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.
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.
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!
No comments:
Post a Comment