Week 10: Feburary 16, 2015

Beunas,

This week was phenomenal!! Many things did happen here.

Elder Prows is amazing. Just saying. I can’t believe it’s already week 5.  The first two weeks crawled by. Then it picked up the next. And these past two weeks have just flown.

Meal of the Week: This week we ate real good. The meal of the week was made by the amazing Hermana Tita. She made us TWO hamburgers. They were so good. I would say they on the top twenty list of burgers I have ever eaten. She has a gift for making food.

So much has happened this week I can’t even remember it all. Thank goodness for journals.

Let’s start with this morning. This morning I had a few disasters. So this morning I grudgingly got up at 6:20 and was very very very tired. We then ran to the soccer field, which woke me up pretty good. I was kicking the new soccer ball around, that we just received from our zone leader. So I kicked it pretty good, and it hit the wall and it exploded; the stitching just fell apart. So yeah our soccer ball is now a peanut. On the way back we were kicking it all the way back and it accidently rolled off the road into the river, so yeah there went our broken soccer ball.

This morning for breakfast, I had cooked Elder Prows two pancakes, and I was cooking myself a hardy omelet, I had flipped onto my plate, and I was cleaning up and somehow a chain of events led to the destruction of my omelet and it splattered on the floor :( so after mourning for my omelet, I cooked omelet 2.0.

There are a lot of stray dogs here. You can’t go outside without seeing a mutt on the side of the road. So yeah...

This week we contacted alot!  We contacted 170 people! And it wasn’t that hard. We maybe talked to a third of the people that passed us.

We had two really cool experiences this week.

1. As we were walking one day around the Colonia San Hose, we passed this house and I had this really strong feeling to go and knock at this house even though we are not usually supposed to contact at houses. So I was a little hesitant at first, and plus I didn’t think Elder prows would like it. But I told him anyways. So a lady came to the door and said she was occupied at the moment, but she would love to have us later. So we came back later that day and she and her son were there. They ended up being super receptive to our message and even told us that they thought the Book of Mormon is true. It was pretty awesome. And plus they gave us the best Agua de Limon!!

2. We were teaching a lesson with a part member family. So the member Slavador, told us his conversion story. One night like 20 years ago, he had a dream where he saw that all the churches were either destroyed or burned down and there was only one church that wasn’t destroyed. A man was standing in front of this church; he said his name was Thomas S Monson, and that this was The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. For ten years Hermano Salvador never saw this church or did anything. Until one day 10 years later, missionaries came to his door and he knew their message was true and was converted. Then the other day, we watched the Restoration with him and his wife and daughter, and after the daughter said she had a dream also and that she had saw a light and that a voice said unto her that it will be alright and to wait 5 days. That day we were there was the 5th day and the light she saw in her dream was the same light as in the video of the Restoration. Soooo cool.

So ALWAYS listen to the spirit. The Lord works his ways differently for everybody.

Love you all,

Elder Pugmire

So here is Phineas, Ferb and Perry. I don’t know why Phineas is so sunburnt.

Elder prows and our dominos!

Week 9: Feburary 9, 2015

Beuno Tardes,

What a good week in Tapachula! So the "winter" finally ended here, meaning that it went from 80 degrees to 90 degrees. For some reason this week was ridiculously hot. They rarely have a thing called overcast, which I now appreciate more than ever. I think Washington probably has the best climate on earth…so yeah. 

Here is my desk, featuring my Ferrari Book and Elsa and Anna. 

This week we somehow got 14 new investigators!! The past two weeks we only got 3 and 5 new ones so that is a lot. My companion was freaking out over it!! A miracle and I know it. Maybe it’s because it is so hot here. Who knows. We worked really hard this week and I think that’s why. This week we had an interesting experience with some Missionaries from Jehovah witness. They somehow found our house and told us they admired our spreading our gospel, then they went on to share their beliefs with us and we didn’t want to start arguing with them, so we just nodded our heads and said ok. I think we should have a soccer game between the Jehovah witness missionaries and our missionaries. It would be very one sided cause because we are so much younger.

