Hola Madre!
VIVE LA VIDA MEXICO!
Guess what… I’m finally in Mexico! Two flights and an hour layover later, I am here. The thing that I have already found out is that a lot of time is spent traveling. I was assigned to labor in a pueblito just outside of León, México called San Pancho (but everyone here calls it San Francisco). So ya let’s dive right in cuz I really do have a lot to cover within the last 7 days.
So last P-day in the States we had a Zone activity where we played kickball and got some lunch at a little restaurant called Showmars. Which is basically a fast food Greek joint. It was a bittersweet farewell to Elder Bangerter (te amo vato!) But a brutal awakening. We had to wake up super early. Another Elder had a flight at 6 am. So we had to wake up at 3 am. Then I spent 5 hours just chilling at the airport. It wasn’t all bad though I actually enjoy airports. I’m weird I guess.
So first day in Mexico was sweet. I flew in with 6 other Elders including my MTC comp Elder Purdy. When we flew in president was there to pick us up. He is the sweetest guy ever. Literally hugged us like a dozen times but every time he would he would spray himself with disinfectant. Anyways we spent our first day at the mission office doing interviews and eating Costco chicken bakes! After that they split me off from the rest of the group to go bunk up with the APs for the night. The next morning we ate breakfast with the Facebook specialists which were both Americans and then we left for our assignments!
I was assigned to serve with Elder Rojas an Elder from Veracruz México. He will be leaving the mission at the end if this transfer. He is awesome. When I first sat down on my bed he turns to me and goes “How obedient are you?” (All of this is in Spanish of course, because he doesn’t speak english) So I say I try to be as obedient as possible. So he says I am very “libre” or free. Which basically means he isn’t disobedient but he isn’t obedient either. Anyways long story short Elder Rojas and I are going to get along great.
I ALMOST FORGOT TO MENTION THIS! So after breakfast and before we leave to split up into our assigned areas. We are chilling in the Facebook specialists apartment. And as we are packing up to leave I decide to go to the restroom. As one does when they need to relieve themselves. Everyone else is packing and getting ready to leave. And when I step out of the bathroom, everyone is gone… I got left behind in the middle of Querétaro Mexico! You know, just a gringo American chilling in a Privada. Haha, I just sat there and laughed at the fact that I just got Home Aloned.
Anyway, really cool thing that happened on Thursday is that we had divisiones with our Zone leader. Elder Serr became my companion for a day. He was one of the lucky few who came straight here after online MTC so he has been here since November so almost a year. His Spanish is awesome. But the really cool part was when he showed up he was like we are going to find a baptism for this weekend. And so we start taking phone calls and we find a family with two unbaptised kids. So we run by there house and share a gospel message with them. We weren’t able to baptize then this weekend so we set a time in the future it was still really cool to see how different this mission is from Charlotte. In fact I learned when I first got here that Querétaro is the highest baptizing mission in the world!
As I said about traveling a lot, I am currently writing this on an 45 minute bus ride to Leon for our P-day activity which ought to be fun. Quick spiritual thought then I will finish.
So at the beginning of my mission I remember reading “You need to have meaningful experiences with truth before you can teach meaningful truths yourself.” Anyways I found a scripture that perfectly explains this. It is in D&C 11:21;
“Seek not to declare my word, but first seek to obtain my word, and then shall your tongue be loosed; then, if you desire, you shall have my Spirit and my word, yea, the power of God unto the convincing of men.”
This scripture us really important as a missionary because if you want to teach with the spirit you need to have the information stored away somewhere for the spirit to work with. I am so excited to teach the people here in San Pancho Mexico. I can already tell there are big things waiting for me. The trick now is finding it.
Till next time,
Elder Service
