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.

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.

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.

Funny Things Happen Out Tracting

This guy started talking to us on the street and told us he was from a different stake, that he was a member, baptized 4 years ago. He told us he had ¨The Book of Joseph Smith¨(the Book of Mormon), and had seen a bunch of our churches that said ¨the Church of Jesus Christ of the Saints of the Seventh Day¨ From that time on we were a little skeptical that he was active, or if he was even a member. He then proceeded to ask us for 3 pesos to be able to take the bus. We told him that if he gave us his address we´d give him the three pesos. He didn´t want to give us his address for anything. He was a funny man, he would always change the subject and then later on ask ¨hey give me three pesos?¨ He said so many funny things, like that he had traveled to Houston, and went to the Astrodome where the New York Yankees play, he said his name (Felipe Sanchez Lopez) in English was ¨Feefay Sonch Lomp-omp." I think that was my favorite part. I don´t know, it was quite the experience.

Then later we went to an investigators house and before we had even gotten to the door, her four year old son ran out and said: ¨Oh, she´s running errands¨ We asked ¨Will she be back soon?¨ He said, ¨Yeah in a little bit¨. We then asked ¨What time will she be back at?¨and he said ¨Well it takes her a real long time¨I asked ¨Is your mom here right now?¨and he said ¨Yep, I´m not going to lie-I´ll go get her¨ It was pretty funny, but we didn´t end up talking to her.

Pictures from Tampico

Trevor sent some pictures in his last email. However, they are from when he was serving in Tampico. But enjoy!

This is Trevor and Pato Lucas

Trevor found another friend!

Trevor in Canada! And you thought he was in Mexico! That is the area in Tampico in which he served.

This is a picture of two districts in Tampico

Elders Evans, Davis, and Rigby in Tampico Centro

Same Elders enjoying the cuisine of the country.

Things ARE Looking Up!

Things have improved with my Peruvian companion. We understand each other better, I am learning the Peruvian words for everything though. I need to be patient though, he just insists on using different words for normal things. I tell him the word they use here, but he keeps using the Peruvian words. He´s only been in Mexico a couple weeks though, I need to give him some more slack. Haha, I really think he would´ve rather stayed in Peru, he´s not a big fan of Mexico yet. The people here all think that he´s Mexican, and at times I forget that life was different in Peru than it is here in Mexico. But everything is sorting itself out.

Hard Week

This week was a little crazy. I definitely did not expect to get a call from the Assistants Tuesday morning. I was getting ready for district meeting and they called and told me I was getting a kid (or that Iwas going to train a new missoionary). We needed to be in Tampico that night. My companion Elder Mendez was going to stay in the offices and I was going to bring my ¨son¨ here to Camacho. Tuesday we went to district meeting, went around to a few members houses, and Elder Mendez got all packed up and ready to go. We took the bus to Tampico and it took about 5 and a half hours to get to there. We got there and stayed in the office houses. The next day we went to the offices and stayed there all day waiting for my new companion to get there and fill out all his immigration papers. Oh, did I mention he is from Peru? That is why he came mid-transfer. He was serving in the Lima Peru East mission for a couple months and finally his visa came through. I was a little sad, I got along really well with Elder Mendez. But we got back to Poza Rica at about 9 on Wednesday. On Thursday we didn´t get much accomplished, we planned for the week then pretty much went around and got my new comp, Elder Salles ready for the transfer, we went to the bank, went to the store, he unpacked, and we visited some people. Friday was kind of the same, we went around trying to find investigators and visited members. We spent a little too much time talking with the Hermanas that give us lunch. At about every lunch appointment the sisters ask where he is from and he begins to talk about Peru. We´ve gotten into some pretty long conversations about the difference between Peru and Mexico. Its been almost the same conversation every time. Its been a pretty rough change. Elder Salles speaks spanish, but a different spanish. He uses different words, different slang, and a different form of saying things. I almost feel like I´m the new one in the mission again because I understand my comp, but there´s some words and phrases that I have to guess on. I don´t know how to explain it very well. and I think I speak a more Mexican Spanish, so he has problems understanding what I say at times. (and my Spanish still isn´t perfect). Its going to be fun. We didn´t have the best week to say the least.

Ana did show up to church though. It was raining Sunday morning and we thought ¨oh, no one is going to show up at church today". She showed up late, but it was okay, because Relief Society and sunday school are before sacrament meeting now that we are meeting in the institute building.

Saturday I was going to do a baptismal interview for our zone leaders, but the guys dad got home and said he wanted to talk to his son first before he gave permission. Sunday morning we did the interview and he was so ready for baptism. It made me more excited to invite, because there are people that are so prepared for baptism that are just waiting for us. It gets hard to keep that idea in your head when everyone rejects you. These next weeks will be much better. I have been feeling down, and I think its because we haven´t had much time to invite people.

