We are starting to see some more success in our area. We have 4 people with baptismal dates and new people continue coming to church. Leandro, Margarita´s husband (she is the first person that was baptized when I got to this area), has decided to be baptized April 10 and seems to have committed firmly this time. It was amazing how he opened up to us more than he ever had last night while we were teaching him. He expressed to us his desires to change and be free from his past sins and asked us to help him keep his committments by sending him messages to his cell phone everday as he is Mexico working the whole week and we can´t see him everyday. It´s really quite amazing to see the change in him. We have three others who are going to be baptized this coming sunday. A sweet old lady and her two grandchildren. I´ll have to tell you there story next week it´s pretty impressive as well.
Mom, I received the package you sent. Thank you. The insoles feel great,and now I have more goodies to snack on as well. I got the package quickly because on Wednesday President Rex came to interview us. Man, I am really going to miss him. He leaves for home in June or July. I don´t know how I´m going to get used to another Mission President. I don´t think I´ll ever have the same amount of confidence in him as I have in President Rex. We have a zone conference this Wednesday with him.
Sounds like a cool vacation. We´ll have to do an even cooler one when I get back.
Today we played a little bit of basketball with the bishop´s wife and her kids. Haha. I never thought I would do that while I was here.
Love you guys,
Brett
Monday, March 28, 2011
March 21, 2011
We had a little more success this week with 5 investigators at church for the first time and others that seem to be taking interest. I got your packages, Mom. They were amazing! It was like a present for completing a year in the mission. I just finished the book about Jesus´ invitation to come unto him and his promise of rest. I´ve actually read that promise in Matthew many times and always been very fascinated by it. great book. I haven´t finished it yet but the one dad sent is really good too. Interesting stories. Thank you so much.
Things are a little bit calmer around here now that Carnaval is over. It´s really hot in the day, but still a little chilly at night. It still hasn´t started raining a lot yet. Today we went mountain biking again with President Zempoalteca but on a different, much longer route. There´s some cool places to mountain bike in our area. I was surprised. We took some photos and videos but I couldn´t upload them to this computer. Next week I´ll get them to you. The ride up almost killed my companion but he enjoyed it as well.
My companion and I get along really well. He´s a really easy going guy, but a good worker too. The only thing that´s difficult sometimes is that I don´t get much help from him in the decision making process. For that reason, planning is also difficult sometimes. But he does basically whatever I tell him to do. He is from the north part of Mexico. He plays the guitar really well although he didn´t bring one on the mission and I´ve been teaching him a little piano. He says it´s way harder than guitar to play. Haha.
Wish I could go with you to the temple, Mom. I think they should let us go. It´s only 2 hours away from here. Maybe the next mission president will change the rules. President Rex leaves soon. I´m going to miss him a lot. I hope you get better soon so that we can run a marathon together when I come back...Well, maybe a half marathon at least.
Love you,
Brett
Things are a little bit calmer around here now that Carnaval is over. It´s really hot in the day, but still a little chilly at night. It still hasn´t started raining a lot yet. Today we went mountain biking again with President Zempoalteca but on a different, much longer route. There´s some cool places to mountain bike in our area. I was surprised. We took some photos and videos but I couldn´t upload them to this computer. Next week I´ll get them to you. The ride up almost killed my companion but he enjoyed it as well.
My companion and I get along really well. He´s a really easy going guy, but a good worker too. The only thing that´s difficult sometimes is that I don´t get much help from him in the decision making process. For that reason, planning is also difficult sometimes. But he does basically whatever I tell him to do. He is from the north part of Mexico. He plays the guitar really well although he didn´t bring one on the mission and I´ve been teaching him a little piano. He says it´s way harder than guitar to play. Haha.
Wish I could go with you to the temple, Mom. I think they should let us go. It´s only 2 hours away from here. Maybe the next mission president will change the rules. President Rex leaves soon. I´m going to miss him a lot. I hope you get better soon so that we can run a marathon together when I come back...Well, maybe a half marathon at least.
Love you,
Brett
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
March 13, 2011
Another difficult week. We only taught 5 lessons to non members the whole week and we didn´t find new investigators until Saturday. However, we did manage to get one person who had not gone to church for almost a year to attend the stake conference Saturday, and Ruben did receive the Melchizedek Priesthood and immediately following his ordination went to the hospital to give his son a blessing. He was interned last Monday because of an infection caused by a catheter which he carries permanently with him due to serious kidney problems. A terrible situation but a great opportunity for Ruben to use the priesthood.
