Come What May, and Love It

man, i think that the more away i am from home, and the closer i get
to getting home, is making everything a little more touching.
especially to hear about all the wonderful changes that are happening
at home. all of you give me so much faith and courage in the lord
jesus christ to keep going and push through our trials and experiences
to grow. its so wonderful to see that kids like canyon are going to
church in a white shirt and tie, memorizing their talks and really
starting to learn the gospel of jesus christ at only age four!! way to
go scott and alicia, your doing a great job. and im proud of your
example of how to raise a family in the gospel, as well as mom and
dad, cant leave them out. haha. ill return to why that impacted me in
a little, because we found a family this last week that needs this
family support in the gospel. also i love hearing about andrew and
savanna in their prime growing ages and what all is changing. they
seem like wonderful kids, and i cant wait to meet them, well andrew, anyway.
im also proud of tara for her fhe lesson, and being such an influence
on her team to keep going and give it all they can. im rootin for ya!
well, we have had a rough week, but it was a good rough week. we had
a lot of progress, but a lot of disappointments. but what can you do
about it. ever since i read the talk by elder wirthlin about come
what may and love it, over a year ago, i have frequently been reminded
of it to stay positive. at times its hard, and as elder ballard
mentioned here in civac, whenever i feel weighed down or that my
burden is heavy, i look at a painting of jesus on golgotha, or in the
mount of olives, and i dont feel weighed down anymore. i have little
by little tried to apply that and i have noticed that its real. last
monday night, we also had a fhe with a family that are neighbors to a
family of our ward that are really trying to work hard. adan, served
his mission in ogden, and his wife, mayela is a convert of 3 years,
she is a professional basketball player in mexico. this family is
new, and have had problems in past families, so adan invited them over
to read the family:a proclamation to the world and have a good time.
later we talked with the dad, ricardo, and he explained to us his
business and where he stands religiously. he is the president of a
business that he invented 22 years ago called WOSS world on security
systems. its a car protection system. he explained it all to us, and
its pretty cool how he came to make it. he has it functioning in 14
countries, and is slowly moving to all the world. he has studied
with a lot of other churches, but never felt good about any, and went
to scientology, but they didnt want him because he went outside of the
box, so he is interested in what we have to say, but is a little
closed. he playes soccer with us at church and is a fun guy, but
needs some prayers to allow the spirit to enter his heart. ricardo,
adriana, eva, and tina. we will talk to them this week, so we ask for
your prayers now.
we finally got guillermo to church yesterday, and he enjoyed it, but
was sad to recognize that about half the ward left after sacrament
meeting.... he will be baptized this week and we need your prayers for
abi, his wife. she has been doubting recently and needs help to accept
it and be baptized. but we are excited to finally be baptizing and
helping this new family receive the gospel. they need it, and are
excited to know what god expects of them. also we ask that you pray
for laura. its her time to be baptized also, and all she needs is a
little time to rest from moving her house, and be able to get her
baptismal interview!
we are slowly progressing, and trying to stay excited. thanks mom for
your advice on faith and prayers, i will apply it this week, and will
come back next week with a spiritual experience that i can share with
you all. i know that god loves us and desires to answer our prayers,
we just need to be humble and ask for his help and guidance, and be
patiently waiting.
thanks for writing back to rosy mom, she said that all went well on
her testimony, and that she had a wonderful time at the temple. i
love converts that can write home and tell about their conversion etc.
i hope that it means as much to you as it does to me that they are
gaining their own testimony and progressing in the gosple. well i
know it means a ton to you and dad, or else you wouldnt have sent us
out here to get our own testimonies and strengthen them.
i have to go now, but i will be waiting to hear from you all next
week! i love reading your letters, and it fills my heart to know that
the lord is blessing you all. i am praying for you all every day.
love you tons.
ps. hno. stocking, mtc teacher, after going to tennessee for his phd
in psychology now met his wife and they are going to be married on
dec. 17. he told us today.
elder facer

