Tucking in a drunk and huge spiders 6/9

So this week we had transfers and my companion Elder Guillen got shipped off and tomorrow I will be expecting an Elder Granger, my first gringo companion. We will be working in a new area because 2 more missionaries are arriving to the branch.(That will be 8 in total!) So we will have our work cut out for us. Also, Emmanuel, our only progressing investigator moved to Hermosillo two weeks before his baptismal date so we are basically starting from scratch. Also this week marks a whole year since I got my mission call, time is just flying by. Really not much has been happening here in Agua Prieta, we teach a good amount of lessons but we are really struggling to get people to come to church and progress so we are going to focus on finding ¨los escogidos¨ or the chosen ones. And recently in general conference and in conferences de Mexico, the first Presidency has made it clear that the way to do that is working with the members. WHICH has been super hard to do here so far... so a little note to everyone back home that missionary work pertains to more than just the full time misisonaries... read M. Russel Ballard´s last 2 general conference talks... But we have had some success witht he people we have found trrough our own efforts. 

Last night we had a awesome lesson with a member who was baptized when she was 16 and hasn´t been to church in about 10 years. Her name is Gabriella, a single mother of 2 and said that she just started meeting with the Jehovas Witnesses when we found her but is very confused. So we (re)taught her about Joseph Smith and told her she can clear up all her doubt and confusion if she prays to know if the Book of Mormon is true. We also had to sift through un chorro of lies that the TJ´s have been feeding her about Mormon Missionaries. That the church pays to be missionaries and then also pays for our schooling after the mission and that Satan guides us to people to pull them away from the truth... bla bla bla. She really does have an honest desire to know the truth and accepted our (re)invitation to (re)read the Book of Mormon and (re)pray to know (remember) that the Church is true, so I think everything will work out.

Also we found a drunk man in the street one day (happens everyday) but he started yelling at us and for some reason I felt inclined to talk to him. Long story short I ended up throwing away all his alcohol, walking him to his mom´s house, narrowly avoided a family brawl, tucked him in bed, and taught him about the Word of Wisdom the next day. 

Also this week we found 2 Matavenados in our house which means ¨Deer Killer¨ and is this big really poisenous spider. 1 of them was on the wall above my bed so that really freaked me out and we are looking into having our house fumigated. 

That´s all the time I have! I love and miss you all. 

Elder Mitchell 

(included pics of hermosa Agua Prieta and the spider)

 

Manuel 5/26

So this past week was the first week in the new house and for the first 4 days we didn't have water or electricity so that was a bit of a struggle to wash clothes, eat, bathe, pretty much do anything, but we managed and now everything is great with the house. 

Other than that this week was pretty normal, we are working hard to find the people here who are not just willing to listen to us but are willing to act! This week we had an awesome lesson with Manuel and he accepted a bautismal date for June 14th. Carmen who is his friend and a convert to the church, my companion and I all shared our testimonies and experiences from our baptisms and the spirit was super strong. I was planning on just letting Carmen and Elder Guillen share their stories, because they were baptized a lot more recently than me and I don't remember much about my baptism (12 years ago) but after they both finished, Manuel looked and me and waited... and almost without thinking I started talking about my baptisimal interview with Bishop Billings, which just came to my mind. Afterwards Manuel gave me a hug (I was tearing up a little) and told me not to cry and then I explained to him about the spirit and he was like 'oh yeah I know I felt that but you don't have to cry.' Hahaha 

 5 Therefore, verily I say unto you, lift up your voices unto this people; speak the thoughts that I shall put into your hearts, and you shall not be confounded before men;

 6 For it shall be given you in the very hour, yea, in the very moment, what ye shall say.

 7 But a commandment I give unto you, that ye shall declare whatsoever thing ye declare in my name, in solemnity of heart, in the spirit of meekness, in all things.

 8 And I give unto you this promise, that inasmuch as ye do this the Holy Ghost shall be shed forth in bearing record unto all things whatsoever ye shall say.

