The work moves on!

Buenos tardes mi familia!

So we are still running around here in Anahuac. End of the months are always busy because for some reason it is when everyone wants to get baptized.  I did some interviews with the zone leaders this week. I was pretty happy with my district. We had a great month.  But more than that, I was happy to see how many people were able to be baptized and start this life changing experience. There were a few single people that got baptized and 3 families. I just imagine all of these people going to enter into the Celestial Kingdom with the missionaries that taught them. It talks in D&C about how if we just bring one soul into the kingdom of God, how happy we will be. And imagine if we bring multiple people! I think that is where the real joy will come from. Not as much here in the earth, but more when we are going to the Celestial Kingdom. Now we all just have to endure to the end to be able to receive it!

We had our zone meeting on Tuesday. The zone leaders gave me the weirdest topic. "How to be santo" it was kinda odd, but fun to talk how we all can be and are saints.  Also I did this interview for the Hermanas in Cuajimalpa. This lady was pretty good, but a bit odd. She told me that she was so happy we were there. She said she was laying on her bed the other day and closed her eyes. She said she received a revelation that my companion and I were walking up to her house. She said I had a golden circle around my head. I wanted to laugh because that is what the Saints in the Catholic Church have. But it was a nice comment. Haha.

Yesterday we were able to have the baptism of Concepción. She is really good. I think I told you a bit about her. Her daughter and grandson were just baptized a month ago. She kind of has a weird creepy thing for white guys, so that makes me feel uncomfortable. That is probably why she wanted me to baptize her. haha. We had a good baptismal service and I am really happy for her.

We are working with a kid named Fermin. I know this is kinda weird what we are doing, but it is to help them.  Isaura was inactive. Her grandma is active though.  Isaura is 17 almost 18 and she had a kid with Fermin who is 16. They are living together. Fermin isn’t a member, but he wants to get baptized and do things right in his new family. So this Friday we are planning on marrying Fermin and Isaura! Like I said, it is weird to be marrying kids, but also it will be good so they can do things right and live the commandments.

Brenda and Miguel were confirmed yesterday as well. The work moves on!

This one convert from Madereros also heard I am here in the stake. She is about to complete a year (this week I think) and she wants me to go with her to receive her endowment. I hope I can receive permission. She also sent me an apple pie. So that made my day. She is like a Mexican Sister Seymour! haha.

That is about my entire week. I wish I had a cool story. Tuesday night was a huge shocker because the secretary called me to ask which airport I wanted to go to. That made me really sad and realized how little time I have. It was a bit of a reality shock. I was really thinking about telling him to send me to London to go meet up with Dallin, but then I thought that that wouldn’t be that much fun because I would still have to get released. So I decided I will go back to Portland, Maine.

Anyway, all is well here in Mexico. I love being a missionary. Sometimes I just love looking at what I am doing. I love the feeling when someone decides to say a normal prayer (not memorized). I really feel like I am helping a child of God come closer to Him. Thanks for your support and love!

-Elder Thomas

A good week...focused on preparing two people for their baptisms.

Hey family!

This week was good. It mainly was focused on preparing two people for their baptisms. 

The first one was Miguel. Miguel’s sister is a member and Miguel is 11. We had to get permission from his dad so he could get baptized. He wanted to get baptized and the sister was able to get the signature of his dad and Miguel was able to be baptized yesterday.

The other baptism was of Brenda. Her family was baptized last week, but she didn’t know if she should get baptized and really wanted an answer to know if the church was true. We talked to her in the church and then out of no where this member ended up coming in on the lesson. We were kind of worried that Brenda would close up with the member there, but the member helped her a lot. She has had an interesting childhood and has had a hard time moving on from her past. The Spirit was strong during the lesson. We gave her a lot of advice and testimonies of the church. We decided to leave her a few minutes alone in this room to pray and receive her answer. She then called us back to the room and said that while waiting in the room she felt a breeze of air. She wasn’t sure where it came from because the window and door were closed. She said the Book of Mormon had been opened to Moroni 6. She said that as she was reading it she felt peace and that it was right. It was an interesting answer, but hey it worked! We were able to have her baptism yesterday and she is thinking of serving a mission! I am so glad for the Book of Mormon and the answers it can give. It is amazing how God knows us and knows exactly what we need to read/feel.

We also found this other investigator named Felipe. He is really sick with a sickness that is terminal. He came to church yesterday for a bit. We will see how he progresses this week.

