12.27.17 Merry Christmas

12.27.17

I don't really have a ton of time to write, but Christmas was so awesome. it was so nice to be able to talk to all of you guys! I spent Christmas Eve with our neighbors who are Catholics. They're some of the nicest and most humble people ever. We showed up and there was like 2 people there so we were like thats so nice for them to invite us. Then like 20 people walk in 10 minutes later so we felt awkward because we just sat at the end of the table. THEN a lady walks in with a iguana and for some reason I guess my face screams "put that iguana on my shoulder" so I ate dinner with an iguana eating salad off my shoulder. BUT i did get that mistletoe kiss with that iguana. We spent Christmas day visiting members and playing Uno (shout out darla). then we watched Coco with the zone and then talked with you all. love you guys lots, and thanks for the support!!

hope you all had a good week and a good Christmas!! 

love you all

elder broadhead

12.18.17 Bad Taco, Rough Week

12.18.17

Hey Fam,

Well this week sickness went the 4 elders in madero and I was the lucky one who had it the longest. I’m pretty sure we had a bad tamale or maybe it was the dog tacos, but who knows.  This week consisted of finding a ton of people and scheduling lessons. We only have like 4 investigators who are progressing so right now its kinda slow with the investigators but you cant really make people change so patience is the key. This week I gave a talk in church and I talked about Peace and how we can find the best peace through Jesus Christ, the Prophet and his apostles, and the temple!! My talk was 20 minutes but when i got up to speak Bishop told me I had 10 min to speak so I closed my book and just bore my testimony (: We had out ward Christmas party this week too and none of our investigators showed up so thats kinda how the week went! Hope you all had a good week! 

love you guys lots

elder broadhead

12.11.17 Families

Ayeeeeeee fammm,  

This week literally FLEW by. but I'm loving my time here!! So this week only 2 of our investigators were progressing so that was terrible. BUT we found a TON of people again so pray that they'll want to actually progress.

I had a couple of awesome experiences this week.

First , was with a guy named Alfredo Saucedo. You cant tell me that you've heard a better name. We knocked his door and for some reason I felt like I should talk about prayer with him. As I asked if we could offer a prayer as we left and I asked if there was anything he would like us to pray for. He started crying and told us about his niece who has cancer in the states she isn't doing so well. We then talked about the Plan of Salvation, he told us that he would stop working for a day to have us come an teach him more!! 

Next was another door approach with this girl named Tania. We introduced ourselves then she was like hey. I like this message you guys should come and teach my family!!! As we were walking away from the house we saw this older guy carrying bags and we went over and carried his bags for him and guess what. IT WAS TANIA'S GRANDPA so hes like you guys should come teach my family!  Families are so fun to teach hahaha

Lasttttttt we went to knock this door of this lady who wasn't super enthusiastic about us coming back and on the way there we were  rethinking it because its high up in the hills but we stayed the course. When we got there a different lady answered the door, we introduced ourselves and after I introduced us , I felt the same prompting to talk about padre celestial and prayer with her. When we offered the prayer she was crying and said that shes never felt this feeling of peace. and she didn't understand how because her life was filled with family problems and other stuff. You can never go wrong when you go with the spirit. It was a great week and it's only going to get better.

Until next week,

Elder Broadhead

12.4.17 Steve Irwin

Wellllllll, 

Based on the title of the email I bet you can guess how I spent my week (:  A lot of our investigators are struggling keeping commitments and are progressing so we had to take a break for a lil bit. Sooooo that leaves a pretty big hole in the schedule. This week we contacted A TON and tried to work with the members to get more references. We contacted so many people but between getting fake names and fake addresses it was a little frustrating but its all gooood.

After a long day of contacting and feeling a little let down we were walking away from a door and we walk past a guy and he says "Hey, how are you?" (everyone here practices their English on me) and usually I keep walking, but I stopped and turned around and started talking to him. I’m glad I did. His names Chilo and took lessons from the missionaries about a year and a half ago. He also spoke perfect English with me and said that he felt something different about the Mormon church and he wants to start talking lessons again. The Lord is definitely aware of each one of us and knows how we’re feeling because this was such a blessing for me. 

soooo last we went to a members house for lunch and they had a sweet aquarium and I talked to them about fish and stuff and so they said,"If you think that's cool? We have a crocodile!"I was thingking. . .  WHAT??  Noooooooooo way. But then they brought me this crocodile to chill with. Shout out to the late Steve Irwin. You never know what you’re gonna get here in Cuautepec. 

