UNO ANO

Servicio

Yo super full and super fast week. A lot happened this week and we found a lot of new people to teach that are actually interested. First off though, hit a year which is honestly not that crazy. It felt great to hit a year. I feel like I have been here for a while and have learned and grown so much. Tough that I have a whole other year left, but I realized that I am going to learn just as much and grow just as much, so I'm pretty pumped about that. Trying to get perfect Spanish and a perfect accent before I go home. 

So this week we did a service project for the English Academy and it was lit. Dug holes, planted trees, and had a lil churrasquito on the dirt. Solid servicio. We had to go to the mission office tho because the niños in the district had immigration. So I took the 3 to the mission offices and we stayed the night there. We did some divisions with the AP's and we got wrecked by the rain. Shoutout Nomadic tho, backpack is very waterproof. I learned a lot though from that. We just kept visiting people even though we were soaked, I wanna get the diligence of Elder Hess. Year 2 goal. Then we stayed the night with like 20 other missionaries and then my comp and all the new Kids left to do immigration at like 4 am. The next morning though we got a call from an investigator and the owner of the English Academy died so we had a funeral for the next 2 days. Super sad though, all the kids and the staff were so sad. Taught a lot of the plan of Salvation this week and it was good to give the message of hope.

Michael is progressing like crazy still. He changed his baptism date to August 31st. He has also been studying like crazy and has left a couple times with us to teach people.  Bro has been helping us teach for about 2 weeks. The area is looking up and there is so much to do which has been super fun to get invested in the area. 

Something amazing happened as well with Michael's mom, who at first didn't want anything to do with us. We went and visited them and we shared the Book of Mormon with her. She had questions, and all the right questions. Where, what, why and then most importantly how can we know if it's true. We explained and answered her questions and it went well. She asked though, what else have you taught and how have you taught it? She said “My son Michael has never taken interest in churches and has gone to about every church there is. He has changed so much in the 2 weeks that you have taught him. How did you convince him to go to your church?” So after that we explained the HOW we can know. We explained that we literally have done nothing besides testify and that when a humble heart listens, reads, and then prays, 100% of the time, they will know without doubt that this book and this church are true. She turned quickly and understood and I'm assuming felt the spirit. She told us she wants to be taught and read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. Insane miracle that I knew would come eventually, but it came a lot sooner than I thought. If I stay another transfer, stay tuned, Michael is gonna baptize his mom and little brother fs!

A lot of other great things happened this week and we can only give credit to the Lord. Love you all and I want all of us to be like Michael. HUMBLE enough to learn. Miss you all and I'd love to hear from you guys!

Scripture of the Week:

Proverbs 13:10 “Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom”

Proverbios 13:10 “Ciertamente la soberbia producirá contienda,pero con los bien aconsejados está la sabiduría.”

Service Project 

Our Homie Violet - getting baptized soon

Puro Hombre de maíz

El Grande Elder Hess 

One more year ma and pa

    GUATIES NO ENTIENDEN

Aldrea run

Hey what's up everyone. Another good week this week. To be honest, not anything crazy happened so sorry I don't have any cool stories for this week. I did divisions with one of the Elders in my district and he is just starting the mission as well. Insanely funny kid. His name is Elder Culebro and I want to be as happy as this kid. He loves the mish and is always having a good time. Straight goat. We honestly did not make very much progress this week in the area, but that's ok. Too many families are straight women so we literally just can't teach them because the dad works all day lol. We'll keep looking though for sure. 

I think the biggest take away that I had from this week was that I didn't feel as happy. Not because the work is super hard or because I'm home sick or whatever else. I think I realized it was kind of a tough week because I wasn't teaching with love. I was getting super frustrated because the people couldn't understand and they just really are so blind so I started to get so mad. Then I realized well, that's what is going to happen and not everyone will understand. But especially because no one will understand from my efforts alone. Doesn't matter how many scriptures I know, if I'm getting frustrated and upset during these lessons then I will not have the help of the spirit and it will be impossible for me to help someone be converted. So this week my goal is to be A LOT more patient and loving and I believe I will be able to see a lot more miracles. Humbleness is the hardest thing to learn on the mission. But it is so important in conversion for the investigator and especially the missionary. 

Love you all, and I'd love to see an email from you guys this week. Miss you guys. Shout out Bowser and Randy. Such legends it's insane

Scripture of the Week:

Ether 12:27: “And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.”

Éter 12:27:y si los hombres vienen a mí, les mostraré su debilidad. Doy a los hombres debilidad para que sean humildes; y basta mi gracia a todos los hombres que se humillan ante mí; porque si se humillan ante mí, y tienen fe en mí, entonces haré que las cosas débiles sean fuertes para ellos".

Culebs 

Randy answered my mom's phone -

had to cop a flick

    LA FE

Our friend Michael Debut

Super good week this week but super tiring. P-day went super fast today which is kinda L, still balled on the cancha tho. 

