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.