Week #78: Tamaulipas 1.1 - XIII - Week 22

This week a lot of things happened that were pretty cool, and worked out well.

To start off from the start of the week: Tuesday we had our Zone Meeting, and it was a pretty good meeting. They talked about a lot of various items, and then trained us on the street contacts that we do.

About a year ago, we received the challenge from Presidente Walker to invite people to be baptized from the first contact - in the street, as a spiritual preparation for the visit we had from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. It was pretty cool, but then we stopped doing that. Well, the new training that they gave to us, coming from Presidente Bird, was that we are to do that again, with every contact. So, now we invite a lot of people to be baptized the very first time we meet them, and some even accept baptismal dates. This has been an effective method in improving the quality of our contacts, even if they do last a bit longer than they used to. I like it.

On Sunday we saw some results from this new focus on street contacts. We contacted some investigators earlier in the week, and tried to find them on Friday, but we didn´t. So yesterday (Sunday) we went back with a young man who was accompanying us named Carlos, and we found them. We shared part of "the Restoration" and this time they did accept a baptismal date. It was pretty cool. Hopefully they can progress towards baptism.

The Zone Leaders also decided to train us on helping get our investigators to Church, that being one of the greatest difficulties which we have. It was a good training, and I need to put it in practice. They came up with a lot of good ideas to help people make it to Church, and a good indicator of when they aren´t going to progress, and when it´s time to drop them. Sometimes it´s hard to drop investigators, but sometimes it´s just the best thing to do.

On Friday we had interviews with Presidente and Hermana Bird, and it was nice to see them and be able to chat with them about how things are going. It´s always great to see the Birds. They´re awesome, and I´m so grateful for the chance I had to be with them when they first arrived to our mission, and to have been in the offices with them for as long as I was. It has been a real blessing to have them here with us, and in my life. President Bird and I spoke a little bit more about "becoming" and he told me a bit about something he´s going to teach in a future Zone Conference (at least he´s thinking about it). It sounds good. I enjoyed seeing them.

The next big even was on Friday. I had my first baptismal interview with a youth from Elder Bautista and Elder Redford´s part of the ward. It was something new, and it was interesting. I ended up telling her that she was ready to be baptized, and we carried on with that decision. Afterwards, I felt a bit unsure about that decision, about if I had said the right thing or the wrong thing, but as I´ve thought more about it, I´ve felt a bit better and more comfortable with saying it was alright. The only real thing that made me unsure wasn´t really a big obstacle at all. She was baptized on Saturday, and it was pretty good service. She and her brother were baptized (and we had an investigator come with us, so we were able to attend). We almost didn´t go to the baptism.

The original plan was to go with Lucía, and maybe some other investigators to the baptism. So, we show up to Lucía´s house, and she´s still getting ready, so we came back after receiving some missed calls from her (I miss a lot of phone calls, when I have the phone set to just vibrate - and my parents can testify to this from my pre-mission days too) and it turns out that at the last minute she was going to her brother´s birthday party, so she couldn´t come with us! NO!! We moved on to another investigator, and we arrived just in time to go with him in his car to the baptism, and he seemed to like it, and it was a good experience for him. His name is Jesús.

Jesús is a pretty cool investigator. We can tell that there will be a few obstacles to his progress, but he can overcome them. He told us that he believes that the Book of Mormon is true, but is unsure about accepting a baptismal date just yet, since he´s between his old beliefs and the new ones. But, we´re going to keep visiting and helping him to understand and feel the Spirit. He actually told us something really cool. He had a dream before we showed up to teach him (we found him through contacting in the street, and he lives on our street actually), which he described with the following words, "Un ángel me dijo que iban a venir dos personajes a mi casa... Después escuché una voz que me dijo: Haz lo que hace Mi Hijo Amado" (Which translates to "An angel told me that two personages were going to come ot my house... Afterwards I heard a voice that told me: Do what my Beloved Son doeth"). So, that´s pretty cool. My first investigator like that - with a dream of that type. I thought of us and baptism when he told us that.

In other news, Nora (an investigator that I helped start teaching in my first area over a year ago) and her son Emilio were baptized on Saturday. I asked one of the Elders in her area about her a few times, and he said that she remembered that it was "Elder Erekson y Elder López" that started teaching her, or something. That´s pretty sweet. She was one of my favorite investigators, and I´m really glad that she did end up getting baptized.

