Emerica got Baptized

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!!!

I am glad that everyone seems to be doing well. I hope that you all enjoyed eating alot of good food like mashed potatoes, turkey, 7 layered gello, pie, and the most important food of Thanksgiving: the GRAVY (sorry Im a little bit hungry right now). I had a wonderful Dia de Dar Gracias here in Mexico even though nobody celebrates it. We had a banquete de tomal, soda (or should I say coca), chips, and some pie. It was actually pretty good.

Like the day of Thanksgiving the rest of my week was pretty good as well. We had our interviews with Presidente Alcala this week, which helped me greatly. I never recieved the training to train another Elder, but basically Presidente helped me understand that we can not hold the new missionaries back. We want them so surpass us so that the mission can keep on progressing. The gospel is not a competition to see who can progress the farthest because in the end we will all end becoming perfect if we keep on trying. I think this helped me out alot from my interview.

After the entrevista con Presidente Alcala we went to go contact in the street because we could not do divisions with other Elders because they were busy. It was a super fun time to help out another area by contacting. Elder Robles and I were laughing and having a great time contacting and knocking on doors for a few hours. It was fun to pass all the referencias that we had to the Hermanas after our day. We also we able to do divisions with Tehuacan Tehuacan (My old area) later in the evening. I went and showed them where some old investigators lived and I found out the Emerica got baptised. Emerica was the 15 year old girl that I taught with Elder Smith until she told us that she couldnt listen to us anymore. It was cool to see the Pictures of her baptism. After it was time to go back to the church to head to the house of the Lideres de Zona we made a quick stop with Hna Wendy. It was so cool to see her and talk about what has been going on in the ward (It will be even more weird when I come back in a few years).

This week we had the oportunity to help a few menos actives this week in Teotitlan as well. We taught a powerful lesson to Hermano Carlos in the street about the Atonement. The spirit guided us to help him with his family problems and the Palabra de Sabiduria. We also taught a cool lesson with a menos active young man named Kevin. It was cool because we applied the principles of the Gospel to his studies.

I also learned a powerful lesson with the President of our district Ignacion Mejia. Sometimes I get frustrated because I feel like the Ward Council is inefictive and just the same problems over and over agian. However I know that this is escencial coordination with the members so we always ask to have ward council. Presidente Cuello did something different this time. Instead of doing the same inefictive thing over again, he did a small training session of Ward Council. He said he knew that many of the lideres de la rama were new and needed help to know what to do. He taught me that we constantly need to recover the basics so that we do not end up with inefictive meetings.

Anyways I learned alot this week and I am always learning something new. I hope that you all have a great week and I want to let you all know that I love you and I am praying for you!!

Elder Thompson

Training Elder Robles

Hey Everyone!

It was a super fun day because of the futbol, pizza, and seeing old friends. It was super fun talking to Elder Clawson and Elder Cruz again (two of my old comps and good friends). Elder Cruz even cut my hair agian for free (love that word)!!  It is amazing to see how powerful and viejitos on their missions. We played soccer for almost 5 hours and I was super sore for a few days.

We went and ate with a Brother and Sister, who live in a adobe house that is at least 60 years old. They live in a pueblo that is 40 min away from where we live in Teotitlan. We went there in the back of a pickup truck. The hermanos are converts of about 30 years and have never missed a Sunday even though they live 40 min away and are about 60 years old. They are a huge example to me of dedication and love of the gospel.

We traveled all the way up to Puebla to have a meeting for new missionaries and trainers. We recovered some of the basics that every missionary needs to review once in awhile and I also like the message from the asistents. They had an object lesson where we had to hammer a nail into a board with a banana, a book, or a shoe. Obviously none of these things were very efective. We then went to the scriptures of the story of Nephi with his boat. We talked about how Nephi made tools out of what the Lord wanted him to use. It all reminded me of the talk my Mom had sent me "When your Bow Breaks" When we pray we need to ask God where we can find the materiales necessary to make our tools. We often go to the Lord with frases like "Bless me with" or "Give me the Knowledge", when we can just ask a normal question. When we ask "What can I do to..." the windows of heaven will be opened and we find the steps we need to take.

The rest of the week God has helped us so much to find work here. I remember being worried about finding work here, but thankfully God has always given us something to do. I am excited to stretch myself and try and work more closely with the members here. Elder Robles is a great missionary and I think we should have lots of success.

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

Elder Tonzon

Catholic Migration

Hey everyone we got permision to email you guys real quick because we got stuck behind a big "Catholic Migration" in our bus just so that we can let you guys know that we are alive. I had cambios de emergencia and I am now training an Elder named Elder Robles. I am a little sad to leave Izucar because I want to keep helping the people progress, but for some reason I have been called to serve in Oxaca in a pueblo named Teotitlan. Just want to let you all know that I am fine and I should have more time next week to write more.

