Tuesday, August 26, 2008
State of the Mission
We had interviews today and president told me that my generation is on the ¨front line¨ in the mission. There are three big groups of missionaries, one that just went home, one that is about to go home, and the other that goes in October. After that there really isn´t anyone older than us in the mission. He told me he had a lot of faith in me. Who knows if I´m going to be a zone leader here within the next few changes. That seems so weird to me, I never would have thought that would happen this fast, but there really aren´t many Americans older than us in the mission. Things are okay with my comp. He is kind of a strange guy, and thinks a lot of himself. He isn´t really open to recieve advice, so that kind of makes it hard as a tranier. He doesn´t really like to admit that I'm his ¨dad¨. He had time serving in Peru and likes to do things the same as they did there. But things are ok. Three more weeks. . .
Progress of Our People
We met with Gustavo again. He had read a bit from the pamphlet we left and tried praying, so everything is going well. He still has a lot to learn and a lot of progress to make, but I think he´ll progress well. He visits his family in a different pueblo on sundays, so i don´t know if he´ll be able to make it to church so easily, but we´ll see. We need to visit him more often to emphasise that what we teach is important. He says he´s only free thursdays though. . .
Our progress with Carlos is going well, he understands everything and believes what we teach him. At times I forget that he´s a ten year old kid. We took him to church with us on sunday and left him in the primary. It seemed like he enjoyed himself. but when we went to sacrament meeting he was sitting with a friend that he had made from the primary, but before the meeting started the hermana´s son came and told us that Carlos was being really roudy an wanted to know if he should come up and sit by us. He came and sat by me and did fine the rest of the meeting. The bishop had told me that no one showed up to give a talk and wanted to know if I
could give a talk in church. I agreed and started preparing. But when it came down to it, he didn´t call on me to talk! I was pretty bummed, I had prepared a good solid talk in 10 minutes.
Saturday was a good day, we gave service in the morning, we help put metal sheets up to cover the porch on someones house. It was fun. I always enjoy service here, its spices up the work a bit and gives me a chance to leave Mexico looking a bit more bonito. Later in the afternoon we actually found everyone in their houses! We taught 4 good solid lessons. We finally found a reference named Karla who has been wanting to talk with us for a while. We taught lesson one and when I told her she needed to pray to see if it was true she said ¨oh, I believe its true¨ it was awesome. She is pretty golden, but had doubts that she would really want to go to church EVERY week. She just turned 18 and likes to go out on Sundays. We will continue teaching her and I think everything will go good.
We talked with Aurelia and she finally realized that there are prophets on the earth today. It was so great to see the lightbulb go on, she was really amazed. Later we gave a recent convert a blessing because he has had some brain tumor problems and was going in to get a new cat scan or something. We need to pass by to see how it went.
Our progress with Carlos is going well, he understands everything and believes what we teach him. At times I forget that he´s a ten year old kid. We took him to church with us on sunday and left him in the primary. It seemed like he enjoyed himself. but when we went to sacrament meeting he was sitting with a friend that he had made from the primary, but before the meeting started the hermana´s son came and told us that Carlos was being really roudy an wanted to know if he should come up and sit by us. He came and sat by me and did fine the rest of the meeting. The bishop had told me that no one showed up to give a talk and wanted to know if I
could give a talk in church. I agreed and started preparing. But when it came down to it, he didn´t call on me to talk! I was pretty bummed, I had prepared a good solid talk in 10 minutes.
Saturday was a good day, we gave service in the morning, we help put metal sheets up to cover the porch on someones house. It was fun. I always enjoy service here, its spices up the work a bit and gives me a chance to leave Mexico looking a bit more bonito. Later in the afternoon we actually found everyone in their houses! We taught 4 good solid lessons. We finally found a reference named Karla who has been wanting to talk with us for a while. We taught lesson one and when I told her she needed to pray to see if it was true she said ¨oh, I believe its true¨ it was awesome. She is pretty golden, but had doubts that she would really want to go to church EVERY week. She just turned 18 and likes to go out on Sundays. We will continue teaching her and I think everything will go good.
We talked with Aurelia and she finally realized that there are prophets on the earth today. It was so great to see the lightbulb go on, she was really amazed. Later we gave a recent convert a blessing because he has had some brain tumor problems and was going in to get a new cat scan or something. We need to pass by to see how it went.
Where Do We Eat?
Tuesday we had a bit of a problem finding our lunch appointment. Since the 15th we have been eating with the hermanas from the other ward and its a bit of a problem because we have no idea where anyone lives! Every day before lunch we have to check and see if the sister´s number is in our phone or in the area book. If they aren´t there we have to call the relief society president and ask for the number or where she lives. In case I haven´t told you yet, they give really complicated directions here. Something like this: ¨well, she lives by my house, but you go up three streets, turn, pass the big tree, then youll see a tortilla shop, but you keep going until you get to the end and her house is on the left with a palm tree in front. (Its even more confusing in spanish- not because its not my native language, its because they use words that are more general.) but anyways we finally found the house.
