Upheld by my righteous omnipotent hand

Playing tennis with the president. Haha!
we had a wonderful week working and being lost. everything has been going great with elder solomon, and the members. we both decided that our work in this ward is to be done with the members, and not just by ourselves. it is something new to me, because i have had many companions that just work with the lord on their own, and dont use the members at all. but after praying and looking for the guidance and council of the lord, we both feel that we need to work through the members. so we started to visit them, share scriptures, give blessings, offer service, and leave a challenge. i feel we had good success, and we met a lot of members in our meetings. we have a ward of mostly older members, but there are still a few wippersnappers that are ready to help. there are about 100 members, and they all have just gotten comfortable where they are, and havent been willing to change. no one goes to the temple, or has helped with missionary work in the last year and a half(there was a hard working missionary who worked with them) and it will take a lot of work from us to get them moving again.. all the ward talked pretty bad about the bishop, and that he wasnt willing to work(its his fourth time being a bishop of this ward) and he feels he shouldnt be the bishop, so there are a lot of mixed feelings.... we are going to talk with president spannaus about it, because the members dont trust in him, and they are gossiping about him. so that is one of the main reasons the ward doesnt progress.
our area is really quite cold. every morning in acapulco, it was easy to get off of a hot hammock, or a hot mattress, but here, i forgot how hard it is to get off the cold mattress and comfortable blankets... but we both worked hard on it and kept getting up at 6:30 as expected. we only found a few new investigators, but also got a few members that talked to us at church and are preparing fhe´s with another family! way cool. our goal of baptisms for the month of september will be 5. it is hard, but we have planned to baptize a family that we havent found yet..... but we will do it!
well sorry that i didnt have time to write today, my computer was freezing, and didnt leave me much time to write. but all is well here, even though many of you are struggling, the lord is watching over you, and will teach you from every experience. WE DO HARD THINGS. i now almost have a smile on my face as i say it. almost... haha! love you all! by the way, clarissa, i got your letter today, and i will write a letter to you, and your brothers(individually) this next week. love you all!
elder facer

Here We Come, Cuernavaca!

well as you asked mom, ill talk about changes first. i am going to the coldest area in the mission called atzingo cuernavaca. it is in the mountains of cuernavaca at the very north right before you drop down into the valley of the southern area of mexico city. and just as you are hoping mom, i will be training a new gringo. well kinda. he is here in acapulco in the area cuauhtemoc, but he has been feeling really sick, and hasnt had a good experience. he only came on the mission to please his parents, and has, a little, changed his attitude towards the mission for the better. he only has 6 weeks, and the training is a 12 week process, so i will finish up his training, and try to excite him for the mission. i dont know how long i will be with him, but just as you explained, mom, in the essay of the returned missionary: you have to accept the lords will as it comes, and not complain. that was something elder snyder taught me and i am so grateful that i have started to learn that. just stay positive and look for the good in what you have. i really hope to be able to help elder solomon, and i will need your help and prayers. he is a good missionary, but needs the lords help. so we will be leaving today at 3:40 and get to our area around 8pm. i have been praying to understand the will of god and why he is putting me in this situation(not that i dont want it, but just to be able to understand and complete) and i expressed him my desires and how i think we will be able to excite elder solomon to be in the work of the lord. im pretty excited for the missionary that is coming in my spot, it is elder dahl. he came with elder wilding, and is just as much of a workhorse as him. so i know that im leaving the area in good hands. elder sarduy is good, but has almost tried to start off bad with some of the members.... so ill talk to elder dahl and put them both on their best guard. we have also been preparing some baptisms here so i hope they will be able to come in and start right way.
well i dont have too much more to say about the week, we kept working and also had a few goodbye parties from the members, and that was sweet. we found an inactive member that came from california, and he works in a homeless shelter for kids with HIV. we went and gave four blessings to some kids and also to some of the leaders there, then went back and made friends with the kids and later taught them. they are cool, and need help. we are giving them spiritual help, and the leaders and doctors there give physical help. well sadly i wont be here for them... they were really cute and easy to attach to. we also had our ward conference this week, and it went really good! the theme was on becoming truly converted to the lord. we also took a ton of pictures, but i will have to send them next week, because my cord is already packed away... also we had our zone conference and elder sarduy directed it. it was my 3rd conference so i was calm and prepared, but he was about to have a heart attack, so i had to calm him down and help him get things organized. in the end, everything turned out good, and president and the assistents congratulated us on our zone conference.
well im sorry that i dont have much more to say right now. it was a pretty quick week, and only a few big events passed. we are doing well, but just a little sad that im leaving. but all is well, the work continues.
well hope everyone has a great week, and next week i will have good details and fill you in on whats going on. love you all! take care.
elder brigham facer

