turkeys, drunks, and people progressing

Hey family!

This past week was great. Can I just say how much I love the pueblos? There are so many times where I just tell my companion that this wouldn’t happen if we were in the city. For example, having some members kill their guajolote [turkey] and then eatiit, having little chicks walk on your feet as you are eating, getting stuck behind a herd of sheep and not being able to pass, or having some member randomly give you jicama in the middle of church (see pictures). I am pretty sure this is my last week here in Atlacomulco and that President is going to send me to D.F. (blehhhhh) for my last 2 changes. I am pretty sad about it, but trying to enjoy the pueblos one last week.

So we have finally had some èxito [success] this past week. First off, we finally found Hermana Luz. She left for 3 weeks out of town and finally got back. She is planning to be baptized this Thursday. She is doing really well and is happy to be progressing in the Gospel.

I forgot to tell you last week about this one investigator named David. My companion contacted him a few weeks ago when I was working in El Oro. He came to church by himself last week, but he was really drunk. He was talking super loud in the Sacrament meeting. A member gave him her hymn book and he was trying to sing with the book upside down. And then he took out a bottle of alcohol and he dropped it and the hymn book ended up getting soaking in alcohol. The whole chapel then smelled like alcohol. It was super funny. He stayed for 30 minutes of the next class and then left. In the classroom, it smelled awful so I went and opened the window. One of the hermanas was like sarcastically, “Oh, thank you elder. It was so hot in the room,” even though it was freezing in the church. haha. We eventually cleaned up the alcohol and got the smell out. Anyway, so we have been teaching David a bit. It is really hard for him to focus because the alcohol has done a lot of damage to his brain. We told him if he goes a week without drinking we will give him a white shirt and tie.

We also found this other sweet family. We went with these menos activos [less actives]. We asked them the names of their neighbors. They told us and we went to visit them. It’s a single mom with a 16 year old boy and a 5 year old boy (Adriana, Abraham, and Jesus). They are super interested and accepted to be baptized in a month. So yesterday the menos activos (single mom and 2 teenagers) and these other investigators came to church yesterday! It was great.

On Wednesday we had the worldwide missionary conference. It was awesome! I learned so much. A lot about the role of the Spirit and my role as a missionary. We are to teach repentance and baptize converts! It was so good!

I am doing super well. I love the mission. At times it’s like I am tired and want to do other stuff, but then there are other things that I love and will miss doing so much. Mexico is crazy, but it is always an adventure!

-Elder Thomas

Miner Elders

Hey Family!

Today was pretty fun. After cleaning the house and cutting our hair we went to El Oro with Elder Medina and Elder Moreno and went to the gold mines that they just opened up. It wasn’t huge, but it was pretty cool. There still is a bunch of minerals under there, but it is just too expensive to do it all so now it is a tourist area. We also got to wear the cool hats :) We then went to get some sopes and tacos to eat :)  Love Mexico!

So this week was pretty good. Tuesday morning was a junky day. At 5:30 in the morning, I felt like I had to throw up so I ran to the bathroom. Sure enough I threw up. And I was throwing up all morning long. I also had the worst diarrhea ever. I was trying to get ready in the morning to go to the district meeting I was in charge of, but then fell on my bed and told Elder Lopez to call Hermana Whitehead to see what medicine I could take. Fortunately, the night before I asked everyone in my district to prepare something to teach so we did the junta in our house and I slept and they all did the meeting! It was pretty great and I was grateful for the missionaries in my district. We ended up staying in the house all day and I took a lot of pills. I also lost some weight, but I think I gained it back with the Mexican food. haha Wednesday though I was back in the game.

We also had interviews with President Whitehead. He is such a good man. I am so grateful for them. He talked to me a little about the mission because so many missionaries are going home and almost all the Americans are gone (we are very rare these days ;) ). The mission is very young as well so he said we need to work really hard to train the missionaries. He also doesn’t have that much time. He finishes at the end of June. They just called the new mission President. I think he is American but also Hispanic.

In terms of investigators...Well we have been trying to find Hermana Luz but she isn’t answering her phone and we haven’t been able to find her. 

We also are working with this one joven named Santiago. He is a 16 year old kid who is very shy but I think he really feels something different in the Gospel. He is a bit confused with the Catholic traditions, but we are trying to help clarify it all. He asked us an interesting question. He asked “If it is the church of Jesus Christ, why aren’t there more members like there are Catholics?” I thought about it for a second and then told him, “We have to remember what happened to Christ. There were enough people who were against him and they ended up crucifying him. His church was completely established but the people still rejected him.” I have been thinking about that this past week. The true followers of Christ may be few, but it is because we are willing to make the true sacrifices to follow Him. 

So that is pretty much what has been going on. We got permission to use scarfs, hats, and we got a new heater because it is so cold in the mornings and at night.

This week should be good. We are having a worldwide mission training conference on Wednesday. So I am excited for that.

I am so sad how fast the time is going. Every second people are reminding me how fast the time is going. It makes me sick. Ughhhh I don’t know what I am doing when I get home. I honestly don’t care. I love being here in Mexico and serving the people and I love being able to serve the missionaries as well. It is great because you always feel productive :) 

Well, have a great week. I love you all!

