Elder Clifton Dudley~Serving in Mexico Monterey EastElder Clifton Dudley was a little sad to not be at the sealing of his sister, Shalise, and new brother-in-law, Ted. However, he sent a special picture college and gave us the following explanation. Be sure to notice the scripture. "I took the picture on a night that I was feeling rather sad and lonely. I originally took it without the scripture, but then I found the scripture, took the picture again, and felt a whole lot better."
Elder Justin Doyle~Serving in Mexico Monterey West
The weather here has been scorching hot! We are entering what is called the Canicula here in Mexico. It is the hottest time of the year when it is more than 100 all of the time! Yay. Mission changes are tomorrow and I think that I am finally leaving. The thing is is that Saltillo has the best weather in all of the mission and I think I will be leaving right before the canicula to a hotter place like Monclova (the hottest place in the mission).
Most people (the thugs) here have shirts that have the marijuana leaf on it. It is funny because I mean everyone has that on their clothes somewhere. I saw a member lady walk into conference wearing a shirt with a huge marijuana leaf on the front. I was shocked!
My Easter wasn't an Easter because I totally forgot. Mostly because nobody celebrates it here the same if the celebrate it here. Yes I burned a tie. (Justin hit his 6 month mark) I did get to watch conference in English on Sunday but on Saturday for the priesthood session I watched it in Spanish.
A couple of interesting things that happened this week: We taught some Cuban women (three of them) and that was interesting. They have never heard of the Mormons and more so, their accent was weird. They did not pronounce their ''s'' very well. Also, for one lesson appointment we had when we showed up there was a Muslim man there. We later found out that he is married to a Mormon lady and they go to church but he is still Muslim. He had very interesting views. Another thing happened when we were walking; we got called over by a man and his wife. They started asking us questions about our religion, but then started to focus on things about the jehovah`s witnesses. We are pretty sure that he was a jehova`s witness and was trying to get us to say something bad about them or mix up our message. He said he was going to come to church but didn't so that pretty much sealed our thoughts.
Elder Joseph Hilton~Serving in Uruguay Montevido West Mission
Joey reported to the Argentina CCM on February 25th. He was in a cluster of 6 'gringos' learning the language there. Their numbers have sadly been reduced to 5 putting him in a trio with Elders Brough and Lockheart. The Spanish is coming along really well. He is able to proselyte on Saturdays to homes around the CCM. This past week he passed the one month (half of the CCM) mark and was made DL. He says he isn't sure what that means, but he'll do the research to figure out what that means in a group of 5 in the CCM and do his very best:)
Elder Taylor Hucks~ Serving in Washington D.C. North Mission
Most people (the thugs) here have shirts that have the marijuana leaf on it. It is funny because I mean everyone has that on their clothes somewhere. I saw a member lady walk into conference wearing a shirt with a huge marijuana leaf on the front. I was shocked!
My Easter wasn't an Easter because I totally forgot. Mostly because nobody celebrates it here the same if the celebrate it here. Yes I burned a tie. (Justin hit his 6 month mark) I did get to watch conference in English on Sunday but on Saturday for the priesthood session I watched it in Spanish.
A couple of interesting things that happened this week: We taught some Cuban women (three of them) and that was interesting. They have never heard of the Mormons and more so, their accent was weird. They did not pronounce their ''s'' very well. Also, for one lesson appointment we had when we showed up there was a Muslim man there. We later found out that he is married to a Mormon lady and they go to church but he is still Muslim. He had very interesting views. Another thing happened when we were walking; we got called over by a man and his wife. They started asking us questions about our religion, but then started to focus on things about the jehovah`s witnesses. We are pretty sure that he was a jehova`s witness and was trying to get us to say something bad about them or mix up our message. He said he was going to come to church but didn't so that pretty much sealed our thoughts.
