Week 29: A bit more of Mexico

Sometimes days in the mission start to feel really long and you don't feel like you have enough energy to take another step, but then God gives you an experience that reminds you of why you're here. A lot of times it isn't anything even that big, just a little reminder that I'm not here serving alone, but I have His support. 

Friday we went searching for a reference, we knocked on a door and a little old lady answered. We asked if Armondo lived there and she said yes but wasn't there at that moment, we asked if she had a little bit of time to talk but she anxiously said no and closed the door. Later in the day we were walking by and she was outside shoveling gravel into a bag, we ran over to her and offered to help. She said she didn't need our help, but we weren't taking no for an answer! Somehow Elder Cárdenas managed to get the shovel from her and I started talking. She ended up opening up to us and even asked where our church building is and that she'd like to come. She didn't end up coming because she had to work, but it was cool to see the difference in someone when we just started serving. 

We had a special mission conference on Wednesday and they changed the standard of excellence for the mission. Before we were supposed to make at least 25 contacts in the street each week. Now we're supposed to make 20 each day! I can't say that we reached that goal, but we did make improvements this week because of the higher standard. 

This morning we went into the offices and I saw the president, he asked me how long I've been in my area. I told him five and a half months, all he said after that was "pack" and then walked into his office. SO I guess I'll be having changes in week, I don't know where, all I know is I won't be here. Which I  guess I'm a bit excited for! I'll finally get to see a bit more of Mexico.

Thank you for all of your support! I love you all so much!

Love Elder Twede

 

Sister Lopez Rivera who helps us with our laundry and always gives us a bunch of food. I haven't grown at all... I just look a lot taller next to most of the people here ;)

  

Elder Cárdenas getting his bag ready for the day. 

Elder Bradshaw who was in the MTC with me. We ran into each other at the offices this morning. He's an amazing missionary!

Week 28: A Very Rewarding Sunday!

Finally this week things started turning around! We found 5 new investigators and had 9 investigators in the church on Sunday! After 5 five weeks of not having an investigator come to church it was a very rewarding Sunday! It's a lot easier to have energy each day when you can actually see the fruits of you labors.

This week just all in all was better, it was a lot easier for me to focus on being positive. And when I'm positive I make more good memories. I'll probably be able to tell what kind of week I had in the mission when I read my journal depending on what kind of memories I have in there. One day when we were teaching one of our new investigators they had a parrot outside their door and the whole lessons it was talking. Well.. more like yelling than talking. It had the kid yelling "papa, papa, papaaaaaa" down! The one that nearly got me laughing while we were teaching was when it screamed "Perro! AHHHHH!" It was a very entertaining lesson.

One day when we went to eat at a members house, we were sitting on the couch waiting and their dog ran up and jump onto the couch next to me with a mouse in it's mouth. But this was just any mouse, I had never seen a mouse like it, it must be a new breed or something because this thing was paper thin! I grabbed the dog and it dropped the mouse, my companion grabbed the mouse by the tail and threw it out the door.

On Tuesday we had a sneak attack rainstorm that got us soaked, as we were running down the street to our next appointment I couldn't help but feel like I was in a temple run game (for you adults that don't know what that is, just ask any kid that has ever used a smart phone.) We ran next to the houses that have little ledges that come out over the doors, we would sprint from one door to the next dodging the little waterfalls coming off the houses. I really wish that my camera was waterproof, because that was a very entertaining moment.

This week we haven't had gas because we keep missing the guy that comes walking down the street screaming "GAAAASS"... He passes by so fast and we never can seem to catch him before he's gone around the corner. But this means that we have been bathing from a bucket all week again. I'll admit that the one thing I'm probably going to appreciate most when I get back is having a nice bathroom again. That doesn't run out of hot water.    

