This past week was pretty good. It was actually pretty full, and a bit tough too. We had quite a few appointments that we couldn´t go to because there wasn´t a man (12 years old or greater) present with us, so we had some appointments fall through, but we were still able to have many lessons this week, and it was a pretty good thing. Elder Hood was pretty happy about that too, actually.
In my personal study of the Book of Mormon, I just finished Omni and Words of Mormon today in Spanish, so now I´m going to be reading and studying the rest of the book. It´s been good to be reading it, and it´s been good to read in Spanish too. I think I want to read the whole Triple Combination before I go home, in Spanish. I need to speed up my reading if I want to do that, but it´s totally possible.
This week has been a bit tough in some aspects, but I have had so many good, spiritual, testimony-affirming experiences in my mission, and life, that I need to just remember and have faith. I´m going to keep praying, and studying, and moving forward. Today as we sang the hymn before the time of Companionship Study, I was actually pretty touched and felt the Spirit there too, so that was another experience, a reminder of what I need to remember. But, don´t worry. Things are going pretty well.
Hmm... What else can I talk about this week? I´ve got plenty of time, but not a whole ton to say. Here´s one new thing: We got a washing machine! These past few weeks we´ve been taking our clothes with us to wash at a sister´s house, or she washed for us, but now we have a washing machine! It feels good to have this, to be "independent" in this sense. It´ll help make our P-days more laid-back and good. Today we lost some time working with that, but in the future it´ll be better.
Today, we´ve just got a laid-back day planned out. After writing here, we´re going to head over to eat, then back to our house to wash our clothes, clean, and relax. It´ll be pretty nice. Maybe I´ll write some letters, read, nap, or who knows. It´ll be good, whatever we do. I like the idea of having some "down time."
Okay, I thought of something else to write about. Yesterday we had Stake Conference, and it was a special transmission from Salt Lake about missionary work with the members, and good stuff like that. Elder Craig C. Christensen of the Seventy directed and spoke in Spanish; Sister Neill F. Marriot of the Young Women´s General Presidency shared her conversion story and how to share the gospel with others (she had a voice-over translation after saying a few sentences in Spanish); Elder D. Todd Christofferson spoke to us about follow four counsels / areas of focus that President Monson has given (in pretty good Spanish too, so that was kind of cool to hear); and Elder Robert D. Hales finished up the meeting (with voiceover). It was pretty good. To start, some local people spoke or bore testimony, and to end we sang a hymn and had a prayer in the Stake Center. It was good.
The transfers are coming up, and we´ll see how things turn out here in Tamaulipas 1.1 - it could be that we stay together for another transfer, it could be that one of us leaves. We don´t know what will happen. It could be that we stay together here, but then it won´t be training. It could be that I train again, or that I leave and train or something. We´ll just have to see what happens. As for the mission, a new Zone will be opening up, so we´ll go from having 7 Zones to having 8 Zones. The work keeps progressing, moving forward.
Well, I guess that´s it for the general letter. Have a great week everyone, and be happy. This Friday I´ve got 15 months since I left on my mission. Time flies! I love you all and wish you well!
Monday, January 13, 2014
Monday, January 6, 2014
Week #64: Tamaulipas 1.1 - XI, Week 3
It seems like it was only a few days ago that I wrote... Because it was. So, this is more of a half-week letter. The good news is that the second half of the week was pretty good, and full of stuff, so we´re good to go.
To start off, our English classes went a bit better this week. We had some new faces there, and some of the same ones too. What we should do is bump up our advertising for the classes. We´re going to ask the Bishopric to see if they can always announce the classes, see if we can put a sort of announcement up on the bulletin board, and stuff like that. Hopefully we can get the classes up and running. It was a bit rough this week, since it was our first week together with Elder Redford and I teaching, but it was good and pretty basic.
On Friday we had intercambios (exchanges) and it was pretty good. Elder Carbajal got to stay in the area with Elder Nay, and I got to leave and go to an area that is called Bosques de San Miguel 1.1 with our District Leader Elder Hood. It was a pretty interesting intercambio, and I enjoyed it. We were able to work well together, and we both come from similar pasts (as far as areas go). My first area was his second, and he just left from there (half of my first area, actually). I heard some good news from him.
