The Week of Things

Hello y'all,

Wow what a phenomenal week!! So much happened.

So let me start with the food this week, so this past week all I bought for food was a box of frosted flakes and three boxes of pop tarts! So that was pretty dumb, I don’t think I ever got filled from my breakfasts. So shame on me. Today I’m going to buy much healthier food!! This week a member bought us pizza which is always exciting!

Funny Story of the Week:

So this week it finally rained Wednesday, so it rained for a good two hours and we were walking and Elder Lambert decided to walk on a curb that was sticking out of a big puddle and so he got to the end and decided to jump off onto what looked like dry land, but happened to be deep mud. So he jumped into thick mud and trashed his shoes, it was pretty funny and he was really embarrassed cause we were with Hermana Itzel.

So this week the weather turned for the better and started raining. Finally a rest from the endless scorching rays of the hot Mexican sun! So I was rejoicing but Elder Lambert wasn’t. There are two things in this world he fears: bugs and the rain! and girls but that’s with all missionaries! So yeah it started to rain and then it started to pour and within two minutes we were soaked from tie to shoes. So yeah it rained a good amount on Wednesday and a ton on Saturday. It rained the second hardest I’ve ever seen in my whole entire life, and I was ecstatic!! Finally something to relive me from the endless torture of 30° Celsius and above!

This week I had a very spiritual and heart moving experience with a family. They are called the Viatorros, and they are a family of 10 kids and 2 parents,12 if you can do math!:) So on Tuesday we bought a cake for two of the Hermanas in our district, since they both had their birthdays but we didn’t have meetings this week cause we had interviews with President George, so we were stuck with this cake, so I suggested that we take it to the Viatorros and share it with them. They are very poor and most of their children are under age 10. The 12 of them live in one room a little bit bigger than my old room. So we went and took them the cake. It made me soo happy to see there eyes fill with joy as they consumed the cake. The cake was gone within minutes and their mother was so happy and grateful for us that she burst into tears, I almost started crying too which is saying something since I don’t cry! But I’m so glad that we gave that cake away instead of eating it ourselves.

This week we found an awesome investigator! We were walking going nowhere and we heard somone shout "Mormones" so we were like what now, we don’t want trouble. Turns out its a member that Elder Lambert knew from his old area. He was with his son and he suggested that we go and teach him since he was free. So we did and he turns out to be the best investigator ever. When we ask questions he always gives the right answers. He already had Our Search for Happiness and The Teachings of Joseph Smith! So Yeah, awesome, he agreed to be baptized in 5 weeks too! Wohooo

This week I have been listening to a lot of talks on Elder Lambert’s USB. In a talk from Elder Holland he said that "Every worth task take hard work" and "the best things in our lives are worth finishing" so when trials come, stay strong. In a talk from Elder Bednar he said that we should "pray for the strength to endure our circumstances instead of having our circumstances changes." So I really enjoyed listening to about 12 talks and want more. I’m really excited for when the Liahona with all the Conference talks come.

This week in my personal study I was reading in Alma 36:17-20 as Alma relates his repentance process 

 17 And it came to pass that as I was thus ^aracked with torment, while I was^bharrowed up by the ^cmemory of my many sins, behold, I ^dremembered also to have heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world.

 18 Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, ^ahave mercy on me, who am ^bin the ^cgall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting ^dchains of ^edeath.

 19 And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my ^apains ^bno more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more.

 20 And oh, what ^ajoy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!

We must repent, for the joy that comes after repentance is far greater than the guilt from our sins. The healing and strengthening power of the Atonement is always there and I encourage anyone who is in need of love or comfort that Christ is there for you because He has descended below all others!!

I love you all!

Elder Pugmire

Some fireworks!

The cross above our house. 

Mother's Day and Much More!

Hello all!

Well this week has been fun!

Once again we have been walking a ton, but this week we actually entered into a house before lunch at about 2 for the first time in a long time. So that was nice.

Food of the Week: So this week we ate with Hermana Liliana again and this time we hit the jackpot!

She had this huge pan full of rice and meat ,muscles, crab and shrimp!! Sooo good! It reminded me of the good Pacific Northwest!

Funny story of the week:

Today I had a receipt that I need to use and give to the zone leaders. But it was all crumpled up so I was like oh I’ll just iron it with a towel over it. So I did it and I lifted the towel and it looked all good but the other side was all black and ruined :( and it was the side with the important info. I think that’s the dumbest thing I’ve done on my mission.

