Campos2 - Week Eleven

Looks like you guys had fun over memorial day weekend.

They don't have that here as you could guess. The have all the other ridiculous holidays here.

Well, yeah we had transfers, I'm here again, the package you sent got here, but the ZLs were too lazy to bring it here, so I'll get it at zone conference this upcoming week. Lame.

Well this week we have been working a lot with Elba's family. Her two other daughters were going to be baptized this week, but they decided to wait until next week, which is all right for us. They just wanted to get used to church a little more. But they are really good. Marianna, who is the oldest, is really committed in her decision. She knows what is right and wants to do it. We've been going to their house basically every night to help them with the gospel. We did a short division one night this week, and my companion told them that I was transferred, and they almost cried. They were really surprised to see me the next day.

I really love missionary work, but some times you just get exhausted. And collapse. haha

We started teaching another family this week, a reference from the old bishop here. It's a young couple with a little baby, and they are really interested. But they've got that same old problem of not being legally married. But we'll work with them on that.

I love the mission here, it's really great. We're working hard and moving on till the end!

We didn't really have any adventures this week, but next week we will!

Love you all, keep doing what's right!

Campos2 - Week Ten

Hey mom. This week was pretty good. A few cool things happened this week. We caught a rat in our room at night so we hunted it. It was pretty small and he was trying to live in one of my suitcases that I always left open under the bed. That was interesting.

The best part of the week was definitely Sunday. The rest of the week didn't really stand out that much. We have been working with Elba and her family for some time now, and 5 of them were supposed to be baptized on Sunday. We were there on Saturday and they had two people there that were trying to talk them out of it, basically. But Elba had her mind made up that she was going to do the best thing for herself and for her family. But we walked away from that lesson feeling really down. Sunday morning came around and Yara, the daughter who is pregnant, was having some pains so she didn't go. Mariana didn't go either, but all the others did. That made me really happy. So, we started filling the font before church started. But everyone forgot about it . . . so it started overflowing and going into the hall. Haha Oops. During sacrament meeting I sang. There is a member here that lived in Canada for a long time, and he plays the piano really well. I sang "Where Can I Turn for Peace" and it turned out really awesome. I should have had my comp record it or something. But everyone liked it. After church and some complications, the baptisms happened! Felipe, who we reactivated, helped and baptized the youngest. He was really excited and happy to be a part of it because it was his first baptism.

In the end it turned out all right. =) Another happy day on the mission.

I also got the news of transfers last night. I'm going to be here in Campos for another 6 weeks with my current companion, Elder Diego. I'm glad that I'm going to keep my companion, but not all that excited about staying here. But that's okay because if I'm here then that's where the Lord needs me the most and it's where I still have work to do.

I love you all, thanks for all the support. I’m trying my hardest and giving all that I can, even when I'm almost exhausted every day. Haha

Love you guys!

Campos2 - Week Nine

Hey mom. What's up?

Well this week has gone pretty well. Kind of. We also had stake conference this week.  It was good. The speakers were really great. The only not good part was that we had confirmed with 17 people to come to church and we were really excited about that. And only two showed up. And these two are basically members--they come every Sunday, but can't be baptized because they're not married. It was also cool because I saw a lot of the members from the Campos ward that I haven't seen for a while. That was  cool.

We are doing really well here too. The work is going good. We are finding a lot of new people to teach. Our best investigators however are having a few set backs, but they are progressing well.

There were a few lessons this week that I really felt the Spirit. Especially our lessons with Douglas who is starting to believe. We left the Book of Mormon with him and challenged him to read and pray about it. Our lessons with him are awesome. I really like the way my companion teaches. He teaches a lot differently from my other companions. When he talks about the Atonement or about the gospel, its more than just saying it because that's what he has to say, but because it's what he really believes. There is a conviction and a special feeling behind his words. Like every word he says comes from the soul. Our lessons with Douglas have been some of the most spiritual that I've had on my whole mission. I know that he's changing and he's even telling that to us. I'm excited to teach him and I  hope that he keeps going.

I've been reflecting on things that I have learned here on the mission, and I have really learned a lot while I've been here. Looking back on the mission it seems like it's been forever. But it's really helped be a better person.

I'll share just one of the lessons that I have been thinking about. Humility and gratitude are important to receive revelation. The strongest prayers that I have ever had on my mission, before asking for help to my problems, I made an effort to first thank for everything that I had. And I really opened myself up to receive the answer, no matter what the answer was. These prayers have been some of the strongest in my life.

I love the mission and I love the gospel. It's such a sacrifice, but its worth it. This week I'm going to take some time to put the things that I have learned here on the mission down on paper to remember.

I don't think that I'll finish here in Campos. I think that I'll be out soon. We had interviews with president this week. It was kind of funny, he said that on the mission we're here to suffer. haha We're doing the work of our Lord Jesus Christ, and a part of His work was to suffer so that the children of Heavenly Father could come unto Him and have eternal life. So we have a part of this suffering, with all the difficulties that we go through on the mission trying to bring souls unto Christ.

He basically told me that I might be a zone leader soon, but we'll see. I'm just trying to do my best.

Well I love you all. I'm surprised at how much the "littles" have grown. haha I'm pretty sure that I'm going to be the shortest boy in the family, but I think that I've known that for a while.

I'm going to try and call about 6 my time, I think that like 1 there.  Hope church is out already. Well I'll talk to you guys soon.
Love you!