Elder Joseph Hilton~Serving in Uruguay Montevido West Mission
Joey reported to the Argentina CCM on February 25th. He was in a cluster of 6 'gringos' learning the language there. Their numbers have sadly been reduced to 5 putting him in a trio with Elders Brough and Lockheart. The Spanish is coming along really well. He is able to proselyte on Saturdays to homes around the CCM. This past week he passed the one month (half of the CCM) mark and was made DL. He says he isn't sure what that means, but he'll do the research to figure out what that means in a group of 5 in the CCM and do his very best:)
Elder Taylor Hucks~ Serving in Washington D.C. North Mission
I am doing very well. This last week has been really good. I have had somereally cool experiences. The biggest one to note is a meeting that I hadthis last Saturday. I arrived at the visitors center at about 8:00 in themorning for a meeting about the mission. I arrived and sat down and waitedfor a good 15-20 min wondering why President wasn’t starting the meeting, wewere just waiting...Then the back doors behind us opened up and in walked Elder Holland. Illtell you, what spirit fills the room when an apostle of the Lord walk in,its something else. He walked down and took a seat and i was right there infront of him. Before the meeting started Elder Holland said that he wouldlike the come by and shake each hand of ours personally so we walked over tomeet him. (I had just got a haircut the night before, wheew good thing I wasnot looking like a hippie). I walked up to Elder Jeffery R. Holland of thequorum of the twelve apostles and took his hand. He gave me a smile andlooked me right into the eyes. I held my eye contact with him and lookedinto his really blue apostolic eyes as I shook his hand. I was the first tospeak saying " Hello Elder Holland how are you?"He replied to me very well Elder Hucks how are you?"Good I said""And were are you from elder" he asked"Sacramento California" I replied"and how do you feel about your mission..." "Excellent" I respondedI then went back to my seat right there on the second row and heard one ofthe greatest talks on missionary work and teaching by the spirit that i haveever heard.It was an amazing day, very uplifting. One of those really good days whereeverything just goes well. Hey Harrison a few days ago we saw Obama's car driving by and SNIPERS onthe rooftops!! Yea it was cool man there were CIA guys all over. Well I love you guys, we just had transfers again today and I’m staying herewith the same companion, no change. I’m stoked for this upcoming 6 weeks and what’s going to happen, my roomiesare way cool
Elder Mark Jay~Serving in Peru Lima South Mission
My investigators are doing alright. We're getting many new investigators each week. But it's frustrating as still our investigators, or a good number, are not going to the chapel. And we can only pass for so many. They need to go to the chapel or they can't get baptized. Now we're trying to separate the investigators into two groups - those that can really progress and get baptized soon and those that aren't ready to progress. We will then focus mainly on those that are ready to progress and move forward and make the necessary changes in their lives.
Hurray, general conference is coming. And we're allowed to go to all of the session unless we have appointments. We will probably have appointments in the morning but the rest I will hopefully be able to attend.
We recently received news of who will be our new mission president. President and sister Fiero will finish their mission in June. (They are from Ecuador). Our new mission president will be President Roger Manning and his wife Lyn. How exciting - a mission president from North America. I'm excited that I will get to have a Latino mission president and a North American one too.
Thank you for your support and testimony. It gives me strength. I too depend on the Lord and don't fully comprehend the love He and our Father-in-Heaven have for us. I hope you are all well.
Love, Elder Jay
Elder Cameron Pettey~Serving in Sao Paulo Brasil
This week was a miracle. Vera took the decision to be baptized! It was amazing! She changed so much. She had so many doubts and questions, etc. but was sincerely searching for an answer. Everytime we went there, she had a new doubt. Every time we talked to her and helped her to resolve this doubt. She believed in reincarnation, different view on baptism, Joseph Smith, and many more. It really was a complete change. It was great because we got to see it from the beginning to the end. We have been trying to help her for a while now get baptized. Transfer is almost over and we were thinking that it might not work out before. We had faith and worked really hard, doing everything we could. This week she still wasn’t sure about baptism, not believing she was ready. We talked to her and marked an interview with her, just to see how it went. Elder Cooper worked magic baby. After a long interview, they came out, not saying that she passed or anything. I thought she decided not to get baptized. Elder Cooper gave me the folded baptismal form, and I opened it just enough to see if it was filled out, and it was! I was so happy. Amazing. Miracle. We had the baptism in the same river where we had it last time, I am so happy to be able to be a part of this. Vera is amazing. She is like our mom here. She is way happy now, very animated.Today we just got down from climbing Baiepi. It was awesome! Extremely high, hardcore trek. I was sweating soooo much, and am out of shape. Really fun though. We went with a lot of cool guys from Church. We all had a fun time. It was beautiful. When we got up to the top, we were thinking about how the Prophets in olden days went up to the highest mountains they could find to pray to God. It was cool, before we came back down, we decided to sing Called to Serve and say a prayer. Cool spiritual experience climbing a mountain. Not to mention the fun we had on the way. Tiny little trail in some spots, we had to climb on all fours, when we were coming down, we slipped like crazy, and Henrique completely ate it. Hahahah. He was running and he stopped his feet, but his body kept going and straight rolled out.
