4 Months

Monday, November 05, 2012 10:56 AM

¿Pues, pues, pues, que tenemos aquí? 

haha 4 months have already gone by since I have left for my mission, and I honestly cant believe it, time has just flown by. I've been blessed to have learned so much from my 2 companions here already, been blessed to have met so many amazing people here, and so blessed to have been the Lords instrument (i like that word especially, and instrument in the Lords hands, because sometimes we have to go through ´´ pressure ´´ to be tuned exactly right to be used how HE wants, not how we want) to proclaim His gospel to so many people here. A lot of families have asked me this week if I miss my family, especially this family that was baptized last week because there are sooooo many more of them and so many of their friends that want to here the gospel, so we are with them quite a bit. Any-who  of course I miss everyone, especially you mom, but, there is honestly no other place that I would rather be than here. I have made life long friends here, and they have had an impact on my life as I hope I have on theirs. I'm sure some of you RMs can relate to how I feel, but then again you cant haha I love these people so much, 2 years is not going to be enough, so I have been praying that there is going to be another change while Im out here (hey, if you think about it our family has really good luck with major changes of missionary work). 

So this week has been a really interesting week. We found a lot of families contacting this past week that we thought were really good, but one dropped us Saturday night and the other dropped us when we went to there house to pick them up for church, so you can imagine that it was pretty ruff. So we started off Sunday with no baptisms planned and all of but 1 family drop us. But, the Lord works miracles for those who are diligent. When we got to church, a ward member told us that a family of three just showed up to church completely on their own, and that this other single mother brought all 5 of her kids along with a cousin. I was seriously so relieved and just so happy to see 9 new people show up to church, along with a lot of in-actives  This really is the biggest news about this week in Mexico.

So I feel like sharing my insights on what has been happening at home as well with all of you haha. Brookie and Tanner, you are at huge stages at your life's to where you will be making decisions that will have an impact on the rest of your life. I have been thinking about you two lately, especially yesterday. In church we had a lesson about patriarchal blessings, and I thought about you two the whole time. I want to testify to you two that this will guide you more specifically in your life's more than anything else will, because it is a blessing straight from God specifically for you. I STRONGLY encourage you to think about receiving one, as it has been a guide for me  ever since I received it, and it has been a ´´ shoulder to lean on´´ here in Mexico when I feel like I need to change something. I remember when I was both of your ages and the decisions that I had to make, and I promise that with this guide, along with regular temple attendance, you will be comforted in your decisions and will receive a confirmation of why.
Along with the whole missionary change and the presidential elections, think about this for a moment. The Lord is extremely concerned with His work, missionary work, that is why HE changed the age limit. Just like dad said, having a Melchizedek priesthood holder in such a high office could help soften those hearts of the leaders of China and other countries where missionary proselyting is not allowed. We have an opportunity to make a difference in the history of the world, and more importantly help the Lord move HIS work along. If voting hasn't already happened  I would strongly suggest going to the temple before anyone makes this decision and think about it there :) That is all I have to say about that haha :)
Also, it is really really good to hear that all of the family in NY y NJ are ok, I heard about the hurricane yesterday at lunch with members, and I have been concerned about them, so I am glad to hear that they are doing ok.
So Halloween here is kinda the same, but not as big. The kids go around all dressed up also, but they don't really go house to house, they just run around the town square were EVERYONE is at haha but something different, they don't ask for just candy, they ask for money too. Funny stories with that haha but in general, whenever kids would see us, 2 tall gueros, even if they were 100 yards away, they would run up to us and ask us for money haha of course we cant give them anything, which the first couple times really broke my heart, but it got funnier and funnier because we were able to call it if we saw a group of kids if they were going to come over to us or not.

Oh, so I guess something big did happen this week that I almost forgot,  we had zone conference!!! That was seriously soooo amazing! We are going to be having a new focus in all of the missions in Mexico, with in due time we will not be contacting door to door anymore and we will be working solely with members and references, and honestly I am super stoked about it! We also had some super powerful talks about watching out  for your companion, and what we can do to watch after them. Also, I got to see my old comp. Elder Lefevre, so that was really special :)

Well, thank you all again for all of your letters, and mom I haven't gotten your letter yet but I might tomorrow because that is when we get the mail, but we are going to have some extra time to write today because one, my comp has strep, and 2 I have a cold, so we are just going to rest today and write letters, so 3 lucky people will be getting a letter soon because I only have 3 stamps left haha :) by the way, I want to say thank you to all of my amazing ym leaders over the years, especially those who wrote me in the mtc and forgot to put a return address on theirs...... anywho, all of your lessons and words have really helped me refocus and find new things to do while  I am here. One phrase that stuck out to me in a letter from this one leader that forgot their address (*cough* mark), ´´You have so many people praying for you, how could you slack off with so many prayers behind you? This week I have really been trying to focus on working diligently, and I just wanted to share how much of an impact this has had on me.

Love you all, and may God be with you!

Elder Noel

p.s. if you haven't sent off the package yet, I could use another tide to go pen, and again if someone could send me a conference talk weekly through dearelder (if it doesn't cost anything),that would be great :) oh, and here are the pictures that you said you didn't get, hopefully you do this time.