Stick Strong and Ask When You Doubt

Hola

This week was really good actually, we were pretty busy! This week we really focused on our investigators that have a fecha. Both of them either needed to seperate or get married. One of our investigators got seperated and we are going to baptize him this Saturday!!!! I am so excited and have been working hard for this ever since I got here. In the 3 months that I have been here in Polanco, it has been honestly super hard to prepare our investigators for baptism. We were able to find people that were interested but we finally found an investigator that really has a testimony. His name is Julio Cesar and this Saturday is his baptism and we are hoping to have another one the following week with Patricia Montaño. Elder May and I set a goal that we want to baptize two before March 12 when the ciclio ends. We are working hard for this goal and continuing to strive to achieve it. I really have enjoyed it here in Polanco and now that we have the area where we want it to be I am hoping to stay at least another ciclio here. We will see what happens though! 

I don´t remember if you guys remember my email last week about the Hno that I found working and had changed. Well we started to teach him this week and I was literally so excited. The first cita we had, he didn´t have much time but we taught him a little bit about the Restauración. He kept asking me where he could get a Book of Mormon and wanted one really bad. I told him that we would give him one the next cita which was Friday this week. We went to the cita actually to the Panaderia where he works buit he wasn´t there and his boss told us that he hadn´t come to work in 2 days. Honestly when he told me that my heart dropped because instantly I knew what happened. But I really still had faith that he would come and we would teach him the lesson. But this week actually last night as we were walking to a cita this borracho came up to us and I couldn´t tell who it was honestly. Then I heard his voice and instantly I knew that it was Hno Adolfo. My heart dropped when I heard his voice and saw him smoking. He looked up at me and was balling, his eye was all black and he had gotten beaten up. I literally had no idea what to do because he was drinking too and just kept looking at me and telling me to help him please. I had no idea what to do my heart honestly ached for the love I had for this Hno and to see that he had fallen into the temptation again. Yesterday I was pretty down because I was pretty bummed to see this Hno like he was before. I wanted to help him but it just felt like I couldn´t, I asked him to give me the alcohol so I could dump it out but he said no and told me to take care and left. The reason I tell this story is because yes sometimes we feel like the only way to feel better is to just give up and fall into temptation. I have seen it a lot here in Polanco. We have had investigators that were progressing super well and all of a sudden they wanted nothing to do with us anymore. It hurts as missionaries to see that honestly. Stick strong what you believe in and continue to develop your faith, The faith will come over the temptations that come, I can promise that. There are so many beautiful blessings that are Heavenly Father has for us. Strive for them and resist the temptation. I promise you will be happier in the Gospel than out. We are teaching a menos activo that hasn´t gone to the capilla in 25 years. Yesterday he came to the capilla for the first time in 25 years. We were honestly so shocked to see him there especially because on Saturday he told us that he wasn´t going to go. He told us that after we left the lesson on Saturday and he felt the strongest sense of comfort and said it made him think how long it has been since he has had that. He told us that he misses the Gospel and when he went to the sacramental ayer he was so happy and felt the love that his Heavenly Father has for him. I love this work because I get to hear things like this and get to feel the Spirit through other people. 

Something that Elder May and I focus on is that we tell people that we are not here to force our religion on no one. Our purpose as missionaries is to invite people to come unto Christ. The key word is invite. We want our investigators to have a chance to develop the testimony of this Gospel for themselves but they need to ask our Heavenly Father to really know for sure. I am very grateful for this work, yes it is extremely hard at times but these experiences I have had so far and will continue to have I will never forget!

This week I had divisions with Elder Baldridge. We made cookies without an oven, how we did it I am not sure haha. They were pretty good though. Haha I love the looks we get when there is two Gringos together. It is like the people are seeing a horror movie or something like that haha. It was a good time! Today for Pday Elder May is starting to say bye to his past areas so I went with him to an area today. It is crazy he goes home in 5 weeks and I am just starting haha. Well it was a good week and I hope you guys had a good week!

Elder McCain

The photos are of Baldridge and I in divisions and our "chocolate chip cookies"

WHAT A WEEK!!!

Hola

This week was filled with lots of things haha. This week was very busy and the work is going good here in Polanco. We are working with the two fechas that we have right now and are hoping to baptize the 24th of this month and the 3rd of March. It is so awesome to see the progress of our investigators and to find people that are more interested. This week we were teaching an menos activo and then one of her friends jumped in while we were reading the Book of Mormon. He started to listen and automatically started to contestar mis preguntas y todo. He told us that the Libro de Mormon was awesome and had things in that he had never heard of and wanted to learn more. We are going to continue to work with him. The Book of Mormon is so powerful honestly and has a message so strong. We have an investigator that doesn´t have a fecha but has gone to the capilla 3 domingos now. It is awesome because our first lesson with him we fought and fought but now he is progressing really well in the Church. It is so awesome to see the effect of this Gospel with the people. 

