Stay Strong in the Faith

well I'm not going to be writing much today, because we had a week full of traveling from altamirano to iguala, to chilpancingo, back to iguala, and back to altamirano. we had the conference with elder octaviano tenorio on friday, and it was really good. he had us read mosiah 12 to 16 and we talked about some of his experiences with those verses and really learning to come unto christ. it was good to talk about that and hear a general authority's opinion on the topic that i will speak on in my return talk. i received some good ideas. he also talked about the kind of prayers that god likes to answer and what he likes to hear and in genesis 24 it gives the example perfectly. this week, i will re read it and learn how to pray. finally. haha. i also got to see arturo and rosy, and found out about the temple..... the whole trip it gave me lots of time to reflect on the hand of god and his purposes. it was nice and i was able to stay busy and positive about it. i got one last pic with them before leaving for iguala again. we only had three days to work this week, and it was good. we kept working hard, and found 10 new people to teach and 5 in church. we were pretty excited with the people that made it, and it will allow us to probably baptize 3 for my last week. they are brian, getsemani, and rocio. please pray for them, and that they can receive the permission from their parents to be baptized.
i promise to all of you, and to my father in heaven that i will continue to work at my fullest, and give everything i have in this last week. we must keep the eye single in the glory of god. it goes some thing like that. con la mira puesta unicamente en la gloria de dios. haha. it will be a weird transition in english again, have mercy on me when i get home. i love the work of the lord, and i will truly miss it, but i will love to be with my dearest family and friends again. but i will have to lose my tan when i get home and ill probably get sick... haha ni modo. i love you all so much, and i can't wait to be with you all again. stay strong in the faith, and trust in the lord with all your heart might, mind, and strength, as i will do likewise. see you in the end......
elder facer

Working for the Lord

well, now i have set apart the time to get a good letter to make up for last week. we have had a good time these last two weeks with a lot of success, and also trials. to start off, being the last week of the month, we were striving to find the last baptism we needed to complete our monthly goal, and as church was finishing, we just happened to find two little kids that were in need of baptism. one had been baptized 3 years ago, but his baptism récord was lost. the other girl watched all of her family be baptized a few years ago, but she never wanted to and didnt like the idea of baptism. as we talked to her at church, she was nice, and really sweet to us, so we asked her mom if we could go visit them. as we were there, the girl, itzel, came up and right away said that she didnt want to be baptized, and we asked why not? she explained that it was just a fear of water, so as soon as we calmed her down about that, she accepted and was really excited! haha but she would do it on one condition, only if her inactive dad was there. so sunday the 26th came along and we had the baptism for the both, and they were way excited. even though itzels dad wasnt there, she was so excited, she said that we should just do it! in the end, i had to baptize her 6 times, because of her fear of the water, she just wouldnt let herself go under the water all the way.... haha but afterwards she was happy and grateful it was over!
the other kid, yedsan was a champ and did it on the first time. elder white baptized yedsan. so we ended the week good and completed our goal of three baptisms and ended up with 4!
that same week, we also had the zone conference in iguala, which was a long ride. we talked a lot on how to work better with the members, and especially how to have better baptismal services. we talked about a lot of key tips to make a good service, but it all revolved around planning and the ward mission leader. we hit a lot of points on getting the members confidence and helping them recognize us as representatives of jesus christ. im not saying that i have been really good at it, but i think that has been one of my favorite parts of the work is to be with the members and strengthen them. i didnt know what an impact it can really have until that experience i already told of finding a guy in cuernavaca from anenecuilco that said me and elder snyder revolutionized the ward. from that point on, i really wanted to work a lot more with the members, and i have seen some fruits of it here already from just two weeks of applying the tips that they gave us in the conference. luckily we were able to apply the baptism tips in the baptism with yedsan and itzel. we had a lot of participation and everything went well.
in this week, not too much happened, we had some good appointments, and and a lot of necessary appointments fall... also quite a few people we had with a baptismal date didnt go to church, so we will have to rechallenge them with a new date. at this point in the mission, its very interesting to see where your heart is. its very easy to stop working because the people you find now, are not possible to be baptized before i leave, so it really has to be an unselfish work, and stay focused. its nice, to think that for these last two weeks at least, i am working for the lord, and not at all for myself.
thanks to you all that wrote to keep me excited and working hard until the end. its sad that its so close, but it must come. it would be nice if you could help me with some prayers to set good goals for after the mission i put a little bit of time into it about every night, and just need some more help. this week we did divisions with the elders in huetamo, the other área in our district. i stayed in altamirano with the new missionary, and elder white went with his old companion in huetamo. it was good to work even harder to give a good example to a new missionary. it made me work double time to stay busy in the day, and also be productive. he has a lot of experience, and loves the work, so it was fun to be with a mexican again and see how a newbie works, and how to help him too. i couldnt teach too much in the one day we had together, but when i could, i tried to give a few pointers. we didnt find many people this week, but we did have a family go to church that is progressing towards baptism and they took with them three little kids from the neighborhood that we are teaching and might also get baptized so we had 8 in church and that was a big blessing. after church and finishing our fast, we went out to a pueblo an hour away called ajuchitlán. a convert of elder white lives out there, but is here all week for work, so she took us out to meet her family and to eat with them. they are way cool, and they say that they want to go to church really bad, but becuse of their work, its really hard for them. so we talked about the situation and the mom came up with a way that they all can go. by rotating week by week who goes. she was really happy she came up with that idea and wants to be the first of the family to go. we helped them with health blessings, and we helped them move some big boulders to a new house they are building. they asked us to come in the week too so we could eat with them again.
well i guess you could say that everything is going really good here.
im loving it, and having a good time. we will keep working hard, and loving the destroying heat that just keeps getting worse! ANIMO! haha love you all. see ya next week for my last week to write you. take care. your in my prayers.
elder facer

