what frustration... i cant seem to stay away from the bathroom and the left click on my mouse doesnt seem to function.. AAAAAAAARRRGGG.. . well another week went by here in mina and the sun finally came out.. once. haha. thanks for the letters. i know that you all love and i feeel your prayer vibes entering my body. haha. i dont think that is doctrine the whole prayer vibes but i do recognize that i am greatly blessed by your efforts. this week we saw a few miracles. we havent had any one in church on sundays despite all of our work but this sunday 3 investgators and a few less actives rooled in on their own. makes a missionary proud to see their progress. also because of the whole no investigators in church thing we didnt have any solid baptism dates. so this week we went to talk with the secretary about the ACTION LIST i usually say like it comes out of a comic. its a list that is all non baptized members and futere priesthood holders and stuff. so we had a meeting with the ward mission leader to see if he knew anybody from the list. he said that half the people disappeared a long time ago but he could direct us to a few houses. and at the very bottom of the list there was a little girls name that he recognized... she is active and they baptized her at 8 years old but the goofed up ward here didnt fill out the paperwork on it. so to fill in all the gaps and be sure that she is baptized we are going to have to baptize here over again. haha. its funny. because we werent going to baptize this month and our Zone leader was all sorts of mad and i kept telling him to have faith and he got all mad and i told him to just ait and see... so this weekend we are gonna baptize her and i am gonna love it. haha. she is a sweet little girl and already know basically all of the missionary lessons. its just a little mercy from God. and we are seeing a lot of progress aside from all that. new investigators and people in church. we are going to be able to put dates this week and help a lot more people. its always hardest when you get to an area and there is nothing there. just getting the first baptism takes a while sometimes. the elder that was here before me finished his mission here and left me with 0 in every category. haha
today was the first monday in months that it didnt rain a ton so we got together as a zone to play some volleyball and futbol. even though i am gorgeusly fat i could still crush it on some ffooools. haha. made some sweet goals and we had some fun. got about 100 days left and so its gonna start picking up. pray for our success. send me money. haha. it seems every end of the month i am hungry and i walk a lot. i have enough to get by though... just cant have enough at this point. gotta start keepin my eyes peeled for sweet stuff for my family and pals.
i love you all so much. i know that the church is true and that God has a place for all of His children. we are all sons and daughters of God.
act like it.
i gotta go to the bathroom.
again!
so be good and to count the days too hard.
if you want something specific from down here hammocks jerseys bootleg music etc..
gotta tell me.
and send me money through my mom.
ya huuurrrrrrde
--
ELDER ELREY
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Friday, October 21, 2011
e-mail 10.17.2011
Mina is a rainy place... it has rained almost everyday since i got here. not constant but sunday it DUMPED... and our house has a tin roof so when it rains it sounds like the devil is on the roof and he wants in. at night it wakes me up and i just lay there. its not just noise but its deafening... you cant think straight. but its cool because ill never have this again. in tucson it doesnt rain like this. also when it rains i like to walk by the forest where the sound of the rain on the leaves get really loud. here ther are lots of almond tree (i never knew almonds grew on trees) and the are skinny trunks with long tall branches that give lots of shade. and it is always cool to hear the rain on them... i like my area but things are a little stiiff. turns out that a few years a go a crazy lady killed her children and was screaming about how she had had a vision and Jesus told her to do it.. she was a member and said to have recieved such a revalation in the temple. haha. so basically i listen to that everytime a find a new investigator. but we are starting to make some progress with a few. my comp and i are getting along great. we basically make eachother laugh all day long WHILE we are working.
aaaannnd oh yeah
on sunday i had a nice experience. we went to church and it has been poring here so we had 50 people and NO investgators. lame. but in sac meeting the bishop anounced that a sister had passed away and that the was to be a service for her at 5 a clock that same day. then after the meeting the leader of high preists came up and asked me to give a talk at the service... WHHHhhhat? isnt that the bishops job??? he persisted and i accepted. so odd. anyway so i had no idea who this lady is. i have 2 weeks in the area and she was inactive. we show up in the pooring rain to a tiny little shack made with cinderblock and a tin roof and cram packed full of like 100 crying mexicans. i dont know if you know but pooring rain on a tin roof makes deafening noise. we couldnt hear the director or the opening prayer but when they made the motion for me to take the word i stod up and anounced myself as a representantive of Jesus Christ and the rain slowed to a sprinkle... i gave my talk with devotion and bore what was to me a powerful testimony of the redemption of Christ and said amen... and the rain came stronger then ever. couldnt here another word that was said. it was rad... i still dont know who she is but i got to testify to a whole neighborhood of no members about the divinity of our Savior and i felt as if the very winds were listening to my words.
this helped a lot to reaffirm my testimony of my mission as HIS representative.