Looking for the fruits of the labor

well even though mom thinks that im so great at loving people, its
quite a struggle. but this time around, i try to realize that im
falling in the same traps that happened with elder zazueta, so i try
to prepare myself and avoid them. but man is it hard!!! i sure have
had some problems preparing myself to love more, because satan knows
how to pick at me and hit me at the small points. he works hard on me
by my companion, investigators, and the ward. the three things that
most influence me... sadly with me being meticulous(cant remember how
to spell it....) the little things out of place are getting to me. so
im asking for new ways to love my companion and serve him, have
patience with the members and investigators and keep the spirit.
well we didnt baptize estela, cecilia, or nohemi, because they are
hiding... we set their baptismal interview and they just didnt show
up. we talked to guillermo the next day, and he said they asked him
to tell us that they didnt want to keep going, because it will be hard
to complete............ so we need to talk with them this week to
staighten things up and challenge them again, or drop them..it depends
on the lords will now. memo(guillermo) and abi are still doing good,
except they didnt go to church yesterday, so we will have to wait
ANOTHER week to baptize them...we talked to them both, and they said
they would go, but in the end, had their cell turned off and we didnt
hear anything from them. but we will need all of your prayers for
laura. she has a baptismal date for the 22 of october, and might not
be in the state, and she feels its true, but wants to wait maybe. so
we need to help her understand that she is ready and move forward with
faith to be baptized this week. we need your help! haha.
other than that, we are slowly progressing, and are working hard. we
have had good appointments with some inactive members, and are working
with the ward council more to help us get to the right families that
will be able to return. so i think the fruits of our labors will
still be more in the future.. haha but thats just how it works
sometimes.
it was a blast to hear from all of you this week. bets, and em had
good family experiences, and it makes me remember how much fun our
family get togethers were. also alyssa got her job and dad and scott
and canyon went fishing! i sadly didnt hear from tara, but mom
informed me a little, and congrats on taking region! keep your head up
and keep working hard!
we had interviews with president this week, and also a small training
by the assistants to pres about the missions data of finding and
baptisms. so we talked good and left really excited to get out and
keep finding more investigators and sons and daughters of god that
need this message! he helped me understand something that i really
needed to hear that made me understand why god lets some things happen
the way they do, even after feeling inspired to do something. he told
me that god has me in his school of training, and that he is teaching
me how he must feel as a god when his children use their agency and
disobey. its something that we all have probably heard before, but
man, that time it really impacted me that god is preparing me for
something better. its hard to be patient, but its worth it.
my convert from acapulco, rosy is going to the temple this week with
the ysa to do baptisms for the dead and im way excited! she is also
trying hard in primary secretary and the primary program that they are
doing in two weeks! well sadly my time is up, and i need to get to
our district meeting. i hope that the fhe goes well tonight, and
please tell the oldroyds that i miss them and thank them for their
support in getting me out on the mission. im way excited for cameron,
as well as tanner! love you all, i hope that i put in good info...
love you
elder facer