Well this week was filled with Earthquakes. This week we had 3 earthquakes. 2 that I felt and another one that I slept through haha. There was 2 earthquakes on Friday of this week. We were teaching one of our investigadores con fecha and all of a sudden it started to shake really strong. At first I didn´t feel it but our investigator told us that the earth was shaking. At first we didn´t believe it but then I saw the picture on the wall shaking back and forth. My comp and I looked at each other and said yep it is shaking and hurry and went down to ground level with our investigator. It was pretty strong honestly and it lasted for like 3 minutes. It made me pretty dizzy I am not going to lie. When it finished we went back up and continued with the lesson when 5 minutes later it began to shake again. This time it wasn´t very strong but we felt it. Luckily everything where I am at was fine and there is no daño. There was a 3rd last night at one oclock in the morning but I did not feel it haha. My comp and I slept right through it and we didn´t find out about it until a member told us this morning. It was funny because May told me this morning that he had a dream that we had another earthquake but when the Hna told us he goes well ya it wasn´t a dream, it really happened haha. Luckily everyone here is fine and I hope that everyone is fine here in Mexico, these people are so awesome! 

Yesterday something happened to me that honestly made me the happiest I have been so far in the mission. We were waiting for a cita when all of a sudden I hear "Guerro Guerro Guerro" really loud. Obviously I knew they were talking to me because I am the unico guerro here in this area haha. But I turned around to see who it was and at first I didn´t recognize him. I had to like move a little closer to recognize who it was when finally I recognized who it was. It was Hno Rodolfo!!!!!!! I don´t know if you guys remember but I wrote a couple months back that Elder Peña and I were helping a homeless man in the street and we bought him food and everything. It was really hard with him though because he smoked and drank and all that. I went up to him on his bike and he was selling bread. He doesn´t know my name well no one does here it is just Guerro haha. He asks me if I recognized him and I said yes. He had changed so much holy cow!!! He was freshly shaven, was working for a Panaderia, had clean clothes, another pair of glasses that he could actually see, and he wash showered and look really fresa honestly. I was shocked honestly and had so much excitement. I asked him what happened and where he went because I hasn´t seen him in like a month and a half. He had completely changed! He told me that he went to a program that helps with people in the street called Nexa. He went all by himself and wanted to change. Now he doesn´t drink or smoke and is a different person. He gave me a hug and was so excited! I literally didn´t know what to say because I was so happy for him! He told me that he wanted to change completely and wanted to be a member of our church. We are going to start teaching him the lecciones and everything. I was literally so happy to see him, it was like I had just seen my best friend that I hadn´t seen in forever. It was such an awesome experience to see that he had wanted to change. He told me that he wanted to change because of us and something that I had told him over 2 months ago that he still remembered. I told him when he was leaving in the street that our Heavenly Father loves him so much and that he was a son of God and wants the best for him but that he needed to change the way he lived. I told him that there are blessings waiting for him but not with the alcohol that was in his hand he was not going to receive them. He said with that comment that I gave him, it gave him the desire to change. I told him that it wasn´t me that told him or gave him the desire it was his Loving Heavenly Father. Holy cow I felt the Spirit so strong in this moment and felt the love that my Father in Heaven has for me and this Hno. I am so looking forward to teaching this Hno who is one of my really good friends! I love this work honestly and the change that this Gospel brings. Change is hard but this Gospel has so many great things in store for us! Don´t be afraid to change and ask for help, you will benefit from it I promise that!

Today we played as a zone in the Estaca basketball. It was fun and haha it is so fun to talk like they talk here. I am trying to get the accent down now haha. It would be so awesome to go home with an accent like here. Hope you guys have a good week!

Elder McCain

The photos are of Tortas de Suadero with a family and with Elder Juarez today and our Cubana that is so big haha!