--
ELDER ELREY
aaaannnd oh yeah
on sunday i had a nice experience. we went to church and it has been poring here so we had 50 people and NO investgators. lame. but in sac meeting the bishop anounced that a sister had passed away and that the was to be a service for her at 5 a clock that same day. then after the meeting the leader of high preists came up and asked me to give a talk at the service... WHHHhhhat? isnt that the bishops job??? he persisted and i accepted. so odd. anyway so i had no idea who this lady is. i have 2 weeks in the area and she was inactive. we show up in the pooring rain to a tiny little shack made with cinderblock and a tin roof and cram packed full of like 100 crying mexicans. i dont know if you know but pooring rain on a tin roof makes deafening noise. we couldnt hear the director or the opening prayer but when they made the motion for me to take the word i stod up and anounced myself as a representantive of Jesus Christ and the rain slowed to a sprinkle... i gave my talk with devotion and bore what was to me a powerful testimony of the redemption of Christ and said amen... and the rain came stronger then ever. couldnt here another word that was said. it was rad... i still dont know who she is but i got to testify to a whole neighborhood of no members about the divinity of our Savior and i felt as if the very winds were listening to my words.
this helped a lot to reaffirm my testimony of my mission as HIS representative.
--
ELDER ELREY
Saturday, October 15, 2011
e-mail 10.10.2011
111 days!
so last week the email closed me out and i couldnt get in to write... lame i sat there for an houir and a half wait for my comp to finish writing his family. sadness... they took me out of Mercedes and transfered me all the way to Minatitlan; Veracruz. again i am in the holy boundries of the state of Veracruz. the green hillsides and HILLSIDES haha. i was so tired of the flat lands and swaps of Tabasco. in google earth the probably look like pretty lakes but they are just vast mosquito infested swamps... it will probably flood this year... but i am here in Mina workin away. we had a sweet zone conference were i gotto see a lot of elders that i had missed. i lot of frends. its amazing the bonds you can make with people you barely know. haha. i got to see elder Rosales my 2nd comp and we got a letter from a convert in San Andres it was AWESOME. her son is now serving a mission in Merida and her husband and mother are both going to be getting baptized. we were together to read the letter and feel the joy of the fruits of our labors from more than 1 year ago. i love the way the gospel can bless our lives and the great changes it makes in our hearts. we need to hold to the rod with all we got. its been really rainy since i got here to mina and the water is cold. but the plus side is that in our shower the water pressure is AWESOME!!! it comes out so fast. in all of my areas were we have had showers it has been a trickle.... but here. also we live in a house instead of an apartment... we have a washing machine and bedroom to throw all of our random stuff in. its pretty great. also our ward here is pretty big. its called Hidalgo. we had an atendance above 100 this last week and in these parts that sayin somethin!. haha. we are gonna work hard to raise the spirit of the ward. starting with the reverence i think... but we are gonna have a lot of success here. my comp is named Elder Miller, he is from Queen Creek, AZ so we have a LOT to talk about. he is a NERD... so we get along great. we sing at random moments and he tells lame neverending "i guess you had to be there" stories like pearl used to see we have a lot of laughs. i am sure i will only be with him a short time because he has been here for 6 months already... its his first area. he is tired of the same area and same people but we will get along. i remember feeling the same way a little over a year ago leaving San Andres. i love that place. i cant wait to go back. haha. this week a herd of cows came walking through our hood UNCHAPERRONED and the came up on our house and started eating the grass. the came right it the front gate like they owned the place. haha. made me laugh. i think i put a picture up on there. also we have a dog that stays by our door named Jumper... he is black and looks like he is in the beginning stages of MANGE. haha. i also kicked a chicken this week...
