Merry Christmas

I LOVE CHRISTMAS! IT'S THE BEST TIME OF THE YEAR! SO MUCH LOVE!

This week was a week of service (double thumbs up) and boy did we serve!

We went with a reference named Berenice. When we got to her house and presented ourselves we saw she needed help moving some stuff in her house. So we went to work! Moving beds and mattresses, and getting dirty and grinding! It was actually nice because no one lets us serve them unless we do it afuerzas (against their will.)  Berenice was pretty overwhelmed with a lot of stuff and the look on her face when we got done was nothing but gratitude. Aw :). Then we saw that she needed her house painted so we painted it the next day too! Gotta love it, service brings sunshine in my soul. Especially in these times!

I also love Christmas because well we as missionaries get to talk to our families:) I love my family! It was such a blessing to see all of you again and talk about how you all are doing. :) Love each an every one of you!

Christmas is also a special time because theres a ton of singing and I LOVE SINGING CHRISTMAS SONGS! We had our ward posada (which is like the ward Christmas party.) I don't have pics of that sorry.  We got to participate in the ward choir and help break piñatas, always a good time! Then on Saturday, after I got done talking to the family in Fresno, our zone went and sang Christmas songs and hymns for 2 hours in a public area! It was really awesome! When we started no one even payed attention to us but then we started jamming with the Christmas spirit and at the end there was a solid showing! We of course contacted them and invited them to hear a message from us and it was a success I would say.

And last and most important of all Christmas is a wonderful time because we remember the momentous event of our Savior Jesus Christ's birth. The king of kings, lord of lords, the literal son of God born in the flesh, and the creator of the earth and heavens was born in a most humble manner: in a manger found in the little town of Bethlehem. Born with the mission of saving all of us from both physical and spiritual death and to show us the way back home to our Heavenly Father. We are almost done with another year and 2017 is upon us and I hope that each of you can make goals this next year to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be a better person than you were the year before. I know I will! I'm going back to live with my Heavenly Father! I've made that decision! and I hope to help other come with me as well:) I love you all and I love this gospel! I know He lives and loves us! 

Cuidense!

Hey

Everyone! It's been a while. I know I'm sorry! So so sorry! I bet you all have been on the edge of your seats with anticipation every Monday. Well the wait is over. #blessed

These last few weeks have been by far the hardest of all my mission in the aspect of adversity but all has come to an end. Finally. But through it all I've learned so much and the Lord has blessed me with so many miracles. I can't even count them! For those of you who didn't know I've been without a companion for the last couple of weeks (almost all the transfer) and have been working with members or in trio with the Zone Leader's (which was cool because a year ago I was in their area and I've been working with them and seeing a bunch of old familiar faces that I love so much!) 

We've been working and baptizing like crazy! The work is progressing very well. :)  Cool experience: so a year ago when I was in the area of Ejidal (the ZL's area) I taught this lady named Raquel.  She was super nice, always accepted us well but didn't progress. Now a year later I see her just passing through the streets of Martinez. And I thought well I'm seeing her everywhere for a reason so must mean I have to go back and teach her again with the ZL's. We go contact her and now she's progressing and CHANGING. Literally illuminating with the light of Christ. She has a goal to get baptized this Sunday and what a blessing it is to see her change, repent and prepare to make covenants with God! 

An update of whats happening in the life; today is the Holy Virgin Day and every day this last week people have been lighting off a bunch of fire works that sound like canons going off. Oh and they seem to think its a brilliant idea to do it at 4 OCLOCK IN THE MORNING. You can imagine my reaction. Also I received letters from a family of converts in Tuxpan and I was so overjoyed to hear they are super strong in the gospel and already have plans to be sealed in the temple in a year!!!!!! When I read that I ran outside and screamed and jumped for joy! Such a blessing! Also I hope to see them soon because I'm getting transferred out and going back to Tuxpan! To a different ward but still very close by! 

These last couple of months I've also been teaching the López and I see that same change in their eyes and in their being as the restored gospel illuminates their life! They got baptized 2 weeks ago and are now preparing to go to the temple this week! What a blessings! (Their names are Alma, Isairy, and Areli; pics below)

Also in November we had a miracle baptism of Victor Hector. hahaha Love that guy. He's a legit cowboy! What a blessing that was after an extremely hard week.

