Monday, May 30, 2011

4 baptisms was as wet as we got...

hola familia! que tal!
first of all, i want to thank joseph for having such a wonderful birthday for me, and happy nineteenth birthday! we baptized the four girls we had ready may 28 at 630pm. they all wished you a happy birthday too! haha we really had to struggle to get the fourth baptism, but she convinced herself during the baptism. we stopped by their house to take them to the church (8 people in a vw bug, including the driver)and the aunt, elizabeth, wasnt too sure to get baptized still. when we talked to her, she still said no, and i told her we were sad, but we werent going to force her. i went first in the font, and baptized citlaly, then perla. then elder miller baptized alondra, and as he was leaving the font, elizabeth was there and said that she wanted to get baptized too! so she put on a wet jumpsuit and went in the water and was baptized! so cool. we later asked her why she did it, and she just said that she had such a powerful feeling to do it all of a sudden after the first baptism. we explained to her about the Holy Spirit of Promise that testified to her that this was true and that she needed it in that moment. the young womens group also prepared a small cake and pop for after the baptism, so everything turned out nice and there were a lot of people there.
we didnt have a super great week, because there were a lot of things that were going on, and we didnt have much time to find, so we arent too prepared to go into the new month... but we will still find and baptize. this week, we were busy with the zone conference, that went really well, except we forgot a few things in the house... and we couldnt leave to go get them, because we had to be there leading it. but everything worked out. we talked alot about working with the ward council, all members, and new ways to find. also we watched the same video we saw in zone leader council from jeffrey r. holland from the past january. he talked about the reason why we use preach my gospel, and that it really is to convert the missionary before jumping to what the investigator needs first. to be able to teach from the heart and with the spirit, we need our own spiritual experiences or testimony for each topic, to be able to testify and teach with power and love. as he usually talks about, that his mission meant more to him than any other event in his life, and that every good thing that has happened to him, has come because he served a full time, dedicated mission for the lord jesus christ. he is a powerhouse, and the whole talk went really well. president and the assistants were very pleased with the conference, and said it was good, especially because we all realized that the spirit had touched some of the rougher missionaries in the zone.
well after changes, elder miller and i are still together, and it seems that i will be the one to help him finish off his misison strong. he doesnt really need my help to do it, because he is super determined, but i think i can help him. we are both pleading for the rains to come, because now they are just playing with us, and people are still saying they wont come till mid june............. on wednesday night, it rained just a little for about 10 minutes, then stopped and caused a ton of heat. all it did was heat up the ground and cause steam... this morning, we heard thunder and saw some lightning, but by 7am it was all gone.... haha. so we will keep suffering:( no just kidding, everything here in our area and zone are great! we are loving every minute of it, and just like mom mentioned to me, i need to focus on learning more about that love that president rasband talked about. but we are striving to get better day by day.
by the way, i still havent heard about alyssa or manuel or ashley, so thanks for filling me in mom. i also dont know why i didnt hear from joseph about his birthday, but i thank tara, betsy, and emily for writing this week. sorry for not giving you recognition before em. jaja also just in case clarissa reads this, i havent forgotten to write you, but i just havent had the money to send your card, so ill get it in the mail next week. (the end of the month leaves us with very little money... haha) and because i had to buy a new fan, because mine broke sunday after church.....
well all is well here for us in acapulco, and im glad to hear that everyone is still safe and prepared at home for flooding, missions, callings, etc. the lords promise is true, if ye are prepared ye shall not fear. i have felt very protected ever since we prepared our 72 hour kit, and got the zone organized in case of an accident. i love you all, and am so excited to hear about all that is going on. i miss you every day as i pray for you all, but still am not wishing to see you too soon. the time in the mission is just flying by! when i get to the 17 of june, i will be in single digit numbers counting down the months..... its gone way too fast, and thinking about what mom told me, i wish i could have been this well prepared at the beginning of my mission, so keep preparing joseph!!! hope you all have a wonderful week! (without rain)
elder facer

