July 28, 2014

July 28, 2014

Well I am lacking on the pictures as of late so I’ll have to get back on that one, but it is chevere (means cool in Spanish) (as my comp would say) here in Victoria!

This week has been full of good and funny experiences. We are constantly laughing here and this week we also found a few good and very promising investigators!

We have decided that we are going to start a dictionary by Elder Stoor on spanish ... haha It seems like every week I am coming up with new words that make life a little more lively. For example, one day I wanted to say that I was very gassy and well gassy in English makes sense but as I tried to form the word into Spanish (which I think would be gasoso) I decided its better as gastado.... which in spanish means worn out or used.... so now we have secret codes for when we are really ´gastado´ haha...

Lately I have been coming up with a theme or a focus for every change and so this change It is based off of a scripture that I have recently shared in efesios que dice that we shouldn’t  serve with eyeservice, like those who please men moresoever like servants of christ, happily doing the will of God. I truly testify to that. This change I have been learning how to work harder and harder along with my comp as we are basically opening a new area. Sometimes the late nights or early mornings pay off so that we can become better. But it isn’t worth much if we are doing it with the wrong attitude. Learn to love life. I know I am still learning but this week I have recognized how much I have learned!

In church on Sunday several key events helped me remember some key events in MY life that have helped me get to where I am today. The change that I was seeing was immense and well kinda surprised me! But the surprise was a good one! Throughout our lives there are many changes that we make or that God helps us make and sometimes being impatient humans we look for the ´instant´ when God works little by little.

So this week I invite you all to take a look at your life... read your journal, ponder experiences, etc and most importantly ask God for help to help you recognize the changes that you have made in your life!!

This is one of a series of videos that I really like that focus a bit on change!

https://www.lds.org/pages/mormon-messages?lang=eng#daily-bread-change

Love you all and have a great week!

July 21, 2014

July 21, 2014

 

Well this week was a little rough. Everyone has been out for vacations and so we haven’t been able to find hardly anyone here to teach..... Lots of walking with lots of heat....

 I feel really out of place here in Victoria.  Bigger houses and cars and I feel like I am closer to the U.S. haha ..... Aside from the 100 degree weather....

 I have been loving my change with my new comp Elder Ordoñez. He is great and a very talented Elder. I am supposedly training him but feels like he is training me. We have been working great as a team and when people start getting home this week they’re not going to be able to stop us haha! We have taken this area and done a full turn around in these past few weeks. I have felt like my calling in the mission has been in the repair department with Branches and Elders. There are very few things better than to hear compliments from members and see the confidence you are gaining with them and also the changes that I have seen with the people with whom I work.

 That leads me a little to my spiritual thought today. As I have been working my booty off to get things done and do them right, as many of you I am sure are doing, I have had the thought at times ..... man, only if the President knew...or if the members knew what I was doing for them ... ect etc . Because we are a people that like gratification and we like to be commended for what we do. However, sometimes these thoughts aren’t the most righteous to have, as we are counseled in Ephesians....

 This is some of the greatest advice that I have received here while on my mission and I think its great advice for us all. I pay special attention to the work Eyeservice..... What is eyeservice and how would it be different from service?? And also that I testify to the truth stated that we will receive our reward from God of from our leaders.... just in time and with humility.....

 Being a wrestler I have learned to love the instant gratification that can be received when we do or excel in what we should. But as Jesus said, those who pray so that all may hear have their reward and those in secret will be edified in Christ... which would you prefer??

 This week take some time to do the things you should and don’t tell a soul.... don’t boast or make a show. You may have to do this week after week after week but your  prize shall come and it is sweet.

I share this with love and hope that we might all become more Christ like and I share it in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

July 14, 2014

July 14, 2014

A great family in Panuco!!!

Another family that while i was in Panuco I helped their son get out on a mission and the parents go to the temple! Great experience!

          This is how I slept all the past hot changes in panuco!!!! It fixed my back!!!!

 

Well changes have gone down and I have been moved to Ciudad Victoria!!! It’s good and a big change. I’m not in the sticks for once haha. I feel so weird walking around here because it’s not the Mexico I’ve gotten to know the past year. Everyone has cars and there is a little more money here.

 The difficulty of the area however has not changed. We will be working hard and hope to see lot of success here. I also continue serving with outsiders.... my 4th one in a row. I have been called to train here in Victoria and my son is from Ecuador! He’s great and we’re surely going to have a great change!

 I’m a bit short on time making up for not writing last week but I just wanted to share a bit about how sometimes the little things make all the difference. Cada vez a missionary changes areas it’s an opportunity to change.... to make the changes that are necessary and keep progressing.  I have decided that this area I am going to include a lot of the little things.... little things like an extra prayer or waking up a tad bit earlier to get in some more study.... but most of all I have learned and gained a great amount of love for this marvelous work and I am going to make the best of it!

 Sometime missionaries make a bit mistake and become comfortable in their teaching and missionary attributes and stop progressing and  it’s really as shame to see it happen. But for a missionary lack of change will only pass by for a second. When a member or someone in general falls into a trap of not progressing it can last years or even decades! For some of us sometimes things happen like they happened to the brother of Jared..... not zane but the other one..... In the book of Mormon. In Ether 2

 5 And it came to pass that the Lord commanded them that they should go forth into the wilderness, yea, into that quarter where there never had man been. And it came to pass that the Lord did go before them, and did talk with them as he stood in a cloud, and gave directions whither they should travel.

 6 And it came to pass that they did travel in the wilderness, and did build barges, in which they did cross many waters, being directed continually by the hand of the Lord.

 7 And the Lord would not suffer that they should stop beyond the sea in the wilderness, but he would that they should come forth even unto the land of promise, which was choice above all other lands, which the Lord God had preserved for a righteous people.

 13 And now I proceed with my record; for behold, it came to pass that the Lord did bring Jared and his brethren forth even to that great sea which divideth the lands. And as they came to the sea they pitched their tents; and they called the name of the place Moriancumer; and they dwelt in tents, and dwelt in tents upon the seashore for the space of four years.

 14 And it came to pass at the end of four years that the Lord came again unto the brother of Jared, and stood in a cloud and talked with him. And for the space of three hours did the Lord talk with the brother of Jared, and chastened him because he remembered not to call upon the name of the Lord.

 15 And the brother of Jared repented of the evil which he had done, and did call upon the name of the Lord for his brethren who were with him. And the Lord said unto him: I will forgive thee and thy brethren of their sins; but thou shalt not sin any more, for ye shall remember that my Spirit will not always strive with man; wherefore, if ye will sin until ye are fully ripe ye shall be cut off from the presence of the Lord. And these are my thoughts upon the land which I shall give you for your inheritance; for it shall be a land choice above all other lands.

 How many of us have been foolish like unto the brother of Jared and have forgotten to call upon the Lord or to keep looking for the land of promise? When was the last time we made a change to better our relationship with Christ? I invite you to all reflect as I am reflecting to make the changes necessary to come unto Christ..... I love you all and have a great week!

 

http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=1101413031001