Last but not least Don Isidro!! hahaha He's this little hilarious old man with so much faith! He had a lot of adversity from his family about getting baptized up until the very last minute. Thats when he exclaimed to his family "I'm getting baptized because I know its what God wants me to do." Talk about a spiritual experience! Then to cap it all off after the baptismal ordinance when we're still in the water, he asks me "thats all?" I said yep and then he says to me "but what about the soap?"  I was dying!!!!!!!! hahaha Such a funny dude!

When all is said and done the Lord is so loving towards his children. Inspite of many hardships in recent weeks, the Lord blessed me with a number of miracles and allowed me to baptize even without a companion by my side. It would have been so easy to feel alone and feel like I had been abandoned. But through earnest study of the Atonement and Christlike attributes, I now know how the Lord comforts us in our times of hardship. So many of my prayers have been answered by his Holy Spirit and its filled me to such a degree that I now have no more doubts. There is no doubt in my mind that this is the Church of Jesus Christ upon the face of the earth. The Book of Mormon is a marvelous blessing and book, it is without question 100% inspired for our day and the truest book on the face of the earth! Read it!! My faith grows every time I do. I know that Jesus Christ is the Savior and Redeemer of the world, he is the great Jehovah and Messiah, foreordained to come to this world and perform the ultimate act of love, the atonement, so that salvation may be realized by OBEDIENCE to the laws and ordinances of His gospel. I ask any of you reading this, do you know these things are true just as I? Do you long for for the day to hear the voice of the Lord to say to you : "Come ye blessed, for thy works have been works of righteousness upon the face of the earth?" "Do you exercise faith in the redemption of he who created you?" Have you experienced a change of heart and the joy that comes from the holy spirit of living the gospel?" and if so "can ye feel it now?" I love you all! I love this gospel! Have a fantastic week!

Raquel gave us pancakes with ice cream. So good!!!!

A lot of people for baptized on Sunday, including Isidro.

November

Friends, family, and random strangers that happen to come across this email/ blog!

This week was a doozie! Transfers were this week and I'm staying here in martinez for a little bit longer. Woooh! But there were some changes. We were originally sharing the ward with sister missionaries, but in transfers they both left. Now we have the whole ward to ourselves! Yes baby more work and more blessings! So we've been working hard this week and our area is a lot bigger now. :)

We also changed houses to the sister missionaries old house, which was so much more centric to member and the chapel. (Is that a word? IDK. I don't speak much English these days.) So basically there were transfers but at the same time not.

We started off the week (Elder Villa and I) strong. We have this amazing family of three: Alma (single mom) and her 2 daughters Isairy and Almita. They are progressing amazingly and have baptismal dates on the 20th (fingers crossed).

Last Sunday when we were teaching them we got a phone call from one of the member saying that his daughter needed a blessing and was in the hospital. Well we rushed on over and found a young woman named Gabriella laying down on what seemed like her death bed. She was having hard time breathing and it seemed like she had major heart problems which cause her to convulse and shake very violently and the doctors didn't know what to do or what was wrong with her. We gave her a blessing and said many prayers and left it in the hands of the Lord. Many others in the hospital and recognized us and also asked for blessings on there loved ones (a great teaching opportunity) and we happily did so.

It was a touching experience and I could feel our Heavenly Father's love for them in every blessing.

This week was also super stressful because Maria Elena (our baptism from last month) was kidnapped and missing! It was so intense and yet it brought many people together. Everyone in the family was praying for her return (friends, neighbors and the church) and a miracle happened. She was returned alive last Friday. It was such an intense experience and yet it strengthened my testimony in prayer, that it really does have power! It was truly a miracle!

These last weeks have been so extremely stressful and eventful and I could not have gotten through it without help from my Heavenly Father. I feel that my relationship with Him has grown tremendously that last few months and for that I am eternally grateful to Him. God lives and He loves us.

I testify that this is the Lord's church here on the earth. I know this because the Lord has revealed it unto me countless times through the spirit! And in His church we are blessed to have his priesthood or the power of God given to men. This priesthood blesses countless lives from blessings the sacred ordinances necessary for salvation (Mathew 10:1). That power its real and I gained a testimony of its power yesterday when I saw Gabriela (the girl who was in the hospital) at church and completely healthy and free from the illness that held her bed ridden. Miracle! What a blessing it is that the Lord allows us to be tools in His hands and the means of blessing the lives of others.

