March and April 2011

March 3, 2011
So, we had a miracle on Monday before transfers (that means that Elder
Vega is no longer with me- cryin’ shame…he was a really awesome missionary. My new companion, Elder Cunha, is awesome too).
Anyway, Elder Vega missed a turn while we were looking for a woman we hadn't seen in a while. I didn't say anything, so we continued on. We ran into a man who couldn't be happier to see us. He told us that he was homeless right now, but that he was working on getting a job so that he could settle down and take the lessons again. He bore his testimony on how he knew that the church and the Book of Mormon are true, and that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. We helped him out,gave him some information and went on our way. Then a woman pulled us over and asked us to come over later. We had our appointment with her last night, and let me tell you, I have never seen anyone so prepared to do whatever they need to, in order to get in the temple to be sealed to her deceased husband. She misses him a lot, and is happy to know that there is a way for them to be together forever. Right after we finished talking to her, another woman asked us to help her out with something that is out of our jurisdiction so we set up an appointment with the Bishop to help her out. How cool is that? We ran into three people who really needed our help, and only because we missed a turn. I know that God had his hand in that.

Did you know that even the way we vote affects our exaltation? Bruce R McConkie said that being valiant in our testimony includes many of the small things that we SHOULD do, including the way we vote.
The mission is going well. Love you all very much!

March 10, 2011
So, here's a funny story. The woman who stopped us last week and wanted to take the lessons explained to us how her deceased husband was a member of our church, and she wants to learn about the church now. She was really touched by the concept of sealing and eternal marriage and said that she was willing to do whatever it takes to get sealed to him.She accepted baptism, but didn't accept a date just yet. So, last week she came to church. We thought it was gonna be awesome, but we were mistaken. It all started after the closing prayer of sacrament
meeting. One of the young ladies who bore her testimony was wearing a
pink skirt. She went up to her, grabbed her skirt, and said "that was
a nice little testimony, but if you want God to hear you, you'd better
dress yourself more modestly." I thought that was bad, but then in the hallway,she started to yell at me, because she didn't understand why the Hispanics and Americans were separated. I told her that it was because they don't understand each other’s language. She said that it didn't matter, they need to learn English. She's right, but that's not the way to talk about it. I seriously thought it was over, but then, she started to argue with the Gospel Principles teacher. She left after that, and told us to see her at three. When we came, she asked for a blessing. She did accept a baptismal date. She's really a good woman. She just has problems with judging others.

March 17, 2011
Yes,I did hear a lot about the tsunami, but I have not seen any pictures.
It is interesting that even though the destruction was overwhelming, there were still small miracles. I also heard that not one missionary was lost over there- that‘s remarkable. I think that the people will be humbled, and that missionary work will increase over there. Only time can tell.

I thought leaving the comfort zone was hard on stage, but I realized
that it is MUCH harder in missionary work. Explaining the law of
Chastity is the most uncomfortable. But if you do it with a positive
mind, focused on helping them understand, it's really not that bad.

Re: school. I haven't thought that much about it. Once you hit about
21 months out, president will start to have you sign up for classes.
Many missionaries here have gone to or are going to one of the BYU campuses. I think it’s a great school, but the South still needs help. I'm going to blossom where I was planted. Besides, if I go out West, I won't be able to take care of you and Dad as well as I could if I were in Auburn. I'm planning on going to EOCC first and get some basics out of the way.I'm still thinking about Vet medicine, but I might want to go over to something that uses the Spanish language too.

Story time: Someone punched me last week. We met at a member’s house
to get picked up by missionaries to go to dinner, and all of a sudden,
these two teenagers, drunk beyond recognition, came up to us and
started cussing at us. One of them pushed my companion and told us we were on "their turf". So we left. As we were walking, the member's daughter, Gaby,shouted for us to be careful. We all turned around, and saw the two kids running at us. They stopped at Elder Aguilar, and punched him in the nose. I went up to them both. One of them backed up cuz he was scared. I told the other one to never touch Elder Aguilar again. He got angry and swung and I moved a little so that he only got my neck. Before I could do anything, Gaby ran up and threw one of them to the ground and started kicking him. When the other one came up to her,she punched him in the face and kept on kicking. She told us to go on and get out, but we didn't want to leave her. But sure enough, she really did have the situation under control. She's a big girl, and she's gotten in several fights in the past. She flung them around like rag dolls…quite a funny sight. We're not sure if we'll run into them again, but I'm not worried. I've never gotten so close to hitting someone Mom. I've always been afraid of getting into a fight, but when he struck one of my fellow missionaries, I felt empowered. I had no fear to fight. I know that, if it was required, God would have given me the strength to take them on. But thankfully, Gaby came and saved the day. She did get hit in the lip, but everything was ok. A little blood, and no swelling. We gave her a big thanks afterwards.

Things are going good, and we are working hard. Elder Cunha is not a native Spanish speaker. He's from Brazil, so he speaks Portuguese. He sometimes has a hard time, because he sometimes mixes up words and rules. He still does very well. He does a lot better than he thinks he does actually. My companion and I decided to rededicate ourselves and work harder. We talked with a TON of other people. We just got new phones and texting now, so we should have a little more success in contacting people.

March 24, 2011
All is well with me. No crazy stories for you, no more attacks-Haha. But we did have a special occasion with the mission President. After he heard about the attack, he asked that our district meet him at 8:30 pm last Sunday. We had a small companionship study about persecution. One thing that I learned is that there is a difference between getting persecuted for RIGHTEOUSNESS sake (as it says in the Bible) and getting persecuted for CHRIST'S NAME'S SAKE(as it says in the Book of Mormon). Many people were persecuted for righteousness sake: Martin Luther King Jr., Mahatma Ghandi, Martin Luther, Abraham Lincoln...... but only certain circumstances allow us to be persecuted for Christ's name sake. Men like Joseph and Hyrum Smith, the Apostles, any missionary.... I can see why Paul rejoiced in his persecution. NO ONE has the privilege of being persecuted in His name's sake unless he is called by God to represent Him. It was a good study. We had ice cream afterwards to "celebrate" the occasion. Oh, President…what a funny guy.

