Week 81 Letter September 29, 2014

Hello Again!

Here comes the rainy month! It has been raining basically everyday of this past week.  So we have officially entered the rainy seasons.  It hasn’t been too big of deal though and we haven’t gotten too wet. 

Best part of the week was that Jonathan got baptized! It was a really great service.  His mom Gladys was really happy.  She has definitely changed as well in this process.  Jonathan’s baptism was just what his family needed to get back active in the ward.

We also had a really good ward activity this week in which we gave the class we invited a less active young man to help us out with the activity.  We had Briham (the less active) carry two empty 20 liter jugs. Then whoever wanted a cookie had to put a cup of water in.  We compared it to Christ suffering so that we could have eternal life.  Christ had to pay for anyone and everyone who wanted wants or will want eternal life.  It was a great way to show to everyone the importance of his role in the plan of salvation.  It had a big impact on Briham.  HE came to church on Sunday and signed up for the YSA convention.  It was great to see that we could help him out. 

The President came to Minatitlan this week to interviews with the zone.  They went really well. He focused a lot on always finding new investigators.  It was really good for our zone I thought. I also got to talk with the President for a while about how to work in this zone. I have really enjoyed working with President Morales as a zone leader and I hope to continue doing so.

Our English class went really well this week.  We had 20 people come. A lot better than the 8 from last week.  It was great to see so many people interested and I hope it keeps improving.  We won’t have it this upcoming week for General Conference, but we are really excited for conference as well.

Well, it looks like we should be having a pretty busy week.  We will probably go to Villahermosa on Wednesday and give the zone class on Friday and then with the conference we will be pretty packed.  It will be a great week though.

Until Next Week,

Elder Lightheart

P.S. You know you’re a missionary when while asleep, you ask your companion, “How are we going to find more investigators?”

Jonathan's baptism

Jonathan's baptism

Week 80 Letter September 22, 2014

Hello Everyone!!

What an awesome week! Elder Peterson and I have had a ton of work and it has been a lot of fun.

Happy Independence Day, Mexico! That was one of the best parts of the week. The ward put on an activity and everyone had to bring something. So, Elder Peterson and I decided to make no-bake cookies. They turned pretty good and now everyone wants the recipe. We had to go home before the activity was over but the members had a lot of fun and there were a lot of investigators as well.

The best news is that we are going to have a baptism this week.  Jonathan is super excited and even though he is only nine years old, he is a great example to his family. He came to clean the church this Saturday by himself. He was the only one there with the Bishop when we showed up. It is going to be a big help to his family that he is getting baptized.

We also have another baptism planned for the 11^th of October. He is Jonathan’s cousin Luis. He just came to church for the first time this week but he is really excited as well.

This week, I also gave my first official English Class in Mexico. It was just the first week so it was a little rough but as we get more organized, we think it well become pretty successful. 

We also saw some of our hard work pay off this week.  We have been visiting a recent convert named Krystell a lot because she is the only member of her family.  Her brother Esteban has been really closed off.  The first thing she said to me was, “I don’t like your church.”

Anyway, we have visited them, helped them with homework and done services as well.  Finally, they are starting to listen. Nancy and Esteban both went to the activity on Wednesday and English class.  We are hoping that this week they will go to church with us.

Well, hope you are all doing great!

Love you all! Talk to you soon

Elder Lightheart 

Making no-bake cookies for the activity

Week 79 Letter September 15, 2014

Happy Monday Everyone!

Hope you all had a great week.  We had another really busy week here in Minatitlan.  It got a little rainy but we were still able to get a lot done.

Well, the best news is that we have a baptism planned for September! We found an investigator named Jonathan (Good name, right?).  He is the son of a less active sister and he is super excited to be baptized.  We have a date set with him for the 27^th of September. It will be really good for his family who hasn’t been going to church for a long time.  He also has a littler sister who just turned 8 that we are going to try and baptize as well.

We also have been working hard with an investigator named Claudio. He has been going to church for a while and really like it but has had a hard time believing in the prophet. So this week we went by and just explained to him clearly the doctrine. By the end he was able to understand the need to have a prophet. Hopefully he will be baptized soon as well.

The best part of the week was the ward conference we had this week.  All of the members got really excited and worried really hard this week to invite people to come to church their hard work definitely showed on Sunday the attendance had been hovering around 50-70 people each Sunday. Pretty much all year it was around that number. This week the ward had the highest attendance of the entire year and 107 people came to church. It was great to see the chapel full. We also had six investigators come to church.  That is what the work of salvation is all about.

Love you all,

Elder Lightheart

Week 78 Letter September 8, 2014

Hello Family!

Hope everything is going well back home. It’s starting to get wet down here in Minatitlan.  The rainy season has definitely begun.  I haven’t really missed being wet but it’s time to get used to it again.

We had a really busy week this week. Apart from the getting to know a new area and a new zone, we went to Villahermosa this Thursday.  We had leadership council which went really well.  We also got to go to the temple again which was a really awesome experience.  I was able to learn a lot I think it also helped the unity that Elder Peterson and I have.

Elder Peterson and I have gotten along really well so far.  It was a really fun week.  There is a lot of work to be done in this area.  The fun part is that the area is really small so most everyone know members or the missionaries.

The members here are very excited to work as well.  Most of the members have been here a long time so they know a ton of people.

We have some really good investigators already.  We met a really awesome couple this week named Carlos and Nancy.  They have some friends who are members and while they were at their house, the missionaries dropped by and taught the first lesson.  They are really interested in the church.  They are also extremely nice.  They offered us their house and food any time we need it. Even though they are extremely busy they are extremely willing to have us come by.

We also found another investigator name Mario.  We contacted him in the street and it turned out that his cousin is a missionary.  We went back later in the week and taught him about the Book of Mormon.  He is really excited to read it.  After I asked him why he thinks it would be important to read it. He said, “I think I need to read the Book of Mormon to find Salvation.” He will be a great investigator.

Thanks for all of your help and prayers

Sincerely,

Elder Lightheart

Week 77 Letter September 1, 2014

Hello Family!

Transfers have already come again.  This one passed by really fast with Elder Castaneda. Well, the news is that I got transferred away from Coatzacoalcos. It was great to spend the last seven months there with elder Alvarez, Elder Struthers, and Elder Castaneda.  I feel like I really grew to love the people of this ward. It honestly feels like I am leaving home.  I will miss them and Coatza but it is my turn now to move on.

I am being transferred to Minatitlan, Veracruz, Barrio Tecnologico.  It isn’t really that far from Coatzacoalcos.  You can actually see Coatza from Minatitlan.  I am going to be serving with Elder Peterson and we will be the Zone Leaders for all of Minatitlan.  It is going to be fun to be able to still serve as a zone leader.  My favorite part about it is getting to know all of the Elders and I am excited to keep on doing so.

Well, I don’t know this new area very much yet.  Nor do I have very much time so I’m not writing much but I will write more next week!

Hasta Pronto!

Elder Lightheart