I love you all so much and thank you for all of your prayers and support! Have an excellent week and look for the miracles that God works in our lives!

ps. The picture shows some handmade ties an hermana made for me. I needed new ones because all my mine were dirty and old. Here in Martinez there aren't many places to by cool ties, so instead we bought cool fabric and they turned out pretty dope!

Conference, baptism, and scenery

Hey family! Just an update from little Martinez de la Torre.  It's been raining every day and I enjoy itcompared to the eternity of heat that just passed by.

Elder Vega and I have been working super hard to change things around in our area and ward and things are changing for the better thankfully.

We have a bunch of little ranchos in our area. We went to find some referrals we had in some of them and they turned out amazing!  We had 2 families in church this Sunday and they all loved conference! Such a blessing! Especially after such long trial and error.

I loved conference so much! The apostles and prophets explained everything with such simplicity and focused on what really matters: Christ (Acts 4:12 especially), the Book of Mormon, and the plan of Salvation! Three things that will bring peace to anyone's life! I especially enjoyed the talks of Elder Bednar, Elder Cook, and Elder Ballard and invite everyone to ponder, study and apply those talks in their lives.  I know I will! 

At the end of the week we had an amazingly beautiful baptismal service of Maria Elena! She's such a strong kid with an amazing determination to repent and become a better person.  She is a pioneer for her family, who are now desirous of changing their lives also!

I love this work and I love being an instrument in the hands of the Lord in helping others draw towards Him!  I testify that the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is the only way of finding lasting peace in this life and eternal life in the world to come.  What a blessing it is to hear how we can accomplish this from the inspired words and direction of living prophets and apostles!  I am so blessed to be able to share this message everyday and I hope you all can too! Christ lives! He guides and directs the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints; He leads this church and I know and believe it!

Pictures!

One of the ranchos was in the middle of a jungle. Quite unbelievable. 

It felt like it was a scene from a movie.

Indiana Jones

The baptism of Maria Elena!

New companion and Illness

Hey what's up friends and fam! Sorry for not writing a lot lately, but I got a lot to catch y'all up on. So I'm just going to get down to the nitty gritty. 

A couple weeks ago my companion/kid Elder Santillan had to go home for some family things. So sadly we weren't together that long, but they were short and very fullfilling moments we had, and I hope to train again soon! 

So now I'm with my first gringo companion, Elder Hodson, and he's the freshest piece of baked bread you'll ever want to eat in your whole life.  We get along really well and he motivates me to go to the gym every morning at 6. He's from Las Vegas and knows the lead singer of Imagine Dragons, so that's dope.

We've been teaching a bunch of cool people and hopefully we can get this area baptizing in a couple of weeks because it has been a drought here for the last couple of months.

Also health update. Don't get freaked out anyone. But I think I may have zika ... or just an allergic reaction.  Woke up on Sunday with a bunch of red dots all over my body, like I had some sort of rash but that doesn't itch.  Any ways that and a fever kept me in bed for a while, but its really not that bad I should be back in A shape in just a few days.

We also went on a hiking trip and found some pyramids that were on some guy's property. That's Mexico, people have ancient Mayan structures in there backyard. Hahaha.  We took some pictures and it was great! Hope you all enjoy them.

It came to the truths this week that I only have 6 months left, which is extremely mind boggling and sad. I'm on the last home stretch and I have to take advantage of every moment.

I love this work and I love being a missionary for my Lord and Savior.  He is the reason I came here to save lives.  I love Him so much and I love His gospel and I love His church and the leaders He has chosen to guide it.  He lives and reigns forever!

I love you guys, and I as always thank for your prayers and supports!

Here's some pictures!

A guy that was fishing with his bare hands in a little stream

How much my companion and I are lifting every morning

My area is really big and green

My hand from this morning with a zika or allergies who knows; basically what my whole body looks like

The pyramids

Countryside mountain

Waterfall

Mijo

Hey guys just a quick email! My companion's name is Elder Santillán and he's awesome.  I love him so much! He's from Obregon Sonora! And we are hitting the ground hard! This area is the toughest area I've been in but the miracles of training are super cool! We've found so many cool people and families I love it! The Spirit is so strong and I'm learning so much from the Lord.  It's like as I'm teaching my companion, the Lord is also teaching me! 

