I was not able to post an email last week because I had a glitch in my email. I had to wait for Logan to resend the email from last week. His email from this week is not to long since we spoke to him on Christmas day.
12/22/14
For Family: So family
for Skype on Thursday we are only supposed to talk for 40 minutes, but my
companion and every other missionary I have talked with is going to for an
hour. The week had some cool experiences others funny and some that I learned a
lesson from. I hope you are excited to see your missionary on Thursday. I won’t
tell you a ton, because I’m going to talk to you soon, but I do want to say
this that a mission has been the best decision I have made even though I don’t
have a lot of time in the field. It’s hard, its tiring, and its frustration,
but it is fun, spiritual, and a chance to lose myself in a work that is
Marvelous Beyond Description. Note for Haley: Tell her to brush up on her
Spanish because I’m going to talk to her in Spanish.
I Love You All
Elder Perfili
For the Blog:
So this last week was definitely
one I will remember because of so many reasons! So again I’m sorry I may not
sound too exciting, but sometimes the work doesn’t happen at the pace you’d
like it to. It’s tough right now because we’re are still looking for more to
teach and our investigators were hardly home this week. Nonetheless I still
know with all my Corazon (heart) that God has prepared people for us in Las
Americas we just need to find them and work harder. A very amazing experience
about that this week. So one night during planning we had already gone through
the Area Book almost twice and none led us anywhere. So my companion decided to
call Antigo’s investigators on our Cell Phone and one picked up and told us to
come the very next day. So we left thinking that she was in our area and
discovered that she was WAY out of our area. Still we find the house after
calling her a few times and as we were walking down her street she called out
to me and Elder Mendez as if she had already knew us. Ortencia (the woman) then
invited us into her home and told us her story. She and her brother Eduardo are
both don’t like there Church’s and were looking for something different. The
day before we called her she had been talking with a taxi about this and he was
a recent convert and he told her and the good about our church and the change
it made in his life. Shortly after that Elder Mendez called her saying that it’s
the Mormon Missionaries, and she knew God answered her prayer. When I heard
this I was too much in shock I could barely talk to her and her brother. Both
are reading the Book of Mormon and know how to pray after teaching them. It was
an amazing experience to be a part of and my testimony that God is real and
answers prayers has been strengthen. So the rest of the week was fun. On Friday
was both the Mission Christmas Activity and the Ward Christmas Activity. For
the mission activity we gave gift to the other Elders and Elder Hermansen gave
me a lot. The poster I have says J-Biebs Never Say Never, because in the
mission the secretaries and other missionaries have a joke that I am Justin Bieber,
along with the gifts I got my green card and am now legal in Mexico!! (Hahaha)
President shared a message with us and we sang. We also had some really good
food, por emploj we had Tamales and I mean authentic Tamales after Turkey, gravy,
potatoes and corn (it tasted like home). We had our ward Christmas
Activity later that night and Elder Mendez and I sang in the Choir and helped
with the piñatas. The ward also asked me to be Santa Claus for the kids and I
just couldn’t say no to that! This is for all who have seen the Santa Claus as
I was putting the suit on and putting the pants on I couldn’t help but think in
the movie when he lifts the pants and says, this guy must have been huge! So
that night I took pics with the ward as Santa and handed out candy to the kids
and Ward Members. It was very fun and something the ward members will never
forget. The rest of the week was okay.