So this was a really awesome experience that lifted my spirits after a tough few weeks, but then on Sunday Manuel didn't come to church so we'll have to talk about that with him! Finally somebody did come to church though!  The cousin of a few kids that we're baptised a while back, named Ana came to church with her cousin. We have taught her a few times but this week we are going to try and put a baptismal date with her! We also had a great lesson with Areli where we brought two young members with us so she could meet some members and not be so timid to come to church. The lesson started of a little awkward because she is suuuper shy but ended well and she said she would come to church...but didn't. 

That's about all the time I have! I love and miss you all.

Love,

Elder Mitchell

Kool aid, cowboy boots, and a Pokemon pillow case 5/19

Last week I had almost no time to write but also not that much too exciting has been happening here in Agua Prieta. After three weeks here and almost none of our investigators coming to church we finally decided that we needed to sift through them all and make some cuts. just like Jesus Christ didn't perfrom miracles for the Pharises due to their incredulousness, Jesus Christ doesn't have affect in our life if we don't have faith, and faith means action! So I shared that message a few times this week and almost nobody gave heed so we're going to be looking for a lot of new people to teach! We have already found a family where all but the mom is excited to listen to us, another young lady, and a part member family.Also Emanuel, a friend of a recient convert,has been reading the book of Mormon and been to church activities before but has been sick recently and couldn't come to church.

Also this week we moved houses and bought bikes! With the bikes we get around so much faster and it is good for my bad foot (which is already a lot better) and our new house is dooooope. We had to move because our apartment was deemed unsafe and unfit for mission standards by President's wife. (We were living next to a drive though liqour store which comes with tons of cholos, drugs and loud music and even sometimes the Mexian Military) The only bad part is that the new house is a little bit outside of our area, but with the bikes it isnt a big deal. Oh, also this week we did lots of service for the members of our ward... mostly yardwork but it was a great opportunity to also teach the members and now we have a good group of members willing to acompany us to lessons and stuff. Actually one Hermana after pulling a bunch of weeds agreed to to visit one of her neighbors with us. It was about a 1 minute walk from house to house and her two dogs followed us. We taught for about 20 minutes and when we walked back her dog was dead on the side of the rode. So we then dug a little grave for her perrita right where we pulled all the weeds and had a little ceremony for Chicis. :( Not exactly the blessings we promised her for getting involved in missionary work. 

Also this week I bought a sweet hammock in the tianges (which is a weekly flea market) a switchblade, some koolaid powder smuggled across the border, cowboy boots, a pokemon pillowcase all for like 15 bucks. 

VIVA MEXICO

con muchisimo amor,

Elder Mitchell

Ugliest town ever 5/5

As far as I can tell nobody did anything today here in Agua Prieta to celebrate Cinco de Mayo... today was actually pretty boring. My right foot had been bothering me a little the past few weeks and this week it started getting a lot worse so we went to the doctors office on Saturday and it turns out I have tendonitis in my foot. But they gave me some injections (en la cola) and some anti inflammatory pills and things are already getting better! The bad part is that Hermana Hernandez (Presidents wife) talked to the doctor and agreed I need to rest or I will never get better. So tpday we just stayed in the house pretty much, we{ll see how tomorrow goes, I can{t really take much more of sitting around! 

A little bit about Agua Prieta... It might be the ugliest little town I have ever been to but the people here are awesome! There will be a street full of humble little shanties and houses and then out of nowhere these huge huge mansions with lifted trucks out front, and that is supposedly where the narcos live. Also just about every other person who lives here in AP has a Visa to go the US but it only gets them as far as Tucson Arizona or something like that.We found some new people this week to teach which was really exciting but only person came to church on Sunday. The one person is a 15 year old names Luis who is the oldest of 5 boys and one of the maturest 15 year olds I know. We put baptismal date with him for May 24th but we are hoping that his parents and brothers will follow his example!

There{s not really that much going on here yet, still pretty new to me. One of my favorite parts of this week was teaching this lady who is super catholic and worships all the saints. She told us she usually runs off all the people who come to her house preaching or selling anything but for some reason accepted us. We taught her pretty in depth about who God is and how we are His Children and why we should only pray to Him and not the virgin mary or San Pedro and she accepted it all pretty well. Sometimes it is pretty daunting to go into a strangers home and tell them what they have believed their entire life is false, but through the spirit people recognize these things, or in a way remember this things, as something that is eternally true and inbedded in our spiritual genes. We are working with her to switch her work schedule around so she can come to church.

