Week of Possibly a Miracle!‏

03/23/2015 - Week #15

First things first I wanted to start off talking about something I was reminded of this last week after hearing about Dave Stephens Passing. The week he passed before I knew about it, I was reminded of a memory from when the Stephens still lived in Chico with us. We decided to go boating on the Stephens House boat and Dave brought two jet skis with them. I remember distinctly when Dave and Parker were coming in from a run and when they stopped next to the Boat, Dave leaned over to one side and flipped the whole Jet ski over. Parker came up with a terrified look on his face and Davey came up laughing his head off like always. I forgot about it afterwards but was reminded when I thought about all the good old days when they still live in Chico. It is interesting to think that I could have been reminded of him the same day or same hour even of his passing and It makes me know even more that he is still with us and we will get to see him again some day as long as we make all the right steps here on Earth.

This week we had scheduled 2 baptisms for Saturday but one of our Investigators decided he would rather keep listening to the Jehovas witnesses then be baptized in our church. He is the 11 year old brother of our other Investigator who had a baptismal date for Saturday also. 

We ended up doing 3 hours of service this past week which made it super difficult to get all of the requirements for the Normals of Excellence but we were blessed because of our help in Building a House for Familia Aguierra. The house is a rough brick floor with generally sticks or branches held together with cardboard walls nailed in by nails pushed through beer bottle caps. Although we didn't finish the house is still standing, but this is not the miracle of the week. 

We were supposed to meet with Lizandro the Wednesday before his Interview with our zone leader Elder Atkinson on Thursday. He couldn't make it so we only had one more opportunity to teach him 2 lessons on Thursday during his lunch hour. He was 30 minutes late and we somehow were able to teach him both in less than 50 minutes. This however was not the miracle of this week. He ended up passing his interview despite how nervous he was, but this was not the miracle. Saturday, D Day for the Baptism of Lizandro came and we were given money by a family in the Branch to go buy food. Walking into the park I got hit in the leg by an Old homeless man with his cane who I guess I walked a little to close to his garbage bag of trinkets. This was definitely not the miracle. Lizandro and his whole family came to the baptism about 5 minutes before it was supposed to start, and Lizandros mother, although not an investigator, felt the spirit for the first time and was crying the whole night. This however was also not the miracle. The miracle of the week is that I gave the confirmation of Lizandro in Spanish without using any swear words on accident!!!

5 Fun Moments of the Week:

 1. I decided to try a traditional thing today and that includes a Hickara full of Pozol. Its so much that I am still struggling to walk 2 hours later. Will Post pictures of this.

2. The Baptism of Lizandro

3. Normas de Excellencia

4. We almost got one of our investigators jumped by a drunk guy. We asked him to go contacting with us and gave him cards and he decided to contact in front of the Bar called the Perro Negro. Nothing happened but it was a little scary but fun to laugh about afterwards.

5. Elder Atkinson, our new zone leader has a new nickname which is Chickilene. This basically means the smallest guy but he is like 6 foot 4 and compared to the people here he is a Giant!

Lizandro's Baptism

100 Days in the Field!!

03/16/2015 -  Week #14

Once again not much exciting stuff happened this week other than we had Divisions again! I went back to the other Elders area with Elder Martinez and Elder Schmidtlein our district leader came here with my Companion. Elder Schmidtlein had found something sacred and left it in the fridge for my taking. The rule for divisions is if you don't have it and he does, you eat it because he is eating what you have that he doesn't right then too. I cooked a whole pound of bacon and 5 eggs and Elder Martinez and I feasted on an awesome breakfast! I found bacon in Bodega (grocery store) today and so my companion and I are going to do a breakfast on Thursday which is my 100th day on the mission! 

We have a family that has 2 investigators right now and I guess we found out earlier that their dad walked out on them... They both seem to be handling it extremely well which is really good because they are both scheduled to be Baptized this Saturday. One of them isn't sure about it because he has been taking lessons from the Jehovas witnesses and even though he has had a spiritual experience with The Book of Mormon he still isn't sure what he wants to do. We also had an Investigator basically fall out of the sky into our laps. Unfortunately he came to us when I was on divisions and so I haven't yet taught a lesson with him but he was at church on Sunday. His name is Andres and basically his cousin called us and said be at the church in 30 minutes or less. My companion and Elder Schmidtlein left and actually have already committed him to a date for baptism! The people here are really open to the gospel and people want to be baptized all the time! Its harder to teach every single lesson to them than it is to get people to commit to baptism haha imagine that.