The mission really is a boot camp for ones faith. Every day it must be exercised in order to really have the success and strength. Serving a full two year mission would be impossible if one tried doing it without faith, because this work requires miracles. Miracles come from God and we must exercise faith in him in order to see those miracles. As it says in Ether 12:12 "For if there be no faith among the children of men God can do no miracle among them; wherefore, he showed not himself until after their faith." Often we pray and ask for a miracle or for simple blessings with the expectation that we'll receive it just because we asked. But if we do not do our part to work with what the Lord has already provided us, how can we expect him to bless us. We must be like the men in Matthew 25 who received talents and doubled what they had received through working and received the blessings of the Lord as it says in verse 21 "His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord." If we are like that of the man who received one talent and did nothing to improve on that, we will be left without the blessings of the Lord. We must ACT in faith, for faith without works is dead, not taking for granted the things the Lord has given us. After we have worked and improved upon our talents from the Lord, the Lord can then give us the blessings. For "he showed not himself until after their faith."

I love this work and am learning so much every day! I can't believe that I have already been on my mission for 6 months! I have so much more to do and learn before it all just flies by! I can really understand now why people that serve missions talk about for the rest of their lives, it really is a chance of a lifetime. 

I love you all!

Love Elder Twede

After running through the rain. You can't really tell.. but I was soaked 

I know that I looked really weird in this picture... but hey... I was pretty excited to get a valentine of Mexican Candy ;) 

Marco Polo! He's an awesome member, he's 20 and has been a member for about 3 years and plans on serving a mission. 

Week 27: I love this work

I just have to start by telling you that I shook Elder Oaks hand on Saturday. Yep. I can probably stop right there because that's the coolest thing that happened this week. ;) But I'll write a little more just to be nice. 

This week was a lot better than the last! Probably due to the fact that I didn't feel like my stomach was going to explode. It's a lot easier to work when you don't feel super sick, that's the last time I'll except street tacos from someone. 

We're still haven't a bit of trouble with our investigators keeping their commitments... Yesterday we didn't have any investigators in church again. It's does get really tiring when people just don't progress. It's just sad to see them have struggles and trials and wonder why, but not make the effort to recieve the blessings. In the conference with Elder Oaks he talked a lot about church attendance. Right now in Mexico is about 1/4 of the members are active, and it's been like that for a long time. It doesn't go up or down, it just sits there at 1/4th. This really is the hardest thing in joining the church for the Mexican people, they just aren't used to attending church every Sunday. It brought me to reflect on my childhood and I'm very grateful to have been raised in a family where going to church and partaking of the sacrement is so important. Even when we went of vacations we always rested on Sunday and went to church. I may not have understood why it was so important when I was younger, but now as a missionary I can really see the difference it makes in someones life when they  come to church every week. 

If you read in 3 Nephi 18 it's when Christ taught the people how to do the sacrement ordenance. In verse 7 it says "And this shall ye do in aremembrance of my bbody, which I have shown unto you. And it shall be a testimony unto the Father that ye do always remember me. And if ye do always remember me ye shall have my Spirit to be with you."  When we partake of the sacrement we are doing it in rememberance of Him and there's a promise in this verse that if we remember him we will always have his spirit. Elder Oaks said in the conference that anyone that wants to follow the teachings of the Savior must have the spirit in order to do so. If we do not go to church and partake of the sacrement, we will not have the spirit with us and we will not be able to follow in his footsteps. When we partake of the sacrement we establish ourselves on the rock of our Savior and when the winds of the world come beating against us we will not fall. If only more people here understood this. 

I love this work and what a great opportunity I have now to dedicate 100% of my time to the Lord! It's hard work and it is difficult at times, but the things I have learned and the testimony I have gained I wouldn't trade for the world! 

Love Elder Twede

This is just one of the patios where we are washing our cloths today. I thought I'd take a quick picture to just show what most houses are like. This one is actually really nice! Most are a bit scary looking. 

A typical Mexican meal. Rice. Beans. Spagetti and hot dog tacos... provecho! 

These things are everywhere! people ride them down the streets selling things.

Here's Mexican construction for ya. The road is starting to have huge sink holes, so they put these bars in to stop cars from driving on it. But they put them too far apart without measuring so the cars still drove through. Now they just have bags of rocks to do the job.  I'm actually sitting in that building right behind that parked car right now emailing! 

Week 26: The Blessing of a Trial

This week was hard. But if I were to put a tittle to this letter it would be "the blessing of a trial". We haven't been having a lot of success in our area and every day seems really hard. I've been praying a lot for more strength so that I can continue working without losing heart. Friday night I got really sick because an investigator gave us tacos and they did not sit well in my stomach. Normally I try to turn unhealthy things down, but this an investigator, so I ate the tacos. That night I sat in bed with a bucket and didn't sleep a whole lot. For a moment I let my mind wonder into the negative area and I started to get really down. I had been praying for strength so that I could bear my struggles, but at this moment I felt very, very weak and like I wouldn't be able to move forward. 

