83rd Email Home January 18,2016

Hello?!!?!?! Hello, Family! As another week goes by fast, I still try to keep on working as much as a can and the weeks for me are a blur, so I am now taking note that the last part of the mission does go by fast and I want to talk pictures and buy things, but I need to have the measurements of all my brothers and sisters, so that I can find shirts for you all, because this experience I can just keep it to myself, also I can't take pictures in the street, because the people are watching us and it's against the rules to take pictures in front of people.... 

  To tell you all what we are doing this past week and what we always try to do, is invite everyone to come to church and a lot of people promised that they were going to come to church, but only 2 came this Sunday and the other investigator we don't even know, because she lives in another city, but she only has about 11 or 12 year of age and she loves coming to church, and the other sister that came to church, only stayed for the first hour, because she had to do other things, but she said that she liked the church and what she heard that day, then said that she will come back the next Sunday, but with more time to spare, so we are excited to finally have an investigator with us and that will turn into a baptism, all we need to do is marry sister Adriana with her boyfriend and then baptize the two! 

   We have set up a plan for the ward and the name for it is called the work of Salvation and it is to help not only the investigators progress, but also the less actives and even the members to be more strengthened, so yesterday we completed the plan, now we are putting it into the computer, to make it look nice!  We also have the privelege to hear from an Elder Torres, have never heard of him, but I hope that what he needs to say will change the desires of every missionary hear to work super hard in the mission field! 1. My first breakfast burrito that I made in México!2. I was a beast at painting those walls! 3. We were just helping a sister paint her room and it took a long time...! 

82nd Email Home January 11,2016

Well, to tell you all what has been happening this past week, me and my companion have been inviting a lot of people to come to church and they are saying,"Yes!", but when Sunday comes, all I saw was a few people that we didn't invite except, this one sister Itzel! Itzel is soo cool, she is about 12 years old and she has been attending church all the times that she can, but the sad news is that she is moving this week to VillaFlores! I respect her decision, because VillaFlores is an awesome place! I can't accept the fact that other missionaries are going to baptize her over there! I feel like we have an area filled with people that are ready to get baptized, but they are moving to different areas! All I want is one baptism in this area, if we can receive more, more the better and I would be happy to baptize them all! Lol! 

  As the Juarez ward, we are planning with the members to be more available to help us, help the investigators, so that the people that we bring in aren't so nervous, because they will have a friend to guide them and talk with them and really if the members apply this and we work with them, we are going to have a big ward here and more baptisms, so this is our goal and we will make our goal! 

   I would like you to say,Hola! Feliz año nuevo! , then you can say, that Chiapas is the best mission! and that Obedience is a hard task, but I try not to think in the hardness of the task, but I try to see what I can do to change my abilities, when there is something hard to do, I give it a shot and if I didn't do so well, I practice, read and pray and receive my answer and I complete the things that are preventing me to reach exaltation, I love the example of the prophets and all that they have done to help us in these days, through the Book of Mormon we can find that temptation is everywhere and that it is hard to obey the words of a small voice, because it's more attractive to see all the things in the world than to read the scriptures or pray. This is what I have felt to write for the members, I don't know the members, but I am sure they are very happy and obedient! 

 I don't get to see the mission President often, maybe every month or 2 and so, it is fun to be with them when we have the chance, just about 5 days ago, we were in the house of the President for our interviews and we had to wait for about 5 hours in the Mission home, because other missionaries were there and were talking with him a little more, but I got to see all of his pictures of his family, he has a ton of family like 100 family members! We are about 30 minutes from the mission home, so it's pretty close! Well, I love you all thanks for all your love and prayers!

 A picture of a restaurant of a member!

 A picture of the streets with a Dominio's motorcycle and a bus (public transport) 

 More transport, this is how people get around here if you don't have a car!

more of the same 

the picture is a little clearer! 

Group picture! 

More public transport!

the pigeons were going crazy for corn!

81st Email Home January 4,2016

 Hi,everyone! This week for me was a complete booster for me, because as me and my companion were walking around, we have found new people during the week and they are pretty excited to know more about the church and some of them even accepted our invitation to baptism, but we have to wait until the 13th of February, but it's okay we can wait, because then they will be members that know the Gospel!     The weather here is still pretty cold, about 2 days ago I was dying of the cold here and I like the cold air, but without a jacket or a sweater it's pretty bad, unless you are by the coast. 