Agua Fria

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to drop a quick line. This week has been awesome for me because we have been working with lots of different challenges. One of the things we had to do was change our house because of the fractures that we had in our old house from the earthquake. In the new house we couldnt get the boiler to start and we did not have electricity for a few days. The cold water of the shower always gave me a jolt to wake me up. This week has been kind of like that metaphorically. I feel like I have been awakened more into how to be a more caring leader and how the challenges of God help us change and humble us.

I have especially loved reading the talk by Dieter F. Uchtdorf called the Greatest amoung You from the last general conference and the talk called when your Bow breaks. They are both super great talks and I think have helped guide me during this week of activity.

Also we are preparing a super great investigator for Baptism in a few weeks named Ricardo. He loves reading the Book of Mormon and is trying to apply the things he learns into his life. We hope that we can keep on animating him and helping him along his path. Im sure that your prayers will help him as well. I love you all. I am praying for you all as well.

Elder Thompson

Elder Mills to Elder Ricks

Hey Everyone just shooting out a quick email because today was CAMBIOS so we didnt have to much time. I am sad to see Elder Mills go, but I am also super happy to have Elder Ricks as my companion. I hope that you all have a great week, I love you all, and I am praying for you!!

Zone Monkey Shirts

I hope that you all had a great week and are all feeling fantastic. I have just been here working in Mexico and reading and using the talks from General Conference a ton!!! This past general conference has been so powerful we have been trying to share the talks with as much people as we can.

We first shared the talk of President Thomas S. Monson from last conference with a menos active family here in Izucar. They run a icecream buisness here and are almost always working. We are trying to get them to focus on the basics again like Reading the Book of Mormon, Attending church, and Praying (RAP jaja). When we had the oportunity to share our testimonies and this video with this family to invite them to read the Libro de Mormón. After sharing those two things they started remembering how God had helped them through some rough trials and helped them gain their icecream buisness. It was a cool experience for me.

We were also able to share with Hermana Nancy the talk from Tad R. Mccalister coupled with the powerful Alma 32. We hope that this will help her overcome her doubts and crush her temptations.

With one of my favorite investigators, who is named Ricardo, we shared the first vision and the same video from Tad R. Mccalister. This lesson was especially important because he had still not taken the challenge to pray about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. It was one of those lessons that just emanates with the Spirit. I know that God is carefully preparing every one of his children to recieve the Gospel. I also know that he is relying on us to invite, share, and bring the spirit into their lives. I Know That The Book Of Mormon Is True and that it is the key to the questions we have in life.

We also had interchanges with Elders from Tlapa and Acatlan, which were very fun to see old friends and meet the new missionaries coming to the mission.

I also just wanted to share some of the key lessons and topics that I heard in the General Conference...

Search for the Lord´s Voice and Way and follow it without doubt or fear

Trust in the Lord's changes and impressions that you recieve in your life because he has perfectly planed out every step of the way

When we see our Leaders with faith in the way that the Lord sees them; we will recieve the inspiration and revelation that we need

Do more than Read the Book of Mormon every day

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

Love

Elder Thompson

Nonsense Drawing

Hey Everyone,

We got the presidenta of the Sociedad de Socorro (Relief Society) to take us to meet a menos active family out in a pueblo about 30 min from Izucar. It was cool to see the miles of sugar cane fields in the valley as we traveled in a small combi to the pueblo, Rijo. We had the oportunity to teach this big family and give them some priesthood blessings. While we gave the blessings it was awesome to see how the Spirit guides every blessing. I am so greatful that God has this type of relationship with us, which is one by one.

We also had a lot of divisions with the Elders from Tlapa. One of them has trouble starting conversations with people and building strong relationships. As we were walking and trying to figure out how to fix the problem I recieved a memory of the game I played with my aunt Alesha. In the game you place two lines, shapes, squiggles, or other nonsense on a piece of paper. Then the other person would have to try and make up a drawing from that nonsense. We thought about how often times we dont need to know exactly where we are going to start off, but eventually with creativity we can end up with a drawing or a good conversation. We then went on to teach an antiguo investigador that did not have confidence in the missionaries, but to our suprise he started warming up to the Elder that has problems with conversing. It was cool to see how the spirit teaches then helps us apply.

This week has also been nice because we have been starting to work alot better with the members of the branch here in Izucar. The Lider Misional Miguel is always excited and ready with ideas of activities to share. However this week he passed a reference of a family of 6 that have been waiting to hear the gospel. We are still in the beginning stages of gaining the familys trust, but they are good people and could be ready to accept the gospel. I hope we can start getting some good coordination with this branch.

Here are all the delayed pictures that I have been waiting to send. Thank you all for your patience!!! Have a great week !

Elder Thompson