When two white guys show up to a pueblo and no one has seen white guys...

Hello Family!

So right now, Elder Goodrich and I decided to come out to this pueblo like 1.5 hours from our area. It is super pretty but in the middle of no where. We were looking for a nativity set for Elder Goodrich’s mom. We still haven’t found one, so we decided to take a break and write you. We did find hammocks though! I went to check it out. The guy said it was $350 for one hammock. The guy was pretty desperate so we got the price down to $300 for two hammocks. haha I love bargaining. I also got little Christmas things for you. I am going to send them with Elder Goodrich to give to Dallin before he goes home for Christmas. So Dallin, if you could meet up with him to bring home to Maine? This pueblo is funny. They have random Christmas stores. They don’t celebrate Santa here but we found this huge statue. There also is this huge chair we found. It has been a pretty exciting day. 

This week was pretty good. We have been working with Guadalupe, but she just won’t budge. She says she will get baptized, but not now. The thing is, is when people say “not now” in Mexico, that means never.

I think I told you about Jazmin and Erick. We have been trying to get them to accept a fecha, but Jazmin was scared because her other kid, Jesus, didn’t want to get baptized because he goes to Catholic school. We have tried a lot with Jazmin, but she wouldn’t accept. She didn’t want her kid to feel left out, and she would tell us “You just don’t understand what it is like to be a mother”. Anyway, yesterday in church we finished the services and passed a room where this member who is super direct and a mother was talking to hermana Jazmin. Jazmin then told us that on Thursday she and Erick are going to get baptized! We are so excited for them. We have been praying for them. I am sure Jesus will follow soon as well.

We aren’t sure what to do with Victor and Berta. They say they will go to church, but don’t go. That lady that works in pet shop lied to us about her family. They have no interest in the church and never read the Book of Mormon. I think it is just because she likes the white guys who live upstairs and just wanted us to go to her house.

We went harvesting again. I forgot my camera though! We had these bags on to collect the corn and then ate a bunch of meat and tortillas around the campfire. We felt so Mexican! It was sweet. 

Raquel had her baby. So we went yesterday to see her because she finally left the hospital. She had a bunch of problems, but they are doing better now. We went and sang the baby Christmas songs because we couldn’t hold the baby... 

So that is my week. Nothing happened on Thanksgiving here. We had taco dorados. That is about it. The mission is going well. I sure love this Gospel. I love being able to share it with people. Right when we are at our breaking point I feel like God notices and says “Okay. Give them a break now,” and then miracles happen! I love seeing those miracles. I miss you so much, but love being here. I love you all! Happy December!

-Elder Thomas

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving family! 

Even though they don’t celebrate it here, I still am super thankful for all of you. I love you all and I am so grateful for your love and support while I am serving. This week I am ponderizing Doctrine and Covenants 78:19. I drew a turkey and a cornucopia next to it to remind me it is thanksgiving this week.

Sorry I didn’t write you yesterday. We had our zone conference with President and the assistants. It was really good. We talked about some the basics as missionaries, such as finding people to teach, and teaching when you find, how to be missionaries of Predicad mi Evangelio [Preach My Gospel], and some other great stuff. President Whitehead also talked about the Christmas initiative that they are going to start in a week called “Ha nacido un Salvador” [A Savior is Born]. It is like El es la Dadiva from last year. I am excited for the Christmas season. We set up the Christmas tree but we are poor so we only could decorate it on one side (the side that faces us). haha. So it is pretty empty from the other side looking in from the window. I also already got my Christmas package Mom! I don’t know if I will be able to wait more than a month to open it. haha I opened the little things on top. 

Some stories to share:

I forgot to say that 2 Saturdays ago we went to this one house to eat for la comida. This family is recent converts and when we got there they had some surprise visit from their old pastor from the Baptist church. It was pretty uncomfortable because he wanted to start arguing with us. We didn’t say much, but the dad of the family just started sharing his testimony of the church and how his life has changed and his family has changed a ton. He said that he has never felt such progression in his life until he joined the Church of Jesus Christ! It was sweet! I love the Gospel so much.

It was funny because after we all ate the food and they invited the pastor and his wife to eat with us. While talking to them I asked where he was from. He said he was from the pueblo Santa Maria Citendeje.  We asked him if he knew the Segundo Rangel family who lives there. He said they are part of his family. ooooooo. We just baptized his family.

Another fun story. This last week I went harvesting corn! I put on jeans for the first time in almost 2 years and we went to the field. It was sweet. This old member hurt his back so we went to do some service. There is SO MUCH corn. So what we did looked like nothing. It was fun though and super tiring. I got pretty sunburned haha my neck hasn’t seen the sun for a while. haha We are going on Friday with some other members again to help. I will try to get some pictures. Using machetes! haha

Quick update on our investigators. They are doing well, and are all ready to be baptized. They all have accepted fechas [dates] to be baptized at some point, but for some reason they have some fear to take the next step. It is frustrating because they are progressing, but when they don’t take this next step, they just are in front of a wall and just don’t continue progressing. I think they then loose interest. We are trying to resolve their doubts though. 

