November 8, 2010

My dear dear family,

Yup! i got transfers! ( i realize i normally say changes and stuff because thats what it is in Spanish, and i forgot they are called "transfers" in english. haha sorry, have patience with me.)  Anyways! i  said my good byes to Morelos and went to Tejupilco!  Thats right! It's the the LARGEST area in the mission! haha! Well at least they say so and it's incredibly far away from everything!  4 and half hours from my old area.(by bus)  Crazy huh! Basically i am out of Distrito Federal and now am offically in the State of Mexico.  it's really cool here.  A lot different and a lot bigger!  This area is  far away from our zone so  every week now when we get together as a zone for the meetings and all, we take a bus that is 2 and half hours away! Crazy huh!  But that's fine.  it really is so much more beautiful here!  Not so many buildings and more hills and trees.  Really neat. The people here are great.  Basically the people are the same but they have a different accent here. it's kinda funny. i don't know how to describe it but it's a different tone when they aks questions. i don't  know if I really like it but I have a feeling i will pick it up while i am working here. There isn't anything t like a Walmart or Mcdonalds here because it's just far away  and there aren't a ton of people, but there are stores and cars and all that.   So don't think i am in some old Mexican town like Nacho Libre. haha! It's different thats for sure, it's more of the true Mexican culture here food and all.  The food is good and sometimes  different but its all good!  Lot's of places to eat tacos so I am happy! Another change for me is that we work in a branch here! Yes a branch not a ward.  There are like 35 active members and a lot of inactive members, so we have some work to do. but they are great people, really nice.  Since it's a branch, we don't have a church, we have a house that the church rents and its called a prayer house and the baptismal font iis outside in this little cube thing. i will have to take a picture of it.  But it is neat none the less.

O ya! I am with my new Comp Elder Sanchez.  He is from tabasco and really awesome! he loves to work diligently throughout all the day.  so we do!  He has been in the mission for like 6 months, so he still has that greeny spirit to work, which is great because sometimes I get a little  tired when we don't have success but he is there to push me!  it's really awesome!!  This week we have been really obedient and focusing on that,  which is great because we get more blessings from our obedience and I need that, especially this change becuase guess what!?!?! When my zone leader told me my transfers last week he told me that I was going to be called to be a district leader.  AHHHH! o man, i don't feel ready for that but its really exciting. And...Sanchez told me something really cool which is,  I dont have to be absolutely ready or perfect to be a leader.  It is just like our investigators, they don't need to know everything and be perfect before they are baptized. :) It's true!  We all learn as we go!  So  thanks  Elder Sanchez. I am really working on being most obedient and learning more as a missionary.

i have to say it was super hard to say goodbye to everyone in Morelos. There were so many great families there that were so dear to me.  Some families wrote me  notes and stuff, which is so super nice!  I love that area and I am going to miss it.  But that is part of missionary work! I really want to return to my misson  after I'm done.  I want to visit some of the people here.  I know I will...

I love you all soooooooo much! Thanks for your prayers and for remembering me!  I cant wait to hear from you next time! BYE!

Elder $ean Larson

p.s. i finished the Book of Mormon in Spanish! YAHOOO!

Sean's new companion...Elder Sanchez

View of Tejupilco 

View of Sean's Apartment

Elder Sanchez at the apartment

No churches...this is the "prayer house."

Updates...a little at a time

Mexico City Temple

Sean in front of the Temple

Missionary Training Center in Mexico

Goofing around in the glasses store

October 18, 2010

Ok family,

I dont have a whole lot of time because I was writing to the president and then the newsletter and now you guys! Plus the computers won't read my memory card for some reason.  Well first some great news!  We finally have a baptismal date for the Reyes Casas Family! WHOOO! Por fin!! It is this saturday at 11 am.  I am super excited and wow was it a great experience when we asked them to get baptize.  First we asked them if they ever prayed about our message or why we are here and before we finished the sentance Nadia, the daughter that goes to the school of the church, said "yes! i have! and well".... (then she got really teary) and then said, " I want to be baptized!" and she just cried and cried. It was amazing! The spirit was sooooo strong!  The other members of the family said "yes" too...but not like Nadia! It was just so great and I am super excited! You will definetly get pics from that!" 

October 25, 2010

"Last week we invited the family Reyes Casas to get baptized.  They said they wanted to wait till the next saturday because they wanted to talk as a family and all. So that was all good.  When we went to their house this last Wednesday to get the interviews all done with our district leader,  we were very excited, so we talked a little bit about the baptism and the the dad, Hector told us that they just weren't ready yet for the baptism.  NOOOOOOO!!! (dont worry this is a good story) They just said that they weren't really really sure. So we talked and taught all about baptism telling them that sometimes they really are ready and they  just need to trust the Lord.  But they still said "no".  Luckily, Nadie who goes to the Benemerito school, said she still wanted to be baptized.  She was sure!!!  Her parents said that it was fine if she wanted to get baptized.  So we planned the baptism for her only.  (Which was  great but we really wanted to baptize the whole family together!)  So on the Sunday before the baptism,  Rodriguez and I decided to fast and pray for them and that everything would go well.  I guess I started doubting a little cuz now we just were baptising  Nadie, but thats  really ok! I kept telling myself that there still might be a chance.  Saturday finally came and we were getting the baptismal font ready.  We thought 2 hours would be fine to fill up the baptismal font but we were wrong!! So we used buckets of water to help fill up too because we didn't have any more time to wait.  (As you can see from the photos i sent)  We finally got it filled and the family came all excited for their sisters baptism.   Elder Rodriguez decided to invite our district leader to the baptism just in case the kids wanted to get baptized, but we really weren't sure.  So we were doing some final adjustments and suddenly the Nadia's 3 brohers  came to us and said.. "Um elders, can we get baptized too?"  WHOOOOO! "OF COURSE!" haha so we had our district leader do their interviews and "luckily" we brought some extra clothes for the baptism.  Wow.  Neither us nor the members had talked to the kids, they just came and really had the desire to get baptized. i think they could feel the spirit so strong at this moment and they really had the desire to do it.  how cool!  so we got them ready and the baptism we had planned for 1 came out to be 4! cool huh!? 

The Reyes Cases Family

Hecto, Nadia, Vladamir, and Armando

"Nadie, Hector, Vladamir, and Armando, oldest to youngest, all got baptized and they also were confirmed yesterday in church! wow! i realized that our fast and prayer really did work.  At the very last moment, our prayers answered!  How amazing is our Father in Heaven! I love these experiences! This is what the mission is all about!!  Everyone said they felt the spirit so strong with this baptism.  This is such a great work and I am so happy for the faith that we had and the success that the Lord gave us.  We are still hoping that the parents decide to get baptized, but they are having some economic  problems within the relationship and we are working on that.We are hoping that sometime this week we might be able to  baptize them.  I  just need to exercise more faith again! Wow. This experience has really boosted me and my testimony of this mission."

Ready to be baptized

Sean's zone in Morelos

Youth in the ward

Felipe and family.  (They own the Glasses store.)

Ward member, Elder Rodriguez and Sean