Meal of the week: This week the best meal we had was at Hermana Leo's Casa. She served us white rice!! And some stew with beef, very American. Oh and then she gave us ICE CREAM!!! YESSS! I’ve been craving ice cream since I got here. It was so good to put something so cold that tasted so good in my mouth. So I was very happy about that.

I also discovered that the oranges are different here. They aren’t orange. They are kind of green and brown with a hint of orange. They taste the same though. But the people eat them different here. They peel them roughly with a knife and then cut them in half. Then they pour some weird spice on it, then they suck the juice out and really don’t eat the orange. So I showed them the American way, and peeled it with my hands and ate them by the slice. They were in awe!

So on Saturday Elder Prows got sick and we stayed home the whole day. I watched like 7 church movies. And had plenty of time to think.

So I came up with my own parable.

THE PARABLE OF THE ICE BATH

So as a Missionary we walk a lot! And all that walking makes my feet soar after a long day of tracting. So a few days ago I decided to take an ice bath for my feet. As I was slipping my feet into the ice bath it was shockingly cold, but as time passed my feet became numb and the water started to gradually warm. At one point, I couldn’t even notice that my feet were in the water. I would like to apply this to our lives. Do not let yourself be numbed to the waters of temptation. Do not lower the bar of your standards just because everyone else is doing it, or because that movie only has a few sexual scenes, or just because that song only has a few swear words. Do not let yourself warm to the waters of temptation of the world. As you say to yourself oh it’s just a little sin, Satan has already started to wrap cords around you and if you keep up this attitude those cords will soon be strong chains. The only way to stop the spiritual numbing of our souls is through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, or a dry suit. "Be in the world, not of the world." Your testimony and faith in Jesus Christ are what keep us dry from the waters of temptation. As we attend church every week and attend the Temple, we are lifting our feet out of the waters of temptation. And as we read the scriptures and say our prayers, we are adding cubes of ice to that water to keep it cold and foreign to us. If your spiritual dry suit has leaks, patch them with repentance through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Do not become comfortable or tolerate temptation or sin and remember that trials are here to lift us up and not bring us down, "remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our redeemer... that we must build our foundation." Do not let yourself be numbed to the waters of temptation.

So that’s my spiritual thought for the week. I have really stated to read the scriptures in depth, and find them far more interesting than I ever did before. I am so thankful to be here serving our savior.

Miss you all!

Love,

Elder Pugmire

Week 8: Feburary 2, 2015

What a weird week, so much has happened and I think I’ve gotten into the normal routine of a missionary!! I am sad to hear that the Seahawks lost the super bowl :(, but that doesn’t matter to me right now.

So health wise this week wasn’t the best. I got sick twice. Once on Tuesday and again Saturday. It sucked having to sleep all day. Before my mission I would have wanted to sleep all day like I did, but now I just have the desire to go and teach people. Weird!! They have these things called Electrolitos drinks which are pretty much a form of concentrated Gatorade. So the doctor prescribed me to drink 3 liters of those a day!! Yikes! On Tuesday I got better within the day but on Saturday I was well sick into Sunday. But I’m much better now. Thank goodness.

So I was informed that the mail here runs about 2 months late, so it might take a while for letters to get here. Yesterday our District leader received his Christmas package, and was so excited that it finally arrived!!

IT IS SO HOT!! I miss the cold, dank, rainy place that I call home; I have never in my life desired more to have rain than now! LOL If possible, it should snow here, but that’s not going to happen.

For some reason our water decided to turn off on Friday, so we have been taking bucket showers. Those are fun.

So my Spanish is slowly getting better. I don’t know why President George Put me with a white companion, it is very hard not to speak English to each other, especially me, so it’s just another trial the Lord has given me to make me work harder and to strengthen me.

Now to the real business. This week we asked 11 people to baptism, only one agreed to get baptized, yay!! I am so happy she made that choice. Our favorite investigators that have been progressing so much, we asked them to be baptized, and they wanted some time to think about it. I know they are ready to get baptized. Their son, Romeito strait up asked his parents if I could baptize him. They kind of ignored him at that moment. LOL. Milrenia the wife says she really wants to believe our church but her husband has some doubts, but I know they are ready.

