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