Thought of the week: Who the Lord calls, He qualifies and he will bless us based on our faith and obedience, then after a trail of our faith comes the qualification. I know this to be true and it gives me hope as I look past my own inadequacies and try to be a better companion and missionary.

Love you all and hope your week is a 10\10

elder bhead 

11.28.17 First Thanksgiving

                                                                                  

Sooo I literally have 30 minutes to email this week soooo sorry if this week is short.

1) I had divisions Wednesday and I was with Elder Bran from El Salvador. We went to the first appointment  with the Family Delgado, a new family. At first they thought I couldn’t speak Spanish so they were wondering why would an American come to Mexico city, and why Cuautepec? Then they started roasting me ( like almost every person here does and I’m completely fine with it: ) but then I started talking to them about the purpose of a missionary and about the gospel and . . . they wanted to learn more! So awesome! They also tried to kill me by feeding me hot peppers and otherstuf???  but here thats how a gringo like me gets the respect of the people hahahahaha.

 2) We celebrated Thanksgiving by eating hamburgers!!! A little different from the traditional turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie but it worked. Later on our ward mission leader took us to get tacos at night. Yuh!!!

3) We had the Half Way training meeting at Lindavista ( another zone) and in the morning I prayed that I would have more opportunities to serve and be as productive as I can. Then, when we got off the bus at Lindavista we heard "ELDERS" and we turn around and see a guy. He says I  just got out of jail, and I heard about this church and I want to learn more! and I was so shocked .I asked, ”Where do you live? He’s like Cuautepec! We’re like “okay,  we’re in Cuautepec? Hes like Barrio Alto! THATS OUR AREA!! so yeah boy!!!!. Also he turns to me and says in perfect English,  "Do you speak English?" hahaha turns out he lived in Idaho for 15 years. Good guy. Hopefully he progresses

4) We had a baptism Saturday! Hermana Donnae zodonny Guererro Montaño!!! She’s 9 years old and is awesome!!!

Gotta run. Love you all and missed you all a little this week!

hazlo justo

-elder bhead

11.20.17 First Zone Conference

Well this week was FULL of conferences and meetings so this email is gonna be a little short. All is well in Cuautepec and life is awesome. 

1) The first experience was with Elder Watson, the AP. This week was also full of divisions too ahahah. So Elder Aguilar left to Lindavista to be with the other AP so I got to navigate Elder Watson and I through beautiful Madero(-: we were teaching the family Jiminez-Godinez-Sanchez about the Restoration. Before divisions I prayed LONG and hard that my Spanish wouldn´t be terrible and he wouldn’t think I was just here in Mexico just chillin. So the whole day I was making phone calls, scheduling appointments, doing every door approach. So during the lesson with the family I talked about Joseph Smith for a solid 10 minutes straight. (that’s a record for me)  After sharing the first vision, I asked   them how they felt about it. And if they felt something different. and each person in the family was like yeah I feel it. We talked about recognizing the spirit. . . . needless to say,  they agreed to be baptized! 

2) We had zone conference this week so I’ll just share a few things I learned. First we learned that the investigator should be doing most of the talking. To me, that’s pretty hard to have them do all the talking because how are they supposed to talk about a something they’ve never heard of? The answer is ASK QUESTIONS. Not just like, who was Joseph Smith? What is the Book of Mormon? Ask inspired questions that the Holy Ghost prompts you to ask. Like, If Joseph Smith was a true prophet, what does that mean about the church? ITS TRUEEEE. anyway. It was a gr8 conference(:

3) Last, we had Stake Conference. Pres and Sis De Leon spoke and it was so awesome. President spoke about missionary work. We are all missionaries. Everyone. He challenged everyone in the stake to talk to as many people as you can. On the bus, in lines, on the streets, and even in Tianguis. So my goal for the next week is trying to talk to literally everyone I can. 

