Lots of Contacting

This PDay we play played volleyball, soccer and basketball as a zone and we bought some Dominos Pizza, however for some reason it didn't taste like how it does in the US. But, this week all we have been doing is trying to find new people to teach. Because we either cant find the people we are currently teaching, or they just aren't progressing And I feel that they have had their opportunity to hear and accept the restored gospel and they just aren't doing their part. And so we have just been contacting the whole week.  We contacted 150 people.  We couldn't bring any of our investigators to church. I find it really hard to decide when to let some people go, especially because we have spent so much time with them. So it's been a bit of a rough week, but I still feel new being a missionary sometimes and so it makes it hard to know what I need to do. But that's all for this week take care!

Sickness and a mouse

This week we brought a member to a lesson with Angelica and it couldn’t have gone any better. She was having tons of problems with money. Because she had loaned out a bunch of her money in the form of credit and the people haven’t given her back the money and so she needs the money now to pay. And the person came to pick up her money and she didn’t have it, and so the guy was telling her that he’s going to start taking things away from her house and possibly her kids too, and so she was just in tears for about 30 minutes straight, explaining this problem to the member, an ex-missionary that served in this same mission about 3 years ago. So he was able to understand everything and comfort her that he can’t take away anything from the house legally, because the house isn’t hers, it’s her dads. So after realizing that, she then turned her tears into tears of joy, and he also told her that he is going to continue working with her and her family until they get the problem is fixed. But this experience really strengthen her trust in the church because of this support and help that the member was giving her.  So that helped me see the power of working with the members. 

February 13 was a very memorable day for me. It started with waking up sick again out of nowhere, turns out there’s another mouse in the house, and also that day I was trying to light the boiler to shower with warm water, and I got my faced blown up with gas and had my eyebrows and some hairs fried, and lastly I didn’t sleep from 10:30 until 2:30am that night because I had food poisoning and felt like throwing up.  However, let’s just say I suffered a wide variety of other issues but I am feeling now.  

Then today at Church, The Mission President and his wife came to our branch and got to see how tiny it is, and sadly no one could come to church this week, so we are really disappointed and not sure what more we can do for the people that we have been working a lot with, so it's time to find more new people, and give other people the opportunity to hear and accept the restored gospel. Adios

Elder Talbot

 Pictures

• We had a dog follow us home so we gave him a little food.  The dog then proceeded to stay next to our house for the rest of the night
• I had a visit from our zone leaders.

Agency

Monday, we went to this restaurant called Pancake Paradise and I got a nice looking chicken and bacon wrap. However, it cost me 74 pesos and it wasn’t that big. Later that day while I was doing my shopping, I realized that I could’ve bought 4 kilos of chicken at the store, so that kind of hurt me.

But this week I had an experience that led to a great learning opportunity.  We were teaching one of our investigators and at the end of the lesson, she told us that she wants to discontinue studying with us, but keep studying with the Witnesses of Jehovah. And so afterwards, we couldn’t help but think, what could’ve we done to really help her know and feel that this truly is Christ’s one and only true Church. And I thought about it quite a bit and then realized that there is one sure way that you can know and feel if you did all you can. And that is through seeking personal revelation about each person individually. Because Jesus and Heavenly Father are the only people that truly know what these people need to hear. And so when you receive revelation for what you need to teach and say, and they still don't accept your message. You can know without a shadow of a doubt, that you did all you can, but that everyone has their own free agency to choose. And as missioneries, that’s all we can do, invite and teach and then let the people choose for themselves. So that was definitely the most important thing I realized this week. 

We also had another lesson with a Jehovah’s Witness and I asked him to read Matthew 18:11 and so he turns to it and then realizes that it's missing from his Bible, like the other 10 or so scriptures. So then I ask him why is it not there? And he says I don’t know.  Then I ask him why not and what are you doing? No, I didn’t ask him that haha but I wanted to. Then we go and read in Revelations where it talks about how we must not remove or add scriptures to the Bible. And like I said he didn't know that his Bible had scriptures removed, so he's going to ask his brothers why that is.

Anyways, this week we have had a pet mouse crawling around our house. One morning, I go to use the bathroom and I turn on the light and I see something scattering across the floor and for some reason I started screaming whoops.  Then it left the bathroom and went into the kitchen and hid in a place where we couldn’t see him…and where there was only 2 exits. So we blocked one of them off, and put a rat trap at the other exit. So the next day we find that it worked and a dead mouse in the trap, and I didn’t even have to buy a special camera to catch my rat, unlike my dad haha.  Please don’t send me a rat shirt. 

The food here varies a lot, but really just depends on who you are eating with. For example, one day we had tamales and I had 15 of those. Another day we had pure beans and tortillas. 

