Lessons learned from cold showers

mom, thank you so much for your words in this last letter. they were actually very helpful with all that you said. i am very very grateful to have such a wonderful mom who loves and cares for me like you do. your words, although you probably didnt know it, were very inspiring, and i feel are going to help a lot. thanks for working by revelation. also, for christmas, we will plan to talk by webcam over msn messenger i think, i am still working it out, but i think that will be how we do it. i will write next week with more info.
i was pretty sad to hear how little snow you got, but elder wilding's sister in taylorsville sent a pic and it was pretty white! man i really miss the snow right now, because the sun is still just beating on us every day. i was thinking, what would it be like in acapulco in may or june?........ i may have to refuse the change if i go at that time... haha jk. im glad to hear that thanksgiving went well for all of you, but i was also sad that i didnt get anything for thanksgiving dinner. we have a guy in our ward who is from Oregon, and his wife is mexican. he barely speaks spanish, and she speaks the both pretty good. he is an advanced english teacher in a school, so everyone does speak english. we teach him spanish once a week, but the rest is his practicing. he organized a thanksgiving dinner in his school for all the advanced english students, because many have been to the US, and wanted to show their family what it is. he invited us, but there was beer there, so we decided it was best that we weren't in that scene... so we ended up eating pozole that night. its kinda like a corn soup, but its actually really good. the only bad thing is that you get sick of it pretty quick. they eat it every thursday. food is still good, and i still get to try new things once in a while. a lady invited us to eat bistek, steak, with her for this coming wednesday, but the steak here just isnt the same..... especially not how dad does it.
we are still doing well, and healthy. the only bad thing is that we have been out of water for three weeks, so we bathe by buckets of ice cold water in the morning, which probably isnt that good for you either, but we survive. they are doing construction on the street, and on pipes i think, so it doesnt get to us at the top of the mountain.... but at least we get showers. the guy from oregon, shawn, rarely has water in his house, and says he can only bathe himself three times a week.. but luckily just moved houses.
sadly not a lot is happening in the work, but i will try to see more blessings, even the little ones, and give thanks for them. it has been a good experience to suffer a little, because it makes you look for any little thing that comes. we did find some new great investigators, and also on thursday, we went on divisions and i went with Elder Ramon, zone leader and my uncle, elder snyders brother of the mission. elder ramon started his mission in this area, and remebered quite a few of the people he taught that didnt get baptized, so we returned to their houses and got in a few doors, and set some more appointments. that was a good help and a very fun experience. later in the week, we challenged alfredo. he is one of my good friends, who is dating a girl in our ward who is super great. he is pentecostal, and is super strong in his church, and knows a ton about the bible. we are helping him understand that the only way he can know for sure what church has the authority of God is through prayer and trying God on giving him an answer. so please help him by praying for him to receive an answer. he is reading in the book of mormon, on his own time, and also praying and has been to our church maybe 10 times or more. also he attended stake and general conference. please pray for him and manuel to be baptized this week. they both are being prepared, and have a date for this week, but we need miracles.
this last weekend, the ward had a young men-womens temple day, and one of my converts and three from cardenas went and had an incredible time, i will send a few pictures.
im sorry that i dont have a ton of time to write today, but i do love you all and am grateful for your updates and support. thank you and please keep doing your part in the missionary work, and to keep covenants. thanks for your help and love.
elder facer

Looking for miracles...