i cant believe christmas season is coming up and then 6 weeks after x-mas i will be home... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
i love you
--
ELDER ELREY
so last week the email closed me out and i couldnt get in to write... lame i sat there for an houir and a half wait for my comp to finish writing his family. sadness... they took me out of Mercedes and transfered me all the way to Minatitlan; Veracruz. again i am in the holy boundries of the state of Veracruz. the green hillsides and HILLSIDES haha. i was so tired of the flat lands and swaps of Tabasco. in google earth the probably look like pretty lakes but they are just vast mosquito infested swamps... it will probably flood this year... but i am here in Mina workin away. we had a sweet zone conference were i gotto see a lot of elders that i had missed. i lot of frends. its amazing the bonds you can make with people you barely know. haha. i got to see elder Rosales my 2nd comp and we got a letter from a convert in San Andres it was AWESOME. her son is now serving a mission in Merida and her husband and mother are both going to be getting baptized. we were together to read the letter and feel the joy of the fruits of our labors from more than 1 year ago. i love the way the gospel can bless our lives and the great changes it makes in our hearts. we need to hold to the rod with all we got. its been really rainy since i got here to mina and the water is cold. but the plus side is that in our shower the water pressure is AWESOME!!! it comes out so fast. in all of my areas were we have had showers it has been a trickle.... but here. also we live in a house instead of an apartment... we have a washing machine and bedroom to throw all of our random stuff in. its pretty great. also our ward here is pretty big. its called Hidalgo. we had an atendance above 100 this last week and in these parts that sayin somethin!. haha. we are gonna work hard to raise the spirit of the ward. starting with the reverence i think... but we are gonna have a lot of success here. my comp is named Elder Miller, he is from Queen Creek, AZ so we have a LOT to talk about. he is a NERD... so we get along great. we sing at random moments and he tells lame neverending "i guess you had to be there" stories like pearl used to see we have a lot of laughs. i am sure i will only be with him a short time because he has been here for 6 months already... its his first area. he is tired of the same area and same people but we will get along. i remember feeling the same way a little over a year ago leaving San Andres. i love that place. i cant wait to go back. haha. this week a herd of cows came walking through our hood UNCHAPERRONED and the came up on our house and started eating the grass. the came right it the front gate like they owned the place. haha. made me laugh. i think i put a picture up on there. also we have a dog that stays by our door named Jumper... he is black and looks like he is in the beginning stages of MANGE. haha. i also kicked a chicken this week...
i cant believe christmas season is coming up and then 6 weeks after x-mas i will be home... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
i love you
--
ELDER ELREY
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
e-mail 9.26.2011
Sorry, guys! I've been busy, busy, busy! He's doing well, though! He didn't write this week, I think he was transferred. I'm hoping to hear from him next week! He has 122 days left! It's going QUICK! Enjoy!
well well well ... sounds like things arent going so well for the world in tucson... once a month some one has to die???? i dont like it very much... but there is a reason for the plan of salvation. i am greatful for the love and guidance i can feel through the understanding that the Lord has given us through his prophets. i am excited for the conference and i am excited that it is my LAST conference in the mission. not sure if i am excited or nervous. i am almost hitting that home stretch. next thing i know i willl be in the house sleeping and will think this was all a dream. we have been teching a family recently and have been helping them get to know the church but we have had a ton of set backs. i dont know why people are ALWAYS ready to go to activities but when sunday comes around the cant get up and have a great spiritual experience. meditating in the topic i have thought a lot about the importance of the sabbath day and how i can help the people here realize its importance. my thoughts have frecuently turned to hymns. i think in this week i am going to try to sing more hymns with and for the investigators so they can feel the peace that the Lord is waiting to give them in the chapel and sunday... i know that the Lord is Lord of all things ESPECIALLY the sabbath. if it werent so we would still be sacrificing animals on saturdays... mmmm... BBQ... havent had decent BBQ in a looong time. althought for the first time in the mission i ate a really good T-bone... the bishops wife really out did herself. i ate 2. but getting back to the topic. i honestly think that if we sing more hymns in our day to day lives we can consagrate our time and our thoughts to the work of the Lord. i dont have much time and my comp is standing behind me probably trying to read what i am writing but he wont understand much because he is NOT white. i fell rushed and awkward... haha. HAPPY BIRTHDAY AARON!!! i think... who knowsss... all i know is that next week i am getting transfered and i am ready. President says that this will be my last move. 4 more months... 1 more area. 1 more christmas. 1 more blink of an eye and things will never be the same... i love you all and i am praying for your succes and your spiritual health
ELDER ELREY
p.s. am i missing rugby world cup???
and you arent telling me ANYTHING!!!????
ah man...
i need sports updates and hilights....
college football????
