Cuahotemoc week 9

 Buenos tardes hermanos,

 

These last two weeks have just been flying by, but they have been awesome! We have visited all the less actives in our area for which we have addresses.  That has been a lot of work so we had the opportunity to meet with a lot of people to invite them back to Christ.

 

Hermana Karina Gonzalez and Yahir went to church this week! Karina honestly was a miracle.  She has been coming to church for the last 3-4 weeks and we didn't even know she was not a member. We set up a lesson with her this week and will have the chance to start teaching her. We also finally got this less active Hermana Bustillos and her family to come to church. She hadn't been in years! We are also helping her stop smoking. On Sunday after we church we visited them and we took away 6 cigarettes from her so that was fun. 😊

 

Another less active member we met with was Maria del Socorro.  Last time we visited her she said she was super sick and sad, and that she had had covid for the last 5 years.  This time though she opened the door and said she was better and was happy even though she doesn't have food or a bed. She lives off the donations of her neighbors so we informed the branch president about the situation. She also said for sure she is going to come back to church! 

 

Visited lots of less actives, one was drunk. Then we visited Hermana Bustillos, played a game, talked about no smoking and she gave us soup.  Later, we had a correlation meeting.   We also helped in the missionary night, by singing some songs and answering questions.

 

Another member we visited (hermana Lizeth) - she was crying because the members didn't help her with divorce.  She had burned her eyes and never looked at us but just cried.  We tried to help her but she refused our efforts to help.  We spoke to a few others and setup future lessons with Estrella and Ubualdo.  We had a lesson with gabriel and she gave us food.

 

We had an amazing lesson with Hermano Octaviano.  We taught him about the restoration of Christ’s gospel and church here on the earth. After the lesson we asked him if he had any questions and he said how and when can I get a copy of the Book of Mormon.  We met with him again later in the week and taught him the rest of the plan of salvation.

 

One night we called Arnoldo and taught him about the restoration. He said he wanted to wait to pray about Joseph Smith because he had his free agency. I studied while elder Toledo took a test (English writing test to get into BYU) for 3 hours.  I had an interesting time on the bus.  These 2 drunk guys were talking to me as kept calling me guerito and asking me if we were almost there. Lol. 

 

We taught blanca the word of wisdom, law of chastity, tithing and fasting and we finally we had a family night with hermano noe - we played games and then we shared the 7 minute restoration video.  They then they fed us dinner and we ate cake and celebrated noe’s 60 birthday. 

 

Lastly, we taught a lesson with Alejandra about temples.  

 

A quote from the new testament institute manual that I will share

 

Luke 14:26–33. Sacrifice Is Required of All Disciples

 

As recorded in Luke 14:26–33, Jesus Christ taught His followers about the sacrifices they had to be willing to make in order to persist as His disciples. Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles explained how he was affected by hearing of a new convert who made the sacrifices required of him as a disciple of Jesus Christ:

 

“I had just returned home from my mission. So much seemed ahead of me. Would I be able to consistently make the right choices throughout my life?  Then-Elder Gordon B. Hinckley spoke [during April 1973 general conference] of meeting a young naval officer from Asia. The officer had not been a Christian, but during training in the United States, he had learned about the Church and was baptized. He was now preparing to return to his native land.  

 

President Hinckley asked the officer: ‘Your people are not Christians. What will happen when you return home a Christian, and, more particularly, a Mormon Christian?’

“The officer’s face clouded, and he replied: ‘My family will be disappointed. … As for my future and my career, all opportunity may be foreclosed against me.’

“President Hinckley asked, ‘Are you willing to pay so great a price for the gospel?’

With his dark eyes moistened by tears, he answered with a question: ‘It’s true, isn’t it?’

“President Hinckley responded, ‘Yes, it is true.’

“To which the officer replied, ‘Then what else matters?’ [see ‘The True Strength of the Church,’ Ensign, July 1973, 48].

“Through the years, I have reflected on these words: ‘It’s true, isn’t it? Then what else matters?’ These questions have helped me put difficult issues in proper perspective. …

“Of course, for all of us, there are other things that matter. When I heard President Hinckley’s talk as a 21-year-old, I needed to be serious about my studies; I needed employment to keep me in school; somehow I had to figure out how to convince a special young lady that she should take a chance on me; and I enjoyed other worthy activities.

“How do we find our way through the many things that matter? We simplify and purify our perspective. Some things are evil and must be avoided; some things are nice; some things are important; and some things are absolutely essential” 

 

Elder Talbot

 

Cuahatemoc week 8

 

Cuohotemoc Week 7

 We are finally back to the green light with almost all normal rules. We can street contact, door knock, teach in person, teach inside houses, eat inside houses, and fist bump people.

