Dia De Los Reyes, Baptisms!!, and Lizards

FIRST! I want everyone to go take a look at this page:

https://www.lds.org/youth/theme/2015?lang=eng

Watch the videos, listen to the music, read the articles, and SHARE! One thing I will always miss about life back home is the Church's youth program. I learned and grew so much from this program and I really want to be able to be a part of it after the mission. The songs are actually pretty fantastic, and the theme video almost made me cry. So good. Go now!!!

Dia de los Reyes in Mexico is on the 6th of January. On this day, the people all celebrate when the Wise Men found Jesus and Joseph and Mary and gave gifts. It's basically another Santa Claus deal, where the Wise Men come and leave gifts. Everyone also buys this bread called Rosca de los Reyes, it's really good. They have a bunch of little dolls hidden in the bread (apparently they represent the Christ child??) and if you have on in your piece, you have to make everyone tamales on February 2nd. I found two...too bad transfers are a day AFTER the second. Sheesh.

One of the members in our ward is this 18 year old kid, Logan, who's preparing to go on a mission, he's just about to send in his papers!! He's also coming out with us every Friday to help further this work and prepare for his own mission. Stud. 

On Saturday, we had baptisms for three kids! Said (14), Filiberto (10), and David (8), all entered into the waters of baptism and received the Holy Ghost the next day. It was honestly a little stressful at first, trying to get everything put together, but when they bore their testimonies, three kids, they invited the Spirit in a way I could do all the time. Basically everyone was in tears by the end, including the kids, and it was just an awesome service. The Church is too true. There is no possible way for me to deny it, I've seen, felt, and experienced too much to go back, to not be excited and incredibly HOPEFUL for the future. I love being a missionary.

Random analogy that just popped into my head out of nowhere this week; spiritually, we are like lizards. Now before you think the mission has knocked some of the bolts and screws that hold me brain together loose, let me explain. Lizards, during the day, need to sit on hot rocks in the sun in order to warm up and store up heat for the night. When the sun goes and the night comes, they seek shelter from the cold and use the heat they've stored up to survive until the day comes. 

Now. Here's where the genius comes in. In our lives, we have moments of 'light,' where we can feel the 'fire of the Spirit' burning in our hearts and we know the Gospel is true. Our testimony grows when we 'stand in the light.' But then the night comes. We have trials, difficulties, hardships. Sometimes, we lose sight of that light that we once stood under, we can't remember as clearly the experiences we had, or maybe we don't understand exactly how we believed what we believed. In these moments, the chill of the night and our own doubts threaten to kill us,  spiritually. But if we stored up those moments where we knew, if we can remember them and hold on to them, if we do not let the light of our testimony dim, we can survive. We can make it through those times of trial that will so surely come, and make it back to the day for more experiences of peace and love. But we CANNOT be lazy about the Gospel. We have to actively seek those 'rays of sun,' those faith-building moments, so that we can overcome our faith-trying times. 

2 Nephi 28:24-25;

 24 Therefore, wo be unto him that is at ease in Zion!
 25 Wo be unto him that crieth: All is well!

So in our times of ease, we cannot let our guard down! We must be vigilant at all times, striving to implement the Gospel into our lives and remembering it in our times of trial. 

I love you all!! Have a great week!

Elder Connor

1. My two little dolls. I don't even know how to make tamales!! 
2. The family of the kids that were baptized! 
3. In our whites!!

1. Some hilarious cards that I got from Nicole in a package she sent!! Best Full-Time Missionary Sister!!

Christmas Celebrations

This week was both awesome a little disappointing...I'll start off with the not so great stuff. On Saturday, we were supposed to have a baptism for three little kids, ages 8, 10, and 14. We got there and were filling the font when we realized the gas wasn't working, so all we had was freezing cold water...then we missed some things for their interviews...then the Bishop couldn't come...then no one showed up until super late...just a whole bunch of things all added up and we had to postpone it. Super bummer. The family was really upset about it. But good news, we have it planned again for January 10th, after all the breaks are over so that we can figure everything out! 