alsñjfhñaslkalskjdf
well well well ... sounds like things arent going so well for the world in tucson... once a month some one has to die???? i dont like it very much... but there is a reason for the plan of salvation. i am greatful for the love and guidance i can feel through the understanding that the Lord has given us through his prophets. i am excited for the conference and i am excited that it is my LAST conference in the mission. not sure if i am excited or nervous. i am almost hitting that home stretch. next thing i know i willl be in the house sleeping and will think this was all a dream. we have been teching a family recently and have been helping them get to know the church but we have had a ton of set backs. i dont know why people are ALWAYS ready to go to activities but when sunday comes around the cant get up and have a great spiritual experience. meditating in the topic i have thought a lot about the importance of the sabbath day and how i can help the people here realize its importance. my thoughts have frecuently turned to hymns. i think in this week i am going to try to sing more hymns with and for the investigators so they can feel the peace that the Lord is waiting to give them in the chapel and sunday... i know that the Lord is Lord of all things ESPECIALLY the sabbath. if it werent so we would still be sacrificing animals on saturdays... mmmm... BBQ... havent had decent BBQ in a looong time. althought for the first time in the mission i ate a really good T-bone... the bishops wife really out did herself. i ate 2. but getting back to the topic. i honestly think that if we sing more hymns in our day to day lives we can consagrate our time and our thoughts to the work of the Lord. i dont have much time and my comp is standing behind me probably trying to read what i am writing but he wont understand much because he is NOT white. i fell rushed and awkward... haha. HAPPY BIRTHDAY AARON!!! i think... who knowsss... all i know is that next week i am getting transfered and i am ready. President says that this will be my last move. 4 more months... 1 more area. 1 more christmas. 1 more blink of an eye and things will never be the same... i love you all and i am praying for your succes and your spiritual health
ELDER ELREY
p.s. am i missing rugby world cup???
and you arent telling me ANYTHING!!!????
ah man...
i need sports updates and hilights....
college football????
alsñjfhñaslkalskjdf
e-mail 9.19.2011
this week was a great one. we went out strong like a pair of sawed off shotguns and worked hard and we are seeing the blessings. we were like a pair of contacting machines really getting things done. after three days and 165 contacts we were walking through a run down part of our area and my companion asked me " when are we going to see the blessings of all this work?" (we hadnt seen much success with all of those contacts) i told that i didnt have a clue and a little boy came up behind us and asked us if we were messengers from God giving out pamphlets. we said yes and asked to see his father. haha. we went and visited the family of the boy and read with them "the family a proclamation to the world" the are a great family. 5 kids and the 2 parents. very very poor but humble in spirit and heart. they are excited to get to know the gospel and to be baptized in the near future. it seems right when things start to seem difficult the Lord completes with the blessing and pulls us out of the doubt. this week i have been pondering a lot in the story of Christ walking on water and how we need to be like the daring and faithful peter to step out of the safety of the boat to take a few steps of faith. i have realized that in ALL things God requires faith of is children. we havent been seeing success and i know it is because we havent been completing with HIS requirements. this week we had to step out of the boat and walk. and three days into the torment my comp started to ask where the blessings were. we stopped looking unto the Lord for the strength to stay a float and started to sink. lost a little bit of desire but as we pressed forward and continued working the Lord was there to pull us out of the furious depths. He lifted us up with the blessings of success that we needed. as it comes in the scriptures is how we she do it. the Lord in His divinity instructs us divinely... we are just blind to it. take the first step of faith and walk on the waters of tribulation. DONT LOSE HOPE DONT LOSE FAITH. The Lord is my Light.
He will carry me through all of my trails pains and tears.
its ALL true,
Elder Elrey
--
ELDER ELREY
He will carry me through all of my trails pains and tears.
its ALL true,
Elder Elrey
--
ELDER ELREY
e-mail 9.12.2011
another week down and another one coming. unbelievable how time is flying. this week is gonna be indeppendence day here in mexico and it should be interesting as far as the work goes. trying to stay out of the of all the drunks and party people.... oh wait thats inpossible because i am in Tabasco and the culture is DRINK DRINK DRINK and whistle at white poeple. haha. no its not so bad but there are a lot of drunks at this time of the year. things havent been going as smoothly here in Mercedes my companion is a very experienced missionary and has the same amount of time that i do in the mission but he is taking a vacation. haha. he loves to talk about his life's history and his past areas but he is much for the work right now. he is a great guy and we get along great but my ears are falling off and i just want to work. this week we will get it sorted out. i keep thinking that soon he is gonna run out of stories but he doesn't. so i listen and laugh and try to stay focused. this is gonna be a good week for the work. we have to get it done because the transfer is coming up in 3 short weeks and president says he is gonna pull me out of this area so i gotta prepare it for the next elder that gets placed here. it is definitely not an easy area but i am sure there will always be success had here if the missionaries are willing to work. as far as spiritual experiences.. this week we didnt have many. or any... it was just a very normal week. i will make sure to get you something great next monday...
let us all press on in the work of the Lord.