A long time ago I taught an investigator named Nora. It doesn´t look like I mentioned her in my past letters... oops. But, the point is that she was in my first area. I remember the first time we taught her - it was the first time I felt that I could really, really understand all that was going on. She was very open with us about her struggles, and it was a good lesson. We kept visiting with her, but her husband wasn´t that interested.
Then, I got transfered to the offices. Elder López and Elder Warner (his new companion) kept visiting them, but they didn´t really progress. After two transfers, Elder Hood gets there, sees them like once and they stop visiting them because they weren´t progressing, and her husband flat out said "No." He wasn´t going to stop her from continuing, but his lack of interest discouraged her. About 4 transfers later, she shows up to the chapel, and starts going to Church, showing interest, and progressing. Elder Hood was telling me this, and it got me pretty happy.
Imagine my surprise when Elder Hood and I go to a house to see if somebody could go with us to a visit when lo and behold, I see the familia Velazco. They were the first family I ate with in my first ward. They gave us hamburgers (with avacado, cheese, and ham - Monterrey style). They were like my favorite family in the ward, and they were always supportive to us. Well, it was in their house and with them that we taught Nora. We asked about her, and they said that there were going to have a Family Home Evening and that the Elders were going to invite her to be baptized that night! Cool stuff. Planting seeds. I hope to hear that she does get baptized. That´d be awesome. I´ve attached a photo to this email of them.
On Saturday we had a service activity where we shined shoes, contacted people, and gave away Hot Cocoa, and it was pretty fun and a good activity. We´re going to do it again, it appears, sometime in the future. It was good.
We were able to teach some more people, putting our total at 10 people with baptismal dates, but on Sunday it fell down to 4 because they didn´t come to Church. Oh well, we´re going to keep on moving, working, and we´ll try to help them make it to baptism. We also gave away Adrian to the other area, since he "moved" and is now in their area. He might move back to our side, but in the meantime, the Lord wants him with them. We´ll have to wait and see why.
I also got a haircut this morning. And, that´s the second half of this week. I love you all, and wish you well!
To start off, our English classes went a bit better this week. We had some new faces there, and some of the same ones too. What we should do is bump up our advertising for the classes. We´re going to ask the Bishopric to see if they can always announce the classes, see if we can put a sort of announcement up on the bulletin board, and stuff like that. Hopefully we can get the classes up and running. It was a bit rough this week, since it was our first week together with Elder Redford and I teaching, but it was good and pretty basic.
On Friday we had intercambios (exchanges) and it was pretty good. Elder Carbajal got to stay in the area with Elder Nay, and I got to leave and go to an area that is called Bosques de San Miguel 1.1 with our District Leader Elder Hood. It was a pretty interesting intercambio, and I enjoyed it. We were able to work well together, and we both come from similar pasts (as far as areas go). My first area was his second, and he just left from there (half of my first area, actually). I heard some good news from him.
A long time ago I taught an investigator named Nora. It doesn´t look like I mentioned her in my past letters... oops. But, the point is that she was in my first area. I remember the first time we taught her - it was the first time I felt that I could really, really understand all that was going on. She was very open with us about her struggles, and it was a good lesson. We kept visiting with her, but her husband wasn´t that interested.
Then, I got transfered to the offices. Elder López and Elder Warner (his new companion) kept visiting them, but they didn´t really progress. After two transfers, Elder Hood gets there, sees them like once and they stop visiting them because they weren´t progressing, and her husband flat out said "No." He wasn´t going to stop her from continuing, but his lack of interest discouraged her. About 4 transfers later, she shows up to the chapel, and starts going to Church, showing interest, and progressing. Elder Hood was telling me this, and it got me pretty happy.
Imagine my surprise when Elder Hood and I go to a house to see if somebody could go with us to a visit when lo and behold, I see the familia Velazco. They were the first family I ate with in my first ward. They gave us hamburgers (with avacado, cheese, and ham - Monterrey style). They were like my favorite family in the ward, and they were always supportive to us. Well, it was in their house and with them that we taught Nora. We asked about her, and they said that there were going to have a Family Home Evening and that the Elders were going to invite her to be baptized that night! Cool stuff. Planting seeds. I hope to hear that she does get baptized. That´d be awesome. I´ve attached a photo to this email of them.