The work here is awesome and there’s a ton of it!!
Love you guys and Hope you had a good week(:

(S/O Stephen for the bday this week! hope you have a good sweet 16!)

-elder bhead

11.13.17 Pretty Solid Week

SUP FAM ,

This week was 102 times better. I´ve just kind of accepted that no one likes me on the streets except the drunk people (surprise I know) but I’m a patient person and this week was pretty amazing.

The first experience was with a family who scheduled a meeting or whatever its called (Im having a hard time remembering stuff in english) my first week in the field! The family only has 2 kids and they're awesome. We taught about the Plan of Salvation and they loved it!! The Dad wasn't super religious, but he was participating and asking questions and it was so amazing. BUTTT the only problem is they work on sundays so its gonna be a fight to get them to go to church:( The daughters are taking ingles in school but they want to learn more so Im going to be teaching ingles to them. One of the daughters has a thick lisp so its a bit of a struggle with my limited spanish to understand what the heck she’s saying, but it will help me as much as it will help her.

The second awesome experience was with the Familia Jimenez-Godinez-Sanchez. They were a reference and  investigators of gold. No joke. We walked in and they offered us coffee then we explained the Palabra de Sabaduria to them and they literally threw away the coffee. Right in the trash. We taught about prayer and the mom of the family was so excited because after the opening prayer she started crying because she felt peace She was happy and was curious how she could do the same. We meet with them on Tuesday and we plan on inviting them to be baptized!

Third. So here they have things things called Tianguis and they're like a giant mexican flea market. You can literally find anything. Clothes, Toys, headphones, fish, computer parts, car parts, food, phones. Some of this stuff may be  stolen . . .  but you can get a good price for all of the stuff ahahah. Anywayyyy we were walking and there was a stack of dead fish like 4 feet high no joke. I turned to Elder aguilar and said if I had to eat that Id die. Well for lunch guess what we had. FISH. But it's all good I made up a theory what to do with bad food. If you don't like it, put it in a taco and put as much spicy stuff you can handle. Needless to say, Elder Aguilar is telling the Relief Society Pres I have a fish allergy because he hates the fish too ahhahaah.

Last is the Baptism of Julia!!!! I was stressed out before because I didn't know that I was supposed to teach the Restoration while they were changing. Then about 5 minutes before the Baptism, guess who walks in. PRESIDENT AND HIS WIFE. SO now i'm literally dying inside. But the Baptism service was amazing. Julias family  are Atheist but they still came. Hopefully they come around and give us a chance(: After the baptism service President complimented my spanish and said he was impressed.. . .  Whens April fools again?? :) Julia is sooo awesome and is pretty much like my mom here in Cuautepec she calls me skinny then tries to kill me by feeding me like 12 pounds of pan.

Pretty solid week here in Cuautepec(:

Love you guys lots!!!!

Elder B

11.6.17 I Need A Tan. . . . .

Ayeeeee fammmm,

This week was rather uneventful. It consisted of a lot of walking up huge hills, getting stared at, cussed at, and getting roasted because I'm tall and white. . . . I prefer “lighter than most natives”. It turns out some Mexicans are super racist. Funny story. . . one lady said she doesn't want a white  American to teach her about Christ, and another lady wouldn't give me food because was white. That's just how my week went hahaha. But I didn't starve and there were a few good things that happened!

 

1) Our golden investigator Julia- We called Julia and she agreed to go to church even before even meeting in person . ( Her son is a member). Then when we went to her house for the first lesson, her son offered the opening prayer and prayed to find a baptismal date for her. WELL during weekly planning we planned for the 11 of November, and what do you know. After the prayer she said, I was thinking about baptism and I want to be baptized the 11 of November!!! SO sick. She’s freaking awesome and doesn't have any problems or doubts. Shes SO accepting to the commandments and it's so freaking awesome. BUT there's a mission rule we can't baptize people of the opposite gender soooo her son is baptizing her!

