January 27, 2014

January 27,2014

My branch my last day before changes!

My son... haha or my greenie

 My new district leader 

Well the life has been great here in Panuco! The branch is amazing. They are attacking the mission work and hastening the work in all aspects! A very,very nice change from my last two areas.

I am getting the hang of direction as well getting to know the people and enjoying what little time left we have till this place becomes an oven again haha! 

I am with Elder Tuñon an elder from Panama and so far it has been fun getting to know him we are really enjoying the time we have. He is a bit sensitive and for those who know me I’m anything but sensitive so I’m keeping an eye on my words and actions. haha  Well I can wrestle... I’ve wrestled around with all of my comps thus far so hopefully I can take a change or two without having some horse play haha! 

But anyways this week was fantastic...for the past while I have been pretty comfortable with the language but right now (still making mistakes) I feel I have total confidence which has been helping a ton in the lessons! That being said as well as the unity that we have as a companionship in our lessons I feel like I am teaching the best I have been in the mission... but makes sense right... I should be progressing. I am super stoked for the opportunity to work in this branch and give it all I’ve got to really make a change here. 

I LOVE teaching we have been getting in about 5 lessons a day which is way more than any other area I have had and I have been loving it and that is what I want to share today. When we open our mouth the words will flow and we will be blessed with happiness! In the hastening of the work we have been invited many times to open our mouth as well as pray for opportunities to share the gospel. I would like to extend the invitation otra ves! I have seen how exciting it is to get to know new people this week. I have met so many new people and feel as if I have become their friend. With all of my ¨friends” have shared an aspect of the gospel with them to brighten their lives. I has truly been a blessing and hope that all of you as well can participate in such happiness..

Love you all have a great week sharing this marvelous gospel! 

p.s. I’d like to hear some experiences if you have them!

Jan 13, 2014

January 13, 2014

                            Elder Strong when we had divisions and we got two whole pizzas from a member

  dinner! haha

                                                      Me and my son in front of the temple

Well Changes are coming up soon... (this week) and I’ve had a good run here so I think this may be my last week in Tanquian and am hoping for a change to junior comp again haha life is a lot easier that way. But we’ll see what happens!

But for this week it’s been a good one. We are working with 12 people with baptism dates and in reality we are hoping to have one progressing. It has been hard here and the people are super tough when it comes to religion. It’s like a culture here. It really has been hard to see people come and go getting to know the truth but not accepting it. It’s been making me think a lot of The Plan of salvation. I had some questions come up personally that I have been struggling to answer.... but tal ves they can’t be answered in this life haha.  But my blessing talks a little on the plan of salvation so I’ve been a bit intrigued. But in the little time I’ve had as a missionary or the time I have truly been converted in the church I can testify as Joseph Smith has in saying “that which pertain to our religion are only appendages” to the Atonement of Jesus Christ (Holland). I have gained such a testimony of this great and atoning sacrifice of our Savior. But this sacrifice is one of the three key parts of the great plan of salvation our Father has for us. In knowing how we can know the three most important and possibly most frequent asked questions (aside from GOT MILK?) Where did I come from, Why am I here and where am I going? We have the knowledge pertaining to our divine family tree and our potential destination if all goes well here on earth. So as I have been teaching it kills me to see people turn away from such great knowledge that holds a never ending future and turn away from a -fixer upper- to Life.

With this I have seen so many broken families, families that had time shortened or have wandered through life not knowing where to go. It’s these that I worry for. All have taken a huge leap in the Hastening of the work.... or hastening of missionaries which I am extremely grateful for! But as I see these families and all the people who haven’t been given the chance I am reminded of a form of missionary work of equal importance. A work  within the walls of the Temple.

This being said in all the Hastening the we are seeing I hope to see and larger demand of people in temple work due to overflowing names.... names that are our responsibility to truly hasten the work all aspects those within short distances of the Temple... (or those in Utah) NEED to be going as frequently as possible. Here in Mexico it isn’t as easy and should not be taken for granted....

So I wish to extend the invitation to all Parents, Family, Friends, and youth. DO your part help those who can’t help themselves and get to the temple. We all have a part to play in these times in the hastening the work.... for the second coming. I love you all and have a great week!

January 6, 2014

We had quite the spiritual experience this week after our training for new elders and trainers. We have been teaching a sister who has received a testimony of the restored gospel and has been making several life changes to follow the teachings. Because of this we have been visiting her 2 or more times a week at the minimum giving us a lot of contact with the family. One difficulty she has is the lack of support from family and friends trying to get her to drop the -Mormons-. However we saw the hand of God helping her this week through not only us but distant family and friends through her brother.
Her brother served a mission for a Cristian based church for many years and later became a pastor here in Tanquian, however he with time has become impressed with the missionaries and also with the overall organization of the LDS church and its doctrine. Finally we had a chance to talk with him and found that he attended a wedding party to a member of the church and had much interaction with members and truly could feel the spirit present in the activity which caused him to think a bit. Long story short, in this opportunity to talk with her brother we made the leap of faith following the newly received training we had to invite ALL to baptism as soon as the spirit is present and that’s what we did. A date was accepted along with a book of Mormon and determination to find the answer. It was a Jump forward here that we have been waiting on and hope we can do what is needed to help in this path along with his Sister. But thank you for the advice and teaching in all but more specifically in baptism... we are now 2 converted to invite all men to come unto Christ through baptism in the FIRST lesson. Have a great week!

 This was a letter out to my mission president but would like to share for my blog for sake of time as well as to show that we need not be afraid to share the gospel nor to follow the spirit! Love you all and share the gospel with someone this week you may be surprised and the success you have!