Any ways, more news next week on whats to come! I know that this is the only true church of God!  I know that Christ lives and guides this church by revelation!  I know that His gospel changes lives! It's changed mine and so many others! This is His work!

Love you all!

Rain and Illness

Hey family,  just a quick email to let you know I'm alright!

This week tropical storm Earl stopped by so it basically rained all week and we got drenched. There was a lot of mud in my area so lots of slipping and sliding, really fun!

But over all it was a cool week. Also the majority of our investigators got sick with the new Zika virus going around and it's even hit some the missionaries. :/ But luckily I still haven't caught it and I'm praying I won't ever!

Transfers came and big news! I'm going to be training a new missionary!! I'm so excited. It will be my first time training and it's something that I've been wanting to do for a long time now!

I'll let you all know who my kid (they what they call new missionaries) is and what he's like with pictures and all that jazz!

Any ways thats all for this week thank you all for your love prayers and support!

Updates!

Hey, so sorry I haven't written much lately but a lot has happened!  Just really quick this last week I got changed to Martinez again!!  Hahahaha looks like my mission has been just Martinez and Poza Rica but I've seen a lot of familiar faces lately! 

Before I left Poza Rica, Elder Morillo and I were able to baptize 2 really cool people. Karla and her sister Alicia!  They are super awesome and I'm going to miss them a lot.  Here in Martinez people are struggling and also in the ward.  A lot of inactive members, so my new companion, Elder Rivera and I are working on that.  The work is hard but always worth it!  Love you all!  Hope you have a great week!

I forgot it was 4th of July

Hey everyone, so a lot happened since I've written.  Please forgive me!

First things first, transfers came last week and I am no longer in Tuxpan but am back in Poza Rica!!!!! Woaaaah so I'm pretty stoked because I was here the same time last year and I've already seen a lot of familiar faces.  I'm in a different stake however so I have gotten to seen and experience new things. :) My new companion is Elder Morillo, he's the closest thing I've had to a gringo (non-native) companion but he's from Ecuador. He's cool and we are already working great together! We are teaching a lot of people and it looks like we will be having a lot of success here in the near future!

My last week in Tuxpan was super exciting, we got rained on.  It sucked because we got drenched but I ended the transfer with the baptism of the Fonseca family!!!!! I have not felt so much love for a family as I have for them.  It was really sad saying goodbye to them but the mish be like that sometimes. (Sorry the pic didn't come out.)

Well I have to go now.  I'm sorry I'm short on time.   Just a quick spiritual experience from church.  It was fast and testimony meeting and I love have the opportunity to share my testimony with others and hearing testimonies.  In church I was touched by the testimony of a little boy named IAN who shared, "I know that God lives and I know that He loves me, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."  I don't know why but that small testimony just touched my heart it was so pure and extremely genuine.  I felt the Spirit extremely strongly and coming from Ian it made the gospel seem so simple to me.   Like Ian, I also know that God lives and that He loves each and every one of us. I've seen the love for His children numberless times on my mission and in my life.

This week I'd like to challenge each and everyone of you to write at least one thing down in your journal or agenda or somewhere every single day of how the hand of God has blessed your life.  You will begin to see how the Lord doesn't work miracles in our lives in the big things in life, but in the small details of our life.  I love you all so much take care!

Where Did May Go

Hey family, just a quick update on life here in Tuxpan the city of rabbits with mostly just photos. My companion and I are literally dying of sweat and skin cancer, its like a sauna up in here with the humidity.  But happily I've lost more than 6 kilos in the last 2 weeks and I wear a sombrero. $$$ #alwayspositive

Any ways this week my companion and I went to work and it has been the most humbling week of my mission and lead to a couple days of fasting and the Spirit has been with us.  We wanted to find another big family like the Hernandez family we had baptized a few weeks back.  Well the Lord answered our many prayers and we found the Fonseca family and as of right now they look like they are golden.  It took a ton of effort and a lot of help from the Spirit but they all went to church the first time this Sunday and loved it! Families are the best.

So any ways last week we had some rat issues in our house and at last we captured, killed and ate (lol jk) one. I took videos that I will share upon return from my long journeys.