Hope everyone has a wonderful week. Do what is right baby!A Hug and Love,Elder Cam Pettey
Elder Jordan Shillingburg~Serving in Antofagasta Chile
This week was great, it started off really crappy with Zero lessons to start off the week, and then the next day, the grandma that had a baptism date dropped on us, cuz she is easily influenced by anyone that talks to her, and so of course things have to happen, cuz Satan is a real D-bag, and so she heard so things that obviously weren’t true, and yea.But the day after that made up for everything 1000 fold, as we were about to leave one of our investigators house, Fabiola and she has a daughter and two sons, she told us she wanted to be baptized, and we always had a date lingering but she never accepted it, but she said, later after more time, and so we put a date for the 11th of April, and then we told her that one of us might not be here because of transfers, and so she wanted us to do it, and so we cranked it out this Saturday. We baptized her and her daughter, but not one son because he is only 5, and the other sons doesn’t really want much to do with us, but we will get him eventually. And transfers are today, and we are still here, so ha, we managed to get Fabiola and Ninoshca, her daughter, in that baptism font right away.And yea, that was our week, it was good.oh, and we ran out of toilet paper and had to start using newspaper that we have in the apartment.Chao
Elder Kyle Mark Smith~ Serving in Hungary Budapest
Hello lovely family. One time in Zone Conference, all of the missionaries had to stand up in front of everyone and say a compliment about their companion. One of the elders said that his companion was "just a lovely guy". One of the greatest moments of my life. I think that the first and last time I've heard a man use the word lovely to describe another man. But it's ok to use with family. This week was really good. I love sitting down to write these emails because all of the great memories come back to my head of the past week. Last week at f.h.e with the Ildiék and Gyöngyiék, Enikő was in charge of the activity and she had us all do a trust building activity where we had to fall backwards and let our partner catch us. Most of us could catch our partner. But when it was Gyöngyi's turn, Ildi tried to catch her when she started to fall, but they both went straight to the ground. It was hilarious. Some trust building. The members are doing great here in Szolnok. They are like my family. Last night with the Gáspárék we sat crosslegged on the ground and talked while eating süti after our lesson. They are so great. Our investigators are doing good too. On wednesday, one of our investigators who is református committed to baptism and she came to church with her 8 year old son on sunday. They had a great time and we are meeting with them again today. The biggest thing this week was our non-smoking program with Laci. He smoked his last cigarette Saturday morning before our program and he didn't even know it was his last one until we got there. This program is genius. A missionary companionship came up with it like 20 years ago in Ireland. For a part of the program, the smoker has to hold all of his cigarettes in his hand and completely crush them. It was so sweet to see Laci crush his cigarettes and them throw them in the fire. He has to drink unsweetened grapefruit juice and take a lot of vitamin C to make the desire to smoke go away. And then a lot of mouthwash and brushing teeth. We bought all of the stuff for him and he committed to do everything so we are praying for him that he will be able to do the program to the end which is until Saturday. Will you pray for him too? Laci (lot-see). I know he will be able to quit smoking if he follows all of the steps and if we pray for him. A big part of the program is prayer and scripture study. It's not only physical but spiritual as well. Thanks so much for your prayers. I know he will get baptized. Szolnok is doing good.
Elder Mark Jay~Serving in Peru Lima South Mission
My investigators are doing alright. We're getting many new investigators each week. But it's frustrating as still our investigators, or a good number, are not going to the chapel. And we can only pass for so many. They need to go to the chapel or they can't get baptized. Now we're trying to separate the investigators into two groups - those that can really progress and get baptized soon and those that aren't ready to progress. We will then focus mainly on those that are ready to progress and move forward and make the necessary changes in their lives.
Hurray, general conference is coming. And we're allowed to go to all of the session unless we have appointments. We will probably have appointments in the morning but the rest I will hopefully be able to attend.
We recently received news of who will be our new mission president. President and sister Fiero will finish their mission in June. (They are from Ecuador). Our new mission president will be President Roger Manning and his wife Lyn. How exciting - a mission president from North America. I'm excited that I will get to have a Latino mission president and a North American one too.
Thank you for your support and testimony. It gives me strength. I too depend on the Lord and don't fully comprehend the love He and our Father-in-Heaven have for us. I hope you are all well.
