Christmas, Bruno and Concepcion's baptism

How great it was to talk to you all! It was weird. Almost felt like I was in college again. Sorry I was crying. Haha. It was overwhelming to see you, but so refreshing. It helped me regain my focus on why I am here and the way we are to teach. Sometimes it is easy to see people as numbers, but they are actually children of God, our brothers and sisters. And it really isn’t that long until we talk again. Only 3 more changes (yes Dallin, everyone here calls them changes :) ). It’s like 4.5 months. That is so crazy because by then I will have a year. The time is so weird in the mission. Super fast, but super slow at the same time. I wish I could have seen the rest of you, Tyler and Whitney.

So I will tell you about my week. Tuesday we literally spent the whole time at the family’s house (the clown family) that we were preparing to be baptized. We went over all the lessons so everyone had everything. Sometimes one member of the family would be gone and miss part of it, so we went over lessons 1-3. Then later, some other companions came and did the interviews for them. The older daughter didn’t really want to get baptized, but the other elders talked to her and helped her see that it was important.

On Wednesday we went to Metepec. It was pouring rain here in Valle (only the 2nd time I’ve seen rain here) as well as in Metepec. We had a meeting to talk about the progress in each of our areas and a devotional. We then had some free time and hung out. We later ate a ton of food and during the food we watched Frozen. Like I said when I was talking to you, I think I was the most excited. I sang along as well. Really weird to watch a normal movie. I felt like I need to take it all in because I will never watch another. Later, we stayed the night in Metepec to sleep. I didn’t really sleep though. Not because I was excited about Santa, but because their was a symphony of snoring. haha. We came home to Valle and slept some there. And later I talked to you! But right after I talked to you we had to get to work... It was a pretty ineffective day because no one was in the streets or in their houses. We finally got into a house, but everyone was hungover. Here in Mexico they don’t do anything for Christmas, but Christmas eve they have a big dinner and almost everyone gets drunk. haha. It was a pretty chill day. So that was my first Christmas in Mexico. Thanks again Mom for the Christmas in a Box. I loved it. Love my new ties and the candy :) yay American candy. :)

So this week we have been visiting Bruno and Concepcion and their two daughters, Mari and Jenny a lot to get them ready for their baptism. On Saturday we were doing some last teaching. The whole time, Mari was a little sad. She wouldn’t tell us why, but I think it was because she was having doubts. We told them that Satan would do everything possible to keep them from getting baptized and we had them pray individually to God that they would get baptized tomorrow, no matter what. The Spirit was so strong. At the end of the lesson Mari asked why baptism is important. We explained it is essential so we can be with our family forever and return to live with God. She accepted that. I was so excited for them to get baptized, but was praying nothing would come in the way. The next day, their extended family was in town and came to their baptism. During the church services, the brother-in-law was telling Bruno that this was crazy and everything about the Book of Mormon was insane. I once again was praying that Bruno would stay strong and stick to what he knew and felt. During our Priesthood class, the entire class was about the Book of Mormon and the truthfulness of it. I believe that was Satan trying to drag the father’s testimony down, then God came and helped him reaffirm his grounds in his testimony. 

At the end of the church services we got ready for the baptism. The youngest daughter, Jenny (11) was so excited to be baptized. The entire church services she was asking when she could get changed. We had the baptismal service outside on the lawn in front of the font. The water still hadn’t heated up from the electric heaters that we put in, so the water was still cold. We had a few short messages before. The sister missionaries were in charge of the Primary that day. They taught them all about being a missionary and gave them pass along cards to give. They later sang missionary Primary songs. Haha, not brain washing or anything... They helped them prepare to sing Families can be Together Forever (Concepcion’s favorite) along with us 4 missionaries at the baptism. Jenny then was baptized first by Elder Medina. Then our branch president baptized Bruno. I then baptized Mari and then the Mother. The mother shared her testimony after and it was so strong. The older daughter later told us that she had a revelation when she was baptized. When she came out of the water, the image of Joseph Smith came to her head. She is the most happiest I have ever seen her. A family really can make this work feel even more important. What a great Christmas gift. The entire services, I couldn’t help but smile. Next week they will receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost. How great they will feel after they have this gift. Their baptism was the highlight of the week. 

