"Contact Her", The Spirit Whispered.

Hey guys!

Elder Jay and I changed it around this week and had good success and lots of spiritual experiences! 

On Tuesday, we went with Hugo, that one bicitaxi driver who contacted us on the street.  We found his son, David, and him at home and taught them about the Godhead.  The Spirit came very strong and we testified of the importance we have in our lives to follow Jesus Christ.  We invited them to be baptized and they accepted and the next night when we went over, we also found the son's wife, Nayeli, and taught about the Restoration and felt the Spirit super strong again and invited her to be baptized too.  She also accepted and we were planning their baptism for this Thursday, but they weren't able to go to church yesterday so we will have to push it back a little bit.  But they are doing great and very excited and enthusiastic.

We also had a very special experience with the Spirit on Thursday.  We were heading back home talking about who we should visit before the night was over.  All of a sudden I stopped because I remembered an inactive family who was close by that we could visit.  I asked Elder Jay what he thought about it and he said that instead of that, he felt we needed to find someone in that moment because he was starting to feel the Spirit.  He asked me what I felt and I jokingly said, "All I feel is hunger."  I paused and paid more attention to my feelings but I didn't feel anything.  So I asked Elder Jay what the Spirit was telling him we should do. He paused and said that maybe we should contact an old lady across the street.  So, we went and contacted her, but she didn't want anything.  At that point, I started to feel the Spirit burning within me and I asked the Lord what we should do.  We stood on the corner and both decided at the same time that we had to knock the other side of the street.  So we started knocking all the doors on the other side of the road, but no one was home.  As we were on the last house, I wondered what we were going to do when I looked to my right and saw a lady with her son.  I had a strong impression come to me that said, "Contact her." I thought, "Hey, that's not a bad idea."  So when she got to where we were, I contacted her and she stopped immediately and listened intently.  She said that she would love to have us go to her house and teach her so we put an appointment with her for Sunday.  We were very appreciative for this gift from God.  However, when we went over on Sunday, her friend said she got called in on an emergency to work, but was excited to meet with us.  We have another appointment for Tuesday and are looking forward to it a lot and for the blessings we will receive this week from the Lord.

I love you all!  Have a great week!

¡Ten fe y se obediente!

Todo mi amor,

Elder San Diego

Paso 2.1 - Contacting By The Spirit

Hey folks!

Elder Jay and I had a very disappointing week and we are not very pleased about our results.  We talked about it a lot in our weekly planning of why we weren't seeing the kind of success we have been expecting. These past few weeks have been probably the best of my mission because we have always had the spirit with us and have followed its guide and we have been really obedient but it also has been the most challenging part in my mission also with setbacks and challenges. 

This past week we would go to our appointments and no one was there or they were busy and couldn't dispose a few minutes.  However, we are not focusing on that, but how we can change it all around for this next week.  We have seen more activity from the members also and sacrament is more full every time and starting to give us more references.  We are still excited and will work even harder and change things up this week to find more success.

We also had a very cool experience this week using Paso 2.1, one of our mission tools we use to contact by the spirit and use the same question Joseph Smith had.  We didn't have anything to do Friday night and we couldn't think of anything to do so Elder Jay suggested we use Paso 2.1, so we did.  We followed all the steps and were looking forward with faith to the time of the night that we would be using Paso 2.1.  We were waiting and were able to contact a few people, but something amazing happened as we kept trusting someone would be sent our way and as we listened to the Spirit.  We were by the metro station and a train had just arrived and big groups of people were coming out.  We said "buenas noches" to a group of about 5 people that walked by and I felt the Spirit just as strong as I do when I teach and I saw one lady stop for a brief moment and do a small half turn, but then she turned and kept walking.  I was going to run after her, but the Spirit told me to just stay and that she would come back.  I kept feeling the Spirit very strongly and I knew it was her that God had sent to us to contact.  I waited and kept watching as she entered into a store to buy a drink and as she came back out and returned our way.  She came passing by and we said "buenas noches" to her and she looked at us directly, smiled back, and said "buenas noches" back to us.  We stopped her and contacted her with the question.  She said that she was baptized a few years ago, but was never confirmed because she didn't have time to go to church because of work.  She said she was having some troubles lately and that she really felt she needed to start going back to church and receive her confirmation also.  We were very excited to have found her and we are going to meet with her this week and provide the blessings for her that she needs right now for herself and her family.

