The cambios have come again, and with them come....change. I was in quite the situation last week. Whenever I thought of the cambios, I dreaded the change, but also looked forward to it. It´s hard to explain, I tried to explain it last week, but I think I failed to do so adequately. I would try again this week, but I know I´ll just waste time and energy only to fail again. Oh well. One of the changes that I wasn´t looking forward to was saying good-bye to my District Leader, Elder Steed.
This last week was surreal to see him leave. We had both gone to Alta together, but hadn´t really gotten to know each other very well because of difference in age, but I had known and been friends with his younger brother, Russell, and they look very similar to each other, so I recognized him instantly to be his brother. It was a great experience having him as a district leader these last two transfers. He basically was smiling every moment for those 12 weeks. I bet he even smiles when asleep! So it´s really weird to think that he´s right now on the airplane ride home. But I know that he served honorably and I´m very grateful for the opportunity that I had to get to know him here in the Mission.
But this was only of the changes that came. I´m going to receive another companion here in Plateros. So I get to stay here with the people I knew and got to love these last 3 and a half months....but I lose my companion (well, one of them, Manuel is basically the third Elder). Elder Childers is actually returning to the area he was in before he came to Plateros, but this time as District Leader. There, he is going to complete his mission. So my Stepfather(in the mission) is going to die(in the mission) in Camarones.(it´s a place, but it´s named after a shrimp---yeah, the fish in the ocean. Why? I have no idea. No one does.) [Basically I just used some lingo from the mission which sounds really weird in English, I imagine that it does in Spanish too, but all the elders that I talk to understand what I mean when I use it, so I don´t think it´s so weird. So if any of you don´t understand what I said, just skip that sentence because I was basically repeating myself in Mission lingo.]
So I´m going to receive Elder Gamez here in plateros. Once again, I´m going to have to teach him the area, but it´s okay, at least I´m not senior companion. Right now, I think that would be too much of a headache for me. I guess I haven´t learned all I could from this area, because I´ll be here another 6 weeks. That´s actually okay, what I was hoping for actually, because we were going to have a lot of baptisms this Sunday, but all but one fell through at the last minute.
The only one that got baptized was a member from a less-active family that had been baptized a year before. The bishop had given us this name because the daughter had been baptized a year before, but went to Canada the week after for 6 months without being confirmed. Elder Javier and I had worked hard in finding her, but she had been busy because she was preparing to be married. When she got married, she then went on a honeymoon, but these last two week she had returned again. When we finally had an appointment with her last week we explained that because it had been a long time since her baptism that she had to repeat the ordinance. She accepted the idea pretty easily, since she had already made the decision once. We then asked her when she would be baptized, and she asked if she could this sunday. We were like... "Ummm.....YEAH!" She got interviewed two days latter, and, even though she was a little sick, she came to church and got baptized after the services.
So yeah, I was a little sad that the other 6 baptisms that we had set for that date fell through, but during that one baptism, I forgot everything. I definitely need to work on the other 6 that weren´t able to. The Orea Zavaleta family, had to do a lot of paperwork with the house(which they are to inherit from Uriel´s grandmother who passed away recently), Carolina and Fernanda weren´t able to go because of a family commitment for their father´s birthday, and Guillermo and Socorro couldn´t get interviewed and didn´t go to church. So we had one baptism this week, but we still have a lot of work to do. I wonder how my companion is going to react when I tell him that we had 7 set for baptism this week and only one got baptized. He´s probably going think, "Oh, we have some work to do here." I think I´m still learning patience daily, and I´m learning a lot about the agency of others. We can only do so much, it´s their decision. But we´re going to work hard on having a lot of baptisms the next week....especially if the other family we challenged to baptism this last week follows through on their commitment.
Anyway, time is short. Thank you for the support. Please continue praying for me. I know it would be a mistake to say that I´m completely ready for what will come this cambio, because if I had already learned the lessons, why would I have to experience it again? Pray for me to learn and improve daily.
Cariños,
Elder Blackham
Showing posts with label Orea Zavaleta. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Orea Zavaleta. Show all posts
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Weekly Letter: July 27-August 2
Another week has gone by. I cannot believe that transfers are coming up again. This is the last week before transfers, and so I´m in a little spot. I don´t want to change. I love my companion, I love the people here, and I've still got a lot of work to do here. However, I realized last week how much time I have in this area, and I would like to get to know more of the city. It would be perfect if I could bring my companion and all the people here to another place in the city.
Anyway, I´m getting ahead of myself. It´s not my decision. It´s the Lord´s. It´s out of my hands, and all I can do is live in the here and now, and do the things that are in my hands, and leave the other things in the hands of the Lord. He knows what I need to do, and whatever that may be, I better do the best I can to do it.
This week could have gone better in many respects. We didn't have any of the 6 baptisms we had as a goal follow through yesterday. (Coincidentally, we now have 6 people with a date for next Sunday....I hope everything goes through) First of all, the family Orea Zavaleta was unable to get baptized this week, because they still have people in their house Reciting Prayers and all that stuff in respect of the death in their family, and they didn´t feel very comfortable leaving so many people in their house for about four and half hours(during all the services and then their baptismal service). However, they seem to be coping well with everything. I was able to talk to Uriel a little bit while my companion and I took a short walk with the two of them Saturday night. I does seem a little hurt, but he continues strong, and he still has a lot of desires to get baptized. So they told us that this next week they will be baptized.
Two other people were Carolina Ábrego and her daughter Fernanda. Carolina is the sister of Bety that has been in teaching almost as long as her sister, but didn´t seem to be going anywhere. They just liked having us around. When we committed them to be baptized last week, they looked at us like "Is that what you wanted this entire time?" So they weren´t certain. That is, until Bety got baptized last Sunday, Fernanda, upon hearing of her experience(they weren´t able to go to church that sunday) suddenly got lit up with desires to get baptized, Carolina was a little less sure, but she was also bolstered by the example of her sister. As much as hearing of the baptism of Bety bolstered their desires, going to the Visitor´s Center by the Temple multiplied about fifty times. We went Friday with Irene, Marisela, and the two of them (Mari Tere was going to come with her son, but they had commitments). Irene and Marisela enjoyed themselves a great deal, but had to leave after a couple hours due to problems with the little girls they brought along(their granddaughters.) Meanwhile, Carolina and Fernanda seemed aloof in respect of time, especially when they were looking at all the temples, and when they listened to a few short messages from President Monson. That night after everything, Carolina finally opened up and begged us to put her baptism for the next Sunday, and not for yesterday, because she wasn´t sure she could convince her husband. We told her to pray about it and to make her decision. Before we left, Fernanda whispered that she would convince Carolina to be baptized that Sunday. So both of them now have the desire, the only thing that impeded them was the fact that her husband was away in a trip for work until well after the services on Sunday, and she never got to talk to him. However, I don´t have doubts that they will get baptized.