Yesterday, on the way to church, this guy contacted to us. He looked like a crazy guy. He asked if I spoke English. I pretended I didn’t know what he was saying and I didn’t speak English. haha. Kind of bad of me. We asked him what he was doing here in Valle and he said that he was here to get footage of UFOs. Yup he was crazy. He ended up talking to my companion in English, but my companion doesn’t understand English completely. Haha crazy man.

This next week we will head to Metepec again for New Year’s eve and stay the night. However, on New Year’s we have to get back to work right away. It probably won’t be very effective though. Being a vacation spot, all the people from Valle leave and all the tourists come.

Now that the family is baptized, we will continue to teach them and help them build their testimonies even more. We are planning to do what you said, Dad. Read the Book of Mormon with them so they get in the habit of it. I don’t think any members here in Mexico really read together as a family. Now we have to keep looking for more people to teach and help come unto Christ. The Gospel is true and I am so grateful for it. I am grateful for you my amazing family. Thanks for everything and have a happy NEW YEAR! 

-Elder Thomas

Christmas is coming ... and it's sure different in Mexico

Merry Christmas my wonderful family!

Wow I miss you this time of the year! It is super hard being away knowing the fun traditions that we do, but this is where I should be. The traditions in Mexico are sure different. I’ve always thought of myself as a patient person, but since being here, it is being tried. It seems that the people here focus on everything but Christ. They do have an interesting tradition.  Nine days before Christmas they have a thing called la Posada. They all start at one Catholic church and have a donkey and a "Mary" ride around with Joseph (they are like 10 year olds). Everyone follows them down the street and recite some prayer thingy. They stop at some houses along the way in the street and sing at it, but they deny them until they get to another Catholic church where they are accepted. It’s to represent Mary and Joseph being denied of places to stay. It is like a party in the street. Fireworks, decorations, music, and fire pits in the middle of the street. It was kinda fun to see, but we got stuck in the middle of it and couldn’t move. Then on the 24th they have their dinner. But then the 25th comes and apparently they don’t do anything. I don’t realize why, but whatever. Not going to ruin my Christmas! They give gifts on the 6th of January when the 3 kings arrived.  Haha, they just missed the 25th. 

So this past week, on Wednesday we had our Christmas mission devotional. It was really good! Some people performed some songs and then president showed us some stuff with He is the Gift in New York and we also watched the David Archuleta and Jon Schmidt video. So good! (Just now, someone here in the internet cafe was just watching He is the Gift actually! Sweet!) We later watched Meet the Mormons! Finally! I just kept thinking how cool it is that the church can put these things together. Also the end of the movie was super sad with the mom who sent her son off on his mission. It was like seeing the other side of me leaving. Sending us off for 2 years to serve our Heavenly Father. I am grateful for this opportunity to serve, even though it is hard to do.

Also at the meeting, I got my Christmas package! Wow Mom! Impressive! I love it! I have the little tree at our window with the rope thing hanging. I have been enjoying the 12 days of Christmas :) Also the letters I sent you can open if you want. I wasn’t able to get one sent off for Christmas, so that one is for Thanksgiving. Sorry... Or you can wait if you want. haha.

So the work is slowly coming here in Valle. We are going to baptize Concepcion and Bruno this week! I am so excited, but I just found out the zone leaders are coming tomorrow to do their interviews. They aren’t ready yet... We’ve got to teach them some more. We will figure it out. I am so excited for them. They are super excited as well. They even came to church yesterday on their own.

We also found this family of a ton of people. Five of them came to church with us! I hope they will progress. It’s still hard to tell because after we taught the Restoration, they said all churches are the same. bleh. haha.

