WX NORTH

This week was pretty crazy and had a lot of firsts for me

-First Exchanges

     I had my first exchanges this week, which for those who don't know, is when we leave our area and go to another companionship area and split up so we have a different companion for the day and work in that area. It is designed so that we can learn more from other missionaries about the work and see things in new ways. When we got lunch it happened to be with a member who lives on a military base right there. So I've now been on a Mexican Military base which was really easy for us to get on to. They didn't ask for any ID or anything, the member just said that Americans are with me and they let us through. And the member gave us Mole(the mexican food not the animal) which was not my favorite but it wasn't bad and I'm sure I'll like it a lot more in two years. Also we taught two lessons that day that stood out to me. One was first thing in the morning and it was with an old guy who kept saying that he had no idea what I was saying and so I kind of stopped talking at all. Then later in the other lesson the guy we were teaching was saying that I was speaking really good, clear and with a good accent and that I spoke like I had over a year in the mission. So who knows what was going on or where my Spanish is really at. But it was pretty cool for my first exchange and I learned a lot. 

-First time eating till I was going to throw up.

    We ate with a member and they told us 3 which is late here, normally lunch is around 2. And then we went to the wrong address that we had for them so we didn't end up eating till 3:30 and they had lasagna and spaghetti(spaghetti is an appetizer here which has been an adjustment) and the first plate was huge and the second plate was twice the size. I was stuffed. Then we went to a lesson that they reminded us they were going to feed us and we didn't eat tons but I literally could not finish it and felt like I was about to throw up. But they weren't offended and many of them didn't even eat it all. I still felt so bad for not finishing it though.

-2nd Baptism!

    Our friend Armando got baptized yesterday which was really cool. He is turning 78 later this year which is crazy and we had quite a few crazy experiences teaching him but he really put in the effort and overcame many challenges to get to church these last few weeks and get baptized. We also had 14 friends show up to church this week which was crazy since we just had 13 last week and those are just absolutely crazy numbers. We'll see what happens this Sunday. But this is an absolutely amazing area for missionary work and it has been amazing to start my mission here.

-Who knows how many times without water

    We had many nights again this week where we don't have water. Usually it returns in the morning but still undesirable. Also this week the other Elders nearby didn't have water this week at all so we just all stayed at our house and prayed that we would have water in the mornings. It's been working but not the most fun experience.

-Someone is listening to us...

    Last week I asked my friend Elder Howes who is serving speaking ASL if there are any apps cause I want to try and learn a little to get by since there are no Mexican sign language missionaries anywhere nearby if there are any at all. And like 4 hours later our Zone leaders sent us a pdf of how to learn Mexican Sign Language which was crazy. Then friday Elder Faller and I were talking about how we have to wait till the next Sunday to confirm converts since we baptize on Sundays often and how that has led to many people not getting confirmed for months due to not coming and how it would be better if we could confirm them in the baptismal service or baptize Saturday so its only one day and then Saturday the church changed the policy to where converts can be confirmed in the baptismal service which is a crazy change!!! And will be so nice for our work.

-Friends we are working with:

   We are still trying to work with our friend Mario but it has been hard to get in contact with him and he is worried about his family's reaction to him getting baptised and leaving his current church. Our friends Martin and Ethan are going great along the path to baptism and we are working towards the 16th with them. All we really still have to do is get Martin and his partner(Ethan's mom) married. Alejandro and his family are getting ready to be baptized this Sunday which will be awesome and they are so ready. We have just had struggles teaching them cause we are teaching his Family, Leti and Orlando's family, Yuri's family, and Doris's family together since they all live together which has been really difficult to teach so many people and to teach every person all that they need to know since they are running around so much and there are so many people distracting in many small ways. Our friend Armando Serrano is preparing to be baptized and seemed to be understanding really well but we haven't been able to contact him in a couple days. Our friend Russell seems really interested but he is really busy and we haven't been able to have much contact with him. A lot of our friends have been hard to reach lately which has been difficult. Then our friends Rudy, Silvia, and Sebastian are interested and don't quite understand what the book of Mormon is talking about half the time but we are working with them and just hoping they can find more time to attend church and meet with us.

Spiritual Thought:

   Repentance and Learning a Language; In Mosiah 27:24-25 we read "24 For, said he, I have repented of my sins, and have been redeemed of the Lord; behold I am born of the Spirit. 25 And the Lord said unto me: Marvel not that all mankind, yea, men and women, all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, must be born again; yea, born of God, changed from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming his sons and daughters;" I really like this scripture about repentance because it focuses on change which is a huge part of it and something President Nelson has emphasized a lot lately. But something that has really stood out to me as I have been trying to learn a language is the focus on improving and not being afraid to make mistakes since we are going to make them anyways. With learning a new language you are guaranteed to make some mistakes but you need to learn and grow from them. Making mistakes is not a bad thing, it is a bad thing to not learn from the mistakes. I have made many mistakes with the language but they have helped me learn and it is the same as with repentance. Before the mission a lot of the time I would try my best to avoid the mistakes in order to not have to repent of as much but here I have realized that while obviously we need to try to avoid the mistakes and change to follow the Savior, that we cannot be afraid to make the occasional mistake in order to learn and grow. We cannot let fear of making mistakes rule our lives. You can't learn if you don't mess up. That doesn't mean that we should try to make mistakes obviously but that we shouldn't be afraid to make those mistakes and to make sure to learn from them when we make them. I know that as we try to learn from our mistakes and continually repent, God will help us and will bless us in ways we can only imagine.

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Love you all and would love to hear from you all,

    Elder Page