"Still pretty white"

This week was kinda rough in some ways, and really spiritual in many others! 

On Monday night, we had planned to stop by a family's house and teach a lesson, but when we arrived, there were tons of people there. We soon found out that a member of the family, the dad's dad, had passed away the night before. We stayed for the Mormon funeral service, and I soon realized that they weren't gonna open up the floor for others to speak. I feel like it's very important that missionaries speak in funeral services to let people know who we are and what we do. It's the perfect opportunity to open the door for someone to hear our message about eternal families and the Plan of Salvation. I leaned over before it was over and asked the bishop's counselor who was conducting the service if I could say a few words. He paused, thought about it, and then nodded his head. Since my first week here (maybe it was my second) when I spoke at a funeral, my Spanish has grown to the point where I am now able to convey my ideas, generally. It was by no means perfect, far from it, but I felt the Spirit, and I think so did the others in the room. I feel so blessed to have been able to be God's mouthpiece on that night. 

On Tuesday, we were walking home for the night and this guy stopped us in the street. He asked us if we were the missionaries for the LDS Church and we told him we were. He then proceeded to tell us his name is Robert, that he is a member, and that he had moved here a month ago from California, where he'd lived his entire life, so he needed to transfer his records. When he found out I'm from the states (I mean, it's not that hard, I'm still pretty white...), he wouldn't stop speaking English to me haha. We told him we'd come pick him up for church that Sunday and left. A couple days later, he saw us again in the street and totally remembered my name! We got his records transferred, and he came to church for the first time in about 3 years. He stopped attending when he was 13 (9 years ago) except for random Sundays throughout the years. It appears he really wants to make a much better, more spiritual life for himself down here, which is awesome to see. 

Thursday, I went on splits with a YSA, Rafael, who's 20 years old. He was baptized in January, without his parents' knowledge, and when they found out, they shoved tons of anti mormon literature in his direction. He remembered he'd felt right about joining, and when he prayed again, he felt the same way. He knew the church was true, and when he wouldn't back down, his family completely rejected him. In these past few months, they've allowed him to come back, but they will not hear anything about the church and get very upset whenever he attends. Through all this, he still wants to serve a mission. He knows it's true and he wants to share it. It was a wonderful experience to serve those few hours with him, I learned a lot. 

Friday was Halloween here, but it's not seriously celebrated. The real party came on the 1st and 2nd, saturday and sunday, Los Días de los Muertos. Saturday is Día de los Niños, when they celebrate the lives of the children that have passed on. Everyone dressed up, and went asking for candy, like on Halloween. It was really cool to see, there were some crazy costumes. I wanted to take pictures, but I'd really rather not have my camera get stolen. Sunday, they celebrated the lives of the older people who had died. Almost everyone has an altar to their family members who've passed on with their favorite foods. As a result of the festivities, work was kinda slow and not super productive, which was a bummer. 

Another bummer was that we stopped by Maribel and Angel's place on Sunday to go to church, only to find out that they no longer live there. This hit hard for me. I had really loved teaching them, I really thought they were going to accept the message, and now I can't teach them anymore. I've been praying for the missionaries to find them again, wherever they may be. 

I want to share a scripture in Mosiah 5:13; 'For how knoweth a man the master whom he has not served,and who is a stranger unto him, and is far from the thoughts and intents of his heart?'

God knows us and we knew him, but when we came here to live on this Earth, we forgot our premortal life. The purpose of this life is to repent of our sins and do the will of the Father. But how can we do that if we do not serve Him? How can we know what He wants for us if we do not work to build His Kingdom on this earth, if we do not work to bring others unto Him? The truth is, without doing what He commands us to do, we cannot truly come to know Him ourselves. So go to work! 

I love you all! 

Elder Connor

I didn't take any fun pictures this week, so here's my apartment! Sorry I'm lame...

1. Entryway/kitchen from the door
2. our little study room
3. bedroom

Scrambled Pancakes

Not a ton of eventful stuff happened this week, just a couple big things...