well first off, im a little disappointed that i didnt get a letter from mom, and no one has told me why... i still love you, but i was sad.... HAPPY UNCELEBRATED BIRTHDAY TOMORROW MOM! i love you so much, and am sad that i cant be there.. but know that you have my prayers and a birthday wish from me!
sadly another week has passed and still no baptisms... this is the fourth week we havent baptized, and i feel really bad that it looks like i dont know how to work to elder wilding. hopefully he doesnt think that. we have tried to change up our attack plan, or strategy, but we still arent seeing results. this is probably the hardest challenge i have had in the mission so far, and it seems like it has no end. at times it really is hard to think and trust in god that its in his time that he works. but god doesnt really work with time like we do, so who knows when this will change. we keep working, but it has been hard to keep the faith (bon jovi!) jaja jk. it really makes you notice every blessing you are given and give thanks immediatly.
we have started to find a lot more investigators, but a lot you can see right away that they probably wont progress, and then we keep the chosen ones! we found one this week named mario. he is the father of arumi, another investigator, who really wants to quit smoking, and asked us what he needed to do. he said that he has seen some good changes in arumi, and believes that this is the right way of god. he went to church yesterday, and really enjoyed the primary program and wants to buy a triple so he can study all the scriptures! way cool. by the way, the primary program in mexico is a lot worse in singing than in our ward...... but it was cute, they tried really hard, and brought the spirit. we actually got a good number of miracles in church, like unexpected investigators, people that havent gone in a while, and people we havent talked to all week! we are definately receiving blessings, but just little by little, and not the ones we are thinking about receiving. but the good thing is that we are just going on forward and trying hard. that is all he can ask from us, and i think in time it will pay off. we have been thinking a lot about still changing our tactics, but i think we will stay with what we have right now, and try it out a little longer.
this morning we actually cleaned the house and mopped everything. speaking of that, i miss carpet so much............ and also snow. lys and betsy told me there was a lot of snow, and i really started to miss it. i dont think i will ever get snow in my mission. maybe in the northern states of mexico, but not here. it hasnt rained since september, and has stayed pretty consistent since. we are always in sun, and there is shockingly a lot of wind for here, but it feels nice. sadly there is a ton of dust, and it just kicks it all up in our face and clothes. we dont sweat too much, but it is still there, i cant wait for the time when i wont even sweat anymore. speaking of that, i can now eat a serano pepper with out flinching or sweating etc. it really almost is nothing anymore. i hope to bring home some chile called chile de arbol. it is probably one of the hottest in the world. i like to eat it and suffer, but wow does it burn!!! also almost every wednesday we eat with this recnt convert family, and they love chile. at times she gives us habanero, which is the hottest, and i really almost cant handle it, but it is so flavorful and really makes the food good in my opinion. si no es picoso, no es sabroso. voy a extrañar esta comida un buen! i think from eating a lot of chile, i have dropped in weight a little from sweating so much, and also eating less. right now in my exercise, i am working on flexibility, which is hard, but worth it.
me and elder wilding are doing good, but we are just good at finding each others buttons and laying hard on them...... luckily we work everything out pretty quick, and it never gets in between us. we are good to talk about things and share our opinions and be open minded, so we work well together. just that we both have different ways to work. well we are planning for two baptisms this week, which will be miracles.... yelitza and fernanda. we will see with them both tomorrow, hopefully. i really want everything to work out, and that we dont whiteout on a month, or a change...... i know its all in gods hands, but i dont want that, especially because it really is possible to baptize every week here. i ask for your prayers and support during this next week, because our work load is still heavy, and we have a lot to do. i pray for you all who read this( and those who dont also) i love you all and am grateful for your support and love to keep me out here. i really appreciate it and need it. i hope you are all doin what the lord wants and trying firstly to please him. if god is happy everyone is happy. jaja. i love you all, but sadly have to go. stay strong!
su hermanito, hijito, amigito, elderito facer

Positive Attitude--Always

thank you all for your letters this week, and jeff, i am so proud of you and so excited. i know you will be an excellent missionary in the eastern states. it may be a different area than mexico, but it definitely is the same work of the lord. Mosiah 4:11 remember your nothingness and trust in God completely.
well i have some bad news. well really its not bad, just rough. (im trying to be more positive....) our three baptisms for saturday fell through on monday night. when we went to talk for a little bit, they said they didnt feel like they needed to be baptized again. after receiving that marvelous miracle from Heavenly Father, they misinterpreted it, and flipped it around.............. we were so bummed, but i tried to remember the most important thing elder snyder taught me. positive attitude always. for that, i tell jeff to just trust in the lord and keep moving forward. it is really the hardest lesson to learn, but that is probably the biggest trial i have had on the mission--discouragement. we have been working really hard this week to help them realize their answer, and not to challenge god to give them another, but they just wouldnt accept it without something to clarify it.... but its gods work, and we just need to keep working and looking for the people who are ready. we tried to find more people to teach this week, and about everyone we found didnt show up for the next appointment, and we couldnt contact them.... also yelitza, who will be baptized this week, is really worried about what her family will say, and her boyfriend from the coast. she right now is living with her aunt because its close to her college. we are going with her tonight to see what will happen. well in short, 5 of our 8 investigators that had a baptismal date decided they didnt want to work for it, and we couldnt find them to teach them. they just didnt want it enough.... we are really being tested by the lord, but i think if we can pull through it with a positive attitude, trusting in the Lord, we will be blessed greatly, whether in baptisms, or in experience, i dont know, but we will just keep waiting.
yesterday, we had such a good general stake conference. elder christensen of the seventy directed it in spanish, and sister esplin of the primary presidency also talked. by the way, it was transmitted from slc to 67 stakes and 2 districts in mexico. also elder bednar and president eyring spoke and had a translator on their side. elder bednar talked on receiving revelation, and that every person is able to receive it, but it can come in many different ways related to light. first of all, immediatley like a light switch in a dark room, second, line upon line like the sun rising in the morning, third, a cloudy day, but we still know its there, we may not realize we are receiving revelation, but we are still walking in the light. very very good. then president eyring talked alot about heritage. how we claim our heritage from heavenly father, and also all the other heritages from our ancestors. he mentioned that his dad was born in mexico city, and that is where his grandpa was mission president. he said by this opportunity to relate to the mexican people, he was fullfilling his heritage, also that he had the same name as his grandpa. i thought about that a ton, especially because i have received the wonderful privilage to the name brigham. the example that brigham mitchell set, that you all know, was very powerful, and i need to claim that heritage from him and follow in his footsteps. i was very inspired during conference, but sadly we only got about 2 investigators in church.
we have been working really hard, and hopefully the work will pay off soon.... thank you all for your prayers, and if you could still continue praying for napoleon, yelitza, crisanto, arumi, fernanda, and galvino it would be very appreciated. we need all the help we can get to complete our goal of 4 for the month of november
well, it is staying pretty cold for me here, i am sleeping in sweats, and a big blanket, i am very happy here, and hope that i can stay here for at least another change. it ends the 12 of december, and i think interviews are the week after. thank you all for your support, and i am so pleased to hear that all is well. please take care, and prepare for missions!!!!!!!
with much love
elder facer