Love and Miss you all

Elder Mitchell

Agua Prieta 4/29

¡Hola de Agua Prieta! Sunday morning I was suprisingly transferred out of Hermosillo after only 1.5 months. It was a pretty eventful week this past week in Hermosillo so it was a little sad to get moved out of there but oh well. I got here late last night after a 6 hour bus ride so I didn{t get to write any (hence me emailing today) But about this last week....

We fasted for our investigator Maria Isabel and had a great lesson with her and invited her to see a baptism on Saturday, she accepted, came to the basptism and right after told us that she would like to be baptized this Saturday!!! We also learned how to make the famous giant tortiallas that they have in Hermosillo. Alejandrina{s son finally accepted to listen to us and even accepted a baptismal datein May. La familia Acosta that we taught in Guaymas called me on Sunday to tell me that their daughters were baptized tat day. Xochitl cut it off with her BF and came back home. The weird part was when we helped this very very VERY (overly) friendly family carry a ton of heavy stuff to their house, and started to talk with them but we quickly left after feeling like some really weird was going in that house. Long story short they are basically a family of witches. If you think witches don{t exist, come to MExico. And we talked to one of our investigators (Bianca, the nice lady who invited us to eat hot dogs and then apparently uploaded a billion fotos to face) and her friend about this and then her friend confessed to also prcticing witchcraft and explained what this creepy family was intending to do to us. So I guess the good news is I am out of Hermosillo away from the witches and in Agua Prieta with all the narcos (drug lords). Agua Prieta is on the border of Arizona and Mexico. I can see practically see the motherland from our house. But all the drug trafficing here I think will beworth the access we have to American Milk and a bearable amount of heat. 

My new Companion is Elder Guillen from Peru, and also speaks no English, but thats just my normal life now.

That{sabout all the time I have for now. Love and miss you all!!!!!!! I will send pics next week!

Elder Mitchell

Semana Santa 4/21

Although they call it Semana Santa here there is really nothing holy about it. All week everybody went to the beach and nobody really even mentioned Easter... so it was a little dfficult to find people to teach because EVERYBODY went to Kino which is a beach like an hour away. School is out again this week too, for really no good reason and they call it Semana Diabla, which is just another week of vacations and party. 

Also this week Xochitl our awesome investigator who told us she wanted to be a missionary and marry in the temple and had a baptism planned for this Saturday... ditched town. We passed by her house last Sat night to remind her about church and she was sleeping, Sunday morning he ex boyfriend came by her house and carried her off to another part of town out of our area. It happened SOO fast and was pretty confusing and sad. We finally set out to find her one day and talked with her and she and her boyfriend said they would listen to us together but then didn´t show up for our lesson so yeah that is a bummer. 

Other than that, not much went down in Hermosillo this week. We celebrated my Companion´s, Elder Pineda, birthday with some investigators with a bonfire and I taught everybody how to make smores. Except there were no graham crackers so we used Pan dulce and I thought t was kinda gross but they claim to have liked it! 

Let´s see also this week... I got a million bug bites on me feet somehow,

I had piroline for the first time which is like a mexican popsicle that is actually really good (a lot of the sweets and candies here are super gross), we hiked cerro de la compana which is a mountain in the middle of the city and toured around downtown and also learned how to whistle like a Mexican. 

Con mucho amor,

Elder Mitchell

Good news and bad news 4/14

Get that corn outta my face!

I would honestly be suprised if there is another country wth more holidays than México so we´re looking at another potentially difficult week to find people but oh well! This past week was filled with some good news and bad news so I guess I will start by finishing my email from last week, get to the bad news and then finish with the good.