We are also working with Concepcion. We are planning her baptism this next week. She loves church and says that these past 4 weeks she has gone have been the best 4 Sundays of her life.

The work is going well here. The area is crazy, but it is good.

This past week we gave Felipe a blessing of healing. He still was hurting but he said he felt peace and very calm. I was thinking in the night how cool it is to have the authority of God. Yesterday at church I was thinking more about the privilege of having the Priesthood. I thought that even though we have the authority of God we still are not perfect. We still have to partake of the Sacrament to be able to be clean again. I love the Gospel. It is so simple but so amazing.

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

-Elder Thomas

The Pope visits, baptisms, "Imagine" sung on Valentines

Dear family,

I cannot believe I am here again...These days just go faster and faster. On Tuesday we had our zone meeting and I am the “oldest”  in the mission, in the zone. I love the mission and trying to take in every day, even though every day other missionaries or members remind me that I am almost done.

So just some of the highlights for this week:

1. On Friday we did the interviews of Dolores, Ricardo and Angel. Then we did interchanges with the zone leaders. I went with Elder Veazy and my companion went with Elder Bastian. I went to do 2 interviews for them. One of the ladies was a little unsure if she should get baptized. I said the opening prayer and the lady just stayed with her eyes closed praying. I waited 30 seconds and then started the interview. While doing the interview, the Spirit was really strong. At the end of the interview I asked her if she was ready and willing to take upon her the name of Jesus Christ and keep the commandments. She waited about 20 seconds and then said "sí". She told me that she was praying at the beginning of the interview to ask for help to say yes or no. She received her answer and said yes. It was a cool experience.

So now because of that event the zone leaders call me "Santo Thomas" (saint Thomas) and I am worried it is going to stick here in the mission because today we played soccer with some other elders and they all called me Santo Thomas..

2. On Saturday we went to the temple with Dolores and her family. It was an awesome experience because we were a smaller group and when we got there the sister missionaries had us write down the needs of our investigators. The sister missionaries were then able to apply the gospel to their needs. The temple is great and I am SO excited to be able to enter into the actual temple to do temple work.

3. Sunday was stressful, but it went really well. We had the baptism of Dolores, Ricardo, and Angel. In my district I have the zone leaders, and 3 companionships of hermanas.  One of the companionships of hermanas had 5 baptisms so we decided to do the service together. It was great to have 8 people be able to enter into the waters of baptism and take the name of Christ upon them. I am so happy for Dolores and her kids. We are working with her other daughter Brenda. She has had a lot of things from her past that she is trying to leave behind and it has been really hard for her to forgive. We are working with her and I think this next week she is going to be baptized. 

We are also working with a lady named Concepción who went to church again yesterday. 

4. The last and probably least exciting was the visit of the papa. There are a bunch of signs all over the city that says “the city of Mexico welcomes you papa Francisco”.  It makes me wonder, “what will the welcome be for when Jesus Christ comes?”"

So that has been my week. Even though it is really hard and exhausting, I love being a missionary and being able to help people come unto Christ. Thanks for your love and support. I love you!

-Elder Thomas

P.S. - Yesterday this one guy sang to us in the street “Imagine” with a very nice Mexican accent. One of the best I saw on Valentine’s day.  I’ll show you the video when I get home.

In terms of the work...it is going well!

Buenas tardes mi familia!

Here I am again at the cyber! I love my area. It is so weird but I love it. So we have the traditional Mexico city part. Some parts that are dangerous and we avoid at night, everyone “wants” me because I am white (ewwww), everyone says a ton of swear words, drunk guys passed out in the street, and the normal Mexican people. But what is weird is crossing this one street. You enter into what is called Interlomas. SUPER FRESA! They are huge apartment/house buildings. There are a few members that live there and gave us food. It is so weird. They are like American houses. Super pretty. They all have iPhones and Macbooks. We go through security to get in. Yesterday we drove in an audi with a member... They also have given us a crockpot meal, another day barbeque wings, another day, an oven cooked meal. We ate bread instead of tortillas. Some families are from Argentina. They studied at BYU. They speak English. So weird. It is so strange going from this world back into the area where we mainly work in "normal Mexico." I try to put on my best behavior and not get food on my tie :)

Another fun thing about my area is there are 3 Seventies in my ward. Elder Pieper, Elder de Hoyes, and Elder Valenzuela. I shared my testimony yesterday in church. no pressure with 2 of the 3 seventies sitting behind you. Also the stake president lives in our area. There are also 1 or 2 American families in our ward. I think President Whitehead is trying to get me to get use to going home to America...