  I don't really have advice for a missionary that is going to come out here, only that to be prepared for the hot weather and to bring a light rain coat, although if you are in Tapachula, you are going to get soaked no matter what, also to prepare not to have hot water to shower with and also to protect your technology from being exposed to humid areas (Places by the coast), but other than that, you just have to get adjusted to the problems in the state. My clothes that I have are still in good condition, the only thing is my socks and my old shoes, but other than that I have enjoyed my clothes, but I probably wouldn't buy the same clothes, because they were too expensive, but I had money to spend soo, why not. 

  I feel like the best part of my mission is the change in the person, also the opportunity to learn a new language (which I never thought that I could learn), it is a blessing to be here and I will NEVER change my mind, there are always moments that are hard, but we learn and we move onward and learn from our mistakes, also we learn to believe more in the power of prayer. Yesterday, at the end of our day we pretty much had 7 minutes left until we had to return home and so, I suggested to my companion," Should we pray to find someone else?" and he said," Yes." so we said a 15 second prayer in the street and then we ended and then I started running to the next street and there were about 2 some what drunk guys sitting by the side walk and we talked with them and they were interested in the message, but they lived far away, but I think it is in our area, if not in the area of our District leader... 

  When I heard some thing about Molly and that was frozen for awhile, I was like," No!! Molly can't die now!!!" Then I read the rest of the story, now I am okay. I just want to thank you all for your dedication to help me and Brandon, I hope that everything goes well and that everyone can complete with their goals for this year! WOOOT 2016!8.Eating a Turkey leg! It was soo good! this was for new years!

 Puppies! 

 More picture of the pups! 

 George and Arely ( Arely is member) 

I found some cool cups! 

 Mmmm ( I wasn't really drinking anything)

Poor piggy ; ( 

Me taking a picture of the food with my companion! 

Eating a Turkey leg! It was soo good! this was for new years!

80th Email Home December 28,2015

Hola,  Hey, Family and friends!  I would just like to thank all that has prayed for me and for our investigators, I know that one day that our investigators are going to change and accept more of the Gospel in their lives, we are trying our best to help these people change their ways of life and it is not easy, first to accept and second, to make the change. We are still trying to look for ways to help the people that are ready right now for baptism, but maybe what we need is the help from some members, so we are going to find a friend for every investigator that we have, so that on Sunday we can see everyone HAPPY! 

  It was soo, great to see the family together on the Skype call! Although (for me) I thought it was a bit weird at first, because I didn't know what to say and the family was running out of questions to ask, until we pointed out Brandon, I do not recall what I was saying exactly and the experience has left an impact in my soul, I think about this experience and I feel like it was about a minute ago, the spirit fills me with the knowledge and power to talk and I have learned something from this experience, first for the past few weeks I have been asking God to help me have a stronger testimony of the Book of Mormon, because in past conference with our leaders they mentioned that we need to have a testimony every day, by praying to God for help to understand the scriptures in a different way, after this experience that I had with Brandon, I was testifying of the things that are true and real and for this experience, I know the Book of Mormon is true and I have been touched that nothing or nobody can take away my testimony.

  I can't wait to have a family reunion! It will be soo awesome! I have to think of some goals that I can make to have a change in my life and for the lives of others, so I will try to remember to think about them! I thought before my mission, it is pointless to set goals, because my mind was sent on just go out and do it, its was a good plan for a while, but when you are out in the world, it doesn't work too well, we have to make plans to complete, so that we can accomplish them and then move on to the next goal! It is sometimes hard to make goals or keep on track with them, but we can always ask our Heavenly Father for help! I Love you all and I hope everyone enjoys New years! 

    

Me drinking chocolate milk! 

More Chocolate MILK!

 The high-way in Tuxtla!

 Me with my comp. with Fam. Sanchez!

Temple in Tuxtla!

 Bananas!

Squirrel! 

79th Email Home December 21,2015

Mamá! We don't know when to get on the Skype! What time is better to talk? So, the 25th the is alright?
 I would like to say that I am getting very excited to talk with the family, but I am also nervous, because I might not know how to speak English very well....lol! I hope everyone can make it to the Skype call, it won't be general conference, but a very special moment for this Christmas! I hope that Brandon accepts my gift, I was thinking a lot about what to get him so, I feel like it will touch his heart! We don't receive snow here, but we do get cold here! It is hard some times to be in the cold because, I have been in different places that are a lot hotter and so, when coming back to Tuxtla I have been dying!  