We did eat at burger king 4 times this week. we ate there on pday, wednesday the sister didn´t give us food and just gave us money, thursday we were in the bus station with the zone leader waiting for his companion to arrive from tampico and ate in the burger king that is next door, and another day the sister gave us money to eat again. I thought it was pretty funny.
We did eat at burger king 4 times this week. we ate there on pday, wednesday the sister didn´t give us food and just gave us money, thursday we were in the bus station with the zone leader waiting for his companion to arrive from tampico and ate in the burger king that is next door, and another day the sister gave us money to eat again. I thought it was pretty funny.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
P-Day at Tajin
Today we went to Tajin. It was pretty cool. The only bad part was that only me and my companion went. It would have been a little more exciting with more people, but it was good. Enjoy the pics.
I Have Been Out A Year!
Friday was a good day. I completed a year in the mission!! It was pretty crazy. It was weird to talk to an Elder from my generation about the MTC a year ago. It doesn´t seem quite so long ago. It´ll be interesting to see how fast this next year goes. I am excited, things had gotten slow in the work, but also Friday we had zone conference and talked about being anxiously engaged in this work. President Moss gave an awesome talk and I am pumped once again to go and find people to help. It also helped because I got a good letter from my last companion and I also got a letter from Jose and Mayra (converts from Abasolo) and that made me pretty happy. They are still doing great it seems like.But also Friday night me and Elder Rigby got together, ate pizza, and burned our shirts to celebrate the one year mark. Progress of Investigators
Wednesday was a good day. We put a baptismal date with Odette´s (recent convert) mom, Aurelia. She has always gone to church with Odette, but has never taken the lessons. We started the first charla with her last week and she is ready for baptism. We just need to prepare her more and make sure she understands everything. She is a really nice lady. The problem is that she has a lump in her throat and is worried about what it is. She has some appointments with the doctor and there is a possibility that she might go to Veracruz the 26th, so we will see how that works out with her baptismal date. She is already interested in family history! She doesn´t quite know why yet, but she went to a Relief Society activity about geneology. So that´s good.
Thursday we met with a reference named Gustavo. He seems like a pretty good investigator. He has showed a lot of interest and said he would like to know which church is the true one. He knew he would need to pray to find out. We will see how he does with his committments, we can only meet with him once a week, so we will see how that goes.
Ana and Carlos have kind of lost interest I think. We haven´t been able to visit them this week, but we´re going tomorrow. I think she had a problem with her husband, because she left and wasn´t home for a few days. Hopefully everything sorts itself out and we can help them.
Thursday we met with a reference named Gustavo. He seems like a pretty good investigator. He has showed a lot of interest and said he would like to know which church is the true one. He knew he would need to pray to find out. We will see how he does with his committments, we can only meet with him once a week, so we will see how that goes.
Ana and Carlos have kind of lost interest I think. We haven´t been able to visit them this week, but we´re going tomorrow. I think she had a problem with her husband, because she left and wasn´t home for a few days. Hopefully everything sorts itself out and we can help them.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Trip to Las Cruces on P-Day
Last monday we hiked up the hill where ¨las cruces¨ are. There was a gate that was blocking the entrance, but there was a man that said there was a path through the jungle to get up to the top (he also said we were allowed to go up). It was a pretty fun hike. The hills here in Veracruz are awesome (when your not tracting). Its a great site, but it doesn´t come out the same in the pictures. But we finally got about 100 yards from the crosses and there was a man that said we couldn´t go up to them that it was private property. So we hiked back down. It was pretty lame.
Investigators
We met with Ana and her stepson Carlos again. We gave Carlos the Book of Mormon. He said he had prayed, but felt normal. We explained to him how the Spirit works and asked him to read and pray again. Ana has kind of lost interest, she listens, but doesn´t apply what we teach to her life and doesn´t keep commitments. She is still an 18 year old girl and is kind of lazy. We also found out that her and her ¨husband¨ aren´t married. Gotta love that. But after the lesson we had a Family Home Evening with some youth and Young Single Adults. We invited Ana and Carlos, and Carlos went! He was a lot younger than some of the people- (three years less than some of them) but I think he had a good time. He wanted to go to church this week, his dad told him he would drop him off, but who knows what will happen. We will have to see.
We started teaching the mother of our recent convert Odette. She goes to church about every week, but doesn´t really know anything about it. We gave her the first discussion and she understood really well. She said she was going to read and pray, and I know she´ll recieve an answer. I think we will put a baptismal date with her for the upcoming weeks.
We started teaching the mother of our recent convert Odette. She goes to church about every week, but doesn´t really know anything about it. We gave her the first discussion and she understood really well. She said she was going to read and pray, and I know she´ll recieve an answer. I think we will put a baptismal date with her for the upcoming weeks.
Rough Week!