So in terms of the work... It is going well! We have a family of 4 that we are teaching. Delores (mom) and her 3 kids, Brenda (18), Ricardo (14), and Angel (10). We are planning their baptism for this Sunday! Brenda says that she likes church but for her "own reasons" doesn’t want to get baptized. We are pretty excited for them. 

We are also teaching another lady named Concepción. Her daughter was just confirmed yesterday and Concepción went to church for the 2nd time. She loves the church. She can’t read, so we are going to have to help her understand the lessons really well.

We have some other people that we are teaching, but those are the people with the most potential.

We did have this good lesson with this one family of menos activos. One thing they told us in the worldwide missionary conference is that we should treat the menos activos as investigators. We decided to teach this family who was baptized 8 years ago, the Restoration. It was a great lesson. I shared the 1st vision and we could feel the Spirit so strongly. They said that they need to go back to church and agreed to go back this next Sunday! I sure hope they go! I love to share about the Restoration. It just makes so much sense!

Elder Parra and I are doing well. I don’t always agree with what he does, but I am trying to be patient. We seem to get along for the most part. Today we went to the Santa Fe plaza (it’s in my district). All the rich people are there. I don’t feel like I fit in with my small little Nokia phone.

So that is a bit of a wrap-up of this past week. Happy superbowl. I decided to take a picture of a bus with a superbowl ad because it is nice to know that even in the world of pure futbol, they still celebrate American futbol. Also, the Pope is here this week so people are pretty excited about that.

Les amo mucho y les extraño.  FeLiZ CuMpLiAñOs MOM!!!!!!! 

-Elder Thomas

PS – Dad, that is so funny. Everyone knows Johnny. I have met people here in the mission who went to BYU and know Johnny. He is great. He is in Taiwan in his mission right now. I can’t believe my pictures still show up on the appleTV...haha.

Have a fun week! Send me lots of pictures! Thanks for putting the money in my account. I try not to use a lot of money. I am trying to make all my clothes last until the end of my mission. 

Love ya dad!

Back in the city...Anahuac

Hey there family,

Well yeah I am back here in the city. D.F. I love the pueblos so much (as you can see from the sadness in my picture). There is such a different way of life. The people are more simple and less worldly. They are also nicer. I took a bunch of pictures with the members. I will really miss Atlacomulco and this ward. 

This past week was good and bad. Hermana Luz apparently was just taking advantage of us. We were planning her baptism for Thursday and then she sent us a text saying that Saturday would be better.  We had everything planned and we were filling of the font. She wouldn’t answer her phone so we went out to Acambay, but she didn’t answer. We saw her son in the street and he said she should be home... She then sent us a text saying she would be in D.F. for 2 months. We weren’t really sure if she is telling the truth. It was a huge bummer. Later we were talking to a member and she said that Luz was talking to her asking to borrow money for her rent and she told someone else that the church gives money when you get baptized. I WISH! So that was a huge bummer.

The family (Adriana and Abraham) are doing super well and went to church yesterday. They love the church and say there is nothing like it. We had a noche de hogar on Monday with some other members and talked about repentance and played this fun game. Everyone was laughing a ton.

Santiago (that joven I told you about 2 weeks ago) is doing well. He still is confused about the Catholic church because it is all he has heard about his whole life. He is really nice and I feel like I really made an impact on him. He is super shy but told us everything about him. This morning he came to the terminal in Atlacomulco to say goodbye and gave me a gift. I really hope for the best for him.

Today was also fun because when I got to the terminal the familia Arriaga Muñon came to visit me! They are doing so well. Edgar is now a counselor in Young Mens and Karla is a counselor in Young Womens.

So now where I am? I am in an area called Anahuac. It is the same zone as my other area Madereros. It is the zone of Chapultepec. I was going to go to another pueblo area in Metepec but then the assistant called me and told me that there are special changes because an elder broke his ankle really bad. So now I am here!  Right in the city. I am with Elder Parra. I really don’t like having companions with double Rs because I still can’t say them. I have practiced a ton, but it is so stinking hard and frustrating. haha. He seems nice. He is from Peru and has 14 months in the mission. I hope it is a good change! He has 2 changes here so I figure this will be his last and then he leaves and I will have one more companion and then I finish here! I hope I finish here because I really don’t like packing. I plan on throwing away most my stuff. haha. 

Well have a great week! I sure love you all! Happy February!

-Elder Thomas