First off, Me and my companion now make up the smallest district in the entire mission! The other two elders in our district are gone now, one left for sickness, and the other leaves in about 3 weeks, so he got transferred into another area for the rest of his mission, and they closed our other area for now. I really wish we could take on both areas, but that's a lot of work and we didn't get permission. 

On Tuesday, I went on splits with my zone leader, Elder Merrill! He's really a great missionary, 20 years old, 13 months into the mission, super humble, loves contacting. At at least half of the appointments we had with people, they started crying, the Spirit was really strong. Early in the split, we were walking to an appointment, only to find the sister wasn't there. We started walking to our back up appointment, when I felt impressed to turn around and go visit another family, the Bobadilla's. I wasn't perfectly sure how to get there, but I knew the general direction. 

As we walked, we bumped into some old ladies dragging a heavy stove down the street, so we stopped them and helped them the rest of the way. We asked if we could meet with them another day, and they declined, which is a bummer. But that's ok, planting seeds! We headed back only to bump into our original appointment! We got to meet with her and had a really nice lesson. 

We never actually got to go visit the Bobadilla's, but I think I know why I was impressed to head back. If I had just been told, 'walk the other way,' I would've ignored the prompting and kept going. But with a specific target in mind, I find I am more willing to go for it. I know God was aware of those ladies and their needs, as well as my thought process and what I needed to be pushed in the right direction. 

And now for a commercial break: Elder Merrill apparently had a band before his mission that had some pretty successful shows, so he asked me to advertise it back home. If you go to bandcamp.com and look up 'Sonsapapa,' you can listen and tell me if they're any good. He writes the songs, sings, and plays guitar. 

Later in the day, we had a guided tour with Maribel, Ana, and Angel from last week. It was crazy, here's what happened: 

We went to pick them up, and one of them was in the shower, so we ended up waiting for about 20 more minutes. We got to know more about them though, and their needs, so it wasn't a waste. When we finally got to the chapel, we realized that the other ward was having their youth activities that night, which was kidn of annoying. The youth were being kind of rowdy too, at one point, there was a group of deacons and teachers WRESTLING in the hallway. Elder Merrill sorted that out quick (Do you realize you're in the house of the Lord!? There are investigators over there and you just made a TERRIBLE impression of the Church on them!). They were also having an Institute class in the actual chapel, which is like, the crowning moment of every guided tour. Despite all the upsets, we still got into the Chapel and they were able to feel the Spirit. It turned out to be a very nice tour. 

Other than that, I don't have much else to report, other than I made scrambled pancakes this morning! I couldn't flip them in the pan we have, so I just scrambled the batter, and it turned out fine haha. 

This week, I want to share Mosiah 4:10; 

'And again, believe that ye must repent of your sins and forsake them, and humble yourselves before God; and ask in sincerity of heart that he would forgive you; and now, if you believe all these things see that ye do them.'

I really like the wording in this verse; not only should we repent, it says we MUST. There is no way we will feel comfortable in the presence of God, who is perfect, if we are unwilling to repent of our sins. Part of that repentance is forsaking that wrong thing we have been doing. Repentance is never a one moment occurance, it is an ongoing process that takes time, so you can heal from the Spiritual harm and be able to overcome the temptations as they arise. Repentance is in reality an act of faith and humility. When we truly repent, we also believe we can be forgiven and we realize that we cannot return to His presence without His forgiveness, a gift received only by those who truly seek Him. It is given to all, but we must accept it and forgive ourselves as well. My favorite part is the end. As we come to truly believe in things, we are not finished with just faith. We must DO them. We must act on that faith and do those things we're commanded to do, including repent and forsake. 

I love you all! 

Elder Connor

1. Sometimes, people don't want to listen to our message...
2. But then they can feel the truth! :)

Best week EVER!

Hello all! 

This week was awesome for so many reasons. Number one, I got a PACKAGE from the fambam and letters from Gina Han, Sister Lortz, and Nicole! They are the winners!!