News from Poza Rica

Saturday we had the Baptism of Odette. It was pretty good. There weren´t many people, but like always you can feel the spirit so strongly. Elder Mendez Baptised her. The good part was that her brother and mom were there and could be more exposed to the gospel. The brother doesn´t seem all to interested, but we`ll see what happens. The cool part about the baptism was that one of the recent converts gave a talk on baptism and did so good. It is so awesome to see the gospel help the lives of those who are truly seeking something better.

Saturday there was a stake volleyball activity and we were invited to play and represent our ward. It was fun, I finally got to hit the ball decently hard, but it came very few and far between. If its not soccer, the majority of the people here in Mexico don`t know how to play. haha.

Update Time

Trevor has been transferred from Tampico to Poza Rica in Veracruz, which was part of his older brother's mission. His new companion is Elder Mendez. He is enjoying being with him. Here is what he has to say from last week.

Everything is going well. This has been a pretty good week. There is never too much excitement, but things have been well. The weather is not bad here. It hasn´t been so sunny, so that´s a plus, but its been rainy in the morning and at night so its pretty humid and I sweat a lot. I´m getting to know a lot more missionaries, but its weird, all of the sudden I´m one of the oldest missionaries in the 2 zones here in poza rica. A lot of elders have left and many are going to leave in these next 2 or 3 months. By the time I have 12 or 13 months I´m going to be one of the oldest in the mission. During Zone Conference President said that there are going to be a lot of changes going on, some pretty drastic. The mission is really pretty young right now.

For the Fourth of July we had permission to go to Burger King in the morning to eat. It is about the only American Restaurant here in Poza Rica, so we went. There were quite a few missionaries there, about 14, almost our whole zone and some from the other zone. It was pretty fun. We worked a bit during the day, then played uno with the zone leaders at night and got to sing the national anthem. It was fun, i carried around the little flag you sent pretty much all day. The pin was cool too. It was funny I asked our ward mission leader Paco if most of the mexicans here knew that July 4th was our independence day, and he said yes- because will smith came out with a movie called independence day and on the fourth of july saved the world from aliens. ha ha ha. but Paco also got his mission call. I´m lucky for that, when i get to an area, the guys that were waiting for their calls finally get them. I saw two leave from Cañada and now paco is going to leave aug 27 to the mission mexico torreon. It is pretty funny that is the mission where Elder Mendez, my comp, is from. He is pretty excited.

We have a baptism this saturday. Her name is Odette- she is about 20 years old. Its pretty exciting, she has been waiting for baptism for a while. we are also making progress with her brother prisco. Before, the missionaries couldn´t talk with odette in her house because prisco would make them leave. but when we were talking about tithing and fasting, he came in and listened and then even showed up at church on sunday. We´ll see how he progresses. We also had some other investigators go to church on sunday. Three were there in all. Ana showed up on her own and told us later that her husband wants to listen to us too. She is a young mother and we thought she was losing interest so it was cool when she showed up. There is a dad from a part member family that has finally decided that he wants to be baptised, the only problem is that he´s practically deaf right now so we can´t teach him anything. There are also three kids that have been taught and want to be baptized but their dad won´t give permission.

My volleyball hunger has been appeased. We play sports every wednesday and we play volleyball because there is going to be a tournament in the stake. I just wish they knew how to play volleyball though. What can i expect though, its ward volleyball. Maybe i´ll be abel to teach them how to play this wednesday. We are going to be attending church in the stake center from now on. They are rennovating the chapel until march i think. So we are going to have to walk a bit farther to get to church. That means the members will have to as well which probably means less attendance. Our attendance is good right now, i think we are one of the strongest wards in the stake.

Update

Trevor is doing well and is now serving in Tampico instead of Abasolo. He just had transfers and found out that he and his companion will stay together for another month and a half. He is finally getting accustomed to life in Tampico, and enjoys that fact that there are more elders around so they can do stuff on pday. He said they have a few baptismal dates for this weeks and he will write more after they happen.

Here is a quote

"I´m having a blast, things are always difficult, but this is the Lord´s work and its great to see the changes in peoples life that know this is the true gospel. "

This is at the baptism of Ana.

The first Baptism

Notes for Trevor, "Sunday was the baptism! It was so awesome, I woke up happy and couldn´t help but smiling all day. Its really true what D&C 18: 10, 15-16 says. What´s great is that they are so excited and so willing to obey the commandments. It was so awesome, the place we had the baptism was so beautiful, and I think even more beautiful because of what was experienced there (kinda like the people of alma and the waters of mormon). But yes, I was so grateful for the opportunity I had to participate in that sacred ordinance. It was great" See pictures below