   The investigators have been a little busy this past week and so, we have been trying to look for new investigators to teach, but no one is here! Everyone is leaving on vacations and so, the streets are pretty empty, but we are still finding people to teach so, it's okay! We have an investigator that before, wasn't really interested, but now that we passed by her house to talk with someone else, she came down the stairs of her house and said," Finally! You guys came back!" and so, we went in to talk with her and she was a little more focused on what we had to say and at the end we told her to say the prayer and she always says," No!" and so, all we did was just wait and we looked at her and she started laughing shaking her head, saying, "No." we said," come on sister." and so, she was like, " Okay!" and so, for the first time she said the prayer, but she was part of the Jehovah Witness's and so, waiting for her to say her prayer and waiting to feel the spirit, she started with, " Heavenly Father, Jehovah" exactly like that and through out the prayer she was saying," Lord Jehovah" and so, I couldn't feel the spirit in this moment, but we are going to mention this with her the next visit! The same day we found a boy that was sitting down on some stairs and we started walking towards him and his phone started to ring and when he answered, we came up to him and he told the person on the phone that," I have to go, the Mormons are here!" and when we heard that, we started to smile and we were wondering," have you talked with the missionaries before?" and he said," Yeah!" and he said that he also attended FSY 2 times and he loves the church and all, but his parents are Catholic and they don't allow him to go anymore, but he 17 years of age and so he can make his own decisions soon, I hope. I don't know when his birthday is!

  I love to be here with my companion and these members they are so fun! We had our Christmas dinner finally! We went to a house of a member that is rich and his house is pretty nice and big, he and his wife both served missions, but I don't remember where so, we really had a great time, I also had the chance to see a member of las Palmas ward and it's soo weird and very surprising to see all of them again, I feel like Tuxtla is so small, but it is soo big!  

  Decorations!

More decorations

Waterfall!

 Me with the Comp!

Canyon Sumidero with a Rainbow.

Another picture of the Canyon!

78th Email Home December 14, 2015

 In the past week, I was thinking that we weren't going to see anyone, but guess what there are more people to talk to!! So, we need to make the Christmas for these people a special one, inviting them to come unto Christ, because it's pretty much our theme for this month, so we are going to work our tails off this month to baptize and help the less actives change! Me and my companion Elder Juarez, have another chance to stay together, the transfers were received today and we are excited to work another transfer and the thing that is awesome is that this transfer is 7 weeks and not 6 this time, so its going to be a blast! 

  Woot! I didn't get to meet the old bishop, but I am sure I will get to learn and love the new bishop! Just like you we are going to have a ward Christmas party, but we still don't know if we are able to go, but we will go check with our leaders to see if we can eat some holiday food! We are going to try to invite as many of our investigators that we can, so we can invite more to accept God in their lives! 

  We got to see in the temple dedication of the temple Tijuana and Dallin H. Oaks and President Dieter F. Uchtdorf were there to dedicate the temple and Elder Dallin H. Oaks was explain how in these days we don't put a cornerstone in the ground anymore and that they respect the idea,"But now we use mortar" said, Elder Dallin H. Oaks, because its a little more efficient to use concrete now. It was a little different to see that they sealed the cornerstone (that was a box made out of cement) with mortar and each of the leaders of the church came up to fill in the gaps, but there was still more space to fill in, so president Dieter F. Uchtdorf called up some of the youth from a crowd to fill in the gaps that were left over and it was a moment, that was so special, I could feel the spirit and the truth of the work we are doing! The most interesting part of the whole thing was that the temple president that was selected is the son of Gordon B. Hinckley and they were so excited to be there and help others to obtain, ever lasting happiness! 

  I would like to thank all the family and friends that have prayed for me, in my mission and also for our investigators! I hope to see all of you on Skype! We might do it on the 24th or between 21st to the 27th, but I think it's more on the 24th! On the 24th we are kind of planning to talk on skype is it okay?

Tuxtlacito! with me! 

...more of Tuxtla!

 It's a Catholic thing here! A huge group of people walk in the street for days, gathering more and more people along the way. This is a little group!

The canyon sumidero! 

 A Christmas tree, beside the Jesus statue! 

My companion.... Texting..

77th Email Home December 7, 2015

HI? I am a bit cold, here in Tuxtla gets pretty cold. We are also waiting for our laundry to wash at the Bishop's house!  Fun!

