My Zone at the Monterrey Temple
Tools we used to chop down a tree - in service to a neighbor
Sunday, September 14, 2014
Temple! - September 11, 2014
So, like I said
when I emailed you really fast on Monday, today we got to go to the temple
again! Attached is a picture of my companion and I in the entrance. I almost
have it down in Spanish!
Well, it has been the first
week and a half of the new transfer. We are working hard, especially with a
couple of young men, Alejandro and his friend David, who randomly showed up to
church on Sunday without us even teaching him! He heard Michel, the Young man
of the ward (Moderna is a ward, not a branch :) talk about how great it was to
go with the missionaries, and now he wants to too! We told him that we have to
teach him first so he can have something to say :) It has been hard to find him
to teach him though, but he has the desire!
Also, a week ago Thursday we went
to help a member cut down a tree. With a Machete and a Butcher`s knife. Yep. It
is all we could round up. They just make stuff work here in Mexico, even if
it’s not the ideal :) Alejandro found us we were heading over to help, and
offered his help. And he was a HUGE help. He is great for being so willing to
help out. He not only waits for others to say hi to him or talk to him, but he
tries to present himself and help in whatever way he can. (Or maybe life in
Moderna is just boring ;P).He is progressing a ton and hopefully my comp and I
can help keep up the excitement of these two young men!
The Ward keeps on having problems.
As in, the members all hold grudges of some sort against one another. It really
makes it hard to help investigators feel comfortable in the church sometimes,
as you don’t feel a lot of love amongst them.
What we learned from the visit from
Elder Piper hopefully can help us out and know what to do. He opened up for
questions, but instead of answering one by one, let us ask like ten questions,
and then from the questions that we had, taught what he felt that we needed. It
was cool. The majority of the questions had to do with changing the behavior of
other people, such as ward leaders, investigators, etc. So he taught what we
had to do. We have to start by making sure they understand the Doctrine (things
that are always true, i.e., we are children of God, God has a body of Flesh and
Bone, etc.) correctly. Once they understand the doctrine, they can understand
the principles (faith, repentance, prayer, Word of Wisdom, etc.), and then they
can apply those principles to their lives. Doctrine and principles never
change, but the Application of them is different in each circumstance. He also
taught us how to help the investigators apply these principles to their lives,
which includes helping the investigators teach us the principle, so that the
Holy Ghost testifies of their own words, and is the real teacher. He taught
that we need to help them rely on God and the scriptures to answer their
questions instead of always the missionaries. It is really interesting and I am
excited to put it into practice. I don’t even know if what I wrote makes sense,
but it is basically what I learned with the visit from Elder Piper.
We also tried to directly teach the
Apostasy and Restoration to our, oh so Catholic friend Blanca, and it got kind
of heated. She declared that there was no mention of Joseph Smith in the Bible.
That morning I had read in the Book of Mormon of the Isaiah chapters of the
book of Mormon that prophecies of Joseph Smith, so I declared that it did, and
tried to find the reference in her bible, but it didn't have the desired
effect.... it talked about a voice as if from the dust and a sealed book, and I
testified that it was the book of Mormon, but she didn't even want to consider
it. I felt super.... passionate to try to convince her but her heart was
closed. Even after the lesson, she invited us to eat cake! She just wants
someone to talk to, I think, and isn't really interested in the message...we
really need to just stop visiting her, but my comp hasn't wanted to. That was
my reference to Bible Bashing in my last email :)
Our investigator Martin is still drinking...
with us he declares that he wants to change, he agrees with all the
commandments, but still won’t stop! Maybe it doesn't help when we aren't united when teaching....my companion had a headache while we taught the Word of
Wisdom lesson, and after I finished testifying of the Word of Wisdom, Elder
Hernandez asked him if he would keep the law of Chastity. He corrected himself,
and Martin said he would live The Word of Wisdom (and he said he would live the
law of Chastity too, half joking), but it didn't help the teaching situation.
(That is the picture with the
minions. It says Unity at the top, and the minion on the left is testifying of
the Word of wisdom, and the minion on the middle asks if he will keep the law
of Chastity :) It’s a statement on teaching with unity in a companionship :)
And a super spiritual Experience!
When I logged on to send a quick email to let you know that I wouldn't write
until today, I saw a message from Mandy. She said that she was struggling
trying to find answers to her prayers and feeling the spirit and that she felt
super lost, and even though I shouldn't have, I took some extra time to write
her back. And I am glad that I did. I was able to share my short testimony of
Heavenly Father, refer her to some scriptures and give her some counsel.
Apparently, I ``literally saved her life`` for answering when I did. I know
that the Heavenly Father is watching over us, that he gives us opportunities to
bless the lives of others, and that his timing is perfect.
Well yeah, that is my week pretty
much. I’ll be able to write more on Monday, not too far away.
It was great to hear about the
camping trip and I LOVED the pictures. I was also super entertained to hear the
Provo is finally winning football games. It’s nothing personal against Thomas
though :) I can imagine it would have been really funny to have been with Karen
during and after the game :)
Hope you can have some success as
well with the dove hunt! I actually have thought about it a few times, and
wished I could go. I know I am not good at all, but it is great spending time
with you (Dad) and Steve!
Well, talk to you next week,
Love ya lots!!!
Temple on Thursday - September 8, 2014
Hey, sorry, but this is a quick one. We had our P-day changed to
Thursday (Temple) so I won’t really be able to write you until then.