Tuesday, we had exchanges for the day with the Zone Leaders. I went to their area with one of them, Elder Cardenas. He's from Oklahoma, super happy, funny, spiritual Elder, it was an awesome opportunity learning from him for a day.

On Wednesday, we spent Christmas Eve with the Soriano family. They're like, 5th generation LDS or something, one of the first families in Mexico to join the church here. Their house used to be the meeting place for Sunday services, all kinds of cool history behind that. They were also housing a family reunion of over 100 people in their house for the first time in 20 years, so it was packed. On the brightside, tooooons of food! The turkey was gigantic, I'll send a picture. 

Christmas morning, I opened up the package I got from mom! She's just the best, she sent me so many nice things! Candy, Cocoa Puffs, Family pics, a little nativity, some Christmas lights, all sorts of good stuff. Love her. 

I also got to skype my family for a bit! That was so great to see them again and just talk to them and laugh and chat. I loved it so much! They're the best ever!

Annnnd Friday, my companion got sick. Saturday, he got me sick. Gross man. Nothing serious, just my head and throat are not happy campers. Well, then again, neither is the rest of my body haha. Ah well, I'm pretty sure I'll survive haha. 

Alma 5:57;'And now I say unto you, all you that are desirous to follow the voice of the good shepherd, come ye out from the wicked, and be ye separate, and touch not their unclean things; and behold, their names shall be blotted out, that the names of the wicked shall not be numbered among the names of the righteous, that the word of God may be fulfilled, which saith: The names of the wicked shall not be mingled with the names of my people' 

I love this scripture. When we know the teachings of Christ, and if we truly want to follow Him and ve like Him one day, we cannot allow ourselves to think that evil things are ok. Even if you are not participating, just being in that atmosphere is a bad idea and can get us into a lot of trouble, because the Spirit cannot dwell their with us. If we follow Christ, we don't turn to one side or the other when the world calls us; we continue down that straight and narrow path and NEVER diverge. Of course, we are not perfect, and the truth is we're gonna mess up, but that's why we have repentance! We are never so far away from that path that we cannot turn back! 

I love you all! Happy New Year!!

Elder Connor

1. Elder Antonio, my new companion, and I. He's awesome! Good hard worker, really wants to serve!
2. A little birds nest in my house in a cactus. 
3. My little nativity! 

A Week of Miracles

This week, I had the opportunity to speak with a lot of people with different religious backgrounds and ideas. Not that this is unusual, it happens everyday, but I had some rather profound experiences, all of which made me realize how many people there are that just don't know the truth. I want to share a few simple truths in this email. 

1. We still need prophets- This is something that some people don't know! but it's true, prophets are ESSENTIAL to God's work. If we didn't have prophets, it'd be like being in class without a teacher or a textbook. Or the internet. We just have to figure it all out ourselves, and while we may make some good advances, we can't hope to reach the same understanding as we could with their guidance. Amos 3:7; 'Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.' NOTHING. That's how important prophets are. Not just anyone can be a prophet though, they must be worthy Priesthood men whom God has called to guide His church (one guy tried to tell us that he wasa prophet this week. Pretty sure he was drunk.)
2. If we have prophets, revelation persists in these days. What happened after Christ died? Did He stop leading His church? Of course not! Ephesians2:20; 'And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner.' Christ still leads His church and directs His prophets, AS WELL AS HIS PEOPLE. We can all receive revelation for ourselves. That is what our message is all about! We as missionaries are humans, and we have the ability to lie. We could. Not saying that we do (because we don't) but we have that option. Our invitation is not to trust us or our word, but to trust God. Ask Him if it's true. Because God CANNOT lie. He can't do it. He WON'T do it. It's not in His nature, as a perfect being. 
3. Another thing that is important; The Bible is imperfect. It is not a perfect book. It is extremely useful and contains much of God's word, but after the death of Christ and His apostles, many people changed things in the Bible. Over the past 2000 years, much has become distorted and corrupted. Isaiah 24:5; 'The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.' Things have changed, and for that reason, God in His immense and perfect love for His children, has given us the Book of Mormon. This Book has not been defiled as the Word of God. It have only one translation, dont by the first Prophet of this time, Joseph Smith. He did not write it. He translated by the Gift and Power of the Holy Ghost, given to him by God. It contains the fulness and plenitude of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and is a perfect Book. 