 Hey everyone! Thanks for all your prayers and all the love, I can feel it all the way over here! We have been working harder to get the people in the water, but I think the water is too cold right now, there are people that are ready to be baptized, like a brother called Mariano, he is ready, just that he has to working on Sundays and his boss isn't giving him the option to change his time, but he was saying that he is going to keep trying to change is schedule and if he can't he is going to find a different job, so we have been trying to look for another place for him to work! Then there is Sister Monserrat, she is about 10 years old and before I was hearing that was so happy to get baptized, but recently, she has been thinking and she wants to think a little more about baptism, although when we checked if she prayed, she said that she did! Then we asked," And how did you feel afterwards?" She responded that she felt great, happy, and calm! Then we said that she had received her answer, but she still isn't sure, so we are going to focus more in the  purpose of being baptized and also acting by what the spirit tells her! So we think she will be accepting! 

  This past week we had our Christmas Activity and starting that week my companions voice was a bit off, he had mucus and a runny nose and so we were looking for medicine for him and we found some, then as is the days that he was taking it, I started with a runny nose then the next day with a sore throat and which lead to a fever and time was spend in the house and we didn't do anything that day, we just watched a movie, its called;" The Mountain of the Lord" I loved this movie, although it's a bit old, I love the story of how the Temple in Salt Lake was built and how the people sacrificed their time to make it! So, after all of this we could start working again to tell them to go to church! The time passed so fast, it was just Monday like 2 days ago and now, I am here again writing again! I got a feeling that I am not going to see my mission end.... I am going to be in my house and then yeah, I am going to say," Hey, Why am I in Utah!"

  I hope that everyone can enjoy this time as a family, Christmas for me is the most happiest time of the year, we might receive gifts and money, but I know it makes the whole difference if we are together and we are sharing jokes and stories and everyone is having fun making ginger bread houses and most of all drinking Hot Chocolate! We only get one time out of the year to feel this," Christmas Spirit" just savor these moments and they will last forever! 

 An Apple pie, Empanada style! 

We took a group photo out of all of the pictures this was the best!

  We were doing an act ( I thought that someone was going to record it, but they took pictures instead) 

 More of the act!

 Puppy of the Bishop! 

...more pictures! 

76th Email Home November 30, 2015

Hola?Well,well,well Family and Friends! This week was a wonderful experience, a lot of people are in a happy mood and it might be because, we invited them to baptism or maybe because it is almost Christmas! It's getting harder to find people these days, because people are working harder than ever for Christmas and to go on vacation, so there won't be so many people here in Tuxtla, so we are going to have to dig a little deeper to find the people who are ready to accept the Gospel! 

   The time here on our P-day is a little different, because we don't wash our clothes,by hand any more there are members that have laundry machines to help, but to be honest, washing by hand is way faster! I just want to adjust myself to the laundry machine again... Lol! We usually wash our clothes in the morning and later on in the day we get on the computer, but some times it changes, so I don't know what to say.. 

   Well, the story of the picture is that we were walking (Like we normally do) and we found a grove and we like," That looks soo beautiful!" but we continued to walk until we,"saw a pillar of light!" and we looked at each other and I said," I want a picture!" and so my companion guided me to were the camera could capture the perfect picture! We took about 4 or 5 pictures to get it right and it was an awesome experience! Hey, maybe I will be famous once I get home!?!? I just felt like it had to be done and so, we did it! 

  For this Christmas we are going to have a early Christmas Lunch with the President of the Mission and we are going to use our talents to have fun! So me and my companion are going to sing," Savior, Redeemer of my Soul" It's Number 112 in the Hymn book. We are going to sing another version of the song that another artist did so, we will see how is goes! I will try to record it to show you all when I get back, because I can't sent it through E-mail.. 

   That's cool that Brandon could make it! I hope that everyone is doing well! Do you have a lot of pictures of the parade? also, of the family?? What happened with the other fake christmas tree? It's soo grate to hear that the family could make it and could enjoy the time together! I will try to take a lot of pictures of the Christmas here! Starting with! 

 This is one of the houses of a member!

 Tuxtla!

 Eating with Elder Mayret, he's from my generation! Eating Pork!

 Canyon Sumidero with the Mexican Flag! Vive México! 

 The sun of the night in Tuxtla! 

Well, I hope you received my message and all 5 pictures that I sent, because it says on my side that I sent it but, it's not showing up! I love you though!!