I thoroughly enjoyed stake conference this weekend both the Saturday and Sunday sessions were great. The Sunday session was a sattelite transmision in which Elder Larry W. Gibbons, Silvia H. Allred, Elder Russel M. Nelson, and President Thomas S. Monson spoke. I wanted to share with you some of the notes I took, but I forgot to bring them. Briefly a little of what I remember: Elder Gibbons talked about attending the temple frequently, which he explained can mean different things for different people based on how far away the closest temple is. He also explained that we as human beings spend whatever money we earn. It doesn´t matter how much we make we always spend it all. He used Donald Trump as an example. He then explained that we treat time in the same way. We always find a way to occupy all of our time filling our schedules with things to do whether they be important or not. For these reasons it is important that we always put the Lord first in our lives because if we don´t we won´t have enough money left over to pay tithing, we "won´t have time" to read the scriptures and go to the temple, etc. We must "sacrifice the firstlings of our flock" (or our time and means), not whatever is left over. Sis. Allred spoke about the people of King Benjamin and how many of the next generation that were little children when King Benjamin gave his address fell into disbelief and iniquity. She explained how parents can prevent the same thing from happening to their children. Elder Nelson spoke about the family as well but started off by explaining that a carreer or ocupation is only a means to an end, not the end itself, and that our primary goal in this life should be to become the person God wants us to be. He also explained the things parents should teach their children so that they remain in the path that will lead them back to their Heavenly Father. President Monson told a story about a batallion in WWII that was isolated and surrounded by their enemies but was later rescued by their allies. He told us that we as members of the church must rescue the "lost batallions" of the elderly, the widows, the handicapped, the sick, and the less active. He talked about several principles that we should understand and put into practice. 1. duty 2. never being satisfied with mediocrity 3. love for thy neighbor/fellowman 4. knowing that people can always change (I think the mission has helped me a lot to understand this principle). It was excellent!
This weekend they celebrated this really crazy festival called Carneval in the town where I live. I received notice that your packages did get here. I will receive them Wednesday. My guess is that they were just sitting in the Mission office for a long time. Say hi to Tom for me and tell him I miss him a lot.
I love you guys and am so glad to have you as my family,
Brett
I thoroughly enjoyed stake conference this weekend both the Saturday and Sunday sessions were great. The Sunday session was a sattelite transmision in which Elder Larry W. Gibbons, Silvia H. Allred, Elder Russel M. Nelson, and President Thomas S. Monson spoke. I wanted to share with you some of the notes I took, but I forgot to bring them. Briefly a little of what I remember: Elder Gibbons talked about attending the temple frequently, which he explained can mean different things for different people based on how far away the closest temple is. He also explained that we as human beings spend whatever money we earn. It doesn´t matter how much we make we always spend it all. He used Donald Trump as an example. He then explained that we treat time in the same way. We always find a way to occupy all of our time filling our schedules with things to do whether they be important or not. For these reasons it is important that we always put the Lord first in our lives because if we don´t we won´t have enough money left over to pay tithing, we "won´t have time" to read the scriptures and go to the temple, etc. We must "sacrifice the firstlings of our flock" (or our time and means), not whatever is left over. Sis. Allred spoke about the people of King Benjamin and how many of the next generation that were little children when King Benjamin gave his address fell into disbelief and iniquity. She explained how parents can prevent the same thing from happening to their children. Elder Nelson spoke about the family as well but started off by explaining that a carreer or ocupation is only a means to an end, not the end itself, and that our primary goal in this life should be to become the person God wants us to be. He also explained the things parents should teach their children so that they remain in the path that will lead them back to their Heavenly Father. President Monson told a story about a batallion in WWII that was isolated and surrounded by their enemies but was later rescued by their allies. He told us that we as members of the church must rescue the "lost batallions" of the elderly, the widows, the handicapped, the sick, and the less active. He talked about several principles that we should understand and put into practice. 1. duty 2. never being satisfied with mediocrity 3. love for thy neighbor/fellowman 4. knowing that people can always change (I think the mission has helped me a lot to understand this principle). It was excellent!
