Monday, April 28, 2014

April 28th, 2014 Weekly Letter


Hey hey hey! Another good ole´ week in Chihuahua. It sounds like everything has been good...but crazy out there in Saratoga Springs. Tell Grandpa that I send my prayers to him, and tell him that I love him as well! But yeah, so this last week for me was just a bit interesting, not really bad or anything, but just different.

So Monday was just normal, we had our district meeting like normal, and everything else like normal. And let me just say, it's started to get REALLY hot here in Mexico. I guess the hottest part of the year starts in May and goes until August. So pretty much from here until August I'll be dying of heat…but oh well, it's part of the mission ;)

Tuesday also was a normal day, nothing much happened.

On Wednesday Elder Mendoza got quite sick so we had to stay in the house for the first part of the day, so yeah, we just slept until lunch that day. Later I had a really cool experience because like a week ago I had a feeling that we needed to walk down a street and so we did, but nothing happened. On Wednesday we decided that we needed to go back and visit a specific house, so we did and a lady came to the door and had never talked with missionaries so she let us in and we talked. By the end of the lesson she started to pray like we do because she understood why and everything. Yeah.....experiences like that are super cool!!!

On Thursday we put a baptismal date with one of our investigators named Oscar. He has an addiction to smoking, so we are helping him with that. Before he was smoking about 5ish every day, and now we have him down to 1-2 cigarretes every day. We put the baptismal date for the 17 of May, so all we have to do now is teach him really good and help him stop smoking.

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were weird days because one of the other elders hurt his leg so me and Elder Mendoza took turns staying with him while the other elder worked with his companion. So Friday and Sunday I worked until 6:00 pm, and on Saturday I stayed at the house with Elder Nueman all day. It was super weird staying in the house all day, and it was funny because Elder Nueman is a little bit of a newer missionary and so he just loved the fact that he could talk to me all in English because his companion only speaks Spanish as well.

So yeah, other than that, I learned a lesson that was very interesting and I liked it a lot, and so I think I'll share it with you all:

So in Exodus 16 we see the Isrealites and Moses. They had embarked into the wilderness because they were to travel to another part of the continent which I can't remember off the top of my head. During this time the Isrealites start to murmur against Moses because they said that he had brought them out in the wilderness just to kill them because they weren't able to get food to eat. So Moses goes to God to ask what to do, and God tells Moses that he is going to send Manna to them...every day he would send it, but Sunday he wouldn't. My favorite parts are verses 19 and 20 and they say:

19 And Moses said, let no man leave of it till the morning.
20 Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it till the morning, and it bred worms, and stank: and Moses was wroth with them.

So in these verses they couldn't save the manna for more than one day or else it got bad. In our days we can say that the manna is the scriptures and prayer, seminary and church. We should be partaking of these things daily. Something interesting is that just like the verses, we can't read more or pray more one day and than call it good the next day. It doesn't work like that, it is something we have to be doing every day. Also, if we don't do it, our spirit could eventually 'die'...or we could get to a point where we can't feel the spirit any more, thus, we see the importance of doing all of these things daily. Also, when we are doing these things every day our spirit is going to be strong and we are going to be able to withstand temptation very easily. So yeah, that's my little example of the every day manna that we have. How interesting right?!

So I also heard that about not sending food in packages anymore but I honestly have no idea about the details. I'm sorry, maybe you could ask the other moms if they know more about that.
Thanks for all the love and support. Everything is going good here! Keep up the good work in everything that you all do, and enjoy these last 4 weeks of school ;) Love you all.

Love,
Elder Loveless

Monday, April 21, 2014

April 21st, 2014 - Weekly Letter


Family,

I guess to say the least.....this last week wasn't too successful of a week but it definitely was an interesting week. So let's see what happened.

So on Tuesday after I wrote to the family and everything, something really funny happened. So me and Elder Mendoza were walking to eat with one of the sisters of the ward, and this guy started walking with us. He didn't have a shirt on and was drunk, so he probably lived on the street. But he came up to us and started walking with us and asked if he could protect us for the day, and Elder Mendoza told him that we were fine, but he continued to follow us. He started to say a lot of things I didn't understand, but I did understand that he was saying the he was going to cut of the heads of anybody who touched us, so that was kind cool...we had a personal bodyguard. But then we realized that he couldn't eat with us at the sister's house, so we were really lucky because he went to pee on the side of the street, and Elder Mendoza yelled RUN. Hahaha, we ran like 4 or 5 more blocks and the man yelled at us to stop running, but it was funny. At the beginning I was a little bit scared but at the end it was just funny. So that was our event on Tuesday.

