6 MESES!

Monday, January 07, 2013 1:28 PM

Well, it is official, this last week I finished 6 months in the mission, and 4 months in Mexico. I honestly cant believe how fast time has flown by!  This last week we have been working super hard, and we have found many miracles this week that will come through this next week! I don't know exactly what happened, but I have found a new vigor and I am even more excited to work my heart out here and really serve God with all my might, mind, soul, and heart, in more ways than 1 haha. I am super excited for this coming change, not only do I feel like it is going to be an amazing year like dad said, but I know it is going to be!

Anyways, a little more information on my new companion since I only got like 20 minutes to write president and you guys this last week. So again, his name is Elder Alejandro Ramirez, and he is from Sanora, Mexico, and not like how I said last time, this is way north, like right by the border of Mexico and the US. He likes skateboarding, like a lot. He has told me about a lot of the tricks that he can (could) do an all of the competitions that he did before his mission. He sounds pretty ligit. An interesting fact about him, when he was 7 he was playing with fireworks (big ones) and one exploded in his hand and lost a finger. So let that be a lesson to all you pyros, be careful, or you could lose a finger.

Well, I guess it is about time to talk a little bit about how the work has been going here and all (or at least some) of the miracles that have been happening here in Loma Hermosa (which by the way means, more or less, Beautiful Mound, which is really funny because it is one of the flattest areas in all of the mission haha). So not yesterday, but the Sunday anterior, we had this one guy who is the brother of 2 sisters in our ward come to church all by himself, named David. His two sisters who are in our ward, and sealed in the temple, have invited him for many years to come to church, but he never went. He always told them that eventually he would go, but never was good time for him. Well the Saturday night before he called one of them and said that he would go to church the next day with them, and he did. The only problem was is that he lives kinda far away, and works every night really late, so we couldn't visit him during the week, but he said that he felt something different and wanted to come again, yesterday, and low and behold, he came. It really was amazing to see him there again, along with another sister that came to church all by herself because her neighbors invited her to come (yes, those members can bring people to church a lot easier than us missionaries can, that is why we are working with them now), but we will see how that is tomorrow. Anyways, so we put a ´´cita´´, or appointment, down with him that night to bring our district leader and interview him at one of his sisters house ( I guess some problems happened to where he had to move in with his sister and her family, miracle right?), and well, he is Golden. He will be baptized either Friday or Saturday, and boy has he changed his life around. It really is a testament to me that it doesnt matter what someone has done in their life, or is doing, what matters is what they will do in the future. Like the talk from Pres. Monson, we need to look at people on who they can become, and we can see what someone will become on how they react to commitments. The biggest lesson I have learned here in Loma Hermosa is how we can show humility, and it is through repentance ( I honestly cant remember how it is spelled, its arrepentimiento in Spanish haha). We can see if someone will change their life and if they really do want to come unto Christ through their commitments. If they don't even commit to reading, to going to church, or praying, it is a clear sign to us missionaries that they aren't ready to progress, that they don't want to even put their faith in Christ to change. This isn't only for investigators, but for everyone. To show God our love and humility, we need to first be willing to change, and this is when the change will come.

Well that was a little longer than expected, and we gotta go haha I love you all so much, I still haven't gotten the packages because we didn't receive pouch the last week, but we should be getting it this next week. Love you!!

Love,
Elder Noel

MIJO!

Tue 1/1/2013 1:54 PM

Well well well, this week has gone by way way too fast! I cant believe that it is already a new year! It was sooo good to hear from all of you on Christmas, Elder Alvarez says that I have a beautiful family and that he wants to marry Brookie when he gets home haha yet another one.... ;) Any way, we really don't have anytime because it took us forever to find a place to write our families, so I will get straight to the point haha.

So yesterday morning we recieved a phone call from our APs, and that could only mean 1 thing, Elder Alvarez finaly got his visa. So yesterday in the middle of our New years party with our zone (with a piñata and 2 movies, Madagascar 3 and Ice age 4) we went to the offices so he could catch his flight and I could recieve my new companion, and boy is he new. So if you noticed the subject, it says mijo, which means my son. Thats right, I went from training someone in the second change to someone in the first change. His name is Elder Alejandro Ramirez, and he only has 2 weeks here in the field, so I am basically his daddy haha. I am super excited to work with him because his first two weeks he was in a threesome with zone leaders, so he is really powerful, and I am excited to get teaching. Please keep us in your prayers, we really need them. Love you all, and sorry that it is really short, next week will hopefully be longer :)

Love,

Elder Noel

¡Otra vez!