Great experiences and more to come! We are doing great. Have a great week! Love you all!

¡Ten fe y se obediente!

Todo mi amor,

Elder San Diego

"¡Hola Brothers!"

Hey guys!

Elder Jay and I had a tough week.  We weren't able to visit with our investigators this week who were going to be baptized because the mom was double-shifting all week and then they didn't go on Sunday either because of her work and then through her family members we were told she doesn't want to be baptized anymore.  We still haven't been able to get in touch with her, but we are praying that we soon can to talk with her and get her doubts all figured out and find out what it is exactly that is holding her back.

However, we were able to find some people by always contacting or talking to people who yell out at us in the street.  For example, this week we were leaving a house from teaching some kids English and we came out to find an inactive family pass by.  So we went around the corner with them and invited them to church.  As we went down a street that we originally weren't planning on going down to get to the metro, we passed a man who said "hola brothers". We stopped and started talking to him and I asked if he had ever had the chance to talk with missionaries. He said he never had the opportunity but that he would love to talk to us and that he needs some direction in his life. So we are doing good and the work is moving forward.

We also had a Multi-Mission Conference this past Tuesday with Elder Russell M. Nelson and he talked about our grand heritage and how knowing who we are prepares us to receive the blessings we are promised and to accomplish the prophecies about us. It was good and a great conference.

Well, that's all! I hope you have a great week! Love you all!

¡Ten fe y se obediente!

Todo mi amor,
Elder San Diego

The District (MTC)

BIG plant!!

Great Blessings Coming From The Lord!!

Hey folks and family!

Elder Jay and I had an awesome week and saw lots and lots of success!

We found two new families this week who are progressing fantastically and are feeling the spirit with us every time we go and are accepting the steps they need to take that will near them to their salvation. We are doing great and are excited for another great week of work!

We baptized a man named Rafael who contacted us in the street our second day here in the area. His dad was inactive and 10 years ago he always went to church with him but was never baptized and he wanted to learn more and be closer to the Savior. So we went and have had many great experiences with him and what a joy it was to see him in white with Elder Jay and be baptized.

We also have a family of three that we are going to baptize this Sunday and they are super excited and ready and willing to follow our Lord. Their names are Veronica (mom), Daniela (daughter), and Daniel (son).

Great stuff and great blessings coming from the Lord because of our faith and obedience!

Have a great week!

¡Ten fe y se obediente!

Todo mi amor,

Elder San Diego

Rafael's baptism!

My posterity!

"She Knew It Was Her Answer From God"

Hey folks!

Elder Jay and I had an amazing week.

One experience we had came as direction from the Spirit.  We had all of our appointments fall one night and Elder Jay turned to me and told me,"Quick who are you thinking of right now that we should go visit?"  I thought for second and the name Sergio Lara came to mind.  He is an inactive in our ward who has leg problems and has a hard time getting to church.  We went and visited him and find one of the previous Elders old investigators there who we had only talked to once before whose name is Guadalupe.  We chatted with her and were going to share a message with all but Sergio didn't feel good right then so we put an appointment with her for the next day.  The next day Elder Jay and I planned to sing, pray, and testify.  We went over and sung for her and started with a prayer and taught about the Godhead.  The Spirit came and we all could feel it.  She then said that she was confused between us and the Jehovah's Witnesses and how she didn't want to keep studying with the JW's because there were a lot of things that she didn't agree with.  I then asked her, "Guadalupe, will you believe the words I tell you right now?"  She said she would so I started to testify to her that Jehovah was and is Jesus Christ.  She believed me, but wanted me to also show her through the scriptures that what I said was true.  I showed her lots of scriptures and explained to her all those things and she was satisfied and convinced.  We then asked if we could say a kneeling prayer with her to ask God for an answer to the questions she had and to receive a response that what she learned from all the missionaries she had met with was true.  We knelt down and offered a prayer each.  When we ended, the spirit was super strong and she started to cry.  She said it was the first time in her life she had ever knelt down to pray and that it was a humbling and special experience for her to kneel down before her God because all her life she had been a very prideful person.  She identified how she felt as being from the spirit and was so excited and knew it was her answer from God.  We invited her to be baptized and she accepted! She will be baptized this Saturday!