2) I had splits with elder bastian in a place called Pastora. Its high up in the hills and the houses are painted cool colors so if you look at them from across the valley it makes a mural. Super cool place. It was Halloween and we had to be home at 8:30 and no one would answer the door because they were all partying and trick or treating. Sooo we were like okay one more door. and we knocked and it was another golden investigator..... but it was a FAMILY. They didn't have a religion and the dad LOVED the Plan of Salvation and wanted to know more and more but we had to be home): Pray for them.

3) We have this 11 year old girl who lovesss praying and loved the Plan of Salvation so we talked about the Doctrine of Christ and talked about baptism then Elder Aguilar invited her to be baptized and she just said "No!”. . . Then she didn't want to say the closing prayer. I’m still not sure what happened be she showed up to church.

4) After a rather dry week, Sunday rolled around and not gonna lie we were a little bummed. Then after sacrament a lady walks up to me and says, " My kid is 9 and wants to be baptized, will you baptize her?". So this week we're going to teach the lessons!! but its another girl so the bishop will baptize her the week after Julia!
Mexico is a very interesting place . . but I freaking love it here. . . . . I just need a tan:)
Love you guys lots!
-Elder B ( i go by Elder B now because no one can say Broadhead hahah)

10.30.17 It's Getting Better. . .

Hola Fam,

This week was a ton better! I'm just gonna write a little about the main points in my week!

1) We went to have dinner at a family's house and one of the daughters had a friend over who happened to not be a member, so we had dinner and then shared some scriptures. It turns out shes jewish. aaannndddd she was super receptive to our message and said she'd be interested in learning more about being baptized. soooo crazy. She also invited us to a night of Shabbat or something like that so we'll see??? I dont know for sure what will of it, but that was super sick to teach.

 2) We went tracking for a less active and we knocked on a door and a man answers and we introduced ourselves and he is the coolest guy with another sad story. He was a world class boxer and trained with pro athletes. He's friends with a couple of older NFL players and lived in Canada and the states. He talked to me about America for like 30 minutes then says, "oh yeah I speak english, so you should speak english with me". He lost all the fame and fortune due to drugs and alcohol. He also feels that no one can help him because he was married and active in the church but is now divorced. We visit him again later next week.

3) While knocking doors i looked and saw a younger guy crying knocking on a couple of doors down a little from where we were.  Elder Aguilar got a phone call so I went and talked to him by myself. He was 17, and his parents kicked him and his sister out of the house, and him and his sister were suicidal. As we were talking to him he told us that no one loved him and no one cares so he just wanted to kill himself. As we were standing on the sidewalk in busy Mexico city, he tried to run in front of a fast moving truck right  in front of us. I grabbed his jacket and he barely missed the truck. He broke into tears and then I stood in the road to block him. well he tried to do it again and i grabbed him and hugged him. As I held this dirty 17 year old who probably hadn't showered in months in my arms I was filled with love unlike anything I've ever felt. We ended up talking to him for 3 hours about the plan of salvation and he really flipped around. By the end of the talk he was smiling and agreed to listen to the lessons from the missionaries. He lives out of our zone so we can't teach him;( I wish I could.) I don't doubt the Lords timing. The Lord has a plan for everyone! 

4) We had splits so elder Headrich and I ( hes like 6 foot 6 and from northern Utah) went to visit a fam. He's only been out for 3 months so it was pretty nerve racking. I pleaded for divine help during this lesson, I knew I would need it. During the lesson I was able to understand most of what I heard and respond almost perfectly;) I know it wasn't me doing the talking. We taught about prayer and the spirit was so strong. I love my mission, I love the people and  I love the work.

til next week

-elder broadhead

10.23.17 Real Life Hits

Hey Fam. 

SOOOO this week was probably the hardest week I've had. I felt alone because literally, no one speaks english and my ears haven't adjusted to the language but I put my full trust in the Lord that he would guide and direct me and we did see some miracles this week. Through the Savior, we can find a perfect love and comfort that cant be felt any other way. I thought i knew spanish by the end of six weeks but it's a completely different world out here hahaha. But i have to keep reminding myself its impossible to be fluent in 7 weeks.  

This week has some pretty sweet experiences. 