I LOVE YOU -- ELDER ELREY
let us all press on in the work of the Lord.
I LOVE YOU -- ELDER ELREY
e-mail 9.5.2011
my heart goes out to the Bentley family... my prayers and efforts will be to bring peace to their hearts. Vanessa was always caring and loving and supportive to all. its devastating... Dad please give Steve a big hug for me next time you see him and send my love to the family. she was always an example of the believers. we were going to get home from the mission almost at the same time. we must always be prepared. i feel the assurance that she is fine. serving the Lord gives one a magnifacent confidence in the power and works of our Heavenly Father.
we worked hard this week and hope to continue working. my heart hurts for the events past but i can only work harder.
its hot. not much new going on.
i dont know what to say....
i love you
--
ELDER ELREY
we worked hard this week and hope to continue working. my heart hurts for the events past but i can only work harder.
its hot. not much new going on.
i dont know what to say....
i love you
--
ELDER ELREY
e-mail 8.29.2011
weelll my comp left and for the first time since leaving my first area i have a mexican companion. haha. he is from Guadalajara, Jalisco, mexico and has the same amount of time as me in the mission. it is kinda weird because we are both in the final stretch and we are together but we are gonna make the best of it. it has been a little awkward because we dont know who is gonna take the lead alot of time and sometimes we dont get a lot done. things are settling down and this should be a good week. i like my area even though i have to clean a large portion of tha church every saturday. i dont like mexican food any more... i almost couldnt get in my pants this morning... and i am tired of chicken and weird tasting drinks.
aside from all that this last week was kinda boring because we were rolling along in autopilot and werent really focused on a whole lot of anything. we are going to start getting down to it soon so we can keep lifting our area up until it is stable. before i entered here the missionaries were little girls who faught all the time and the president pulled them both out and put me and my last companion in. since the last day of may we ave seen quite a bit of progress. i am happy with the success but definitely not satisfied. i think things are going to get a little hard but nothing priesthood power cant fix.
pray for me and my area.
there is not much time,
--
ELDER ELREY
aside from all that this last week was kinda boring because we were rolling along in autopilot and werent really focused on a whole lot of anything. we are going to start getting down to it soon so we can keep lifting our area up until it is stable. before i entered here the missionaries were little girls who faught all the time and the president pulled them both out and put me and my last companion in. since the last day of may we ave seen quite a bit of progress. i am happy with the success but definitely not satisfied. i think things are going to get a little hard but nothing priesthood power cant fix.
pray for me and my area.
there is not much time,
--
ELDER ELREY
e-mail 8.22.2011
pues ya otra semana pasó y no hay mucho qué decirles.
this week is transfer week and i am staying another 6 weeks here in mercedes ward. my companion Elder Thomspon is going to Coatza to my last area so i am excited for him to go and get to know my old ward and to smell the stinky dump that is in his area. haha. i am excited to stay another change i think. i know that my work is not yet over here in the area. i gotta get a few more baptisms and confirmations done. i have been working really hard with a part member family recently to help them get active and to get their 10 year old son baptized and in the process we started teaching the aunt and cousins as well and not have quite a few prospects for baptisms. they went to a couple ward activities this last week and are really enjoying the church.
as far as the work it was a prety normal week. hot hot sun and lots of irritated tabascans... but there were quite a few interesting occurences this last few days.
monday was pretty normal as far as p-day activity goes. we washed and hung out and did all thenormal stuff and then went to sleep haha.
Tuesday is when it gets interesting... we had district class and because our district is only 4 of us we do it in the house. we finished up and were heading out when we saw a huge crowd at the entrance of our neighborhood. turns out the was an accident and a lady with her two small children got hit by a car... the lady and the baby survived and were taken to the hospital, but the little child got run over and didnt make it... the whole neighbor hood was just watching and staring and taking pictures but i didnt see one person lamenting the death of the child. i felt sick to my stomach to see the tiny figure under a bed sheet and not a single tear being shed. walking away from the scene i cried for the child hoping that somewhere someone was caring abot his little soul. it felt horrible to see but the truth of the matter is that that child is in the presence of the Lord now and lives through the eternal grace of the Atonement. but it cut me deep and affected me greatly... i could hardly focus on the work thing about the images that i had seen...
Wednesday we had interviews with President Castaneda and he saw that i was a little distracted be the recent events and other tragic things that i cant even share because they are SOOOO unbelievable horrible that he decided to give me a priesthood blessing to strangthen me. it helped greatly and i could focus for the rest of the day.