We had many other amazing experiences this week and we have learned a lot together.  We have a family who has also accepted to be baptized in preparation right now and also a few more single people.  The work is going great and we are loving it!

¡Ten fe y se obediente!

Todo mi amor,
Elder San Diego

p.s. Oh yeah! We also had a baptism too! Guadalupe! Yay!! The one I talked about last week!

Guadalupe's baptism!

When I was a child a talked as a child, I acted as a child, I shaved as a child; 
but when I became a man, and had to shave every day, 
I put away childish things and started shaving with shaving cream.

Hot Water All The Time! Whoo!!

Hey guys!

Elder Jay and I had a great week. We got going from the get go and found a lot of members in the street who talked to us and have given us some references who we are going to visit this week. We had an inactive member of our ward contact us in the street this week and he was with his son and they talked to us for a bit and invited us to their house the next day. We went and got to know them more and taught about the Restoration. The Spirit came strong and we recognized it with them and taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We invited the dad, Humberto, to go to church again and he said he would and recognized that it's time for him to get back to church. We invited the son, Rafael, to be baptized and he said he would love to be baptized. The are doing good but couldn't go to church this week because they had family members visit them from Cancun. So, we will go this week with him and continue preparing him for his baptism which will be for the next week. 

We also went with a sister in the ward this week to visit some inactive sisters and while we were going with her, we passed by the house of a friend and she told us that she would like to have us visit her and teach her. We went over the next day with Sis. Perez to visit her friend and she let us in. We started getting to know her and talked about some important decisions we make in our lives and how following the Gospel of Jesus Christ blesses our lives and helps us overcome all the struggles and challenges we have. The Spirit came and Elder Jay invited her to be baptized and at first she didn't understand the why behind baptism and how, but after explaining some more, she said she would love to follow Jesus Christ's example and be baptized, so we have her baptism planned for this Thursday!

We had a great week and I have loved Elder Jay's work ethic and enthusiasm for the work of salvation. I have learned a lot from him and will continue to do so as we grow together. The new ward we are in (Joyas) is a super big area too! We have lots of work to do! The house we live in is honestly the best I have seen in the mission. Hot water all the time! Whoo! Also, the owners we live with are recent converts and super cool and love us to death. Yay! Well, we had a great week and I have you guys do too! I love you all!

¡Ten fe y se obediente!

Todo mi amor,

Elder San Diego

Me and Elder Jay

Time For A "Change"!!

Hey guys!

Last week as we finished up our time together, Elder Cadena and I had one of our better weeks yet. Even though we were limited on time because of having to go on divisions with Elder DeHart and Elder Carreto, we were able to find and teach more people. We went with Orfelina, a reference from a sister in the ward who went to church last week, and had an amazing lesson with her. We taught her about the Restoration and when my companion was relating the First Vision, the Spirit was strongly present. As we explained the function of the Spirit and testified it was there as we helped her identify it, she started to cry and explained how she felt really good. As I explained the Gospel of Jesus Christ and baptism to her, the Spirit was eer more present. I extended the baptismal invitation and she whole heartedly accepted. As we kept passing by to teach her, she had a new life and light in her eyes. I could really feel the difference the Gospel of Jesus Christ was making in her life and how happy it was making her. We had an amazing experience with her this past week but unfortunately she is not married and her man doesn't want to be married right now. We did all we could to help them in that aspect but in the end the guy just said he didn't want to. But, we left her and a few other good investigators for the new elders who are going to be there.

So, today I got changed! I got changed to an area called Joyas 2 in the Industrial Stake. And, I am training again and still being District Leader! My companion's name is Elder Jay but I still haven't met him yet because I go pick him up tonight from President Tervort's house. I think he will be pretty cool but I will have to tell you all more about him next week. Funny thing is last time I was here in Industrial I was with Elder Andrew and he was my District Leader. Then, he went up as Zone Leader  in Centenario and one change later I was one of his District Leaders. Then, he got put down after his time as Zone Leader and I was his District Leader. Now, he got put back up as Zone Leader here in Industrial and I am again one of his District Leaders. I guess President Tervort just already knows that we come in a package! I am excited for this new area I am in and I know as we work hard, we will have a lot of success! Have a great week! I love you all!

¡Ten fe y se obediente!

Todo mi amor,
Elder San Diego

Volcano - Iztaccihuatl

Volcano - Popocatépetl