New missionary fashions

The new missionary backpacks, I like the one on the left personally!

My smile for today! 

It is very short this week

Well to write you all really fast there won’t be a letter just a quick rundown of what has happened.

So I have a new companion his name is Elder Hickman. I’m still here in Rio Grande, but it’s been really busy these last few weeks because I had to go to Aguascalientes and then return to Rio Grande. Right now there is a ton of work to be done, Preparation day really is preparation day not have fun day. Sorry I haven’t written in a while, but I’m safe and sound if anything else comes up Ill inform you all and try to write you all better next week.

Elder Hickman is a really good companion and we are enjoying the work so much! He is from Idaho and has a little bit more time in the mission than I do. 

I LOVE YOU ALL 

8 months

Well my beloved brothers and sisters I am very short of words for you all this week, because I was very busy this week. The week was full of waiting rooms and hospitals. Not for me, but my companion. We had to go to three different doctors until they finally diagnosed him with parasites in his stomach. It’s his last week in the field to. The good thing though is that yea he’s better and were headed back to working very hard this week. This week also the seventy Elder Arnold came to speak with us here in the mission about furthering the work along and increasing the number of converts we see in the waters of baptism. It was great and he has a wonderful spirit and energy around him that spread to us.

My message is short and sweet for you this week and it revolves around the communication that we have with our father, or our Heavenly Father. God has given each one of us a form and a way to communicate with him through prayer. As we pray we are literally speaking with our heavenly father and it is just us speaking and his listening, therefore he is the only one listing and there to hear us. As he listens we are able to speak freely and he is able to more fully help us in our trials and tribulations. As we pray we grow closer with God and draw the spirit into our lives as well as the hand of God, but when we pray we should also remember that if we want the powers of heaven we to must do our part and show God that we are willing and ready as well as worthy of his help and inspiration. I give my firm testimony that God always listens and that he will answer our prayers in his time, but he will always help us if the petition and desire is just. I know that the power of prayer is real and that the spirit confirms the answer to our prayers as we pray with our whole heart. This I know and testify in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Rio Grande

Well my brothers and sisters it has been one interesting week, why because there was another special transfer only that I’m still here in Rio Grande and my companion left. We got the news today and my companion came just about an hour ago. His name is Elder Gedds and he is from Utah. It’s kind of funny as well because he has only two weeks left in the mission, and I am the senior companion. He also was companions with my trainer Elder Mendez. To give a summary of the week we began with the visit of Elder Bednard which was amazing. He only came and spoke with us and also took a photo with the entire mission. After the conference the week went by so fast. This week we taught our investigators and they are progressing little by little with the time that we Havel, but they are very close to the waters of baptism I know it. With my new companion I plan on working a lot with contacting and with referrals. With that I hope to be able to write you with the good news that we have more investigators the following week. Also I hope to be able to write to you about the amazing things that will happen in the next conference that we have on Friday with Elder Arnold of the Seventy.

My message that I have for you all this week is something that I was thinking about a lot this week. It comes from the conference that we had with Elder Bednard. Elder Bednard spoke with us about the being agents and not objects. An agent is something that acts for its own will and acts upon objects. And object is something that does not act or move it has a will but due to the limited power that it has it doesn’t have the power to act therefore only the ability to be acted upon. I thought about it a lot because really which one am I? Which one are you? The part that I learned through my experience this week was this, that as an agent I am acting by faith on objects and only in this manner can I truly receive blessings as well as a testimony of God and the things that he has done for me. As an object I can only ask, and ask for the blessings but sit around waiting to be acted upon rather than go and put forth and effort and demonstrate my desire to receive revelation, blessings, or help from God. I ask again, which one are you? I hope that if your an agent that you keep being one and continue in acting upon these objects so that you truly can be blessed, but if you’re an object don’t worry because you can repent and become the agent that you need to be as well desire to be that you can really draw on the powers of heaven. As an agent we live the gospel and in the words of Elder Bednard, "It is harder to not live the gospel tan it is to live the gospel". Therefore my invitation as I am doing the same is to begin being an agent and not the object waiting to be acted upon. I know that you will witness the power of God more if you do so and you will desire more to use your power to act for righteous causes. This I share with you all and do so in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.   