This week went really well, our
friend Alejandro is progressing a ton, and even is going to seminary every now
and then at 5:30 in the morning! I had an attempt at bible bashing with a
fervent Catholic, half way cut down a tree with a machete and a kitchen knife,
and taught a whole bunch of lessons :)
We also have a visit from a general
authority this Wednesday, Elder Pieper. More details to come :) All is well,
and hope all is well at home!
Love you!
Elder Redford
Sunday, September 7, 2014
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEGAN!!!! !!11!!!! - September 1, 2014
Hey Megan!
I wanted to let you know that I did
NOT forget about your birthday, but that I have been thinking about it all week
:)
I hope you have a great year as an
11 year old :)
And I am sorry that I cannot give
you anything for your Birthday this year :(
(I would love to go see a movie or
get a shake or something!) But I hope that a few pictures will do.
One is from our minion friends and
me wanting to wish you a happy birthday!
The other, as I heard you really
wanted a pet, is a little doggy that we found in the street yesterday. I am
sure that if we gave him a bath and cut his hair, that you would love him to death!
Always remember that I love and
that I am thinking about you! It is great to hear about your missionary
experiences too! Keep up the good work in school, at home, and finding and
making good friends!
Always remember that you really are
a daughter of God and that our Heavenly Father and Older Brother Jesus Christ
love you and want you to be happy too.
I love you, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!
Painting, No Power, and SUCCESS!!! - September 1, 2014
Hey that is kinda cool that Donna
has published a book. I am also very interested to see what it is all about.
She sent me a poem too. She seems to be trying to keep herself busy :)
And that is awesome that Daren is
Ward Mission Leader! It really is a huge help to us missionaries. That it
awesome, hope that he can have success in his awesome calling!
And HAPPY BIRTHDAY
MEGAN!!!!!!!
Wow. There really is a lot that has
happened here in this past week!
On Tuesday we spent the afternoon
painting another house! This time of a member who asked us for help. We invited
an investigator and another youth to help us and it turned out great! The
family bought us hamburgers afterwords :) The Member is Karla, who is like 20,
who lives with her family. She and her Grandpa are members, but the rest of the
family isn’t. When they invited us in the house, I sat down in a rocking chair,
and noticed that the shelf behind me moved! I tried to slowly get up, because
the base of the rocker was underneath the shelf, but it moved again, and I
almost caused the statue of the Virgin Mary (her mom is catholic) to fall off
and shatter into pieces! Luckily I caught her, and all that broke was a
candlestick.... But afterwards we thought about how funny or ironic it was, and
how easy it is to destroy Graven Images, A reminder of the power and stability
of a living God!
Wednesday morning just before we
left, we noticed that the power had gone out, but expecting it to return soon,
we left to work for the day. We had a Family Home Evening with a part member
family with a lot of problems, and it turned out great. When we got back to the
house, we still didn’t have power! After calling the owner and trying to figure
out what happened, he told us that we hadn’t paid the power bill, which I had
paid Saturday! Turns out that I paid the power bill of the neighbor instead.
The owner, who also owns the apartment of the neighbor, said ´´well you guys
paid´´, and had them pay our bill. That night and the next we slept in another
room upstairs (that he rents out, but no one is currently living there) so that
we could have light and we could plug in fans, because our house is really
hot!
The next day we still didn’t have
power, so I bought ice to put in the freezer to keep the milk and other food
cold. Finally we got it back on Friday! We found a great member to help us
fellowship Martin, who has had a drinking problem, but who is doing much
better. This member, Hermano Ibarra, helped us out in the lesson and helped us
invite him to church. We have not had much faith in the members helping us out
here, but this week we saw how great they can be. Friday there was a stake wide
mutual that we invited an investigator to, Alejandro, who is 17. We ended up
bringing him and two of his friends! We understood that it was going to be a
soccer tournament, with a spiritual thought right before, but the spiritual
thought turned out to be an hour program, first talking about the Word of
Wisdom, and them about first aid. Alejandro and his friend stayed almost to the
end, one of the friends leaving early. Even though the activity didn’t really
turn out all that well, Alejandro was able to meet the few youth in the ward
and it really helped him to feel comfortable, and also know where the chapel
was to go to church on Sunday!
This week in church was sooo much
better. Martin showed up and was there the whole time, and Alejandro came late,
but HE CAME! Michel, the only young man in the ward (and recent convert),
invited him to seminary as well, and he went today at 5:30 in the morning! He
is really getting involved, and it is great! This ward really needs more youth!
What seems to be the young men in this ward consists of Michel, a recent
convert, his friend who is an investigator Bryan, and now this Alejandro, also
investigator :) Only one is actually member :)
So with two investigators coming to
church after a long time without any, I am feeling really good :)
And by way of Transfers this week,
my companion Elder Hernandez and I are both staying. This will be our third
Transfer! I was totally expecting and ready for a change, but just like last time,
our entire district is staying the same. I have accepted it. And really, it is
a good thing, because I really need Elder Hernandez´s help with Alejandro, they
are good friends :)
Today while shopping a lady came up
to me and starting speaking pretty good but broken English, and asked me where
our chapel was. We told her, and ended up seeing her like three times in the trans
course of shopping :) We also ran into a few less active members that we hadn’t
met, and they invited us to come to their house. I am glad that we decided to
go shopping today when we did! I am seeing Gods hand quite a bit this week
:)
So yeah, I think that that is the
news from around here. We are seeing success and we are going after it.
Thanks for the support from
home!
Love Elder Hayden Redford
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