Starting Tuesday, I came down with some really obnoxious stomach virus thing. It also rained a ton this week, super wet and cold. I know, that doesn't sound fun, and it wasn't, but somehow, this week turned absolutely amazing. Here's why: 

It started off with splits with a recent RM, Johnathan, the Bishop's son. He's really cool, and super good at teaching. We had a lot of really nice lessons and he helped me a lot with the language. 

The day I really want to focus on though is Saturday. It rained the hardest on this day, and my stomach still hurt a bit, and I really didn't want to work that much. But, we're missionaries, and so we work, rain or shine! 

Our first appointment fell through, so we plodded through more rain to a recent converts place, Hermano Nacho, to talk about Christ's Gospel. We went through faith and repentance, and lightly touched baptism, and then got to talking about The Holy Ghost. As we talked, I could feel the Spirit guiding my words and I would know what scriptures to read and what answers to give. It was an amazing experience, one I am so thankful for. 

After this lesson, we went all the way to the other side of our area, about a 20 minute walk in the freezing rain. We had an appointment with an investigator, Maribel, and the people that lived with her. When we arrived, there was a guy visiting. They were all reading the Restoration pamphlet and waiting for us, which was amazing, because before Thursday, we hadn't been able to meet with them for a couple weeks (they would always tell us to come back tomorrow, and then not be there...) We talked about what they'd read, and were about to leave, when the visitor guy (His name is Angel), in perfect English, said, 'Hey, are you from the States?' Turns out, he'd lived his entire life in California, up until three years ago, when he came here to live nearer to his mom. He could understand spoken Spanish by now, but he didn't really know how to read it, so he didn't very much understand the pamphlets. 

As a result, we ended up staying there for another half hourish, as I explained the Restoration IN ENGLISH. It was kind of weird, teaching again in English, I forgot a couple words, but it was really an awesome experience. At one point, he told me he had been baptized Catholic as a baby, but never went to church. He wanted to understand what it was God wanted in his life, but had no idea where to find it until now. He said if that's what we were offering, was a way to understand God's will, that's what he wanted. He asked if he could still be baptized, even though he was already baptized Catholic. I was seriously so floored, and so felt incredibly blessed to have this opportunity to talk with him. I know the Spirit was there, even before we arrived, in Angel's heart (haha) working the changes in him that he will need as he listens to the lessons and seeks to know God's will for him. 

The rest of the day was almost as amazing. Despite the rain, and the cold, and the upset stomach, I've never felt so much love for these people here. This work is so far beyond me, my own capability, and yet, God has seen fit to make a tool out of me to do His work. I am so incredibly blessed to be here. I know this Gospel is true and I am so glad I have the opportunity to be a part of sharing it with the Children of God in Mexico. 

I know it's true, but maybe you don't. I want to share a scripture, found in 2 Nephi 32:4; 

'Wherefore, now after I have spoken these words, if ye cannot understand them it will be because ye ask not, neither do ye knock; wherefore, ye are not brought into the light, but must perish in the dark.' 

I know what I've said in this email is true. Now that you've read it, it is your responsibility to ask God, to knock at His door. I know He will answer you as you do so and you will receive that same confirmation I have received. It is so important that you do so. 

Cool things of the week: I was put in charge of the phone and keys by my trainer. I had to answer all the calls and unlock all the doors (Ok, just our doors, but whatever). At one point, we had a lesson with an investigator and she said, 'You know, when you speak, you say 'um' a lot.' I apologized, feeling kind of sheepish, but then she said, 'not you, your companion! You speak fine.' Wut. Haha, well thanks, don't know I deserved that, but I'll take what I can get! Also, we had bacon wrapped hot dogs for lunch on Saturday. What the best thing ever. We also had interviews with the President this past Friday, which was so great, he is such an awesome president, so full of love and charity for everyone he comes in contact with. AND Elder Dallin H. Oaks, an Apostle called of God to preach His word, is coming to visit us at the end of this month!!! Too pumped. I love you all! 

Elder Connor 

My Sunday breakfast, French toast and Reese's!

Pictures a little girl drew for us on Sunday, awesome.