Well that's about it here from Mexico land of the beans and tortillas. Oh also my companion is super awesome I like him a lot and his birthday is tomorrow. I'll tell him happy birthday for you guys don't worry. Hahaha and speaking of birthdays.... there is someone really special I know who's birthday is coming up.... Elder Brendan Stuart serving in Argentina.  Happy birthday man!

Now I think that's about it I just want you all to know that I love being a missionary and even though its super hard I can't imagine being anywhere else in the world.  I love this gospel.  I love the people here in Mexico and most of all I love my Savior. This is His church, Thomas S. Monson is His prophet! Love you all, take care!

P.S. lololol Paul don't think I forgot about your birthday too. hahahahaha I love you man! 18 years old! That's crazy I feel like you just turned 16... I'm so proud of you eat an extra piece of cake for me and enjoy being a youngin while you can! There's this baby in my ward who looks exactly like you and it makes me laugh because we always say you're Mexican.

Inspiration From On High

This week was a week of conferences and council from General Authorities of the church including from the quorum of the 70. (Luke 10:1) It was an incredible experience filled with a lot of traveling! The member of the seventy who came to visit the mission was Elder Falabella. He gave us many helpful pointers about how to be better missionaries and left us impacted with gratitude for our Saviors saving Atonement for us!
Just one of the things that stuck out was a topic I had actually been studying just before the conference about grace. Elder Falabella exclaimed to us that we are not here on Earth to try and earn heaven!  It is literally impossible for us to return to God's presence on our own efforts but through the grace of the Savior we can.  His saving sacrifice broke the bands of death allowing us to live again after our physical death and He paid the price for all of our sins, giving the opportunity to overcome the spiritual death as well if we apply His gospel to our lives.  Christ has already done everything for us! Nothing is accomplished on our merits! His grace is sufficient for all of us! Our purpose right now is to learn change day by day as to learn how to live in heaven for HEAVEN WILL NOT BE HEAVEN FOR THOSE WHO AREN'T HEAVENLY.  If a day goes by where we haven't in some way become like our Savior its a day we've lost and squandered. For in that last day when we will have a complete remembrance and be judged for all of our actions thoughts and desires, and we will look upon His glory and ours and we will be overjoyed to be in His presence or ashamed would be glad if we could "command the rocks and mountains to fall upon us to hide us from his presence" (Alma 12:14)  I am eternally grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the change it has brought into my life. He is the way and the life and the light for all of humanity and I will praise His name forever and ever!

Along with those conferences my companion and I were able to finally baptize the Hernandez family that we have had in teaching for the last 3 months and it was an amazing service, the spirit was so strong and I've never seen that family so happy!! I love this family so much and to finally see this day brought so much joy to my life!

Also transfers are this week and I have to say goodbye to my good friend Elder Bravo who has been by my side for 5 months and its been one heck of a journey of ups and downs. He's leaving to Poza Rica and I'm staying here for one more transfer and I'll be training a new zone leader named Elder Villella.  Don't know much about him but should be a solid next couple of 6 weeks. Anyways!
Family the church is true! Christ lives and guides this church! Love you all take care!

Life is a rollercoaster

Hi everyone, hope all is well!  Life here in Tuxpan is getting really hot. We are starting to sweat ... a lot ... cursed humidity.  But I'm surviving just fine, my companion as well!

This week was filled with ups and downs just like a rollercoaster and it was mainly focused on finding new people to teach. The people we did have in teaching weren't progressing and as a missionary we have to find the people who will progress by keeping their commitments (reading, praying, going to chuch, etc). My companion and I got really frustrated because well we were finding people but none of them wanted to go to church, so we just came to the point where we just didn't know where to look.

I talked to my Mission President about it in interviews and the advice he gave me has changed the way we work.  He said "often we don't see the hand of the Lord in our lives until we have reached our extremities."  Meaning that the Lord often wants us to show our diligence and obedience to Him even up to 110% and that's when we will start seeing the results and the fruits of our labors.  Well my companion and I found ourselves at our extremities because it seemed like we had tried everything and looked every where with no luck.

So in our much need, maybe even desperation, we knelt down and offered a humble prayer to God and ask Him to guide us to these people that we knew were waiting to be found.  A couple minutes after the prayer my companion and I had the same impression, to go visit a house that was actually only 3 blocks away from our house.