 I don't have much else to say other than I am keeping the Stephens family in my Prayers. I really am glad to know that Parker will be coming home to see his Dad one last time in this life. After we die we all go to a place called the Spirit World. There we wait until the resurrection which can only start once Jesus Christ our Savior comes to this world again to complete its baptism of the Holy Ghost by fire. There everyone that has died since the first resurrection is waiting receiving the Gospel from those who get called on missions just Like the one I am serving right now. From this we know that Dave Stephens is with his loved ones right now and possibly is helping someone accept the Saviors atonement right now! 

5 Fun Moments of the Week:

1. Elder Santos. One of the members in our ward left for his mission this morning at 5 a.m. He had to be in Tuxtla at 8 to be set apart and leave to be at the MTC in Mexico. He went on splits with us multiple time and will be a great service to the people of Guadalajara Mexico.

2.When I used to work at Deseret Farms one of the workers used to yell HAY CHICITOS all the time. I have since learned that it either means DARN KIDS or if a woman says it its like a cat call haha. I can yell it and it scares my companion pretty much every time and It makes me laugh.

3. I started using my camel back because It is so dreadfully hot and I can carry 3 liters of water in it. The funny thing is everybody in my Branch and all of the investigators think it is the coolest thing they have ever seen! My Branch President told me he wanted to steal it even haha.

4. Maxamiliano Fresa saw a picture of Shayla this week and it had her best friend Megan in it. Lets just say Megan has a new admirer haha.

5. Being able to taste the wonders of Bacon again for the first time in almost 100 days!

Day 90 in Mexico‏

03/09/2015 - Week #13

So not much exciting happened this week so I decided to go a little more into detail of what I have mentioned or haven't talked about yet haha. First off I am so excited for Shayla Hampton who has received her Mission call to Lansing Michigan, and will be leaving the week after I complete 6 months ( for those at home that June 17th). We also have a member leaving on his mission this month! Actually he is leaving in 8 days to Guadalajara Mexico! His name is Mahonri but we call him Maho (Elder Patricio Calls him Super Maho). His is like 6 foot 7 and I cant wait to hear from him in the MTC!

The heat here is different than that at home. For example it isn't hot by the sun but by the humidity and even now I don't feel like its hotter than in California but I for sure sweat a lot more! I tell the members that you can put a fry pan in the street and fry an egg and they don't really say much about the heat after that haha! I need to drink more water though so I am going to start using my camelback tomorrow. And with the heat come the bugs. Or at least into our house haha the mosquitos are starting to show up more too so I am starting to put bug spray on for fear of getting the Chinonguyea or whatever you spell it or say it haha actually nobody knows how to really say it but they all know they don't want it! Its two days of absolute pain and fever. your bones hurt, your joints hurt, and you cant move more than a slow limping walk.

The food isn't all that special all the time but sometimes it really blows my mind! We still eat Octopus all the time and fish actually hasn't been as often as it was in the first weeks of my mission. I have increased my overall intake of mangos tho! It is the start of mango season so we naturally come home from lunch appointments with 8 pounds of mangos at least twice a week. They have Mango Oros and Mango Platanos and Manguitos, Mango Tommy also! The one I haven't tried is called Mango Piña and I guess it smells like a pineapple! It isn't quite in season yet tho. Also the beloved and traditional drink of Chiapas Mexico called Pozol! from what I understand it is like a mash of corn and cocoa mixed with water! It is really weird at first and gritty and bitter but I love it now! They have a frapozol here and its mixed with horchata and topped with whipped cream, chocolate and sprinkles and its sooo amazing! We try and drink them regularly to be in touch with the culture of where we are serving haha!

I have been struggling a little bit with the language, mostly due to the fact that I probably haven't been studying as much as I should be and I have forgotten to pray for the gift of tongues. I know that with time I will get the language and it will be so natural to me that I may even start to forget English! haha probably not very much tho!

