dun dun dun dun..... 1 year.....

wow, well this week is a big one.. not only because i will complete a year in the mission, but because we should have 4 baptisms, or more! haha.
all is well here in acapulquito. this last week, on our 5 hour trail to cuernavaca for zone leader council, i talked with the zone leaders in chilpancingo and they said elder wilding is doing great, and that he is also training right now a new elder from peru! i dont remember exactly where he is from, but he said it is close to lima, so manuel probably didnt know him, and also for the age difference... haha. zlc was great, president johnson, area president, was there and we talked the entire two hours about lehis dream, and how to apply it to the missionary work. i remember in august of last year, president packer talked on it, but i learned a lot more on how to apply it now. we focused on two different terms cling, and hold fast continually. in spanish it is the same word, so he explained it in english a little to get his point across. then we talked about 1 nefi 8:7. i want you to read it and think what about this verse is important, because i couldnt find the importance at the beginning.. the one word, followed. we realized that is the only big difference between cling to and hold fast continually(2 nefi 31:13) read the verse and realize how following makes the difference. when we are focused on the fruit(glory, pat on the back from president etc) and not on the tree(Jesus Christ) we get to the tree, eat and turn away. but when we focus on christ and the main reasons of getting there, those are the people that stay at the tree and dont fall into mockery. very interesting stuff!!!!
then the next day we had a tri zone conference and we were in charge of it. elder zazueta being a control freak, took over it and got really stressed out and blew up on me a few times... but when he got the pat on the back from president, he felt like he did good and relaxed a little. we talked about faith in the conference: what is faith, how do we exercise faith, and why is it the first principle of the gospel. we talked about what really is real faith, or why people have ´faith´ in the virgen maria etc, its because real faith is centered on jesus christ and his atonement. that is when we can have real faith and act on it and increase. faith to keep the commandments must be done with love for god and to do his will of a broken heart and a contrite spirit, or it isnt exercising faith, just being ´restricted´. we learned a lot, but i just cant put everything here, because i dont have enough time, but i wrote everything down in my notes. we talked about having a change of heart also, and repentance, and how to apply it with faith. mosiah 5:2-5 and it really straightened me up in obedience. sadly we havent been super obedient before with elder zazueta, and after being planced(rebuked) by elder johnson and the scriptures, i realized my need for repentance. when i talked with elder zazueta about it, he tried to change it a little to make it look like we are fine and dont need to follow all the little rules exactly because its too strict, i got a little frustrated and told him we are going to be 100% obedient from now on. he is still a little hesitant to push himself to be better, but i have tried to be better at the little things i have come to be a little slack on. but it wont happen again in this next year. i will be an excellent missionary to complete with my calling D&C 29:7 to find and baptize the chosen sons and daughters of god only, even if i had a rough or fried companion.
we had a few good lessons friday and saturday, with good hope for getting all of them to church, but almost no one went. so we called them up to see what happened and got some odd excuses.... but the three that went are brothers and sisters and are going to be baptized this week.... with a lot of prayers. their names are jon, luis, and litzi. pray that they will be willing to keep all the commandments and feel ready for this saturday. the other possibility is estefani, a little girl whose family went inactive years ago, and realize that they need to go back to church to live happier. sadly they are very poor, and need help to get to church, thats why they didnt go.... but we will see. thanks for your prayers and faith to help keep the work going well here.
by the way, there is a lady here in ward centro that said about 6 years ago that a ryan facer from mesa arizona baptized her. does anyone know him? anywho.... haha thats all the time i have for this week. love you all tons, and im praying that all is well at home. thanks for your christmas letters and pictures in the package i got this last week, and i want you to know that im still praying for you all. trying to do it by name too. i know the lord loves each of you, and is willing to help you. have faith, trust, and act. much love
elder facer

p.s. here are the answers to your questions:
1. i recommend drylux low neck and drylux bottom or mesh both
2. yeah my clothes are starting to wear out, but just slower than most missionaries, because as i have come to notice, i take better care of my clothes than most missionaries. my other suitcase has 9 nice white shirts, 2 pairs of pants, and 8 pairs of new socks. the reason i havent used many white shirts, is because elder arevalo gave me three of his shirts(that have been altered a little to fit me better) and that is all that i really use every week with one pair of pants. i have really reduced my laundry load because i only use 3-4 garment tops, 7 bottoms, 7 socks, 3 shirts, and one pant every week.
3. i am sad to say that your last package didnt arrive as we hoped it would. a mouse had eaten its way in, in some waiting process, and ate almost all the homemade cookies and a part of the new white shirt. i was pretty sad, but thats a risk we got lucky on before. i would recommend that you dont send any more packages in this next year unless i ask for it, because it is getting pretty risky(so they say).