A Little Exercise Goes a Long Way

hola mi querida familia y mis amigos!
well we had a lovely week these last seven days, and have good news that jared did get confirmed this yesterday! also we have been doing a little bit better to find new investigators and keep them for teaching. we are working in an area where it is all apartments, and there are more than 100, so we have been working hard to find who we can and keep finding more. i didnt love working in those areas before, but i have come to see that heavenly father can have his elect children wherever he decides, not where we decide. sadly no one is going to church. as soon as one desire is completed, another is needed. we first needed investigators, and had a few people going to church in their baptismal preparation, but now that we have people to teach, and the others got baptized, no one want to go to church... so its a never ending cycle of being humble and seeking the lords help.
well i have felt really good this week, because i have been doing good exercise. our neighbor, ex bishop, goes running about every morning in a park close by our house, or on the beach, and he invited us. the sad thing is that i have never really had a companion who has been really willing to run, except elder wilding. but elder sarduy was willing to put up with it. so we went running, and after the third day, one member from our ward said that i was looking skinnier. im not sure if its true, or if i was just in a smaller shirt that day, but it made me feel good! i also feel like i have more energy during the day. the lord blesses us when we complete with what he asks us to do.
well it has been hard this last week, and today, knowing that changes are coming up this weekend, and that president can send me anywhere he likes, and with whichever companion, and with whatever leadership position. its hard to stay focused, but i have been praying that he helps me, and during the day im doing good and being focused on the work, but at night the reminder is still there. just like you said mom, God has left me here knowing that i only have one change more to serve in this area. i have to do all that i can to complete with him and make sure i did what he wanted in this last change here. it has been a good reminder that i have to be right on track, and focused to have the spirit. if im distracted, it cant be giving me impressions. dont worry, ill keep going hard until the end of the week and the end of the mission. im sorry that i have to end a little early today, but i need to write a few converts before i get off to see if i will be able to go to the temple any time soon. love you all, and im so grateful for your inspiring letters and words. i hope everyone is well, and that you all know your in my prayers. love you so much! have a wonderful spirit filled week!
elder brigham facer

A Quieter Week on This Side of Acapulco

here we are another week. well first off, i wanted to comment on something that mom wrote about my safety, and the setting apart, i have had that impression come to my mind various times in the mission, and maybe its because something was going to happen, but because i was worthy to have the spirit, or because father in heaven was completing his part of the promise, or setting apart, i have been guided and protected from situations i didnt even know about. talking about safety, i talked to an elder on the other side of acapulco this morning, and he told me some of what is going on in acapulco right now. the cops finally captured a head drug boss in acapulco, but that just made the other drug dealers and their gangs mad and uncontrolled, because they dont have a leader, so there have been a lot of bad things going on. luckily i hadnt heard about any of it until this morning. he said last night as they were walking home from their lunch appointment, they found that 3 cars had been blown up, and there were a few dead people there in the street that were being carried away by the ambulance... he said it has been happening the last 3 days also... im happy to be leaving in 2 weeks from here... haha but i havent heard of anything on our side of acapulco. but as i hear of these things going on so close to us all, i am reminded of the setting apart, just as you were mom. i dont feel in danger either. but that doesnt mean i dont keep my guard up! the reason i feel protected is because we are trying hard to complete with the commandments 100%, so god blesses us for our efforts.
well this week, we did have one baptism, but missed the confirmation for jared. i have his picture that i will send later. he and his family were all okay with him being baptized, except his dad, its because the grandma is really focused on her catholic beliefs, and is trying to convince her son(jareds dad) that he shouldnt let jared be baptized. but in the end, we convinced him after teaching a little, and got him baptized before he changed his mind. they were also all ready for the confirmation, but the baby lenny was sick, so no one got up, and they didnt go to church......... a little frustrating. ive decided that some of the hardest trials come when we are trying harder to be righteous, such as yesterday fasting... pretty rough trials.
during the week, we spent almost all the day, every day, contacting, because jared was our last investigator that was progressing, so we dedicated ourselves to that to find more people. we found 11, which is decent, but sadly not many poeple will progress.. i hope at least a few will. some were really great in the first lesson, but we didnt see them after that, because of school or work, so that might cause some conflicts in being willing to sacrifice things for god. the rest of the people we found, were dropped this last week... elder sarduy and i have been doing good. there are a few things that get on our nerves, but we are both pretty calm and can push those things off, so we do ok. we are getting ready for zone conference on the 18 of august, so we need to prepare our lesson plan and buy the food, prepare the church etc.
well all is well here for us in acapulco, because after 4 weeks of not receiving rain, it hit us hard friday night going into saturday at midnight and it woke me up a few times and scared me. you wouldnt believe the thunder here. its great! it was pouring so hard, that it was almost hard to be able to calm myslef and be able to go back to sleep. but all is well.
i was sad to not hear from anyone this week, but i am not depressed. only joseph, and mom, and john wrote me. but its ok.... i hope all is well for everyone, and that you have a great week! well see you next monday.
elder brigham facer