We had a baptism this week!!! It was the baptism of Hancey, a ten year old girl. It was so exciting. I gave the talk on the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and it was very spiritual, even though it was very slow Spanish. My companion baptized her and she was sooo happy.

One of the priests accompanied us yesterday, Hermano Hugo, he is very helpful in me learning Spanish, and we get along very well, he loves saying puppies in English because he can’t pronounce the U in puppies so its popeies, LOL. My last name is also very hard to pronounce, people say Puugmiereh haha, so every time my companion and I meet a new person he asks them to say my name, it’s pretty funny.

The Lord has blessed our companionship, with so many miracles, just because we work so hard and are so obedient. He is so by the book, sometimes it annoys me but it is for the better since I’m so chill at times.

"I will go and do the things the Lord has commanded of me"(1 Nephi 3:7) Be obedient and the Lord will bless you, listen to your parents and leaders cause they only want what’s best for you!!

Miss you all, miss Washington (I have a Washington apples sticker on the back of my name tag from an apple I had in the MTC) miss the Rain!

Love,

Elder Pugmire

Pancakes I made this morning

Hancey and her family!

Week 7: January 26, 2015

Hola Fellow amigos,

Wow what a week!! So much stuff to talk about. I’m loving it here in my mission. What a spiritual week.

Monday,

So we stayed up all night in the CCM because we left at 2:30 am for the airport. We got to the airport and had to wait in line for like 2 hours to check our bags. Ugh. The Mexico City airport is impossible. Way different that any airport I’ve been to. We took a small bus to our plane. The plane was the smallest plane I’ve ever been on, only three rows across. It fit like 60 people. The plane ride was like an hour and a half long. Slept the whole way. Except for the free Coca Cola I got. Yay. We arrived in Tuxtla and it was so humid. And it was only 7 in the morning. We met our mission President and I was relived because he spoke to me in English. The rest of the missionary’s were jabbering away in Spanish. We took an hour and a half bus ride to Tuxtla; the airport is so far away. And arrived at the temple where we took pictures. We went to the mission home and they served us pancakes. YUM. So much better than any CCM food. We had interview with the President than the assistants took us to go contacting. I was really nervous. But I ended up giving three cards away with a brief conversation. Haha. The people talk so fast here. So all of us stayed at the Mission office for the night, no sheets or anything it was cool though.

Tuesday,

So we woke up and the assistants rushed us to the stake center. We had for breakfast the best tamales I have ever had for breakfast. Then we had some training from the assistants. It seemed like it took forever because all of us were waiting to hear who our companion was and to hear where we would be going. The time finally came. They announced the Hermanas first then started with us. Elder Clark was right before me and he received a gringo companion which never happens. The time for me came. These words popped up on the screen, Tapachula, San Hose area, the hottest area in Tuxtla, then the name of my companion, Elder Prows from Utah. I was so surprised to have a white guy as  my companion. He greeted me and we hugged and took a picture with the Pres. We ate like 3 boxes of Little Ceasers for lunch. They rushed us out because it was a 6 hour bus ride to Tapachula. So we got on the bus and its super nice. For the next two hours Elder Prows explained to me about the area and how it was. What’s crazy is that Elder Prows just finished training and has only been here for 12 weeks. We got to Tapachula and got out of the air conditioned bus. It is sooo humid here, and so hot. Even though the sun was down and it was like 9:30 it was still like 90 out. It was humid enough that when I went to take a picture with Elder Prows, my camera fogged up. Haha. We then took a taxi to our house. It’s small with three rooms and a bathroom but I love it. We wrote in our journals and unpacked, Elder Prows has been there for 12 weeks. We set up my mosquito net and went to bed. It was so hot and I was so paranoid of bugs that I didn’t fall asleep till like 12.