The final two people is an elderly couple, whose nephew recently was baptized and confirmed in the ward in Santa Fe(it´s a Colonia in Mexico City, kind of like Plateros, Mixcoac, Tacubaya, or Puerta Grande). They only problem is they haven´t ever come to the ward in Plateros, but have gone to the ward in Santa Fe two or three times already. That said, I think that if they do go to Plateros this Sunday, that will be able to baptize them after the services. Both of them really wanted to get baptized this week, but had already agreed to go to the ward in Santa Fe, to watch their nephew bless the sacrament for the first time. The only thing I´m concerned about is that the Elders in Santa Fe(who are in our Zone), are going to try to steal them and baptize them there. But I don´t think it would make much sense, because the Elders were the ones that gave them to us as a referral, but who knows what could happen!
Anyway, so this week could have gone better, but I´ve got high hopes for this next week!
Thank you so much for the prayers and support!
Cariños,
Elder Blackham
Anyway, I´m getting ahead of myself. It´s not my decision. It´s the Lord´s. It´s out of my hands, and all I can do is live in the here and now, and do the things that are in my hands, and leave the other things in the hands of the Lord. He knows what I need to do, and whatever that may be, I better do the best I can to do it.
This week could have gone better in many respects. We didn't have any of the 6 baptisms we had as a goal follow through yesterday. (Coincidentally, we now have 6 people with a date for next Sunday....I hope everything goes through) First of all, the family Orea Zavaleta was unable to get baptized this week, because they still have people in their house Reciting Prayers and all that stuff in respect of the death in their family, and they didn´t feel very comfortable leaving so many people in their house for about four and half hours(during all the services and then their baptismal service). However, they seem to be coping well with everything. I was able to talk to Uriel a little bit while my companion and I took a short walk with the two of them Saturday night. I does seem a little hurt, but he continues strong, and he still has a lot of desires to get baptized. So they told us that this next week they will be baptized.
Two other people were Carolina Ábrego and her daughter Fernanda. Carolina is the sister of Bety that has been in teaching almost as long as her sister, but didn´t seem to be going anywhere. They just liked having us around. When we committed them to be baptized last week, they looked at us like "Is that what you wanted this entire time?" So they weren´t certain. That is, until Bety got baptized last Sunday, Fernanda, upon hearing of her experience(they weren´t able to go to church that sunday) suddenly got lit up with desires to get baptized, Carolina was a little less sure, but she was also bolstered by the example of her sister. As much as hearing of the baptism of Bety bolstered their desires, going to the Visitor´s Center by the Temple multiplied about fifty times. We went Friday with Irene, Marisela, and the two of them (Mari Tere was going to come with her son, but they had commitments). Irene and Marisela enjoyed themselves a great deal, but had to leave after a couple hours due to problems with the little girls they brought along(their granddaughters.) Meanwhile, Carolina and Fernanda seemed aloof in respect of time, especially when they were looking at all the temples, and when they listened to a few short messages from President Monson. That night after everything, Carolina finally opened up and begged us to put her baptism for the next Sunday, and not for yesterday, because she wasn´t sure she could convince her husband. We told her to pray about it and to make her decision. Before we left, Fernanda whispered that she would convince Carolina to be baptized that Sunday. So both of them now have the desire, the only thing that impeded them was the fact that her husband was away in a trip for work until well after the services on Sunday, and she never got to talk to him. However, I don´t have doubts that they will get baptized.
The final two people is an elderly couple, whose nephew recently was baptized and confirmed in the ward in Santa Fe(it´s a Colonia in Mexico City, kind of like Plateros, Mixcoac, Tacubaya, or Puerta Grande). They only problem is they haven´t ever come to the ward in Plateros, but have gone to the ward in Santa Fe two or three times already. That said, I think that if they do go to Plateros this Sunday, that will be able to baptize them after the services. Both of them really wanted to get baptized this week, but had already agreed to go to the ward in Santa Fe, to watch their nephew bless the sacrament for the first time. The only thing I´m concerned about is that the Elders in Santa Fe(who are in our Zone), are going to try to steal them and baptize them there. But I don´t think it would make much sense, because the Elders were the ones that gave them to us as a referral, but who knows what could happen!
Anyway, so this week could have gone better, but I´ve got high hopes for this next week!
Thank you so much for the prayers and support!
Cariños,
Elder Blackham
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Weekly Letter: July 20-26, 2010
Another week, eh? I´m not sure what happened. It has gone by so fast, but at the same time we have done so much this week. We were able to have our first Zone conference with the new Mission president. I really enjoy learning and working with him. He is very loving and expresses it well. We had a chance, Elder Childers and I, to talk to him a little. He first asked how much time we had in the mission. Childers told him about 22 months, and I told him 5. He laughed and told us that he had 3 weeks. It´s interesting that his approach is different from the other president. He told us that we should count the days of our mission. We were like "huh?" I thought it would make us trunky, but he clarified saying. "I´m counting the days of my mission....every. single. one." How true this is. Everyday is a gift, especially in this work, and if we don´t make every one count, we really aren´t treasuring the gift we have. I still haven´t been able to do this, but I´m working on it. It´s hard to think that I´ve already got 5 months, almost a quarter of my mission already under my belt. And what have I done? Not enough.
That being said, we had a pretty good week. The highlights were the two baptismal services we had on Saturday and Sunday. Marisela Valdés got baptized on Saturday. The service was very beautiful, but the only thing that I regret is that there wasn´t a lot of people, I think, due to the rain. However, her testimony was sweet and we all had a special moment with her that day.
She was then confirmed yesterday in the services. After that, Bety Ábrego was baptized after the services! She was able to finally convince her family to let her get baptized. It was a marvelous experience. We had challenged her to get baptized that thursday, but on friday, when we visited her, she hadn´t still talked to her family. I thought that this was going to be a challenge for her, especially with her husband, so I didn´t have a lot of faith. What´s more, I felt really bad in the stomach that morning and we were late to church. However, I now have a testimony of the power of priesthood blessings. Manuel Piña and my companion Elder Childers were able to give me one before the services. In Manuel´s spoken blessing (his first time giving one), he gave me the promise that I would be able to accomplish all that I needed to do and keep the sabbath day holy. This was before I knew that Bety was going to ask me to baptize her.
So, during the services, I felt almost normal, and I was marveling why. That is, until Hermana Ábrego asked me to baptize her. What a grand experience it was to baptize her. I was no longer distracted by my fatigue and discomfort and was able to do the ordinance well in the eyes of God. I have seldom seen such faith as I have with her. She actually quit her job this week,(so that she doesn´t need to work on Sundays) and is waiting with faith for the blessings of her baptism. She went to church, alone, even though her sister Carolina was going to come, but couldn´t, even though we were going to pass by in the car of Hermano Zepeda, but were a about an hour late(due to my sickness). She took the initiative and I have no doubts that she will be blessed for it.