On Saturday we had a service activity where we shined shoes, contacted people, and gave away Hot Cocoa, and it was pretty fun and a good activity. We´re going to do it again, it appears, sometime in the future. It was good.
We were able to teach some more people, putting our total at 10 people with baptismal dates, but on Sunday it fell down to 4 because they didn´t come to Church. Oh well, we´re going to keep on moving, working, and we´ll try to help them make it to baptism. We also gave away Adrian to the other area, since he "moved" and is now in their area. He might move back to our side, but in the meantime, the Lord wants him with them. We´ll have to wait and see why.
I also got a haircut this morning. And, that´s the second half of this week. I love you all, and wish you well!
Friday, January 3, 2014
Week #63: Tamaulipas 1.1 - XI, Week 2
Well, it´s actually been like a week and a half since I wrote. I´m going to take a second to write my personal messages first, then I´ll talk about the week...
Okay, done.
Here in Mexico, the Christmas tradition is to celebrate on the 24th, staying up all night and sleeping at like 5 in the morning or so. Near our house, there was some Karaoke during the whole night basically. I slept fine, but Elder Carbajal was not so lucky. New Year´s Eve has a similar tradition, so he bought some ear-plugs; but, the neighbors weren´t there / weren´t loud, so it was a pretty normal night.
So, last week I got to talk home for Christmas, and that was a really nice experience. It was nice to talk to my family, just visit, and it was pretty chill. I was the only Gringo in the entire building, so I just sat there and talked in the main room, in the middle of everybody and it was like I was all alone. Haha. It was good stuff. It was nice.
The rest of the day was just going to visit some members, wish them a Merry Christmas, and stuff like that. And, we had a week that was pretty normal after that. Some rain and cold, but it was good.
On the 29th we met four new investigators and got four new baptismal dates. On the 30th we got one more (but he might be in another ward). On the 31st we got 3 more baptismal dates. So, today we have 9 dates. The thing is to help these people read, go to Church, become converted, and make it to baptism. But, it´s been going pretty great for us lately. Tomorrow we´ve got intercambios (exchanges) and Elder Carbajal is staying here in charge. I´m off with the District Leader to his area. Should be a good experience for the both of us.
Today we were able to go the Temple, and that was a pretty great experience overall. I really was able to feel more during the time there, and it was good. I want to go back, but I have to wait until it´s our turn again. Oh well. Things are going pretty great with the Ward Mission Leader too. He´s the Hermano Villasana, and he´s awesome. They are one of my favorite families that I´ve met out here in the mission field.
So, it´s 2014. That means that it´s time for all of us to think about the past, make some goals, and work hard to achieve them. I personally have thought just a BIT about this, and need to take some more time to make some good goals. I invite all of you to think about and make some good goals for the year 2014. It´s definitely going to be a different year for me than any other which I´ve had.
I love you all and wish you well. I´m going to wrap up my time just chatting with my family. Take care and have a great week everyone! HAPPY NEW YEAR!
So, last week I got to talk home for Christmas, and that was a really nice experience. It was nice to talk to my family, just visit, and it was pretty chill. I was the only Gringo in the entire building, so I just sat there and talked in the main room, in the middle of everybody and it was like I was all alone. Haha. It was good stuff. It was nice.
The rest of the day was just going to visit some members, wish them a Merry Christmas, and stuff like that. And, we had a week that was pretty normal after that. Some rain and cold, but it was good.
On the 29th we met four new investigators and got four new baptismal dates. On the 30th we got one more (but he might be in another ward). On the 31st we got 3 more baptismal dates. So, today we have 9 dates. The thing is to help these people read, go to Church, become converted, and make it to baptism. But, it´s been going pretty great for us lately. Tomorrow we´ve got intercambios (exchanges) and Elder Carbajal is staying here in charge. I´m off with the District Leader to his area. Should be a good experience for the both of us.
Today we were able to go the Temple, and that was a pretty great experience overall. I really was able to feel more during the time there, and it was good. I want to go back, but I have to wait until it´s our turn again. Oh well. Things are going pretty great with the Ward Mission Leader too. He´s the Hermano Villasana, and he´s awesome. They are one of my favorite families that I´ve met out here in the mission field.