Lastly I want to talk a little about being consecrated to the Lord Jesus Christ. In 3 Nephi we read about Christs teachings to the Ancient American inhabitants called the Nephites. One of his prayers blessing the people while he is on the Earth is so that the people will have Him in them as Jesus has the Father in him. This is my interpretation of being consecrated. Literally praying and eventually exceeding at having our bodies literally being a vessel for Christ to do his sacred work. I pray that he will take up my body and use it so that my decisions are not of my mind but of his spirit, that my tongue will speak nothing but what the spirit prompts it to say and that my thoughts will always be on what Christ would want them to be. It isn't easy but when I ask for these things I feel the Spirit more than I have before for a little while. Most Importantly I feel the love of Christ. I realize that in order to feel the Love of someone, that person has to love you a heck of a lot! 

5 Fun Moments of the Week:

1. I found an awesome little magnetic chess set that comes with its own case that can fit in my pocket.

2. Jared Fresa, a member of the Tonola Branch 2 who is basically the Ward Mission Leader for my entire Zone. Like we could have a zone meeting and we get to the chapel where my zone leaders work and Jared is already there haha. We went on splits with him and when he was leaving us to go home he yells " Donde estoy Yo" which means Where am I haha. We were only one block from the streeet that leads to the chapel...

3. I drank my first Dr. pepper since the MTC... Enough said but it was heavenly

4. Juan Luna is also a member but he is in our Branch. He told us one morning that he is going to get married this year, now he is in a relationship with a girl that was just baptized and now teaches the Gospel Principles class.

5. My companion has the game Uno and I don't know why but I beat him 9 out of 10 games

The large ones are Mango Tommy. The ones on the left are Mango Platano, and the top ones are Manguitos (what people call them and the actual name I forgot)

Even an Apostle has a Hard Time Pronouncing My Last Name...‏

03/02/2015 - Week #12

So I really only had 2 exciting things happen this week but they are whoppers so I am going to start out with the first. Tuesday Night we went to our Zone leaders house to stay the night so we would be a little closer drive in the morning. We left at about 7 in the morning to go to the state of Oaxaca which is still our mission. There we got in the back of a big animal transportation truck which is like a box truck but no roof. 25 missionaries rode for like an hour and a half all the way to this remote place way off on a dirt road that the driver did not slow down for and we only had like 10 chairs. All we could see were these huts and a ton of cows and the first thing we all think is great, this is a service activity. But lo and behold we see the beach far off in the distance. We actually were allowed to go into the water (not swim of course) and it was a lot colder than I imagined it would be, although warmer than fort brag. We ate a lot of food, I got a letter that was supposed to be delivered in the MTC, a Christmas card from The Bartons and two packages! One of them I have been waiting for for about a month but the other one I was not expecting! Uncle Wil if you are reading this I thank you soo much for the hommemade goodies you sent me! My companion and I cannot eat the carmels fast enough! I also got really badly sunburnt and the day after just tried to brush it off with some baby powder but it ended up getting irritated. Now i rub calomine lotion on it and wear a peice of cloth under my collar and it seems to be doing a lot better! Hopefully it stays the way it is now which is a really dark tan!

Then on Saturday morning we left Tonolá at 6 am to go to Tuxtla Gutierrez. There we took a picture with Elder Oaks and then all got to line up to shake his hand. As he shook mine he read my name tag and struggled just a tiny bit with my last name and I told him he said it right in Spanish, the coolest part was he shook my hand longer than all the people around me because of it! He talked about the sacrament being our next ordinance and also that our mission doesn't end until Marriage which applies more to the investigators but it applies to us too. He doesn't speak Spanish so he had a translator . It was really funny to hear all of his jokes twice and the crowd laughed in parts because of it. After we watched Meet the Mormons in Spanish and then went to Dominos for lunch. The week of work was kind of bad because of all the non work activities we did, our numbers were low but we are coming into this next week with twice as much enthusiasm to hit our numbers!

5 Fun Moments of the Week:

1. Oaxaca, we all thought it was a good idea to not put our shoes back on until we reached the place where we were eating, and we could not run fast enough the sand was so hot. We chose the thorny grass instead of burning our feet haha but the best part was watching our financial secretary run and duck into the thorns right after I did.