Wednesday nothing special happened, but Thursday was really good. Thursday we had a meeting with President Chavez and it was amazing. I was able to see a lot of elders that I hadn't seen in a while like Elder Hiskey and Elder Whitney! That was super cool, but the meeting was even cooler. It was about a parable in Matthew 19 and 20. It was a whole meeting about getting rid of the burdens that we carry, or the little sins that have stained us to a point that we can't feel the spirit as strong, so I have made a lot of changes. One day for example I wrote down all of the little sins that I have ever committed, or at least the one's that I could think of, and I had a really long prayer, but I feel so much better now. And that is something that I would invite all of you to do. At times we think that we don't need to repent of EVERY single little sin, but eventually it fogs us up so much that we can't feel the spirit. So yeah, that was a really good meeting with President.

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday weren't too different. I did learn some good lessons from different people these days though. First of all from one of our zone leaders I learned a lesson to help me not fear talking to so many people on the streets. The lesson was that if we talk to people what's the worst that could happen, well they could say no, but what's the best...yes. And if they say yes, we can be the means in them returning to live with God, so that helped boost up my confidence a little bit more.

Second I learned from Brother Carlos, the brother that was part of the 70, and I also found out he was a mission president, so he is super spiritually awesome. But from him I learned that we should always focus on our strengths, and not our weaknesses. If we focus on our strengths then we can and WILL be able to overcome our weaknesses. God gave us weaknesses to learn, but he gave us strengths so that we can be better. I also learned that we should always leave a meeting feeling uncomfortable, because if not we didn't learn our lesson. Zion will never be perfect in these days...there's always work we can do.

So yeah....thanks for all the support and love. This last week was a week called La Semana Santa, or the Holy Week. During this week everyone remembers the crucifixion of Christ, but like really remember it. It was kind of a gruesome week because so many people did plays and what not of Christ being crucified. So yeah, but we did nothing special for Easter, just a normal day. And tell Tyrell congrats for me!!! How fast the time went!! But yeah, thanks for all the love and support, and enjoy this week a lot!!!! I love you all
-Elder Loveless

 

Thursday, April 17, 2014

"The new district. (Elders Chamberlain, Neuman (?), Loveless, Mendoza, Mortensen (?), Nolasco and Baquedano)


"Some of the streets here in our area."


"A funny sign in a restaurant...I was sitting right under it."


April 15th, 2014 - Weekly Letter


Familia,

It sounds like everything is going good in our wonderful family! I love to hear that everyone is doing good, and that you all continue going to the temple and everything good like that!! This last week was a.....well a week. We had a lot of ups...and a lot of downs, but we have been working harder than ever to have success in our area. I have a sure testimony that if we do what the Lord has asked us to do, and then go above and beyond and dedicate all we have to the work of the Lord, we well be blessed no matter what. Here's my week....I think you'll understand a little bit better after I explain how the week went.

 So last week on Monday was a good normal P-day. We started out with buying our food, writing, the laundry mat, the good ole stuff, and then after we had our district activity we only had 3 hours to work, and we had 7 visits. We just ran all over the place and taught the members and our investigators. It was super cool. I felt the spirit really strong, and then after I was excited to work the next day.

On Tuesday we did divisions, because the District Leaders do divisions with the other missionaries, so I stayed in my area with an elder named Elder Neuman. That was interesting because I only had one week in the area, but the Lord blessed me and I didn't get lost throughout the whole day. That day I also got a package with girl scout cookies in it from the family...thanks...I ate them all in like 2 or 3 days ;) But yeah, and that day we had a zone meeting and we set goals to try to contact at least 5 people in the street each day, and at least have 12 visits each day, and this day with the other elder, and me not knowing the area too well, we achieved the 12 visits and the 5 street contacts. I felt so good at the end of the day...and one of the street contacts is a 25 year old lady named Gaby who was visiting family in Utah recently and has members of her family who are members, so she already knows a lot about the church, so yeah it was a good day!

 Wednesday on the other hand was a lot harder. We tried to do the same, and we did achieve the 12 visits, but like everyone rejected us....and I mean like everyone. We tried to talk to a lot of people on the street but it was just rejection after rejection after rejection. We both come home at night exhausted mentally and spiritually.

On Thursday we only achieved 4 visits....it was a hard day, but we helped do service and clean the church which was fun! After the service we went to visit a lady who wasn't there, and then I got the feeling to visit one of the older ladies of the ward, and so we went, and she had just barely got back from the hospital because earlier that day she had fallen and cracked her head open a little bit. Her daughter was there too and was soo grateful that we arrived just in time.

