I love Mexico! My hearing is back to normal.

Hi family,

Here I am once again. You are probably at the dinner table reading this. As I returned to the house last week I realized I forgot to tell you the most exciting thing last week. On Thursday and Friday morning I woke up and I wasn´t able to hear anything in my left ear. It was the worst. I was worried I had gone deaf. I called the Hermana Whitehead and she told me to call the doctor. I called the doctor and he told me to go to the temple (the doctors office is behind the Vistors’ Center) to get it checked out. He checked my ear and he said it had to be cleaned out. He took a pipe thingy and flooded my ear with warm water. After 4 tries a huge chunk (the size of a kernel of corn) of wax came out. It was amazing because afterwards it was like surround sound. I could hear everything. It made me think, “Wow! I am excited for the resurrection.  Everything will all of a sudden be super clear.” So that got me really excited for the future.

So that was a pretty exciting story that I hope you enjoyed. It just got me thinking as Dad always said “Wow! The body is really amazing”...

I am loving the mission. It kills me that my time is coming to an end. Everyone reminds me. Literally the assistants (Elder Bastian and Elder Huber) call me just to talk to me to see how I am doing. Then they remind me how much time I have. I am trying to stay focused. I think of it as a race. I can be one of two people. At the end of the race I can slow down because I am tired or I can sprint to the end. Hopefully I can sprint.

This one kid named Alan is leaving for his mission in Hermosillo here in Mexico tomorrow. (See picture) It really got me thinking about some of the things I have learned over this time. I am excited for him though. He was baptized 2 years ago and his family was just sealed a week ago. He will be a great missionary.

Today we had a zone conference with President. It was pretty good. We talked about how we really need to re-put our focus in the work. We also talked about la santificación personal. It was great. I love President. He is about to finish in June. I am glad he has been here for my mission.

We have found some good people this past week. Some are more or less good. We will see what happens. We did find a good couple named Rebeka y Jose Juan. They aren’t married (but that shouldn’t be a problem to marry them :) ). They went to church for the first time yesterday and I think they really liked it. They stayed all 3 hours and were participating in all the classes. I hope they accept the Gospel. We have a cita with them tomorrow.

I don’t remember if I told you, but we wrote our own Living Christ. That was my project that I did this past week. I loved doing it because I really thought what Christ did for me. Easter here is pretty different. No eggs or bunnies. On Thursday-Sunday they have lots of Misas ( I think that’s mass in English). They also have lots of representations of the crucifixion of Christ. It is good that they remember Christ, but I feel like Christ did it so that we don’t have to suffer. I am so grateful for the Atonement of Christ. If we ACCEPT it and APPLY it we can really find this eternal happiness.

I love the mission so much. I love Mexico and I love the people. Thanks for your love and your support. Have a great week!

-Elder Thomas

PS - Thanks for the pictures Dad! Thanks for your letter! I am so grateful to have you as parents!  I am so excited for General Conference. It is the best.  I love applying conference in my life as a missionary. I can apply it how I can be a better person, missionary, and how to help my investigators! 

No roosters or police.

Hey family,

Hope you are doing well! I am still here in Anahuac. The mission is going well. Not very eventful, but it was okay. I think after time in the mission you just run out of things to tell...

We found the guy with the rooster. We had an appointment with him to meet at the church but then he never came. Later at night we found him in the street and he got mad at us and said we weren’t there at the church. I told him we were there waiting 30 minutes. I invited him to church and he said he would go, but unfortunately never came. Nor his rooster.

The hardest thing has been trying to find people to visit. Usually what we have been doing this past week is just contacting people as they are entering into their houses. We ask them if we can sing a song and say a prayer. Usually they let us in, but then it all depends on their interest. It is great because Mexicans are so nice to let strangers into their house, but sometimes you end up entering into a house where the people don’t have that much interest and they just don’t want to be rude so they let you in anyway.

