3/17/14 Bienvenidos a Hermosillo!

So this was the last week of transfers so all week we were saying goodbyes to our investigators beause Elder Cornejo knew it was his last week in the mission, and eveybody was a little sad but somewhat reassured because Elder Mitchell would still be here... ya nope. Sunday I found out I was getting changed to the capital Hermosillo (good thing I didnt buy that crocodile) so I didn´t even get to saygoodbye to everyone. I just left some notes and pictures that the new Elders that come can take to them. 

It was still a great week though! Area President of Mexico, President Johnson, visited each zone in the mission and did some training which was awsome! Also this Saturday we baptized Adalberto after visiting him for 3 months, and it was easily the best day of the mission so far! 

It was sad to leave Guaymas and especially the two familias we had been visiting with for so long, but I am confident that they will continue progressing in the Gospel. We had already put goals with them to legalize their marriages and be baptized and so I´m sure things will go great! I got here to Hermosillo today and met my new companion, Elder Pineada, who his from somewhere near Mexico City and also doesn´t speak any English.  He told me that we don´t have a single appointment set for this week but I am super excited to start working here! 

Aldaberto is getting baptized!

This week La Familia Acosta that we have been teaching for 3 months now told us that they are hoping to get all their divorce and marriage issues taken care of really soon so they can be baptized. The mom and dad told us that their kids are starting to bug them because they want to get baptized! Also Alan and his... almost wife? told us that they set the goal to be married before April is over so he can be baptized. (Teeré the wife is already a member) Their grandpa who had been sick for a little while passed away Sunday morningso today they asked that we help out at his wake. It was pretty sad, but comforting to have a knowledge of the plan of salvation.  

And then this week we met with Adalberto and he is all set for his baptism this Saturday! Also another family we teach that works on Sunday told us that they would try their best to make it to church this coming Sunday and that would be awesome! They are older and super nice people but we have a hard time getting them to follow through on any commitments but it looks like there is some hope!

Nos Vemos

Elder Mitchell

CARNAVAL! (3/3)

So last Thursday Carnaval started, and it actually hasn´t ended yet but it is pretty crazy. I thought Carnaval was really just a Brazil thing but I guess a lot of port cities do it, Guaymas, Veracruz ect. Now I don't really know exactly how crazy it is because we aren´t allowed to go to the part of the city where they celebrate but after 3pm there is TONS and TONS of people walking towards downtown and then it is pretty loud all night. From what I have heard though, it seems a lot like Mardi Gras with a big beauty pagent, bands coming to play every night, and tons of drinking. We did walk past where they have been keeping the floats for the parades one morning though and they were all pretty sick.

 

Anyways this week was great, we had NINE investigators come to church, one of them even bore their testimony, and found some more people who seem really excited to learn more about the Gospel. We finally got Adalberto to set a date for his baptism  March 15th) after over a month of him saying he wants to be baptized but a little more down the road. I can´t believe I am going to complete 4 months in the misión this week! Time flies by faster and faster each week, it is crazy.

Sacrament meeting talk (2/24)

Well this week was a lot of the same. Really hot, lots of walking, teaching, trying to get our investigators married, ect. But everything is going good.

 

We got two more missionaries in our Ward, Elder Mejia from Honduras, and Elder Bernal from Mercer Island, WA. I actually had met Elder Bernal once or twice before the mission because he plays lacrosse and transferred to play at BYU the semester after I left. Crazy that out of all the wards in the mission we´re both in the same one! So this week we helped buy all the stuff for their house, beds, kitchen supplies and stuff which actually took forever and was pretty boring, but oh well, you got to have a bed. And also we spent a lot of time showing them around the area.

 

On Sunday I gave a talk in Sacrament meeting and was pretty nervous but it went well! It was about prayer and trusting in God´s blessing and time table. I did however use the wrong word for time table a few times, I said horario, which I thought was just like saying schedule or time, but it´s actually more like a work schedule, so it sounded like I was saying God only answers our prayers according to his work schedule, as if there were hours when he wasn´t working or hours when he doesn´t bless us. Öh well haha luckly yet unfortuneatley none of our investigators came to church to hear that.

I actually feel like my Spanish got a lot better this week! I can be pretty impatient with myself sometimes and I asked my family to pray for me last Monday and I could DEFINETLEY feel the extra help of those prayers and my Heavely Father this week. A lot of people asked me how long I have been serving in México and told me my spanish was very good or noticed I have improved a lot.

 

Also I was not sick at all this week so that has been awesome!

 

I hope you keep me and all missionaries in your prayers, we really do have a Heavenly Father who knows, hears and loves us!

We bought a cake for one of our Investigators birthdays (Alan)

Riding in the back of a member´s truck, super super super hot back there

 

Ustedes son los mejores,

Elder Mitchell

Making progress (2/17/14)

This week was awesome and busy! Tuesday we had a special mission conference with Elder Craig C. Christensen (he speaks way good spanish) so we traveled to Hermosillo for that and it was great. We got to ask a lot of questions and he talked a lot about receiving revelation and how we have to ¨luchar¨ like Enos for our investigators. Learned a ton! 