Monday, May 23, 2011

hello dear family and friends. well mom, after reading jeffs letter, i can assure you that we are not that type of zone leaders. we have had to crack the whip on a few elders, but we have made sure to keep it uplifting, and in private. a few of the problems have been flirting, and helping out in the nursery. it seems harmless, but the both are very dangerous tools that satan uses in the mission. there sure are a lot of tools satan uses in the mission, elder miller and i have talked about it alot, realizing all the reasons to keep the rules of the mission, and not be in places we shouldnt be. God really is trying to protect us as best he can, and as we are obedient and take care of ourselves, we really do feel protected and safe from everything.(but not to get prideful or cocky)
well it is finally starting to get cloudy here, but the rain is just playing with us. i dont know if it will ever come... but i still hope for it and pray for it. while we were in cuernavaca, it was super calm, and refreshing, and i want to be back there... but im also very happy to be back working in my area. the mission conference was incredible. it was very relaxing, and we didnt talk deep doctrine or about any topic in specific, except for the talk he gave in may 2010 in conference about the divine calling of a missionary. he shared his experience of getting his call to the new york new york mission, after his dad, brother, and brother in law had all served in germany. he expected to go there, and really got disappointed. but he opened d&c to section 100:1-4. that was very interesting with his talk that he shared in conference of how the lord sends us exactly where we need to go, and there are never mistakes. elder octaviano tenorio 1 councilor in the area seventy also shared some scriptures before elder rasband to help us understand of whom we were in the presence of. very cool! they both are special witnesses of christ, and gave very powerful testimonies of Him and the book of mormon. my favorite part was that at the end, he said now if you dont remember anything else we have said, just remember that we love you. i realized how powerful and motivating that feeling of love can be. i really felt that they cared for us, and were concerned for us. it was a great experience. i also sang in the choir this is the christ, in spanish. it went very well.
this week, went a little slow, because our baptisms fell through because they werent fully prepared. we decided they havent had the full change of heart to stay active afterwards like d&c 20:37 explains, so we will wait another week, and keep working with elizabeth, alondra, citlaly, and perla. also rosita has her date for this weekend, and is looking good for it! please pray for them. we are at least hoping for three baptisms to complete our monthly goal with the lord. we did splits with some missionaries, and we think it will help them get more excited about working, and not complaining about their companions. so all is getting better here in the zone. well sorry my time is about up, but i just wanted to say thanks to sharon sumner, shauna banks, anna rees, and alyssa for writing. alyssa for sending virus emails, but i saw her good intentions for writing haha! love you all, and sure hope your all as happy as i am! mom and dad, good luck with the tub! love you
elder facer


Queridos misioneros:
¡Qué oportunidad única de vernos todos juntos y disfrutar de una hermosa conferencia con el Elder Rasband y con el Elder Tenorio! Acá les mando la foto de la conferencia. El hermano me va a dar una de mejor calidad, cuando la tenga se las voy a mandar.
Presidente Spannaus
Misión México Cuernavaca