We went straight away and thats when we found Guadalupe.  He was outside cleaning his yard and we contacted him and well he let us in and thats when he had told us that he was had just left his former christian church and has been looking and praying to find the true church of God!  Well that's exactly what every missionary loves to hear.  Hahaha and we responded we could definitely help him do that! We taught him the restoration of the gospel, that Christ's original church had been lost for many years but has been restored by a living prophet and that evidence of this can be found in a a sacred book of scripture called the Book of Mormon. When we got done teaching him that his face started to change and illuminate with the light of Christ! It was an amazing and powerful spiritual experience! We gave him a Book a Mormon and he started reading it before we left his house!  That experience truly strengthened my testimony that this is the lord work and the message we bring truly changes and blesses lives!

The Lord in the end blessed us just as we were about to give up all hope, because He wanted us to go a little bit further, and keep pushing a just a bit more to reach new height and to humble us to new lows.  I invite you all to do the same, to try harder, keep pushing, especially when we are on the verge of giving up.  Put your trust in Him always, keep confident in the fact that all things that we pass through on this earth are for our good and experience.

I love you all so much and I love the Savior and His gospel! You're are all children of a loving Heavenly Father and He has not sent here to fail, but to succeed in everlasting glory! Take care!

PS I ate a coconut for the first time this week, it was a weird experience..

PPS This is me at a ward activity. I kind of stick out.

Conference and New Transfer

Hey friends and fam! Sorry for keeping you guys out of the loop for a while, life has been flying by! Well first and foremost transfers have arrived and Elder Bravo and I are staying together again for the 3rd transfer and well let's just say we've been together.  We're thinking about having our wedding in July. Hahahaha lul. Not really, but he's cool and super smart and taught me a lot.  It's kind of funny because in Christmas we were companions and we called our families together and well now that we're going to be together one more transfer it means we're going to talk to families again together on Mothers Day hahaha!

I loved General Conference so much!  The talks were so inspired and also really direct and exactly what everyone needed to hear in this day in time!  I am so grateful we have inspired leaders, prophets, seers and revelators for our day that warn, direct and admonish us just as in days of old. It is truly a blessing to listen and receive personal revelation from the mouthpiece of the Lord. And to hear the guidance and warnings they give us that we may be better protected from the things that keep us from returning back to the presence of our Father.

I had so many favorite talks: from the first talk by President Eyring that made me cry I felt to that last talk by Elder Holland that left me inspired and ready to make many more changes in my life.  There were talks specified to the needs of every person no matter the situation or the trial he or she may be facing.  Some of my personal favorites were Elder Donald Hallstorm's talk about our divine identity as children of God,  Elder Gary Stevenson's talk about the priesthood,  Elder Renlund's talk about drawing near unto the Savior,  Elder Bednar's talk about always retaining a remission of our sins, Sister Bonnie Oscarson's talk laying it down about how the church is true, and President Monson's talk about priesthood power.  They are definitely talks I will be studying in the near future. if you haven't had the chance to see conference I invite you to do so and see and hear what the Lord wants us to do so that we may keep ourselves better unspotted from the world.

It's getting extremely hot here in Tuxpan and well, my skin is turning into a burnt marshmallow and its just getting hotter.  The people here are a lot more hard hearted than in Martinez, but we are having some success with the families we are teaching! This last Sunday we baptized Sindri, one of the daughters of the Hernandez family we are teaching.  The rest of her family has been really reluctant as of late to make the decision to follow Christ through baptism.  But Elder Bravo and I are fasting and praying for miracles!

I love being a missionary and I love this work! I love the chance our Father has given us to repent from the mistakes we've made and start a new every week by taking the sacrament. I'm so grateful for the Savior's sacrifice and being on His errand has made me feel so much closer to Him as I apply His atonement daily. He is the only way back to our Father in heaven and if we choose to follow Him and His example we will find a lasting happiness and peace in our lives and the strength to conquer anything that brings us down in this life. I love Him! I love repentance! I love sharing what I've found with others! Love you all have a great week!

Zone Conference Picture

I invite all of you to watch General Conference this weekend and hear the talks and words of living prophets! 

Love you! 

The Church is true!