Small Christmas Message
now. So a favorite Christmas story of mine is the Polar Express. If you’re not
familiar with it a boy on Christmas Eve struggling in believing in Santa is
invited to go on a magical train to the North Pole to see him with other
children. He decides to go, but is still not sure. Once he gets to the North
Pole he with the other children wait for Santa Claus. As they wait the Sleigh
is ready with the Reindeer and toys. The Reindeer are wearing bells and all the
Children can hear except him. One of the bells fly’s off the Reindeer and lands
at his feet. He tries to ring it, but it won’t work, he finally decides to
believe in Santa and the bell rings. Santa then chooses the boy to be given the
first gift of Christmas and he chooses the Bell. Now why do I tell this story
because it doesn’t sound like a lot to do with the gospel, but here is the
connection. Think of the boy as you before, now or in other parts of your life
where your testimony in Christ may have been hard for you to believe and have
faith. The boy takes the journey on the train which I liken to the Gospel. He begins
to experience all that it has and its great, but he’s still not sure. Finally
though it is when he has the bel and decides to discover the gift and desire
the faith that it rings in his ear as a familiar sound. The boy later says that
the bell began to stop ringing for others, but he could still hear it in his
old age. As members of the Church we sometimes struggle with our testimonies, it’s
in this moment that we should jump on the train of the Gospel of Jesus Christ
and discover the marvelous gift our Savior has given us, and once we do this we
then can hear the bell ring in our ear again and have it ring for the rest of
our lives. I know without a shout of a doubt that Christ was born of Mary and
his whole life was an example of how we should live and how we can return to
the father. I know that he performed the perfect atonement for all and that it
is a gift for all and is gratis (free) we just need to believe and accept him.
I promise you too can hear this bell ring in your ear. Always remember that and
remember the true meaning of Christmas the Birth of Our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ.
Love You All
Elder Perfili
God Be With You Till We
Meet Again
We’ll be underneath the
Same Moon
For Family: Thank you so
much for taking time to talk with me. So the weeks are really kind of dead
during Christmas here in Mexico a ton of parties and the streets were practically
dead. I hope you enjoyed your Christmas and that you pondered on the life of
the Savior. I really love you guys and hope that you can feel that. Also please
tell Bro Shepard that I’ll be waiting for him when I return. The work is a
little slow like I said earlier, but Elder Mendez and I have a goal this week
to contact 100 people! I can’t wait to work on this. Well family I have say I
Love You all so much.
For Blog:
Hola miss queridos
hermanos y hermanas, I hope that all is well with you and you enjoyed your
Christmases, because I certainly did. This week I don’t have a ton to tell only
that during Christmas that the streets here and the people are practically nonexistent.
I wish there were more, but sometimes the work is slow. Christmas was awesome
and I was able to skype with my wonderful family and I was glad to see every
one of them! We ate so much food on Christmas I felt like I was going to
explode, but it was all so good. Hopefully I’ll gain a little weight, because
all my clothes are way too big for me because of all the weight I have lost
from adjusting to the food. This Christmas was so much fun though because it
was all with the members of the church and my family. The rest of the week was
kind of sloe, but I still have good news because right now German is still on
track to be baptized and all of our less active families are coming to church
more often. So my message is going to be short this week because well I don’t
have a ton to say about the week, because I can’t remember a ton of it either.
Now for a short message
from me. So right now in my mission I am learning a lot about the gospel. So
much that sometimes I get a little frustrated with myself when I make a
mistake. Nonetheless though this Sunday in our Gospel Principles Class all who
were there were able to say something about how this year was for them. I
thought about it for a little bit, and I thought some more, and I am still
thinking, but this is what I know this year has done for me. I began it as a High
school student who was everyday looking forward to my papers and graduating. I
was working in both my life skills and spiritual confidence, and I get to end
it as a Servant of the Lord. This short and I mean short time in the mission
field has shown me a lot though. One that the gospel is real I have seen things
that year that testify of that. I have begun to learn more and more about this
gospel and in doing so it has begun to change me into a better person than I
was before. Still I have struggles and I am still learning as any child of God
does, but I know that I don’t ever need to give up either. This gospel is so
amazing and the spirit I have felt isn’t always over powering or brings tears,
but peace. I know though that God is real as well as The Spirit of God, without
it I couldn’t speak Spanish and teach the gospel. This church is so true and
there are so many things that point to it. A beautiful thing about this church
as well is that we can learn more and more about throughout our lives. I feel
so good knowing I have a life time to perfect myself, and I am going to use it
to do so. I know would like to invite you as well to continue or discover for
the first time how true La Iglesias De JesuCristo De Los Santo De Los Ultimos
Dias is true this next year. I know God answering prayers and he will answer
yours. I share these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
I Love You All
God Be With You Till We
Meet Again
We’ll be underneath the
Same Moon
Elder Perfili
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