So for almost a month now I have been praying pretty specifically to be able to find any people that are praying for some help or to know the truth or anything like that. Last week we were running late to our lunch appointment to which we were bringing a few investigators. We were in a hurry and as we walked past people I would greet them with a buenas tardes but we passed a bus stop and as I said buenas tardes to a lady she looked at me and greeted me back something about her caught my attention. But because we were already late and had Dania y Xochtl with us, I put it in the back of my mind. As we kept going at our brisk pace I thought of this woman again, but then put this thought away when Xochtl asked me a question. About five minutes later we arrived at the comida and as we knocked on the door, I realized the woman from the bus stop had followed us all the way here. I asked her if she was the woman from the bus stop and she said yes and then asked if we were Jehovas Witnesses, I told her no and said we are misioneros de la Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los ultimos días. She asked if we had books or pamphlets and if she could buy one... I laughed and told her that we give them away. I reached into my backpack and was going to give her a pamphlet about The Plan of Salvation, but felt I should give her one about The Restoration. As soon as I handed it to her and started to explain a little about it she started crying and told me she had to go and left. I, a little shocked and confused, looked at my comp and we threw our backpacks in the house explained to the family who was feeding us what happened and ran after her. We caught her a minute before she got on the bus and put a date and time to visit her and her family. When we went a day later she told us that she had found a pamphlet of the restoraton, read it and wanted to know more. Prayed that she could know it was true, and the next day she found us, when I gave her that pamphlet, she knew her prayers had been answered. What an incredible experience that was!!!! We returned to teach her another time and everything went well. 

Bad News: We showed up to visit her again and she seemed really different, reluctantly invited us inside and then told us she didn´t really have time to think about all of this basically telling us not to come back. So that was pretty weird and bien bien chafa and I felt like I definitley misunderstood what she said, but nope. Also we´re not sure if any of our 3 baptisms we had planned for April will be ready in time but they are still progressing just a need a little more time which is ok!

Good News: We started teaching the family of Alejandrina´s sister and they are all are comprehending everything well. The father declined to listen to us but after a few visits Conchita, the mother/wife invited him to to church and all 4 of them went! They are a super cool family and accepted the invitation to be baptized in May! 

Oh also this week I went to the hospital to get an infection (random sores than randomly bleed) taken care of but things are already looking better. Also this week was constantly between 40C(104F) and 42(107) degrees. ¡Viva México!

You don´t need to worry about me (Mom y Caitlin) but plz keep me in ya prayers!!

Love and Miss you all tons!!!

Elder Mitchell

Attached are some pics from the dope suprise HBD party Alejandrina and Conchita threw for me and smashed my cake in my face.

Birthday! 4/7

Thank you everybody for the birthday wishes, reading emails from all the people I love and miss so much had been the best part of my day. We woke up and my companion had made me flan for breakfast, then we had a district meeting, played soccer and frisbee for a while and then ate some ice cream. It doesn´t really feel like my birthday that much, but that´s really ok seeming how the mission isn´t really about me. 

Conference was sooo awesome though, luckily I got to watch 4 of the 5 sessions in English. It was easily the most I have ever enjoyed conference, which I think is probably most missionarys´ experience. I loved every single talk and can´t pick a favorite but here are a few things I picked up...

M. Russel Ballard said that every member of the church should make at least 4 invitations each year for others to come to church/listen to missionaries.

Jeffery R. Holland basically said that if we are disobedient it is because we love Satan more than Jesus

Donald L. Hallstrom said that we benefit nothing from conference if it doesn´t change us

and Henry B. Eyring said that of all the service you can give, none is greater helping others come to choose to qualify for eternal life.

So if you put those together it should be pretty motivating to do a little bit of missionary work! for real...

I learned so much though from conference and it was an amazing experience for me! I think the two most quoted scriptures were Moses 1¨39 and Matthew 22´37-38. Basicially talking all about love. Which is really where everything begins and ends, with God´s love for us. 

I am just realizing I don´t have much time to finish this...

But we had a miracle this week, I´ll tell you more about it next Monday..sorry.

I can´t believe I already have 5 months done but then again I still have 19 left haha the mission is pretty hard, but it is also pretty awesome. Hope you are all keeping me in your prayers. Thanks again for all the bday I love and miss you all tons. 

El viejito,

Elder Mitchell