Miracle Baptisms On the Way

its kinda nice being here in altamirano, because no other missionaries
or anyone really is calling to bother you or have you go with them to
do something, etc. and we can just have the full day to ourselves.
today the other missionaries from the zone arent coming in, until
wednesday, so we wont have our district meeting tonight. that is an
interesting thing about this area, is that this is the only part of
the mission where president will allow that the district meeting is
not held every monday night, because it is so far, and because it is a
lot of money. it is just another hot day in la tierra caliente!
elder white and i have had another good week. our goals and numbers
were a lot better than we hoped for, and we still needed to do so much
more! we ended up with 19 new investigators and were hoping for about
10 more, and sadly we only had 6 in church this week, because the huge
family from last week didnt go, and a few others we were hoping for.
now, the best news of all, is that we had a sweet baptism this weekend
for sheila(its pronounced shayla) not like steve irwin would say it, i
have accidently slipped with her a few times hahah! she has been an
eternal investigator, for about 9 months now, and has been really
looking to do whats right. she was a referral from the ex branch
president, who is only 23, and because of her, her grandparents, and
little brother got baptized, and they were just waiting for her. she
knew it was true, and had been going to church pretty frequently, but
just never felt that she would be able to complete with the covenant
after bieng baptized. so we had a good talk with her on mosiah 16 and
talked about the necessity she has to complete, but in a loving way,
and she really understood the harshness of the words of abinadi and so
we challenged her to be baptized for this saturday, and she said yes.
because we are so far from the rest of the zone, and no other leader
wanted to come all the way out here to do her interview, i was
authorized to do her interview, and we had a good talk. i forgot how
much i had liked to interview people and ask them the questions to see
what was really in their eyes and heart. she passed and was baptized
in the river, because we dont have a font here, and it was my first
baptism in the river!! haha yay! we got a lot of her extended family,
who is also listening to the gospel, to go, and they had a great time.
that same day, we went to a wedding for a few people we are teaching,
and their family members. sadly they were married for the catholic
church, but its ok, it is still a good way to get united and start a
new life to be able to feel the gospel as a necessity of life. i
think im saying necessity a lot because this morning we hear the song
in spanish ´the bear necessities of life´ from the jungle book haha.
we were still missing a lot of other people at church that told us
that they were going to go, but thats just how it is. this week has
been really hot, and nothing like last week. there was not a cloud in
sight and we were cooking all day. on friday, elder white had to go
out to huetamo(where the other missionaries are) to do two interviews
for them, so i stayed here to keep working, and i stayed with the ex
branch president(the one who is 23). we had a good time, and he has
had a lot of experience with working with the missionaries, so it was
really nice to keep working hard, and not have to straggle with a
member. the assistence at church is still doing ok, we had about 45
this week, and we want to be doubling it soon elder white and me. it
has happened before, and we want it again, so we have set new goals.
our first goal is baptize more, and we found two miracle baptisms
yesterday at church, so we will go with the both of them this week and
see if they can be baptized on this weekend. one is for sure, and the
other is a little farther away so we will have to see if we have
enough money to make it through the end of the month. this thursday,
we will have the zone conference, and we are getting excited about it.
we will have to miss half of wednesday to travel out there to iguala,
but its worth it, and the 300 pesos for a round trip... thanks to
everyone for your letters, and your inspiration, and family stories. i
cant wait to see you in such short time, but that just means that i
need to keep working hard to be able to get home and see you all with
my head held up high!! love you all. see you next week!
elder facer

Rainy days and temple days...

once again family, we meet here on the computer. what a joy to hear
from you all again and to know that you are all doing so great and
receiving so many blessings from the lord. a few of you commented on
how you have learned new things or remembered important information by
pondering. i have realized a little more this week, the importance of
pondering and how my heavenly father answers my thoughts in a very
personal way and in the right time after giving it a lot of thought.
i was pretty shocked with all the news that everyone gave me! tara is
playing soccer in a few weeks, lys and manuel got a new car and are
having huge success wit hthe business, scott is out for north dakota,
mom is in DC and dad... well i wont mention it now, its a suprise.
haha. also speaking of suprises, arturo and rosy, the family going to
the temple, told me yesterday that they have their date set for march
9 and 10. i think i will be going with them on the 9th, and i cant
wait. a week before i go home. what joy to know the blessing the
gospel can bring to our lives. he mentioned, arturo, about elders
quorum and how they were talking about examples and one young single
adult stood up and said that after jesus christ and his parents, that
i was his best example. the ysa was alfredo, another convert we had.
it really shocked me that the lord let me be such an infulence in
someones life so that they thought of me as their greatest example. i
was really stunned, and humbled to hear how the lord had used me to
impact someone in such a way that they were completely converted to
the gospel. it was touching.
well in this week, we had a lot of success, and a lot of rain. it was
very unanticipated to rain in febuary here in altamirano, and it felt
nice and cool all week. but once agian today is hot and dry. we had
a finding spree and found 25 new investigators and had 15 in church!!
it was a huge blessing to see half of the branch be investigators, and
all the members getting really excited to see the house of prayer
growing. it is pretty dysfuncional but i love it. it only has 5
years of being a branch, and they are working hard, so that is what
counts. we alsmost had a baptism of a girl that knows the gospel is
true, but is still waiting that god confirms her answers even more....
but we will be patient and help her realize the answer she has. sadly
we cant work our whole area, becuse it is about 1/4 of all the state,
so we ahve sto stay pretty close to home and to the closest pueblos.
but everything is going great! elder white is a blast, and he is a
really good teacher. he walks fast, and is still dedicated, even
though he has almost the same time as me. later ill send pics,
because i am about out of time. but i love altamirano!! its been so
wonderful to me, and one interesting thinga bout this area, is that we
really have to follow the scriptures when it says, dont worry yourself
about what to eat or wear, just wait for the lord to provide. we dont
have sisters that give us food, unless they offer it, or we ask for
it. usually our investigators feed us, because the members just live
too far out. some come each week from an hour and a half away to
church! i have learned a lot of humility in ths branch ,and will keep
learning more. love you all!!!!
elder facer

The last transfer...

hey family. all is well in the heat of guerrero again. what?! yup,
i got changed to altamirano guerrero. its a little pueblo, and from
cuernavaca on a direct bus ride, it took 5 hours... so its a little
farther than acapulco in a sense. elder sonntag will stay in pradera
to train a new american, but will have to wait for visa problems, so
he is with another companion in the same position as him. but he
will receive an elder dalton from orem. i dont know if i knew him.
and i dont know an o`sullivan either dad, sorry. so im here with
elder white from boise idaho(he is black) and has one change less than
i do. so im super stoked to be with another elder with a lot of
experience again, and i know we will have so much fun together, and
work so hard. altamirano is a pretty dangerous place because of
drugs, but he says nothing ever happens with the missionaries, and he
already has 4 and a half months here. i remember elder snyder telling
me about altamirano, and for some reason i got super excited about it
in my first area when he mentioned it to me, and i am so happy to
finally be here. its so far out of the mission, i dont ever see anyone
except for another area that is just a little farther than we are, and
one other area for our district meetings. its nice to be away from a
lot of missionaries and their gossip and telling me that im dead(a
missionary term for ending the mission, not that im going to die) so
im way stoked to be here. mom and sharon had some very good comments
on success and working hard till the end, and it was good to hear from
betsy and maryjo too about all thats going on. especially how crazy it
is that jeff already has a year in the mission. but thats just how
time flies.
well, everything ended really good for elder sonntag and me. sadly we
didnt baptize laura nor her sons, but i feel that they will be
baptized very soon. the entire ward was pretty shocked that i was
leaving, and i threw it on them in one blow. as i was leaving the
church yesterday, a heard a few comments that made my day. one lady
said that they felt like i was really a part of the ward. another 12
yr old girl was bawling when she heard i was leaving, and it was sad,
but it had to be done. we also had some very good success in getting
our investigators to church, and ended with 6 (with three others who
still arent investigators) so almost 10 this week! it went really
great, and also had a good testimony meeting. we spent the afternoon
saying goodbye to people, and had a little rain storm that took the
power out by our house, so until 10pm we didnt have light..... and
today we didnt leave until 1pm, so we havent done too much recently, i
havent even unpacked. we got home, and came to write. i really feel
like we worked hard our last week in pradera, and did what was needed.
hopefully elder sonntag can send me the baptism pics soon of all the
people we were teaching that get baptized before i leave. i think the
main commitment i have to do is prepare myself to receive the spirit,
and follow all the promptings i receive. love everyone and be humble
to be able to be guided, and always act according to Gods will. just
as that quote you sent me mom, its not my thoughts, but the way the
lord sees it should be done. well i love you all, and cant wait to see
you, well ya i can wait, because i still have more work to do here!!!!
i love the work, and every opportunity the savior has given me to
grow(d&c127:2) i love every minute of it, and will make it and not
break it, to establish my foundation for the rest of my life right
now. i love this phrase: ANIMO!!!! and i tell it to everyone i meet,
have someone explain it to you, because my time is up. but we will
talk next week and i will have a lot of good news to share with you
all. animo! much love
elder facer

