Week 20 Letter 7/29/13

Hola Familia y Amigos!

I hope everything is going well for all of you. I am having a great time in Mexico and am glad that I have the opportunity to share my experience with all of you.

Well first of all we had another baptism this week!! Her name is Keila Juarez. She is from a Less-Active family and it is great that she wants to be baptized. She has been going to church for a while and just recently her parents started coming back to church. It is great that the family is reactivating. They are going to be a strong family. Well Elder Montañes performed the baptism and I gave the confirmation. It was a little hard in Spanish and I have never given one in English. It went well though and I did not have too many problems so all is well.

One of our investigators, Montserrat, was able to go to the baptism. She really liked the service and this week accepted a baptismal invitation. We have not fixed a date yet but should be able to this week. 

We also had a really good lesson with one of the families we are teaching. Family Campos Sanchez a family of five. They are a really great family and have been going to church the past couple weeks. This Sunday we went to teach them and they invited two more people to the lesson. We taught the restoration and the spirit was really strong. We were able to set a date with all seven of them in that lesson. We are extremely excited for them!

A couple of our other investigators were out of town this week but both of them told us that they want to be baptized when they get back!!

There were a lot of members at the church this Sunday! We have seen a lot of change is this branch and are extremely excited for the progress we have seen. A lot of the Less-active members are returning to activity and are coming back to church. The Lord has really been helping us here in Las Choapas!

Hasta Luego!!
Elder Lightheart

Week 19 Letter 7/22/13

¡Hola familia y amigos!!

Everything is going great here in Las Choapas. My companion and I are having a really good time together and a lot of success here. There are so many good people here and I am really happy to be serving here.

Well first of all Sofia and Christian are doing really well!! We have been visiting with them and Sofia is continuing to learn more and progress. She is continuing to be active in the church and we are really excited for her!!

We also fixed another baptismal date!! Anai is going to be baptized in about two weeks. She is extremely excited to be baptized. She really wants to do what’s right and follow Christ. We have been visiting with her every day and we can really see the progress in her. She will be a great member!!

We have also been teaching a wife of a member a lot as well. Her name is Montserrat. She is really interested and excited to learn. We haven’t fixed a baptismal date with her yet but plan on doing so in the next lesson. She seems like she will learn really quickly and we are excited for her and her husband as well.

Ismael continues to be doing well. He is excited about the church and excited to learn more. He loves reading the Liahona and The Book of Mormon. He is unsure about going to church but we know that as he continues to read and pray that he will receive an answer.

We spent some more time with Leo Lara and his family this week. They are a great family and we excited to teach them more. This week they took us to one of the rivers here so that we see some more of Las Choapas. They also made some really good chicken for us as well!

Well that’s all for now.
Until next week!!

Elder Lightheart

Week 18 Letter 7/15/13

7/15/13

Hola!!

Espero que todas esten bien!! Estoy muy animado que tengo este oportunidad para servir y que puedo compartir todo de mis experiencias con ustedes!

Well we had a really good week this week and taught a lot of different people this week. First of all, Sofia and Christian are doing really well. It has been great to see that they are continuing to be active and coming unto Christ. This week we are going to make a goal with them for their sealing in the temple!!

We also found another Less-active member who seems very excited to go back to church. His name is Ruiz and he drives an ambulance. He has been working every Sunday for a while now but just got off last Sunday. We have a lesson with him this Saturday and he seems excited to come back to church.

One of our new investigators this week is another wife to a member. Her name is Monzarat and she is married to Limon. She has been to church the last couple of weeks and she really likes it. She seems excited to be taking the lessons and it is really helping her husband as well.

We are teaching a lot of spouses to members. Another one that we are working with is named Deisi. She is very ready to learn. It is great to teach her because she always asks a lot of questions. It´s good because we know that she understands most or all of what we are teaching.

We are also teaching a really awesome family. The Campos family. They are the cousins of Leo Lara. They are really great and seem to be super excited to go to church. They are extremely nice and really like having us over.

In fact, this week they gave us a BBQ!! It was good to have a little bit of American food for once. The one problem is that they gave us a ton of food. Plate after plate after plate. At least it was good though.

I also went to Villahermosa this week. It is a long trip. 4 hours each way. I had to go and sign some papers and give my fingerprints so that I can get my visa. Easy and long, but necessary.

Well everything is going great here in Mexico!!

Quidense!!

