mawwiage

This past week started off great with a trip to Hermosillo for a conference with all the missionaries and their trainers so it was really fun to see the Elders from the MTC. Also we took care of visa stuff so I should be good to stay here for a little longer. haha.

This week we ran into a few problems with our 2 investigators with baptismal dates. One who has been coming to church and reading his scriptures told us that he still feels like he might not be ready by the 8th, and he isnt sure why. The other we have been visiting 2 or 3 times a week, and just found out that him and his´"wife" arent actually married. (very common here) We went and visited them with their bishop and talked about the importance of marriage and everything and asked them to talk about it and set a goal or date for marriage. Then the next visit she told us that they talked about it and want to get married "mas adelante"... or maybe later. So we´ll keep praying/fasting for and teaching them this week but I have a lot of faith that they´ll keep progressing!

Also last week we had really great lessons with four of our other investigators.

La familia Acosta finally came to church for the first time after like 6 months of meeting with missionaries, and are working on getting some divorce papers with ex spouses handled so they can get married and then baptized.

My spanish keeps getting better, learning a new language is way harder than I expected so everynow and then I have to remind myself that I´ve only been in Mexico 6 weeks (because it feels like 6 months).

Whenever I am struggling with the language or anything I try not to think negatively and instead think about what the Lord is trying to teach me. It´s a humbling experience and I am learning and growing lots!

I am also getting good at eating/drinking whatever people put in front me. The misión isnt for the weak of stomach haha but the Lord is blessing mine.

Vayan bien,

Elder Mitchell

VIVA MEXICO

I made it to Hermosillo yesterday and I´m already loving it. Although I feel like i´m dying in the 80º weather (this is winter) I might actually die in a few months when it starts to be 120º regularly. I started sweating about 15 minutes after we landed in Hermosillo and probably wont ever stop. 

I was also surprised to find out President Hernandez doesn´t speak any english so our interview was...fun. And then I got my training companion Elder Cornejo who is from Ecuador and also speaks no english- so about 3 hours after getting to Hermosillo I was on a bus to Guaymas without really knowing what was going on. My Spanish actually isn´t that bad and it´s getting better all the time because I dont have anybody to speak English and Elder Cornejo is very patient with me and an awesome missionary. He only has three months left before he is done so i´ll be his last companion. He just got done serving as AP and everybody tells me I have the best papá and I can already see why! 

We´re opening a new area in Guaymas so we don´t really know anything about the area or have any investigators but ater today were going to meet with some members of the ward here and then see if we can find some people to teach. So far i´ve been told our mission is the 3rd hottest in the world but it also has the best carne in the world so those cancel out right? I actually had a quesaburra last night which is just a huge delicious burrito with tons of meat- that was only after I passed up some tacos de ojo though so we´ll see if the food is always that good hahaha we live in a little old apartment in the middle of the city and we´re surrounded by these big mountains- it´s super pretty here! 

It was a little hard to fall asleep last night with the heat and all the city noise (tons of police sirens) but thankfully I was super tired from traveling all day and Im sure I´ll be pretty tired everyday so that´s all okay! This morning we went grocery shopping and I started talking to this 3 or 4 year old girl and she gave me some candy- she was the cutest!!- so im going to start keeping all my dulces in my backpack for the ninos!

The mail here is slow but if you want to send me something you can send it to the mission office in Hermosillo and we get that mail once a month- they say Dear Elder works the best but the mail usually work it is just slow. Or you can just email me! This is all pretty crazy but I love it. Im ready to show my faith in Jesucristo and go to work! 



View from our apartment window





Elder Cornejo and I with our Quesaburros (cut in half)





Love and miss you all!
Elder Mitchell

An Enchanted Moment

Until today I was the only one in the district who had not heard from the Travel Office but this morning I got scheduled to go to Vegas on Thursday to visit the Mexican Consolate for my Visa and then I'll leave for Hermosillo next Monday. I love the MTC but I´m pretty excited to leave! 

This week I got my haircut and She cut off some hair and asked me if it was short enough and I said "Mmm yeah I think so" and then for some reason she shaved off all of my hair. And she didn't thin it out so now it's really short and poofy and it always looks like I just woke up from a nap. Oh well. I'll probably just want to shave it once I'm in Mexico where it's like 70 or 80 degrees. (It's been freeeezing here in Provo) 

Also this week I set a lot of very specific goals for myself. I've been praying a lot for God to help me have more charity, obedience, focus and patience...but I started wondering how exactly He was going to help me be better with these things. So I decided if I set some daily goals that would help me be more patient, focused, obedient and charitable, God would be able to help me in my goals. Sort of following the principle from James 2:26 faith without works is dead. 

Also this week I did some intense scripture study. Everyday I come to love the scriptures more and more. I read a ton of Paul from Acts and Romans, trying to learn how I can teach better. (He was like the best missionary) Also I read a lot about John the Baptist and how he helped prepare the way for Jesus- by ministering and preaching right before him, teaching several of the original 12 apostles many things and then baptizing Jesus. I think he was probably one of the most humble people ever. He saw his influence and following disappear once Jesus' ministry began and some of his followers ended up becoming apostles while he was thrown in jail and killed. So in a lot of different ways that could have been really hard! But John was very very humble through it all. He did minister to 3 different dispensations though which is pretty cool! Also I've been reading the Book of Mormon just starting with the beginning and it's just awesome. I really wish I had more diligent scripture study before my mission, there isn't a single thing in our lives the scriptures can't help us with. 

I've been teaching my "investigators" here at the MTC that because we're children of our Heavenly Father, he loves us, and because he loves us he has given us scriptures with commandments, words of prophets, and guidance- to help us be happier here on earth and gain eternal salvation so we can return to live with Him. And it is so true. My testimony of this is strengthened each time I open the Bible and the Book of Mormon. 

Also a substitute teacher told us Hermosillo is nick named Hornosillo... Horno means oven in Spanish, so that was nice to hear.

Acts 21:13- Trying to get on Paul's level

D&C 123:12-13- Another inspiring scripture about missionary work

Moroni 7:45-48- Just a great scripture, v.48 is like the most beautiful thing ever

S/o to the Robertsons for the advent calender and also to everybody who helped. It is so much fun to check everyday! I love it!

S/o to the guy in the white truck blasting Hoodie Allen at Brigham's Landing this morning, that was a real treat. 

And a real quick story from this week: Thursday night my roommate Elder Jeppsen cut up his fleece bathrobe to make himself a pair of sweats (because it is so cold) and I didn't really believe he could do it. But it was actually working and I became inspired to try and do the same, so I had a bit of a Giselle (Enchanted) moment where I cut up my bed sheets and sewed myself a new dress shirt. I didn't really know what I was doing because I've never sewed before, and because I didn't have any sewing supplies but I cut up my flat sheet with a pair of scissors and unraveled some thread out of it and used a pocket knife to cut holes and as a needle for my  home made thread. I messed up pretty bad on the collar but overall it was decent. Me and Elder Jeppsen wore our new home made clothes (he also made a vest out of bed sheets) to our service project the next day to show them off to the zone and everybody was really impressed/confused/laughing except the Wyview faculty, who recognized their sheets. I avoided most of the trouble but I admitted it to our Branch President who mostly just laughed and was also impressed with our ingenuity and sewing skills but I might have some damages to pay for. Oh well. 

But other than that my goals have been helping me focus! hahaha whoops

Love and miss you all,

Elder Mitchell

Ps I won't get to check mail next Sunday or Monday so if you want to send me something send it early this week!

Pss Go Bears