Recommittment

good afternoon, to all those who arent sick, and to all those who are sick(like me) i hope it goes better. since saturday when i woke up, i have had a terrible cough, and i thought it would just go away, but as of right now it hasnt, so i will call hna. spannaus in the night to see what to do. so it has been pretty rough, because randomly last night it started to rain, luckily, right after we got inside. well im happy, and sad to talk about this week. because it was a very trying week and we worked so hard, but with so little results, probably one of the hardest of the mission but i feel that i was really able to stay positive(almost 100% of the time). it was a very hard trial, but i feel like with pres. spannaus` help, i was able to overcome it.
this week, we had interviews on thursday, and we had a very good talk about recommitment. he didnt have to rebuke me by saying it, but i decided that i need to do just that much better to finish up the mission good. sharon sent a good email about that, and it was nice to see all those who wrote to give words of encouragement. but for now im going to go back to the good news of the interview.
elder wilding asked pres. to use his cell phone to call some converts, and decided to call rosy and arturo from chilpancingo. they have been talking to the bishop and getting ready to go to the temple!!!! they say that they will go in february, but they still dont know the date.
please pray a lot for them, that has been one of my biggest desires to take a family to the temple to be sealed, and finally it is possible.
we both got to talk to arturo, and he sounded a whole lot more grown up, what emily said about the gospel making us better people, and more organized really is true, we have seen it in this family. sadly president mentioned to me and elder sonntag, a little note about changes being possible between us this weekend. he may have plans for e. sonntag to train and send me to another area. its not sure, but possible, not my will, but thine be done. it doesnt matter who with, or where, but i have to and i will keep working hard until the end of the mission(just like scott mentioned) wow, i really did learn a lot from you all in your letters. and to tie in what mom and betsy said, that is exactly what president told me about having good results.
thats not the important thing, what really matters is forgetting yourself in the work, and being obedient. president said, if you die today, is God going to ask about how many baptisms i had in the mission, or how many new investigators i found? no, he is going to ask about if i completed with whatever he commanded me to do or follow, who to help, and what i did with my time. he had me reread alma 5, and i learned a lot from the questions that alma asked the people.
well, my time has run out once again, so we will have to wait until next week to chat more, but thank you for your support to everyone, and if clarissa gets this too, i got your letter, but it didnt give me time to read it, but ill print it off. your letters have been uplifting and inspiring, and i have felt the spirit and your love.
see you all next week!
mucho amor
elder facer

A diligently hard week

good afternoon family and friends! its good to be with you again and write, hopefully something inspiring, because i sure have felt inspired with the thoughts and letters you all have shared, except for alyssas, because she punished us (thanks joseph) with a generic letter haha. but ill be waiting for a good one next week as promised. it was good to hear that everything went well for wyatt, and that he gave a good talk.
also its fun to hear that for scott and alicia, the windows of heaven are opening for a new blessing and a new test. as mom commented, i really have learned so much from dad. maybe he didnt give me a shirt to take on the mission, because he was a lot taller than me and joseph, but he did teach me the characteristics that have shaped and changed my mission. i dont exclude you mom, but just as you commented on dad, i wanted to talk about him. i heard a quote a month ago from an emeritus seventy in our ward: you can see how converted the parents are by how the kids live and act. im far from the best missionary, but i know that my example and idol has always been dad to inspire me and lift me to be better. the little sacrifices that have been made are what shaped me. maybe he got mad at me while working with him, because i didnt know how to do anything, but he gave me the time to be with him, and learn hard work and to love good work. thanks dad i love you.
well we have had a diligently hard week. we had so many people in teaching, and so many appointments, but during the week, they just kept falling like flies at grandmas porch(8 people with fly-swatters) and it was hard to keep filling in our time with more things to to, but we managed. we had about 31 investigators, but because they havent been keeping their commitments, we will be having to drop many of them this week. sadly it has to happen, and i know good things will come from it, but its still hard to leave people that we have come to strive for and love so much. three investigators we are teaching, are striving to live the word of wisdom, mainly smoking and coffee. they are german, laura, and carla. german is the husband of a member since childhood, yuri, and his three kids were baptized last year. he is getting really excited and learning so much! he likes the gospel a lot, and defends it with co workers that are leaders of other churches! so cool, i hope he isnt preaching apostasy. haha! laura is a reference we received from the secretaries in the stake, her, with her two kids of 20 and 19 are pretty excited about baptism and have been willing to do all their homework and go to church, even though they live an hour away from the church! they live in the other city Huitzilac, its a part of cuernavaca, but its way far away. laura, aldo esteban, and jose juan are their names, please pray for them. they have baptism planned for feb. 4!! and carla is a recent converts sister that is 27, madre soltera(alone mom? i cant remember how to say it..... haha). she has had a lot of doubts, but was willing to try it out in faith, and needs a lot of support. her brothers recent wife is an ex-missionary, and is helping a lot, but she needs a lot of help with droppíng smoking. she has a lot of will power, but faith and prayers is more powerful! she is planning her baptism for feb. 11.
btw, german will have his date for the 25 of feb. we just need him to go to church!!!!
elder sonntag is helping me strive to speak 100% spanish. i have gotten a little lazy on speaking it all the time because of elder solomon, and need to get back in the habit. speaking of english, i gave a prayer in english in a members house, and i was sweating bullets, red faced, and elder sonntag was laughing when i finished, becase it just sounded so wrong. im worried to go home like this....especially with the family haha just kidding. we have been working hard, and are just waiting for the blessings.. also i talked to elder dahl, who took my spot in acapulco today, and he said that one of my converts are going to the temple soon, gildardo, so i might be going soon!!!! i cant wait, i have wanted to go to the temple my entire mission, and i hope he can go.
well thats about all with us, unless you have questions. we will talk next week. i love hearing from you all, and youre keeping me going, so thank you. i love you all, and i keep praying for you all. stay strong.
elder facer