One cool story. We have this lady that works in the pet shop below us (did I tell you there is a pet shop below my apartment? it is great. there are always puppies :) ) and she is super good.  She has done all the homework we leave her. She is reading the Book of Mormon, she reads every folleto [pamphlet] and has watched meet the Mormons. The only think is her boss won’t let her go to church... But anyway, my companion the other day said a prayer to help us find a new family to teach. We went down the stairs and Nora says ¨hey my family wants you to come talk to them next Wednesday¨. Elder Goodrich and I looked at each other and just said ¨that was fast¨. haha. Nora says her family is almost done with the Book of Mormon! WHAT?! I am excited to see what happens tomorrow.

There is nothing really else that happened this past week. I ate Chinese food for the first time in 2 years. It didn’t really taste the same, but I am still alive.

I love the Gospel, love the mission, and love the Book of Mormon. We are so lucky to have everything we have. I am so grateful for all the blessings in my life. I miss you a ton! But the time is going fast and I really have to enjoy the time I have in Mexico. Love you!

-Elder Thomas

Pretty tranquilo...but I held a two day old baby goat.

Dear Family,

Well I wish this week was more interesting. It really was pretty tranquilo without any thing super exciting. The most exciting was yesterday when after the food I held a two day old baby goat. 

Guadalupe decided to wait for her baptism. She wants to have more support from her family. Luckily one of her daughters came with her husband and their two kids. Hopefully we can help her feel more comfortable in the church and she can have more amistad (is that word English or Spanish?) 

Victor and Berta are doing ok. They told us that they were going to church and we called them up to see where they were and they said they were on their way, but they never showed up. We went by their house and their family nearby said they went to go buy food... Who knows?

One thing we have been doing with some people is their family history. They are planning a ward temple trip in two weeks so we are helping people get started. Everyone here is just starting from the ground up, with their parents, grandparents, etc. We are so lucky we have so many generations in the church. 

Really this week wasn’t very exciting. haha. I wish I learned something really cool in my studies. I am always fascinated at how the Book of Mormon came forth. There is no way in heck that a farm boy could have written that. It is a great book. 

Anyway, I hope you are all doing well fam. Mom and Dad in Cancun. Just so you know, Cancun is a LOT different than here. haha. The only thing that I would say is really the same is Spanish. Whitney, Ryan, and Dallin hope all is well at BYU. Tyler and Nicki, keep it real in Connecticut. Aaron don’t die living alone. Love you all!

-Elder Thomas

A good week and a bad week.

Hey family,

I have had a good and a bad week. I will start with the bad to get it over with. Saturday I took a bus to come back to Atlacomulco from Acambay and forgot my jacket on the bus with my wallet in it. I went back to go get it and somebody had already stolen it. The bus driver was a butt. He asked if it was a thin jacket. I said yeah and he told me, “Oh yeah.  I saw this guy walking off with it and I thought that isn’t his.  That is the white kid’s jacket. People really shouldn’t take what’s not theirs.”  Thanks for the obvious. He definitely receives the Good Samaritan award. The good news though is that I keep my credit cards and ID separate in my backpack. I only had about $12 in my wallet as well. And today I got permission to go to Toluca after the terminal and I bought a pretty nice jacket.  So that was super sad.

The good news is that I am staying here in Atlacomulco with Elder Goodrich! This is his last change of his mission and because it is so close to Christmas they can’t travel during that week, so this change will only be 5 weeks instead of 6. So it will feel even shorter. But I am pretty excited. And I will probably be here for a third change because he is leaving for sure after this change.

So this week was good for a few things. There was one of the sons in the Family Segunda Rangel that for some reason didn’t pass his interview the first time. But apparently there was some miscommunication and we decided to do the interview again and he passed! Alex was baptized yesterday. His father also got the Priesthood yesterday so we had him baptize him. He was super nervous doing it, but after 4 attempts did it correctly. J

We also have been teaching our neighbors that live underneath us for a while and they finally came to church! It made me super happy to see them walk in. Their names are Gethzemany, Luis, and their little daughter Marian. I like this area because we really don’t pass anyone because almost everyone lives so far away so we just have to trust that they come on their own.  Guadalupe also came yesterday! She came with one of her sons. We are planning on her baptism this Sunday. Victor and Berta had a family problem and weren’t able to come, but they are still doing great. They give us free tacos :)  Perks of Mexico.

I also included an activity that we did with this family and their little kids saying how there are stepping stones to reach heaven. Each one is a step of the Gospel (fe, arrepentimiento, bautismo, don del espiritu santo, perserverar hasta el fin). We tried having him jump without the stepping stones from his name to heaven (see picture). It was pretty funny.

I have gone a bunch of interchanges this past week. In El Oro I went to do some interviews for a family of 4 that was baptized yesterday. The dad was a little nervous of baptism and didn’t want to do it. So the elders there asked me to go out to try to help resolve his doubts. When I got there I asked how he was liking church and he said he really liked it but he was the most stubborn about baptism. But then he told me that he was talking with his family and he decided to be baptized! Super easy. haha. They will be a good family. 

