Nearing the End of Another Change - October 29, 2016

Hello Everyone! Well this week was a very busy week that was somewhat unusual just because of the end of the change that we have. Sadly Elder Valenzuela has completed his time here in the offices and is now getting transfered to go train down in the Itsmo so this week I will be getting a new companion, Elder Caballero from Monterrey. I am pretty excited and I know that he will be awesome. But anyways this week has been crazy. On Wednesday we had to take the Elders going home to the airport at 5 in the morning, then we came back and we started getting ready for the changes for this Monday. For the past 3 days we have been buying tickets, planning where everyone needs to be and at what time, and then communicating to the zone leaders everything that needs to happen. It has taken us about 2 days to do all of that and then trying to get back to our area to make sure that our investigators keep progressing. It has been pretty stressful and it has been hard because as we have made the effort to go back to our area a lot of the times we havent found them there. But it has been an opportunity to excersize our faith that the Lord is watching out for them and helping them to prepare for baptism. On Monday I finally got the opportunity to go to the famous Monte Alban here in Oaxaca. That was pretty cool to see all of the ruins and basically a whole city still intact and standing. We roamed everywhere seeing where they had built all of their temples and buildings. It was fun to go with all of the missionaries in the city. We had about 70 missionaries that were there with us. I will attach some pictures at the end here for all of you to see. This week we were able to continue to teach Madai a few times. One of the experiences that we had with her was that she continues to try to share the gospel with everyone. It is still really hard for her to find someone that will go with her to church and she is looking so hard to be able to find a friend or family member that wants to learn too. This week she gave us 2 more referrals. When we went to teach her the other day we asked her to go get her Book of Mormon and she told us "Well I actually was telling my friend about it and he wanted to read it" So she let her friend borrow it to read!! She isnt even baptized but she is sharing the gospel with everyone she knows. We are hoping and praying that she can be baptized this coming Saturday. She has told us over and over that she is 100% sure that she wants to do this because she has been able to see the changes in her life. Anyways sorry for the shorter email this week, there wasnt a lot that has happened just because of the busy office schedule that we have had. But like I said before, it has been such a faith builder for us to put all that we can forth and then depend on the Lord to do the rest for us. Something that really stuck out to me this week is just the way that I have needed to focus my faith on the Lord. A lot of the teachings and studies that I have had have really helped me to understand that the best way to ask the Lord for something we need is to give thanks for the blessings and miracles that we already have. I know that we are coming to November and it is a time to give thanks for all that we have. We are so blessed and we have the opportunity to always give thanks by how we live and use the blessings we have. Just to finish off this email I want to share a quote by President Monson that has helped me to give thanks for what we have instead of ask for what we need. Heavenly Father knows what we need, we just need to see what we have. Sincerely giving thanks not only helps us recognize our blessings, but it also unlocks the doors of heaven and helps us feel God’s love. -Thomas S. Monson I am so thankful to be a part of this work especially during this time of the year when we can realize just how much God has given us. I know that it is all true.

With Elder Ringle (Logan) and Elder Sosa (Las Vegas)

Monte Alban

Going away breakfast for Elder Valenzuela with the Office Staff