Conversion

hey, mom, sorry it took so long, it takes us an hour to get home from the stake center for our meetings, the good thing, is that the internet is right next to our house. im not going to blab like i usually do, but i have some experiences that i want to share that really impacted me.
first of all, today, i found a member from anenecuilco, who has always been pretty active, and has watched the ward progress a lot. he was saying that ever since elder snyder and i got to the ward, and lifted it out of the slump it was in, the ward has ever since been progressing like crazy. when i was there, we had 60 going frequently, now there are 130!!! he mentioned it was all thanks to us for lifting up the ward, and getting them excited. i thought back, and sadly couldnt think of many things from anenecuilco, mostly because of my spanish, but i also heard that a family we taught and baptized went inactive, but they are now going again really good and strong! what joy it does ones heart to either plant the seed or collect the fruit, the blessings are the same, eternal joy.
this week, we taught a few people that the spirit was so strong in the lesson. the first was a friend of a ym in the ward, we went on splits once, and we found his friend jonathan. so we decided to go find him. we taught him alone, and he really didnt have any knowledge of god or even christ, but felt a deep burning desire to know more about it. so he was super attentive and answered every question we asked, because he listened so closely. after talking about joseph smith, and the first vision, and testifying that he could feel the same, and receive an answer directly from god, i felt inspired to ask how he felt. he confessed that he wanted to share it, but didnt know if it was appropriate, but as i asked, he shared that he felt something wierd that he had never felt before, so we explained that it is the spirit, and was so excited to know that he can always feel like that. he committed to baptism, and to pray and go to church. sadly there was a problem, and he couldnt get there.. after that, we taught carla, sister of a recent convert, named rodrigo, and his newly wed wife kenya who is an ex missionary. carla had been really rebellious, and had budist beliefs before, but realized that she didnt find the peace that she really wanted. she realized that she was denying herself of the faith and needed to accept the change her brother had made, and now she realized that she wants it. mostly for her baby daughter(who was blessed and named on sunday by her brother rodrigo) and she also felt the power of the gospel as we tesified of its truthfulness, and necessity in our lives to give us the peace we need and desire. she accepted baptism for the 8th of feb, and we may do it earlier if she is ready and can stop smoking.
it is so cool to see and feel exactly when the spirit guides us to ask an inspired question or say something especific that they need. i just wish that i was more worthy to feel that every day, and every moment...
we also had a way good lesson with a family that loves the message, but just doesnt want to go to church, so we will drop them this week. she asked me why i was so converted to what i preach. that was such a touching moment for me. i had never really realized that i was really converted to the gospel, i recognize that i lack a lot, and need to do a lot more still, but it was really touching. i cant share it all right now, but i remember after receiving my call, dad told me to go confirm it with god. kneeling down in the closet, and praying for about 45 mins(the longest prayer in my life up until that point) i felt comfort. it was very small, but it was something so significant to me at that point. then being in the misison and keeping the commandments and being obedient is what has completed that conversion. we both cried in the lesson, but she still didnt want to act..... but its ok, at lesat i will keep working hard. but i thank you dad, for making me look on my own. i had never really done that before, and that was what changed my life on december 9, 2009. thanks i love you.
i love you all, and im sorry i havent been able to write in the lsat couple of weeks to the rest of you, but i will make time next week. thanks for your patience with me and your prayers. it really is making a difference by small and simple things(alma 37:6-7). it really is so much better to look up! have a wonderful week. ill talk to president this week about the besmart application.
ps: i think i have a fungus on my foot.... ill talk with sister spannaus tonight about it.
love you all
elder facer

Service Warms My Heart

good afternoon family. it was good to hear from so many of you and
thanks for remembering my birthday. ill give details about the day in
a little bit. mom, it was a pretty sweet story you shared about the
girl from california that got to BYU and also her sister, and that
you invited them to dinner. i was thinking of what little acts of
service can do to impact someone so greatly. i love looking back on
some of the little times, and big ones, that i have been able to help
someone in need, and then find them again with a huge smile on their
face to see us. it just warms my heart. i am still not there, but i
feel charity to a level when i am able to serve someone without a fear
or doubt in my heart. it just feels so good afterwards. so i thank
you and dad for your wonderful examples of selfless service.
well we have had a pretty busy week, but with a lot of trials, because
we havent been able to find a lot of our important investigators that
just couldnt make it to their appointments.... satan is working pretty
hard now a days.... but we will keep working harder! we had six
people go to church this week, but only three counted, because one of
them, we havent taught, and the other two werent there for sacrament
meeting. but its great progress for these people who are in such need
for the blessings the gospel has to offer. the ones that went were
luis, who is the husband of a member. laura and her sons esteban and
jose juan. jose juan is the one we havent taught yet, but they all
enjoyed the church a lot! and also we had graciela go with her two kids
alicia of 4 yrs, and hector of 8. they got there late, but were happy
to be there, and working hard to feel the spirit. she has a lot of
problems with her ex husband bugging her, and she is finding a lot of
peace in the gospel, and we will be challenging her for baptism this
week!!
sadly eder and alicia who went last week, couldnt go because of work,
but we will be rechallenging them for baptism for the 28 of january.
we arent finding a ton of people each week,but at least 10, and they
are all looking pretty good because they are being prepared by the
members. all is well with elder sonntag and me. we are working hard,
and really enjoying our time together. still loving the work.
well its about time to go now, sorry there wernt many good experiences
to share today, but we will be praying for them and looking for them
this week. i love you all tons! thanks for your support.
mom, do you think i should wait until fall, because i think that would
be a good idea. do i still need to get president spannaus to give me
the get go? ill talk to him today just in case. love you
elder facer

New Years Traditions

well first of all, elder wilding is sitting right next to me and he says hello! he is my new zone leader haha. im so stoked to have him back. well the week was good except for the weekend. ill be quick to explain it, then talk about some of the new year traditions in mexico, which by the way, are very different from utah. thursday in the night we got really sick, and elder sonntag was vomitting all night, i woke up with vomit and diahrrea. we got blessings, then left to work to get miguel his interview, he got baptized!, then went to give a blessing to a sister in the ward. she described her symptoms and elder sonntag went white. he realized that he had the same symptoms as the sister, which she said was salmonela...... so he called hna spanaus and she told us to go home and not eat for the rest of the day. i wasnt as bad as my companion, but i still felt a little sick.
i read 50 pages in d&c and am in d&c 80 which has been a really fun experience. i have learned a lot and am really enjoying the personal revelations that the lord gives that i can apply to myself. saturday we baptized miguel and were feeling a little bit better. it was a sad baptism and only 6 people were there.... but we felt the spirit and did a special musical number. he was confirmed on sunday and we gave him a tie and a HLJ ring, (thanks sharon for the rings it was a really good idea) also we took a golden family to church. after a huge party they had on saturday, when we showed up at their house, they were getting up, and we invited them to church and they gave us breakfast and we went together. they are getting ready for baptism on the 14 of january. please pray for them! eder, alicia, and fernanda.
well new years is pretty cool here. we had pozole verde and bacalao for dinner. they are amazing foods, and we had three cakes, german chocolate, flan and chocolate, and pecan pie! so good. then at the last 12 seconds to midnight you eat a grape to say goodbye to every month and ask for a wish. if you eat all twelve grapes in the 12 seconds it comes true. then, we did a veracruz tradition, you stuff clothes with woodchips in socks, pants, shirt and a make shift head with a tooooooon of fireworks! then sing and dance with him and light him on fire. it was a huge blast! i have a video too! it is actually a day for family to be toghether, not like home were we always split up for our different parties. but i like the both.
sorry i have to go now, it has been hard to focus on writing with elder wilding here on my side, but thats pretty much all that happened in the week. its starting to get really windy here, and it looks like a storm maybe. we will see. i love you all!
elder facer

2 Week Catch Up

well good afternoon all my family and friends. it was good to see
some of you yesterday, and to be able to write you today. there is
quite a lot to tell about because i have two weeks to catch up on and
a lot of great experiences that keep building my testimony more and
more every day. im not really organized in my thoughts, so please
forgive me if i starts to get pretty confusing and out of order.

well all is well here in cuernavaca, we just got back from a rigorous
hike to the tepozteco for 3 hours, we ate fabulous tacos of cesina
with itakates, and tlacoyos. haha, i probably wont even be able to
tell you what they are without my pictures, but i left the extension
cord at home. we also had tepoznieves. its pretty much like ice
cream but they have over 130 flavors and it was incredible. we went
with a family in the ward that has been really nice to us, and are so
much fun. they all say high, and also, later, i will send pics of
them. we will eat with them for new years. speaking of that mom,
could you somehow communicate with clarissa or her mom to ask for the
chocolate bunt cake with kissables. she knows the one. if not,
mention to her its the one we ate after getting kicked out of state in
high school soccer. haha. i told them how wonderful the cake was and
they asked if i oculd get the recipie. they are big chocolate fans
too.