Monday, December 17, 2012 1:03 PM

Well, this week was another amazing week of miracles, but first, the news about Christmas. So I wont be able to email on the 24, but, I will be able to Skype on the 25 before 2 pm (my time). This is really all that they have told us. I am going to be looking around a little bit with those members to find out if there is a computer that has a camera, but if not, whose number should I call, moms or dads? This is really all the information that I have at the moment, and I wont be receiving any more until Thursday because this week is really screwed up, like we don't get pday until Thursday, but we get to write today, and also tomorrow we don't have our usual meeting with our zone, so this week is really messed up, but it is also kinda fun at the same time. Also, the offices still haven't gotten any of the packages yet, but hopefully they get them by tomorrow so I can see what you sent me before I talk to you all, but if not, oh well, life will go on, hopefully past the 21 hahaha. 

Bueno, now on to the good stuff, la obra misional. Well, as you can see in the pictures, we had another baptism, and boy was this another miracle! So his name is Carlso Beuo (or something like that, but his first name is Carlos), and he is an old investigator from the last change. They had taught him for about 2ish weeks but could never get him to go to church, so they kind of dropped him, meaning they would only pass by his house if they were in the area, and this happened until about the end of my first week here. The first time I met him we talked to him about baptism, and told him that if he got baptized he could receive a forgiveness of all of his sins, and that definitely rung a bell in his head. He told us that he has been searching for God for like 8 years now, looking for the place where he wants to get baptized, cause he wants to do it right, and when we taught him how Christ was baptized and how we baptize the exact same way, something sparked. We told him that if he wants to get baptized and receive this forgiveness, he needs to go to church, and so this last week (a week ago from yesterday) he did! In our ward we have the bishop teach the Gospel Principles class, and Carlos loved it all. He said that everything that was taught was exactly how he thought it should be, the plan of salvation and all, and that he was really excited to get baptized the next week. So, during the week we had our district leader come over and interview him, and luckily enough he let me be there for the interview because he didn't have a private room to do the interview, and boy was that a really amazing experience. Ya I have felt the spirit really strong in lessons before, but this was a different kind of spirit. As soon as we started the interview, you could tell in an instant the difference in all of us. Everything went super well and he accepted all of the commandments and what not, and so my district leader had Carlos give the closing prayer, and wow, talk about humility. This grown man of 60 something years, super tough looking and what not, broke out in tears and really pleaded with his Heavenly Father. I have really never heard a prayer with that much humility before, and I really learned a lot on how I can improve my own prayers. This week honestly has been a big lesson for me in humility. I thought when I entered in the mission field that I was pretty humbled, I did what my companion asked, I did what my leaders asked, without question, but boy was I wrong. I have learned that humility is a lot more than just doing someone else will instead of yours, it takes a lot more than that, especially when you are one of the people who have a say in things. I have really had my eyes opened, thanks to my companion, how I really think, how I really act, and my true motive behind things, and he has helped me incredibly overcome my pride and helped me learn for myself what it means to be humble. Speaking of which, we went to the Argentine consulate this past week, so we think that he will probably be leaving either this week or the next week to Argentina, so I have been praying fervently that it is the will of the Lord that he stays here so I can keep learning from him.

Ok, now for some other questions that I forgot about earlier haha. Yes, I do know Elder Cutler. He was a District Leader in my last zone in the zone Metapec, and right now yes, he is a zone leader. Actually I heard that he is a zone leader with the last AP Elder McCallister, so that will be a way cool experience. We talked a little bit about who we knew from high school and what not, and also about our younger sisters, so that was fun. The food here is still amazing. Sometimes we receive money from sisters who live alone and work everyday all day, but still want to help us out, so sometimes we even get to get eat at like Costco or Walmart during the day, which is pretty nice for me, and my companion loves it haha. My area is totally different than my last, but I am getting used to it. I think by now I really know it and if I get a direction from someone I can pretty much find it, with sometimes only a little bit of help from my companion. Oh and Elder Woodbury. I don't know him personally, but he was actually in this same area a while back ago, same with a lot of other famous elders, such as this Elder McCallister, so who knows, maybe this is the area to be tested to see if you baptize or not haha, nevertheless, the Lord has been blessing us extremely in Loma Hermosa with many miracles, and many baptisms for this area as well. Pray that all of the people in this ward can be furthermore inspired to direct us to the people who are sufficiently humbled to accept the gospel, and that the people who we are going to meet with are prepared by God and will accept Christ is their lives. I love you all so much, I am extremely looking forward to talking with you next week, and my God continue to bless you!

Con mucho amor,

Elder ``Papà`` Noel