Monday we taught Hermano Rafa. he's like 35 years old and fixed lamborghinis and porches in the states, but lost it all due to drugs and alcohol. he was baptized in the church but is a raging alcoholic. so we spent the night talking about fast cars and i showed him pictures of some of the cars at SEMA (shout out the mccarthurs!!!) and we got along really really well. Hes a really awesome guy with a bad addiction. After that we ran into a drunk guy (number 1 for the week) who literally couldnt stand in place. he took a step back and almost got hit by a car so we told him to sit on a curb and i gave him a pass along card ( missionary work at its finest) and told him to rest for a couple of minutes. we turned and started to walk away and i looked back and the old drunk guy was out of sight. hope hes okay.

Tuesday we were proselyting in the tippy tops of the mountains in Mexico city when i got a feeling to go to this door/ tin thingy. we clapped at the door and this guy answers and says come quick my mom is dying. Boy was he right. this lady looked like a bag of bones She was like coughing up blood and stuff so we said a prayer and Elder Aguilar gave her a blessing and she fell asleep a few minutes after ( sleep i hope). After a spiritual high we ran into a Jehovah witness who was super rude. Needless to say Elder Aguilar bible bashed him for 45 minutes and i just stood there because it was super heated. 

Wednesday:  we contacted  Veronica who is the golden investigator. She's catholic but she was super receptive to the restoration and the Book of Mormon. BUT she lives with her family and her family does NOT like the mormons. so we gave her our number and hoped for the best. That night we were chowin down on tacos al pastor and we hear ELDERS ELDERS help me. we turn around and its ANOTHER drunk guy. But this one spoke literally perfect english. my mind was blown. he confessed how he worked illegally over the border on cars in Texas, and how hes a good christian but he has problems with alcohol so we had a good 30 minute conversation about the gospel and i got his contact info and we visit him next week! ahaha gotta love the drunk people

Thursday: well we ran into another drunk guy and he roasted the heck out of me. hahahaha it was super funny but i responded in spanish and his face went straight and he said "i love you brother" in english hahha. then he kept asking me to tell him that i loved him. so finally i told him that i loved him and we set up an appointment to meet the next week . 

Friday: so it turns out that drunk people are the best people to contact hahahaha. We contacted Alejandro who is 46 years old and his mom is a member and he wants to be a member. We got his contact info and met with him on Saturday. crazy crazy. 

Saturday: we knocked doors/shacks all day and it was a slowww day. we met with alejandro that night and that was such a cool experience. Alejandro lives with his mom who's like 93 years old in a cement box with a tin roof thats no joke 15 feet by 8 feet. When we walked in my lungs burned from the smoke.  We taught about the Doctrine of Christ and Faith and he really desires to give up smoking so i hope he actually means it.

Sunday: we went to sacrament meeting and it they asked me to bare my testimony so i was like okay sweet i can do it, but apparently i was supposed to talk for 10 minutes . sooo i just tried to talk for as long as i could but i was terrified. After church we had lunch at a sister's house then tried to contact non members. but none of them answered. so its was a pretty long sunday.

til next week

-elder broadhead

10.16.17 Looks like He made it

                                                                                                                                                                 10.16.17

Hey Fam,
So I MADE IT INTO THE FIELD!!! Im serving in an area called Cuatepec which is the most crazy place ever. My companion is Elder Aguilar!! hes from Chile Santiago and speaks little english so you already know i havent spoken a word of english today. my pday is tomorrow and i get an hour and a half to email so hahaha. Crazy stuff. this area has hills nastier than San Francisco. its been a crazy day. BUT on my first time i got a contact and were going to teach the first lesson on wednesday so im proud of myself!!! LOVE YOU GUYS and talk to you tomorrow !

Dear Broadhead family.

It's our pleasure to inform you that your son, Elder Broadhead is now serving as a full time missionary in the Mexico City Northwest Mission, he will be working with us in the best mission of the world!

We feel very blessed for this opportunity to work with your son in this wonderful work. He is a missionary with great potential and we are thankful that the Lord sent him here.

Your son will be trained by Elder Aguilar, who is a great missionary, with much energy and experience in the mission, your son is in good hands and Elder Aguilar is in the good hands of your son.