Thursday we had a youth activity and we took some investigators to go to the church and we played some games with them and they liked it a lot. we left to go to an apointment and the stayed behind to keep playing with the youth.
Friday we worked all day and had some successes and a lot of not so successes. haha.
saturday we worked ate and then at we always have to go clean the church and we got 3 investigators to come with haha. cant get em to go to church on sundays but i can talk them in to cleaning the chapel. haha they went because afterward there was planned an activity for the ward. so many showed up that there was nothing to do so i sat down with an investigator and started to play the piano for her... she started talking about her teenage daughters and all of the trials that they had faces and then i stopped playing to really give her my attention and she let it AAAALLLLLLL out... she told me everything she had ever done wrong... full on confessional and this lady has had some hard timesss.. things that i cant imagine doing... but i could look her in the eyes and tell her that Christ heals all wounds especially the types of wounds she has.... i could promise her the blessings of peace and comfort that she can have if she commits herself to obeying the commandments of God and just like that she told me she wants to follow the example of the Savior. doesnt have an exact date yet but this lady is gonna get dunked. haha. and her daughters hopefully. after the confessional we went to get started with the activity. we had tamales and played sports and had a great time. all of the investigators and mamber enjoyed it. but then sunday they all had "emergencies" and couldnt go to church... AAAAAAAAAnd it was raining...
the devil.... ruins everything.
no one went to church. normally we have about 100-110 in the chapel bbut we had 60 this week and no investigators... ñlksdfklsjñflsdkñjaoaowoahiluahs
but its ok... gotta stay posative and keep working on the progression
we have had some good success here so i just have to dust myself off and get back to work.
we cant lose faith...
we cant lose hope.
we must cling to a Celestial Hope that all things are for our good and benefit.
you can learn the strength of the wind NOT by laying down, but by standing against it.
--
ELDER ELREY
p.s. my hammock is coming our pretty sweeeeeet. henry is the man.
and be careful the second coming is in October... haha
some goofy church here is passing out flyers and dvds that have that all over them...
we know that NO man knoweth.
send me pictures and write me please. im getting no good info... except from mom. that was an awesome letter. but for having 6 brothers and sisters and alot of great friends my inbox seems quite sad...
out of my great and huge family only my very busy mother could write me...
thanks.
haha
ilove you
this week is transfer week and i am staying another 6 weeks here in mercedes ward. my companion Elder Thomspon is going to Coatza to my last area so i am excited for him to go and get to know my old ward and to smell the stinky dump that is in his area. haha. i am excited to stay another change i think. i know that my work is not yet over here in the area. i gotta get a few more baptisms and confirmations done. i have been working really hard with a part member family recently to help them get active and to get their 10 year old son baptized and in the process we started teaching the aunt and cousins as well and not have quite a few prospects for baptisms. they went to a couple ward activities this last week and are really enjoying the church.
as far as the work it was a prety normal week. hot hot sun and lots of irritated tabascans... but there were quite a few interesting occurences this last few days.
monday was pretty normal as far as p-day activity goes. we washed and hung out and did all thenormal stuff and then went to sleep haha.
Tuesday is when it gets interesting... we had district class and because our district is only 4 of us we do it in the house. we finished up and were heading out when we saw a huge crowd at the entrance of our neighborhood. turns out the was an accident and a lady with her two small children got hit by a car... the lady and the baby survived and were taken to the hospital, but the little child got run over and didnt make it... the whole neighbor hood was just watching and staring and taking pictures but i didnt see one person lamenting the death of the child. i felt sick to my stomach to see the tiny figure under a bed sheet and not a single tear being shed. walking away from the scene i cried for the child hoping that somewhere someone was caring abot his little soul. it felt horrible to see but the truth of the matter is that that child is in the presence of the Lord now and lives through the eternal grace of the Atonement. but it cut me deep and affected me greatly... i could hardly focus on the work thing about the images that i had seen...
Wednesday we had interviews with President Castaneda and he saw that i was a little distracted be the recent events and other tragic things that i cant even share because they are SOOOO unbelievable horrible that he decided to give me a priesthood blessing to strangthen me. it helped greatly and i could focus for the rest of the day.
Thursday we had a youth activity and we took some investigators to go to the church and we played some games with them and they liked it a lot. we left to go to an apointment and the stayed behind to keep playing with the youth.