It´s a tender mercy to have witnessed this miracle in her life. I don´t know if I wrote this before, but she told Elder Javier and me earlier about a dream of her baptism, she explained the baptismal font perfectly and told me there was a lot of people there to support her. Well, both of these came to pass yesterday. Because it was after the services, everyone that could from the ward came to her baptism, to the point that there were people standing in the back. In addition, Irene Sánchez and Maricela Valdés(the three of which had become good friends) were there to support her in her decision. I didn´t realize until Hermano Zepeda mentioned something about fulfilled promises that she had perfectly seen this baptism about a month before in her dreams.
In respect of her work, Hermano Zepeda commented something to Elder Childers that I think is an answer to her prayers(but we haven´t able to give her the information yet.) He commented that the distribution center needs people that can work in making clothes(Neither I nor my companion know how to say this in English: "Sewery? I don´t think that´s right.") This is what she has worked in in her other work, it will pay well, and it´s by the church, so she will rest the weekends(including Sundays!) We still have a lot to do to make sure everything fits out for this job, but I know that our Father in Heaven is very well aware of the needs of His daughter.
Well, those were the two baptisms that we had. The only ones we missed were the family Orea Zavaleta. They´re still continuing strong. But were unable to be baptized or attend church because his grandmother died on friday. Her funeral services were yesterday, so that made things difficult, but I no longer have doubts that they will get baptized. We just have to continue helping them with their concerns. He no longer has the reservations that he had before about being baptized, in fact he was telling every one of his friends about his baptism in the week. Right now, they are facing the challenges with more strength and faith. Of course, they´re a little sad about this challenge, but neither one have doubts that they´ll see her again. We also talked to them about baptisms for the dead, especially because the grandmother also wanted to get baptized when we talked to her. So I expect that as soon as they can get a temple recommend she´ll get baptized for the grandmother of her husband.
Anyway, I literally have no time to write more, but this week was a good one, and I´m looking forward to an even better one.
Cariños,
Elder Blackham
That being said, we had a pretty good week. The highlights were the two baptismal services we had on Saturday and Sunday. Marisela Valdés got baptized on Saturday. The service was very beautiful, but the only thing that I regret is that there wasn´t a lot of people, I think, due to the rain. However, her testimony was sweet and we all had a special moment with her that day.
She was then confirmed yesterday in the services. After that, Bety Ábrego was baptized after the services! She was able to finally convince her family to let her get baptized. It was a marvelous experience. We had challenged her to get baptized that thursday, but on friday, when we visited her, she hadn´t still talked to her family. I thought that this was going to be a challenge for her, especially with her husband, so I didn´t have a lot of faith. What´s more, I felt really bad in the stomach that morning and we were late to church. However, I now have a testimony of the power of priesthood blessings. Manuel Piña and my companion Elder Childers were able to give me one before the services. In Manuel´s spoken blessing (his first time giving one), he gave me the promise that I would be able to accomplish all that I needed to do and keep the sabbath day holy. This was before I knew that Bety was going to ask me to baptize her.
So, during the services, I felt almost normal, and I was marveling why. That is, until Hermana Ábrego asked me to baptize her. What a grand experience it was to baptize her. I was no longer distracted by my fatigue and discomfort and was able to do the ordinance well in the eyes of God. I have seldom seen such faith as I have with her. She actually quit her job this week,(so that she doesn´t need to work on Sundays) and is waiting with faith for the blessings of her baptism. She went to church, alone, even though her sister Carolina was going to come, but couldn´t, even though we were going to pass by in the car of Hermano Zepeda, but were a about an hour late(due to my sickness). She took the initiative and I have no doubts that she will be blessed for it.
It´s a tender mercy to have witnessed this miracle in her life. I don´t know if I wrote this before, but she told Elder Javier and me earlier about a dream of her baptism, she explained the baptismal font perfectly and told me there was a lot of people there to support her. Well, both of these came to pass yesterday. Because it was after the services, everyone that could from the ward came to her baptism, to the point that there were people standing in the back. In addition, Irene Sánchez and Maricela Valdés(the three of which had become good friends) were there to support her in her decision. I didn´t realize until Hermano Zepeda mentioned something about fulfilled promises that she had perfectly seen this baptism about a month before in her dreams.
In respect of her work, Hermano Zepeda commented something to Elder Childers that I think is an answer to her prayers(but we haven´t able to give her the information yet.) He commented that the distribution center needs people that can work in making clothes(Neither I nor my companion know how to say this in English: "Sewery? I don´t think that´s right.") This is what she has worked in in her other work, it will pay well, and it´s by the church, so she will rest the weekends(including Sundays!) We still have a lot to do to make sure everything fits out for this job, but I know that our Father in Heaven is very well aware of the needs of His daughter.
Well, those were the two baptisms that we had. The only ones we missed were the family Orea Zavaleta. They´re still continuing strong. But were unable to be baptized or attend church because his grandmother died on friday. Her funeral services were yesterday, so that made things difficult, but I no longer have doubts that they will get baptized. We just have to continue helping them with their concerns. He no longer has the reservations that he had before about being baptized, in fact he was telling every one of his friends about his baptism in the week. Right now, they are facing the challenges with more strength and faith. Of course, they´re a little sad about this challenge, but neither one have doubts that they´ll see her again. We also talked to them about baptisms for the dead, especially because the grandmother also wanted to get baptized when we talked to her. So I expect that as soon as they can get a temple recommend she´ll get baptized for the grandmother of her husband.
Anyway, I literally have no time to write more, but this week was a good one, and I´m looking forward to an even better one.
Cariños,
Elder Blackham
Monday, July 12, 2010
Weekly Letter: July 6-12
Wow, what a week! I didn´t realize how fast it went until it was Saturday! We were able to find a lot of new investigators this week, and I don´t have time or means to describe every single one, but Plateros is looking pretty good. We´re pretty busy here. We´ve also been working hard on several people to help them, sometimes our efforts have been rewarded, sometimes not yet, but we have faith that our efforts are being recorded and will not be in vain.
The mission is literally a twenty-four hour business. I read a scripture this week that made me realized that. In Alma 37: 36-37 it reads: "Yea, and cry unto God for all thy support; yea, let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever.
"Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day." (from lds.org---you didn´t expect me to type the whole reference, did you?)