Today, we went to this waterfall with a member and an investigator and the hermanas in my district. I’ll attach some pictures. 

Congrats to Jeff Seymour and their family on his baptism! Super exciting!

So for calling... I think I will call from Skype.  Hopefully I can figure out how to do it. I will call sometime in the morning from 10:30-2:00. I don’t know when. I am SOO excited to talk to you! I’ll probably start crying from seeing and hearing your voices. I won’t know what to talk to you about, but nonetheless, it’ll be fun :) 

I am so grateful for this time of Christmas and for our Savior. Even though I am away from you, I still feel your love. I really love this Gospel. What happiness it brings. I miss you and love you! 

-Elder Thomas

My first dog bite...

Well hey there, Family.

So let me tell you about my P-day today.  Two weeks ago we found a house we were thinking of moving into and we talked with our renter. She told us that we would have to leave by the 15th. Well today is the 15th. We are in the middle of our studies and there is a knock at the window. She says that we are suppose to be out. So we ran down to the apartment that we looked at and fortunately it was still unoccupied. We had to get permission to change houses, so I did that and then all day we were looking for someone to help us move. We went back to the house and there was someone with a truck that we paid to help us move. So all day we have been moving. I am so tired and we still have an entire week in front of us. And I don’t have a lot of time to write because we were so busy.  But we moved into our new house. Let’s see though...this past week...

I made it through the week talking in Spanish the entire time. I sometimes forget that my companion can’t speak English and will start talking to him in English and he looks at me really confused. I pretend like I am practicing with him. It happens mainly at night when I am tired. But Elder Medina and I get along pretty well.

In terms of our investigators:

Finally, Bruno and Concepcion finished their daughter’s party. They are so excited for their baptism on the 28th. Like they know it is the right thing to do and are preparing themselves. I am SO EXCITED FOR THEM! They went to church yesterday. Unfortunately, their daughter’s believe in Catholicism, but hopefully we can teach them some more.

We have some other people, but for the most part, they are it.

Juan never went to church the past two weeks. I think he is scared to do anything, so maybe in the future he will do something about it.

Yesterday they had the primary program. It was kind of interesting...only 6 kids.

This past Friday was the big virgin guadalupe/maria day. I don’t know the difference between their virgins. This day made me so frustrated. People were literally singing to her statues that are all over the place. One girl was even stroking one of the virgin statues in her hand. Then everyone goes to the big Catholic Church in the night. They also have fireworks all day, but the fireworks are just loud booms without the lights and stuff, so they kind of lose purpose. I called it the Apostasy Day. I just kept telling myself “patience,” even though I knew they were breaking some commandments.

Oh, I got bit by my first dog this past week. It was this little chihuahua. It was a super small bite, but if it breaks the skin apparently there is a rule where you have to call Hermana Whitehead. She said I had to call a doctor and he told me I had to go check to see if the dog is healthy and doesn’t die in the next 7 days. Haha. A lot to do for a little bite, but I am okay.

We have been using the He is the Gift cards a ton and asking people to look up the video on their phones when we contact. Their whole personality changes when they see it. I love CHRISTMAS!

Anyway, that is the majority of my week. I still don’t know about how Skype will work. We will find out this Wednesday at our zone junta!

Love ya family! Merry Christmas

-Elder Thomas

The "Gus" I've been waiting for?

Feliz Navidad mi gran familia!

My Valle de Bravo district

Well to start off, I will tell you about changes. We found out Saturday morning that Elder Whatcott is leaving. So that means I am staying here in Valle de Bravo. It’s so cold in Toluca where the terminal is. We went this morning and I couldn’t stop shivering. Good thing I am here in Valle haha.