Love, Elder Jay
Elder Cameron Pettey~Serving in Sao Paulo Brasil
This week was a miracle. Vera took the decision to be baptized! It was amazing! She changed so much. She had so many doubts and questions, etc. but was sincerely searching for an answer. Everytime we went there, she had a new doubt. Every time we talked to her and helped her to resolve this doubt. She believed in reincarnation, different view on baptism, Joseph Smith, and many more. It really was a complete change. It was great because we got to see it from the beginning to the end. We have been trying to help her for a while now get baptized. Transfer is almost over and we were thinking that it might not work out before. We had faith and worked really hard, doing everything we could. This week she still wasn’t sure about baptism, not believing she was ready. We talked to her and marked an interview with her, just to see how it went. Elder Cooper worked magic baby. After a long interview, they came out, not saying that she passed or anything. I thought she decided not to get baptized. Elder Cooper gave me the folded baptismal form, and I opened it just enough to see if it was filled out, and it was! I was so happy. Amazing. Miracle. We had the baptism in the same river where we had it last time, I am so happy to be able to be a part of this. Vera is amazing. She is like our mom here. She is way happy now, very animated.Today we just got down from climbing Baiepi. It was awesome! Extremely high, hardcore trek. I was sweating soooo much, and am out of shape. Really fun though. We went with a lot of cool guys from Church. We all had a fun time. It was beautiful. When we got up to the top, we were thinking about how the Prophets in olden days went up to the highest mountains they could find to pray to God. It was cool, before we came back down, we decided to sing Called to Serve and say a prayer. Cool spiritual experience climbing a mountain. Not to mention the fun we had on the way. Tiny little trail in some spots, we had to climb on all fours, when we were coming down, we slipped like crazy, and Henrique completely ate it. Hahahah. He was running and he stopped his feet, but his body kept going and straight rolled out.
Hope everyone has a wonderful week. Do what is right baby!A Hug and Love,Elder Cam Pettey
Elder Jordan Shillingburg~Serving in Antofagasta Chile
This week was great, it started off really crappy with Zero lessons to start off the week, and then the next day, the grandma that had a baptism date dropped on us, cuz she is easily influenced by anyone that talks to her, and so of course things have to happen, cuz Satan is a real D-bag, and so she heard so things that obviously weren’t true, and yea.But the day after that made up for everything 1000 fold, as we were about to leave one of our investigators house, Fabiola and she has a daughter and two sons, she told us she wanted to be baptized, and we always had a date lingering but she never accepted it, but she said, later after more time, and so we put a date for the 11th of April, and then we told her that one of us might not be here because of transfers, and so she wanted us to do it, and so we cranked it out this Saturday. We baptized her and her daughter, but not one son because he is only 5, and the other sons doesn’t really want much to do with us, but we will get him eventually. And transfers are today, and we are still here, so ha, we managed to get Fabiola and Ninoshca, her daughter, in that baptism font right away.And yea, that was our week, it was good.oh, and we ran out of toilet paper and had to start using newspaper that we have in the apartment.Chao
Elder Kyle Mark Smith~ Serving in Hungary Budapest
Hello lovely family. One time in Zone Conference, all of the missionaries had to stand up in front of everyone and say a compliment about their companion. One of the elders said that his companion was "just a lovely guy". One of the greatest moments of my life. I think that the first and last time I've heard a man use the word lovely to describe another man. But it's ok to use with family. This week was really good. I love sitting down to write these emails because all of the great memories come back to my head of the past week. Last week at f.h.e with the Ildiék and Gyöngyiék, Enikő was in charge of the activity and she had us all do a trust building activity where we had to fall backwards and let our partner catch us. Most of us could catch our partner. But when it was Gyöngyi's turn, Ildi tried to catch her when she started to fall, but they both went straight to the ground. It was hilarious. Some trust building. The members are doing great here in Szolnok. They are like my family. Last night with the Gáspárék we sat crosslegged on the ground and talked while eating süti after our lesson. They are so great. Our investigators are doing good too. On wednesday, one of our investigators who is református committed to baptism and she came to church with her 8 year old son on sunday. They had a great time and we are meeting with them again today. The biggest thing this week was our non-smoking program with Laci. He smoked his last cigarette Saturday morning before our program and he didn't even know it was his last one until we got there. This program is genius. A missionary companionship came up with it like 20 years ago in Ireland. For a part of the program, the smoker has to hold all of his cigarettes in his hand and completely crush them. It was so sweet to see Laci crush his cigarettes and them throw them in the fire. He has to drink unsweetened grapefruit juice and take a lot of vitamin C to make the desire to smoke go away. And then a lot of mouthwash and brushing teeth. We bought all of the stuff for him and he committed to do everything so we are praying for him that he will be able to do the program to the end which is until Saturday. Will you pray for him too? Laci (lot-see). I know he will be able to quit smoking if he follows all of the steps and if we pray for him. A big part of the program is prayer and scripture study. It's not only physical but spiritual as well. Thanks so much for your prayers. I know he will get baptized. Szolnok is doing good.
1 comment:
It is so great to hear about the missionaries serving from our stake! Is there anyway I can add my brother who's serving out of the Loomis 2nd ward?
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