Transfer 16 Week 3 November 16 2015

Well this week was really good. My mission president had to have surgery this last week, so we were all a little bit worried about him, but I saw him yesterday and he seems to be recovering really well.

My companion and I are still having a lot of success in the area. We have quite a few investigators and we are even teaching three families! This week we started to teach another family, they have a son named Daniel who has gone to church before. He also went to a big activity a few months ago called efy, but it is a bit different from the efys in the united states. They really want to learn more about the church, and we are hoping that they will choose to be baptized soon. 

Well, that´s it for this week

Elder EARL

Tranfer 16 Week 2 November 9 2015

Well i dont have much time to write this week. We had a service project today and it took longer than we originally expected.

I am doing really well and we had another really good week here in Saltillo. The most exciting thing that happened this week is finding a new family to teach! It is always a really good feeling when you get to teach an entire family together. The spirit is always super strong especially when we testify about the importance of the family and the fact that through the power of the preisthood our families can be together forever! So far we have had 3 lessons with them, and so far they really like the message. We are going to continue working and helping them and hopefully someday soon they will be baptized in the church of Jesus Christ. 

Overall everything is going really well. My companion and i are working really hard and we are having a great time doing it! We have seen a lot of success in these first two weeks of the transfer.

Elder Earl

Transfer 16 Week 1 November 2 2015

Well i have officially started my last 12 weeks as a full time missionary. Truthfully it feels a little weird, but i don´t think that it has fully hit me yet that i am going to be home in just a few months. But i can worry about all of that on January 20th.

 

So far this transfer has gone really well. They didn´t transfer any of the 6 missionaries in my ward, so it feels like basically nothing has changed. My old companion Elder Gallardo from Ecuador is in my District now, which is super cool. He is a really good friend.

 

We really focused this week on trying to find new investigators in our area in order to have some new people to teach this transfer. Truthfully this area is one of the hardest areas that i have had when it comes to finding people who are willing to hear us. But luckily i have come to the point in which rejection doesn´t really phase me. Sure i feel sad for the people who may never get to hear the message of the restoration, but i am reminded of somthing that my mission president told us in a conference not to long ago. Everytime someone rejects us that just means that we are one person closer to finding a person prepared to accept the gospel. I am also thnkful to be in Mexico, because i know that there are other missions that have an even harder time than here. So by the end of the week we were able to find 6 new investigadors to teach, and we are hoping that by the end of this week we will be teching another family as well.

 

Everything else is going really well. My companion and I still get along really well. I am happy! and i am glad that the Lord is letting me be a full-time missionary for another 12 whole weeks!

 

Elder Earl

Transfer 15 Week 6 October 26 2015

Well the week went really well, and it went by super fast! i can´t believe how fast the time has been going lately. The transfer has officially ended, which means that we got all of the transfers today.

We had quite a bit of work this week. It was really good. We found a few more investigators and one of our investigators went to church with us yesterday. I wouldn´t say that my area is one of the easiest areas in my mission, but i have grown to really love it, and i have seen a lot of success and progress in the time i have here. 

So something super crazy happend this week...Aparently there was a giant hurricane here in mexico. It was super weird because i didnt hear anything about the hurricane until the day that it actually hit. I heard that it was the strongest hurricane in all of history, but apparently it didnt do nearly as much damage as everyone was expecting. Which is great. Here in Saltillo it just rained a lot. It kind of sucked because when it rains the streets all flood, but i am not going to complain.

So turns out i am staying in the same area with my same companion Elder Hopper. I wasn´t really expecting that, but i am happy with it. I only have two more transfers left, so it is possible that i finish here in my area.

So anyway, i am doing great! 

Elder Earl

                                               My companion Elder Hopper (Atlanta, Georgia)

                                                                 Elder Mera (Hildalgo, Mexico)

                                                                  Elder Nay(Utah)
                                              

Elder Bedoya (Colombia) and our pins we bought.

 

Transfer 15 Week 5 October 19 2015

Well we had another really good week. I dont have much time to write today because we went downtown to buy some sarapes. A sarape is like a colorful blanket that is originally from saltillo. They are pretty cool, so i bought some since i am actually ending the mission pretty soon. They are kind of like a mexican poncho but they dont have the slot to put your head into.

The week went really well. But not much happened that is really worth mentioning. We had a good lesson with one of our investigators Andy. He says that he is going to think about and pick a date for his baptism. That is something fairly new that we are implementing in our mission. Instead of inviting an investigator to be baptized on a certain date, we have them pick their own date. I think it is a good idea. I am not sure how many missions are doing it, but i think all of Mexico is.

So hopefully by the end of the week we will have another goal for a baptismal date. Everything else is going well. We only have one more week left in this transfer so we are going to keep working and finish strong. I am pretty sure that this next week i will receive my transfer to my last area!

Elder Earl  

                                                          I made this salsa!

Transfer 15 Week 4 October 12 2015

Well. We had another really good week this week. But i dont have much time to write so i am not going to write much.

We had a zone conference this week. It went really well. Our president talked to us about Faith. It was really interesting. It is so strange how a principle that seems so simple can be so deep and interesting. We also talked about inviting people to make and keep commitments. Which is something that we do a lot as missionaries. It went really well.

This week was really good. We had quite a few lessons and we have three investigators that seem to be progressing fairly well. One is named Oscar, and the other one is a couple named Guillermo and Norma. 

On Wednesday at like 8 at night a drunk guy in the street started to talk to us. Which is something that happens quite often here, especially in my area. Luckily the drunk people here are really nice, but this one was a little TOO nice. After talking for like 2 minutes or so he grabbed my face and pulled me down and kissed me on the cheek! it was really weird and truthfully it made me a little mad, but then he did the same thing to my companion. So i just started to laugh. It was an interesting experience, but we both had a laugh about it as we were walking to the next meeting.

Well that is about it for this week

Elder Earl

Transfer 15 Week 3 October 5 2015

It was another really good week. The transfer is already halfway over, and luckily everything is going well. I really like my area still, we have a lot of investigators, we continue to find more people to teach every week, and i still get along well with my companion.

Well, truthfully there wasn´t anything really all that exciting that happened this week. We had quite a few lessons, and on Friday i did divisions with an Elder named Elder Nay. He is from St. George, Utah. The divisions went really well. We stayed in my area. I get along really well with Elder Nay, so the day was really cool. He has been in the mission for almost a year.

This weekend was General Conference! it was amazing! I had a really great time, and it was the first time in the mission that i was able to watch the conference in English. Spanish is great, but i definitely like the conference more in English. The traslators can´t convey the emotion that you can hear in the speakers own voice. I would say that my favorite talk was Elder Robert D. Hales. I am pretty sure that is was in the Saturday Afternoon session. I also really liked the idea of ¨Ponderizing¨ a scripture every week. And it is definitely something that i would like to apply.

It was also really amazing to see the three new Apostles called to service. I really enjoyed all of their testimonies. I am sure that they will make great Apostles. 

Well thats it for now

Elder Earl