I realized, even in our thoughts before sleeping, we need to direct our minds to the Lord. I´m still working hard on that, because it´s easy for a mind to wander after a long day....luckily after a good night-time lesson with an investigator and a planning session, it´s much easier. But wow, I literally felt that that scripture was written for missionaries. Truly, as missionaries we need him to "direct[us] for good" how else can we find his children that are ready for the truth.
My family has asked about my language skills. I literally cannot say that I feel like I´m speaking like a Mexican. But, I think it´s more important that I´m seeing progress. More, I think I´m seeing a deterioration of my English skills, especially spoken. I don´t know if this email sounds awkward, I don´t think so, because I have much more time to think about what I´m writing than when I speak. But there are several gringo missionaries that only speak English with others. I usually try to speak Spanish with them when I´m with them, but one time I decided to humor myself and spoke English with this guy, and it came out so weird, I could tell that it sounded weird, but, for the life of me, I couldn´t think of how it should be.
With a gringo comp, I have the luxury to ask him "¿Cómo se dice....?" (something I never could do with Javier, because he didn´t know the english word I was saying). However, some times I start to say "How do you say....." and then realize that I don´t even know the English word for the concept I have in my head. So basically, my language skills right now are lacking....in both Spanish and English.
Anyway, right now I need to talk more about the investigators and other experiences of this week. We had another baptism this last Saturday. Once again, I was the one that realized the ordinance(my companion said I needed more practice). The name of the investigator is Antonio Sandoval. In finding him, at first, I had very little faith in him. His son had gotten baptized before, but had troubles with drugs and stuff like that and right now is in rehab or something like that, and the father had problems with cigarettes too. But this last week, I don´t know what Elder Childers did, but he suddenly started moving in warp speed toward baptism. He was baptized this Saturday and confirmed yesterday.
The bishop commented to us that this is a greater miracle than we know. When Antonio Jr. was listening to the gospel, no one else in his family wanted to listen, especially his father, who was Catholic, but was listening to the Jehovah´s witnesses(his wife is a JW), and actually identified himself as JW, and was completely closed off to listen to anything about the Mormons. But about a month and a half ago, he contacted Elder Javier and me in the street, and we began teaching him, but we didn´t think of him as a progressing investigator, only a link to hear how his son was doing.
But, yeah, he got baptized (twice, because I forgot to say a word in the prayer, and the bishop didn´t stop me before trying to baptize him) And his testimony was one of the most simplest, but beautiful things I´ve ever heard. He is a pretty aged man, he will turn 71 this August, and his mind isn´t always easily focused on the things at hand. But his testimony was....complete, I don´t know how else to put it. It was special.
Well, I have like no time, but I would like to put something in about Bety Ábrego and the family Orea Zavaleta. Bety, we haven´t been able to contact this last week because she only had Sunday and Monday off work, and her husband didn´t let her go to church, because he isn´t in agreement with her baptism. So it´s been a while, but Irene Sanchez has been keeping in contact by phone,(the two of them met and are pretty good friends, because they both work in the same thing...more or less). She´s continued reading in the Book of Mormon, and probably is in Mosiah right now, we´ll see tomorrow when we have an appointment with her and her husband. But she keeps going strong. I have no doubt that she will get baptized, it´s only a question of when.
The family Orea Zavaleta has also been harder to contact these last weeks. Due to a misunderstanding that is very detailed and difficult to explain (and understand), both of them were about to stop listening to us. He was because of the misunderstanding and his concerns about the Virgin Mary. She was, mostly because she didn´t want to harm their marriage. However, two Saturdays ago, we contacted them. They had a great deal of doubts, and we were there in their house for a long time, but I think we helped them out a ton. However, as we know that the adversary always works on people when they´re about to take a good decision, we had no idea how they would feel the next day.
We actually didn´t get the opportunity to talk with them until after the baptism on Saturday. To our surprise, they had both been keeping strong. He had been reading more in the Book of Mormon, which helped him, and she had been relying more on her prayers(due to her heavy work schedule, it´s hard to read much in the Book of Mormon). Elder Childers and I both felt impressed to challenge them to baptism this Saturday. They both accepted! (he did first, which really surprised us). What a tender mercy to have had this opportunity to enjoy this journey with this family. I hope and pray that all will go as the Lord wants, and will enter the waters of baptism this week!
Anyway, I better go! Thanks for your prayers and support!
Elder Blackham
The mission is literally a twenty-four hour business. I read a scripture this week that made me realized that. In Alma 37: 36-37 it reads: "Yea, and cry unto God for all thy support; yea, let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever.
"Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day." (from lds.org---you didn´t expect me to type the whole reference, did you?)
I realized, even in our thoughts before sleeping, we need to direct our minds to the Lord. I´m still working hard on that, because it´s easy for a mind to wander after a long day....luckily after a good night-time lesson with an investigator and a planning session, it´s much easier. But wow, I literally felt that that scripture was written for missionaries. Truly, as missionaries we need him to "direct[us] for good" how else can we find his children that are ready for the truth.
My family has asked about my language skills. I literally cannot say that I feel like I´m speaking like a Mexican. But, I think it´s more important that I´m seeing progress. More, I think I´m seeing a deterioration of my English skills, especially spoken. I don´t know if this email sounds awkward, I don´t think so, because I have much more time to think about what I´m writing than when I speak. But there are several gringo missionaries that only speak English with others. I usually try to speak Spanish with them when I´m with them, but one time I decided to humor myself and spoke English with this guy, and it came out so weird, I could tell that it sounded weird, but, for the life of me, I couldn´t think of how it should be.
With a gringo comp, I have the luxury to ask him "¿Cómo se dice....?" (something I never could do with Javier, because he didn´t know the english word I was saying). However, some times I start to say "How do you say....." and then realize that I don´t even know the English word for the concept I have in my head. So basically, my language skills right now are lacking....in both Spanish and English.
Anyway, right now I need to talk more about the investigators and other experiences of this week. We had another baptism this last Saturday. Once again, I was the one that realized the ordinance(my companion said I needed more practice). The name of the investigator is Antonio Sandoval. In finding him, at first, I had very little faith in him. His son had gotten baptized before, but had troubles with drugs and stuff like that and right now is in rehab or something like that, and the father had problems with cigarettes too. But this last week, I don´t know what Elder Childers did, but he suddenly started moving in warp speed toward baptism. He was baptized this Saturday and confirmed yesterday.
The bishop commented to us that this is a greater miracle than we know. When Antonio Jr. was listening to the gospel, no one else in his family wanted to listen, especially his father, who was Catholic, but was listening to the Jehovah´s witnesses(his wife is a JW), and actually identified himself as JW, and was completely closed off to listen to anything about the Mormons. But about a month and a half ago, he contacted Elder Javier and me in the street, and we began teaching him, but we didn´t think of him as a progressing investigator, only a link to hear how his son was doing.