1 Year!

Hey I have to go but I just wanted to write real quick and say that I love you and I love the Savior!  I completed 1 year on the mission last week and I still can't believe it's gone by so fast!  Have a great Easter and a great spring break.  I'll be here working. :) Much love!

I know the Savior lives!  He's given us everything we need so we can go back to live with Him!  That's why I'm here to help others come with me to live Him in the Celestial Kingdom!  His plan is magnificent!  He loves us and I know that because I can feel His love every day and I know He loves all of you the same!

pic: The shirt I burned at one year. :)

More updates!

Hey family, so this week was a very good week.  I can not complain!  A week that was filled with ups and downs and was the hardest working week of my mission by far!  We put all of our trust in the Lord and He blessed us with miracles! MIRACLES!

K so it's been my second week here in Tuxpan and well when I got here Elder Bravo and I had to start from scratch.  We didn't have much to work with so we started doing what we knew how to do best and that was talk with EVERYONE.  We found many people to teach but not many of them were progressing very well.  So me and my companion prayed and prayed for help of where to look and we both came to the same conclusion.  Families.  The gospel is for families!  So we made it goal of instead of looking for individual people, we would look for families, and that has changed everything!

This last week we found 2 gorgeous families: the Ramirez family (7 people) and the Quieroz family (4 people) that both came to church this week and loved it!  The Lord truly answered our prayers and and has used us as tools in His hands to find these 2 families!  I love being a missionary and I love having these experiences!  The gospel changes lives and provides a way for families to be together FOREVER!  It's such an amazing gift that He has given us and its for all who choose to follow Him and His commandments!  It's such a grand and sacred blessing that we can only receive it in His holy temple!  I'm here to take people to the temple so that they can receive this blessing!  This is the greatest and most important work I can do!  I love this gospel and I love representing our Savior!  He lives! Because He lives we will too!  This is the only true church on the face of the Earth!  I know it!  I love you all!

PS here are some cool pictures of the beautiful city of Tuxpan and my very green area!

Also a baby alligator (cocodrilo), and I found some Murphy's! (JK we knocked on their door and they had moved...)

Update

Hey sorry for keeping you guys in the dark for the last 3 weeks. It's been some stressful ones but I've grown sooooo much.  My trust and faith in the Lord has grown so much and my love for this work and the Savior has developed immensely.  My companion Elder Herrera and I have been all over the place in our zone helping other missionaries and training to improve ours.  We've had a couple of people fall through on their baptisms but its helped our trust in the Lord to grow and the desire to find more prepared people increase.

2 weeks ago we found a family of five (Guillermo, Maria, Juan Carlos, Blanca, Teresa) that are progressing super well!  They all seem to have problems with one or some of the commandments but we have been teaching them in almost every lesson the importance of the Atonement and it's amazing to see how their lives and habits are changing!  The Atonement truly does have the power to change people and that change always brings blessings of long term happiness, self discipline, and understanding of the importance of the Savior in ones life.  Something that the General Authorities of the Church of Jesus Christ and we as a mission have been focusing on teaching repentance and baptizing converts.  I love it because it helps us as missionaries be more effective in our teaching and focus on pure doctrine - the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Last night we received transfers and I'm sad to say that I am leaving Martinez for Tuxpan, the most northern part of my mission, tomorrow.  I extremely loved it here in Martinez because the people are so nice and so loving and humble and prepared to be taught.  My "new" companion will be Elder Bravo which is not really new at all because we were companions together just 2 transfers ago in Martinez.   Looks like we have to work our magic together again in Tuxpan. Hahaha really odd but I'm excited to see what happens. :)  Here are some pictures of me at a tiny waterfall near Martinez. Enjoy! And my new/old companion Elder Bravo and I at mission council a few months back.

The Lord's Errand, Not Ours

This will be a quick email as I don't have a lot of time left.

These last 2 weeks have been the busiest and also fastest weeks of my mission.  I can't believe January is basically almost done because I feel like Christmas was just last week.  These last 3 weeks I've been with my new companion Elder Herrera and he is super awesome.  I love the guy and we get along super well.  He's from Mexico City and for some reason everyone from there is super hilarious. So we are always cracking jokes and telling cool stories; the only bad thing is that he snores..  Really loud... and it's gotten to the point where I have to wear ear plugs. Hahahaha or if he's really loud I sometimes have to hit him to make him shut up. hahaha But we get along well.  He's one of the first companions that I've had in a while that has wanted to work as hard as me. Hahaha So thats what we've doing, working our tails off.