A Bajo el Sol (Under the Sun)

Okay Brothers and Sisters, well I’m very grateful that last week I was able to speak with my family and see there beautiful faces as well as know that they are doing their best. I apologize for not writing last week, but I was short on time and wasn’t able to. To give a rundown of the week. The Branch President here has asked that we help on finding those less active members through ropes. So basically we with a list of over 300 people looked for these people this week. We found a very few number. But we had an awesome experience with one, but that’s for later. We also had a few lessons with investigators, but at the end of the week we couldn’t find them in their houses or they didn’t have time. It was a difficult just a little bit this week with all the walking and the frustration of not finding people, but the reward came at the end of the week when we found a new family through this list and there are looking so promising to progress in the gospel. My companion and i are excited for this week because tomorrow we get to hear Elder Bednard speak with us and share a message of preaching the gospel.

Well the message is something short this week, but it is something that really is important in the lives of each and every one of us. Our agency. When I say this Word it is our ability to choose between the good things and bad things in our personal worlds. That which helps me permanently and that which helps me temporarily. This week in The Book of Mormon I was Reading the in book of Heleman when the prophet Samuel the Laminate is speaking and prophesying about the coming of Christ. I’m sorry I don’t remember which chapter, but in two verses he describes our agency and ability to choose perfectly. He basically says that we are the makers of what we want in life. Everlasting happiness with God at our side, or everlasting sadness and misery with the Devil at our side. It really made me think that it’s clear that every choice we make can bring us closer or farther away from God. I know from personal experience that when we use our agency in the way that God gave to us to come to know him and his son Jesus Christ that we really with have happiness and joy, but if we do the contrary that we really do suffer and life is full of temporary happiness. I know that God loves us and that we can show our love for him through our decisions and the desire of our heart to be with him, and he in return with show us his love and give us more of his blessing. I share this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

I LOVE YOU ALL

God Be With You Till We Meet Again

Well Both Be Underneath the Same Moon

Elder Perfili

Mothers Day

NO letter this week just his face from our conversation!

Sacrifice

My beloved brothers and sisters I don’t have very much time so I’m going to be fast and going to be, well very candid. So this week was difficult because we had a lot of meetings, two in the District and a Confrere with President Villarreal about the coming of the apostle Elder David A. Bednar. So the work wasn’t as much, but we have kept our five baptismal dates and are working hard to keep them there so that they can be baptized. 

Well for the part that I love to express my feeling and the things that are personal to me in the mission. So this week was tough it was full of stress, frustrations, and lots of personal reflection. Our President spoke with us a lot on Sacrifice and the importance of this celestial law and that if we don’t follow it that we can’t hope to have a celestial glory. I thought long and hard about this and that I really need to begin sacrificing more, but I didn’t quite know how until today. Today our district leader came to our house and spoke with my companion one on one. In this time he expressed his concern and gave me the answer to my pray of what it is that i must do. He spoke with me personally on things that I must do, but the biggest theme was sacrifice. I learned that if I want to be more truly converted I must pray to my God and ask them for the help in the reliving of my burdens. It’s not possible for us to do everything we must and I mean MUST use there strength and abide by their wills. He said something that struck me, in Spanish the Book of Mormon doesn’t have a topical guide as large instead it is a dictionary with many references and a definition. In the Guide for the Study of the Scriptures it says that conversion is the act of changing and transforming our thoughts to accept and to do the will of God. For us as members and children of God to become truly converted we must and I mean must accept and do the will of God to receive this conversion and sacrifice that which is stopping us. I have a long way to go with this process as many of us do, but I do have a testimony that I know that as I look for the will of God and sacrifice that which he wants me to for him that I will be converted and therefore be able to more fully be the man and submit to his will I as need to. Of this I hope for and I know I will be able to tell you all soon.

In the name of Jesus Christ Amen.