These are the things, among many others, of which we teach and testify. Basic principles of the Gospel that I KNOW that so many people do not. If you do not yet know these principles for yourself, please please please follow the steps to gaining this knowledge; 

1. read the Book of Mormon
2. I mean read read it. Study it out. 
3. Pray about it, with a sincere desire to know. 

You may not receive your answer right away, maybe not even for weeks after, but if you continue to do so, you WILL know that these things are true. I thought I knew when I was a kid, but really, I just knew that everyone else knew. When I learned for myself, I was 16, just two years ago, and it has changed my life in so many, unimaginable and wonderful ways. 

I'm sorry this email isn't very much of an update, but that's what I'm gonna talk about now. As of last week, (week 15) we had 4 investigators, and no one was progressing. This week, we found 15 new people to teach, 6 of whom have baptismal dates, and 9 of whom pertain to two different families. One of them was a street contact, and all the others were references from members. The one street contact has cousins who are super faithful members and who all served missions. Basically, the effect the members have had on this work in one week has been astounding. Were it not for the members working with us, we would probably be at the same spot we were last week. I feel so blessed to be a part of this great work of inviting souls to come unto Christ. 

Other news, we had a trio day with Elder Cory! It was fun, I made him speak spanish so he'd learn haha. Good stuff. 

I love you all! Have a great week! 

Elder Connor

1. An origami dress shirt a ward sister missionary taught me how to make
2. Close up (it has my name tag!!)
3. We had a pizza party! 

Swearing, Bearded Ladies, and Fried Chicken

The weeks for me seem to fly by, it's crazy. Just so you all know, the mailing system here is awful, so anything sent or received will take a while...

This week was pretty great! Tuesday, I went on transfers with E. Roura again, and we had some...interesting contacts. We ran into the bearded lady again, and a super drunk guy. He came up to us and started cursing God out in Spanish, and when he realized I didn't understand, he switched to English! We left as soon as we could, after giving him a card. 

There was also this lady from LA who has been living here for four years. She saw me across the street and yelled, 'Do you speak English??' It was pretty surprising, but she was nice, and we set up an appointment for a couple days later! She isn't in my area, but that's ok, it was cool. Before we returned home that night, we got some legit Mexican burritos. They were amazing. 

On Wednesday, some of the other new elders and I took a day trip up to the Mexico City North Mission to work out some Visa stuff. While there, we stopped by the store that sold all American stuff. I almost cried when I saw the Reese's Puffs. You better believe they didn't last very long. I didn't get back until around 5, so I hadn't gotten to eat much all day. We went to visit this old member couple, when they learned that, they started freaking out and making tons of really good food haha. It was really nice.

Thursday night, we played soccer with some members and I discovered that I'm actually not terrible at it! But I still way prefer frisbee. 

Friday, we had lunch with this super rich family, who owned tons of birds, including four turkeys!! I got to hold one of their parrots, which didn't peck at all! I felt so cool. For lunch, they fed us fried chicken and fries. It was kinda weird to see such an American meal, but also pretty great. 

We had a lot of lessons this week, and I've started speaking more and even leading some! The language is still challenging, but I'm getting better and learning to listen to the Spirit more. I started over the Book of Mormon this week (in Spanish) and I want to share a verse that I really like. 1 Nephi 2:20 says, 'And inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments, ye shall prosper, and shall be led to a land of promise; yea, even a land which I have prepared for you; yea, a  land which is choice above all other lands.'

The same goes for all of us: So long as we keep the commandments, we will be blessed and receive our own land of promise, being Heaven. If we are obedient, we will receive a celestial glory, and have the joy and peace that comes when we are in the presence of our Heavenly Father and brother, Jesus Christ. 