 

We had some excellent lessons this week let me explain some of the best ones we had

 

We had a lesson with Hermano Octaviano over the phone. He is the father of the Hermana Blanca. We taught him about the plan of salvation and his purpose here on the earth. We got him committed to coming to church and then Sunday just before church started, he came and he really enjoyed it and said he would be back next week! The Sunday school topic was about temples and vicarious baptisms for the dead, something that he had never heard of before so he enjoyed it 

 

We had an awesome lesson with an inactive member named Gabriel Adriano and his non member wife names Lizeth. Earlier in the week we would taught just the hermano Gabriel about the laborers in the Vineyard. He is an inactive member that got baptized over 8 years ago, and since then he found himself getting lost into the worldly things of drinking. The interpretation of the parable explains that it doesn't matter how long it takes for someone to return to God and their covenants as long as they do, the we will have the same reward of exaltation and eternal life. So in a later lesson that week with him we went to his house and met him and his wife in person and we taught them restoration and it went really well! Afterwards they invited us to eat and we had chicken and bean burritos.

The Hermana Lizet is going to the Doctor this week for health problems so keep her in your prayers.

 

We had a really nice lesson with la Hermana Silvia. She explained to us that both her mother and father had passed away, and that her kids are gone so she is lonely living by herself. We taught her about the spirit world and the resurrection and the hope that it can give her to know where her family is now, and that she will be reunited with them again. She was crying and was very grateful for our message.

 

We taught some less actives aa well. One hermano names angel Moreno we reviewed the restoration and he is going to invite his family to church and take the missionary lessons, as he is the only member in his family. He has been coming to church for the past few weeks in a row. 

 

We had a lesson with hermana Blanca about eternal families and temples and sent her the video of the Apostles giving a tour of the Rome temple and she really enjoyed it. She said next week she will be coming to church with her father Octaviano!

That's all for this week!

 

Elder Talbot

Six Weeks In and So Much Progress!

 Hello everyone! Another terrific week we had here in Cuauhtemoc.

Today there were transfers and let's just say there were too many problems here, so 7 out of the 12 people left the zone, so we have a fresh new start over here in Cuauhtemoc.

 

We did an awesome missionary activity as a ward where the members split up with other members and went to go visit the inactives. This was the first time that this branch had done an activity like that, so it was really nice to see! The inactive member we visited with one of the members came to church the next day and the rest of his family are members so we are going to jump all over the opportunity to help him and his family learn about the restoration of the fullness of the gospel and Church of Jesus Christ!

 

On Sunday we had a miracle. The neighbors of this member family were invited to church by the members and they came to church and they really enjoyed it and said they would be back next Sunday! Their names are Hermano Juan and Hermana Lupi. We are going to go visit them later this week to get to know them better and teach them.

We should be returning back to green light this week which is really good news because we have found it difficult to help the people we teach progress unless we are with them in person and they see our faces and feel that what we are teaching is really important in their lives.

Hermana Blanca has been reading the Book of Mormon and said she likes it so she is progressing well and we are just trying to get her to come to church, just like everyone else we are teaching.

We have seen massive progress in our area, even in the last six weeks that we have been here. We literally got here and there was no one being taught, no inactives being taught, no work being done with the members, and no one coming to church. But now we have all of those so we are stoked to see how much more service and progress we can render here in the next six weeks!

 

I finished the Book of Mormon again, along with the institute manual and I have got to say that out of all the times I have read the Book of Mormon, it was by far the most enjoyable and impactful experience. I have also started to read the New Testament with the institute manual and have already absolutely loved it. Right now I am in Matthew 26 and as I read and imagined all the suffering and criticism the Savior went through in his last day before he died, it expanded my understanding of the love that he has for us. I came across the following quote in the manual that I would like to share.

 

Gerald N. Lund, who later became a member of the Seventy, wrote about the Savior’s voluntary choice not to use His power to defend Himself from the abuses He experienced:

 

“Imagine the Being whose power, whose light, whose glory holds the universe in order, the Being who speaks and solar systems, galaxies, and stars come into existence—standing before wicked men and being judged by them as being of no worth or value!

 

“When we think of what he could have done to these men who took him to judgment, we have a new and different sense of his condescension. When Judas led the soldiers and the high priests to the Garden of Gethsemane and betrayed him with a kiss, Jesus could have spoken a single word and leveled the entire city of Jerusalem. When the servant of the high priest stepped forward and slapped his face, Jesus could have lifted a finger and sent that man back to his original elements. When another man stepped forward and spit in his face, Jesus had only to blink and our entire solar system could have been annihilated. But he stood there, he endured, he suffered, he condescended” (“Knowest Thou the Condescension of God?” in Bruce A. Van Orden and Brent L. Top, eds., Doctrines of the Book of Mormon: The 1991 Sperry Symposium [1992], 86).

 

Jesus Christ’s response when Peter cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant shows the compassion of the Son of God even toward those who wished to harm Him.

 

As Christmas season is approaching I invite all to read once again the life and ministry of Jesus Christ as recorded in the New Testament in Matthew - John you might as well pull out the institute manual while you are at it:) I know that as we do so, it helps us remember the purpose of why we celebrate Christmas and it brings the real meaning of the Christmas Season to life. 

Have a fabulous week everybody!

 

Elder Talbot