Letter: November 11th, 2013

      Well it was a pretty busy week, but we had quite a bit of success, as in we found some new investigators and made progress with other investigators. So first of all, on Tuesday last week we had a meeting with President. That day was awesome! So the meeting was a little about our health, and how we can protect our health more, because a lot of missionaries are getting sick and what not. That was Sister Chavez that talked about that. Then President Chavez talked...let me just say that he is an awesome guy. He looks after ALL of his missionaries like his own children. So he talked about the hands of our parents, and what they have done for us, and also the hands of the Lord. So mom, I guess you sent in a picture of your hands and a picture, so out of about the 30ish missionaries that were there, there were like 10 of us with our parents hands on the slideshow, so we all went up and talked about the miracles that those hands have done for us. And mom, you've done miracles for me with those hands.....there's no doubt about that :) But yeah. And then after us, President went up and shared about the hands of his wife, and then talked about the hands of the Lord. It was a spiritually strong meeting, that's for sure!!! President Chavez started crying when he talked about it all.....it was an awesome meeting!

     So the rest of the week wasn't too different then normal. I feel like we had pretty good success this week though. So we found these Former Investigators, like 100 papers with former investigators, and quite a few of them say they accepted a baptismal date, but most of them are a few years ago, so we took maybe about 20 of them and started looking for people, and we found a few people. So we have appointments with quite a few people who seem like amazing people this next week. We also found this lady Maria.....that was kind of interesting. The first thing she was saying is that we shouldn't be there, because it's not safe, and people have died on that road. She was insane......haha but it was a funny experience.

     We had a pretty emotional week too with some investigators. We have a investigator named Barbarita, and we visited her and she just started crying because of how bad things were going. She is probably around 70 years old, and this last week her husband just got up and left her. Wow right? Then she was talking about how nobody listens to her, only us and the Lord. She is an amazing lady, and she is practically ready for baptism with all that she has done and what not, she just feels she needs a bit more time. We have a potential date for baptism with her for the 21st of December, but she just has to make sure she feels ready for that day.

     Another cool experience. We were looking for an investigator yesterday, and he wasn't there, BUT, we found his dad next door, he was drunk, but he wanted to talk to us. This man started just bawling to us saying that he hates his life and how he feels horrible all the time, and how he wants to quite drinking and smoking and all this stuff. He just kept saying the whole night....I want to change....I want to change. It's interesting how God puts people like that in our way! Yes, he was drunk, but I also think that the way he was last night, was that he truly does want to change.

     Also, we did get a baptismal date with the family of the guy Hipolito, the guy that sells churros, for the 4th of January. They wanted the date sooner, but the mom is having another baby sometime during December, so it would be better in January. The cool thing about the family is that they pray and read the scriptures every night as a family. The only thing that they need to do is go to church and get married. They are married for their old church, but our church requires that they are married for the law. That will be hard because they don't have very much money....but we're going to work very hard with this family so that they can be baptised by this date.

Q.A.
1. So we have zone meetings about once a month, so therefore, we receive packages about once a month. So this next zone meeting I'm hoping to get my packages.
2. Money's fine. I found a good point of what to spend for food, and what not to spend. I keep my groceries each week to less then 200 pesos, which in dollars is about 20 dollars or less. In Mexico, that gets quite a bit though.
3. So this next week, on Saturday, Dallin H Oaks is coming to talk to us! I'm super excited for that! And also, there is a chance I'll be able to check for packages and mail because we'll be in Chihuahua, but I'm not sure because all the missionaries are going to be there.
4. Funny story.....we stopped by a ladies house to ask about a former investigator, and she said that the investigator passed away about 2 years ago. In Mexico, the word is something like se fallecido, which I didn't know for one, and two I didn't hear her very well, so I said, oh, so she's in a different place.....so then where does she live? Elder Whitney and the girl both looked at me like weird. Then Elder Whitney said in English, she died.....oh man was that bad. The girl and Elder Whitney and me just started laughing about it.....so yeah. It's probably good to know what they are saying before I talk :P
5. So I've had some interesting food. There is this food called Chicharon, and it's literally the fat of a pig....oh man.....it's like more chewy then squid. It's supposedly a delicacy in Mexico...I don't understand that, BUT, I also had this food that is like my new favorite food, it is called Mole verde con pollo. Man.....I just have to say, I'm glad I got called to Mexico because this food is amazing :)

     So it sounds like the fam is doing good! I loved the pics...22 more months!!!! haha, but I hope Emma is healing well from the tooth being pulled!! And Jonny boy, be a good boy on your date ;) Keep being awesome everyone, and I love you so much!!!

-Elder Loveless

PS, I'm going to send a package for Christmas for you guys. A member is going to the US in the beginning of December so he will be able to send our packages!!! :)