On the other hand, there are also some other people that aren’t quite as friendly. A week ago I was working for 2 hours with Elder Veazey. We went to go find a family that we were teaching. We entered into the vicindad (it is like a lot where there are many houses behind the door). We tried knocking on the door but no one came out. We then heard someone on the roof. Elder Veazey yelled "buenas noches!" This old lady then came out and said, “Get out. get out or I will call the police.” Then Elder Veazey was like, “Hola hermana. We are missionaries and we are only looking for this family. My name is Elder Veazey. I come from a nice family with 5 brothers and sisters". The lady then said, “Get out! Mayte, call the police! These people don’t want to leave.” We ended up leaving, but it was pretty funny the situation. Here in Mexico you are allowed to enter into the vicindades, but there are some viejitas who are really nice and others that are super rude.

So this next week we are going to find lots of people to teach. We are going to go on intercambios, Elder Veazey and I, so that should be fun.

These past few days I have been working on creating my "The Living Christ" and I have found it interesting how my testimony of Christ as changed over the past two years. I am so grateful for Christ and his Atonement. I understand it even more and I feel closer to my Savior more than ever. Even with all of the apostasy that people are doing in the streets this next week, I am coming to really understand who Christ is for me and how He really is the Savior of the world. I am so grateful for Him and the sacrifice He has done for me. I am grateful for the time I have to serve him. Happy Easter!

-Elder Thomas

I'm not "dead" yet

Hey there family!

Sorry for not writing last week. It is a long story, but pretty much what happened is we went with this member to this one park in centro, but then when we got back we couldn´t find a cyber to write. We took some pictures though of where we went and eating tacos! It was stressful, but also a fun adventure.

So here is the run down of what has been going on.

We had the wedding of Fermin and Isaura! It was super great. We got Fermin’s mom to come so she could sign for him. The wedding went really well. Even though they are young, they are a good couple.  I also sometimes want to hold their baby, but we aren't allowed to so I just make faces with the baby. After we came back and had mole. On Sunday we had Fermin’s baptism. He had food poisoning though, so he came late to church and then was sick during his baptism. He had to leave a few times to go to the bathroom to throw up.  Poor kid. But after the baptism he felt better and was super happy. He is planning to enter into the temple in a year with their daughter, Zoe.

The family of 5 is mas o menos [better or worse]. They are so occupied with their granddaughters’s health, so it has been hard to reach them. They also have this rude old Catholic old lady. We entered to find the family and she threatened to call the cops. 

We did contact this one guy in a convey. He was kinda odd. He had a rooster on his lap and said it was his best friend. He said he lived in the US some time. He also said he was in prison. Who knows why? We invited him to church and he ended up coming! With his rooster and all! Some members told him that he had to take the rooster home though. haha. 

So in other news...I have officially started my last change. Weird. Elder Parra left and Elder Sanchez came in. He has 17 months in the mission and is from Monterey, Mexico. He seems pretty calm and like a nice kid. And as you saw, I got my plane ticket. That is super weird. Everyone is always reminding me that I am almost "dead" in the mission or almost done. I just tell them “I’m not dead yet!” I am just trying to stay focused and focus on finding more people to teach.

I just heard that Edgar Arriaga from my other area just got the Melchizedek Priesthood yesterday! I am super excited for their family.

Also, I got our dueño [landlord] to help us set up my hammock! So that is a nice addition to the house.

Well I think that is about it on my life. This week I am really going to focus on 100% obedience. I am pretty obedient, but sometimes there are the little things that can change the 99% to a 100%. 

Thanks for your love and support. I love you all and hope that you are doing well.

-Elder Thomas

don't have time to write...

Hey Family,

We got back late to our area. Sorry I don't have time to write. I just wanted to let you know that we are all good! Nothing to exciting. We are planning the wedding of the jovenes this week. We found a family of 5 that we are teaching. 

Sorry I don't have time... Here is a picture of my district. Have a great week!

-Elder Thomas