2. Riding in the cow truck

3. Shaking hands with Elder Oaks

4. Passing on Hermana Melanie Hickmans handshake from her mother and then seeing her do the finger snap that all the guys of our ward used to do like Brian Passantino and Shaun Fogelman.

5. I have obtained Dr. Pepper por fin! It cost me 50 pesos and I only got 6 half sized cans but hopefully I will enjoy it more than I feel about the cans right now haha

Shaking Hands with Lamanites‏

02/23/2015 - Week #11

First off I want to explain the title of this message. The answer is yes. I actually shook hands with 2 Lamanite women on Friday! Ok they are pure descendants of lamanties but its as close as it gets to the book of mormon. They speak a language called Sotzil which we asked them to teach us a little bit. They taught us Hasta Luego which is ¨*Te Chavat* and also how to say I know the Book of Mormon is true which is *Mí ja li libro lek lie sventa li chankope* I just want to add that when they spoke in Sotzil I felt the spirit and I testify that I am literally serving in Zarahemla right now. They wear elaborate but modest promy dresses that cover their bodies better than Mormon standards because they believe their bodies to be temples of God. It is so cool to see that after all these years they still practice what the Prophets of Old preached to their Ancestors. 

The next really awesome thing is we have a baptism this Friday of a young investigator who has been taking lessons for almost 10 months. He probably is better at teaching the missionary lessons than I am but he never committed to baptism until last week! Hopefully he will go through with it and I can get 2 more souls into the kingdom of Heaven for my first transfer in Chiapas. 

The third awesome thing is all the stuff going on for us Missionaries this week! So today is PDay and because we have a zone activity on Wednesday, normally that means Pday is shorter. I am pleased to inform you that Pday is as normal as pday gets today for me which we are grateful fore. We go to a zone council meeting tomorrow night for reasons I do not know, and then at 7 am on Wednesday we leave for a zone activity in Oexaca Mexico which is the state right above Chiapas. President George will be there and hopefully he will bring my package if its arrived to tuxtla. Then on Friday we have the Baptism and then have to be at the Zone leaders house to sleep so we can leave for Tuxtla early Saturday morning. There we will be hearing Elder Dallin H Oaks answering any questions we have and its going to be amazing.

 Last Awesome thing for the week is there is a place in Tuxtla Gutierrez that is called Walmart, and earlier today I was testified to by Hermana Conalizo that they do in fact have Dr. Pepper for 50 pesos. For size I know not which, all that I doth know pertaining to this is that I have 100 pesos left for food, therefore I am buying 2 Dr. Peppers of whatever size may be. I have also been told that even though Coke is undrinkable on the Tuxtla Mission, that Dr. Pepper is totally fine! PARTY haha just kidding, we don't have parties and I am not sharing... Just kidding I will share eventually!

Five Fun Moments of the Week: 

1. Eating so much food all the time I am certain I have gained like 15 pounds.

2. Learning some sotzil and how everyone reacts when I say Te Chavat. Im pretty sure they think I am saying something in English though.

3. Meeting the 2 girls who are basically Lamanites.

4. Frapozol- A traditional drink in Chiapas that tastes like mocha but is only ground cocoa beans- The first time I tried it I didn't really like it but I had it again today and I want 4 more

5.Hearing from all the other missionaries each week. A lot of the guys from my MTC district are in the same Zone but I got to hear from Elder Kaye this week which made me happy! Also I hear from Elder Whitmore, Strong, Wasden, and my brother often so I get to keep up with the times! 

Valentines Day Mexico Style!‏

02/16/2015 - Week #10

Well I have had a super duper awesome week! Tuesday we went to Pueblo Nuevo to see the family of the little girl, Aimee, that I baptized. There we had a carne which was steak and chicken cooked in an old tractor disk and cooking oil. It was super good. 

Wednesday we had our first zone meeting and I got to meet some of the missionaries serving here! One of them looks a lot like Brother Larson but is named Elder Johnson. His skin is about as white as snow but he speaks like a true Mexican who lives in America haha. We will be having a Zone activity next week and on The 28th of this month and all the missionaries in Chiapas will be going to Tuxtla Gutierrez to listen to Elder Dallin H Oaks speak live! That means there will be a good chance I will see Hermana Hickman! She is serving in Tapachula and i am about 3 hours north of there in Tonola(aka the best mission in the world). 