Yesterday was a really special day for us! Our best investigator Ivan got the Sunday off and came to church with us and he’s only met with us like 3 times. He even bought a sports coat to wear. SO we were really excited that he came with us. We wore our suits too yesterday! We had heard something about an area seventy coming for our sacrament meeting! So we were all waiting for them to walk in and they finally did. Elder Reyes, the area seventy gave a great talk about the family and how we must be united as a family in our purpose!

Yesterday we also got to talk to our families! Elder Lambert was about to call his family when Elder Reyes and the Stake president walked in! So we visited with them for an hour and it was really cool to meet with an area seventy for a while. We finally got to talk to our families and it was so so so nice to see and talk to them!  Those 40 minutes flew by!

Scripture of the Week: 2 Nephi 2: 25 Read it, Ponder it, Pray about it!!

Love ya all

Elder Pugmire

Elder Lambert getting his annual haircut

My companion and I!

Our good friend Rojelio

Here’s me enjoying time with the two little ones Mauricio and Sarita

Hello all,

Not that much happened this week. Lots and lots and lots of walking. Three days in a row we didn’t enter into one house until like 7 in the evening. So yeah, tough week.

This week I bought some new shoes, and I made the silly mistake of wearing them proselyting, so I got two blisters on the back of both heels, we were climbing up the hill and I could feel the skin ripping, worst hill climb of my life. So yeah that has been a pain in the heels this week.

Food of the week: We had these amazing tacos from Familia Jimenez on Friday. That was so good.

So let me tell you about the miracle we had. We received a reference from other elders. So we went and visited them. They were really nice and accepting of our message. We gave them the Restoration pamphlet and hoped they would read it. So we went back a few days later, and we asked if they had read the pamphlet and they said they had and had some questions too!!! This never happens. He also said that he is going to try to get Sundays off to come to church!!! Miracle and golden investigators.

So this week in church the Stake President came and surprised our ward with the announcement that the Lomas Ward would be getting a new building. But we have to have 170 people coming to church so it will be tough be we can do it.

Sorry for the short letter, but we have an appointment with Chilies!

I know this church is true and greatest happiness can came through church attendance and scripture reading and through family!!

Love you all!

Elder Pugmire

Hello all,

What a great week in Las Lomas!

We had some really good days and some really long days with lots of walking up and down hills.

The members here are really nice and willing to help us.

Food of the Week:

Well this week we had to trek up a super long hill to get to two of our lunches. We ate twice with Hermana Liliana. She served us some good chicken the first day. Then the next day she fed us real pasta. Fettuccini alfredo to be exact with meat balls and marinara sauce too!! BOOM!! So yeah that lunch was really good.

Funny story of the week:

So this week Elder Lambert was kind of mad at me for no reason and I was in a really cheerful mood. So I was walking with a spring in my step and I decided to jump over a medium sized rock in the middle of the sidewalk. And boom! All my hand out cards and pens and my agenda fell out of my pocket onto the dirty Mexican street, so that made Elder Lambert Laugh. Really Really Hard! SO yeah

So Wednesday was an amazing day, Let me tell you about it in detail.

So Tuesday night we traveled over to the zone leader’s house to stay the night so we could play basketball the next morning. So we got there and there was like 4 other companionships. We ordered 5 things of dominos and went to bed on the floor. I was smart and lay by the fan. So we woke up at 4:45, a little bit earlier than I would have liked to but we ran to the basketball court and played a good hour. Fun stuff. So then we went back to the zone leader’s house and 10 of us shared two showers. We went to the church building for meetings and in the District leaders meeting I shared a miracle I had the day before.

The Miracle of the Purple Shirts:

So as we were starting the day Elder Lambert asked me to pick a color. And then the color I chose he made me contact any person wearing that color. So I chose purple thinking nobody would be wearing purple. Boy was I wrong. Like every other person was wearing Purple and I had like 22 contacts in an hour. The Lord spreads his word in so many different ways.