Elder Lightheart

Week 17 Letter 7/8/13

7/8/13

Hola!!!

Wow!! I have already finished a transfer here in Mexico! It went by super fast!! I still feel really new here. But it sure is great!! I am super excited to be serving the Lord and the people of Mexico!!

Well Elder Montañes and I are still together!! Yay!! And still in Las Choapas. The other two elders in our district left this transfer. Elder Montañes and I are extremely excited for this transfer. We know that a lot of good can happen here in 6 weeks. We hope that we can prepare this area for two more elders during this transfer!!

Well this week was a week of miracles. We worked really hard this week and had a lot of success!! A lot of people came to church on Sunday!! Including some people who we have worked with for a long, long time! The chapel was full for the first time and it was really great to see the progress in this area!!

First of all Ismael finally came to church!! He is definitely set in his ways but he is really close to God and we have seen that work a change in him. This week we were teaching him and he was really excited to learn more. About a week or so ago we gave him a Liahona to read. This week he asked us for another. He is reading the Book of Mormon and praying and is progressing quickly. We saw it this week really well when he gave a prayer. During the prayer he was giving thanks that the Lord sent us to teach him and the Spirit came and he couldn’t continue. He just ended with Amen. Then he said forgive me but my Father was speaking with me. AMAZING!! We are super excited for him and his family!

We also had a couple of less-active members who came who haven’t been for a long time. The most incredible was Hermana Severa. Elder Montañes has been teaching her since he arrived here in Las Choapas and she never came to Church. And finally this week she came!! It was great to see her there. Also all of the Castillo Severa family came. It was great to see them there. They are great people who don't have a whole lot. Extremely humble. They are going to be great!! They also want to teach me to make a hammock!!

Not much happened throughout the week. Just a lot of work. We are getting ready to move to another house though. Also one night was a bit crazy. We woke up at about one because of thunder. Oh gosh it was extremely loud!! It sounded like the sky was about ready to fall!! It is extremely loud here but I am getting used to it. Well all is awesome here in Las Choapas. Love you all!!

Elder Lightheart

Week 16 Letter 7/1/13

Hello Everybody!!!

Hope everyone is well and if not know that you are in my prayers!!

First of all I had my first baptism this week!! It was such a great experience but it sure was crazy. So we had been teaching Sofia for a little while but had not been able to teach her a lot because she had a child about 2 weeks ago. Well anyway, Saturday morning we got a call from her mother-in-law and she told us that Sofia was ready to be baptized and that she wanted the baptism to be at six. Wow!! It was crazy the rest of the day. Sofia had not been to church enough times so we had to get special permission from President Casteñeda. We spent 5 or 6 hours trying to figure out if she could be baptized. Finally around 4 we finally had a yes. 

From there it got even more crazy. We had to go fill the font first and that took about 2 hours. Then we realized that I did not have my clothes to perform the baptism so we hurried to the house and grabbed my clothes. Then after we got back to the church we started to look for the baptismal clothing for Sofia and then Elder Montañes realized that they were back at the house so we hurried back... and forgot the keys at the church. So our ward mission leader had to bring them to us.

But after all that Sofia was baptized on Saturday the 29th of June and confirmed a member the next day.

We almost had another baptism this week as well. Gloria is the mother-in-law of one of the members in the ward and she actually had her interview this week. However she and the president of the branch decided that she should wait. We will keep teaching her and she said that in two weeks she thinks she will be ready.

Anai is continuing to progress and she as well should be able to be baptized in about two or three weeks!!

Well I had a little miracle happen this week. During the week we were at the church waiting for the president Rivera playing a little soccer. Some other kids came and played for a little while with us and while we were playing I took off my watch. Then we left for another appointment. I then realized that I didn´t have my watch. We headed back to the church by then someone had taken it. The watch is a little important to me because it was a gift from my dad. I was a little disappointed that I had lost it. That night I prayed and asked the Lord if he could help me get it back. 

On Sunday I was playing the prelude music and Elder Montañes was talking with some of the members. Then in the middle of it all he waved me over to talk to Freddy. Turns out he had my watch! He bought it from whoever had stolen it and so I was able to get it back for just 300 pesos. It was great to have the Lord answer my little prayer like that. 

So Elder Montañes has been teaching me to play soccer. In some of the extra time we have he has been showing me how to play. It has been really fun and I have already bought a Mexico soccer Jersey!

Well that´s all for now!

Love you all!!

Elder Lightheart