In Which Joseph is a Chef, a Boss, and a Birthday Shouter-Outer

First off, we celebrate yet another wonderful woman of valor (I know, my family's full of them), my sister Heather!! Heather is GREAT because she is an awesome teacher! I remember when she taught me piano and I am so very thankful that she did so! She is also GREAT because she knows how to have fun! Also, she is super strong because she likes to climb mountains all the time. Annnnd she's funny and takes care of my mission blog. I apologize for my ward's behavior, but we won't be having a ward party in your favor this weekend...but I will just party all week to try to even it out. Love you Heather! 

This week, my zone leader told me I got letters!...and then proceeded to forget to give them to me until yesterday haha. Shout out to Sister Rickel and my sister, Nicole, who's serving her mission in Washington State! 

I also made french toast this week! I didn't have the recipe, but I kinda just threw everything together, mixed it up, and it was delicious! I mean, I guess it's kinda tough to mess up french toast, but whatever, I feel cool. 

Last week was transfers (cambios), and both Elder Roura and Elder Brewer left! I was so sad! Our new elders are Elder Olivos, who trained Elder Brewer, and Elder Long. They're both pretty fun, we quote movies together, and they're pretty boss teachers. 

Thursday, I had to be in charge of everything; weekly planning, what we would do when plans fell through (and the did) and reporting to the mission leader. It was kinda tough, but it was good practice and I learned a lot! 

This week was pretty tough as far as lessons go, almost every time we went to someone's house, they either weren't there, or just didn't have time or whatever. As a result, we only had 6 all week. That was very sad for me, BUT we did a lot more contacting! One of the english speaking guys I mentioned last week, Roman Telles, stopped us again and told us when we could teach him. We didn't even have to ask! He's working really hard on setting up his new store, so he won't be available for a couple weeks, but after that, he's really excited to meet with us!

GENERAL CONFERENCE. Oh my goodness, how I love conference! I don't think I've ever been so pumped to hear the prophets speak. A little bit of this might be the fact that I could listen in English, but other than that, I was super excited!! And it did not disappoint! For those of you who don't know, General Conference happens twice a year, the first saturday and sunday of April and the first saturday and sunday of October. During this wonderful time, the leaders of our church, those who have been called of God as prophets in our time, speak to us, teach us, and help us understand better the will and word of God. IT is a wonderful time when we can feel the Spirit and gain a greater understanding on God's will for us! Here are some of my favorite quotes (I don't have time to look up the real ones, so these are just my notes. Sorry for paraphrasing); 

• When we think someone needs to pay for their sins, we must remember Someone already has (Christ) - Elder Boyd K. Packer, Saturday morning

• Salvation is not the result of divine whim, but similarly is not achieved by divine will alone; we must ACT! - Elder D. Todd Christofferson, Saturday morning 

• A testimony of the church is the MOST IMPORTANT thing we can gain in this life - President Deiter F. Uchtdorf, Saturday morning

• No sign outside the chapel building that says 'your testimony must be this tall to enter', all are welcome!! - President Deiter F. Uchtdorf, Saturday morning

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I have more, but that's what I liked from the first session. I'll send more from the later sessions in the following weeks!

Also, I finished the Isaiah chapters in 2 Nephi this week! Here's one verse from them that I'd like to share, found in 2 Nephi 16:9; 

'And he said: Go and tell this people—Hear ye indeed, but they understood not; and see ye indeed, but they perceived not.'

I really like this, especially in light of Conference this past weekend. Many times, we hear the prophets word, but do not understand them, or seek to do so. Many times we see miracles happen or experience blessings, and then put them off as mere luck, or coincidence, or even skill. But this is wrong! When we hear the voice of the prophet speak, when we hear the Spirit whisper to our hearts (and it whispers to ALL OF US), we need to heed their words! If we don't understand them, we can ask for help through prayer and then, through diligent study. God expects us to ACT, not just sit around waiting for an answer. Given this, I really encourage all of you to study out the words of the prophets, both those of ancient times and the modern days. As we do so, we will gain a greater understanding of who God is and His infinite, never-ending, incredible love for each of us. 

I love you all, have a great week! 

Elder Connor

Me, Elder De La Cruz, and Elder Kleinman! They're also in my generation, really great elders!

1. A kid in my stake, Israel. He's pretty awesome, I've played some fun soccer games against him haha.

1. Me and the Stake President's son, Immanuel. Ladies, he's an RM of 22 years old, single, and willing to learn English! 

1. Elder Frederich and I. He came in at the same time as me from the Mexico MTC. He's a total stud and an awesome missionary! 

A Pizzeria, Blisters, and Isaiah

This week, I had two different guys come up to me that used to live in the US! While there, they both met with the missionaries and really enjoyed visiting with them, but for some reason never got baptized. As we were walking to appointments, they came up, stopped me, and told me they really wanted us to come teach them again! They gave us their phone numbers, haven't picked up yet, but I really don't want to give up on them. I've only called once, so I'm gonna try again a bit this week.

On Saturday, we had this awesome lesson with an Hermana Angela. She has three kids who all live far away, one of her daughters owns a pizzeria in New York. Her kids are members, but she isn't. We went to talk with her, and she has a Book of Mormon that she reads from regularly, and she prays too! She's really nice, a little stiff at first, she didn't smile very much. But I made her laugh once, don't remember what I said, but knowing me, it was probably pretty darn hilarious. So that was a score.

After meeting with her, we saw a guy across the street shoveling some dirt and decided to help him out. Turns out, he was the same guy we'd helped a few weeks previous! He hadn't wanted us to teach him last time, but when we asked this time, he said he'd like that! He doesn't live in our area, but he works here all day everyday, so we're gonna set something up during work hours. He's really cool, and says I speak really good Spanish (wow, really?), so I like him already haha. 

On Thursday, we played basketball with some of the church youth, and I got my jaw relocated. Not really, but one of the other players got me pretty good haha. The next day, we did some service at a less active's hair cuttery, tearing up her tile floor, and I got some nasty blisters. Love service haha. (Seriously though, love service)

On Sunday, I went on splits with Elder Brewer. We knocked on a bunch of doors and no one was ever home, but we got some good contacts, and it was fun. 

This week, I want to share a scripture from 2 Nephi 8:22-23. 'But Elder Connor, that's an Isaiah chapter!' Yes. It is. And I actually get it! Here are the verses: 

'Thus saith thy Lord, the Lord and thy God pleadeth the cause of his people; behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, the dregs of the cup of my fury; thou shalt no more drink it again. But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; who have said to thy soul: Bow down, that we may go over—and thou hast laid thy body as the ground and as the street to them that went over.'

'Now what the heck does that mean Elder Connor?' I really like these verses. Here's the thing; the cup that Isaiah mentions in these verses is the same cup as the one Christ 'drank' in Gethsemane: 'Father, if it be possible, remove this cup from me.' This cup represents all the pain, sorrow, affliction, temptations, etc. of everyone in the world ever. Throughout our lives, we take little sips from this cup as we are tempted, afflicted, and punished by those who 'say to our soul, bow down.' But here's the beautiful part; Christ has drunk that cup. He has tasted my sorrows, and your sorrows, and everyone else's. And so, as a result, we don't have to drink it anymore during the eternities. If we choose the better part, choose to live as He would have us, and seek to be as He is - that is, perfect - that cup WILL be removed from us, when it was not for Him. We have the blessed opportunity to repent of any sin we may commit and to feel his love and comfort in any trial we experience, because He has already experienced it all. 

Things are great here in Mexico, lots of work to be done! I love you all! 

Elder Connor