I'm pretty sure that I've shared this scripture before, but it applies to this week perfectly.
Ether 12:27

And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them. 

There was a moment that night that I really feel like the Lord was teaching me. At 6:00 in the morning I was throwing up in my bucket. Now throwing up is bad enough, but throwing up chili... let's just say it burns a little more. As I sat there huddled over my bucket in my bed, this scripture came to my mind and I suddenly felt this strength come to me... and I smiled. I'll admit I was a little surprised that I was able to smile in the middle of regurgitating my meal, but I did. And.. well suddenly my mind was lifted from that place of negativity and I recognized that this was a blessing, I just had to look at it that way. Because really I do feel stronger because of this experience! And that's what I was praying for in the first place. 

I remembered the talk by D. Todd Christofferson titled "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten" There's a line in his talk that says ‘Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for loving me enough to cut me down.’” We can either choose to curse God for our troubles, or recognize it as the opportunity that he has given us to learn and grow. It may not be easy, but if we put our trust in God and our Savior Jesus Christ, we can go through it with a smile :)

Thank you for all of your love and support! It really is a great blessing as a missionary to have friends and family that love me and write often! I love you all so much!


Love Elder Twede 

Week 25: It's such a good feeling

Let me just start out by saying how this was a great week! We split the area and Elder Cardenas and I are still working together. We make a great companionship, but we do have a little weakness.. He's a little bit quiet and I'm a little bit quiet in spanish still, so we're still having a little bit of trouble making contacts in the street. There are a lot of times when he'll look at me like he wants me to take over the conversation and I look back with the same expression because I don't understand what the person said. But speaking about my Spanish, I am getting a lot better at it! I'm understanding a whole lot more and I feel like I'm really able to apply spiritual messages personaly to the people that we're teaching. I still have a whole lot to learn, but I have a big enough vocabulary now to at least express myself... in a round about way at times :) 

We have been working a lot with the less active members in my area, it's really nice now that the area is half the size we can focus more on the people because there are fewer. We found this huge list of members and we don't know most of them, so this week we went knocking doors and found a ton of awesome people that all it took was one visit and the came to church on Sunday. We jumped up about 15 in attendance yesterday in church! we had 99 people! The first Sunday when I came here there were 36 counting Elder West, Huefner and I. It's such a good feeling seeing the ward get stronger like this.

We found this one less active mom of three kids and her kids aren't members (missionary dream right there!) Her husband isn't a member either but is a really great guy. She had cancer and is recovering from treatment right now, but she's getting a lot better. She came to church yesterday alone, and that night we had a family night with them that went really well! We're super excited because it seems rare to find whole families together with a father and mother here. We watched some mormon messages about the relationships between parents and their kids and both the parents seemed really touched by the massage. I really look forward to teaching them more!

So... people here also think that I look like Tom Cruise. I really don't understand why, I don't see it at all. But but they keep bringing it up like they did back home. 

Well I just want you all to know that I'm doing great! Missionary work is a lot of hard work, but I'm really enjoying it! Thank you for all of your support and letters! they're great and always give me a big boost for the next week!

Lots of love

Elder Twede

Week 24: Being happy really is as easy as choosing to be

What a crazy day! tomorrow there are the changes, but I get to stay in my area with Elder Cardenas!!! but... they are splitting my area, so we've had to find a new house and everything to get ready for the new missionaries that will be coming tomorrow. We looked everywhere for a house and just barely found one the other day just in time. So today we had to move all of our stuff... I really don't like moving... I'm so tired now... We didn't have the money to pay for the new apartment, so this morning we had to go into the offices in chalco to pick up the money. It ended up being a four hour trip, that really cuts into the p-day time... especially when you have to move all in the same day. 