The status of our progressing investigators: Jorge found a temporary job and so now neither him of his wife can attend church consistently. And Angellica, she makes an excuse every week why she couldn’t attend church. We are pretty sure the reason she has fear because  her neighbor, who she doesn’t like, goes to church and so she is scared to go. Sunday, after I gave a talk I started feeling sick out of nowhere. And I didn’t eat hardly any food with the member that day and instead slept on his bed. Turns out I have a really hot fever and so I wasn’t able to do anything but sleep, because my energia has been completely drained, and my face was all white. So that night, I had my district leader come over and give me medicine, as well as a blessing, and I felt way better afterwards.  That’s all for this week

 Elder Talbot  

Bringing Jorge’s Family to Church

Monday we went to Chihuahua for the 5 week meeting for the trainers and the new missionary.  I slept on a real mattress that night, so that was a real treat. We had the meeting the next morning, and it went great and  we all learned a bunch. We also had interviews with our Mission President Ingalls this week and it’s amazing how much my Spanish has improved since the last time. This time, I wanted and had the full interview in Spanish and I was able to say everything I needed and wanted to say in Spanish.  I learned some things from him, for example, as much as us missionaries love to sleep on the bus rides to Chihuahua, we should be doing our studies instead.  Therefore, when we get back to our area we can go right back to work. Anyways, this week I had a lesson with a Catholic Family. When we got let in, they told us, we have like 10 to 15 minutes, so I did my best to make it short. However, I ended up being an  hour and a half. The main dilemma that we had in that lesson was that they thought, well they still think that priesthood authority is passed down when you baptize someone. And so they claim that the authority wasn’t lost when the apostles died. I tried explaining to them and I asked where does it say that, or where does it even it even imply that in the bible.  Of course she said she didn’t{t know where exactly. I don’t have the whole bible memorized.  I am very glad she told me that because I thought she did. And then we left, but that was a good experience for me to teach and have a discussion with people who had strong faith. 

Some people we teach, have no religious background, for example, the family we are teaching  right now, Jorge and Carmin. And with them, you have to teach in a much simpler and clearer manner, otherwise you quickly find that they didn’t understand a thing. We had the opportunity to teach Jorge and Carmin and their family about the Commandments. We invited them to pray together as a family every night before they go to bed, and also to set aside time every day to read the scriptures. And they also said that they had been reading from the Book of Mormon and that Jorge was on chapter 17. So then I asked them what is one thing they can remember that has happened, and they couldn’t even tell us one thing haha. So then I decided we were going to read the first chapter together. And we explained what was going  on as we read, and when we finished, Jorge said, “Wow I don’t remember any of that. I am going to start over.”  So I am hoping that they realized that they need to read it and understand, to actually be able to gain a testimony about it. 

Friday it finally got cold here. I woke up and it was 48 degrees inside our house  For some reason, it's always colder in our house than outside. For food, we had Descada again, which is sliced ham, hot dogs, and hamburger meat mixed in with cheese on tacos and I had  6 plates it was super good. They couldn't believe that I kept asking for more and more. Afterward, we went out contacting because I have been back with every single person pretty much and we need more people so that means it’s time to go find them. After about an hour or so, we found a lady named Melissa in her house. She’s a Young lady that lives at home alone and works at the store right next to her house. We contacted her and got to teach her lesson 1 ( The Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ). She is a Christian right now, and has been Catholic and other religions and she told us that all the churches say that they are the only true church. And so by the end of the lesson, we were able to help her understand that really, all you have to figure out is if the Book of Mormon is true. Then she told us that the book gave her fear haha which was something I have never heard before. Then she later accepted that she will read it. Then I ended the lesson  with a prayer in English, because she{s learning English, and she said she was able to understand it. The next day, we were finally able to find and teach Salome the Restoration, and she was truly able to understate it without me having to keep retrying to explain it haha so that was great. However, she’s going to her ranch again for a month, but she said she will read The Book Of Mormon. Rosa, her daughter-in-law, was there for the end of the lesson will be home, so we are going to work with her and then again with Salome when she gets home. This  really is a special family, who has been searching for the truth, but just haven’t been able to find it. I am seeing with them that they are recognizing that this really is Christ’s Church, and that’s amazing to see. Then we went to visit Jorge and his family, and he told us that he is going to be leaving for a time to Chihuahua for a job, so that was a bit disappointing. But we are going to continue working with the rest of their family.

Sunday, we got up in the morning and we were able to bring Jorge and his family to church for the first time! We knocked on their door and the mom answered the door and she was wearing lipstick, which was abnormal, so I figured that was a good sign. A member drove all of us, so we all piled in and got to the church. We were able to give them a little tour before our meeting started, and they really enjoyed it and thought it was very clean and pretty. We had church with them and they took the sacrament for the first time and then  had fast and testimony meeting, so they got to hear all the testimonies of the members and missionaries. Then we went to Sunday School and had a discussion about the Book of Mormon. So yea that was really exciting because besides those 2 kids that we brought to church, those were the first people we have brought to church in the 17 weeks I have been here. Oh but I forgot my camera so there won't be any new pictures sorry.

Elder Talbot