So yeah later that day as we were walking to lunch I was telling Elder Lambert how much I hate the sun and he told me something, being somewhat annoyed at my complaining, He said "Venga lo que venga, Disfrútelo" and he wouldn’t tell me what it meant so I got ticked cause I couldn’t figure what it meant. So I asked the zone leaders what it meant and they said " What Comes, Comes So enjoy it." and then after seeing that I figured it our Elder Lambert Said "Come What may and Love it." so I have put that to heart and am trying to not complain about my circumstances anymore but trying to see the good in it all.

Still that day we went with a return missionary named Itzel. She just got back like 2 months ago is such a good asset when coming to lessons. We taught a few good lessons and head home.

What a good week of hard work.

Love you all.

Elder Pugmire

Here’s the view from our house with lightning

The real good food!

Cambios!!

Wow this week has been crazy!!

Tuesday: So we had to leave our house and it felt like I was leaving home again. So we headed to the bus station and there were a ton of missionaries there about to leave with me. The bus ride was 7 hours long and kind of boring. We arrived in Tuxtla, I met my new zone leaders, and one of them happens to be Elder Fackrell, my old district leader. I found out that I was going to be in A TRIO, OF AMERICANS. Crazy. So we took a taxi with two pairs of suitcases to our house. Las Lomas is roughly translated to the hill tops. So our area is so hilly, our house is on the steepest road I have ever been on. So yeah. Elder Lambert and Elder Larsen are my companions. Elder Larsen is from Idaho and Elder Lambert is from Logan, Utah. Elder Larsen has a fracture in his cuboid bone in his foot so he had to go home on Thursday, but since Elder Lambert and I were new, he showed us around a bit to the extent he could.

Wednesday: We went to meetings and met our district, three companionships of sisters and us, so a little different. The rest of the day we stayed home because of Elder Larsen’s foot.

Thursday: So Elder Larsen was shipped home because of his foot. SO it was just Elder Lambert and I. Thursday we didn’t do much either until we dropped off Elder Larsen at the Mission office. So we had one hour to work and we got 24 contacts and 3 lessons. We worked really hard.

Friday: Elder Lambert and I are pretty much opening up a new area cause we know nothing about this area. We walked a ton because we couldn’t find anybody’s house, since it’s really hilly it was like climbing up Rosedale 6 or 7 times in one day (a big hill in Gig Harbor). So after this transfer I’m going to have some fine calves. So we were supposed to have Missionary correlation meeting but we got lost. We contacted somebody and it went something like this... "Hello nice to meet you we are the Missionaries , and do you know where our church building is?" so it was little bit funny. But we had a ton of contacts, 58 to be exact.

Saturday: I don’t really remember much from Saturday, but we had this really cool lesson where we were teaching this one lady and She asked us if she could go to church. That is the first time that anybody has asked me that. I think I might cry lol.

Well Sunday we went to the most cramped church building every. The members are super here, they actually want to help us. On the plus side one of the members brings sweat bread for everyone after church to quench my endless hunger.

This week I have been studying in Alma 32 and it is an awesome chapter. Here is verse 16 

Therefore, blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble; or rather, in other words, blessed is he that believeth in the word of God, and is baptized without stubbornness of heart, yea, without being brought to know the word, or even compelled to know, before they will believe.

SO follow this scripture and you will be blessed.

 https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/alma/32?lang=eng

Love you All

Elder Pugmire

 

Our beautiful view!

My new companion Elder Lambert.

Los Tres Gringos

Some sweet wall art...

Last Week of Training

This morning our patience was put to the test. We were supposed to receive the information about our transfers at 6:30 but that didn't happen. So we waited cleaned the whole house and finally at about 10 our district leader Elder Montez called and told us the transfers. I was pretty sure Elder Prows was going to be transferred and that I would have to take on the area with a new companion. I was so ready. But then Elder Montez said that both of us would be transferred to Tuxtla Gutierrez and we were both super surprised. Apparently they are putting Hermanas in our area, but our house is not apt for them. So it’s kind of weird. But I’m very excited to go to Tuxtla, especially since it’s not so hot!!

My new area is Tuxtla Lomas area, I have no clue what to expect, but I’m ready.

This week was a great week. I’m so sad because I have to leave my investigators. Especially because I have to leave Romeo who is so close to baptism, I think he will be baptized next transfer. He expressed to us that he is going to get baptized but it’s just a matter of time. So I’m sad I have to leave him. It kind of stinks for the new hermanas because they don’t know where anything is and who anyone is.