Friday we worked all day and had some successes and a lot of not so successes. haha.
saturday we worked ate and then at we always have to go clean the church and we got 3 investigators to come with haha. cant get em to go to church on sundays but i can talk them in to cleaning the chapel. haha they went because afterward there was planned an activity for the ward. so many showed up that there was nothing to do so i sat down with an investigator and started to play the piano for her... she started talking about her teenage daughters and all of the trials that they had faces and then i stopped playing to really give her my attention and she let it AAAALLLLLLL out... she told me everything she had ever done wrong... full on confessional and this lady has had some hard timesss.. things that i cant imagine doing... but i could look her in the eyes and tell her that Christ heals all wounds especially the types of wounds she has.... i could promise her the blessings of peace and comfort that she can have if she commits herself to obeying the commandments of God and just like that she told me she wants to follow the example of the Savior. doesnt have an exact date yet but this lady is gonna get dunked. haha. and her daughters hopefully. after the confessional we went to get started with the activity. we had tamales and played sports and had a great time. all of the investigators and mamber enjoyed it. but then sunday they all had "emergencies" and couldnt go to church... AAAAAAAAAnd it was raining...
the devil.... ruins everything.
no one went to church. normally we have about 100-110 in the chapel bbut we had 60 this week and no investigators... ñlksdfklsjñflsdkñjaoaowoahiluahs
but its ok... gotta stay posative and keep working on the progression
we have had some good success here so i just have to dust myself off and get back to work.
we cant lose faith...
we cant lose hope.
we must cling to a Celestial Hope that all things are for our good and benefit.
you can learn the strength of the wind NOT by laying down, but by standing against it.
--
ELDER ELREY
p.s. my hammock is coming our pretty sweeeeeet. henry is the man.
and be careful the second coming is in October... haha
some goofy church here is passing out flyers and dvds that have that all over them...
we know that NO man knoweth.
send me pictures and write me please. im getting no good info... except from mom. that was an awesome letter. but for having 6 brothers and sisters and alot of great friends my inbox seems quite sad...
out of my great and huge family only my very busy mother could write me...
thanks.
haha
ilove you
e-mail 8.15.2011
this week was one of a lot of.... HEAT!!!
i cant believe that being "rainy season" it hasn't rained in over a week and the heat humidity combo have been absolutely mind blowing. everyday walking miles and miles in the sun and being literally drenched in sweat head to toe... my wife is gonna be gorgeous... they always say that for time spent suffering in extreme weather is time your future wife spends in the gym... hahaha.. so my wife is gonna be in great shape... :)
aside from a lot of heat nothing much happened this week. we just worked and tried to find people who were interested and didn't have much luck. we are practically starting from scratch because all of our progressing investigators progressed all the way and are now progressing converts. getting back to basics has been a challenge but working hard has helped me stay focused on the work... we are going to see the blessings this week and the next. we should be baptising two in the next 2 weeks.
hmmmmm... what did we do this week..
last Monday was pretty much boring it was the Zone activity but we decided not to go because its always the same thing... soccer and food in the stake center. instead we went to downtown to find a leather store to by the special thread for making hammocks. i have been visiting an inactive well i told you guys about him, Henry the tattooed ex con. haha. we are good buddies now even though he has not yet gone to church... anyway when he was at "the big school" as he calls it he learned all about making hammocks and offered to make me one if i bought him the thread. so we went to villahermosa to buy the thread... ran me about 20 bucks... not to bad. after that we worked our few hours and went home.
Tuesday we worked all day in the sun and found a couple new investigators. nothing too exciting.
Wednesday we swung by Henry´s house to see how things were going with the weaving of the hammock and i was half expecting him to have not even started yet but he was going at it like a spider. turns out it takes about a week of daily weaving to make a hammock and he is sacrificing all of that time to make me the hammock. i think i am going to try to pay him a little because it is WAAAAYYYY time consuming... but he is a master. it is cool to see him work the threads. we worked a very normal hot day.
Thursday another Hot day and a looooong one at that.we swung by to visit a recent convert of ours and she was at home in her cosmetic place preparing for the afternoon of work. she is a beauty maker... i cant remember what they are called in English... but we were visiting and she started looking at my nails and just went to work and by the time i noticed she gave me a manicure without nail polish haha. soaking and chopping up my nails and cuticls... it was an interesting one.
Friday we were in divisions because of a ingrown toe operation an elder needed and so me and my best buddy elder Clark were working together which is always awesome because he is pretty fresh out of the MTC and loves to get it done. we walked and worked from our house all the way to the other side of their area which turned out to be 6 KM of highway and we worked in 6 neighbourhoods so that adds about a KM or 2 for each one. it was ridiculous because we couldn't get into ONE SINGLE HOUSE hahaha. we had a great day together and we worked hard.