Wednesday,

So we got up at 6:30 and stated our daily routine. It’s amazing how much I don’t want to work out that early in the morning, so that was a struggle. We did personal study than companion study than language study and then headed to our zone meeting. We took a conbie, a small van thing that only cost 6 pesos. So I met our zone leaders and others in our zone and had training from the pres. and I didn’t understand anything because Elder Puentes talks so fast. After that we went back to the house and headed to our lunch appointment with Hemana Blancito. She made us the best tamales yet. Yum.

Let the proselyting begin. Oh how hot it is here, I have never sweated so much in my life. We walked a ton. It was really cool meeting investigators though. That night I was so tired.

Thursday though Satuday,

So we got in the normal routine of missionary work, it is the hardest thing I have ever done, but the reward is far greater. Bringing people unto salvation feels so good even though it involves being super tired and sweaty. We committed a young girl, Janey, to Baptism, which was so cool even though I did none of the talking. We do a lot of walking probably like 10 miles a day. But we also talk to lots of people. They are so poor, I’ve learned to be grateful for everything I have, like a hot shower, and ours only has cold water, so I inch into the shower every morning. At least it wakes me up. We also committed another investigator to baptism. He pretty much bore his testimony to us about how the Book of Mormon is true and how Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. THE HOLY GHOST WORKS MIRICLES IF YOU HAVE FAITH.

Sunday,

By far my favorite day. We went to church, and they had assigned me a talk so I gave my talk to the ward, about missionary work, and how it’s all about love and service. The rest of church I didn’t understand anything, so I just read the whole copy of the Liahona Magazine. The Liahona is amazing, it is modern day scripture. After that we went proselyting for 3 hours. At 6, we had a Family Home Evening with these family of investigators Romeo, Mirenia, and Romeo the Son. They are my favorite investigators. This was the most spiritual experience this week for me. We watched the Joseph Smith Restoration film with them and the Spirit testified so strongly of the message. We bore our testimonies about Joseph Smith. We meet with them on Tuesday and are going to invite them to baptism.

Today.

PDay in the field isn’t as fun as in the CCM. We had to clean the house and wash our garments by hand, we then took the rest of our laundry to a Lavenderia and then went to Walmart. Walmart is basically the US when you walk in its air-conditioned and clean. We bought our food and other stuff, and a pound of bacon, clean cut, yeeeesss. Then we had Dominos for lunch.

The food here is amazing, one day we had a whole fish and beans. Hermana Ttia make the most amazing Burgers, better than most in the US. The drinks here are weird, most people serve water with fruit stuff in it. It’s hard to get used to. But the Agua de Lima is amazing, we aren’t allowed to drink coke so good thing I had one on the plane.

I am so thankful for my companion, he is truly amazing. He is so motivated, and such a hard worker. He inspires me.

Go to Alma 31:5 it is really true. And in Ether 12:27, the Lord really makes your weeknesses become strong.

If you are doubting your faith, doubt you doubts before you doubt your faith. And if you are considering not going on a mission, GO, It teaches you so many life lessons and skills, and as well strengthens you spiritually. And I’ve only been here for a week.

I have not had beans and rice yet, together!!

Love you all,

Elder Pugmire

Elder Prows and I (sorry its so foggy)!

A meal we had

My district at the CCM

Week 5: January 15, 2015

Aloha people,

This week has been absolutely great; it’s crazy that I’ve been in the CCM for six weeks already. There’s a saying that you've probably heard, that the days go slow but the months go fast. It’s so true. It’s amazing how much my Spanish has progressed in six weeks. The gift of tongues is real if you ask for it and have faith in Jesus Christ! This week my district finally turned into seniors, and the new district that came in say we look so much older than them, which is fun because that is the same way I felt about the other districts. The only age that matters here is how long you’ve been in the CCM.

Friday: Was a crappy day for me.

I dropped my watch while playing cage soccer, and it broke, what a bummer. Then I was just in a bad mood for reasons. It’s amazing how studying the scriptures and working on vocab words put me in a better mood. By the end of the night I was as cheerful as always.