This week was a pretty tough one, Vegas is a very large area with a lot of hills, and we don´t have an updated map to find the investigators in that area. We spent a lot of time walking trying to get to know (a little part of) the area and find people. Some young men from the other ward were supposed to meet us on Thursday to go on divisions and show us around and stuff, but of course they didn´t show up. You gotta love that. That is why in our planners there is a column called ¨back-up plan¨ unfortunately, on thursday in the morning, we didn´t have a solid back up plan.
Wednesday we were going to visit Benedicto, but he wasn´t home when we passed by. That happens a lot here still, and it kills me because we usually walk about 20 minutes to get to his house. It just eats the time away. Thursday we had to pay the rent for the house from Vegas (our other area) even though there are not elders living in that house. Within the next few months we will probably have elders sufficient to occupy more areas, and they will need a place to live. We needed to grab a notebook from their house, but the landlord didn´t trust us, he thought we were going to steal everything that was in the house. Later he realized that the stuff in the house didn´t belong to the elders, it belongs to the mission. There was a toaster oven that I had my eye on though. I think I would actually cook more food for myself if I didnt have to fry it on the stove.
On Saturday the Bishop gave us the assignment to give talks on Sunday. I didn´t have much time to prepare, but I spoke on revelation. It was kind of funny. We had to take up all the time because we were the only two speakers. My comp (who loves to talk) only took up about 12-13 minutes. and me, who can barely even speak sensible Spanish in front of the ward took up 20 minutes. I don´t know how that worked out.
I know this is the work of the Lord and is a test run for how we are going to live and serve for the rest of our lives. If we are faithful the Lord will bless us so much for our efforts.
Wednesday we were going to visit Benedicto, but he wasn´t home when we passed by. That happens a lot here still, and it kills me because we usually walk about 20 minutes to get to his house. It just eats the time away. Thursday we had to pay the rent for the house from Vegas (our other area) even though there are not elders living in that house. Within the next few months we will probably have elders sufficient to occupy more areas, and they will need a place to live. We needed to grab a notebook from their house, but the landlord didn´t trust us, he thought we were going to steal everything that was in the house. Later he realized that the stuff in the house didn´t belong to the elders, it belongs to the mission. There was a toaster oven that I had my eye on though. I think I would actually cook more food for myself if I didnt have to fry it on the stove.
On Saturday the Bishop gave us the assignment to give talks on Sunday. I didn´t have much time to prepare, but I spoke on revelation. It was kind of funny. We had to take up all the time because we were the only two speakers. My comp (who loves to talk) only took up about 12-13 minutes. and me, who can barely even speak sensible Spanish in front of the ward took up 20 minutes. I don´t know how that worked out.
I know this is the work of the Lord and is a test run for how we are going to live and serve for the rest of our lives. If we are faithful the Lord will bless us so much for our efforts.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
And You Think It Is Hot In Mesa!
Things are great here, besides the fact that it is unbelievably hot and humid. We were at about 107 on Wednesday or Thursday (with humidity over 70). Normally (in Arizona) that temperature wouldn´t be so bad, but here in Posa Rica, its pretty hot. I sweat like a fountain. I carry around a handkerchief to wipe it away, but it gets completely soaked pretty fast. It was pretty bad, on friday and saturday the shins on my pants had sweat stains. The sweat from my legs would soak through and later dry. It was rediculous. It randomly rained on sunday for like 10 minutes, then the sun came out again. And of course it rained while we were in the nice air conditioned chapel and couldn´t enjoy it.
No Transfer For Me
Today were transfers and I am staying here with my Peruvian companion. The elders from the MTC still haven´t gotten to Mexico and a lot of elders left today, so they closed a couple areas in the mission. We now cover two areas, Camacho and Vegas. Its going to be rough to get to know a whole new area and ward- but it´ll be an adventure.
We have spent some time gaining trust with Ana and her family this week. We have gained some trust with them and they have been really nice to us. On Thursay she gave us dinner! The best part is that they now have baptism dates! They still need to read and pray to find out that its true. So we will keep our fingers crossed.
We found an old man named Benedicto. He was walking the same way as us and started to talk to us. He had doubts about Joseph Smith and really didn´t know what we believe. We invited him to listen and he reluctantly gave us his address. I was suprised when we found the house and it was actually his. He is a nice man, kind of strange at times, but he´s a really good person. He says he can´t read very well, so that will be an obstacle, but we will see what happens there.
We have spent some time gaining trust with Ana and her family this week. We have gained some trust with them and they have been really nice to us. On Thursay she gave us dinner! The best part is that they now have baptism dates! They still need to read and pray to find out that its true. So we will keep our fingers crossed.
We found an old man named Benedicto. He was walking the same way as us and started to talk to us. He had doubts about Joseph Smith and really didn´t know what we believe. We invited him to listen and he reluctantly gave us his address. I was suprised when we found the house and it was actually his. He is a nice man, kind of strange at times, but he´s a really good person. He says he can´t read very well, so that will be an obstacle, but we will see what happens there.
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