Happy happy Brigham :)

Elder Miller and Brigham
i just want to start off and say that i am a very happy elder right now! :) we had a wonderful week! elder adam miller has incredible faith and a ton of practice, so he got here and we got to work. he is a lot taller than i am ( 6 foot 1) so i was really tired this week running with him every where. he is obedient, direct in teaching, and very loving. i have noticed his humility, with not bragging about his great baseball status to anyone this week. he has been a good example, and has taught me a lot in our daily study we do. we plan to baptize 20 in his last two changes together here, and are going to work our tails off with lots of faith and humility to do it! we are on that track by finding 25 new investigators, and challenged almost all of them to baptism in the first lesson. it was great. every minute we werent teaching, we were finding, or drinking water in the shade. this last week has been super hot, and they say that when it gets really hot, the rain is about to come. so we are expecting it in a week or two. but until then, suffering in the heat.... we found a house to put the two other elders in for just this week, then for a time of their proselyting, they had to go talk to their bishop to get another house arranged in their area. before there werent missionaries, because the mission hasnt had as many missionaries in the last 8 months. but now a lot more are in line to be coming, so president is opening new areas. the sisters are... there...i understand that its a new area, but they only found 1 new investigator, and that was all their dats for the whole week... but hopefully they will improve. they are both fairly new in the mission, so they will need a little more experience and training, but they have a good, new district leader. i was actually pretty shocked with easter in mexico... the only thing that people worry about is semana santa (the holy week) but it is once again just another excuse to drink and have a party to many of the catholics. also a few other religions participate, to drink some more... in our ward, it wasnt too focused on easter for the classes, but the bishop and his two counselors talked on repentance, and the atonement. in the night, yesterday, there was a play that we watched about the birth and resurrection of the savior on tv. i hear that it was throughout all mexico. it was really good actually, but long. 2 hours. after that, we had an incredible lesson with a member and her non member family, that are progresssing so fast. we only started teaching them on saturday, but they had a ton of questions, and they prayed and recieved answers to their prayers, well at least the two of the three that we talked to, and are really excited about getting ready for baptism. im sorry to hear about the missionaries in your area, its really hard to support the missionary work, especially if you cant trust to give them references... dont worry, we are definately not like that. but speaking of that, yesterday we ate with a convert of 15 years, still strong, and she was sitting at the table while we were eating, and chatting on her new facebook with friends from middle school. she barely listened to a conversation and when her husband got home, she ran to put the computer in her room, because her husband doesnt like her on it for so long. for a good reason! we were both a little offended a that. but its ok. im happy for joseph to keep his scholarship, and also getting a suit! i dont know if i told you, but i also bought one last week, and had to take out a little money. the last trip we took to zone leader council, i ripped them in the bus.. joseph, i also learned where scott got the name chepe. it is the nickname for anyone who has the name josefina. haha.( ex: jesus=chucho, jose=pepe etc). all is well here, but my time is now up, and i have to go. but that you all for your letters and love and support. also thanks anna rees for your letter! i love you and your family too! have a wonderful week.
elder facer

sonia and lalo
our zone
magali, jorge, cristian and hermano jose luis(mission leader)

Happy, happy Brigham

good afternoon to all. today is a very happy, and stressful day. happy, because last week we ended up baptizing 4 wonderful people, and stressful for changes and opening areas.... ill soon explain the both. last week, we realized that we were going to be baptizing, so we really tried to dedicate our time to finding a lot more new investigators, but it was really hard. we ended up only finding about 6, which was our goal, but many of them will probably fall. as we talked to magali and jorge on wednesday night, the night before their baptism, we talked them through it, and watched the 20 minute restoration video, and the little girl cristian asked if she could be baptized too. she has been in all of the appointments with them, has also stopped drinking coffee, but hasnt been to church yet. so we called president spannaus, and we talked to him about the situation, and he said yes we should baptize her! so thursday we baptized the three of them, and it was a great service, it was pretty full, and great participation. i baptized jorge, and elder zazueta baptized cristian and magali. we also did a special musical number of oh my father with the music of come thou fount of every blessing, and i think it went well. that night, a sister in the ward gave me a hammock. i had talked to her about getting me one about a month ago, and without even talking to her, she jsut showed up and had it for me. she cut the price for me a lot also! so for the past 4 days, i have been sleeping soundly and comfortable in a new hammock.... ah! then friday president spannaus called us and said that he was going to take out the two elders in jardin b, and put in sister missionaries, and open jardin a for two elders.... he said we had to find a house for the elders and buy all the things they need. so friday we went on splits with the elders of jardin and went looking for a few hours, but with out luck. also the bishop of jardin was trying to help us, but its really hard to get ahold of him. to top it off, elder zazueta was going to leave for changes, and so the responsibility fell on me, because he didnt wnat to, or have to worry about it. in that night, we wnet with sonia, she was an eternal investigator, and we started teaching her and committed her to be baptized sunday morning before the services, and before her family left out of town for vacations. please tell elder snyder about her. he baptized sonias brother lalo a year ago, and finally she got baptized with us. they are the only two members in their family, but other missionaries in different areas and also we are going to keep working on the other members! also lalo is going to the temple on may 6th i think for his endowment with emmanuel guerrero! way exciting! sonia got baptized at 7 am before church at 830. there were also a ton of members from our ward, progreso, and also members from vista alegre. she has been constant in going to church, and the activities, so everyone knows her. magali and cristian and jorge were super sad that elder zazueta left to lazaro cardenas, michoacan, because just barely they got baptized, but its all ok. ill take care of them! haha. right now im still waiting for my new companion to get here, elder miller. he is the old byu baseball pitcher, and, i hear, a wonderful missionary in whom president trusts in alot. im super excited to work with him, but we still need t oget out and find a house for jardin a!!! i hope all is well, and im glad to hear from so many of you. thanks for your support and letters and info about home, it helps me stay strong and keep working. love you and take care
elder facer