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

A Good Night's Sleep in Cuernavaca

pues....we had a wonderful week, except we didnt complete our goals. i was a little frustrated, because we rededicated ourselves to work a little bit harder, to be able to help the zone find more new investigators by a good example, and complete our high goals, but we didnt quite get the last one. we were shooting for 20 news, but only got 13. hoping for 20 with a baptismal date, and ended with 17, and only had 4 in sacrament meeting when we were expecting about 9 100% sure people.... we definately did work a little bit harder, and were a little bit more worn out at the end of the week, but it was good. we sure felt that we were doing our part at least. well, we still havent baptized, but we were very content to have the four investigators in sacrament meeting be excited to get baptized this next saturday at 5. they are elizabeth, the aunt, citlaly, alondra, and perla; the nieces. they are all so great, and we just ask for your prayers that they will all be ready, and there wont be any delays to their baptism. we also had rosita in church, but she didnt get there for sacrament meeting, so she didnt count for the dats we passed. she is also really great, but still doesnt want to have the goal as the 28 of may, because she is scared of the goal and how short of time. but she always asks us questions like ´so if i get baptized, can i be a missionary?´ or ´so if i get baptized,´ etc. she is doing all that we ask, and is way excited to go to church, and read, and pray, so we know she has her answer, but we will just have to keep reminding her about her date... she has the help and support of her younger sister who has been a member for about 4 years, and the only member of her family. her name is kariely (kari) and she is 21, rosita is 23, and there is another sister we will continue teaching when she gets back from a business trip, her name is veronica and she is 25. kari is such a great example for her older sisters, and is also now a ward missionary, so she helps us out quite a bit.
sadly we still arent getting any rain, but the official wet/hurricane season started yesterday. so we will be on our toes. by the way, i am in cuernavaca today, where it probably will rain tonight. i came a day early with a few other missionaries with about my time in the mission, because we had to renue our visas, but ya everything is done, and there werent any problems, except after getting to the building, the sister that was helping us out forgot my passport, so she had to make the 20 minute drive back home, get my passport, then come back, and go back, because she forgot one single picture of one other elder, so we were there all morning.... we just had a very calm day, and didnt do a whole lot, except go to a mall, and waste our time looking and not buying anything. tomorrow we have the mission conference, and i am so excited to hear this message! we actually got really lucky and will have a full night sleep, when other elders coming from the coast, will have to leave at 230 am and its hard to sleep on the bus...
i didnt know that eliasons are going on another mission!? thats so cool im so happy for them! please congratulate them for me and send them my best wishes, along with ryan lesser before he goes if its possible. im sure proud of him. thats good that tara is also being put to work a little during this busy time in school and soccer to go mow lawns. it is good hard work, and you learn good lessons. i was happy to hear the way mom wrote about all the trials that tara is having on her soccer team, like giving all that you can(being one of the best out there) but still losing. many times have i felt like that, (but not quite losing, because not one effort is lost in this work), but i know just like mom said, God is preparing you, tara, for a bigger reward. so keep your head up, keep fighting through your games, and just have fun. if your having fun, you will avoid all the other negative thoughts about others, and your faults. im also very pleased to hear that joseph is getting into his new suit, and the scriptures. sadly he will probably beat me in reading them in english and spanish, but thats ok, im very happy to hear that he has such high goals before going into the field. goals like that have really helped me be able to realize if i have been a successful missionary, or to know if i have done what the Lord is expecting of me, it all comes down to if i am completing my personal, and companionship goals. dont forget that joseph. i am watching a companionship here in my zone that is really struggling, even though they are both great missionaries, becaue the one doesnt want to talk about the problems, nor set goals as a companionship. it, as i have now experienced, will make or break a companionship: if they talk to each other. if ye are not one, ye are not mine. talking is necessary, and once i was told, if we (me and my companion) dont talk, satan won, and we fell into temptation and have sinned. wow... dont let that happen ok?
well fam and friends, its time to go again, im sad to leave, but im excited to get back into the work and smile and say hi to everyone in the street! having the spirit of god really does make you change to what Christ would be. i thank clarissa rees and kayla poole for their letters i received today, they were very inspiring, and heart felt. thanks for all your support from all of you. i love you, and am praying for you here. until next week....PEACE!
elder facer

Monday, May 9, 2011

A recap of our Mother's Day skype

im sorry to say that i dont have a lot more to tell you all, after seeing you yesterday, but i will try to squeeze some more juice out of our last week. first of all, happy mothers day to all the mothers that i know, and didnt have the chance to congradulate.
well one thing that i didnt mention much about was zone leader council that we had on thursday. it was really good to be in cuernavaca during some of the hottest days in acapulco.... it was nice and cloudy and breezy for the whole day we were there, and i really want to go back... but its ok, the heat is somewhat bareable and also there is a reason the lord has me here. during council, we talked about the preparations for zone conference, and also the mission conference with president rasband of the presidency of the seventy. in the zone conferences, we will have the roll of teaching the missionaries how to find, and make them effecient finders. we also watched a wonderful movie about elder holland talking to the new elders in the mtc in january, and teaching them about why the church changed the missionary program to preach my gospel. it was mainly to get the missionaries themselves converted also, because many of them were serving, but not staying active afterwards. he taught of the importance of being able to follow the spirit and teach what the person needs, and not just a memorized lesson. the movie was so great, that we are also going to watch it in the zone conferences so that all the misisonaries can watch it too.
during the other days of the week, we didnt get a whole lot done. we found 9 nuevos in this week and the majority of them probably arent going to progress, but we did challenge them to a baptismal date, and also to go to church, but it just didnt work out, so we will have to check with them in this next week and see who is willing to progress. but at least we did have 6 investigators that went to church, but the sad thing is that not one of them will be baptized this week. the ones we were hoping on to get baptized this week, didnt go.... so we will have to wait, but we still expect them in this month. also we are really trying to lift up the zone, and teach the district leaders how to lead, so everyone can be lifted up. it is a long and slow process, but we are getting there. we really have so much potential, but some people are in a hard time of their mission, others are new and learning, and others have forgotten how, so we need to teach on all levels of the board.
one thing that i thought was funny, elder miller talked to his family also yesterday, and his dad told him that the new york giants had tried to put him in the draft with out his parents permission, which was odd, because he hasnt thrown a ball in two years. they also won the world series last year, so it would be cool if he went with the, but he says he wouldnt unless they offered him millions of dollars, because he still wnats to studdy and have fun at byu on the team.
well its about time to go, and im sorry its not much of a letter, but its just that not a ton has been going on. i also wanted to give a shout out to anna and clarissa rees that have been my faithful (not immediate family) writers and for your nice letters i got this last week. hope all is well, and that the rain stops for you and comes down to me! love you all. take care
elder facer