This weekend they celebrated this really crazy festival called Carneval in the town where I live. I received notice that your packages did get here. I will receive them Wednesday. My guess is that they were just sitting in the Mission office for a long time. Say hi to Tom for me and tell him I miss him a lot.
I love you guys and am so glad to have you as my family,
Brett
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Monday, March 7, 2011
Feb. 28, 2011
We had a baptism yesterday of a 16 year old named Caren. She´s awesome. She was baptized within two weeks of the first visit. Her parents still have not accepted to listen to us but they support her in her decision. I sent a picture from the baptism.
I forgot to tell you last week that I gave a talk in sacrament meeting 2 weeks ago. One returned missionary complimented me saying that my tongue was untied. It went pretty good, but only because I spent so much time on it and wrote it out word for word. I think my mind or maybe my hand was untied more than my tongue.
I´ve been going with every family in the ward and helping them create their own family missionary plan to help focus their efforts better. Maybe I´ll give you guys a copy of the format so you can do it too. Now I know from experience how grateful missionaries are for member refferrals.
I would say it´s about a 50/50 chance that I´ll stay here in this area one more change. You can never really be sure unless you´ve been in an area for more than 6 months. I´ve been here a little more than 4 now. I won´t know until Sunday night. I have mixed feelings about leaving this area. I love it, but sometimes I feel like I´m running out of things to do.
I never got your packages, Mom. If your looking for things to send me. I would really like some goods insoles and another pair of black pants.
I forgot to tell you last week that I gave a talk in sacrament meeting 2 weeks ago. One returned missionary complimented me saying that my tongue was untied. It went pretty good, but only because I spent so much time on it and wrote it out word for word. I think my mind or maybe my hand was untied more than my tongue.
I´ve been going with every family in the ward and helping them create their own family missionary plan to help focus their efforts better. Maybe I´ll give you guys a copy of the format so you can do it too. Now I know from experience how grateful missionaries are for member refferrals.
I would say it´s about a 50/50 chance that I´ll stay here in this area one more change. You can never really be sure unless you´ve been in an area for more than 6 months. I´ve been here a little more than 4 now. I won´t know until Sunday night. I have mixed feelings about leaving this area. I love it, but sometimes I feel like I´m running out of things to do.
I never got your packages, Mom. If your looking for things to send me. I would really like some goods insoles and another pair of black pants.
March 7, 2011
Well, I ended up not getting transfered, my companion didn´t either. I´ll be here in Tlaxcala for at least another 6 weeks. That will make 6 months in total that I will have been in this area. I´m glad. I love the people here and I wanted to see Ruben recieve the Melchezidech Priesthood and his calling this Sunday. Sometimes I think Satan has worked very hard to keep him out of the church because of his potential. He is one of the most humble, grateful, hardworking, kind men I have known.
On other hand, however, I kind of wanted to leave this area because sometimes I get discouraged when it seems as though I´ve already tried everything and I still can´t achieve what I want. It´s been very difficult lately to find more people to teach. I just hope Heavenly Father inspires me with some new ideas.
I bore my testimony yesterday and couldn´t keep myself from crying. I could hardly speak. I hardly ever cry when I speak in front of people. It was unusual.
I don´t have time right now, but I have to explain to you some time the traditions around here. Some of them are pretty unsual. It rained just a little bit for the first time in months the past week. I think the rainy season is approaching again. Oh no! I´m going to be soaked all the time again.
I hope you guys have fun on your cruise. Tell me how it went. Thanks for the pictures you sent.
On other hand, however, I kind of wanted to leave this area because sometimes I get discouraged when it seems as though I´ve already tried everything and I still can´t achieve what I want. It´s been very difficult lately to find more people to teach. I just hope Heavenly Father inspires me with some new ideas.
I bore my testimony yesterday and couldn´t keep myself from crying. I could hardly speak. I hardly ever cry when I speak in front of people. It was unusual.
I don´t have time right now, but I have to explain to you some time the traditions around here. Some of them are pretty unsual. It rained just a little bit for the first time in months the past week. I think the rainy season is approaching again. Oh no! I´m going to be soaked all the time again.
I hope you guys have fun on your cruise. Tell me how it went. Thanks for the pictures you sent.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)