2 weeks ago we weren't having much success finding anyone. We got references. We contacted those references and weren't able to find anyone. :/ It became really discouraging at some points but it also gave us the drive to work harder.

So this week we hit the ground running, every morning, heading out sometimes at 9 teaching, finding, and going to the area of other Elders who are struggling to help them out.  We were getting home at 9:20 dirt tired.  One of those days my companion and I were out and it just so happened that nothing that we had planned turned out, lessons fell through, references we went to contact werent home, and we just felt like we weren't working.  We were just walking around from place to place.

So my companion and I just stopped and gave a prayer to the Lord, just right in the street asking Him where we should go and who we should talk to.  We started walking and get not even a half a block when me and my companion both get the impression to talk to these 2 jovens (youth) that were outside their house.  We start talking, and their names are Luis (15) and Daniel (17).  And after a few minutes we start teaching them about the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and committed them to be baptized!  The Spirit was so strong, they were super cool and asked us all the right questions and they accepted to be baptized!  The Lord answered our prayers immediately and we were tools in the Lord's hands!  This is what the Gospel is all about, this is what missionary work is all about.  Every day I am blessed with the opportunity to teach repentance to the people here in Martinez in hopes that they draw closer to Christ.  The Savior lives and this is His work!  I love you all so much! The church is true! Adios!

New Year, New Beginnings

Oh my goodness what a year!  Probably one of the best in my life and it happened to be the fastest year also. Hahaha like I feel it was July just a minute ago.  As always in this time of year we take time to reflect and review how we did the following year and set new goals for the next. I took time to do just that this last week and let me just say I have some great goals for this coming year. :) New Years Eve here in Mexico was quite loco. It's basically a Mexican 4th of July, where everyone goes hard core with their fire works. It was nuts and made it impossible to sleep so my companion and I sort of just drank a coke and watched some fireworks and it was a chill way to go into the new year.

"hey elder murphy did you guys baptize this last Sunday?" "why of course we did computer thanks for asking:)"

This Sunday we had a spectacular day in that the Fernando's mom, aunt and grandma all made the decision to be baptized.  In the whole time I've been seeing this family I've never seen them so happy. It was like they were glowing!  They are all so happy and now inviting all of their friends and family to church and to partake of the same happiness that they have found in their lives!

Thats all all for now sorry this email is going to be short and sweet. But I just want to leave as always my testimony that I know this is the church of God on the earth.  Christ lives and invites all to come unto Him.  This year make it the goal to draw closer to Him in service, love and humility and you come to know Him, as He is. I love you all so much!

Merry Christmas

I just wanted to write you all a quick letter of Merry Christmas!  I love this time of the year so much and makes my heart so happy and joyful to celebrate the birth of our Savior.  Being in His service, doing His work here on the Earth has brought to know and love my Him so much more than I imagined.

I can remember where I was a year ago and man how quickly that year has passed.  I was super depressed, disappointed, and frustrated with myself that I was still at home and not out serving others on my mission.  I was in physical therapy for my knee and I was just getting started to move around more freely but I still couldn't do very much.  I wanted to do something if anything to give and do something good, something even if it was small, that would bless the life of someone in need.  I don't remember exactly how the thought came to me but I decided I was going to go buy a taco 12 pack at taco bell and hand out tacos to the homeless people hahah.  I went with my brother and some friends and we went out to give back and give to those who would receive little to nothing for Christmas. It was a small act of kindness that to this day I still think about.  I can remember the look of surprise and gratefulness on some of their faces to receive just a few tacos. 

My invitation to you all is this Christmas look for ways to serve than to receive.  Look for those in need and opportunities to be an instrument in the Lord's hands by blessing the lives of others.  I love this Gospel so much! I wouldn't be here if it wast true!  A Savior was born in Bethlehem and because of His birth all of us can be born again, be made new, be made clean.  He is the only way back to our Heavenly Father and the only way to true and everlasting happiness. I love you all so much I wish I could be there to give all of you a big hug!  Always remember the true meaning of Christmas because He is the Christmas.