Today we hiked up "El Cerro de la Silla" and it was pretty fun. It was a steep and tough hike, but it was really cool. We also go to go in "civilian clothes," and that was cool. I got some good pictures that I hope I can send home (we´ll see if switching to a different memory card worked). Today we were going to watch a movie, but it didn´t work out. Next week then.

I bear my testimony that the Lord loves each and every one of us. Jesus Christ and God the Father live. Christ did die for our sins, and He gave us the blessings of Repentance, which are available to all of Heavenly Father´s children. I bear my testimony of the Resurrection - that we all shall live again after death, with perfect and glorified bodies, free of disease, disability, and free of all frailties. I testify of Their love, and I hope that we can all remember and feel this love this Easter Sunday. These things I share in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

I wish you all well, and love you very much! Have a great week!

Week #77: Tamaulipas 1.1 - XIII - Week 21

This week was pretty good overall. I really enjoyed Conference.

We ended up doing some of the "super intercambio" that I talked about last week. On Saturday we ended up doing what I had said, but at night we returned to our normal companions. It was refreshing and nice to be with Spanish speakers again. I think I´m going to miss it when I go home. Being with an American companion has helped me see how much I like Spanish, and see how the Lord has blessed me to be able to understand it pretty well.

As I said, Conference was really good. I am going to need these messages in the next 6 months, and afterwards of course. In the words of Conference I will find the help and guidance that I need to be a better missionary, friend, and servant of the Lord.

Starting Sunday, and a bit today, I´ve felt a bit frustrated. I feel like I need to improve in my efforts, work harder, and be a better missionary. I´ve talked a bit more about this with my family this week, but it´s what I´m feeling right now so I´ll go ahead and share it in my letter to everyone anyway. It´s kind of frustrating when people don´t fulfil their commitments, even when we´ve tried and tried to help them do it. Sometimes I´m not sure if I´ve failed somehow, or if it´s just their use of agency. I know that there is a lot that I need to improve as a missionary, leader, companion, and friend.

With these feelings and thoughts in mind, I am drawn to think of Elder David A. Bednar´s talk about our burdens, and "spiritual traction," and of course the enabling power of the Atonement. I enjoyed his talk. I feel like when I first read his talk about the "Enabling Power of the Atonement" which he gave at BYU before he was an Apostle, it changed my understanding and perspective a bit. It´s been a great help for me to be sure. He touched on the same theme this weekend, and I liked it. The burdens which we have are there to help us progress. It´s true.

I also liked President Uchtdorf´s talk about gratitude. So many different talks were really good. I can´t begin to list of the good stuff, it´d take too long. I´m very grateful that my family has begun the great tradition of studying General Conference for Family Home Evening every week. I have gotten more out of this Conference of October 2013 than I did out of April 2013 for sure, which has been good. I hope to get a lot out of the latest Conference, and I hope my Ensign doesn´t take too long to get here. I´ve got March´s edition now, so I´m not that behind.

I really liked Conference. I bear my testimony that the words which were spoken are to guide us for the next six weeks. I really enjoyed testifying of President Thomas S. Monson in preparation for the Conference Weekend with the people we visited, and I am grateful for the Gospel and it´s blessings in my life. My wonderful family has always been active and strong, and that has helped me carry on in this life. I am very grateful for the life which I have been given. I am grateful for the example that surround me. I am grateful to the Lord. I invite all of you to listen to, read, and study the latest General Conference as soon as possible, and keep it up until the next Conference. I love you all! Have a great week!

Week #76: Tamaulipas 1.1 - XIII - Week 20

This past week and a half has been pretty good. Things are still going well with Elder Anderson and I, but we should be speaking more Spanish. We have gotten a bit better, and I´ve tried to talk more Spanish with him, but we´re still lacking in that department, and I feel / fear it may be affecting my abilities a bit. We´re going to work on it though, this next week we´ll speak a lot more Spanish.

Let´s see, what happened this week and a half? We went on intercambios with the Zone Leaders, and it was really cool and really fun to work with Elder Quevedo again. We got along great, had some good lessons, and remembered old times together. I´ve mentioned here multiple times of my plans to try and come back to the mission in May or June of 2016, and Elder Quevedo liked that idea too. So, we´re going to be in touch to coordinate that. We had some great lessons trying to help people attend Church. Overall, it was really good, and it was nice to speak Spanish with him.

