Hello everybody I have had a Phenomenal Week. I think this is the first email in a while that I have put some thought into.
Well the food here is not as good as it was in Tuxtla. But they do have something here called Tlayudas, kind of like a quesadilla with a bunch of meat, soooo good.
Well here is the hoe-down from this week.
Monday:
So Monday night I went on divisions with my good friend Elder Rosas. He only has 3 months in the mission but he’s a pretty good teacher. We went and found an old investigator name Pricsela and read the Book of Mormon with her. She had a friend over that did something to her knee, she was kind of depressed so we had her read the Book of Mormon with us and I think it cheered her up. So yeah Pricsela really loves the Book of Mormon but never goes to church so I have no clue when she’s going to get baptized.
After that Elder Rosas and I went and bought Tlayudas to finish the day. Good day. Also I found the best chocolate milk in Mexico, so I can finally enjoy myself.
Tuesday:
So here in Oaxaca the children like to play marbles, so Elder Jones and I picked up the game and started competing with the locals here. Last week I sucked and lost my 2 marbles that a kid gave me, but last Monday I bought 30 marbles, and I have been developing my skills this week. Most of the youth here love to play marbles and so we found it’s a good way to get to know some of the youth.
We have an investigator, Paola, she is 13 and a bit timid. She’s been taught all the lessons by other missionaries, but never went to church. So we have been teaching her all over again. She has been progressing really good, she dropped coffee like nothing, and has been to church twice and a few noche de hogars! So on Tuesday we invited three young women to help teach her and make friends in the church. Kelin, Yanin and Aida were a big help. They pretty much took over the lesson and taught really well. Last week Elder Jones gave a really good analogy for the Atonement. He found a ladder and explained that life is like a ladder that we are constantly climbing or descending, with good choices like baptism we go up, with bad choices we go down, but when we go all that we can to the top we find that the ladder is missing a few steps, and we cannot go all the way to the top, and it is like that in life, we cannot return to our Heavenly Father because we are not perfect and nothing unclean can enter in to the presence of God. And that is where the Atonement of Jesus Christ comes in; through his sacrifice and gift for us he fills in the blank space of the ladder so that all of us may return to live with God again. But we must remember that he didn’t just pay for the last few steps he paid for all of them. So I used that in the lesson. It was kind of funny because I got up in the middle of the lesson, took the ladder and just started to climb it, so everyone was looking at me weird. Haha.
We had a good Branch night, with the branch.
Wednesday:
At 4:12 in the morning, the earth started to shake and for a whole minute, Elder Davalos sat in fear. It was so intense that my chapstick on my desk fell over. Wow, so yeah we had a weak earthquake. Elder Davalos wasn’t actually scared at all, more sleepy.
So I decided to be exactly obedient from now on.
We had a Great district meeting this week, led by the amazing and spectacular Elder Jones. We talked about how members are key in the work of the Lord.
I went on companion exchanges with Elder Jones, what a Horse. He is probably the best missionary I have ever met. He’s from Chihuahua, but looks like a Gringo. He’s a boss, like a boss, but he knows how to teach and I learned a lot from this man.
We did some service for a good 30 minutes.
We were walking down the street and we saw a girl fixing a motorcycle, and Elder Jones was like, what the! So we walked over and he said, do you need any help? (thinking she didn’t know what she was doing) and she confidently said, “No, I got it.” So, he looked and said, “Replacing the clutch cable, easy, but still impressive. Where did you learn to fix a motorcycle?” She said she learned from watching and it was pretty crazy! After she was done she started it and drove around to test her work, it worked perfectly. We started talking and it turns out she is a member of the church. So we talked a bit, after as we were walking away, Elder Jones said,” I’m surely going to teach my wife how to repair an engine,( he thinks he’s going to marry my sister ha) because that was the most attractive thing I’ve seen!” So that was pretty awesome.
Thursday:
So I was exactly obedient Thursday morning. I got to my studies on time and I felt more refreshed than I have in a long time. Here are some things I learned from my studies.
I really love the Liahona from July. Presidents Uchtdorf’s Message was inspiring. Here’s a tad from his message.
“Happiness doesn´t come from external circumstances.
It comes from the Inside - Regardless of what is happening around us.
It most certainly come doesn´t come from having all of our wishes come true.”
I really love this quote it teaches us about how perspective is key in our lives and how happiness is a personal decision.
Elder Jones shared with me a quote from Neil L Anderson.
“Distancing yourself from the kingdom of God during a trial of faith is like leaving the safety of a secure storm cellar just as the tornado comes into view.”
I also read an amazing article about early to bed, early to rise called Full of Energy and Life. Here’s the link, this is especially for my mom. https://www.lds.org/liahona/2015/07?lang=eng
When we win the first battle of the day against the mattress, we are more likely to win more battles during the day. We are also more likely to be filled with energy and life.
What an amazing article, I encourage all of you to read it.
We went to eat lunch with two investigators, and they let us use their tricycle so that we get to a appointment faster. Throughout the day I was driving Elder Jones around, until finally i realized that I had ripped my pants, it was a huge rip!!! RIP Pants.
Friday:
So we decided to drive the Tricycle 8 km to El Morro, It was fun, we got a bunch of weird looks. I rode it back in 34 min, 1 min faster that Elder Davalos, and the way back is slightly up hill. woo.
We got back and I saw an old lady with a hose and told her me to spray me for a little on my head, but she just started hosing me until I was soaked. Haha
Saturday: Nothing really happened; it felt like nobody was home.
Sunday: We had 6 investigators in Sacrament. Brilliant!
So yeah, that about sums up my week. Love you all and Best wishes for this week.