Also the mission office called us on Wednesday and told us that 2 more missionaries are coming to our ward on MOnday (today) so we had to find them a place to live. It was sort of fun to go house hunting (I thought it was something you would have really enjoyed Mama) and we ended up finding a member of the church with a house for rent so we closed in on that but it needed a ton of work so we spent most of Valentines Day painting and cleaning.

I did end up getting pretty sick though, it started of as just a cold but one morning I woke up and the right side of my face hurt super bad. It didn´t get any better that day or the next so we went to the doctor... I´ll admit I was a little aprehensive to visit the doctor in Mexico... and when we got there the doctors office, lobby and pharmacy combined was about the size of our living room back home. We waited in the lobby for about two minutes and then the doc checked me out like a normal doctor and told me I had a sinus and ear infection in about 5 minutes and charged me 30 pesos. All my medication costed 120 pesos and a few days later I am almost feeling completely better. And this was just some public docotrs office. So... the medical system here is acually awesome.

 

Also this week one family we have been teaching suprised us and went to go get their paperwork to get married which was awesome! Also the father changed his work schedule so he could go to church with his family. (Alan, Teeré and little Eker)

 

Also the other family that we teach that needs marriage suprised us by getting all of their divorcement papers and hired a lawyer. The father told us that he decided he wants to be baptized on his birthday, because we talked about how Jesus taught that baptism symbolizes a rebirth and lead a new life taking His name upon ourselves and trying to be like Him... but his birthday isn´t until October! But then at the end of the lesson he told us that he changed his mind and wants to get baptized as soon as possible, the same day him and his wife get married! So that was awesome. It could still take a month or two but him and his family are so awesome, and are going to be such faithful members. It has been amazing to see the changes, happiness and blessings that living the Gospel of Jesus Christ has brought this family.

 

Other than all that... things are pretty much the same. TONS of walking, tons of sweating, tacos de cabeza,  teenage girls ogling at my blue eyes.

Viva México.

 

Love and miss you all,

Elder Mitchell

 

P.s Huge S/o to the fam and the Remy´s for the Vday packages. It´s super fun to share all my dulces with the niños. Thank you so much!

A VERY SPECIAL PENNY (2/10/14)

So this week some weird stuff happened but other than that everything is coming along the same. Trying to get our investigators who have already accepted the invitation to be baptised to come to church or get married (lots of people live together and call eachother husband and wife without actually getting married) so they can actually be baptised. Also this week we did find some really cool people to teach and I was hardly sick at all! My companion on the other hand has had a really bad cold...and everyday he is a little more ready to go home (he has 1 month left) so that is rough sometimes.

 

Also a man approached us in the Street one day and asked us a few questions and then asked if we would be willing to meet with him and talk more... duh... so then the next day we went to his house and started talking with him but really he just rambled on for like an hour about this special coin he had (which was a carbon or silver or iron, US penny from 1945). He told us it was over 15 million years old and was one of a kind, the entire US gov is searching for it, and when in the right hands it can predict the future. He told us he predicted the Tsunami in New York and showed us tons of drawings he´s done and weird stuff... and then proceeded to tell us that since he´s found the coin his family life has been terrible. We tried to tell him to ditch the penny and follow Jesúscriso... but he is pretty set on his beliefs in this penny. He was pretty crazy but also very respectful and nice.

 

Also a woman got hit by a car right in front of our apartment. We heard a crash and looked out the window and there was a woman laying on the sidewalk/Street bleeding a little bit. We rushed to undo all of our locks (there are a few) but by the time we got the door opened there was already a crowd of people there. An ambulence came like 3 minutes later and took her away, she had a pretty beat up leg but she was thankfully okay.

 

It´s also already hitting the 90´s so we´ll see what the weather is like in a month or two. yikes.

 

But that´s about it!

 

Les extraño y quiero mucho

Elder Mitchell

Trouble in paradise (2/3/14)

So this week all three of our baptismal dates fell through, our hot wáter got shut off and i´ve been sick like every other day... but it´s all good! It´s all in the Lord´s hands and under control. 

Tons of faith that things are going to work out with Alan, Clara and Adalberto! This week we did have an awesome experience with the spirit helping us find another awesome family to teach so I´m looking forward to getting to know them better and teaching them this week. 

My spanish keeps getting better, I taught the Gospel Principles class this Sunday at Church, and every now and then I´ll get a compliment on my Spanish which always makes my day and then  Every now and then people just give me this look while I´m talking to them and I know that im confusing them. 

We also got to do some service this week, chopping down tree´s with machetes (fun) and moving dirt piles around with buckets (not as fun). 

Right now there is a 16 year old girl blasting Lil Wayne next to me...very distracting ,I seriously just want to show her some actual good music. But let´s see...This morning we climbed the tallest mountain in Guaymas, Microonda, it was way fun!

 

Super grateful for the opportunity I have to dedícate all my time to serving the Lord. I am way happier out here in the misión than I ever thought I would be!

 

Love and Miss you all!

 

Oh and I forgot to mention last week I had my first baptism!