What else? Lucía came to Church for a little while on Sunday! That´s her second of the five times! Hopefully she makes it this Sunday to stay well on track for her baptism. I hope to see her baptized soon! She´s awesome, and I want another baptism. It´ll be good stuff.

We had intercambios with Elder Bautista and Elder Redford on Tuesday, and that was pretty good. We had some good lessons. One of them was when we went with a Sister to visit her friend, to start teaching her. We were there teaching Mari, and she wasn´t really understanding a ton. Lo and behold: Hermana Mancha (another hermana in the ward) shows up and is her friend too! She bears her testimony, and it was better. It´s pretty cool how the Lord works sometimes.

So, this weekend is going to be really good. We´re going to watch Conference. We get to watch all of the sessions, which is really nice. Conference is available in Spanish and in English. In Spanish we can watch it here at our chapel, but the English is only at the Stake Center. So, guess what we´re going to do? A "super intercambio" for General Conference. Elder Bautista and I are going to stay here in the ward and watch Conference in Spanish, receiving all of the investigators, etc., while Elder Redford and Elder Anderson go to the Stake Center to watch Spanish. It´s going to be pretty awesome. I look forward to spending a lot of time with my friend Elder Bautista, and speaking Spanish, and watching Conference. It´s going to be awesome.

We´ve found some new investigators, we´ve got people we´re visiting, and life is pretty good. I love you all and wish you well. Enjoy General Conference this weekend! Be sure to pay lots of attention to what is said. These past few days we´ve spent a lot of time focusing on "Follow the Prophet" and helping people "get to know" President Thomas S. Monson. I invite all of you to do the same: get to know him, pay attention to his words, and then act on what he shares with us.

One cool little fact: this year´s statistics of "convert baptisms" include the people I helped teach and baptize! Here´s hoping for people in 2014 too! I love you all and wish you well! Oh, if you could all pray for Lucía, our investigator who seems closeset to baptism. Please pray that she will continue progressing, make it to Church, and feel conversion. Thank you!

Week #75: Tamaulipas 1.1 - XIII - Week 19

This week was a pretty good, and pretty full week. On Monday I wrote home, and as I said last week, I stayed in my area and my companion Elder Carbajal went to a different area. He ended up going to Apodaca 1.1, which is a HUGE ward, with 6 missionaries, but his area is still bigger than our whole ward. He says he´s going to spend a ton in travel costs.

In the transfer meeting they announced that I would continue as the District Leader in Tamaulipas, that my new district would just include our ward, and that I would be training again. I was pretty excited. I also had pretty high hopes to have an American companion for the first time. I was hopeful. My Distirct is the following: Tamaulipas 1.1 (me and my companion), Tamaulipas 1.2 (Elder Bautista and Elder Redford), and Tamaulipas 1.3 (Hermana Perez and Hermana Bazan). It´s been pretty good. I feel good about having sisters in this part of the ward - they should be able to do a lot of good, and a lot of work.

So, the moment came to find out who my new companion would be... and I guessed it right. We were looking at the new Elders, and I thought "Maybe it´ll be that one," and it was! My new companion is Elder Bradley Anderson from the Los Angeles area in California. We´ve been getting along pretty well so far actually, with some of the same interests and chatting. One thing I miss though it speaking more Spanish. I hope that my Spanish doesn´t get worse from not speaking it enough. We actually should speak a lot more Spanish than we are. We´re going to be improving that. But, it´s been good.

We´ve had a pretty good week. We´re going to have to work a whole lot better, and a whole lot harder, and have a whole lot more faith, but we will see miracles, and baptisms. This week we got 7 new investigators, and 5 of them accepted baptismal dates (the other 2 we didn´t invite...), and it´s been good. We hope to help them make it all the way to the waters of baptism, and ultimately to the Temple.

One thing that has helped us a lot is contacting more people in the street, or as we ask for somebody at doorways of addresses we´ve been given, we contact them too. We ended the week with a total of 80 contacts, with 7 new investigators (from contacts or referrals from contacts), and 5 new baptismal dates. We´re going to be working really hard this week to get moving forward, and Elder Anderson is helping push my forward. He has some great ideas and excitement to contact and work hard, which is something I wanted in my new companion. It´s going to be a good transfer. His Spanish is already improving too.

On Saturday we had the Special Conference with Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and it was really good. Elder Tad R. Callister of the Presidency of the Seventy, and Elder Daniel L. Johnson of the Seventy also spoke. It was a really good meeting.

