Doctor's Orders

On Tuesday, I woke up feeling absolutely awful, so I slept in for a while and then we went to the Mission Doctor. I felt much better at that time, and the doctor gave me some medicine and told me I could work! YES!! I would have hated staying at home, I felt much better and we had a ton of appointments, so this was a huge blessing from God to me, and I hope for those we visited. It was hard, but I felt so much happier working than staying at home. I love being a missionary!

This week, we have been contacting and what surprised me is that almost everyday, we contacted a member that had somehow lost touch with the church. I didn't know them, but we would ask if they knew the church, and they would say, 'Yeah, I was baptized (so many years ago)' It was really amazing how God placed us in their paths, and vice versa, really a very strong testimony to me that God knows and loves each of us and wants us to be happy! God is so Good!

We've also had to leave some investigators this week, people who like to listen, but don't want to change. Cool story, we were going to leave one investigator, he really just wanted to argue. I was thinking about it, praying really hard to know what we should do, and I felt prompted to visit him one more time. I really didn't want to if I'm honest, I would much rather have visited someone that would listen to our message and do something about it, but we went. 

When we arrived, we found he wasn't there, but his daughter who had just moved in a few days prior, invited us in. She listened attentively and invited us to come back. Had we not returned, we probably would never have found her, but again, God knows each of us PERSONALLY, our needs, our desires, how we can be happy, and He sent us there to visit that woman because this is something that she NEEDS, and that CAN make her happy. How grateful I am for a Father in Heaven who knows and loves me, and each of you!!

This week coming, we celebrate not just one, but TWO wonderful people! First, the studliest of studs, the clutchiest of the clutch, the fastest of people who are really fast, the one and only, JACooooooooooob CONNORRRRRRRRR!!! This man among men is just about the coolest guy around. Good looking, athletic, loving, and the epiphany of awesome, he's got it all. I love this kid so much and I'm so lucky to have him as my brother! Happy Birthday, 16 YEAR OLD. That's right ladies, he's dateable! You better get in line now though, it's already probably a few miles long. And he's only got two years before his mission! LIMITED TIME OFFER!! TAKE ADVANTAGE NOW!! 

11 And [Jacob] was a strong and a mighty man; he was a man of a perfect understanding...
12 Yea, a man whose heart did swell with thanksgiving to his God, for the many privileges and blessings which he bestowed upon his people; a man who did labor exceedingly for the welfare and safety of his people.
 13 Yea, and he was a man who was firm in the faith of Christ...

The second person, and by no means lesser than my younger brother. My sister Julie also has her birthday this week, turning 21!! She's equally wonderful, funny, and such the nicest sister named Julie ever! I have a ton of fun memories when we would play together as kids and I love having her as my sister!! 

 17 A friend loveth at all times...

Happy Birthdays! I love you all! Have a great week! 

Elder Connor

P.S. Sorry I haven't sent pictures recently, the computers have had trouble, but here they are!!

1. (left to right) Elder Pacheco (my brother), Elder Jimenez (my father), me, Elder Castillo (my son!!) 
2. (left to right) Elder Kleinman (an elder from my generation), me, my son, and Elder Zabriskie (Elder Kleinman's son!)
3. We have a momma bird in our cactus!!
4. The burgers we made a few weeks ago. So. Good. 

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! 

Mama's Boy, Eagles, and a Frisbee....ish

First and most important: This Wednesday, we celebrate THE BEST woman in history, my Mom! It's her birthday on the 24th, and I'm gonna take a couple minutes to tell you why she's THE BEST. 

• She's loving: I don't think I know anyone on this earth who loves people more than my mom. Really, this could describe everything about her, so here's how she's loving

LIST 2

• She's service oriented: My mom loves to serve! She is always one of the first to put her name down to feed the missionaries, to show up to Eagle Projects, to sacrifice her time to help out others
• She's a great missionary!: My mom isn't afraid to share the Gospel with people, because she knows it's true, and she loves it! And she loves them, so she's going to share as much as possible! 
• She's patient: My mom is very long-suffering, with seven rowdy kids, you kinda have to be. But she does it with a smile on her face and love in her heart! When we're giving her a hard time, she's very patient in helping us understand what's really up. 

And much much more! She's just the best, if you've met her, you know what I'm talking about. And if you've met me, you know I always tell the truth.

This week, to celebrate Mexico's bday, our district partied with some other elders. Pizza, non-caffeinated soda, mormon church music. Rock on. 

On Wednesday, we had a Multi-zone meeting, which was awesome (Even though I couldn't understand about half of it...) I still learned tons and felt the Spirit, and got to talk with President and his wife! I love them so much.

We visited a family this week for a Family Home Evening. The dad isn't super active, but tjey're all really nice and love having us over! The mom also speaks English really well, so they had me sing the opening song in English! It was so fun! We had a really good lesson about repentance and faith, and the dad is coming to activities more often, which is awesome! 

On Friday, I found a frisbee. A ring actually, and it was plastic, so not that great, but it was nice...for a day. We had another ward party this Saturday (for my mom's bday, obviously) and I made the mistake of bringing it. Some kids grabbed it and it didn't survive the night. Ah well, it was fun while it lasted haha. 