So, it´s 2014. That means that it´s time for all of us to think about the past, make some goals, and work hard to achieve them. I personally have thought just a BIT about this, and need to take some more time to make some good goals. I invite all of you to think about and make some good goals for the year 2014. It´s definitely going to be a different year for me than any other which I´ve had.
I love you all and wish you well. I´m going to wrap up my time just chatting with my family. Take care and have a great week everyone! HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Week #62: Tamaulipas 1.1 - XI, Week 1
Merry Christmas for starters! ¡Feliz Navidad a todos mis seres queridos! On Wednesday I get to talk to my family for my SECOND CHRISTMAS. Time flies by. I remember last year when I was talking with my family and I told my dad, "It`s so long! I only have 2 months!" or something like that. And, here I am, at my second Christmas, full of experiences, memories, and lots of learning has taken place.
Christmas is a great time of year. I enjoy it. It`s a bit interesting to be away from home once again. So much has happened in a year. Last year, I was in Colorado in the Greeley 5th Branch. I was able to drive, knock on doors, and I lived in the United States of America. Today, none of those things is true. Haha. But, life is good, and so is being a missionary.
This week a lot of stuff happened, but I`m going to focus on the important things. On Thursday we had a "Posada," which was the Ward Christmas Party. With the transfers, we had a new Elder with us. He is from the United States of America, and he is fresh from the MTC as well. We sang while Elder Bautista read the Christmas Story from Luke 2, and then we sang "Noche de Luz" ("Silent Night"). We left early for the lateness of the Posada, but it was good. We had a lot of less-active members and some investigators comes. Mireya came, and Adrian showed up just before we left. Javier was there too, as was Lucìa (and investigator). We went and got some Tamales before we left (Mexican Christmas food: we ate Tamales in Colorado during Christmas too).
On Friday night we were able to visit with Adrian and Mireya a bit, where we talked about prayer. Afterwards, we went looking for people, but nobody was there. Elder Carbajal suggested that we go and visit a family near our house, and we went. We arrived just when we were needed. The Sister told us a bit about how she was doing, some of her struggles, and we were able to come and share some stuff with her and her son. She said that we helped calm her, and it was a testimony for her that the Lord cares about her, and takes care of her needs. It was pretty special. We`re going to keep helping this family, but I loved this little miracle. Moments like these make the Misison awesome.
On Sunday we had the great miracle and surprise to have Adrian and Mireya there at Church! They had told us that she was leaving town, and he was going to be busy with her the whole day with that, but there they were! They brought her sister too. After Sacrament Meeting they left, but it was great to have them there. Javier came, but after the meeting. A less-active Sister came too. It was good.
My time is short, so I`m going to leave out my personal messages. Sorry! I wish you all a very Merry Christmas to my loved ones, family members, and friends! I love you all. I bear my testimony that Jesus is the Christ, that He lives and loves us. May we reflect on His Atonement especially in his time of Christmas. I love you all!
Christmas is a great time of year. I enjoy it. It`s a bit interesting to be away from home once again. So much has happened in a year. Last year, I was in Colorado in the Greeley 5th Branch. I was able to drive, knock on doors, and I lived in the United States of America. Today, none of those things is true. Haha. But, life is good, and so is being a missionary.
This week a lot of stuff happened, but I`m going to focus on the important things. On Thursday we had a "Posada," which was the Ward Christmas Party. With the transfers, we had a new Elder with us. He is from the United States of America, and he is fresh from the MTC as well. We sang while Elder Bautista read the Christmas Story from Luke 2, and then we sang "Noche de Luz" ("Silent Night"). We left early for the lateness of the Posada, but it was good. We had a lot of less-active members and some investigators comes. Mireya came, and Adrian showed up just before we left. Javier was there too, as was Lucìa (and investigator). We went and got some Tamales before we left (Mexican Christmas food: we ate Tamales in Colorado during Christmas too).
On Friday night we were able to visit with Adrian and Mireya a bit, where we talked about prayer. Afterwards, we went looking for people, but nobody was there. Elder Carbajal suggested that we go and visit a family near our house, and we went. We arrived just when we were needed. The Sister told us a bit about how she was doing, some of her struggles, and we were able to come and share some stuff with her and her son. She said that we helped calm her, and it was a testimony for her that the Lord cares about her, and takes care of her needs. It was pretty special. We`re going to keep helping this family, but I loved this little miracle. Moments like these make the Misison awesome.