We had another person set for baptism. His name is Lino. When we came by the first time, he was EXTREMELY drunk, but the next time he was sober. The Spirit was strong, and we invited him to be baptized and he accepted.We just found out that he will be moving to California soon so not sure where he will be baptized.

Oh Mother... always willing to help out with theater productions. I'm so impressed at how long you've been doing things like that. Even more impressive is how you keep doing it even with your carpal tunnel. Thanks for the extra money too. I've learned while I'm out here (and I should have learned it earlier) that I'm an impulse buyer. I had to work SO HARD not to spend all the money you gave me today. I think the problem is that when I shop and I'm hungry, I buy junk food that I can eat right then and there. I've lost some weight. I went from 280 in Ely, to 263 here.

I love you all so much, and miss you even more than you miss me. Be happy and take care!

March 31, 2011
Thanks for the pictures. I showed the picture of Amry at the beach to my companion and asked him to guess how old she was. He said 16. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. uh no.... she's 12. WHAT!!!! He didn't believe me.
I wouldn't worry too much. I know it's in the “Mother” job description, but I think it's also the right thing to do. I thank you for worrying about me, even when I told you not too. Thank you very much for never stopping to be a Mom either. You and Dad are the perfect example that a Parent is never released from that Sacred Calling.

It's hard to believe how much everyone at home has grown so far, ESPECIALLY Brice and Cian. I can't get over how muscular Brice is either. I am so proud of him being baptized and wish I could’ve been there.

I'm starting to snack more on fruit. I'm pretty sure that I've told you this already, but Mexicans like the chile with lime flavor. They have a powder to put on fruits and veggies that tastes like chile and lime. It's awesome. I really like it on oranges and watermelon (two things I didn't eat back home. Also,lime juice is a REALLY good salad dressing, fyi. I'm also trying hard to eat a meal, and then not snack afterwards. It's hard, but I'm doing it. Sometimes, I’d snack when I stay up doing other things, like cleaning a bike (which I actually enjoy doing. Hey, if you think it's weird, remember that I'm YOUR son).
We recently had a Spanish conference and I learned a lot. One of the things I've decided to do as a result from one of the trainings is tell people specifically in the street that we are going to ask them to MAKE CHANGES and to DO THINGS. We are not just going to "talk about the Gospel." We were promised that as we do this, we will find those who are interested faster. Anyway, it was an awesome experience, and I'm excited to see what else I can do to improve the work here.

As for new news, we set two more people for the 30th of April. Their names are Reina and Alicia. We found Reina talking to one of her friends on the street. We politely interrupted them, taught a small lesson, and set up a return appointment. When we had the first appointment, we found out that she lives with her aunt Alicia. Both are very sweet,little ol' ladies who love to listen to what we have to say. We've been able to be bold with them,and they feel and hear the truthfulness about it. They are both coming to conference this Saturday (which, by the way, I can't wait for). I'm excited to see how they react to the talks.

Not much else to report on. The heat is already beginning, so it won't be too long before it gets worse. In all honesty though, this heat is nothing to the Southeast heat. At least it's dry here. I don't think people here would be able to stand the humid heat in Alabama.

April 7, 2011
Things are going well. I really enjoyed the talk by Pres.Uchtdorf too. I wrote in my notes, “Am I living up to my privileges as a missionary?” I know that once I get back home, the mantle will be taken from me, and that I will no longer enjoy the ability to serve in the capacity of a missionary any longer. I need to enjoy it while I can, and work even harder.
Tell Grandpa that I'm excited that we are going to go see him after my mission. I'd love to go to Texas and use my Spanish. I'm glad that I have several brothers and ward members that speak it so that I can use it throughout my life. I definitely don't want to lose it.
I've saved some money to send the pants, but I don't have time to do it. I'm going to try to do it today or tomorrow, but no guarantees. I've been able to patch up my other pants. You'd be so proud of your son, doing such a great job on sewing his clothes up until they can't be used anymore. hahaha. It doesn't look terrible, but it's also not professional.

Well, I can't write too much more. We didn't get much time this week, but know that I love you all very much. Take care and be happy!

April 14, 2011
I had an experience this week about optimism. I've been working really hard my whole mission to be optimistic, and I've actually been doing really good. Being optimistic has helped me work on my patience and understanding as well. Anyway, every Sunday we have a sacrament meeting at night for those that couldn't make it in the morning for
whatever reason. It has it's pluses and minuses. So, we were with Hermano Jurado, (our ward mission leader) and we went by to see this man who said he wanted to go to church at night. We came by, and he wasn't there. We went by several other people too, and they either weren't there, or were "too busy." Instead of being negative and
giving up, I decided to be optimistic and continue to think of several people. I immediately thought of Jonathan Martinez, an investigator that we haven't seen in a while and who is a little timid. Instead of being negative and thinking "Oh, he won't come, even if he IS there", I asked Herman Jurado to go by his house. We knocked on the door, and he was watching the America vs Chivas soccer game. Mom, he stopped watching the game and came with us to church. I don't know if you know, but Soccer to Hispanics is as football is to Southerners. He came, and enjoyed it at church. As we took him, we talked with him, and got to know him a little better. I'm so glad you taught me to have a PMA.(positive mental attitude) Thanks for the advice Mom. It just helped us bring someone a little closer to Christ.

Well, gotta get going. As one of the elders that I know said, "Let's make like a guillotine and head off" Take care and be happy. I love you!