I know the church is true, and I love being a part of it! I love being here, doing the Lord's work, even though it's tough, because I know the joy the Gospel can bring to those who accept it into their own lives. 

Love you all! 

Elder Connor

Week 1 in the Field!

Hello everyone! Here's the address to send me things!

Elder Connor

Mexico City Chalco Mission

Calle Porvenir No. 8

Colonia Centro

C.P. 56600 Chalco

Estado de Mexico

I'm alive! First, final MTC days. We sang on Sunday and it sounded great! I was really pleased with how it went and the Spirit was very strong! Funny story, one of the other Elders I roomed with, Elder Solano, didn't have enough room in his bags for all his things (I don't know how he got them out here), so he gave me a whole bunch of stuff, since I had more than enough space. Christmas came early, I got a few shirts, some shampoo, and an entire suit. And it fits. I almost cried. 

2 AM on Monday morning, I woke up and left the MTC. Any tears that may have been shed were because I was so tired. The flights were fine, we had a layover in Dallas for a couple hours, and then flew out to Mexico. When we arrived, we (there were two other Elders that came with) met with President and Sister Crickmore and their assistants. I love the President and his wife! They are so nice and funny! 

One thing I learned about Mexico when we left the airport is that I never want to drive here. Ever. I have never seen such unorganized, crazy driving in my life. It was insane. We made it to the Mission Office (by the Grace of God) and had interviews with President. The first thing he asked was how I would feel having a native companion who didn't speak much English...I said It'd be quite the learning experience and I would most certainly be happy with it (I wonder if he knows how terrifying that idea sounded). We then ate some food and went to a little house to sleep for the night with the other greenies. 

Tuesday, I met my trainer! His name is Eldr Jimenez, he's from El Salvador, converted when he was 13 (8 years ago), and he doesn't speak much English...it's actually a lot of fun though, we play lots of vocab games while walking to appointments, so I'm learning lots! He's super patient and has a great sense of humor, so I consider myself pretty lucky to have him! 

There are two other Elders in my district, Elder Rauro and Elder Brewer. Elder Rauro is hilarious, speaks even less English than my trainer, and he loves my ties. he offered to pay 500 pesos for one of them (about $40, but I declined). Elder Brewer is from Utah, and he's only been out here for 7 months, so he still speaks English (phew). He's a lot of fun too, we sing together a lot and he is really helpful with giving me tips to help me adjust. 

We've had lots of good lessons this past week, a lot of times people aren't home, but when they are, the lessons are (in general) great! I've discovered that little kids speaking spanish is one of the cutest things ever. It reminds of the little turtles in Finding Nemo; they're super cute, and I can hardly understand them at all haha. 

On Thursday, we went to visit this woman named Nina, only to learn that she had passed away just the day before. We went in and talked with the family for a bit, and then told them we'd come back later. That night, there was a funeral for her, and a few people were asked to say some words. When they opened it up for anyone to talk, I felt impressed to do so. Super nervous, I stepped forward and stumbled through the language, hoping that what I was saying would help these people feel the Spirit. I don't remember what I said, but I do remember a feeling of peace in the room and it seemed to have touched the hearts of those present. It was an incredible experience. 

Oftentimes while walking to lessons, we'll see people doing some sort of work in the streets like moving dirt or whatever. We stop as often as we can to help and people are so thankful! I love service!

Oh, one thing about Mexico; there are dogs everywhere. Like, so many dogs, they just walk around streets, on rooftops, in houses (!!), doing whatever they want. It's so weird. 

I've already tried a whole bunch of weird new foods, here's a list:

-Nopales (cactus)

-Tuna (it's a fruit that tastes like watermelon, but is actually good)

-Guayaba (another fruit that tastes delicious)

-Higos (Ee-gos, it's a fruit)

-Jamaica (a really good drink)

-Chinchuron (pig skin. yup. I wanted to throw up all day.)

Things are really different down here, but I like it. Not enough to live here again, but I really just like being here, spreading the Gospel. It's such a joyous work! I love you all, write me letters and things, I don't have a ton of time to respond to emails! 

Elder Connor