these past two weeks have had their ups and downs. we have been
finding a few more than usual, but we werent having the lessons with a
member present that we were hoping for, then the next week, or member
lessons went up and our finding and challenging for baptism were going
down, so i think that after finding the two extremes, we will ahve a
great balanced out week this time around. elder sonntag and i have
gotten in little quarrels that were easily, usually, worked out, and
sometimes they lasted a little longer. i think its because i am too
meticulous(i cant remember how to say it) and i always let the little
things pick at me, and for some of those reasons, we had a few
arguements. nothing that we couldnt work out. we werent able to
baptize these last two weeks, but are hopefully planning one for this
week for miguel. yesenia had a problem, and we havent been able to
see her all week. a few members have talked with her, and they think
that she just isnt ready to leave her party life behind. but we will
keep working with her. in my personal study, i have been reading in
joshua of the old testament, and also in doctrine and covenants, and i
have learned a ton in d&c. maybe not so much about the story, buy i
have learned a lot of very important scriptures that have helped me a
lot. like d&c 42.61 I dont have them all memorized right now to write
their references, but if i remember next week, ill share them. this
week, we also have been working with an ex missionary and his wife.
it is a cool experience to be working with them, moises and stefania.
he got home from his mission, and was a powerhouse, he actually served
in the mexico north mission, and one of his last areas was apasco
hidalgo. he is elder ramirez ramirez. after a while, his non member
father, got to him by peer pressure, and got him to drink a little,
then in the end met stef, and well... they are now living together and
are not married waiting for a baby to come. he has been inactive
since hanging with his dad, and when we got with him, he shared that
he felt that we got there in the right time to make the difference.
stef is also progressing, and they went to church yesterday with us!
it was a huge success, and we are feeling the joy of bringing, not
only investigators, but inactive member back, and they are excited. i
really do love the missionary work, serving others always brings about
such a great joy that really changes who we were, into what god wants
us to be.

it made me laugh when you said that alyssa knew me in jr
high, because i thought about sticking pennies to my forehead in 7th
period english with mrs. jones and calling myself pennyman! haha. so
wow have i changed. also an emeritus seventy of our ward had his son
over and we ate with them. his son asked if i had been a leader in
the mission, because of how well i behaved and mature i acted. he
said that i was a powerful missionary from the scripture i shared.
its not to brag that i say this, but just to show that there really
has occurred a grand change in me, and i love it. i hope to be able
to continue with it all my life, and keep learning more.

so mom, can i be enrolled in uvu and be a partial student at byu for
the spanish class, or is it one or the other? i asked for ideas of
what i could major in, because i think i will need to put goals on
what i hope to achieve in 1 yr, 5 yrs, and 10 yrs. so if its possible
to get any carreer written down to to start with some kind of plan, it
would be nice. i dont need a lot of answers about it yet, but in
about a month, he will ask me to start thinking and setting these
goals.

well i lovce you all, and am thankful for your support, well for the
little you gave me yesterday, haha just kidding. it was fun to see
you, and motivating. ill keep working strong, and i ask that you also
give your best to the lord. i love you all. until next week.
elder facer

Darn that computer...

mom, im sorry, i had a lot of stuff written, and when i went to save
it, it was all erased. i didnt send it, and i dont know what
happened, and i dont have time to write any more...... so just to be
quick, i will be getting on skype at 3:30pm mexico time, which is
2:30 your time. i will also have my msn messenger account open, if
there are any problems, we can talk quick over it, or you can email me
at this account. im sorry it was a good letter, but for some reason
it was erased.... so i guess with this we will have to wait until
sunday to talk. im prayin for you all!
elder facer

Gifts of Service

hey! im really sorry for the last few weeks that it has been hard to write, we are still trying to find the time to do all that we needed to do, and it made it really hard. but this next week, i think we will have the schedule down good to be able to write with plenty of time. this week has been pretty crazy. we have been planning and rehearsing for our zone service project, and for a sunday night choir devotional. monday night, thursday in the morning, and sunday before the concert. thursday we had the service project and we went to a retirement home, a home with older people with problems, and their family just stopped taking care of them, so they are in a pretty rough state, but were very happy and fun to receive us, well those that were able to recieve us. we sang 4 hymns, and they asked for an encore haha, so we sang silent night in the end without any practice and with parts, so it wasnt so good. but they didnt know, they only heard the words hopefully. i sang the tenor part to the songs, and it was fun.
i really miss singing in groups like this. then after singing, we went and painted the two main hallways, and the kitchen, and the cafeteria. with 22 missionaries, and president with his wife, it went by pretty quick. we finished it all in about 3 hours and were out by 2pm. then sunday, we were running around like crazy with the assistants and the secretaries for our food appointment. we ate together, because a member from their ward lives in atzingo,(but goes to palmas) and the ladys daughter goes to our ward, so they scheduled the same day to give us all together, so we had to find the assistants and take them there, because i was the only one that knew where the sister lives, so we got there late, and ate mexican steaks! they have nothing to compare to dad´s, but it was meat and not chicken. so i was pretty happy. they are such a cool and good family too. but that means that we were really late getting to practice because the food was really far away. but the devotional was really fun. it reminded me of what we did in the ward when i was little every year, and it was a good reminder of the experience of the savior. we had a rough day at church, because all of the 12 really good progressing investigators that we were hoping would go to church, didnt go, so we only had yesenia. the good thing is she will be baptized this friday! we will also have a ward dinner on friday after her baptism. this week was pretty nuts with all the parties going on, and the festival of the virgin mary, or guadalupe, the lordes mother of mexico as she is known here. sad... it was pretty hard to sleep all the week because of fireworks and parties, bands playing in the street etc all night long. a lot of drunks and fights, but nothing happened to us. well as you all heard about, the earthquake was bad, but nothing happened to us. we had just sat down to have a fhe with a family, and as we were about to start, we heard it in the distance. it was by far the biggest one of the three i have felt, but it was only like .7 more than the other two, but it made a difference after getting above 6.0. elder sonntag was happy and laughing about it, because it was his first shake, but it took him a while to realize what was going on. but all is well, nothing happened in cuernavaca as far as i have heard, and all is well.
well we are still working with maritza and diana, they didnt go to church, so they will have to wait another week to be baptized, and neither did our usual frequent investigators go. its crazy to see how hard satan works on the people we teach. the husband of a member has gone with her to church for 8 years, not constantly, but the weekend that we teach him for the first time, they get in a big fight and he went with his family instead of going to church. so its hard, but we will hopfully see him tonight. he is luis, please pray for him too. we are really trying to find new ways to teach the members how to do their part in the work, and teach them how to find their friends and neighbors that are ready for the gospel. thats what we are focusing on this week, and the next month is teaching them their responsibilities as disciples of christ. well i thank you all for your letters this week, im sorry that i wasnt able to write back, because it didnt give me time, but next week, i will be on top of it.
and mom, i hope you could read that letter by alfredo, he had a rough experience of leaving the church, but is finally back, and recieved the priesthood this last week, with plans with his girlfriend to go on missions!! its so interesting how God knows when to convince some of his children... i love you all, and i cant wait to hear from you soon, or see you on skype!
elder facer