Just Another Day--Happy and Excited to Work

well nothing here has changed. elder solomon and i will stay together for this next change, and we will be happy and excited to work. i was almost expecting a change, but as soon as i heard that i was staying, i felt a reassurance that this is where God wanted me to be. then hearing it in conference again, i was very calmed and positive that that is what he wanted.
well lets talk about conference. it was good to hear your thoughts and feelings about conference, especially those from lys. its hard to be focused when you have a kid going crazy, and its in a half-forgotten language(haha) but you were still able to feel the spirit and learn what the spirit had to say. thats the most important part, is being taught by the spirit. i was reading in the book of mormon today, and realized that alma after teaching the people of zarahemla for the first time, alma 5, in chapter 6 he reconverted and baptized many people. he did that because he followed the spirit and taught what the lord wanted him to say in the exact moment that it was needed to be said. i feel like the leaders of the church, and us, as missionaries, really need that. that is why we plan and organize ourselves to be prepared to have the spirit. i really like elder bednars talk of how the lord is completing with his ancient promises for us in these latter days. as well as elder ballards talk on who we really are as members of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints. also it was fun to see matt richardson talk, even though he looked a little nervous haha. but it was a really good talk. sadly we only had three investigators that went, but they walked away feeling really good, and enjoying it a lot. they were memo, abi, and mariana. they all will probably be baptized in this month!
we had a good week, and found an inactive lady that had many problems with the church about 2 years ago. she had asked for her records to be removed from the church, because she felt like she could never return. she is way sweet, and was excited about the church, but for not completing for so long, has lost that energy and excitement. i wanted to mention her, because this is something that happens so frequently, and it can be so destructive. but it is something that happens between most of the good and solid members. its something that president spannaus has talked about to really warn us of the destructiveness of our tongue and how to take care of it. james 5.
this poor lady went inactive becasue of some gossipping that went in between the members and really attacked her. there were rumors of her liking a missionary(she is 40 with two kids and her husband) and she denied it, nothing actually happened. she tried to stay at church and keep going, but every time she went, she didnt feel welcome, because the members had such rancor and hate in their hearts from the gossip that was passed around many years ago. the members dont want to hear about her, and she doesnt want to hear about them, but she tells us that she wants to be in the true church of christ, but just cant. so we are working with her below president spannaus´ direction, and we ask for your prayers for her and our other investigators. she is ariadne, sara, guillermo, abigail, estela, cecilia, nohemi, nohemi perez, and laura.
we have been working hard, and are staying as focused as we are allowed as 20 yr old boys, but we are doing well. i love you all, and was grateful to hear that all is well at home with work, school, family, surgeries etc. i will be praying for gma and gpa sumner, in this time, as well as gpa facer. i hope all is well, and that you are seeing the blessings of the lord everyday and being grateful. love you!
elder facer

Life is not all about Tara

well, i was pretty sad to hear about taras injury, and the pictures,
but... as you have explained: we need to trust in god and look for his
ways and not ours and accept them. keep going hard tara! echele
ganas! well i would also like to hear what else is going on at home,
all these last 2 weeks, i was praying for lys and her work, mom and
her work but i still havent heard anything about either of them. just
tara, tara, tara. jaja. i heard from betsy, and maryjo today, and
that was good to hear how ALL of their family is doing, and not just
tara. lol jk. also i heard from robert, dane, and sterling this week
and wrote them today(high school friends) and they are doing great.
rob is at a year in the mission, dane has 9 months, and ster is at 6
months. its so wierd to think that from their example, i was the
first to leave. but it was way fun to hear from them in different
parts of the world.
well, this week, we found two inactive families that are willing to
listen to us, and we taught them a few times. but sadly they are
still pretty hesitant to go back to church. and i understand that,
we just need more patience with them and to be constantly there to
support them. i remember that the joy of helping an inactive member
return is just as wonderful as baptizing someone! it happened in
chilpancingo and we activated an entire family and baptized their
daughter on january 1. but we left two weeks later and i havent heard
anything from them. but i imagine they are still doing good. also i
ask for your support in prayers for the families, callejas matildes
and carvahall hernandez. they are two families from chilpo that could
be going to the temple in december, and i talked to their bishop at
the mission conference with elder ballard, and he is working with
them.
in the whole week, we didnt knock a single door to look for
investigators, because we are trying to dedicate our time to finding
inactive members, and work with them and the ward council. so it was
a challenge to find new investigators, but we walked out of the week
with 6. so i was pleased. again the ramirez family didnt go to
church, but they promised for next week, and are still talking about
baptism, so we will keep having faith and waiting for them to be
ready. elder jensen in the conference talked about how some people
are ready to change in 3 weeks, others in 3 months, and others in 6
months..... but thats just how god has made if for his children, so we
just have to wait until the ramirez family is ready and be there to
help them. we also found another family who were a referral from the
ramirez family that turned out pretty good, the problem is that they
are way busy and its hard to get them more than one or two times in a
week... but its ok, they seem really excited and ready for a change.
they are dolores, lidia, luvia, raquel, and lupe.
i have been reading a little of the book of mormon and am just about
to finish mosiah, and i also finished genesis yesterday, so i was
pretty excited to see some progression in the pages of the never
ending bible haha. i love the story and promises that the lord made
to abraham and his posterity, and to look for the fullfilment of those
blessings now a day in the people we teach. it really is true, and
the lord never forgets his covenants with us. elder solomon and i
have been well, he is hoping that we stay together till i go home, but
i dont think it will happen. as you have heard from joseph, transfers
are happening next week, so we will see what happens. well my time
is short, and we need to get to the district meeting, so i will talk
to you all later, with a good report on investigators, and personal
progression next week after conference. may god bless you all! youre in
my prayers and i love you
elder facer