ramons baptism
my last zone leader in chilpancingo elder luce from florida. he was probably my new best zone leader
this is our ward missionleader on the left, then me, christian below, jorge, magali and elder zazueta. they are getting baptized this week.
almost says my name

In the Heat of Things

wow a ton of questions... i hope i can get to them all, and no one gets mad if i accidently leave one out. first of all, everything is going really good! elder zazueta and i havent had many problems, and have been working a lot harder, the only problem is the heat now. its about 32 celcius or 90 farinheit with a ton of humidity. we really dont eat much, because the heat just takes the hunger away, but we drink a ton of water. sadly we only had one baptism this last week, and it was for ramon! he is so great, and is slowly gaining more and more friends in the church, and also they are slowly reaching out to help him. he went to all 5 sessions of conference, and every time pushing through his diabetes and swollen legs, gave a big toothy(well mostly toothy) grin of pure happiness. what a man. his baptism went really great, except that he got nervous and opened his mouth and swallowed some water. haha but once again, left the water laughing about it with that same grin. acapulco is dangerous, but we really havent had any problems in the zone. especially in my area, it is the calmest of all acapulco, everyday we see the paper in the street and there are about 10 dead people(grandmothers, parents children other drug dealers etc) it has gotten pretty bad, but we dont see anything thankfully. just as you said mom, if we are obedient to get home on time and not do what we shouldnt, the lord protects us, but president and hermana spannaus have asked us to tell the zone about preparing an emergency box, just in case of an earthquake etc. not because he feels it is coming, but because we have to be prepared, and if we are, we shall not fear. i thought it was interesting that in all the earthquakes in chile, japan, and haiti, not one missionary has been hurt or killed. you can tell everyone not to worry, the lord protects his missionaries.
well the reason i couldnt write last week was because of zone leader council that happens the first week of every month. to answer one question, we travel always by bus, which costs alot... but the mission resupplies us. this was my first real zlc, because other things happened the other two months, and they were special meetings. we talked about making splits better, and a time to teach and be taught, to uplift and edify. also we talked about the goals for each zone and how they look to complete them. we have a goal of 20 between 6 companionships. it looks pretty reasonable, especially because we had the same goal last month, and almost completed it. we dont do a whole lot of interaction with other missionaries, because we are supposed to work through the district leaders, and once in a while(once a month) we do splits with them. or more frequently if necessary for a baptismal interview. as of right now there are no sister missionaries in our zone, but when i first got here, there was a companionship. everyone is doing pretty well, are getting along.
by the way mom, because you mentioned about byu baseball. the pitcher (or ex pitcher) is here in the mission. i dont remember his first name, but his last name is miller. he is a greast missionary and a zone leader in cuernavaca. he could have gone pro, but decided not to because he wanted to go on a mission, and stayed at byu for a time. i still havent heard how josephs concert went last saturday, but im sure he did good. also i encourage him to read preach my gospel when finals are over, especially chapter 3,4, and 10. i have learned a ton from those, and they will really help you to be a powerful teacher and leader.
also speaking about leaders, i thoroughly enjoyed conference! especially elder oaks, elder christofferson, and elder holland. they were great! we had to hear a few sessions in spanish, and it is really hard to stay awake, becaue he puts absolutely no feeling into it. its hard to stay awake and get the good message. also i loved listening to president monson, i really felt like he was Gods messenger saying exactly what God wants us to hear. it was a cool feeling.
well sorry, my time is running out, and i still have to write president. ill try to get some pics in also. by the way there are changes next monday, so if i write late, or am not able to write dont worry, ill be alright, just that there wasnt enough time. love you all. happy birthday canyon!!!!!
elder facer