Reminders from home, except for the First Presidency message

well, im sorry to be writing so late, our new schedule is kinda rough with time. the only thing we need to do is go to costo to buy a lot of food for elder sonntag, and bring it home, so the other missionaries dont ask questions, complain etc. but wow did it eat up our time. it was really fun, because we ate there, and i had a hot dog. it reminded me so much of when we went to costco with mom and ate afterwards. good times. haha. we played a little basketball today, and also practiced singing a few songs for the zone.
we are doing a service project this week, and a part of that will be singing in a retirement home. also we will sing the same songs in a stake mission activity. they are oh come all ye faithfull, away in a manger, and two other songs that i cant remember the names in english.
haha. its funny to see how much im forgetting. some members in atzingo that speak english, said that i speak english with a mexican accent. haha it makes me laugh everytime i think of it. i have a feeling youre all going to make fun of me when i get home.
this week was a little bit harder, because we had lot of appointments fall that were important lessons with members present. but we did get many other lessons in. we had a few fhe lessons, and had a little success, but are hoping for much more in this week. we worked hard and had a lot of good success, but need to work on the other appointments so that they dont fall. we are also working out in the mornings at a near by park, and it has felt really good, but really tiring. after fasting, and working out in the morning, i about threw up, so luckily i didnt. we also made huevos a la mexicana this morning, and that was the best prepared breakfast that i have had in a long time. the stake president talked to me yesterday to plan and accompany us to a fhe this week with a family that he has chosen. its good to hear that he is interested in whats going on with the stake mission plan and wants to help. also yesterday we had a first presidency christmas fireside, and had a few investigators there. i dont know if they have it in utah, because i dont think that i ever saw one of those before, it was really good, but the transmittion is always a little sketchy.
it really is hard to think that it was that long ago when i started the mission, and i dont really remember you crying like you said sister day cried. haha but it has sure gone by quick. well mom, dont worry, after writing you last week, and getting to the district meeting, my package was there waiting for me! with all thirty two wonderful christmas cards in it, and what a suprise it was to find that book by elder oaks. that was a really nice gift, but the only problem is that in the mission we cant read those books, only the missionary library.... but i will keep up well reserved for when i get home. also the great pics of tara in the state championships. i was waiting for those! haha. well, i can actually call you at the time you want. the 25 we have changes, but i know that i am staying with elder sonntag, so if you want i can call at night, like 7 or 8 my time(because i dont know what time it is in utah).
well all is well here, and i just wanted you to please be praying for our invesigators, especially maritza and diana who might be baptized this week. thanks to all of you that wrote me a christmas letter in my package. it was very sweet, and i still need to finish reading the rest of them, but just know that you are thanked. well i have to go now. i love you all, and cant wait to see you on christmas, or hear from you soon!
elder facer

dedication

hey, im sorry about last week, it was crazy and complicated because it
was a national holiday and practically the whole city was shut down.
last week, we went to a group of pyramids called xochicalco
(socheecalco for all you gringos) and it was a blast! we got burnt a
little, but it was worth it. we took a ton of pics, and ill send some
today so you can post them. i feel bad that i havent sent pics in a
long time, i hope you at least had pics of me to see in my blog. last
week, we baptized german! our first week in the area, and we start
baptizing, it feels so good, and it builds the members trust to see us
get right to work. german was very excited and very well prepared.
sadly he didnt get confirmed, because his baptism was after the
services, and the bishop, after telling me that he would be confirmed,
changed his mind, so we will have to wait till next week. also we had
to talk in church, which i felt was very good and spiritual. in the
ward, the first councelor, ex mission president and ex seventy, pres.
gaona, congratulated me on my talk for being very sincere and simple,
and right to the point. that was fun to hear from someone like that.
and i think the ward is going to be great. in the last two weeks, we
have been able to meet a lot of the ward, and who the leaders are to
go work with them. we are starting the fhe thing and have had some
success, as well as more excitement from the leaders. i think this is
whats really going to get this ward going like it should. this week,
we finished the baptisms and confirmations of german and two of his
daughters: gina, and jenny. they are 10 and 8, but adorable! it was
so much fun to watch them giggling and bouncing in their chairs during
the baptismal service waiting to be baptized. everything went well,
and they were all confirmed, and german received the aaronic
priesthood! we are slowly moving along. luckily german has been well
accepted into the ward, and even if he wasnt, he would keep going. he
is very independant, and is dedicated when he wants to be, so he is
doing really good, and happy to give a good example to his daughters.
the ward is pretty good to accept and welcome new people. this last
week, we had 7 in church, and almost all of them saw someone they knew
and felt really happy to be there. we have been receiving a lot of
references this last week of people that are ready to be taught.
sadly they have had to go through many hard times to get there, but
they are finally there! yesenia is one of them. we found her
saturday, because she is the neighbor of a member, and he is way cool,
even went to church. she had a hard marriage, where her husband beat
her, and didnt help at all with the kids, etc. jsut hard, but she is
so excited to start praying and talking to christ for the comfort.
this week we will challenge her for baptism for the 17 of december.
please be praying for her, and also that she can find work. we have
found a lot of dry members(investigators with years of going to
church, but never getting baptized) that we found this week, and seem
like they could top it off. one of my best converts, sonia in
acapulco, was a dry member that felt the spirit and changed
immediatly. they are luis, minerva, and margarita. we also found a
super golden family this week, thanks to the zone leaders, they are
the mom, reyna, and her two daughters that are listening to us,
maritza and diana. so great! reyna also needs your prayers to stop
smoking, and she is working hard. they all went to church twice and
are progressing for baptism of the 10th!
elder sonntag is doing really well, and we havent really had any
arguments or problems, we just need to get better on teaching a little
quicker, which comes with speaking better spanish. he has had some
stomach problems since the time he entered in the mtc, and this last
week we went to the doctors to see what was up, we did a few tests,
and will see probably this week the results. he is really excited,
and very dedicated to working hard. while he was in the doctors
office with hna. spannaus, me and president got to talk about the
area, comps, and future plans. when adam miller goes over, pres tells
him hi. he explained a few concepts of the importance to study and
get a good education first, and then work hard. i have been trying to
prepare myself to study hard, now, so i can go back and be diligent.
i ask for your prayers, in this time as i try to find what i desire,
and what i dont desire. thats what president explained that i have to
do to find out what i want to study. so lets see how it goes! if you
have any suggestions, im completely open. haha.
mom, what you mentioned about grandpa brig mitchell, you know, its not
the first time i have thought about that. i have read helaman 5:6 a
few times, and i always think to when you named me brigham in his
behalf. its touching, as well as being words of caution. i know who
i need to live up to, and what my name is, or who my name is. it
really makes me want to be better, and try so much harder to leave it
all on the field! i have been working so hard to stay focused, and i
actually dont think about home that much. when it comes, i quickly
change my thought, and get focused again. thank goodness for short
memory. haha! just kidding. i really do love the missionary work, and
am so grateful to be here. i hope that i can do all that the lord is
expecting of me in this, my last area, and with elder sonntag, who
might be my last companion. its intersting to be in this position, to
be one of the older guys, or leaders of the mission. all is going
well, and im still working hard, and i will until the very last day of
the mission. thanks for the quote by elder holland. cant wait of the
package!
love you all, and thank you for your support and prayers. thank you
all who have helped be get to where i am, spiritually, emotionally,
physically, and financially. thanks maryjo and sharon and emily for
your help. it really means a ton. i really do love you all, and i
thank you for what you have done to get me here. take good care, and
we will talk next week.