-Elder Thomas

 

Mexico is hot. LIES!

Hey Family!

So this area’s climate sure is different than Valle de Bravo, where I was at a year ago. It has been so STINKIN COLD! Remember how we thought Mexico is also hot. LIES! It has been below freezing temperature. It hasn’t snowed/rained which is good, but it sure is chilly. President Whitehead gave us permission to use scarfs for the cold. Too bad I don’t have one. haha. I think I notice it hear a lot more because there is no heating in the houses here. The good thing is that it is warm in the day.

So this week was a pretty good week. Tuesday we had a zone meeting in Toluca. It was good, but pretty long. We didn’t get back to our area until almost 7...Wednesday I went to Ixtlahuaca to work with Elder Carrillo who is from Merida, Yucatan (friends of Elder Roca). He is a really great missionary. He came into this area that is really hard, the ward was super disanimated, and nothing was really happening. He has been changing it a ton. Everyone is a lot more excited and they have been bringing a lot of people to church and they had a baptism yesterday. It was pretty fun to work with him.

Also on Friday I went to El Oro to work with Elder Bird. We had a good time working together. Unfortunately the pueblo we worked in had some Catholic party that EVERYONE was planning, so we didn’t have a lot of success. Elder Bird is really great, but on Saturday President called him and told him he was going to be the new financial secretary. So now my companion, Elder Medina from the Domincan Republic (my companion in Valle de Bravo) is coming to El Oro. Now I’ve got a district full of Latinos. haha.

We haven’t had a lot of success in our area. We do have this joven named Santiago that we are working with. He came to church a few weeks ago and he came again yesterday. He is kinda shy but a very noble kid. We are bringing him to an activity on Saturday with the other youth.

Hermana Luz gets back this week so hopefully we can find her and continue teacher her.

Other than that, that was my week. 

The only other thing was this past Wednesday was dia de Reyes. It’s where they celebrate the 3 kings that went to visit Jesus. They don’t really have Santa here, instead they have the kings. They have special bread that they make called Roscas de Reyes with baby Jesus dolls inside. I think I sent some pictures last year. Anyway, in the center here in Atlacomulco they had the three kings and you can take pictures with them. I told Elder Lopez that we can’t pass this opportunity up. We paid the 40 pesos and got one :) I think it’s funny because they couldn’t find a black person so they just painted one on. haha. 

So that is about my week. I love you all. I am glad everyone is doing well. I miss you tons!

-Elder Thomas

Happy New Year 2016!

Can you believe it is 2016?! It’s funny because as a missionary, you have your certificate that says when you will finish. You enter into the mission field and you just see this date on there staring back at you. Everyone comes to ask yourself, “could that year really ever come?” I can’t believe that we are in this year. Time sure flies. It feels awful when people ask you how much time you have in the mission. I say I have about 4 months. “Oh yeah, you are practically done.” que miedo me da... [that scares me]

So this week was okay. Honestly it was pretty hard because I feel like our entire area went on vacation. There were nights where we were in centro where there are always a ton of people and instead it was super empty. It was a bit of a challenge. Hermana Luz had her interview for her baptism. She was all set to come to church, but yesterday texted us in the morning and said she was going out of town for a week. NOOO! It was a bummer way to start the morning.

Luckily, the family Segundo Rangel came to church and the bishop blessed the baby! They also brought one other son and his girlfriend to church with them. The two of them live together and just moved back with the family, so we are going to start teaching them this week. Other than that, we are pretty desperate for more investigators. If you aren’t teaching, the days seem to drag on and you seem to be wandering without purpose and without energy. Yesterday, a million people were in the terminal and in taxis so hopefully everyone is coming back.

So the highlight of this past week was definitely New Years.  On the 24th we went to Toluca. We had a testimony meeting in our zone and then we had pizza and watched the Lego Movie. Haha it was actually pretty good. It was funny because after all the missionaries were so excited and were all talking about how great the movie was. I think any movie would be good after not seeing any movies for about two years...We took a picture all wearing scarfs. We then played soccer and volleyball. We also broke piñatas. We then went to stay the night in Toluca with Elder Olvera and Rigby.

I think the best part of the night was at midnight. I had made a goal to finish the Book of Mormon before the New Year. Just as we would all do with our summer homework, I waited to finish until the night before. I was in Ether 10 so I set apart an hour to finish. All the other elders went to bed and I stayed in the kitchen to read. Wow, I love that book. As I was reading the time was getting closer and closer to the New Year. Then right at 12 I finished. Being in Mexico, there were millions of illegal fireworks outside. They all started going off right as I finished reading. It was like everyone was cheering for me! It was great... Anyway, whenever I finish reading the Book of Mormon, I like to follow Moroni’s promise. I said a prayer asking if the things I had learned and if this book were true. The Spirit was so strong and I could just feel a huge hug of warmth enfold me. I am so grateful for the people that brought this book to pass. I know it is the truth. It contains the fullness of the Gospel. After that, I went to bed as everyone was still cheering me on until 6:25 in the morning.

I love you all and hope you have a great year of 2016. Thanks for everything!

-Elder Thomas