But, yeah, he got baptized (twice, because I forgot to say a word in the prayer, and the bishop didn´t stop me before trying to baptize him) And his testimony was one of the most simplest, but beautiful things I´ve ever heard. He is a pretty aged man, he will turn 71 this August, and his mind isn´t always easily focused on the things at hand. But his testimony was....complete, I don´t know how else to put it. It was special.
Well, I have like no time, but I would like to put something in about Bety Ábrego and the family Orea Zavaleta. Bety, we haven´t been able to contact this last week because she only had Sunday and Monday off work, and her husband didn´t let her go to church, because he isn´t in agreement with her baptism. So it´s been a while, but Irene Sanchez has been keeping in contact by phone,(the two of them met and are pretty good friends, because they both work in the same thing...more or less). She´s continued reading in the Book of Mormon, and probably is in Mosiah right now, we´ll see tomorrow when we have an appointment with her and her husband. But she keeps going strong. I have no doubt that she will get baptized, it´s only a question of when.
The family Orea Zavaleta has also been harder to contact these last weeks. Due to a misunderstanding that is very detailed and difficult to explain (and understand), both of them were about to stop listening to us. He was because of the misunderstanding and his concerns about the Virgin Mary. She was, mostly because she didn´t want to harm their marriage. However, two Saturdays ago, we contacted them. They had a great deal of doubts, and we were there in their house for a long time, but I think we helped them out a ton. However, as we know that the adversary always works on people when they´re about to take a good decision, we had no idea how they would feel the next day.
We actually didn´t get the opportunity to talk with them until after the baptism on Saturday. To our surprise, they had both been keeping strong. He had been reading more in the Book of Mormon, which helped him, and she had been relying more on her prayers(due to her heavy work schedule, it´s hard to read much in the Book of Mormon). Elder Childers and I both felt impressed to challenge them to baptism this Saturday. They both accepted! (he did first, which really surprised us). What a tender mercy to have had this opportunity to enjoy this journey with this family. I hope and pray that all will go as the Lord wants, and will enter the waters of baptism this week!
Anyway, I better go! Thanks for your prayers and support!
Elder Blackham
Monday, July 5, 2010
Weekly Letter: June 29-July 5
So yeah, my first week in another change. That makes it the third change in the field. Wow! where does the time go?! First of all, my new companion is Elder Childers. He is from Virginia....but, his family moved to Chicago during his mission, so he´s going to return to an unfamiliar home. He´s got 21 months in the mission already, but as far as I can see, he isn´t trunky. In some ways, he has more of a focus than Javier did....that being said, I wouldn´t say either one is better than the other, just with different strengths.
It was funny, I was pretty worried about a gringo companion here in the field. I had learned so much Spanish with Javier and I didn´t want to lose it with my new companion. Basically, when we met, I told him that I didn´t have much time in the mission and needed help with my Spanish. Without hesitation, he told me that it was okay, that he would speak to me in Spanish! When we had an appointment with a member later that day, they asked if we spoke English to each other. He said no, that I had asked him to speak Spanish with me....and that he actually didn´t like to speak English with other gringos in the mission. So that was a relief. Also, because his mother is from Peru, and his father served a mission Spanish speaking, he´s heard a lot of Spanish and has a good accent.(he didn´t, however, learn to speak Spanish before his mission....though he more or less understood it) Anyway, I´ve been blessed profoundly with this companion.
Teaching your companion about an area is a little bit difficult. Even though Elder Childers has a great deal more time in the mission than I do, I felt like a senior companion this entire week. More or less, he now knows the area pretty well, so I feel less like a senior companion, but man, I got a look into the future....and I didn´t like it at all! So many decisions!
We´re working hard here in Plateros, and are being rewarded with some fruits. It´s unfortunate that some of our investigators that we had with Javier have fallen through, but we are encountering a great deal of new investigators, and some of our older investigators that were getting disillusioned with the baptism have renewed the fire and desire to be baptized!
This includes the family Orea Zavaleta. It had been close to two or three weeks since we last contacted them....let alone had an appointment with them. But we were able to pass by on Saturday and have an appointment with them....and it was a good one. We saw that they definitely needed it, that they had been attacked with a great deal of persecution for their decision to listen to us. But we were able to talk through their concerns and I think they´re getting back on the right track....especially Uriel, the father. It´s true what the scriptures say, that there is opposition in all things, and when people are about to take a step in the right direction, the adversary works harder than ever on them.
Anyway, I wish I could write more, but right now time is extremely short. But please know that the work is moving forward, not only in this area of Plateros, but in the world! Please continue praying for all the missionaries. We need the help. We can´t do this alone, but with the Lord, there isn´t anything we can´t do!
¡Cuídense!
Elder Blackham
It was funny, I was pretty worried about a gringo companion here in the field. I had learned so much Spanish with Javier and I didn´t want to lose it with my new companion. Basically, when we met, I told him that I didn´t have much time in the mission and needed help with my Spanish. Without hesitation, he told me that it was okay, that he would speak to me in Spanish! When we had an appointment with a member later that day, they asked if we spoke English to each other. He said no, that I had asked him to speak Spanish with me....and that he actually didn´t like to speak English with other gringos in the mission. So that was a relief. Also, because his mother is from Peru, and his father served a mission Spanish speaking, he´s heard a lot of Spanish and has a good accent.(he didn´t, however, learn to speak Spanish before his mission....though he more or less understood it) Anyway, I´ve been blessed profoundly with this companion.
Teaching your companion about an area is a little bit difficult. Even though Elder Childers has a great deal more time in the mission than I do, I felt like a senior companion this entire week. More or less, he now knows the area pretty well, so I feel less like a senior companion, but man, I got a look into the future....and I didn´t like it at all! So many decisions!
We´re working hard here in Plateros, and are being rewarded with some fruits. It´s unfortunate that some of our investigators that we had with Javier have fallen through, but we are encountering a great deal of new investigators, and some of our older investigators that were getting disillusioned with the baptism have renewed the fire and desire to be baptized!
This includes the family Orea Zavaleta. It had been close to two or three weeks since we last contacted them....let alone had an appointment with them. But we were able to pass by on Saturday and have an appointment with them....and it was a good one. We saw that they definitely needed it, that they had been attacked with a great deal of persecution for their decision to listen to us. But we were able to talk through their concerns and I think they´re getting back on the right track....especially Uriel, the father. It´s true what the scriptures say, that there is opposition in all things, and when people are about to take a step in the right direction, the adversary works harder than ever on them.
Anyway, I wish I could write more, but right now time is extremely short. But please know that the work is moving forward, not only in this area of Plateros, but in the world! Please continue praying for all the missionaries. We need the help. We can´t do this alone, but with the Lord, there isn´t anything we can´t do!