Come What May, and Love It

well, i guess i will start out letting you know about changes. elder solomon stays in atzingo with an elder that has about 15 months in the mission and i got changed to the area on the side of atzingo, one of the biggest in the entire mission, called la pradera. i am with a missionary that has 5 months in the mission, and has just completed his training. he is from holiday utah, and his name is elder sonntag.
he is like 6 foot 4, and likes to rock climb! haha. i barely know him, but he started in acapulco, right when i left, and had a really good trainer. i am really excited to be with him, and during the week, we will take a picture and ill send it to you.
well we finally baptized and CONFIRMED someone. it was mariana, the fiancee of our old ward mission leader luis. she was great, and passed her interview with flying colors. in her baptism, there were only eight people, all that she wanted. her, luis, elder solomon and i, her future in laws, and her close friends, adan and mayela. elder solomon and i sang a song of oh my father, first verse to the original tune, the second, i sang the original and he sang it to the tune of come thou fount of every blessing, and the third was a melody of come thou fount. it was really cool, and we were commented on our song.
later, she was confirmed on sunday and it was really good! yesterday was the first time i had ever blessed the sacrament in spanish, i will admit, i was a little nervous, but tried hard to be slow and emphasize it differently than everyone else. it was nice. the funny thing was i really didnt have to say goodbye to anyone, because we well share the same church building, and i will continue to see them all. the only hard thing was that we had to get to know the area of pradera, because its huge! we are going to open it, and we didnt know anything about it or where we lived etc.....
we tried to work hard this week, but it just didnt work how we hoped it would, to be able to find 25 people . we worked hard and had some success, but we jsut couldnt find some people we wanted, or really get ahold of guillermo again. so im sad to have to leave some things undone, but what else can i do... just keep a smile on and keep working so that i can have the spirit and work hard. appearantly there are a few possible baptisms this week that the sisters left us, so we will see if we can get the members to help us get around and start to know the area.
well i ask for your prayers, to help us be guided by the spirit in this new and huge area. pray for baptisms this week for us, and as well as joseph, he said they could baptize 5!im proud of him. its rough, and he said he might have a tough companion, from guerrero, but im excited for him. baptizing is what keeps a companionship happy and funcional. love you all, and thanks for writing. take good care.
elder facer

Fasting brings miracles

wow, well i dont know where to start. i have had an incredible week,
and as i can hear, so have all of you! alyssa is having good progress
on her finger, all of my nieces and nephews are wonderful and growing
super quickly, and everyone else is working hard to complete with
their family responsibilities and the lords. that makes me so happy
and proud to have been born into this family that has been growing and
learning for over 5 generations in the church! its humbling and so
spiritual to see how the lord has decided to bless me with my
situations and trials. congratulations to tara for being nominated to
be a leader for your team! its a big responsability, but as you pray
for love for your team, and how best to guide them, they will all
follow you and respect you. its cool to see you recognizing your
attributes and trying to apply them. also it was good to hear from
joseph this week. he is doing good, and is happy to be in the work.
thanks scott for your letter, and emily, alyssa, betsy, and shauna.
it really does my heart so good to see all the support that i have, in
the hard and good times of the work. thanks also to bishop williams
for his letter and inspiring words.
well, this week, we worked hard, and really tried to stay focused on
working and having a lot of appointments. we did! and because of
that, we had a huge blessing which i am going to talk about later in
the letter. haha so you will have to wait.
elder solomon and i have been working on our teaching style to learn
how to be better united. chapter ten of pmg is amazing for our
teaching abilities and has changed the way i teach. elder snyder was
very smart to start me off with that and i have tried to finish it off
with elder solomon. we also had a wonderful zone conference that
talked about it. i cant remember if i told you that we are having
zone conference this week, its wierd not being zone leader and hearing
about all this stuff a month before, now i only hear about it a week
or two before. i was incredibly impacted by the conference this time.
usually president repeated the conferences from last year, so i went
thinking i knew what he was going to talk about, but i was made
humble, and was taught a ton! the spirit was definately there, and
taught us what we needed to change, and how to better ourselves in the
lords work. president asked us three questions at the end that really
impacted me they were: how will i know if i love the lord? how will i
know if i am his true disciple? how will i know if i know the lord? we
had to answer them with straight scriptures and were taught a lot. we
need to keep the commandments and serve our fellow man to really
answer those questions. it taught me what i need to do and how i am
doing in my spiritual progress. then hermana spannaus talked about our
desires from elder oaks talk in conference of may. she brought out a
lot of good quotes and points, and taught me how to have righteous
desires that will make me a better servant of the lord, and help those
around me. she gave examples in the book of mormon of missionaries
and captain moroni. it was cool the planning and preparation that
each of them had to receive the help of the lord, as well as their
faith that the lord would work miracles in their lives.
now i will talk about our miracle. saturday we started our fast and
decided to fast that the investigators we had would go to church,
because that is a stastistic that we are really lacking right now in
all the mission, i imagine in all the world. so we worked really hard
for them to teach them the importance of church and the sacrament, and
had to respect the agency of a few people, but as sunday morning
approached, we started working even harder and had a prayer in our
hearts for the investigators. we went looking for them for about
1-1/2 hours and a lot of people told us that they were going to go,
and most of them went. saturday night we taught a family that some
inactive members had given us, and the inactives and their referral
went, and three families we went to also went! in the end we had 13
investigators in church! a super miracle, i think its the most in
sacrament meeting ive ever had. so we knelt down and thanked the lord
for his merciful hand and for allowing these, his children, to
progress at this time. i know the hardest sacrifices we give to the
lord, results in wonderful blessings, but when he gives them. i was
very humbled and touched to see how the lord is still working in such
a hard area for us. there are no bad areas in the mission, they all
have been blessed by the lord to be ready to be harvested! i know
its true, and now i dont really want to leave the area! there is so
much work to be done here. the members were really excited to see
our work, and alot wanted to help and offered it in this next week!
this is the lords work. i feel it so deep within my heart, and i know
he is the good shepard. he directs this work, and knows us personally
and what we need to keep going. i love him, and am now working to get
to know him better.
by the way rosy, from acapulco says hi, and as well as emmanuel, elder
snyders convert who went for his endowments last weekend! so great.
by the way, by the way, we usually dont do much in church, its a
ward, and we teach gospel principles class and help in priesthood. we
have two decent organists from the ward, so neither of us play, but
maybe in a baptism. speaking of baptisms, mariana will be baptized
this week, she is the future wife of or ex ward mission leader and is
super prepared. she is way excited, and we made her program last
night
love you all! thanks for your prayers and love. its great to hear
from you all, and that all is well, i cant wait to see you in 7 weeks
for christmas, but im not waiting too much on it, because there are
more details during with our investigators. have a wonderful week! i
love you all
elder facer