Elder Cook spoke about having faith, loving all people, having a broken heart and a contrite spirit, and moving forward with strength and faith, invoking a special blessing upon us: "...you will be able to help the Lord establish His Church here... have a positive spirit... some of you may have been discouraged... I invoke a special blessing upon you... understanding from this day in your heart... what you are doing is more important than anything else... Some worry... [that they are] not capable enough... none of us [General Authorities] feel capable enough... don´t let that impede your progress... you are every bit capable enough to be the servant of the Savior..." He said other words too, but that´s what I´ll share here. He mentioned about success in the field in what we are becoming, and I liked that.

Elder Callister spoke before Elder Cook, and he talked about the Atonement and how we can access its power. It was a good talk too.

Elder Johnson is the Area President here, and he talked about working with the members. A promise he made to us came true that very night. He said that we should trust in the fact that the Holy Ghost will bring names to the minds of the members, and it totally happened that night, and it was really cool.

I think I´ll wrap up the email for now. We´re going to leave in about 20 minutes to go eat, and I´ve still got to write President Bird. I love you all and wish you well! Have a great week!

Week #74: Tamaulipas 1.1 - XII - Week 18

Well, another week has gone by and so has another transfer. It´s interesting how quickly times seems to fly by sometimes, and how slowly at other times. This transfer (6 weeks) has gone by really quickly. Tomorrow we have the transfer meeting where we will find out who is our new companion, our positions, etc.

Last night the Zone Leaders gave me the transfers... It was during the weekly call-in report where I talk about the areas in my District and our goals, numbers, and all of that good stuff. First they told me about some of the other areas - no changes whatsoever. Finally the moment came to hear about my area, and they told me that I AM STAYING. Then, they told us that Elder Carbjala is leaving the area. So, that is the only change this transfer. He leaves, I get a new companion, and the Zone opens two new areas up.

The ward Tamaulipas is going to have three companionships as of tomorrow. So, that means that my area will be a bit smaller than it is right now, but it will still be Tamaulipas 1.1. So, it will be interesting to have a smaller area. It´s not that much smaller, but I hope it makes a difference and helps us work better with more people in a more defined area. The other Elders in the ward also have their area smaller as of tomorrow (we both took parts of our area to make the third area) and it will be good for them too. They got the new house where they´re going to live, and they are staying together for a third transfer.

So, I´ll be starting my fourth transfer in the ward with a new companion. I´m looking forward to it. It will be nice to have a bit of a change. We have set some high goals for the next week, and we´re going to have to have a lot of faith, and we´re going to have to pray for miracles, but it can happen. Mircales can happen, they do exist, if we have faith. I´ve seen many little miracles, and we need some these days. It will be a miracle to have 60 lessons in a week, and it will be a miracle to baptize every week. Miracles are possible. We have to work hard though.

We had our Zone Meeting and Zone Conference this week, and it was really good. In the Zone Conferene President Bird talked about the Sacrament and its importance, and how it can help us. It was really good. I liked it. I want to have better experiences as I partake of the Sacrament. It´s one of the ordinances of "Endure to the End." I want to be prepared for, and look forward to, the day when I get to partake of the Sacrament at home again, in Sacrament Meeting in English in our beautiful chapel, with the organ and sacrament hymn that isn´t in the Spanish hymnbook and good stuff like that.

This weekend we´re going to hear from Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He will be speaking to us on Saturday. It´s going to be really good. Our mission is really blessed to be able to have Apostles visit so often. Before I arrived in 2012 Elder Bednar came, last year we had a visit by Elder Holland, and this year Elder Cook. We are truly blessed.

This week we went to San Pedro for a check-up on Elder Carbajal´s skin. We took a bus for about an hour and a half almost to the richer part of the Monterrey area (it´s in the West Mission). During that trip, in the office waiting, and coming back I was able to get some good reading of the Book of Mormon done. I read Alma 5, 6, 7, and 8. I was also able to talk to a man who was seated in front of us on the way back, who talked to us. He seemed really interesting, and it as a good contact. I felt prompted to give him a Book of Mormon that I had, after already giving him the Pamphlet of The Restoration. It was cool. I´m going to pass the referral on.

Well, I think that´s it for now. I love you all and wish you well. I am going to work hard and make the best of the last 7 months I have in the field. It sounds short now... Haha. Today I´ve got 17 months in the field. Time flies by. General Conference is soon. Have a great week everyone! I love you all!