¡Cuídense!
Elder Blackham
Friday, July 2, 2010
Weekly Letter: June 22-28
Yeah, so the changes are back. We found out yesterday what´s going to happen tomorrow during the changes. Hopefully our new president arrives well. We´ve been praying and fasting for him so that he can get his visa and arrive in time (hmmm.....sound familiar?) But even without the new president, there were a lot of changes...at least in my zone, I don´t know about the others, I imagine that it was about the same, but who knows, huh?
But first things first.... this week was probably our most effective week up to date in the mission. We taught so many people, found many new investigators and had a couple baptisms this week(I attached some pictures of this baptism). That being said, Elder Javier and I have definitely learned that when things are really going well....we receive the most opposition. Truly, as Lehi said, there is opposition in all things.
Irene is still going strong....and is turning into a Mama Galleta (Literally means Cookie mom, it basically means that the missionaries can drop in whenever they want and she´ll accept them and offer them a bunch of food.) She really amazes me sometimes. She really is a testimony that the work is the Lord´s, not our own. We really didn´t do anything special with her to make her into this strong member, I know that the spirit worked this change in her and in her daughter, and I will be happy to hear in a year from now when she enters the temple.
We´ve been trying to keep contact with the Orea Zavaleta family this week, Unfortunately, we weren´t able to coordinate our efforts with Jorge Montes to have a FHE in their house, and my companion and I didn´t feel comfortable setting an appointment without his help. Unfortunately, Uriel Orea has had some misunderstanding with the Ward Mission Leader, and he´s a little distant right now, and Gaby is working hard like always, and doesn´t want to cause a rift in their relationship. Luckily, both of them still are willing to accept us in their home and are interested in listening to us and eventually being baptized, but right now, they aren´t going to church...so they weren´t baptized this week(which was their baptismal date).
I think I´ve already mentioned a bit about Mariel Graciela Sanchez, her daughter Rebeca, and her son Mauricio. The mother had been listening to the missionaries for a long time, but never had been baptized. She had some conflicts with the ward....and the bishop, and wanted to get baptized in another ward. Rebeca, on the other hand, didn´t have anything against the Ward of Plateros, and wanted to get baptized this Sunday. However, when we talked to Mariel, this week, she told us that she wanted to get baptized this week, but during the week. So we set the date for this Thursday!
It was an interesting experience, because Thursday morning, Hna. Sanchez was having second-thoughts about being baptized. We set an appointment with them that morning. (Also she had apparently not told her daughter Rebeca about the change of date and we ran into some resistance there.) I never thought for the entire world that I would commit(or recommit) someone to be baptized with these words ¨Hna Sanchez, will you be baptized at 8:00 tonight¨ However, all went well, both of them committed to be baptized that night. Elder Javier baptized the mother and I baptized Rebeca. Mauricio attended the service and liked it, but right now his focus is more on the deep doctrine(he keeps asking questions about spirits, Armegeddon and all of that), and less on finding out if the church is true. However we´re going to work harder with them, especially since, neither the daughter nor the mother showed up for their confirmation Sunday(there happened to be a World Cup Game at the same time as our meetings between Mexico and Argentina....in case you don´t know, Mexico lost 3-1, how do I know? How could I not?!) So that was a little blot on our good feelings that we had during the service on Thursday.
Another less than animating experience was Sunday, when Bety didn´t show up for her baptism. However, we were already somewhat aware that this might happen. We had an appointment on Saturday with her, she still was excited about being baptized, but all of her daughters...and her husband were against it. They all had concerns about how she was not going to be able to attend family gatherings, funerals, dance, and do a whole lot of stuff. Unfortunately for her, Bety didn´t know if that was true or not. We were able to resolve some of the doubts of one of her daughters, but her husband and other daughters weren´t there, so we recommitted her to be baptized the next day, hoping that all would go well with her husband.....apparently not. She never showed up, never answered the phone....except once when her husband answered saying that she wasn´t there and basically hung up. (Sigh) so we have a little more work with her.
However, we have been able to find a whole bunch of new investigators, one of them, Daniel Rodríguez, is actually a new/old investigator. He´s been in teaching for about a year off and on with the missionaries. We found his name and address in the area book and wrote them down a long time ago. One day when an appointment fell through, we looked up our list of people and found his name. We thought he was inactive, and when we asked him how long he´d been in the church he told us one year(thinking about how long he´s been in teaching) We then found out that he hadn´t been baptized, but still remembered a lot about our church, and understood a lot. He committed himself to be baptized in two weeks from our first visit, saying that he knew it was important to get it done soon, but wanted enough time to think it through. He has had some doubts changing his religion, but he does have an Aunt and some cousins that are members (so he has family support), and he really wants to find out if it´s true. Unfortunately, he lost his Book of Mormon, so we´re going to bring another one this Tuesday. So I´ve got good hopes for him!
Well, I´m basically our of time. I wish I could say more, but I need to tell you guys about the changes that are going to happen tomorrow. We received the news about the changes yesterday and.....Elder Javier is leaving the area. He´s going to be companions with Elder Beals(who was in the MTC with me, but we never really knew each other.) in Lermo, in the Toluca zone. So he´s leaving the Federal District, Mexico City, and going to Lermo in the State of Mexico. So he´s going be a little far away. And I´m going to get the opportunity to teach my new companion (I can´t remember his name, but he´s also a gringo) about the area of Plateros. Anyway, it will be quite the experience, it´s going to be difficult seeing my companion, trainer, and papi go, but that´s how the mission is, right? Changes happen and you´ve got to take what you got and run with it.
Anyway, that´s the news for this week. I look forward to letting you guys know what happened this week!
Thanks, like always for your prayers in my behalf.
Con Amor,
Elder Thomas Blackham
But first things first.... this week was probably our most effective week up to date in the mission. We taught so many people, found many new investigators and had a couple baptisms this week(I attached some pictures of this baptism). That being said, Elder Javier and I have definitely learned that when things are really going well....we receive the most opposition. Truly, as Lehi said, there is opposition in all things.
Irene is still going strong....and is turning into a Mama Galleta (Literally means Cookie mom, it basically means that the missionaries can drop in whenever they want and she´ll accept them and offer them a bunch of food.) She really amazes me sometimes. She really is a testimony that the work is the Lord´s, not our own. We really didn´t do anything special with her to make her into this strong member, I know that the spirit worked this change in her and in her daughter, and I will be happy to hear in a year from now when she enters the temple.
