Old Friends, New District

I guess I'll start off with the new district. My companion is Elder Gonzalez, from Guatemala, and he's super great!! He doesn't speak a ton of English, but he is always complimenting me ('You are the best!'). Dang it Elder, I'm trying to be humble here! Elder Berger and Elder Cory are the other companionship. Elder Berger has 14 months in the mission, and he is awesome! He's lost something like 50 pounds or more since he's been here, such a champ. Elder Cory is new! He doesn't speak a lot of Spanish, so I try to help him out. I totally remember being in those shoes and I'm realizing how far I've come with the language in these 3 and a halfish months. I'm still not at all fluent, but...well, for example, we had a zone conference this morning and a spiritual thought in English, and I was gonna add a little spiritual insight I had, and then I couldn't remember how to say it in English...yeah, I felt Hispanic. Yay!...

Wednesday was a day of very mixed emotions. We had to leave a bunch of investigators this week because they really have no desires to change. We have 4 now, and none of them are progressing. It was really sad for us. BUT! We decided to go visit a little family of a mom and her two kids. I love this family, the son is 16 and just got ordained a priest. The daughter is 14, and a little rebelious. We went by there place and talked with them a bit, and we soon found out that their house had never been dedicated. Normally this is something that a Melchizedek Priesthood holder would do, but families can also do it together. I felt impressed to ask the son, Brian, if he would do so, after our lesson. We talked about obedience and how we can grow closer together as families. 

Afterwards, as he offered the prayer, I felt the Spirit super strong. We all ended up crying, because we could tangibly feel a huge difference in the presence of the Spirit settle over the home. It was an incredible experience, especially for this little family. What a great blessing that they have a loving mother who looks out for them, that they have a worthy priesthood holder in their home, that they have the Gospel to help them get through the trials in their life! This Gospel is the perfect truth, something I know from having seen it in action, changing the lives of those I've met who have accepted it. 

Saturday and Sunday we had Stake Conference. During the sunday session, we had some speakers broadcast talks to us; Elder Daniel L. Johnson of the 70, Elder Benjamin De Hoyos of the 70, Elder Richard J. Maynes, Sister Linda S. Reeves of the General Relief Society Presidency, and Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles! Sister Reeves and I met on the plane ride out to the MTC, and I'm telling you, she totally requested to speak at this Stake Conference because she knew I'd be there. We're best friends, guys. They all had to speak in Spanish and most of them don't know the language, but even with all their mistakes and their Northern accents, the Spirit was strong as they testified of the truth! 

Last week we had to get flu shots, and last night, I got pretty sick. It didn't last very long, I'm a lot better now after a 12 hour nap, but lemme tell ya, it was no fun haha. In other news, I've decided that Mexican hamburgers are better than those in the states. Call me un-American, but the ones down here actually taste good. 

I'd like to share a scripture in Mosiah 23. In this chapter, Alma the older and his people have escaped the armies of the wicked King Noah and built an awesome city in this beautiful land named Helam. They're doing great, lots of prosperity and blessings, super obedient righteous people, all that good stuff. Then, all of a sudden, this Lamanite army comes out of nowhere and brings them into bondage.

Verses 21-22 say; 'Nevertheless the Lord seeth fit to chasten his people; yea, he trieth their patience and their faith. Nevertheless—whosoever putteth his trust in him the same shall be lifted up at the last day. Yea, and thus it was with this people.'

Sometimes in our lives, we're doing all these good things and being super obedient, and then all of a sudden, out of nowhere comes this great trial. We may often think, 'Why me?? Why do I have to suffer even though I'm being such a good person right now?? Why not my mean boss, or Kim Jong Un, or someone else??' My belief is this. Sometimes we are like the people of Alma, in that we're being righteous, receiving blessings, and not getting prideful. God can see our reaction to the blessings we receive, and now it's time to test our faith. He knows that we're righteous when we're comfortable, but what about when we have trials? Will we stand firm in our beliefs? Will we still trust in God? Or will our confidence crumble? 

I can testify to you that if we do not let go of our beliefs amidst our trials, we will be lifted up so that we can overcome them. The people of Alma were faithful, even when tried, and because of that, they were also lifted up. God does not cause bad things to happen, but sometimes, He allows us to experience evil so we can truly appreciate the good and seek after it. There's a lot of evil going on in the world right now, and so it is our responsibility (and to our benefit) to stand strong and draw ourselves even closer to God. 

I love you all!! 

Elder Connor

1. Me, Elder Pancheo (my little brother!!!) and Elder Jimenez
2. My zone! Love these guys
3. My district! from left to right: Elders Cory, Gonzalez, Berger, Me

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!