Waiting for the labors to grow to fruit

well dont we always wish the blessings came immediately. i was just thinking about how many of you that wrote, emily, betsy, alyssa, tara,mom that said they were praying for us, but the trials just dont stop coming and the blessings are a little rough to recognize. they are definately there, but we have to look for them closely. thanks for praying for our investigators, because they are doing well, except they needed to go to church yesterday to be able to complete with their requirements for baptism this weekend, but didnt. the pictures are about the wedding of abigail and guillermo (memo is what he goes by)because that went really well. they have been doing really good.
well, this week we have been trying to work a lot more with the ward leaders and less active members, but it didnt really work out as we planned. we did, on the bright side, find a family that has been inacitve for the last 12 years, and their two kids arent baptized. but sadly we didnt get back intime from the wedding to see them before sunday, so we will talk to them this week. i think im getting a
little impatient again, and need to wait for our labors to grow into fruit. D&C 6:34. this week we will be working a little more with the ward council to be teaching them the message of the restoration and about missionary work to show them how excited we are to be working here. so we will start putting the other side of work that elder ballard talked about and try to combine the two. abi and memo and their family have been doing super great! they have dropped coffee completely, and within a week, they have received all the lessons, and are way excited about baptism. but the only problem is that the mom, estela, and the youngest daughter, nohemi, are the only ones of the 5(estela, abi, memo, cecilia, and nohemi) that are ready for baptism for this week, because the rest havent been to church enough times to be baptized, so we will have to wait..... but we still might baptize estela and nohemi, because they really wanted it. on saturday, we went to a town outside of taxco(tasco), Guerrero called san miguel acuitlapán. taxco is famous for its silver. We actually did everything really quick, but we had to get up at 4:30am to be there with the other couples from other areas on time at the offices. the secretaries drove us there, and we did two marriages in less than 2 hours, and only 900 pesos. pretty cheap for other weddings around here. haha.
elder solomon and i have been going good. i am reading the book of mormon again to complete with presidents challenge to finish it by christmas and mark every reference to jesus christ. its been cool to see how much it really is ALL about him. im just starting mosiah right now. also im reading the old testament, and jesus the chirst(still for the first time, i have put it down a few times.... haha)
but all is going well. i need to go now to save time to send the pictures, but im happy that all is well at home, and that we are able to do hard things. mom, i wish you luck and ill be praying for you,as well as alyssa. well really im praying for you all! be good, and trust in the lord with all your heart. dont hold back anything. love you!
elder facer

Lessons from Elder Ballard

Mis queridos misioneros,

Qué maravillosa conferencia hemos tenido y qué privilegio fue poder escuchar, sentir y darle la mano a uno del quórum de los doce apóstoles del Señor, el Elder Ballard. Nunca olvidaremos este día histórico en nuestra misión y en nuestras vidas.