We´ve been trying to keep contact with the Orea Zavaleta family this week, Unfortunately, we weren´t able to coordinate our efforts with Jorge Montes to have a FHE in their house, and my companion and I didn´t feel comfortable setting an appointment without his help. Unfortunately, Uriel Orea has had some misunderstanding with the Ward Mission Leader, and he´s a little distant right now, and Gaby is working hard like always, and doesn´t want to cause a rift in their relationship. Luckily, both of them still are willing to accept us in their home and are interested in listening to us and eventually being baptized, but right now, they aren´t going to church...so they weren´t baptized this week(which was their baptismal date).
I think I´ve already mentioned a bit about Mariel Graciela Sanchez, her daughter Rebeca, and her son Mauricio. The mother had been listening to the missionaries for a long time, but never had been baptized. She had some conflicts with the ward....and the bishop, and wanted to get baptized in another ward. Rebeca, on the other hand, didn´t have anything against the Ward of Plateros, and wanted to get baptized this Sunday. However, when we talked to Mariel, this week, she told us that she wanted to get baptized this week, but during the week. So we set the date for this Thursday!
It was an interesting experience, because Thursday morning, Hna. Sanchez was having second-thoughts about being baptized. We set an appointment with them that morning. (Also she had apparently not told her daughter Rebeca about the change of date and we ran into some resistance there.) I never thought for the entire world that I would commit(or recommit) someone to be baptized with these words ¨Hna Sanchez, will you be baptized at 8:00 tonight¨ However, all went well, both of them committed to be baptized that night. Elder Javier baptized the mother and I baptized Rebeca. Mauricio attended the service and liked it, but right now his focus is more on the deep doctrine(he keeps asking questions about spirits, Armegeddon and all of that), and less on finding out if the church is true. However we´re going to work harder with them, especially since, neither the daughter nor the mother showed up for their confirmation Sunday(there happened to be a World Cup Game at the same time as our meetings between Mexico and Argentina....in case you don´t know, Mexico lost 3-1, how do I know? How could I not?!) So that was a little blot on our good feelings that we had during the service on Thursday.
Another less than animating experience was Sunday, when Bety didn´t show up for her baptism. However, we were already somewhat aware that this might happen. We had an appointment on Saturday with her, she still was excited about being baptized, but all of her daughters...and her husband were against it. They all had concerns about how she was not going to be able to attend family gatherings, funerals, dance, and do a whole lot of stuff. Unfortunately for her, Bety didn´t know if that was true or not. We were able to resolve some of the doubts of one of her daughters, but her husband and other daughters weren´t there, so we recommitted her to be baptized the next day, hoping that all would go well with her husband.....apparently not. She never showed up, never answered the phone....except once when her husband answered saying that she wasn´t there and basically hung up. (Sigh) so we have a little more work with her.
However, we have been able to find a whole bunch of new investigators, one of them, Daniel Rodríguez, is actually a new/old investigator. He´s been in teaching for about a year off and on with the missionaries. We found his name and address in the area book and wrote them down a long time ago. One day when an appointment fell through, we looked up our list of people and found his name. We thought he was inactive, and when we asked him how long he´d been in the church he told us one year(thinking about how long he´s been in teaching) We then found out that he hadn´t been baptized, but still remembered a lot about our church, and understood a lot. He committed himself to be baptized in two weeks from our first visit, saying that he knew it was important to get it done soon, but wanted enough time to think it through. He has had some doubts changing his religion, but he does have an Aunt and some cousins that are members (so he has family support), and he really wants to find out if it´s true. Unfortunately, he lost his Book of Mormon, so we´re going to bring another one this Tuesday. So I´ve got good hopes for him!
Well, I´m basically our of time. I wish I could say more, but I need to tell you guys about the changes that are going to happen tomorrow. We received the news about the changes yesterday and.....Elder Javier is leaving the area. He´s going to be companions with Elder Beals(who was in the MTC with me, but we never really knew each other.) in Lermo, in the Toluca zone. So he´s leaving the Federal District, Mexico City, and going to Lermo in the State of Mexico. So he´s going be a little far away. And I´m going to get the opportunity to teach my new companion (I can´t remember his name, but he´s also a gringo) about the area of Plateros. Anyway, it will be quite the experience, it´s going to be difficult seeing my companion, trainer, and papi go, but that´s how the mission is, right? Changes happen and you´ve got to take what you got and run with it.
Anyway, that´s the news for this week. I look forward to letting you guys know what happened this week!
Thanks, like always for your prayers in my behalf.
Con Amor,
Elder Thomas Blackham
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Weekly Letter: June 15-21
So, another week in Mexico. Wow! They really pass by! What really weirded me out was realizing that we have changes again in a week! Our President Fuentes leaves with this change, and we´re going to welcome President Villareal. I´m sorry to see Presidente Fuentes leave, but I´m also excited to see what this new president will bring to this mission. I´m also concerned about the changes because I don´t want to be changed, I want to stay, it looks like I probably will stay where I am....with the new mission president, he won´t make many changes unless they´re necessary(like someone who´s leaving or coming into the mission), but who knows! I will know for sure this Monday, I really hope that I get to stay in Plateros, we´re just barely starting to enjoy the fruits of labors of these two changes. It looks like Irene is only going to be the start of our investigators that are going to take a baptism.
Speaking of Irene, she´s still going strong. Her brother lives in Orange County, CA, close to the Newport Beach Temple. He was already baptized and is really strong in the gospel When we ate with her this last Sunday, he called her, and talked to each of us individually. He thanked both of us for helping his sister take a baptism. We also took her and Bety Ábrego to Visitor´s Center by the Mexico City Temple. Both of them really enjoyed the experience. Irene is already talking about going again to buy more stuff from the Distribution Center.
Her daughter really really wants to hear the message....which is one of the biggest miracles I´ve ever seen. I´ve never seen someone change like this. She wanted to come with us to the Visitor´s Center, but couldn´t because she already had family commitments. But we´re planning another trip in the coming weeks. She has to work slowly so that her husband doesn´t cut her off. He is Cristiano(I have no idea what that means other than another type of sect of Christian), and he doesn´t want her to change religions. We don´t know exactly to do, but we´re going to work little by little until her husband will allow the missionaries to visit them in their house in Puerta Grande(the neighboring area), but right now we´re just teaching her in the house of her mother, Irene.
The family Orea Zavaleta. Due to a misunderstanding between them, we weren´t able to visit them as much as we wanted to. He was a little more than annoyed with her, and wanted to put the blame on the church. We did visit him alone on Thursday, and he was really polite, he looked for opportunities to avoid listening to us, but when he actually sat down and listened to our message, he was really attentive and still wanted to be baptized. Also his grandmother´s health is improving dramatically. She actually sat in on our message, she told us she wanted to be baptized too, but wanted to learn more about our Church first. We were going to have Family night with them and the ward mission leader, but we weren´t able to pass by. I think he´s afraid of the members of the ward, but we´re working with Jorge Montes, his long-time friend who is a member of this ward, to set-up a family night with them this week. I just hope that we can work with them little by little until they can both be baptized. Unfortunately due to this difficulty, we may have to postpone their baptisms, but if all goes as previously planned, they will be baptized this Sunday with Bety Ábrego and Rebeca Sánchez.