Monday, May 2, 2011

Feeling a little shaky in the heat of Acapulco

there sure were a lot of things that happened. actually yes, we did feel the earthquake, but after checking it, they were all small. the biggest was 5.3? the only bad thing is that it happened at 6:07am and i couldnt fall back to sleep before 6;30..... it was also the first time in my life that i can remember that i had felt an earthquake, i also didnt expect to feel it in my hammock. after talking to a few other people, i realized that to the members of the church, the spirit got them up 5 seconds early and prepeared them. it happened to me and elder miller, and other people said the same thing happened to them. the spirit really watches out for us! also yes, we did hear about real salt lake, and bin laden! go USA! every one tells us whats going on here and there, so we stay pretty well in touch with big things taht happen.
well mom, sorry to burst the bubble, but the new area, and the sister missionaries arent doing so great. by this week, they should know how to get around, be finding and challenging, but the both areas, only found 1 or 2 new investigators and challenged 1 or 2.... that is the reason why the zone still hasnt been baptizing the numbers it should, is because we arent finding enough. our number of new investigators dropped a little this week to 11, but we worked even harder than last week, and also we both feel that that is hwat the lord wanted. it has also been super hot, so we think the rain is about to come ( we are praying for it!) and becasue of the heat, and bad preparation, we were both pretty beat up yesterday in our fast. we thought we had drinken enough water, but nope....it just sucked every last drop out of us.... at least we are still alive and well. this time, we focused our fast in the people that we have that are really progressing towards baptism at this moment.
most of the 25 people we found last week, didnt progress, but its ok. of those 25, we did keep the ones that are willing to look for the lord and follow what we asked them to do. the ones taht are moving the best, and the ones for whom we fasted are rosy and her daughters veronica and rosita; elizabeth, citlaly, alondra, and perla; and oscar. they are the ones that very well could be baptized in this month, and are progressing well and have received an answer to their prayers. some stronger than others, but all are going in the right direction. your faith and prayers would be greatly apprecieated for these people..
on wednesday, we had interviews with president spannaus, and all went well, jsut that it took forever, and half to end. we had the keys, and had to stay until the end to lock up. my interview, was very calm, he helped me reinforce the importance of helping elder miller end strong, and how i was doing. everything went well. the month of may will be busy, on the 5 of may, we have zone leader council in cuernavaca and the next wednesday, zone conference. the following tuesday is a mission conference, where president rasband of the presidency of the seventy is coming to talk to us! so in these next few weeks, ill send some good pics of me in the new suit. also im still loving the hammock a ton. a lot of people have trouble sleeping in hammocks because they try to sleep straight. you have to sleep on an angle, and then you sleep like a baby in the acapulco heat with a fan. for two nights, my fan broke and they were miserable nights having to share a rotating fan with elder miller. there just isnt enough air to share.... haha if you try to sleep without a fan here, it is just too hot and you sweat all night. it is litteraly impossible i believe.
well all is well here, not much is happening, because we are a happy companionship and we are working hard always. well im excited to hear and see you all agian on mothers day, and to be able to see you all agian. thanks for the support, prayers, and letters. i love you all, and am very content with your love and help for me and the lords work. may god be with you all
elder facer