Me gustaría que compartan conmigo sus sentimientos y pensamientos al respecto. El lunes que viene les mandaré los míos. Les mando un abrazo, trabajen duro, tenemos que bautizar más, el mes de septiembre estamos muy bajos en bautismos, siento que nos hemos desenfocado un poco. Ahora, con toda esta fuerza espiritual que hemos recibido, vamos a hacer nuestra obra mejor y más constantemente.

Un fuerte abrazo, que el Señor los bendiga!

Presidente y Hermana Spannaus
Misión México Cuernavaca

well i dont know if anyone was waiting till next week to tell me, or
if you all forgot(not likely) but this saturday i complete 18 months
in the misison... wow. thats nuts, but i feel like it has been a good
year and a half. hopefully, as some of you may have noticed, i feel
like i have learned a lot, and been able to change a few things to
better myself and allow myself to be a better servant of the lord.
well im glad to hear about taras first varsity goal, and homecoming,
and modeling, andrews first birthday and his balloons, and savannas
water pops. haha. thanks a ton dad for the pics. they are super
great! congrats lys and manuel, scott and alicia for being great
parents. im so happy for your kids that they are growing and learning
more and more every day, especially about canyons talk and picture.
that was sweet. they are all getting so big. mom, ill tell elder
miller to stop in and introduce himself at least once. well i hope i
mentioned everything that was written. as usual, i will probably
forget something. well i have good news, and im not sure if i told
you all yet,but rosy, from acapulco, is now the primary secretary in
the ward and loving it! she wrote me to say that she is doing great,
and working hard. also i talked to my bishop from chilpancingo at the
mission conference, and he said that two of the families i baptized
are doing great, have callings, and are getting ready to take the
temple prep classes to be ready in december!!!!!!! so excited. i ask
you to pray for the families carvahall hernandez and callejas
matildes. they are so great.
well now on to our week. im not going to lie, it was a hard week. we
didnt have much success in lessons with member present, finding new
investigators, or getting people to church, and finally yesterday i
had the prompting of why. as i mentioned from before, i felt that the
lord wanted us to work with the members in this ward, and as we tried
to do the work on our own this last week, it just didnt fit into the
lords plans. so we made plans to change that and work with the elss
active members this time. also elder solomon got sick today. he as
what is called here {the double dragon. or in other words diahrrea
and vomit at the same time. it was from a vegtable soup, it gets all
the gringos. so he has had a rough day. he is doing a ton better
from when he got here, we are working hard, staying focused, and
trying to stay obedient and focus on our investigators. he is doing
really good.
on saturday we had our misson conference with elder ballard, elder jay
jensen, elder de hoyos, and elder gonzalez. friday afternoon,
president called me to ask a favor, and wanted me to take notes of the
conference for elder de hoyos, and elder gonzalez and him, if they
spake. also on the questions asked by misisonaries to elder ballard.
the reason for that was because those notes we took may be used in
the website of the liahona! also they took a lot of pictures, so be
watching for any updates, and if i get put in the liahona on the
internet, or in the magazine in the mexico section! the conference
was great, i didnt get to take a lot of personal notes, because of my
assignment, but it went well, and i learned alot. elder jensen talked
about the data he has received on the mission and misisonaries that
baptize the most converts and reviewed the nine points on how to
achieve it. ill send those later, i dont have my notebook. and elder
ballard talked about working hard and depending on the atonement of
christ to help us through the hard times when we are depressed or worn
down. he made a lot of old jokes about the ^young^ apostles, or the
ones below 80 years old, and how the work is hard for them and what
they do to stay strong. he also talked a ton about how to work with
members and use your ward council. so after he was done, i decided to
ask him a question of how to find more new investigators. president
asks us to have aobut 20-30 a week, and the entire mission is about at
15 maximum. he said that we need to work with the less active members
and find through them. at every single appointment we have, we need
to ask who they are oging to invite to our next appointment and that
we should be recieving two new member referrals a day! thats nuts
here, but if he says its possible, we need to get to work to do that.
there were a lot of other inspiring questions, but that one was
really deep, because he was looking at me and answering the question
for about 5 mins right in the eyes..... wow.. that was powerful. haha.
but with a lot of truth and feeling behind it.
well i ask that you keep praying for the big family, because tyhey are
keeping the other commitments, just not always with going to church.
we may have to go to taxco, iguala, guerrero to get abi and guillermo
married on saturday so please be praying for them. also estela,
cecilia, nohemi, josue, jesus, and diego. they really need yor help
to stop drinking coffee, and smoking-guillermo. thanks you all.
lovbe you tons, and we will be in touch! see you next week!
elder facer