Glad that Aaron did well in his musical. I like the musical a lot. You would not believe how many types of people there are here like your role, Aaron.

Still doing well here. We are pretty excited for Christmas and started listening to Mormon tab Christmas music. Hope you all have a great week. Love you all!

-Elder Thomas

I had so much faith that she was already a member!

Hey family!

Can you believe that this is the last week of changes already? You probably don’t care, but whatever, that’s what is going on in my life. These changes just go faster and faster. I feel like we are on week 2, but all of a sudden we are halfway through week 6. Who knows what will happen. I could leave, I could stay, we both could stay, who knows...

So this past week we have traveled a ton. I have been a bit sick with the cold and some bad food in my stomach (chilaquiles are not fun coming up), so luckily I can sleep on the buses. :)  Tuesday we went to Ixtlahuaca and the district meeting there (see picture). On Wednesday we went to Toluca for our meeting with the stake president. Nothing too eventful. It was just with President Whitehead, the stake president, and the other zone leaders in the stake and we talked about each ward and how they are doing. The good news is that I got my package for Halloween Mom! Thanks :) Thursday we traveled to El Oro to work there a bit with the elders. It is a pretty cool pueblo. It used to be a mine town, but they closed it down when they had the civil war here. They would find a lot of gold and platinum. Kinda cool. Friday we went on interchanges with Ixtla. I worked with Elder Uelese (from Samoa) Sunday we left to D.F. for conclio and returned on Monday night. Traveling is super tiring. Who knows why, because you just sit in the bus. Yesterday we had our zone meeting. We focused a lot on finding news and really using Preach my Gospel. The entire mission is doing a challenge to finish the Book of Mormon before Christmas, so I think a lot of people haven’t been studying PMG, but I think we are going to get both of the books rolling.

Sorry my letters are so boring. They are just lists of what has gone on in the week. haha.

Guadalupe is doing okay...she didn’t go to church this week because she said she was sick again. The mornings here are really cold, so a lot of people think they are sick in the mornings... dumb cold. It was kind of funny because the other day, Elder Goodrich and I had it planned to teach the commandments to her, but when we walked in she had this HUGE altar of the Virgin Mary in the middle of the room. She said someone on Monday would come to pick it up for the 12th of December (when they celebrate her). We decided to wait a bit before we teach that she shouldn’t have images or idols... this week we will do that.

We do have some other good people that are doing well named Victor and Berta. They came to church for the 2nd time this past Sunday even though Victor was really sick! They seem really nice and sell tacos. The only thing is that there are like 18 dogs by their house and they always come chasing at us and try to bite us. Luckily I carry a rock in my pocket now.  

I took some pictures of my area for you. The one with the flowers is on top of a pueblo called Acambay. The others with the clouds on the mountains is where Guadalupe lives in Santiago Acutzilapan. There is a picture of the zone, me and Elder Uelese, and candy skulls that they sell for Día de Muertos. Day of the Dead wasn’t super exciting because we were in church and then traveling to D.F. But a lot of people had makeup of the Catrina which was odd. People don’t really go trick or treating here though :( It’s a bit funny because a lot of members are very skeptical about Halloween because here, everything has to do with religion. In the states it is just a time for the kids to be in funny costumes and get candy. Most members don’t do anything with Halloween because they all think it is celebrating the devil. I just like the candy, so I will stick with the American version.

One cool thing is that the hermanas in my area baptized on Sunday. They have about 6 months without baptizing, so it was pretty cool. Even cooler was how we found them. A few weeks ago Elder Goodrich and I needed to find some new investigators. We decided to go contact some people. I saw this nice lady walking down the street. I told Elder Goodrich "I have a lot of faith. This lady is going to get baptized". Turns out I have so much faith that she was already a member! She was inactive though. She had a little boy next to her who just turned 8. We wrote her direction and it was part of the hermanas’ area, so we past it on to them. The little boy (Yavdiel) lived with his grandma (Berta), but his mom isn’t a member. The hermanas taught him and he really wanted to get baptized. The mom came up from Toluca with her boyfriend. I did the baptism. It was pretty nice. Yavdiel wanted to swim though in the water so I had to pick him up and take him out. Nice little miracle. Berta is now active and very happy in the church.

The Segundo Rangel Family was confirmed on Sunday. We were a bit worried because one of the daughters is about to pop any day with her baby. Luckily they made it to Sunday...

So that is my week! I don’t know what will happen with changes. I love you all so much and miss you. Have a great week!

Elder Thomas

PS - I can´t believe Christmas is coming up. Time seriously flies. I sure hope I can have the energy... i have been so worn out these past few days with this sickness. Just gotta keep going! I can rest in 6 months. haha. I hope your zone conference is good. Missionaries always get really excited about those things, so I hope they learn and take a lot out of it. haha i liked your joke. Love you dad!