On Sunday we had the great miracle and surprise to have Adrian and Mireya there at Church! They had told us that she was leaving town, and he was going to be busy with her the whole day with that, but there they were! They brought her sister too. After Sacrament Meeting they left, but it was great to have them there. Javier came, but after the meeting. A less-active Sister came too. It was good.
My time is short, so I`m going to leave out my personal messages. Sorry! I wish you all a very Merry Christmas to my loved ones, family members, and friends! I love you all. I bear my testimony that Jesus is the Christ, that He lives and loves us. May we reflect on His Atonement especially in his time of Christmas. I love you all!
Monday, December 16, 2013
Week #61: Tamaulipas 1.1 - X - 5
Well, this was the last week of the transfer. Sure, it was a shorter transfer with weeks, but it was also really short in the sense of how it felt. It has been really fast. It was over a month ago that I wrote my first email from this area, and was struggling and having a hard time and feeling a lot of stress. Time flies, and people change and grow. Now, I feel pretty good in the area, more sure of myself, I´ve seen more miracles, and things are going well.
This past week was full of different events. On Tuesday I had intercambios with Elder Bautista in his area, and it was as pretty laid-back day. It was kind of nice to just go with the flow as the "junior companion" with him there. In the night we had a training with the Relief Society about visiting teaching, and organizing, stuff like that. It was pretty good. We did a practice where we showed them what NOT to do, and it was pretty funny. We said stuff like, "I know we don´t know eachother very well, but Sister Mancha (the President) assigned us to come and visit you" and "Why are you less active?" Stuff like that. It was fun.
Let´s see... The rest of the week? Well, we were able to visit some less-active members, some investigators, and we had our weeky English class. This week we learned the first verses of two Christmas hymns in English. We wrote the words in English first, then in a phonetic English (according to Spanish pronunciation) to help everyone say it well. It was fun. It looked funny too.
This was Silent Night (if I can remember correctly):
Saylent nayt, joli nayt.
Al is calm, al is brayt
Raunt yan verllen* mader end chayld
Joli enfent so tender end mayld,
Slip in jevenly pis. Slip in jevenly pis.
*ll = dge of "judge" more or less. I told them to think like Argentinians with that part.
Phonetically, that´s pretty close to our English. Cool huh?
The rest of the week was pretty normal. This week are the transfers, but I´m staying in my area and I´m staying with Elder Carbajal too. This transfer will be number 11, XI, and will last 7 weeks. Elder Needham is leaving, so we´ll need a new District Leader. We´ll see what happens with me... Who knows?
I guess I´ll wrap up the email for now. Next week is Christmas everyone! I get to talk to my family! Yay! It´ll be good. I might cry. We´ll see what happens. Also, PS - tomorrow I have 14 months in the field. Bye!
This past week was full of different events. On Tuesday I had intercambios with Elder Bautista in his area, and it was as pretty laid-back day. It was kind of nice to just go with the flow as the "junior companion" with him there. In the night we had a training with the Relief Society about visiting teaching, and organizing, stuff like that. It was pretty good. We did a practice where we showed them what NOT to do, and it was pretty funny. We said stuff like, "I know we don´t know eachother very well, but Sister Mancha (the President) assigned us to come and visit you" and "Why are you less active?" Stuff like that. It was fun.
Let´s see... The rest of the week? Well, we were able to visit some less-active members, some investigators, and we had our weeky English class. This week we learned the first verses of two Christmas hymns in English. We wrote the words in English first, then in a phonetic English (according to Spanish pronunciation) to help everyone say it well. It was fun. It looked funny too.
This was Silent Night (if I can remember correctly):
Saylent nayt, joli nayt.
Al is calm, al is brayt
Raunt yan verllen* mader end chayld
Joli enfent so tender end mayld,
Slip in jevenly pis. Slip in jevenly pis.
*ll = dge of "judge" more or less. I told them to think like Argentinians with that part.
Phonetically, that´s pretty close to our English. Cool huh?
