well a week went by like a very slow whirlwind. haha. it seems that every transfer is like that. you get your comp and it is the longest week ever but when you get through it it seems like nothing. my comp is very hard working and very focused on the work. it has been cool to see his perspective andit has helped me with mine. it was like getting a little cold water splashed in my face. my last comp was really REALLY passive and calm and really didnt know how things needed to be done, but this Elder is a Beast. haha. he is always looking for oportunites to teach and edify the kingdom. we arent focusing so much in baptize baptize baptize but we are trying to establis the kingdom of God in Hidalgo. our ward is warming up to the work and we are seeing result in the attendance and in the referrals they are giving us and i know that we are going to have success. i suppose that He is going to be my last companion. strange that itr is all wrapping up... this week is tahnksgiving and then in a couple more weeks we are goig to be having our Christmas conference and then we will be at Christmas and then it will be done... unbelievable... but i know that we will take advantage of every moment. i am enjoying the work and with my comp we are pondering and opening channels of revelation. we are learning in everyday and we are looking to give God the glory for all that we do and say. i am feeling more and more love for the people and feeling that inside me God is making changes. it is hard sometimes to think that in the grand spectrum this mission and this life is just a blink of an eye... i know time is short. i really dont know what to say today because all this week me and my companion were singing hymns and teaching and contacting all day every day. haha. it all seems so normal. getting ready for christmas we are starting a ward choir and the only person who knows anything about music is me so i am the piano guy and the director haha. it is fun to direct and sing and play music. it is the first time in the mission that i have worked with my little talents. i hope for next week to have a little more exciting stories... this week was definitely a strange one but its going smooth. i am glad to see that the family is fine and that all is well at home. i would like more fotos and updates on family stuff and SPORTS!!!! especially u of a Bball. i love you all
i know that loving God and honoring Him give Him power in our lives. i am learning a lot about His nature and it is helping me to look toward Him for guidance and for inspiration.
Grow with His love and His vision in your lives.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Monday, November 14, 2011
e-mail 11.14.2011
First letter in two weeks! He could be home between anwhere from 73 to 84 days. Like he says in the letter, we'll know more soon! I'm sooo excited I can hardly stand it!
long time no write. haha.
things have been good here in Mina. long days cold rain and finally a baptism. it has been interesting getting to know such a place as this but i am settling in. the members like me and i kinda like them haha. i really do like them. we are getting their love and support as the days go by. as far as news goes... i got sick and bled from places that i had never bled before... i got better... i miss you... and we had a baptism. we had not had anything all transfer but this week our investigator Doris who has been progressing throughout these last three weeks. we found her last months knocking doors and she seemed to be the normal contact. o sure im busy right now but come by later... same ol story. but we put an appointment and went for it. at first we listened a LOT about tv and radio preachers and her whole Christian history and i started to wonder... haha. but we taught the lessons one by one and she was always home and always ready for the appointments. she was very aprehensive in accepting commitments for her busy schedule and because of that wasnt progressing. when we introduced the book of mormon she acepted it like she had everything else... and we tried to leave her a chapter to study... for the next appointment she had read half and that was major progress. we went over it with her but she still didnt want to accept a date for the waters. we kept on with the lessons and then left her the homework of reading Alma 32 about Faith and the seed analogy. for the next appointment she had read and was excited to go over what she had learned. we didnt even talk about seeds... haha. we got as far and verse 16 and she said she wanted to be baptized... SATURDAY. haha. it was amazing. i had forgotten a very important part of the work... the Spirit is always working in the investigator and always in me. i didnt even think about what chapter to leave her. just a common "nice" one... and turns out that it was exactly what she needed. she accepted her baptism and has learned and progressed so very much in these weeks. a transformation. today we will be having a "noche de hogar" or family home evening in her house with a few members. should be a great building block for her testimony.
aside from that we have transfers.. my comp elder Miller is going to Villa to my old zone but a different area. and i am gonna get an elder named elder Castellanos. he is great. he was in my district when i was in comalcalco. a great elder. i know we are gonna do great together. just the normal... work work work.. there is no other i am all but finished so there is much to do. i am hearing rumors that our generation is gonna be heading out anywhere from jan 26th to feb 6th. ill keep you posted. they should call the house when the plans are set.
i love you all a lot and i know that the work is true. i know that the driving force of this is Christ Himself.
PARTICIPATE
--
ELDER ELREY
long time no write. haha.
things have been good here in Mina. long days cold rain and finally a baptism. it has been interesting getting to know such a place as this but i am settling in. the members like me and i kinda like them haha. i really do like them. we are getting their love and support as the days go by. as far as news goes... i got sick and bled from places that i had never bled before... i got better... i miss you... and we had a baptism. we had not had anything all transfer but this week our investigator Doris who has been progressing throughout these last three weeks. we found her last months knocking doors and she seemed to be the normal contact. o sure im busy right now but come by later... same ol story. but we put an appointment and went for it. at first we listened a LOT about tv and radio preachers and her whole Christian history and i started to wonder... haha. but we taught the lessons one by one and she was always home and always ready for the appointments. she was very aprehensive in accepting commitments for her busy schedule and because of that wasnt progressing. when we introduced the book of mormon she acepted it like she had everything else... and we tried to leave her a chapter to study... for the next appointment she had read half and that was major progress. we went over it with her but she still didnt want to accept a date for the waters. we kept on with the lessons and then left her the homework of reading Alma 32 about Faith and the seed analogy. for the next appointment she had read and was excited to go over what she had learned. we didnt even talk about seeds... haha. we got as far and verse 16 and she said she wanted to be baptized... SATURDAY. haha. it was amazing. i had forgotten a very important part of the work... the Spirit is always working in the investigator and always in me. i didnt even think about what chapter to leave her. just a common "nice" one... and turns out that it was exactly what she needed. she accepted her baptism and has learned and progressed so very much in these weeks. a transformation. today we will be having a "noche de hogar" or family home evening in her house with a few members. should be a great building block for her testimony.
aside from that we have transfers.. my comp elder Miller is going to Villa to my old zone but a different area. and i am gonna get an elder named elder Castellanos. he is great. he was in my district when i was in comalcalco. a great elder. i know we are gonna do great together. just the normal... work work work.. there is no other i am all but finished so there is much to do. i am hearing rumors that our generation is gonna be heading out anywhere from jan 26th to feb 6th. ill keep you posted. they should call the house when the plans are set.
i love you all a lot and i know that the work is true. i know that the driving force of this is Christ Himself.
PARTICIPATE
--
ELDER ELREY
Thursday, October 27, 2011
e-mail 10.24.2011
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
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
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
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