PICTURES...FINALLY!!!

Is it winter in Mexico?

first of all, i cant believe the cold i have been feeling this week, sadly i had to put my sweater on, and i promised myself that i wouldnt use it in mexico.... every morning has been getting colder and colder. a brother in the ward said that in mexico city it was 2 below 0 (C) and in toluca it was 8 below.... crazy. i really feel mexican, because elder wilding, who only has two weeks in mexico still doesnt feel the cold. thankfully there is still a ton of sun, but also a lot of wind. we are still going strong even though it is getting tough, thanks for your support lys, bets and mom to give some comfort. we didnt baptize again this week, but for the rest of the month and the few weeks after, we have baptisms planned.
if someone, or many people who read this can tell cam oldroyd i love him and am glad to hear that he is making the right decisions even though its extremely tough, the lord will do his part. from our last zone conference in september, we have been reading the book of mormon in spanish and marking every verse about faith, the atonement, and the promise the lord gives about if ye keep my commandments, ye shall prosper in the land. elder wilding pointed something out to me this week, which was basic knowledge, but it really had a big impact on me and a few investigators. it doesnt say if ye keep my commandments, nothing bad will ever happen to you. we will be saved, but it will be tough. also this morning i was reading in alma 30, thats where im at in the challenge to finish the BOM by christmas, where it talks about korihor. he was only bad because he didnt have a strong testimony about the truths and the basics of the church. for that reason, he was fooled by the angel of the devil. he knew it was bad, but felt good doing it, because he was having success, and people were giving him attention. we all know the end of the story, but i think its really interesting that at the end, he tells alma that he knew it all before, but was tricked. if we really know it and study it regularily, we will not be tricked by the devil. i have sadly seen that many times in the mission, or heard about experiences with long time members, ex missionaries etc. if we dont study and know the basics, we arent firm enough in our foundation.
also yesterday in church, i taught the principles of the gospel class, and thought for a minute, ´why did the first presidency choose principles of the gospel, and not doctrine of salvation or some other topic´ now i know why. i really had a good lesson on growing in our talents. i enjoyed it and got some good comments from my class. i have really come to enjoy preparing and teaching classes. i have realized that is one talent i am developing, to talk to groups of people, or just people. i liked to do it before, but now i am getting good at it. these last two weeks i have taught, i have got comments from investigators that they really felt something in my lessons. i am so grateful to be an instrument in the lords hands in his work.
right now, we are teaching a family of three. dad david, mom estela, and son david. dad david, started out not wanting too much, but with time and weeks in church, he has really changed, but was always just waiting for his answer. we gave him ether 12 to read, and when we came back he had questions, and a new found faith. by the spirit i promised him that if he read and prayed this night, that he would receive his answer. after the promise, i realized what i said and was a little in shock. what do i know is that god will give an answer, so i offered a prayer that god would complete my promise to david. background info: they have a plant that is very special to them, but it was really about to die, and they wanted to throw it out, but he gave it a litte more water that day, and left it out in the sun, but in the night returned it to his room. later that night he was reading with his wife, and when they finished, they talked for a long while about these things, later they said a prayer and asked god if the book of mormon was true, and went to sleep. after about 5 mins he opened his eyes and saw this plant, but it wasnt the same dead plant he had before, this was a new and beautiful plant. god had restored it for him, and he made some good symbolism connections. we, the missionaries, were the little water to his dead plant, life, he was about to throw it out, but waited a little longer. and by our teachings and help, god restored his life with new purpose, and a new joy. it also changed the views of his family and they are all going to be baptized this weekend!
also we have another awesome family, a newly wed couple we are teaching, crisanto and arumi. they are friends of a member and she started them out and we taught them about family. they both were super excited about it, and wanted to hear more. crisanto was super great in church, and made a lot of comments, and actualy gave advice to another guy in elders quorum. he felt good, and was really excited to have us over to his house again this week. please pray for them, they are so great, but we are still praying and fasting to know what date will be their baptism. as of right now, and our fast yesterday, we are feeling for the 20 of nov.
we are still working with others, but not a ton is going on with them yet. we did have a jehovahs witness, galvino, accept us, and we left him the book of mormon, and he read the entire thing in less than a week. sadly he didnt come to church, but we are trying to help him gain a testimony about it. when we explained what this all meant to him, and that he needed to get baptized here with our church, he really froze and didnt know what to do, but we left him with more reading and prayer....
i just want to let you all know that i am proud of you for what you do, for your prayers, and support in whichever way it comes. i really dont know if i could do this without your support, so thanks a ton. grandma sumner: i just wanted to let you know i love you so much and am praying for you like crazy right now. i hope all turns out well, but just trust in the lord with all your heart, might,mind and strength. proverbs 3:5 6. i know you are on the right path, but keep going and never falter. i love you.
lys, thanks for the pics, they were super cute!!! andrew is coming to be a handsome young man, jaja. just take it easy with the head tilting..... love it!
all is well here, we are just moving forward and staying strong. i hope all of you youngins out there are listening to your parents and getting ready to go on missions. also stay strong in school and build your testimony!!!!!!! thanks for everything.
elder facer