Saturday tired and over worked we put ourselves to work again and had a good day. found a few new investigators and after food went to help tour ward clean the church... turns out that we were the only ones who showed up and we just got to work and expected everyone to show. after a few minutes they arrived but it is ridiculous how lightly everyone takes their responsibilities and callings around here. there is definitely a lesson to be learned in reverence.
it was a good week and it finished well. Sunday we ate with the Bishop and his family and afterwards we went out and he came with us to do a few visits to recent converts.
i am enjoying every moment and i know that i am anxiously engaged in a good cause. i have recently been engaged in reading Jesus the Christ and that book is changing my perspective on the life and purpose of the Savior. i love Him.
search ponder and pray God will take care of the rest.
i love you all
write me and send me money
being broke is awful...
haha.
lovelvoelvoevleovelveoevlveovelevoevvevlvovelovlvoelvlovelovloevlevloevloelev
ELDER ELREY
i cant believe that being "rainy season" it hasn't rained in over a week and the heat humidity combo have been absolutely mind blowing. everyday walking miles and miles in the sun and being literally drenched in sweat head to toe... my wife is gonna be gorgeous... they always say that for time spent suffering in extreme weather is time your future wife spends in the gym... hahaha.. so my wife is gonna be in great shape... :)
aside from a lot of heat nothing much happened this week. we just worked and tried to find people who were interested and didn't have much luck. we are practically starting from scratch because all of our progressing investigators progressed all the way and are now progressing converts. getting back to basics has been a challenge but working hard has helped me stay focused on the work... we are going to see the blessings this week and the next. we should be baptising two in the next 2 weeks.
hmmmmm... what did we do this week..
last Monday was pretty much boring it was the Zone activity but we decided not to go because its always the same thing... soccer and food in the stake center. instead we went to downtown to find a leather store to by the special thread for making hammocks. i have been visiting an inactive well i told you guys about him, Henry the tattooed ex con. haha. we are good buddies now even though he has not yet gone to church... anyway when he was at "the big school" as he calls it he learned all about making hammocks and offered to make me one if i bought him the thread. so we went to villahermosa to buy the thread... ran me about 20 bucks... not to bad. after that we worked our few hours and went home.
Tuesday we worked all day in the sun and found a couple new investigators. nothing too exciting.
Wednesday we swung by Henry´s house to see how things were going with the weaving of the hammock and i was half expecting him to have not even started yet but he was going at it like a spider. turns out it takes about a week of daily weaving to make a hammock and he is sacrificing all of that time to make me the hammock. i think i am going to try to pay him a little because it is WAAAAYYYY time consuming... but he is a master. it is cool to see him work the threads. we worked a very normal hot day.
Thursday another Hot day and a looooong one at that.we swung by to visit a recent convert of ours and she was at home in her cosmetic place preparing for the afternoon of work. she is a beauty maker... i cant remember what they are called in English... but we were visiting and she started looking at my nails and just went to work and by the time i noticed she gave me a manicure without nail polish haha. soaking and chopping up my nails and cuticls... it was an interesting one.
Friday we were in divisions because of a ingrown toe operation an elder needed and so me and my best buddy elder Clark were working together which is always awesome because he is pretty fresh out of the MTC and loves to get it done. we walked and worked from our house all the way to the other side of their area which turned out to be 6 KM of highway and we worked in 6 neighbourhoods so that adds about a KM or 2 for each one. it was ridiculous because we couldn't get into ONE SINGLE HOUSE hahaha. we had a great day together and we worked hard.
Saturday tired and over worked we put ourselves to work again and had a good day. found a few new investigators and after food went to help tour ward clean the church... turns out that we were the only ones who showed up and we just got to work and expected everyone to show. after a few minutes they arrived but it is ridiculous how lightly everyone takes their responsibilities and callings around here. there is definitely a lesson to be learned in reverence.
it was a good week and it finished well. Sunday we ate with the Bishop and his family and afterwards we went out and he came with us to do a few visits to recent converts.
i am enjoying every moment and i know that i am anxiously engaged in a good cause. i have recently been engaged in reading Jesus the Christ and that book is changing my perspective on the life and purpose of the Savior. i love Him.
search ponder and pray God will take care of the rest.
i love you all
write me and send me money
being broke is awful...
haha.
lovelvoelvoevleovelveoevlveovelevoevvevlvovelovlvoelvlovelovloevlevloevloelev
ELDER ELREY
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