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

Catching up

Elder Rodriguez, investigators and Sean at the visitors center.

Despite my efforts, I haven't been very good about updating Sean's Mission Blog...mine either for that matter!  So here's some updates on Elder Larson!

Sean on the rooftop of his apartment

View of the hill Sean lives on

The prison below Sean's apartment

Sean displaying his WWF belt that he won at the ward party

Visiting with members who own the "glasses" store

Sean modeling the candy lei made by the YW

Elder Javier,  Luis (ward memeber) and Sean

Elder Javier in front of the ELEMENTARY SCHOOL!

Sean and Monzon family

Sean and Laura. She cuts the missionaries hair

Temple in Mexico City

Visitors Center with Elizabeth, Mario and family

"Changes" and new companion Elder Rodriguez

 Oct. 11 2010
"Another other quick week here in Morelos.  This change is going by super fast.  it is pretty crazy!  I think it is because we are focusing on the work more.  I have to say sometimes we still dont have a lot of success but its much better to work than not to. the days are just long sometimes but then once the week finishes we are always amazed.  I dont know if it is a good thing or bad thing then haha.  I am really grateful for my comp, Rodriguez.  He knows a lot of stuff and helps me a lot.  There are still so many things i dont know and that i am still learning.  And i think that is why he is with me.  When i dont know how to answer a question that someone asks (not because of spanish, i just dont know haha) He is always there for me to back me up and sometimes we both dont know and that is when we tell them, we will study up on that and check with them in the next appointment.  Thats really cool too because that is when we study as a companionship and learn so many other new things." 

Ward Members art for "Day of the Dead"

Eating with ward members

Preparing dinner

Cooking tortillas

 Sean has been serving in Morelos for the last 3 months.  Transfers are this week, so he's not sure what will happen then.  He has love this area and many of the people he has met there.  He has had the opportunity to teach some wonderful investigators and to baptize them.  (I'll share baptisms on my next post)  This has been such a great experience for him and despite the hard work and sometimes disappointment, he absolutely LOVES being a missionary!  We love seeing the spiritual and cultural growth in him!  We look forward to his next letter.  I'll try and be better about keeping up!

A New President and Transfers

Pres. Villarreal is great! I had an interview with him and I know he is going to be great.  He told me there are going to be changes in the mission, actually I think in all the missions! Missionaries are going to be taught 8 lessons so that they can be better teachers.  It's for the missionaries and its not for the investigators.  I am really excited because I need help with that. Then eventually one random day, our President will knock our door and go to work with us that day! Cool huh! I am excited.  I also think it will help kick some of the elders into gear to work again.  I am excited and that means more hard work.  So that will good for me and everyone else.

  

Sean and Elder Hernandez (Sean's trainer)

Sean's new Area

Sean's new companion, Elder Javier.

The streets of Morelos after the rain

Flooding in the streets

Morelos at night

I love this mission and I love you all so much! I miss you tons... but love you more! I am right where I   want and need to be, here in Mexico, preaching the gospel.! Thank you for your support and prayers and letters. I love you all! PEACE!

First Baptism

The Perez Family

Meet the Perez Family!  This family was in Sean's first area and one of the first families to be baptized.  The father was already a member and Sean and his companion, Elder Hernandez, were able to teach and baptize the mother and her daughter.

"I will tell you about our baptisms! ya! finally.  So we have been teaching this family, the Perez family.  The dad is a member but the rest are not.  The dad was inactive and wanted to start going to church again and get his family baptized.  They have 3 kids but 2 of the kids aren't 8 so they can't get baptized yet. The other daughter, Cony and the mom, Marium have accepted to get baptized this Saturday! Yeah! So that is great news and I am totally excited!  I don't know if i will be baptizing them or not. It's funny because Marium doesn't really want her husband to baptize her but i don't know why exactly,  so  I might,  but either way its great!!  It was so cool actually hearing the investigators answer that question of "will you be baptized on this date?" and then  to hear them say "yes!" It's a lot different than the MTC haha.  It was a really cool experience and feeling. It really helps boost your confidence and makes you want to work even harder! I love it! I will update you next p day on how the baptism went.


We also brought Sol, our golden investigator, to church yesterday! She is totally set and ready and looks like she will get baptized on June 5th in Utah.  That is really neat for her!  She will be a great member and add a lot to the church with her spirit.  Plus she went to this meeting on Friday and 3 of the Seventies were there. They let the investigators  ask questions about the church and stuff! Cool huh! Anything they wanted to ask they could ask.  Sadly.... I wasn't there. ..yes I got sick. Fun!.... I don't know if it was something I ate because the food was fine but I felt way tired on Thursday and then my stomach just was not acting right.  So that night went to bed and threw up and ya....  anyways! Friday I could not do anything! I had no energy whatsoever! Showering was a big struggle for me! But then we got meds and now I am feeling fine! I am so happy for that too because I realized that you really don't want to be sick on your mission. It sucks! You want to go out and work but you just can't. It sucked but all is well now!"

Sean and Isis Perez

Missionary Bear Kidnapped!

BREAKING NEWS! The missionary bears were on an outing with their newest missionary, Elder Stringham last Thursday, July 22, 2010. When the outing was over, the Guatemalan bear was carelessly left in the back of the van by his mother! It was alleged that the Mexican bear seized the opportunity, kidnapped the bear and is holding him for ransom! (Evidence was found on the scene.) There have been no updates as to whether the ransom is being paid or not, but we will keep you updated with any breaking news!

Alleged kidnapper and Guatemalan bear

Ransom note

Distraught mother and father

Elder Larson, Elder Fadel and Elder Stringham in happier times

The Food...the sports...the people!

Sean really loves Mexico! He loves the food, he loves the people and he loves their enthusiasm for sports, especially soccer. He said that their love for soccer is unsurpassed. It has been particularly fun being there during the World Cup. Even though the missionaries can't watch the games, they always know what is going on because the entire town is "a buzz" with soccer talk. They were heartbroken when Mexico was eliminated. Sean's zone played a lot of soccer on their p days. I'm not sure how well he plays, but the uniforms are awesome!

Sean LOVES the food in Mexico. The members take very good care of the missionaries and feed them well. He said in his last letter that he now weighed 160 pounds! (I think he weighed just under 140 when he left.) Here are some fun shots of some of Sean's favorite things!

I think this is Mexico's soccer jersey.

Uniforms for the zone

One of the only soccer fields that actually has grass!

Same

P day...taking the bus

One of Sean's favorite meals...I can't remember what it's called

Now we know why he weighs 160!

This is his favorite meat for tacos!

Authentic tacos...yummy!