Elder Bautista drew the cool images. The food is called Chilaquiles, and I´ll make them when I get home, I promise. Really simple and tastey.

Week #73: Tamaulipas 1.1 - XII - Week 17

This past week was pretty good overall. We weren´t able to give very good follow-up to some of our investigators, and we saw that reflected in Church Attendance, but we´re going to work at it and improve a lot this week. It´s the last week of the transfer, so we´ve got to work really hard and do the best we can while we´re still here and still together. It´s probable that one of us leaves the area - this time much much more probable, but we´ll have to see what happens next week. I´ll let you know.

This week we did two intercambios with Tamaulipas 1.2, and we also had an activity on Saturday. The intercambios were pretty good overall, and we were able to set some goals and stuff like that. We´ll have to see what happens next week with them too (they´ve already got two transfers together, so we´ll see if they end up with three, or if they split up). It will be very interesting to see what happens.

So, as I said about our activity... a few months ago we planned an activity which would be a type of tour through the Plan of Salvation, with rooms representing the different kingdoms, places, etc. It was something that we talked about for a long time, and we kept post-poning the activity for lack of organization. Well, the day was coming closer and closer, and it seemed that once again it lacked organization and follow-through, so I wasn´t quite sure what was going to happen,

But, we continued on with the activty. We decorated the Telestial Kingdom, and the Spirit World (Paradise and Spirit Prison). The good news is that the ward did a great job and helped us out as planned. The Young Men decorated the Terrestial Kingdom, and the Young Women did a great job decorating the Celestial Kingdom. It was really cool and peaceful in that room, it was like the Temple. That was the best part of the activity.

So, people came, we had the tours, and people seemed to like it. In the end, it worked out great - the Lord saved our activity. We weren´t sure how it was going to turn out, and I brought a Plan B. But, it really did turn out pretty great.

This coming week we´ve got a lot going on. Tomorrow we´ve got Zone Meeting, where the Zone Leaders are going to train us on some new things, and try to help us improve. Then on Thursday we´ve got our Zone Conference, where President and Sister Bird are going to come and train us on stuff too, with more training by the Zone Leaders. Then, Sunday we find out the transfers and if the new area is opening up after all. So, it´ll be interesting.

That´s it for this week. Take care everyone, have a great week, and pray for me please! Thanks so much! Love you all!

Week #72: Tamaulipas 1.1 - XII - Week 16

This week I don´t have a lot of time to write, because we´re going to go iceskating in a little while, so I´m going to try and write what I can in a short amount of time. So, here we go...

This week we worked hard, but still had less lessons than the week before. But, that´s okay. This week looks pretty good actually. We´ve got plans to have some of the youth and others accompany us to our visits, and that will be a huge help. The work is a lot easier to do when somebody is accompanying us. That´s something that I never really had the opportunity to do before my mission - accompany the Elders. Hopefully Luke can get a chance to do it before he heads out, and maybe I´ll be able to lend a hand after my mission too.

What´s new? This transfer is going by pretty quickly. We´re already at week 5 of the transfer. Pretty soon they´ll be telling us what´s up, who´s leaving or who´s staying, etc. It will definitely be interesting. Change is always interesting. It seems like it´s a pretty sure deal that we´ll be getting 2 more missionaries in the ward (making us 6), so that will be a change for the better. We´ll just have to wait and see what happens. In two weeks I´ll let you all know what´s up.

Here´s an excerpt from my letter to President Bird:

"I was able to do two intercambios this week. On Tuesday Elder Bautista came to our area with me, and we were able to have a good working day - we were able to have some powerful lessons and get 2 baptismal dates. I enjoy working with Elder Bautista, he´s a good friend, and a really good Elder. He and Elder Redford know how to work well together, and with the members, and they are good at having many lessons too. We did the inventory, and we set some goals to help them improve their communication one with another, which hopefully will help them.

Later on Friday I was able to bring Elder Harrison to my area to work with him, and it was also a good day. It was a tough day at times with appointments falling through, and other difficulties, but in the end we were able to teach a good amount of lessons, and we enjoyed spending the time together. He is still struggling with his Spanish, but other than that he´s pretty great. He´s excited, he wants to work hard and be obedient, and he´s a good Elder. After the intercambio we had our inventory and we set many goals with Arboledas to help them move forward in the work."

Well, that´s it for today. I love you all and wish you well. Have a great week! Talk to you next week!