Just Another Day in the 'Hood...

this is rosy´s baptism, her sister is in black, kariely
good afternoon family and friends. well congratulations to joseph for arriving to mexico safely and early! it will be fun to compare the differences from the north and south of mexico, because there are big differences. well sad to say that the zone didnt complete its goal, but after praying so hard to have it completed, i was comforted by the spirit as i was confirmed that we wouldnt complete it, and it made everything much more bearable. especially to know that it wasnt the lords will that we completed the zone goal this time. it was a struggle, and i feel we gave all that we could to complete it, but the lord had different plans so we had to change ours to be in line with his.
during the challenge to give a baptismal interview to another area, on our way back, we were on the same street, and 20 feet away from a drive by(got out of the car and shot then got back in) shooting.... we didnt even see the car pass, then they got out and killed a policeman because he didnt obey them, and tried to run, but we dropped to the ground as fast as we could, and got between the bank of the curb and the cars to get out of the way. nothing else happened, but it was an adrenaline rush. the cool thing is that just as i was talking about the spirit comforting me about the goal, it was right after that the spirit kept us calm during that drastic situation and guided us to what we should do. i can honestly say that i felt guided and protected by the lord in a dangerous situation. that is the first time i have been in that type of situation, and everything went smoothly for us. the good thing is that the drug traffickers that do the killing, arent just looking for whichever person to kill, but only their enemies. thats why the lord says love one another, always!!
sadly jared didnt get baptized, but we did have a miracle baptism. we were planning to baptize rosy this weekend, but as i was praying one night about her, i had the thought that she was ready, and didnt need to wait any longer. she had a testimony, and knew the doctrine, so why wait? we talked about it in our companionship, then in our next appointment, challenged her to be baptized that friday, and she doubted a little then accepted and knew that was right. so cool! she passed her interview easily, and was almost asking if we could do it even earlier. haha. she was an investigator that elder miller and i found, and she is great, smart, diligent, and has studdied. there are few people like that here in the south that want to listen to the gospel. her sister is a member for 4 years, and gave her the good example. everything went great in her baptism, later i will send her pictures.
zl council went really good, we talked about upcoming events, such as zone conference, the next zl council and that elder ballard and elder jensen(presidency of the seventy) will be coming to visit our mission on september 10!!!!! wow, super exciting. that will be such a cool experience, just like the last two that we have had(elder johnson, area president, and president rasband). we also talked about the problem the missionaries are having about being unfocused and it is a result of not having a good relationship with heavenly father and therefore lacking spirituality. the 6 parts of spirituality are prayer, scripture study, ponder, fast, service, and love which embraces everything. it was a very good talk, and i will send the email on spirituality to mom.
well everything is going good for elder sarduy and me this last week. we are slowly getting to be better friends, and more united. he is still struggling to get up th hills, but he is trying hard. now that he realizes that i will be leaving this next change, he is trying to learn how to do everything before i go, because he will probably also be training a new zl next change. but all is well in zion(acapulco) well more like zarahemla. jaja love you all, and thanks for your support, and prayers. by the way, if clarissa rees reads this, i sent a letter to you today, so im sorry it will take 2 months, but it will get there. i got your letter yesterday. ps: happy birthday manuel, betsy, and john! i know i cant get it right on the day, so thats the best i can do. love you all!!!
elder brigham facer