So remember that talk I was supposed to give last Sunday and never did? Well, I found out on Thursday that E. Jimenez and I were gonna speak this past Sunday (yesterday), so I got to give it! I think it went well, I got lots of nice compliments afterwards, and I think they could mostly understand me haha. 

This week, I was reading in 1 Nephi 18:12-13, which says: 'And it came to pass that after they had bound me insomuch that I could not move, the compass, which had been prepared of the Lord, did cease to work. Wherefore, they knew not whither they should steer the ship, insomuch that there arose a great storm, yea, a great and terrible tempest, and we were driven back upon the waters for the space of three days; and they began to be frightened exceedingly lest they should be drowned in the sea; nevertheless they did not loose me.' 

I love these verses! Notice how the first thing taken from them was their direction: When they started sinning, they no longer knew where to go. 'The compass...did cease to work.' Our lives are very much the same. When we step off the path of righteousness, and stop heeding the words of the prophets, we too become lost. When we cross over to that path of wickedness, we no longer know where to go. A little later, Laman and Lemuel, who had bound Nephi, repent and free him. When this happens, Nephi picks up the compass and PRAISES God, not complaining over the fact that he's been tied up for 4 days. When this happens, the compass starts working again and they can find their way. As we obey the commandments, we too will be led out of the storm of sin and brought to our promised land. 

I love you all, have a great week! 

Elder Connor

That one time Joseph almost killed a Family Pet....And Happy Birthday, Mexico

Today is the birthday of Mexico! Yay! 

Shoutout to Sister Nicole Connor, who I received letters from this past week! She's the best sister missionary! 

This week was great, on Monday we had a zone conference, so I got to meet the rest of my zone! All Elders, all awesome. They're all really helpful and nice, super hard workers who know when and how to have fun! I'm talking a lot more in lessons and such, the language is still giving me trouble, but I'm learning everyday! Elder Jimenez and I have also started running a lot more, which surprisingly, I missed a lot haha. Things are good here.

left to right: Me, my trainer, and my grandpa! (his trainer)

On Thursday, we met a guy who had just come back from the US after living there for work for 3 years. Apparently, he had met with the missionaries while there, so he asked if we could meet with him! We're gonna find him again this week, I'm super excited for those lessons.

I also used my four generation pedigree chart this week! I honestly never thought I'd need it, but one of our recent converts asked about family history, so I showed him mine! It was a really cool experience, family history is such an important part of the Gospel. Do it! 

Funny story, on Friday we went to teach Sergio about the Book of Mormon (which turned out really well) and afterwards, I asked to hold his parakeet. It was in a cage outside, but he said it wouldn't fly away, so I went to pick it up. As soon as I had it out of the cage, it wiggled its way out of my hands and was gone! Turns out it was his mom's bird, another investigator...needless to say, I felt awful about it. Could things get worse? Well they almost did. As we were leaving, we found the parakeet...IN A DOG'S MOUTH. I ran up to the dog, yelling and kicking at it, and it dropped the bird. Amazingl, it was not only alive, but generally uninjured! Minus all the trauma we'd caused it. Elder Jimenez and I are still laughing about that story.

Saturday, the ward had a party to celebrate Mexico's birthday! It was so fun! Tons of food, lots of pretty legit cultural acts (dances, singing, machetes), and lots of Elders! About ten other elders from my zone had been there for a baptism, so we got to chat with them, which was super fun. I got tons of pictures, I'll send them.

The youth of our ward performed some dances, it was really cool! 

A couple weeks ago, the Elders (including me) were asked to give talks this past Sunday, on missionary work. I started mine this past Thursday, so I could get it all corrected by the other elders in my district, and spent a lot of time on it. When we arrived to church on Sunday, we found out that only Elders Roura and Brewer were giving talks...so I didn't have to give mine! It was a relief, but at the same time kind of a bummer...ah well, I'll save it for later. 

This week, I was reading in 1 Nephi 13:35, which says, 'For, behold, saith the Lamb: I will manifest myself unto thy seed, that they shall write many things which I shall minister unto them, which shall be plain and precious; and after thy seed shall be destroyed, and dwindle in unbelief, and also the seed of thybrethren, behold, these things shall be hid up, to come forth unto the Gentiles, by the gift and power of the Lamb.'

I love this scripture! As members of the church, we believe the Bible to be the word of God. But since there have been so many translations, many of those words, those 'plain and precious' truths have been lost. But Heavenly Father and Christ knew that would happen, so Christ came to the Americas to teach those things to the Nephites. I often wondered why He taught the same things there that He did in the Bible, but now I get it. It wasn't just for them, it was also for us! For our time, to restore those lost truths to the world in a perfect form. 

The Book of Mormon was written for us, so we could know more perfectly the Word and Will of God. As we read it and follow the principles taught, we will become more like Him, which is always the goal.

I love you all! Pictures to come. Until next week! 

Elder Connor

I got a minion (they're speakers)! Despicable Me 2 is huge down here, I love it.