The rest of the week was pretty normal. This week are the transfers, but I´m staying in my area and I´m staying with Elder Carbajal too. This transfer will be number 11, XI, and will last 7 weeks. Elder Needham is leaving, so we´ll need a new District Leader. We´ll see what happens with me... Who knows?
I guess I´ll wrap up the email for now. Next week is Christmas everyone! I get to talk to my family! Yay! It´ll be good. I might cry. We´ll see what happens. Also, PS - tomorrow I have 14 months in the field. Bye!
Monday, December 9, 2013
Week #60: Tamaulipas 1.1 - X - 4
This past week has been pretty laid-back overall. It´s been more calm than the week before. There are just a few highlights that I´d like to touch in the week:
On Tuesday we had our Zone Conference, and I was only expecting it to go from about 9:00 - MAYBE 3:00, but we left there at about 6:30pm. It was pretty long, but it was good too. A lot of what President Bird talked about were things that were needed. Things that I needed, and things to help my companion out too. It was a good meeting, and I liked it. Took some good notes, and we´ve already been able to apply some of the stuff we learned there.
On Thursday we had a film activity where we watched The Testaments. It was hardly attended, but we had investigators. They all seemed to really like it, and it piqued their interest. One said, "I really liked it, but I don´t know anything about the Book of Mormon!" We´ve since visited him and he now has a baptismal date, and he came to Church on Sunday.
On Friday we did exchanges with the Zone Leaders, and I was with Elder Cayetano (my amigo). He was the Executive Secretary before Elder Capiz. We basically had fun chatting and being together. He´s wrapping up his mission next Wednesday. He´s a pretty fun person. Together, we visited Adrian y Mireya (the contacts from a few weeks ago, and those who went to the Temple activity) and they accepted baptismal dates for January. The next day we visited Javier and Maria Eloísa in the morning, and they also accepted baptismal dates. So, that´s good stuff.
It´s gotten a bit cold here. Hmm... Next week are the transfers, and I´m pretty positive I´ll be staying here. Christmas is in a few weeks now! Crazy stuff. That´s it for this letter. I love you all!
P.S. the "X" is because I´m currently in "Transfer 10". If I count the MTC as one transfer.
On Tuesday we had our Zone Conference, and I was only expecting it to go from about 9:00 - MAYBE 3:00, but we left there at about 6:30pm. It was pretty long, but it was good too. A lot of what President Bird talked about were things that were needed. Things that I needed, and things to help my companion out too. It was a good meeting, and I liked it. Took some good notes, and we´ve already been able to apply some of the stuff we learned there.
On Thursday we had a film activity where we watched The Testaments. It was hardly attended, but we had investigators. They all seemed to really like it, and it piqued their interest. One said, "I really liked it, but I don´t know anything about the Book of Mormon!" We´ve since visited him and he now has a baptismal date, and he came to Church on Sunday.
On Friday we did exchanges with the Zone Leaders, and I was with Elder Cayetano (my amigo). He was the Executive Secretary before Elder Capiz. We basically had fun chatting and being together. He´s wrapping up his mission next Wednesday. He´s a pretty fun person. Together, we visited Adrian y Mireya (the contacts from a few weeks ago, and those who went to the Temple activity) and they accepted baptismal dates for January. The next day we visited Javier and Maria Eloísa in the morning, and they also accepted baptismal dates. So, that´s good stuff.
It´s gotten a bit cold here. Hmm... Next week are the transfers, and I´m pretty positive I´ll be staying here. Christmas is in a few weeks now! Crazy stuff. That´s it for this letter. I love you all!
P.S. the "X" is because I´m currently in "Transfer 10". If I count the MTC as one transfer.
Monday, December 2, 2013
Week #59: Tamaulipas -3
What can I say? This past week was a crazy week. Super crazy and full of stuff. Our excursion on Monday ended up with a bunch of us missionaries being in trouble, and getting corrected for it. It was a good learning experience, but of course it always feels bad to be corrected - to have done something wrong. We overstayed our time at the mall, and President corrected the problem.
This week I´ve been able to have good repentance experiences. I´ve felt bad for my mistakes and I´ve been able to be more determined to be good, to continue on, and to make the best of the time that I´ve got in the miss
ion still. This week was full of so many different emotions. Thursday we went to the Thanksgiving with President and Hermana Bird. It was pretty good and fun, but it also made me miss home a bit.
