Hey guys!!
I hope that everything is still going well. I did get the
new debit card at my zone conference the other day, and I have some pictures
from the zone conference that are attached in this email. One picture is with
President Cordova and his wife, and the other is all of the zones in Orizaba.
And I promise to keep taking pictures as often as I can. And my prayers were
answered yesterday on a bus believe it or not. I got of the bus and we started
walking towards our house, and the bus driver got off the bus and ran towards
me, and he had my wallet! He told me that a kid that was on the bus gave it to
him. I seriously prayed that someone would be honest and return my wallet to
me. They took the 150 pesos, but that is not a big deal, it’s like 15 dollars.
But it had my insurance card, other debit card(which i cut up), and it also had
my license in it, so don't worry about working with the DMV now. Man I was so
happy when he handed my wallet to me.
And mom to answer your laundry question, we usually have a
member do our laundry, or we go to a members house and use their washing
machine. Laundry has been great. Like today, we don’t have to worry about our
laundry because a lady in our ward is washing our clothes. And we did start
putting up the decorations in our house. We have the little tree with the
lights on it, the Merry Christmas thing, and the felt Christmas tree. We had
fun one morning putting up decorations. And I did not get any pictures of
opening presents....lo siento(i'm sorry). My church debit card will be here in
probably like 4 weeks, because it has to come in from church headquarters in
salt lake.
And Dad to answer some of your questions. We have a pretty
good sized ward! Probably 100+ members in our ward. Our bishop is really cool.
He took me and Elder Lumbreras out to a fancy restaurant in Orizaba. It was
really good food. He is such a cool guy. I can’t wait to hopefully introduce
you and mom to him after my mission. One member that I am pretty close to is
Ivan. He kinda took me under his wing when he met me, the new gringo. Haha He
is really cool. He tries to speak English to me, everyone does, and it is
actually kinda humorous. All of our finding with new investigators is either
with street contacts, or references from members or other people in the area.
We aren't allowed to just go door knocking for safety purposes, and its more
effective to get references or talk to people in the street, because those
people are usually ready to hear the gospel.
We had a golden street contact the other day with a woman
named Angeles. We approached her in the street and presented our Christmas
message to her. If you guys haven't seen it already I encourage you to watch
it. Go to christmas.mormon.org, and watch the video. This is what all
missionaries are sharing to members and investigators in the Christmas season.
Anyway, We presented the message to her, then we asked her if there would be a
time that we could set up an appointment with her, and she said, "how
about this Tuesday?" We were so surprised when she just invited us into
her home like that. We gave her a restoration pamphlet also. When we went to
her house on Tuesday, she told us that she had read the entire pamphlet for the
restoration, we were so surprised. She had a ton of questions that we tried to
answer and clear up, and told her to keep pondering questions that she had, and
we would try to answer them in the next visit. We got a text from her saying
that she wasn't interested anymore and that she was too confused to decide on
whether or not to keep taking the missionary lessons, and that she hoped that
we would understand that she wasn't interested anymore. We went to her house
that day still, because we did not know what was going on with her. When we
started talking to her, her and her husband had found a crap-ton of anti-Mormon
stuff on the internet, about how Joseph Smith had 7 wives, and lots of other
things. We sat and explained to her that the only website that she can trust
for Mormon things are mormon.org, and lds.org. I also told her that it isn't
the church of the internet, it is the Church of Jesus Christ, and it is the
same teachings that Jesus taught in his time. She agreed to keep taking the
lessons, and only trust us to answer questions that she has for us. Her husband
is very skeptical, but she told us that she has wanted to find the truth for
years, and has investigated many churches. So now she has found the true
church. :)
Another investigator that we have is great. His name is
Jordy, and we have been working with him for a while. He has a very strong
testimony, and we conducted a baptismal interview for him the other day, and he
will be baptized this next Sunday. Elder Lumbreras asked him who he wanted to
baptize him, and he said that he wanted me to baptize him! It will be my first
baptism of the mission. :)
All missionaries got to watch the first presidency Christmas
Devotional last night, and that was awesome. They had a room set up for the
gringos to watch it in English. It was kinda nice to be able to understand
everything. We actually didn't do any proselyting yesterday, it was just a very
relaxing Sunday for the missionaries.
The days really are weeks, and the weeks are days. I
blinked, and now I have been in mexico for 4 weeks. It just keeps flying by! I
am enjoying it a lot more since I understand more Spanish, and since I can
speak a lot more. I still am not great, but I am very confident in lessons with
investigators, and I am beginning to learn all of the lessons better so I can
have them in my head for when I need them.
Just think, one more Christmas in the mission, then I will
be home the next September. It really will fly by. I dont know about all of
you, but it feels like time is just flying by. My training will be done soon,
and then I could potentially be a trainer. My companion just told me that he
wants me to be a district leader in the mission. And that is a lot of pressure.
Haha But I am going to try very hard so that President Cordova will see me as
leader material.
It’s funny. With more time in the mission I find that more
and more regular songs from home pop into my head while I am on a bus or
walking down the street. Today the song was Bleeding Out by Imagine Dragons. I
figure if it isn't a bad song, then it is ok if I sing them and have them in my
head.
It has been raining here for the last 3 days, pretty much
non-stop. And it is so freaking cold in the nights. That’s what I get for being
in the coldest area. Haha There is like 5 other people from Utah in my zone, and
District. It makes me laugh that we all got assigned to the coldest area.
Kenzie. I can’t believe it will be 2015 soon either! It
makes it feel like the mission is flying by even faster. If you count the MTC,
I have been out for 2 months in the mission. It is crazy how fast time is
flying by in the mission. I found some spongebob toys in some cereal boxes, and
they sit on my study desk to remind me of you each day. Haha The little
spongebob dude broke off of your pen the day that I actually decided to have it
sticking out of my shirt pocket. You should be proud of me. :) I even wore it
to ward council. Haha I miss you sister, and I pray for you daily. I hope
things continue to go well with you and Justin. And hopefully Justin can get a
job in the West Jordan Harmons. Especially since Brother Norris is one of the
managers.
Justin. What’s up my brotha!! I hope you get that job in
West Jordan. I will pray for you to be able to get that job. I hope that you
and Kenzie continue to have a happy marriage. I also pray for that. :) I saw a
commercial for the new Halo in a member’s house the other day, and it looks
sweet. I can’t wait to have a halo party with the new one when I get home. And
that really won’t be too much longer from now. Miss ya bro, and hope things continue
to go well with you.
Alex. What’s up brotha!! How has work been going for you
lately? I hope that it has been going well, and that it continues to go well. I
can’t wait to see you again, and hang out and play the new halo. It will be
awesome!! haha. Have a good day bro!
Syd. I hope that school has been going well for you, and
that you are still enjoying school. I pray that you do every day. I miss you
every day little sis, and can’t wait to see you again. Remember, "so when
life gets dark and dreary, don’t forget to pray." Always pray. I have
prayed more here than I probably have in my whole life, and it really does
help.
This is all I have time for, but have a good day and
remember that I always pray for you all. And remember that we are always one day
closer to being reunited.
I love you all!!
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| Nick with President and Sister Cordova |
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| Zone Conference - Nick is the top right Elder |
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