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)