We ate Turkey, stuffing, potatoes, rolls with honey butter, Marineli Cider, and Pumpkin Pie. It was tastey. I did like having that food on that day. The rolls weren´t as good as Mom´s rolls though! Ah... Home.
Friday we did intercambios (exchanges) and I got to stay in the area and work with Elder Needham. We were guided by the spirit, and were contacting people, when we contacted a woman. She didn´t feel comfortable giving us her address, but gave us a referral to her family. Elder Needham encouraged us to head over right away, so we did. Once there, it was a woman I had already met with Elder Carbajal, but she didn´t give us her address. Wow! So, we taught her and her family (thanks to Elder Needham, I was just going to make an appointment) and three people accepted Baptismal Dates (as a goal). It was awesome. That was the spiritual highlight of the week.
We had a goal as a Zone that each companionship would have 100 contacts. We started out counted instances, but with Elder Needham changed to people contacted. We started Saturday with 47 / 100, and ended the day with 112 / 100. It was crazy - so much contacting. I felt good that we were able to meet our goal. It was awesome. We were ready for the Temple Activity.
Only problem though, was that our investigators who were going to go became busy. Uh oh. We prayed that we might still be able to go to the activity, with some other investigators. It was as the Lord wanted, because we went with Adrian y Mireya (the two new investigators from last Sunday) but it was a bit of a weird experience for us. The Temple was super crowded, and they couldn´t hear the guides. We ended up explaing to them ourselves afterwards, and we kind of saved the night. Some awesome members - La Familia Villasana - took us. He´s the ward mission leader. It was good overall, and the Lord truly blessed us.
There´s more to this week, but I´m going to wrap up. After the mission we can chat more about everything. I love you all and wish you well!
Love, Elder Izak Thomas Erekson
P.S. Oh yeah! I got to see Elder Harrop (my MTC companion) for the first time since December 17th, 2012. It was pretty great. We´ve emailed a bit, but we haven´t seen eachother until yesterday. I got to see Nahum too. It was nice. The Lord truly blessed me.
ion still. This week was full of so many different emotions. Thursday we went to the Thanksgiving with President and Hermana Bird. It was pretty good and fun, but it also made me miss home a bit.
We ate Turkey, stuffing, potatoes, rolls with honey butter, Marineli Cider, and Pumpkin Pie. It was tastey. I did like having that food on that day. The rolls weren´t as good as Mom´s rolls though! Ah... Home.
Friday we did intercambios (exchanges) and I got to stay in the area and work with Elder Needham. We were guided by the spirit, and were contacting people, when we contacted a woman. She didn´t feel comfortable giving us her address, but gave us a referral to her family. Elder Needham encouraged us to head over right away, so we did. Once there, it was a woman I had already met with Elder Carbajal, but she didn´t give us her address. Wow! So, we taught her and her family (thanks to Elder Needham, I was just going to make an appointment) and three people accepted Baptismal Dates (as a goal). It was awesome. That was the spiritual highlight of the week.
We had a goal as a Zone that each companionship would have 100 contacts. We started out counted instances, but with Elder Needham changed to people contacted. We started Saturday with 47 / 100, and ended the day with 112 / 100. It was crazy - so much contacting. I felt good that we were able to meet our goal. It was awesome. We were ready for the Temple Activity.
Only problem though, was that our investigators who were going to go became busy. Uh oh. We prayed that we might still be able to go to the activity, with some other investigators. It was as the Lord wanted, because we went with Adrian y Mireya (the two new investigators from last Sunday) but it was a bit of a weird experience for us. The Temple was super crowded, and they couldn´t hear the guides. We ended up explaing to them ourselves afterwards, and we kind of saved the night. Some awesome members - La Familia Villasana - took us. He´s the ward mission leader. It was good overall, and the Lord truly blessed us.
There´s more to this week, but I´m going to wrap up. After the mission we can chat more about everything. I love you all and wish you well!
Love, Elder Izak Thomas Erekson
P.S. Oh yeah! I got to see Elder Harrop (my MTC companion) for the first time since December 17th, 2012. It was pretty great. We´ve emailed a bit, but we haven´t seen eachother until yesterday. I got to see Nahum too. It was nice. The Lord truly blessed me.
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