El Libro de Mormon

Hola

This week was really good! It flew by that is for sure! It is so nice because Elder May and I finally feel like we have revived the area. We are teaching a good amount of lecciones during the week and continue to look for more people to teach. We have 2 baptismal dates right now but they aren´t married so we are working on getting them married. This week though we had a lesson with a menos activo and we talked about the Book Of Mormon. The Spirit was so strong, we used the conference talk from Todd L. Callister from the past conference in October. The Spirit was so strong to me during this leccion and testified to me the importance of the Book of Mormon and how it is truly the keystone of our religion. I have been studying both the Biblia and Libro de Mormon lately and holy cow, I can truly say now that I love to study!! There is so much doctrine that I have learned so far in the mission and have more to learn. Elder May and I have been teaching the Restauracion a lot this week and something that stands out to me the most is how Joseph Smith was able to translate the Book of Mormon to English without knowing the language that the planchas of oro were originally in! He translated the Book of Mormon in 65 days without knowing the language!!! That is truly incredible and shows how much we can do with the Poder of Dios. I am truly grateful for Jose Smith and his willingness to translate the Book of Mormon which I know would of been extremely difficult. That in itself is a testament to me that the Book Of Mormon is truly the word of God and no one can reject it. It is the most perfect book/doctrine in all of the iglesia. Nobody can reject it or change it, it is truly perfect. We have a lot of people to say to us "What about the Biblia?" Well the Biblia has muchísimas translations and there is not ONE Biblia. There is ONE Libro de Mormon that I can testify because I have recieved the answer for myself that it is the keystone of nuestro religion and no one can deny it. This week we had an investigator tell us that it isn´t the word of God but we gave him one to read and he is now coming to the capilla and has desires to be baptized. If you haven´t read the Book of Mormon, I challenge you to read it and read it as it were actually happening today. You will feel our Father in Heaven and his son Jesus Christ testifying to you that it is the word of God and contains the plentitud de nuestro religion!! You will learn something everytime you read it, I know that to be true! The Spirit was so strong this week!

This week was filled with its hardtimes too haha but we found a way around it. This week we locked our keys in the house and were locked out of our house. We tried for two hours to get the keys and finally got into the house. We literally tried everything and were finally to the point of breaking a window to get into the house when an idea came to my head to shake the window and try to open it. It is funny because that is the same thing that we did in Arboleda when we got locked out of our house. So I started to shake the window as Elder May was ready to break the glass when the window came unlatched and we crawled in and opened the door. I really don´t know what my repition is with the llaves haha. I am siempre locking them in places. I am glad we got them though because I was so tired this night and wanted my bed haha. What a week!

Today for Pday Elder May and I kind of just hungout and went with an Hna para comer. The Spanish is coming along really good as on Tuesday in the Junta de Distrito they asked me to give the spiritual thought in English and I was speaking Spanglish without knowing haha. It is kind of scary, I am starting to feel like I can´t speak English fluently anymore haha. Well hope you guys have a good week! 

Elder McCain

The photos are of the sweet Cardinals blanket my family sent me (repping St. Louis haha) and comida with the Hna today

The Power of the Fast

Hola

This week was pretty good we found some new people to teach. This week though Elder May and I have really focused on commitments. We are having a tough time with our investigators and them keeping commitments. In our Junta de Distrito this week we talked about the importance of making good commitments and that they need to be direct. This week we have really focused on the capilla and talking about the importance of the capilla with our investigators. I love testifying and telling investigators the importance of this Gospel. This Gospel has blessed my life so much and the opportunity to teach others how much of an impact it can have in their lives. I can not express enough how grateful I am to see the impact that the Gospel can have in other people´s lives as well. This Sunday was fast Sunday and I can truly testify the power of the fast. Elder May and I did a fast together for our investigators and that they may progress and have a chance to enter the Lord´s house. We had 4 investigators in the capille and each one of them commented how beautiful it was. One investigator that went this week is progressing really well and it is awesome to see because we were teaching his daughter and he put himself into the lesson one week and began to fight with us and argue over the Biblia. Now he is progressing more than most of our investigators. It is so awesome to see how much he has changed and progressed. He lives far from the capilla to and walked himself to the capilla. I am truly grateful for this work and to have the opportunity to testify the power of this Gospel and it´s truthfulness! 

This week really gave me hope that we will have more success this cycle. Last cycle was to activate nonmembers but I hope this cycle we can help people to enter into the path to the Celestial Kingdom. This week I found a Hermano that speaks perfect English haha. We talked for a while in English and it had been the first time that I have spoken that much English haha. He is listening to our lessons and I hope this week that we can get him to the capilla. This Hermano actually lived in St Louis for a while which is really cool. Haha I was basically speaking Spanglish to him and he commented you are losing your English haha. This work is truly awesome because you talk with all different kinds of people and build relationships. We are actually teaching a Hno that drinks a lot but he is like our best friend but he is super interested in our message. The other day he was asking us questions about the Word of Wisdom and when we left he said out loud "I love drinking but I really think that your guys religion would help me out a lot." We are actually now teaching him and his family which is like 7 people. It is really true that the Lord is preparing people for us we just need to get out and find them.

Spanish is going good and things are good with Elder May. Today for Pday we played in the Estaca with a bunch of Elders. It was actually really fun because we played some Football AMERICAÑO ahhaha. That never happens here. It was a good time I like getting to spend time with other Elders. Hope all is well!

Elder McCain

The fotos are of Elder May, Tristan, Juarez y yo and el famoso Mexico :)