So many lessons to learn...

thanks for the package and for the little spiritual thought, it really is a big part of the missionary work, gossip and judging others. when i was receiving mi hijo on tuesday, president said that it has been really spreading fast throughout the mission, and we need to stop it. i was actually pretty shocked to hear it, but when i thought about it, he is right. missionaries are sometimes like little 15 year old girls (no offense tara) jaja!
everything is going really good right now. me and elder wilding are doing really good. he is from springville utah (who would have guessed) he played goalie for rangers many years ago and knows all the friends like trevor parker tyler josh carlos etc. also he played for springville high, and we both remember playing against each other. jaja! he is pretty tall and skinny, he makes me get up and run in the morning most days, but sadly i havent seen much difference in my weight. i weigh 71 kilos..... tell me what that is in lbs please..... we had a very progressive week ,but sadly no baptism. we will have a little tougher time getting things moving, but i think all will be good. we are planning a ward activity to help get more references, and also the presidents of the ward are really excited because it will also help them get their home teaching and visiting teaching organized better. i really cant describe how excited i am to have ward council! jaja. the zone chilpancingo completed the goal of 37 baptisms in the month of october with 37, i think almost everyone completed their area goals, we did.
we are doing pretty good, but had our first argument about working. i handled the situation like elder snyder, but sadly it really frustrated my companion. i dont want to work like that, but like he showed me, it is the most effective way that my companion will learn. later i explained to him why i did it, and he understood, and was actually grateful. i have really thought alot about what elder snyder has taught me , and all the things i have applied to teaching my son. like emily oneill just wrote me, elder snyder taught me things that i wont forget for my entire mission. i will definately teach elder wilding every thing i can. we are both really happy toghether, the only problem is that he is comparing here to idaho a ton. he was on a visa waiting mission for two months there. he liked the way they did it there, but for every area, it will be a different way to approach things. we have learned pretty good, and will keep improving. sorry i dont have a ton of time to write today, we are running a little late, i have really been realizing the importance of working hard here, and i wish i would have learned that in the high school or college time. studying is super important, in all aspects, and never under estimating what will come. dont get prideful and think you are prepared, because that is the time the lord will test you in the hardest way he can. always stay humble,(the best you can) and OBEY MOM AND DAD! it sounds cheesy, but its actually super true. i really feel bad that i made mom and dad worry themselves about me and my rebellious time in high school. dont follow in my bad footsteps. i love you all still!
but if you could please pray for yelitza, franklin, patricia, gustavo, mari, fernanda, galvino, crisanto, and arumi it is gratefully appreciated. if everyone could at least take a name or two and pray, we would really like your help. love you all, and i keep praying for you
elder facer