Well well well my family

Feb. 9, 2015

Thank you for your loving kind words, they inspire me to be a better missionary. I am also SO grateful to have been born in a family that really tries to apply the gospel of Jesus Christ in their personal live and in our family lives. I see too many families (member and non member) that don't do that. I try to count my many blessings because I really am so blessed. Something I have been doing lately in the morning while I eat breakfast is read conference talks. It is such a blessing to have modern prophets that guide us and keep us on the path of truth. That is something I have learned on the mission to take advantage of "dead time." Reading while I eat breakfast, in the bathroom, or after planning session in the night has helped me get through Jesus the Christ, and many other books and magazines. By small and simple things great things will come to pass. Those that have smart phone can download scriptures and manuals right to your phone and maybe instead of playing angry birds, you could read a bit of the Book of Mormon, or prepare yourself for the lesson that will be taught on Sunday. It is just an idea and definitely something I will keep doing after the mission. Another idea that is really working out for us here: take investigators to church. One of the biggest challenges with investigators is usually getting them to go to church. Something that is really working here is we take members with us to lessons and ask them if they can then pass by the investigators house on Sunday to go together to church. So far it is giving really good results, so someway you could help the elders in our ward is ask them if one of their investigators needs a ride to church, or if you go out on visits offer to pass by the persons house on Sunday to give them a ride. Then the investigator can feel a bit more comfortable and will already have a friend and can focus more on the spirit of the meeting. It is amazing how many things we can do in the work of the Lord and sometimes how easy some of those things are. I feel like we live in a dispensation that the gospel has never been easier to share. We have facebook, messaging, telephones, cars, mass printing, and so many other tools! The Lord really does want us to accelerate his work and He gives us the tools to do it. President told us the church is going to be doing another initiative this Easter kind of like "He is the gift" that they did for Christmas, asi que prepare yourselves! My companion and I continue working hard together, he hasn't complained about his stomach in a while so it seems to be at least calmed down for now. He has changed a lot in the short time that I have been here. I know the Lord calls us to our areas to teach the people but I also feel like a lot of times he calls us to be with our companions for a very specific reason as well. At the beginning of the mission I was all pumped to baptize and everything but now I think I am learning to really love just teaching people the gospel. What a privilege to be set apart to teach people the best message they will ever hear! The elders in my district call me a "high priest" because of the time I have but I still feel like a greenie haha, I love the mission and I love my Savior, I really do depend on Him for everything I have. I love you all very much and are always in my prayers, especially Brenda and Levi in this moment!

love,
Elder Andrew

 

Happy birthday Mom and Daniel!

Feb. 2. 2015

 

 

 

 

Happy birthday Mom and Daniel!

 

Feb. 2. 2015

Well I haven't read your letters yet but I'm sure you will tell me about what you did on both the birthdays so first I want to tell you what I did on your birthdays.

 

Wednesday, 28 of January

In the morning we visited the family Feirrera, pretty new investigators, that came from a member reference. We taught the mom, Marisa, and her 17 year old son, Lautaro. We had talked about most of the restoration the last time so we focused on explaining well the Book of Mormon. It was a really good lesson and they are going to read, meditate and pray! Then after we waited a long time for coletivo (bus) to go to lunch. Oh, I forgot to mention it was raining pretty good. We ate lunch with the familia Siles, a nice family, and then went on our way. Then we visited an hermano that hadn't come for a few weeks and found out he hurt his foot so we shared a scripture with him. Then the family Paredes. We watched a movie with them and it went pretty good. Then we went to an inactive family where one lady is super active and the rest of the family inactive. It was our first time going, the familia Chalco. It was a pretty good visit and at the end the sister came in and told the family that someone they knew recently had a stroke so we did a kneeling prayer for him. (the hermana later told us that in that moment he woke up from his coma and is doing a lot better, miracle!) So it was a pretty normal day I guess, I don't really remember that much anymore the days just all blend together!

Saturday, 31 of January

Well cooly enough we visited the family Feirrera again in the morning. Marisa told us that she had talked with her daughter (who she fights with a lot because of the son in law) and where she had expected to kind of get in a fight there was the opposite reaction, and she said it impacted her. She is feeling the Spirit that what we teach is true, we talked about recognizing the Spirit on Wednesday and now she is recognizing it and reading and praying! Lautaro didn't read so we read Moroni 10:3 -5 (the homework we left) and he is doing his prayers and says he is seeing good changes in the family. A lot of potential over there. What a blessing to be in the true church! Then we searched around some more and then went to lunch with the familia Porcel. They made us SOOO much meat it was insane. People here don't believe in the Word of Wisdom because there was just rice, potatoes with mayo and a ton of meat. They are a really good family though who are putting the batteries to be 100 active this year and so far are going strong. Then, we taught the family Lopez for my first time who are inactive. The hermana was making a lot of excuses and kind of lying to us (they are known for lying) and so we pulled out Alma 42:25 to 30 I think it is. Hermana if you go to church you'll be blessed if not you won't. I feel like the mission has helped me get a lot more patience but at the same time as the time goes on my patience shortens with some people haha. Then we visited another menos activo (less active) and went to a ward activity/birthday party for the bishop who turned 31. That's right, the bishop has the same birthday as you Mom, so I saw cake and everything on that day!

Some other cool things that happened this week is we finally taught the familia Ramos for the first time. They have been going to church for 4 weeks but we could never set up an appointment to teach them. We finally did and they are as prepared as they seemed in the capilla (chapel or church). We talked about the Book of Mormon and the hermano told us one of the reasons he wants to change his life all the sudden is because he saw his nephews who are returned missionaries and what good people they are. He even said "my nephew is more mature than me a lot of times!" haha. He said he went to church as a kid kind of just following his brothers and sisters but now as he is going he feels something a lot different, like what they say is just for him. The church is true! and another good bit of news on Sunday Kenny got the Aaronic Priesthood! The Ward is really excited to work and a few weeks before I got here they had an assitance (attendance) of about 35 I think.  This Sunday 115 people were in Sacrament Meeting! It just goes to show that working with the members, and the members working by themselves without the missionaries having to remind them really pulls out the best result. Be you own agents and look for ways to help, there are so many! I love you all so much and hope you have a great week!

Elder Andrew