Your son will be prepared during the next twelve weeks to adapt to missionary life, strengthen his testimony of our Heavenly Father's Plan for us and also his knowledge of the Gospel of the Jesus Christ.

He will live many wonderful experiences that will change his life forever and obviously for good.

President De Leon and his wife Sister De Leon send greetings and love, as well my companion (Elder Watson) and I. Our best wishes to all of you. We pray that the Lord will bless you. 

-ELDER VALLADOLID- (ASISTENTE DEL PRESIDENTE DE MISIÓN)

10.12.17 Let's go boys. . . .

10.12.17

Hola hola friends and fam,

 Monday morning i hop on a bus full of my latinos friends and head to the Northwest mission!! I'm indeed the only person over 5 foot 6 headed to my mission so lets go boys. Soo this weeks email is going to be a little different since I dont really have much to say about the CCM. Im kind of getting tired of enchiladas and tamales every morning for breakfast and I'm ready to get out and go to work. hahah my spanish isn't nearly as good as i want it to be but its pretty crazy that in 6 weeks i learned the gospel in english, and then in spanish. This week was pretty hard because i saw two of my close friends that i met here in CCM head home. It was super hard to see them go but whatever happens, happens for a reason. 

 Id just like to share my testimony about our Savior Jesucristo. Throughout my time here I've had some awesome ups and some rough downs. but I know every step of the way, I was not alone. Our Savior has experienced and felt the same feelings that we feel during some of our most rough times. Alone in silence in the Garden of Gethsemane, Christ knelt and took upon the sins of the whole world. Even though his life was free of sin, he paid the ultimate price for all the people in the world. His pains were so great that he bled from every pore. and he did this willingly so that we all could be clean through repentance and faith. After he took upon him the pains of the world, he continued to be beaten, mocked, spit upon, then was crucified on the cross. He had the power to change the past situations in many ways, but he allowed himself to be beaten, abused, humiliated, executed. Why? Because he loves us and wants us to be able to receive the priceless gift of immortality and be able to live with our families forever. Everyone has access to atonement.  Come unto Christ and be perfected in him.

Love, Elder Broadhead

10.5.17 One more week

October 5, 2017



Hey Fam,

 This emails gonna be a short and quick oneeee. Nothing much has happened this week in the CCM. I may not know everything, but Im ready just to get out and go to work!

This week I was able to go outside the walls to go to a doctors appointment with elder dresser! as we were in the waiting room a young family walked in and sat across from us. I had the strongest feeling to talk to them about the plan of salvation. i sat there watching this young family and as we left i felt guilty that i never talked to them. after that moment i promised myself never to let that happen again. i promised myself i would talk to everyone i could no matter how good or bad my spanish sounded. also later that day i was talking with the one of the mtc presidents about priesthood *in spanish of course* and i guess it sounded like i said my priesthood authority comes from cakes??? soooo yeah my spanish is flawless.

Saturday and Sunday was conference and it had to be one of the greatest weekends ever. i watched every session and took notes on every speaker. After it was all finished I took 26 pages of notes. I genuinely loved each and every talk!! hahaha during conference elder dresser fell asleep so when we stood up to sing he was still slumped in his chair. he was sooo gone that we may have stacked a hymn book and a half-filled hydro flask on his head and he still was slumped over.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday we just taught lessons hahah. we taught Christina and shes on the right track to getting baptized! She was asking weird questions about the fall of Adam and somehow i was able to answer why he had to eat the fruit and why there needed to be a fall. it was such a solid lesson.  

fernanda is really really progressing well. she went from not even keeping any commitments to opening up and talking about her family and how she had a baby that passed away at a young age. it was such a spiritual experience to talk about the Plan of Salvation!! now i cant wait to actually talk to real investigators!!

I hope you guys all had a good week and all is well here! sorry this email was super short I've had a busy day at the immigration office and I dont have much time to email!! 

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

Elder Broadhead

Alma 31:31 ( podemos buscar paz por medio jesucristo cuando necccitamos ayuda) we can find peace through Jesus Christ when we need help.