Not going to lie, it's been a tough start in San Ray. All of our investigators were super not progressing at all so we had a big planning session and dropped like everyone from teaching and started from scratch. A lil discouraging at first not going to lie but I was praying for some motivation and I got it. So this week at multi zone conference we talked about inviting to baptism to every contact and having the faith to do so. Inviting to baptism has always been hard for me on the very first contact but the AP's got me pumped to do so. Afterwards though, President spoke about having the faith to baptize. He played us a clip from a talk by Thomas S. Monson in the October 1983 conference called “Labels”. Here's what it said:

“Sometimes cities and nations bear special labels of identity. Such was a cold and very old city in Eastern Canada. The missionaries called it “Stony Kingston.” There had been but one convert to the Church in six years, even though missionaries had been continuously assigned there during the entire interval. No one baptized in Kingston. Just ask any missionary who labored there. Time in Kingston was marked on the calendar like days in prison. A missionary transfer to another place—any place—would be uppermost in thoughts, even in dreams. While I was praying about and pondering this sad dilemma, for my responsibility then as a mission president required that I pray and ponder about such things, my wife called to my attention an excerpt from the book, A Child’s Story of the Prophet Brigham Young, by Deta Petersen Neeley. She read aloud that Brigham Young entered Kingston, Ontario, on a cold and snow-filled day. He labored there about thirty days and baptized forty-five souls. Here was the answer. If the missionary Brigham Young could accomplish this harvest, so could the missionaries of today. Without providing an explanation, I withdrew the missionaries from Kingston, that the cycle of defeat might be broken. Then the carefully circulated word: “Soon a new city will be opened for missionary work, even the city where Brigham Young proselyted and baptized forty-five persons in thirty days.” The missionaries speculated as to the location. Their weekly letters pleaded for the assignment to this Shangri-la. More time passed. Then four carefully selected missionaries—two of them new, two of them experienced—were chosen for this high adventure. The members of the small branch pledged their support. The missionaries pledged their lives. The Lord honored both. In the space of three months, Kingston became the most productive city of the Canadian Mission. The grey limestone buildings still stood, the city had not altered its appearance, the population remained constant. The change was one of attitude. The label of doubt yielded to the label of faith.”

This was the exact answer I needed. I felt like my prayers were answered and I felt motivated to change the faith I had in San Raymundo. Then President started talking about an area in the mission that was the “Stony Kingston” of the Antigua Mission. But one missionary named Elder Perez changed the label of San Martin. Before, there had only been 3 baptisms in 3 years and Elder Perez asked President that for his last 2 transfers of his mission, he wanted to go to San Martin and train a new missionary which turned out to be me.  So he asked me to get up and explain what happened. So I was super emotional at this time and it was hard to get all of the words out to explain but the faith that Elder Perez had, Changed my mission, but also San Martin and there have been baptisms there ever since. Shout out Chicken

So after, I got super motivated to get back out and try and turn San Raymundo around. And we got very blessed and were able to put a baptismal date with our friend Michael for September 7. Sí, con fe, milagros vienen

Love you guys

les amo

Scripture of the Week:

1 Samuel 2:30 “Wherefore the Lord God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me for ever: but now the Lord saith, Be it far from me; for them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.”

1 Samuel 2:30 “Por tanto, Jehová el Dios de Israel dice: Yo había dicho que tu casa y la casa de tu padre andarían delante de mí perpetuamente; mas ahora ha dicho Jehová: Nunca haga yo tal cosa, porque yo honraré a los que me honran, y los que me desprecian serán tenidos en poco”

Elder Barby vest swap

La Familia

La Zona Florida

    SAN RAY

Elderes de San Raymundo

Aight good week this week but pretty slow again work wise. She's tough out here in San Ray but it's still early, we'll make a comeback. We've probably taught the restoration a total of 50 times the past couple weeks and it's good because I am getting practice and my companion is getting good at teaching lesson 1. We are just so sick of it and we want to teach something new so bad lol.

We've met some new people this past week and their hearts are hard, stubborn, closed, but they are so close to accepting the restoration. Please pray for San Raymundo lol.

We met this one chiller named Sebastian and he is insanely close. We've got him to understand why there was a need for a restoration but it's still early and he is praying so hopefully he gets his answer soon. The way we met him was pretty sick though. We were walking through town on one of our first days here and we saw him and his Family carrying a lot of wood into their house. So we offered to help and how great of a blessing that service was for us. We got his number and then he left town for a week so our first lesson with him was this last week and it went great. He's humble and insanely ready to learn.

We have a lot of people who are super receptive but it's going to be a grind to get em to church. We have been busy and it’s been hard so I would love all of your prayers for San Raymundo. It’s going to be tough to get this place going but I know it can be done with faith and the power of prayer. Please help us out!! I know we just all fasted on Sunday but I am gonna fast on Wednesday for San Raymundo and I want to invite you all to fast for the San Raymundo in your guy's life. 

Love you all and I know that you guys will see miracles through faith in our Heavenly Father through fasting!

Scripture of the Week:

Jeremiah 17:7-8 “7 Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. 8 For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.”

Jeremìas 17:7-8 “7 Bendito el hombre que confía en Jehová, y cuya confianza es Jehová. 8 Porque será como el árbol plantado junto a las aguas, que junto a la corriente echa sus raíces, y no temerá cuando venga el calor, sino que su hoja estará verde; y en el año de sequía no se angustiará ni dejará de dar fruto.”

Water break

Chillin

Los Chamacos

Elder Barber heading home - Goat