Food Experience of the week: So we went and bought these really good tacos that we have had before so I wanted them to be a little bit more spicy, so I put this salsa on one and it kind of poured out so I ate that one last and It was soooooo Spicy. This is the spiciest thing I’ve ever had! So I asked what type of Chile it was and they said Chile de Arbol and they said its hotter than Habanero so I was huffing and puffing for about thirty minutes.

This week we had a bunch of lessons with investigators. And this whole week we were inviting everybody to a special mission event Called Canto de Coro where we would sing about the Saviors resurrection and that He lives.

We had a zone conference with President George and Dr. Stevens and they presented the 10 commandments of good health and it was pretty interesting.

So the event yesterday was awesome. Tons of people came, we had 5 investigators there. It was so awesome; we sang like 6 hymns and Elder Prows was kind of the star of the show singing in 2 duets and a quartet. The quartet was so good. They sang Abide With Me Tis Eventide a Capella and it sounded amazing.

Even though I am sad that I have to go and leave this great area I know it’s where the Lord wants me and that there are people waiting for me. In the words of Nephi I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded.

Hasta Luego

Elder Pugmire

"Has lo Justo"

Fuuuuuutbooool

A Week in Tapachula

Hola all,

Well this week has been fun.

Compared to other weeks it seems like nothing really happened this week.

This week Elder Prows had to get another ingrown toenail out. So we didn’t work Friday and Saturday. So I spent the day reading the Liahona. I really like this quote from President Ezra Taft Benson he says, "THE LIVING PROPHET IS MORE IMPORTANT TO US THAN A DEAD PROPHET...God’s revelation to Adam did not instruct Noah how to build the Ark. Noah needed his own revelation. Therefore the most important prophet so far as you and I are concerned is the one living in our day and age to whom the Lord is currently revealing His will for us. Therefore the most important reading we can do is any of the words of the prophet contained each month in our Church Magazines. Our instructions about what we should do for each six months are found in the General Conference addresses which are printed in the Church magazine. Beware of those who would set up the dead prophets against the living prophets, for the living prophets always take precedence."

 This having been said I think it is our duty to watch General Conference where the living prophet of God, President Thomas S. Monson spoke and gave us counsel.

 This whole week though I was looking forward to General Conference. I was also a little bit worried about how much I would understand in Spanish, so I turned to the Lord for help a few days in advance. So the first session of Conference came on Saturday morning and we went and watched it in our church building. At least the music was in English, you can’t translate that. So yeah the first speaker was President Packer, boy is he old, but he talked really slow and was easy to understand, a few later President Eyring and even though I didn’t understand him very well I felt his emotions and feeling as he was speaking, The Holy Ghost can traverse barriers of language and great distance as well. The next two sessions we watched in English in a Cyber (place where you can rent computers) so that was nice. All the talks were really good. I really liked the talk by President Uchtdorf when he said, "Many of the things you can count, don’t count, and many of the things you can’t count, do count."  Then on Sunday we went to the stake center to watch the sessions, we only had one investigator there, but that’s ok. But I thought it was hilarious when President Uchtdorf started talking in German and that was like oh sorry President Monson. But overall, it was a great General Conference; a lot of focus on the family. If you didn’t get the opportunity to watch the Conference here is the link. You can watch all the sessions from this link. https://www.lds.org/general-conference/sessions/2015/04?cid=HP_SU_4-5-2015_dPTH_fGC_xLIDyL1-B_&lang=spa

In President Uchtdorf’s talk, I learned that sometimes we are focused on things that don’t count in the eternal perspective. And sometimes we get caught up in these things and our pride for things can lead us to sin and be offended when someone criticizes us. So if anything, the Prophet has said this conference if it offends you, it is because you are not looking in the eternal perspective and being selfish and wanting only what is good for your temporal self and not for your eternal self.

So I hope you all watch and read the talks of the Prophet and Apostles this week and many weeks to come. Their words can help you and set you on a course for the better. I hope that you all meditate on the passages they have spoken and it will bless your lives in so many ways. I know this church is true with all my heart, and I know that Thomas S. Monson is the living Prophet on this Earth. In the words of Joseph Smith, "I know it, and I know that God knows it, and I cannot deny it"

Love you all,

Elder Pugmire

My district, you will notice we all have matching ties in memory of Elder Fackrell.

Mi Amigo Roberto with my suit jacket on.