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. 

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

Week 1 - the MTC

Hi everyone! First off, thanks to everyone who sent me emails and letters, it means so much to hear from all of you! 

This week has been soo full, I'm almost never not doing something haha. Monday and Tuesday, before I reported, I flew out here to Utah and hung out with the Akagis and Shimps. They were so much fun and so hospitable and nice! 

Wednesday, I reported, went to class almost first thing and met one of my teachers and my district. My teacher is Hermana Casares, she's so nice and she always says "super" instead of "muy." So now, whenever anyone says, "Como estan?", we all reply, "Super bien!" My district is awesome, we have four Hermanas, and six Elderes. I actually just realized I don't have a picture of all of them...woops haha. I'll get one before the week is out. My companion is Elder Flores, he lives in Cash Valley, but his family is from Mexico. He's going to serve in Veracruz (I'm the only one in my branch that's serving in Chalco) and he's so cool! Super patient, really good at soccer, and he's really funny. He's also really willing to try out new things, so when I asked if we could do choir, he was all for it! We're singing a beautiful arrangement of "Nearer My God to Thee" at tonights devo!

Elder Flores and I share a living space with Elders Carrillo (serving in Panama) and Solano (serving in MC North I think). They're really cool too, Elder Carrillo is super good with magic tricks, was on the coast guard, and is a convert as of 2 years! Elder Solano is really into yoga and is really funny. The other two elders, Peterson and Vinces are really great as well, really funny and fun to talk with. It's a great group! 

My Branch President is President Call, I had an interview with him a couple days ago and he's a wonderful man. Definitely called of God. As is the rest of the Presidency, they're all really nice, good men. 

We have two other teachers, Hermanos Cuadra y Antello. They're really awesome, pretty different but both really good teachers. I've kind of become the universal scapegoat for the district, mostly because Elder Vinces always blamed me for things like Hermano Cuadra's keys missing or what have you. The worst was when someone clogged the toilet and everyone blamed me. I promise it wasn't me. 

As far as food goes, there's so much...It's really hard to not just keep eating here haha. I'm doing well though, only gained a couple pounds...probably haha. 

For exercise, I try to find anyone who will play frisbee with me. Sometimes I do, and it's so much fun!! Other times I've played soccer (tried**) and ran around a bit. 

Friday and Saturday, we talked to our first "investigators" (Hermana Casares y Hermano Cuadra). I was surprised at how hard it was. During the lessons, I kept stumbling and had no clue what to say or how to say it. It was really hard and I got really frustrated, but the teachers are so loving and supportive here, and I'm starting to learn more about how to invite the Spirit so I'm no longer the one teaching. We all know how it goes when I try to teach. Malo. 

Monday was one of the most amazing days ever. Me, Elders Flores and Vinces, and 7 other missionaries (6 Elders, One Hermana...poor girl haha) had to take a day trip to Las Vegas! We had to go to the Mexican Consulate there to do visa stuff, so we woke up at 4:00 and went to the airport! Only to wait an hour for our flight. Why did we get up so early haha. 

So we finally got to Vegas, went to a chapel and there was a senior missionary there who had served a recent senior mission in Mexico City! So he gave us all a whole bunch of tips and things to know about Mexico and then we went to the Consulate. Elder Greer (the senior Elder) said it would probably take anywhere from an hour to 4 hours to work everything out. I think we were out of there in under 45 minutes. And then he just drove us back to the airport, so we could wait another 4 hours for the flight back to Salt Lake! Awesome. 

So we sat near our gate and ate food and chatted with the other missionaries, who are all so great. Then this random man comes up to us and says, "Here, have some pizza!" And hands us two huge boxes of freshly bought pizza. We were all pretty speechless for a second, but not too long. We were hungry! So we thank him, eat the pizza, and then had an awesome experience. There was another man, over in the corner reading something I think, and one of the Elders, Elder Trumpet (bless this man) went up to him and said, "Hey, we have a lot of pizza, would you mind eating some for us?" and we handed him a slice. Then Elder Trumpet pops back in, "So this is conditional. We'll give you the pizza if you listen to a message we have." To which, the man accepted (duh, free pizza.) and Elder Trumpet and I started talking to him. We talked about Christ's ministry, His Atonement, the Apostasy, and The Restoration and gave him a Book of Mormon. And he said he would read it! It was such a cool experience, the Spirit was definitely there. 

Awesome experience number two: Elder Trumpet and I barely make our flight because we were talking to this guy, and then we sit down. I sat next to this other Elder in the group, Elder Romney, and we started chatting. Then this lady sits down next to us and she's visibly very upset. We asked if there was something we could do to help and she declined, so we kinda sat there awkwardly for the first half of the flight. 

After awhile, I pull out my scriptures and pray to know how to help this woman. Elder Romney and I are reading quietly and then all of a sudden Elder Romney just starts talking to her. Now this Elder is pretty shy, but he was so good at it! Turns out, this woman was traveling with her daughter and lost her for a bit and then just barely got in contact with her before they boarded and so they were both on the plane, but they were separated and this lady hated flying, scares her to death, so she was really upset. We get to know her a bit and then she asks who we are and what we're doing. We tell her we're missionaries for the church and ask if she knows much about the Church. She says she knows quite a bit, but she didn't want to talk much (something about it made her nervous on the flight....ok) So we ask if we can share our message, she could just listen and we'd do all the talking, and she said she'd like that. So we basically just taught her the first discussion. It was pretty similar to what Elder Trumpet and I did, but different because we felt prompted in different ways. It was so cool, every time one of us Elders wasn't sure what to say next, the other was right there, boom, Spirit, and kept it going. The Spirit was so strong and by the time we'd finished, she was really calm and peaceful and thankful. We gave her a Book of Mormon as well and she thanked us and said she'd read it. It was seriously such a wonderful trip! 

I almost have to get off, but I love all of you! I can really feel your prayers and know that I pray for you too! This work is really hard, I didn't expect it to be this difficult to be honest. But I love it so much and I'm so glad to be here! I leave on Monday, so I don't think I'll have another P-day for two weeks, but I'll call before I board. Love you all! 

See You In Two

Hey everyone! This is Heather, Joseph's ehm! Elder Connor's sister. I'll be dropping him off at the MTC tomorrow. He's asked me to post his letters that he sends to everyone on a blog, so here it is! Follow along if you would like to know how he's doing and about all the great adventures he is having!

A note from Joseph:

"Well, this is it! Pretty soon, I'll be shipping out on my mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I'm so excited to serve the Lord in this great adventure and share the blessings of the Gospel I have received in my life with the people of Mexico City. I will be emailing home every week from the following email: josephscottconnor@myldsmail.net 
So make sure to email me and keep me updated! Love you all, see you in two!!"

I think we all know he's going to do great things. Thanks to Kellie Nuss for this photo!