Friday was just a normal ole day, and I actually saw one of the members from Camargo visiting his brother in our area, so that was cool! At first I didn't think it was him because why would he be in this area, but it was him...so that was cool! Later we had an awkward moment with our new investigator Gaby because she tried to do the cultural kiss on the cheek to Elder Mendoza and we told her as missionaries we can't do that, so she then tried to hug me, and then we told her that we couldn't do that either, so then she invited us into her house, but as missionaries we can't enter into people's houses that are ladies that are alone in their houses, so we told her no 3 times.....I think we kinda offended her, but it'll be fine in the long run.

Saturday was normal too, but we met a lot of skitzofrenics which was super weird.....it was like the day of skitzofrenics....haha

Sunday was good because we had not just our investigator that has a baptismal date, Samantha, at church, but also her brother who never wanted to listen to us. I guess he just wanted to come and see how the church was, and he liked it.... a lot. That showed to me that although we may get rejected at times, or things go hard, if we work past the hard times and we never give up, miracles can happen..like for example Samantha's brother, Carlos.

So yeah, that was my last week...super busy, but it was a good good week. Samantha's baptismal date is not this Saturday, but the next Saturday, so she's excited and we are too. Last week I also got a letter from Grandma Barbara. I just keep racking up the American money for after the mission, because I can't really use it here :P Oh, and I also met a sister that was wondering what the dates are for the Manti Pageant, because she has saved up money and wants to go to see it this year. And also....Elder Mendoza and I achieved 70 visits total this week.....it was amazing!!!

I love you all, and my testimony just keeps growing and growing!!! Take care everyone, and enjoy these last 6 weeks of school!!!

-Elder Loveless

 

Monday, April 7, 2014

"Me and Elder Mendoza." (And look - he's in a laundromat - wow!!)


"The new house."

 

April 7th, 2014 - Weekly Letter


Calling in from my new area: Chihuahua, Chihuahua. This last week was quite a crazy week, but a good week. A week of a lot of learning. So I guess I'll explain all that happened:

So just like how I said last week, I was sick on Sunday, and it continued on through Wednesday I think. Last Monday I didn't feel that sick, but my first day here in Chihuahua on Tuesday, after I arrived I had to wait at the house for a few hours because I felt really sick in the stomach. Wednesday I also felt a little sick in the stomach, but not enough to stay back at the house. So I made such a good impression my first day right?! ;)

But yeah. So on Tuesday morning last week we had the transfers, so we had to leave at like 8 in the morning because it's two hours from Camargo to Chihuahua. We arrived and I found out that my new companion would be my very first zone leader: Elder Mendoza. Two zone leaders always are together, and I knew I wasn't going to be zone leader, so I found out that he is now a district leader. Elder Mendoza is from a place in La Ciudad Mexico called DF. He has 19 months in the mission, and is a super good worker and really funny. He also plays the guitar and sings really good, so he sings for me! haha....My new area is called Lagos 2. We are in a smaller ward called Lagos, and so there are only 4 of us elders in this ward. The other two elders don't live with us though, they live in a different house. When I changed areas....I changed completely. I went from the poorness of Camargo, to the richy rich of Chihuahua. Everybody in this new area is really rich, and has all kinds of fancy technology and they all have cars....yeah a lot different than Camargo. Here in our area we actually live right by a popular university....like a ton of people come here to study, so it's really crowded with people at times...but at times not so much. We also live right by a huge sports park. It's a really nice area.

Because of the richness of this area, I have heard that baptisms aren't as common. In Camargo, everybody was super humble because they didn't have much, and for that reason we had a lot of investigators, but here we visit a lot more members. We have tried contacting on the street, but it is not giving us as much success. I have seen a LOT more people reject us here, but, on the bright side, the members help a TON here. In fact, an old member of the Quorum of the Seventy lives in our ward...how cool huh! His name is Brother Carlos. So yeah.....not as many investigators, but the members help a ton...and their food is super good :) Right now we do have some investigators though that are super cool, and two have baptismal dates for the end of the month, so yeah!