Saturday:

I made 400 note cards that day; I was pretty impressed with myself. I memorized 77 in one day, all verbs which is helpful. Pretty average day on the contrary.

Sunday: Sundays are my favorite, they are so spiritual and awesome, the devotionals are great. Funny story, during sacrament my companion had to give the prayer, and so in the middle of sacrament there was a moment of silence, so he thought it was time to give the prayer, and since it was testimony meeting no one stopped him, so he gave the prayer in the middle of sacrament. He was pretty embarrassed; he ended up giving two prayers. I had my first salad at the CCM and now I’m a salad guy!! For dinner we had salad, coincidence I think not!!

For a devo we watched another talk of Elder Holland I always love hearing from him. Sadly I didn't have my journal. That night we watched three videos. The first was the Stonecutter, many of you have probably seen it but I thought it was absolutely amazing. It was about a stone cutter named John Moyle, and how he gave up everything for the church. He was called as a stone cutter on the SLC temple. He lived in what is now alpine, and trekked 22 miles every Monday to Salt Lake. He did this for twenty years. That year he lost his leg when his cow kicked him. Within six months he was walking on a peg leg to salt lake again. I was just in awe at his commitment and I want to be more like him. In the movie they shared a quote. "This world consists of two kinds of people, those who are acted upon and those who act for themselves," and John was one to act. I want to be one to act. The next video was about Christ and his miracles, there was one scene where an old merchant had dropped his pastries and Christ helped him pick them up. I want to have the compassion of Christ and to help others the way he helped people.

Monday and Tuesday:

Last week!!! Pretty average days. We took a District picture and all wore blue, by my suggestion. Haha. I was studying in Mosiah and came across this scripture in Mosiah 33.  "But if ye will turn to the Lord with full purpose of heart, and put your trust in him, and serve him with all diligence of mind, if ye do this, he will, according to his own will and pleasure, deliver you out of bondage."

I really love this scripture, because if you rely on the lord he will deliver you out of bondage. Oh yeah that morning I had to teach the lesson to the investigator by myself without my companion, it went ok. I sang in the choir again, this time it was a men’s choir. I sang second tenor. We sang brightly beams our father’s mercy. We sounded so good. I love being in the choir. We were watching a devo from Provo, and during one of the songs I saw Elder Smart, I thought he was supposed to come to Mexico. We heard from Elder Nelson. He spoke about missionary work. Pretty good talk.

Wednesday:

This is our last day with our Spanish teacher Hermano Garza. I’m going to miss him so much. He is getting married on Thursday: He inspired me in so many ways. We took pictures with him and said good bye. We took a test, and I did terrible. It doesn’t affect anything just who your companion is going to be in the field.

Today:

We started the day off by going to the temple. It is a really beautiful temple, too bad we can’t go in, it’s closed for the annual cleaning. We went to the visitor’s center and took a tour pretty cool. It’s crazy I’m leaving in like 5 days; we get to leave the CCM at 2:30 in the morning on Monday. I’m really excited for the field but really nervous. I know if i rely on the lord he will bless me. And if I study hard he will put words in my mouth.

I’m going to miss my district so much. I have never gotten so close to anyone in 6 weeks. They inspire me so much and I’m going to miss all of them so much.

I know that if you are having trials in your life, you need to turn to the lord in scripture study and prayer and rely on him, you can do things you would never have done. 

Love elder Pugmire

My new backpack!

Week 4: January 8, 2015

Hola People,

Wow, this week had nothing that special. My Spanish is coming along. I can almost form sentences, but still have a hard time understanding people.

On Sunday, we fasted, and it was really hard because I’m not good at fasting. But the Lord blessed me for enduring. We had sacrament and priesthood, and that was good. Then after lunch District 10 B bore their testimonies to our zone. It was very spiritual and it was so sad at the thought of them leaving. They are all so nice and inspiring and made me want to be a better missionary! We had a devotional where we watched a video of Jeffery R Holland. The way he talks is so amazing with so much conviction and is inspiring at the same time. He talked about ways to be a better missionary and how blessed we are to have preach my gospel.