Always the Positive

well i dont really know where to start because mom sure talked about a
lot, and there is a lot to say. i also didnt have enough time to read
josephs letter, because i ran out of time. but i will make time for a
good letter. well HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD, AND ANDREW! elder solomon says
happy birthday also. im sad to miss two very important birthdays, but
all is well, i hope you can forgive me haha. also congratulations to
tara for a wonderful soccer result. i actually had that same problem
tara, its not easy to get hit, but right now im playing with an
elder, elder udrizar, i played with him in chilpancingo, that is 6ft
3in and he plays really good. i am the only one that can really play
against him, and he beats me up. we play clean, but rough. dont worry
mom. so i have really had to stay strong and take some hits. but
stay strong, im praying for you here to be a big girl to get in a
fight haha jk. keep playing tough, and doing the little service
projects. that is what makes people open their hearts to us as
missionaries. if we arent serving, the whole area kinda shuts
down.... so we always have to be representatives of christ and go
about doing good. make it a part of your life, because that is what i
am learning life is about. service. also good luck for your first
date dance!!! im so excited. youll do great, just stay calm, and let
the night go, dont be too worried about it, or else it will be too
strict. just go, and have a great time! i hope to hear about it next
week! thats all for tara. canyon wrote me to say that he had a great
time fishing, and i wish that i could have been there freezing with
you guys. but my time will come. hope it tastes great! well, i dont
know if i need a package, but a few packaged sweets would be nice.
its fun to snack on something during study or planning, but not
completely necessary. so we have a lady in my ward that is from a
little pueblo in Hidalgo, a part of josephs mission, and she said the
food is really different from all of my mission. she said there are
some tamales that are about 5 feet long, and 2 feet wide that they
just cut up to feed a whole family or two! haha but we ate with her
last night, and she made us some food from hidalgo, and it was really
good. so good luck joseph! speaking of food, elder solomon and i ate
pig tongue tacos, ribs, head, and two other things that i still dont
know what it was. but it was good! and we didnt get sick! haha. it
was fun to try something new. i have tried almost all of the common
food here in my area, so it was interesting to get out of my
comfort zone.
we found a family of 9 this last week, and 4 of them went to church,
that is my big plea is that you pray for estela, abi, cecilia,
guillermo, nohemi, jesus, josue, and diego, and nancy. we have been
praying and fasting for a family to baptize in this month, and the
lord blessed us with a little more than we were hoping for, so we
really need your help to allow this wonderful and open family to
complete. they are excited, and abi already feels that it is true
after praying, so we need to help the rest of the family get there
too! we have few investigators progressing right now, but they are
doing ok. one is ataúlfo and he is husband to an inactive member and
her daughter, so we are working on them, and the other is the wife of
an inactive member, nohemi. so we are getting moving along, just need
to keep the ward excited and moving along with us. we have had some
members come with us to all of the investigators appointments, and it
has helped alot. elder solomon and i are doing good. just trying to
stay focused on our goals and getting better on spanish. it has been
fun training again, and seeing the mission from a newbies eyes.
well sadly its time to go, but im so happy to hear that everyone of
you is doing well, and that you all are trying hard to be on the lords
side. thats all that really matters in our entire life time, thats
why we are here in this probationary state, so lets do our best! love
you all so much, and i want you to know that youre in my prayers by
name, friends and family. love you all! saturday we have our
conference with elder ballard!!!!
elder facer