Aside from all that craziness, I have quite a few stories this week. We met some very interesting people, sometimes it amazes me how interesting some people are. There was this one guy that we contacted on the sidewalk. He invited us inside and he had lots of roosters for cock fights. We sat down and started talking about where we live and such. We quickly realized that he wasn't completely sober at that moment, and it became perfectly obvious that he wasn't when he started talking about his holy water. He got up and brought out a shot glass and stuck it in my face to smell... Tequila... It was an interesting lesson as we talked about the Book of Mormon while he sipped his tequila.

The next crazy person that we met is actually a memeber. We were walking down the street after church and saw him walking towards his house. We hadn't ever visited him before so we asked him if he had a little time for us to share a message. We went into his house and shared a scripture, and then he went off.. He started talking about the dead that are everywhere. At first we had no clue what he was talking about, but then he started to point them out to us on the cement floor. Any time that there was anything that slightly resembled a face (like two dots for eyes and one for the mouth) he said that it was one of the dead. We asked him if he lived in his house with anyone else and he said "I live with the dead" he then got up and started showing us all the "dead" all over his house and on his back patio. I must admit I admire how hard he was trying to convince us, but as I realized that if we let him he would show us every single "dead" in his entire house we had to do something to get out of there, because I was hungry and our next appointment was to eat. I finally just said "That's very interesting, we would like to end with a closing prayer now" It worked and we were eating within the next 10 minutes.

Well I don't have a whole lot of time left. I'd like to finish up with a quick spiritual thought.

This week I have had a lot of ups and downs. We have been working really hard with people, but they just don't seem to be progressing or there are always things that come up that keep putting off the baptismal date. It's been a little bit of a stuggle for me to always keep the most positive attitude possible in every moment. I've been studying the lesson on the plan of salvation and something stuck out to me. God gave us our agency to act, that is one of our greatest gifts from him. We aren't always free to choose what happens to us, but we have the agency to choose how we are going to respond. It comes back to the principle of acting and not being acted upon. If we allow the things in our lives to make us miserable and bitter, we hinder our ability to progress from these learning apportunities. Focusing on having this attitude of using my agency to choose to be happy has really helped me make it through each day with a smile on my face, and I really am a lot happier. 

Moral of the story --- Being happy really is as easy as choosing to be. 

Love Elder Twede

Week 23: The gospel really is pretty simple

Some weeks on the mission are just harder, this week was one of them for me. Things have been pretty slow with finding more people to teach and it's been hard to find people in their homes. I thought that after all the holidays it would get easier to have more lessons during the day, but that wasn't really the case. Days feel so long when all you do is walk house to house knocking but never getting to go inside to teach. 

The whole mission has been having trouble finding new people to teach, so they have set the standard for every companionship to make 5 contacts in the street every day. Let's just say that I'm not really comfortable enough with my ability to speak in Spanish yet.. because this has been a really hard thing for me to do. I know that I probably have the words in my head of what I need to say, but as soon as I start talking to a stranger in the street all of my thoughts seem to switch to English. Which makes it kind of hard to talk to someone who only understands Spanish. It's happened more than once where I start talking in Spanish and then start talking in English without really noticing until they give me strange looks... I can't wait until I do that with English.

One thing that I have really gained a testimony of while out on my mission is the power in every little promise that the Lord gives us. like it ways in D&C 130:20-21 
There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated—
 21 And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.

The gospel really is pretty simple, we are given commandments and if we keep those commandment we recieve the blessings. simple.

...

Why don't people understand that?

People say that they have faith in God, but they don't trust him. If they did, they would do the things that he asks. Take tithing for example, it's an act of faith to pay tithing because we directly give up some of our worldy possesion to recieve the blessings of heaven. Some people don't see it that way and would rather keep the money for themselves so that they can have just a little bit more to spend. When really all they are doing is keeping the blessings from heaven from being poured out on them. When we keep the money for ourselves, we're basically saying that we don't trust the Lord as much as we trust in the things of the world. 

Every single commandment has a purpose, we may not fuly understand that purpose in this life, but if we follow the promise is sure. Like in the song keep the commandments by Great aunt Barbra

"Keep the commandments, in this there is safety, in this there is peace."

No matter what is happening in the world, we can have safety and peace if we follow this plan of happiness that God has prepared. He has invited us, we just need to except the invitation.

They are simple formulas. Rightousness=Happiness Obedience=Blessings 

Love Elder Twede