Highlight of the week. At the end of the devotional the elder who gave the prayer went to give President Pratt a hug and as was doing so almost kissed him, because they both went the same direction. Everyone was dying!!!

District 10 B left on Monday, it was really sad to see them go, and when they left it felt like nobody was there. The lines for food were like three times shorter yesss!!!! 120 Americans left and 100 Latinos left so it was pretty empty. I really miss all of them.

Tuesday and Wednesday were dull.

Today we went to the immigration office. What a waste of a P-day. So we got to the office and I sat for like 2 hours. I was the last missionary and everybody was waiting for me.

I have learned so much hear about humility and enduring to the end. I am so blessed with this opportunity to be a missionary and to be surrounded by so many valiant and honest people.

I hope you have a good day today make it the best you can.

Love,

Elder Pugmire

Elder Giles messing around.

Me!!

The beautiful sunset...

Week 3: January 1, 2015

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Christmas Eve: We had a Christmas choir festival, where all the missionaries sang it was very cool.

Christmas: Christmas in the CCM was great, it was different than usual, but still really awesome. We attended like 7 devotionals throughout the day so my legs were really stiff. So one of the devotionals was broadcasted from the Provo MTC, and the Provo MTC choir started singing and as they were panning over the choir, Elder Fletcher appeared, and I kind of yelled out, "That’s Adam," it was really embarrassing, but to see Elder Fletcher just made my day, cause I hadn't heard from him since I left, and I just got really excited and told my companion, it was so awesome!!! In that devotional Russell M Nelson spoke, it was cool to have an apostle of the Lord speak to us. He talked about the Facets of the gospel like the facets of a diamond. The next devotional was a video of David A Bednar, I thought it was going to be lame since it was from two years ago, but it really got my attention and struck me in the heart. He talked about the character of Christ and how when he was in his greatest trials, instead of turning in and taking care of himself he turned out and helps those in need. Christ always turns out. He told some really wonderful stories about Christ like attributes. It was an amazing talk, I highly suggest you all watch it; it is from four years ago at the Provo MTC. It is my new favorite talk. As Christmas was about to end for our last devotional, we got to watch Meet the Mormons, it was so nice, we were about to watch it in Spanish and everybody moaned, but then President Pratt said we were watching it in English with Spanish sub titles. So it was a good Christmas.

The day after Christmas we woke up late, because Elder Weaver’s alarm didn’t go off (because it was broken) so we got to study time late. Then we got beat at cage soccer by the Latinos. My Spanish is progressing slowly but steadily. In 2 Nephi 28:30 it says the lord will give unto you line upon line precept upon precept. That was really comforting. The lord will bless me if I work hard.

Sunday was great:

We had steak for lunch!!! Sooo tender! We had a Devotional hosted by Presidante Tenario, He talked about specific prayers and how if we ask the lord in our prayers, let it come to pass, and give him details he will bring it to pass. He told some really phenomenal stories about specific prayers. So before I left for my mission, I told myself that I would join the choir at the MTC, so when they announced choir practice Sunday afternoon, I went and practiced, turns out I’m a tenor. That evening we watched a video about the building of the Salt Lake City Temple. It was awesome. It told of all the trials they faced and how they endured to the end no matter what.

Story of the Week:

On Monday for gym time we went and played ultimate Frisbee, as we were nearing the end of the game, I had the Frisbee and elder fisher was in the end zone, so I decided to bomb it, So I through it really hard, and felt my hand wack someone really hard, turns out it was Elder Burgess in my district. He had to get an eye patch and to keep his eye closed for 3 days. I felt really bad though!! He’s fine now.

The rest of the week was pretty much normal, we had a devotional on exact obedience. Oh, on Tuesday night devotional I sang in the choir, we did phenomenal. I hope I get another chance to sing, I really love singing. We received a new district member from the Provo MTC he’s chill.

For New Years we stayed up till 12 and drank sparkling cider. Fun!

-Elder Pugmire

My District