My new companion is Elder Medina. Yup, my first Latino companion. This will be interesting. I can get my self around in Spanish, but I still lack a lot.  Hopefully I can still bond with him. It’s been pretty quiet the past 5 hours we’ve had together. He seems nice. This is his 3rd or 4th change. He is from the Dominican Republic.  So it’s just this white guy and black guy walking around in white shirts and ties. Maybe he’s really funny and is the "Gus" friend I’ve been looking for.

Some things that have happened this week:

We had a zone meeting on Tuesday. President has a goal for the mission to baptize 500 people in both March and April. A TON! But we can do it. We are getting all pumped up for that time. It is when the mission is going to have the most experience during all of president’s time. What a blessing that would be to have all these areas grow.

Another thing we learned was about are “He is the Gift” cards (or El es la Dádiva).  They are so great to use.  So easy to talk to people about it. And it has the Virgin Mary on it, so I am sure that helps. haha. But the cards remind me all the time that Christ really is the gift of all gifts.

So with Juan... We fasted with him this past week and he talked to his wife later. She still didn’t want anything to do with us so we then went with some members to their house on Thursday. We taught some and talked to his wife. She said she would go to church and see what it was like and if it was okay then she would let her husband get baptized. He wants it so bad! We said we would even pay for her taxi to go. We left some money for her and Juan’s mom for the taxi, and they said they would go. Well Friday we talked with Juan outside of his restaurant and he told us his wife wasn’t going to go!  He said his wife does not want him to get baptized. We talked a good two hours with him. He said his wife wants him to talk to the Catholic priest but the priest keeps telling her lies about the Mormon Church.  We really wanted him to get baptized this Sunday. We had the zone leaders come talk to him on Saturday, but the same thing happened. We can’t really do anything with him now because he won’t progress. We wanted him to set the example for his wife, but until his wife is okay, we can’t do much. :(  Hopefully in the future he can be baptized.

Elder Whatcott manning the pinata

On Friday we had a branch party. There were more people there than in church. haha.  They did a talent show thing. Not the best, but it was okay.  In a year and half I’ll show some videos. We four missionaries sang Silent Night in English.  Elder Whatcott said I kinda sang with a Spanish accent.  Great... After, we had a piñata. Elder Whatcott moved it around while the kids hopelessly tried swinging at it. 

Funny story. We went to visit this inactive lady and while looking for her this little white dog came up to Elder Whatcott. He bent down to pet it and it bit him! haha We went to a member’s house to wash it so it didn’t get infected. The lady was so concerned that it would get infected. She kept saying we need to go to the doctor even though it was the smallest bite. She and her daughter were worried he would get "the rabbies" haha. Super funny.

So on Monday Elder Whatcott and I did a family home evening with this one family. We planned it out in the morning and turned out so good! We talked about how Christ’s life was all service for us. We talked about the Atonement and the suffering he went through and then right after the pain he went through, he went and healed an enemy’s ear. He was always serving. We had then think about times when people served them and how they felt with that. It’s interesting because the people here don’t really serve one another outside their family like in the states. Their examples were like when their daughter helped do their laundry haha. But they got the point. We then invited them to do a service for another friend. We explained the Christmas in a box where you fill a box with little toys and candies. We told them to get it together in the week and we would go with them to deliver it. The Spirit was so strong during the lesson. Saturday came and we were held up and weren’t able to go with them. They went and did it by themselves. We saw them later in the night in the street and asked them how it went. They told us that the lady they gave it to started crying because she was so happy. Then the family that did it started crying. It made me feel so good to be able to encourage others to do service. 

Sorry this letter is all over. At least I’ve got a few pictures this week. Merry Christmas all!  I love you and miss you! Only about 2 more weeks and we can talk (unfortunately only for 40 minutes max :( )!  Get your Skype ready folks.

-Elder Thomas

The government was using water for energy and they needed a place to put the water. This town on the way to Juans was chosen as the place for the water like 40 years ago. The rebuilt the town up higher exactly the same up on this cliff and filled the town with water. That in the center is the top of a church.