all, we will be able to accomplish wonderful things. That's what this life is about-- having faith through the ups and the downs, always staying true to your beliefs, holding to the rod, having faith that everything will be alright in hard times, and having faith that we receive so many blessings from God in the ups. 

So yeah,  I am now in Tonala. Things are looking up. Having a companion that can only speak Spanish helps a lot! Things are good out here in Tonala. We set two baptismal dates in our first two days. So this place will be booming before we know it. Todo lo Puedo en Cristo que me fortalece (I can do everything in Christ that strengthens me)! Hasta el Arbol TGM (Tuxtla Gutierrez Mission)!!!