Rebeca is the daughter of an eternal investigator. Her mother wants to get baptized but has something against this ward...and the bishop. She loves listening to us and always says she will get baptized in Mixcoac or in Las Aguilas, but in Plateros no. We´ve already taught her about the doctrine about why she needs to attend the ward that she lives in, that the bishop in Mixcoac, even though is a bishop called of God, doesn´t have the right to receive revelation for her and her family. However, she doesn´t seem to be progressing. We hope that her daughter Rebeca(who already has made friends in Plateros and wants to be baptized there) will be a help for her, and also be a stepping stone for Graciela(the mother) and Mauricio(the son of Graciela) to also take this step.
Jesús Islas also is turning out to be quite the golden investigator. He has told us that his life has visibly improved upon starting to listen to us. At first, when we started teaching him, he was uncomfortable praying, but right now his prayers our powerful. It really is something specially to hear an investigator thanking God for the missionaries. He really is feasting on the introduction and the witnesses of the Book of Mormon. At first he was a little concerned about it because it wasn´t the Bible. He told us that he felt it was good, but felt that without the Bible, something was missing. We explained that the Book of Mormon was merely another testament of Jesus Christ a complement to the Bible, not a substitute. He seemed to understand really well, and I think it resolved his concerns.
We were going to plan on having the Assistants bring their van to Plateros this Saturday or Sunday, so that Jesús, los Orea Zavalet, Graciela and her children, and Marí-Tere(the daughter of Irene) could go to the Visitors Center. But with the Changes this Tuesday, the Assistants are going to be busy, especially since one of them goes home this Monday. So, hopefully we will be able to do it, if not this week, in the weeks to come. All of them really want to make the trip, it´s just a matter of transportation. We can´t pay for the bus fare for all of them(and we don´t want them to pay for themselves), and we can´t all fit in the Hno. Zepeda´s SUV like we did this other time. But the Assistants aren´t going to be able to do it, I don´t think, so it looks like we´re going to have to wait....but I´m way excited!
I haven´t come even close to doing justice to this week, but everything has its time, and this time is almost done! Thank you, like always for your prayers and support. I hope that you all will receive the blessings that the Lord has in store for you by living His gospel!
Con amor,
Elder Thomas Blackham
Speaking of Irene, she´s still going strong. Her brother lives in Orange County, CA, close to the Newport Beach Temple. He was already baptized and is really strong in the gospel When we ate with her this last Sunday, he called her, and talked to each of us individually. He thanked both of us for helping his sister take a baptism. We also took her and Bety Ábrego to Visitor´s Center by the Mexico City Temple. Both of them really enjoyed the experience. Irene is already talking about going again to buy more stuff from the Distribution Center.
Her daughter really really wants to hear the message....which is one of the biggest miracles I´ve ever seen. I´ve never seen someone change like this. She wanted to come with us to the Visitor´s Center, but couldn´t because she already had family commitments. But we´re planning another trip in the coming weeks. She has to work slowly so that her husband doesn´t cut her off. He is Cristiano(I have no idea what that means other than another type of sect of Christian), and he doesn´t want her to change religions. We don´t know exactly to do, but we´re going to work little by little until her husband will allow the missionaries to visit them in their house in Puerta Grande(the neighboring area), but right now we´re just teaching her in the house of her mother, Irene.
The family Orea Zavaleta. Due to a misunderstanding between them, we weren´t able to visit them as much as we wanted to. He was a little more than annoyed with her, and wanted to put the blame on the church. We did visit him alone on Thursday, and he was really polite, he looked for opportunities to avoid listening to us, but when he actually sat down and listened to our message, he was really attentive and still wanted to be baptized. Also his grandmother´s health is improving dramatically. She actually sat in on our message, she told us she wanted to be baptized too, but wanted to learn more about our Church first. We were going to have Family night with them and the ward mission leader, but we weren´t able to pass by. I think he´s afraid of the members of the ward, but we´re working with Jorge Montes, his long-time friend who is a member of this ward, to set-up a family night with them this week. I just hope that we can work with them little by little until they can both be baptized. Unfortunately due to this difficulty, we may have to postpone their baptisms, but if all goes as previously planned, they will be baptized this Sunday with Bety Ábrego and Rebeca Sánchez.
Rebeca is the daughter of an eternal investigator. Her mother wants to get baptized but has something against this ward...and the bishop. She loves listening to us and always says she will get baptized in Mixcoac or in Las Aguilas, but in Plateros no. We´ve already taught her about the doctrine about why she needs to attend the ward that she lives in, that the bishop in Mixcoac, even though is a bishop called of God, doesn´t have the right to receive revelation for her and her family. However, she doesn´t seem to be progressing. We hope that her daughter Rebeca(who already has made friends in Plateros and wants to be baptized there) will be a help for her, and also be a stepping stone for Graciela(the mother) and Mauricio(the son of Graciela) to also take this step.
Jesús Islas also is turning out to be quite the golden investigator. He has told us that his life has visibly improved upon starting to listen to us. At first, when we started teaching him, he was uncomfortable praying, but right now his prayers our powerful. It really is something specially to hear an investigator thanking God for the missionaries. He really is feasting on the introduction and the witnesses of the Book of Mormon. At first he was a little concerned about it because it wasn´t the Bible. He told us that he felt it was good, but felt that without the Bible, something was missing. We explained that the Book of Mormon was merely another testament of Jesus Christ a complement to the Bible, not a substitute. He seemed to understand really well, and I think it resolved his concerns.
We were going to plan on having the Assistants bring their van to Plateros this Saturday or Sunday, so that Jesús, los Orea Zavalet, Graciela and her children, and Marí-Tere(the daughter of Irene) could go to the Visitors Center. But with the Changes this Tuesday, the Assistants are going to be busy, especially since one of them goes home this Monday. So, hopefully we will be able to do it, if not this week, in the weeks to come. All of them really want to make the trip, it´s just a matter of transportation. We can´t pay for the bus fare for all of them(and we don´t want them to pay for themselves), and we can´t all fit in the Hno. Zepeda´s SUV like we did this other time. But the Assistants aren´t going to be able to do it, I don´t think, so it looks like we´re going to have to wait....but I´m way excited!
I haven´t come even close to doing justice to this week, but everything has its time, and this time is almost done! Thank you, like always for your prayers and support. I hope that you all will receive the blessings that the Lord has in store for you by living His gospel!
Con amor,
Elder Thomas Blackham
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