So for General Conference we had a separate room for the 'Gringos'. We just went to the local church building and they put conference on for us in English in another room. So I was super grateful for that. I can understand Spanish sure, but it's so much better in English, because it's their real voices and what not! But I just loved this conference. Second conference in the mission! My favorite was priesthood session, because all of the speakers just put the men in place....very powerful. One of my favorite talks was from Elder Bednar on Sunday. He gave the example of the truck, and how with the more weight the man was able to get traction and get out of the snow. He talked all about the Atonement, and how if we yoke ourselves to Christ, he will help us with our burdens, and at the same time we will help Him with his burden. Just all the details of that talk were amazing. I also liked Neil L. Andersen's talk when he said, yes, God loves you more than a tree. I also liked the talk, don't remember who it was, when the lady jumped out of the truck with the baby because she didn't know what was going to happen, when the husband did know. I like how it talked about each person in a marriage should know the other person's side before 'jumping out of the truck'. It applies to us in the mission too because with both of our ideas we can accomplish a lot more, and a lot better. I also liked how Elder Oaks in the priesthood session told us that there are two priesthood keys that are not on the earth, and those are the keys to Creation and Resurrection. That was super cool. And the very first talk from Elder Holland.....man I just liked all of the talks!!! But yeah, conference was amazing! I realized that every one of us can literally take at least something from every talk and apply it to ourselves.

So yeah, thanks for everything....all of the support and love! I council you to all study the talks from general conference again, and I know that you all will find even more information that will help you in your lives! I love you so much...every one of you!!!

-Elder Loveless

 

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

"Me with President Chavez and Hermana Chavez."


"Me sick :P"


"Pics of the Animal Crossing house...Jon and Emma will know what I'm talking about. Me with the golden lion."

 

March 31st, 2014 - Weekly Letter


Hey Fam,

So this last week was one of the more difficult weeks of the mission. I think the most amount of visits we had in one day was 5 maybe....So this last week we got a call from the secretaries, and they told us to look for a house because we are going to have 3 companionships in Camargo. We have a decent size house, but we can't fit 6 missionaries in our house, so we called the lady that rented the house to the missionaries about a year ago or so, and we got everything worked out with her, and now we have the house and all the furniture in the house. The transfers got changed to Tuesdays. It gives us more time to pack and everything. So we get called on Sunday night, and instead of the next day having transfers, we leave on Tuesday. So we got called last night..........and I have transfers.....yep. We got the call late last night, and Elder Ruiz and I have transfers. All of us 4 have to be in the offices in Chihuahua at 4 tomorrow to receive our new companions and for Elder Ruiz and I to go to our new areas. I have mixed feelings about everything. This is my first area and everything, and I grew some very good relationships with the members here and the missionaries, so it's sad. At the same time, it's going to be good to see another area and everything like that. So I guess you guys won't find out until the next week, but I'll find out tomorrow!

So on top of the new house and everything, we had to go to Delicias on Saturday because we had a meeting with the doctors of the missionaries in Mexico. We had like a 2 hour long meeting on health, because too many missionaries are getting sick. We even learned the proper way to wash our hands....haha yep!!! So to get even better, the day after our health meeting, yesterday, I got sick. Super super sick. I'm still not exactly too sure what got me so sick, but the night before, right after the meeting in Delicias, we hadn't eaten like all day, so the secretaries took us out to Subway, and after I ate my sandwich I felt not very good, so I think it was from Subway. So yesterday morning I threw up 13 times, starting at 5:50 in the morning, until about noon when Elder Ruiz went for medicine that the doctor told me to take. So sadly, I wasn't able to go to church, or do anything, but at the same time it was a growing experience. I felt horrible...it was definitely the most sick I've ever been, but after church my favorite family in the ward came and visited me and brought me some stuff. They're the family Holguin, and they are the best members....my favorite!! And then later that day Hermano Del Real called me, and then later the bishop. So although I was super super sick and I was in bed all day, it was neat to see who really cared about me. This morning Hermano Del Real actually brought me homemade jello which was really good! So yeah...yesterday was probably the worst day of the mission, and now I'm on 3 different pills that I have to take for 5 days. I feel better now, but still weak from yesterday. I'm just glad I don't have to change areas until tomorrow!

So yeah, that was about all of the exciting parts of the week. I'm a little nervous for tomorrow. It's always a little scary right before transfers because we all hope that we get a good companion and that our new area is good and everything like that, but I guess I'll find out real soon! I know everything will be awesome, but it just gets the heart racing not knowing what could be around the corner. But yeah, I got a letter from all of you guys, and a few other people, which was exciting. Packages and letters are always fun! But yeah, sounds like the family is doing good! I'm happy for you all, and I love you all soooooo much :) Thanks for everything!!! Super excited for this weekend....GENERAL CONFERENCE!!! Have fun, and take good notes for General Conference!!! Adios!!!
-Elder Loveless