Friday we went to Pueblo Nuevo again and had more food like always. We ate lunch twice, then had some fruit at Hermana Palacios shop and she also made us Respados! I was full afterwards and we went to give a blessing at a Hermanas house who has Chikenguya which is a mosquito disease that makes it hurt to move your joints and you get a raging fever. There we got a glass of orange flavored agua and I only could force myself to drink half of it. On the taxi ride home a Jehovah witness sat next to me and I had to scoot over to the middle seat. I almost puked and I thought to myself if this guy tries to bible bash us I will give him a lot more than he expects, but he was cool and didn't say anything to us. That night we had companion exchanges which meant I was going to a different area in Tonola with Elder Hunt who is our district leader from Arizona! We had a good time and his apartment is so much bigger and nicer than the house we live in! Even still I like our house better because its less like an office. 

Valentines day we were given money to get lunch from a Hermana who I guess doesn't ever have time to cook for the missionaries so she gives Elder Hunt 100 pesos every week. We bought a whole fried chicken and then later that Night I had Hamburgers with Elder Patricio which were as big as a plate but a lot thinner than those in the United States. Got a little bit of Candy from some of the members and so Valentines day was a score except the next morning was not fun because of all the greasy food I had eaten haha. 

Five Fun Moments of the Week: 

1. The carne we had with familia Carbajal Gutierrez

2. We have a family moving into our apartment right now but every time we go out on the deck they fly away...

3. How weird Friday was but how much my companion laughed when I told him I thought about puking on the Jehovah Witness if he tried anything funny.

4. Going on companion exchanges with Elder Hunt, talking about the Celestial kingdom and how much the milk sucks here.

5. The fact that I'm going to hear an Apostle speak in 2 weeks!!!!!!!

Carne in a tractor disk

First Baptism!!

02/ 09/2015 - Week #9

So much has gone on since the last time I emailed. I am feeling so much better this week and we are doing a lot of good work! We finally got money for taxis so we are planning to go to the far stretches of our area more during this next week. We met the standards of excellence this week which includes at least 140 contacts 21 lessons taught, 4 investigators in church, 8 lessons to less active or recent convert, and a baptism and confirmation is also necessary. I performed my first baptism this Saturday to a young girl named Aimee! She is 8 years old and is actually a citizen of both Mexico and the United States! We have been contacting like crazy and only had 2 new investigators until yesterday when we found 7 more! The people here are super awesome and always ready to hear a message about the Savoir. We Hopefully will have another baptism this Saturday with an investigator who just moved here last week and has already taken tons of lessons from the missionaries and has attended church over 5 times!

 My scripture reading is going super super well and I am planning to be done by the end of March with the Book of Mormon in Spanish. I started understanding Spanish a lot better yesterday so hopefully that means I am finally on the road to speaking perfect Spanish soon! Even though I miss home I am really starting to appreciate this great experience that I have. Its such an awesome place and I am really blessed with everything. I will not be switching homes anymore because the Hermanas have decided to not make us work an extra day for this than we have too which is really nice for us. 

We have been picking up our investigators before church on Sunday and this time we came with 3! The family of Aimee showed up also which makes us for 6 investigators at church Including Ivan the one who just moved here. 

We went to the market this morning and it is just like you see it on tv except bigger and there is raw meat hanging out in the open everywhere and it smells bad. It is supposed to get a lot hotter here come April so I am not really looking forward to that. Last night I figured out how to change the language of the movies we have from American Sign Language into English so Elder Patricio and I watched The testaments in our free time after training! i love that Movie so much!

Five Fun Moments of the Week: 

1. The Baptism of Aimee 

2. People still stare but I don't catch the adults unless they are drunk men or women who think I am Justin Beiber

3. Watching The Testaments

4. Teaching a lesson with 4 different investigators after a baptism this Saturday!

5. Hearing that there are a bunch of people here and back home who are preparing for missions. It is my ultimate goal to have an Investigator be a missionary and Lizandro is one of those who I am certain is going on a mission when he can finally go through the temple!

Aimee's Baptism