Not much of a letter this week...

hey sorry, im not going to be able to write this week and answer the questions, but ill be sure to answer them next week. right now we have to leave for cuernavaca and we were doing preparations in the morning, so i wasnt able to write. sorry... but ill be sure to put good details in about conference, leadership council, and the three baptisms we will have this thursday!! for magali, jorge, and ramon. i hope all is well for you all, thanks for your letters, support and love. btw, mom if you could tell dan snyder that aurelio from annenecuilco says hi and that his family is still good and active. i gave him elder snyders email that i have, and our home address to contact him also. thanks for everything love you all.
elder facer

the day of jon, luis and litzy´s baptism, a dog ripped my pants, but i sewed it up, and i got burnt.
baptism of esteffani
baptism of jon, luis and litzy with hna flor and her husband that helped us.
its very interesting that you wrote me about being a peacemaker in the last letter, because there have been a few big changes in our companionship this last week. for the better, thankfully. last monday, i wrote to president spannaus and told him what was going on, my feelings, and for advice. he was just going to write me, but decided he should talk to us both individually then together. i explained everything to him and he asked a lot of questions and gave a lot of advice. i told him my concerns about obedience, and the desire to have a good companionship, and he told me what i needed to do. and just like you told me mom, i needed to worry about my changes first, he told me the same thing. one advice you said in specific made me realize what my big error was. i wasnt being humble. you said that i should try to realize how god wants me to use my spiritual gifts and not how i think he wants me to use them. also that an obedient companion loves the lord more than being right. also e. zazueta had a few things contra-banned that i told president about, then we all talked together. he helped us put goals and line things up so that we could talk. we stayed in the house for a time talking and getting things better, then we also did it the same night. we talked about a lot, and why our companionship wasnt succeeding like it should, and what we needed to do to fix it. it went really well, and we have done a whole lot better in this last week! we found more new investigators and had some really good laughs and talks together.
this week, we were really busy and worried about preparing magali and jorge for their baptism this next thursday. they are both really excited, but need a little help keeping a few commandments, i ask for your prayers for them in specific, and that they pass their interviews. we taught them the commandments and realized their problems and explained to them why they had to stop in that moment, it took a little time for them to understand good, but they both accepted it, realizing that by accepting and keeping the commandments, they would grow closer to god and receive more help as a family. they are great, and really excited for their baptism, both elder zazueta and i will baptize one of them each. also jorge says he wants to be a missionary, so we will help him get a mentor and that the bishop watches out for him.
also we found a little old man named ramon who has one of the saddest stories i have ever heard. he has no family except for his little brother that is actually struggling for his life to live. his parents and other siblings have died. his other relatives dont have any care or concern for him, and he also is sick and has a disease in his feet. he is 59 and doesnt work and usually doesnt eat. last week, he just showed up in another ward wanting to get closer to god, and luckily we found him. he is extremely humble and does all that we have asked him to gain a testimony. i feel really sad to know that i cant help him much, except help him start on the path to salvation. which is a lot i can offer, but i wish there was more physically i could do also. he went to church again and loved it.
this week, i also started reading jesus the christ by james e. talmage, and have read about 57 pages to this point. i have really enjoyed it, and have been reading and applying the scriptures that he explains. one word that stuck out to me in specific is meekness. i realized that i havent looked at that word since my time with elder snyder, and am sad i didnt write down a good definition of it. if anyone could help me to understand it better with a definition or scriptures i would like the help. any way, not a whole lot is going on right now. we as a companionship completed our goal of 3 baptisms with an overall 5, but the zone fell short of the goal of 20 by only getting 15... that is the best that zone acapulco has been in almost 6 months, so we were happy, and have good feelings that we will complete it this next month. well thanks everyone for your help through your prayers. i really needed it, and i know that everything worked out much better because of your faith and dedication to help the lord in his work. thank you and may god bless you all.
ps. im super excited for general conference this next week, but its a little annoying that saturday is 10 am, 2pm, and 6pm, but sunday is 11am, and 3pm. i dont like the time change in utah... haha but whatever. it will still be great! love you all, all these blessings we have right now are from this time of season, the resurrection of jesus christ and his birth, the foundation of the church in this last dispensation, and other things that have happened on these dates. love you all.
elder facer