Guillermo's Baptism (and a quick smoke out of habit)

good afternoon family!
well all is going well here in atzingo. we had a very quick week,
because we were booked with appointments all week all day long, so it
didnt leave us with much time to contact or find new investigators,
but i have finally found out why it is so important to use the
members! we went to a sisters house that has been looking pretty
excited has helped out a little, but never really had any
responsabilities in the missionary work. we visited her andher son
with his wife and talked to them about inviting some friends over to a
family home evening. they gave us some names, and we all prayed for
who of their friends could be good to invite and start the lessons.
they felt a few names in particular and went to invite them. on
friday we had the fhe and 15 of their friends showed up, many were
whole famliies! it was a decent lesson, but the best part is that
everyone had a good time and was pretty willing to hear more later!
so even though we didnt go looking that much, we had a big success
there and will start looking into these famliies this week. it was
nice because the sister´s sons are inactive and they were all there
for the fhe. what elder ballard said is true and has been put to use
a little now. we have tried it with two member families and we have
started to work our way out. its going good. just like joseph said,
if we loose ourselves in the lords work, and let him change our
attitude, it makes the difference.
i was also glad to hear that mom and dad had a wonderful conference
and really felt the spirit. i hope to visit you in mexico soon
enough! haha. we will all just start speaking spanish in the house so
you learn quicker. im glad that you are considering it. i have
already made the decision with for my future wife that we will serve
at least one mission for the lord as a couple. so i have started
thinking about jobs, family, school etc for the future and president
spannaus said to wait to think about it till i have 2 months left,
then we will set goals and start thinking. i hope that we all can
think like mom and dad to prepare ourselves now and make the
preparations to serve when the time is right.
well this week, we struggled for guillermos baptism, and finally got
him baptized! we were with him almost everyday in the week, except
for friday, because he had a soccer game with friends. so after the
fhe, we stopped by his field to watch, but the game was already over,
and to our shock, we found him with a cigarrette in his hand....... we
were devastated, and went to talk to him. we organized an appointment
for the next morning after playing soccer with the ward to talk. he
went to play and meet some members, then we talked aobut what
happened. he mentioned that his brother asked him to hold the
cigarrette and withou thinking, lifted it up to his mouth and smoked,
as an old habit, then after the first smoke we called his name. we
told him to repent and not get up until he felt forgiven of the lord.
after talking with him, we called presidete spannaus for his counsel
and he pretty much tlaked us through the situation and left the
decision up to us, so we tlaked and realized that he is ready for his
baptism. the service went well, just that there were only 4 members
there, and his family that was invited. but it was a good service.
sadly he disappeared and we couldnt get ahold of him for his
confirmation yesterday, even though he knew the importance of
completing his baptism. so we will confirm him next week, and the
week afterthat, the week of changes, we might have three baptisms, but
one for sure, mariana! all is well now hat the area is progressing,
an we are finding more membe help. all is well with elder solomon,
just that we are trying to change his speach habits. he says um more
that i ever have in my life, so be thankful mom that i wasnt so bad,
haha just kidding. its also hard for me to have patience with him now
that i have taken it out of my speach, but we are getting better.
all is well in zion, and mom, i will take in notice your advice to ask
for, and look for the miracles that the lord is putting everyday in my
life. i need to be more willing to stop on the streets sometimes and
talk to someone than i have been doing. so i will rmember that. i
also read an incredible talk by elder maxwell yesterday called
consecrate thine actions, from december 2008, i think. it was very
inspiring, and taught me how to better dedicate myslef to the lord,
and give him my agency as i have covenanted that i would. so it was a
very good reminder.
thanks for your support and love and prayers, it was so good to hear
from you all. love you, and im also praying for you!
elder facer

An email from Hno. Stocking

Hola Elderes de Mexico!
It's been a while since i have written you all! Well, things are going well for me. No going to lie, these last few months have been such a big test for me. I moved from Provo to Knoxville Tennessee in August. I am pursuing a PhD in psychology. There are many times where I question myself and what I am doing, but I know I have my Heavenly Father to help me along the way. He has humbled me so much here. but in the end I have realized it has been so I could put my full trust in Him and my brother Jesus Christ. That realization hasn't come without some doubt. With out some kicking and screaming. And with out some serious one and ones with my Heavenly Father. It's a constant battle everyday for a piece of Heaven. I am so proud of you all for all you have gone through and done to serve the Lord. Keep up the great work.
About six months before leaving for grad school, I met my sweetheart. He name is Helena. She is half greek, half brazilian. She was born in Brazil, but raised in Miami Florida. She and I will be married the 17th of December this year in the Orlando Temple. I am so excited! Having her in my life has changed it for the best. Seek to have it, boys but by no means rush it:) I love you all so very much. I am now almost fluent in Portuguese! Boy that was a hard process to get use to. It made me appreciate the good ol MTC days and struggle of learning a language. I look forward to hearing from a few of you soon as your mission will shortly becoming to a conclusion!
Con amor,
Ben Stocking
509 987 2432

Overwhelmed from pork brains...?

a common breakfast, or bruch meal. chilaquiles y huevo

wow, i feel overwhelmed with all that is going on in the house!
congratulations to tara, for winning state, and for having good
progress with physical therapy. also to joseph for having a great
week. scott and alicia for having two adorable kids in front of the
temple, thanks mom, that was gorgeous! haha. also alyssa and manuel
for a sweet baby that is starting to walk! to mom and dad for
following the spirit and inviting barbara to act and always being
there for someone who needs you.
well, we have had a good week, with some good progress, and some
disappointments, but we just wont worry too much about those. this
week i have to start off saying that we ate pork brain tacos! haha it
was pretty wierd to know what i was eating, but it was fine, kinda a
green and white color... haha! we were trying to work with an
inactive family who needs to return to church because a lot is going
bad for them. we are trying to help them, but they just cant organize
themselves good enough to give us a half hour. we ate the tacos with
them. this week we also had stake conference with elder delgado of
the seventy. he seemed very serious, but did very well on his talks.
he also organized a meeting with the recent converts and investigators
to teach them a little more about baptism. we talked about 2 nephi
31:17-20 and picked apart the scriptures. it was nice, because it
wasnt so much to bash on other churches or teach that we are right,
but just teach what the book of mormon is. during the conference, the
speakers talked a lot on prayer and the book of mormon. it went
really good, and i really felt the spirit. sadly guillermo didnt go,
and i will talk more about him later.
we picked up a lot more investigators this week, because we decided to
go back to a few old investigators and see how they are doing, and
they accepted us well and look like they could progress. we are also
trying to work with the members as much as we can to get them to
invite their friends and family to a family night and be able to teach
them. we are moving slowly but surely with that.
well guillermo still didnt get baptized because of the conference.
the only day that he had free was saturday and in the afternoon, but
all the leaders taht had to be in the baptism couldnt make it because
of the conference, so we had to postpone it a little, we will try to
do it the quickest we can next week just so we dont give satan as much
time to work with him. we are also going to try to work with his wife
aby and maybe his sister in law noemi to get them baptizd on the same
day.
sorry its just that i dont have a ton of time today, because im trying
to send pictures also, so i will have to end it here now, we will be
having zone conference in these next two weeks, so ill be giving
details on that. we need to prepare by reading the living christ, and
the activity on page 133 of preach my gospel. sorry thats in spanish
haha. the activity is at the end of chapter six about christlike
attributes and how we feel we are doing. i recommend it for a fhe.
well, keep praying for guillermo, abigail, noemi, laura, and mariana.
lets pray for a big miracle so that they all can be baptized this
week! thanks for your love and support, i love hearing from you all,
and i know that the lord is guiding your steps and every moment in the
day. trust in him as joseph has done, and let him mold you as i am
also trying to be humble and let him continue to change me. have a
great week!
elder facer