The Lord Listens to Our Prayers!

Hola

This week was hard and really good at the same time. This week Elder Portillo and I have been working super hard to get this area up and going for the next cycle. Well this week something that was hard but it was necessary is that we dropped 4 investigators. I really do not like dropping investigators but it can be super hard because they were not progressing. This same day we had to drop 2 other investigators because they just wanted to argue with us and tell us that el Libro de Mormón no es otro testamento de JesuCristo. Honestly I really enjoyed the lesson because it was even more of a testimony to me how powerful the Book of Mormon is and how much of an impact it has on my life and the lives that actually read it. The Book of Mormon contains el plenitud del Evangelio de JesuCristo! This day I was having a tough time because we just had lost 4 investigators in the same day and Elder Portillo and I were kind of stressed out. We went back to the house to check and see what we could do or who we could visit. We felt the need to have a prayer and ask our Heavenly Father what we should do and ask for a little bit of help because we had done all that we had thought of and we wanted to see what the Lord had in store for us. I offered the prayer and after we felt the prompting that we needed to continue contacting even though we had done it all day long and had no success. We left the house and I am not kidding as soon as we walked out some girl named Stefanie came up to us and was crying. She began to tell us that she was sick and that she could pass away at anytime and she was looking for someone to tell her what was going to happen after this life. We began to explain to her el Plan de Salvacion and took a cita out with her. We met her on Thursday and had the cita on Saturday but after we finished talking to her and took out the cita I knew automatically that it was the Lord who sent her to us and that had that all planned out for us. The Lord truly answers prayers and is watching over us! We had the first leccion con Stefanie on Satuday and taught her el Plan de Salvacion and she acepted to be baptized on the first lesson and yesterday went to all 3 hours of the capilla with us!!!! I love my Savior and Padre Celestial so much because they are truly watching over us and want the best for us! I knew that was a blessing from our Heavenly Father. This week we also put another fecha with una Hna se llama Itzel. She also went to the capilla yesterday for all 3 horas and it was so awesome! The Lord is siempre watching over us, always say your prayers because our Heavenly Father wants to hear from us. 

Well I got a call from Presidente Mann last night and he told me that I would be having changes that I fulfilled my time here in Volcanes. He asked me to be a Zone Leader and I am sad to leave Volcanes especially with these fechas that we have but I am excited to have the oportunidad to be Zone Leader and to serve other misioneros as well! I will be serving back in the Estaca Neza as Zone Leader with my new comp Elder Alamea. He is from Sonora here in Mexico and I am looking forward to working with him in this area. My barrio is called Benito Juarez en la Estaca Neza. I am looking forward to seeing what the Lord has in store for us this ciclio and to getting to know more people. Always say your prayers and remember that the Lord loves you. Have a great week!

Elder McCain

The fotos are of the families I said bye to in Volcanes and my new comp Elder Alamea

4 Comps in One Cycle and FLOODS!

Hola

This week has been a crazy week and I am not sure where to start. Well this week I got a call from Presidente on Saturday saying that Elder Butler and I would be receiving our own comps and that I would be now just working Volcanes. My new comp is Elder Portillo. He is from Torreo and we will be working together but who knows for how long because it seems like I have a comp for a week and then they change him on me jajaj. I have had 4 comps this cycle and I think I might have broken or tied a mission record jajaja. I am looking forward though to working with Elder Portillo and seeing what we can find here in Volcanes! 

Well this week Elder Butler and I are were working both San Buena and Volcanes and we were pretty tired at nights jajaj from going all over the place but it also felt so nice to get home and just lay down and write about what happened in the day. The only day that I was not the most excited to get home was Friday jajaj. Well Elder Butler and I had a lesson in San Buena a las 7:30 and the whole time we were in the lesson we could here it raining hard! Well when we finished the lesson and went to go outside nos dimos cuenta that the place was flooded. We waited and waited and waited like 30 min for the agua to go down but it wouldn`t and it was getting late and Elder Butler and I had to walk all the way up to the house. We decided that we needed to go and we were going to get wet no matter what so we took off the shoes and headed up. Holy cow there was a ton of water and it got up pretty high on us. I know that we can`t swim as missionaries but I felt like I was pretty close to doing it jajajaj. We finally got a taxi and they took us up, we tried calling one to pick us up at the house but there was to much water for the taxi to get through. It will definitely be something that I will remember and I even took a picture jajaja. 

Well this week we had a lesson with a familia on the natural man it was actually with investigadores and they kept asking us why things are so hard when they are trying to get closer to Heavenly Father. We talked to them that for them to get on the right path you need to face a little bit of difficulty that the things are just earned without working. That is something that I have learned a lot from my mom jajj and it is so true. We told them that the only way to get on the correct path is through there efforts, If we are willing to work hard the Lord is willing to work even harder. He cares for us so much and wants us to get to his presence but it just depends in how willing we are. If we are willing to fight and do our part that the Lord wants us to do then we will get to the end. We are a team and if we don`t work hard we won`t win but if we work together there are so many blessings waiting for us! Keep pushing on and you will see the blessings hold on to the iron rod and keep looking forward because there are people that you want to let go. Recognize who you are and the potential you can have if you just do you parte. Don`t be scared to be different and open your mouth to los demas because there are people that need your help and really want to grab on they are just scared! Hope all is well back home and that you have a great week! 

Elder McCain

The fotos are of the border Chalco and my mission, the flood, un ataque de distrito en MonteCorona, and my new comp Elder Portillo

3 Comps in One Week and Working Two Areas

Hola

Wow where do I start this week. a lot has happened this week. Well I will start with Monday when Elder Diaz (mi hijo) left me and headed to his mission in the Republica Dominicana! Shoutout to him and I hope he is loving out there! Well I was working with Elder Flores up until Thursday and everything was going great. Thursday in the afternoon we got a call from Presidente telling us that Elder Flores had special changes and that I would be getting a new compañero and would be working both barrio Volcanes and San Buena Ventura. So as of Thursday I have been with Elder Butler and we are working two wards. Yes it has been a tough week trying to see how we can work both areas but I love it. We are working super hard and basically every night that we come home we just crash jajaja. I love this work so much, I think I might of broken or tied a record of the most comps in one week but I know that the Lord has a plan for me and that Elder Flores was needed somewhere else. I was looking forward to being with him but I know he was needed somewhere else. I guess this week that 9 Elders either went to other misiones or went home so that is why Elder Butler and I are working two areas. The mission could use a lot more misioneros. We are going to see what the Lord has in store for us this week as we work both areas, it is going to be tough but I know that we can do it! This week I heard a quote that honestly I love and it is so true and I would love to share it with you guys! "If our life and faith are central on Christ and his restored Gospel nothing will go permamanently bad" -Howard W. Hunter. I love this quote that through Christ and his restored Gospel and if we strive to do the things he asks of us he promises us that nothing will go permamenantly bad. We are the ones that make things bad when we forget why we are here and what our purpose is. God is never going to leave us, we only leave our God. Remember when times are hard your faith is being trialed and the best thing to do is put your confianza en el Señor and he will bring us out of hard times. This week we had a lesson with a family menos activa and they said to us that they can`t go to church and that they have so many problems and if they don`t keep working then everything will get worse. In some way they are right and we can`t just stop doing our part but if our part and effort has to do with not following what the Lord has sent us to do then we are not doing what the Lord wants us to do. We are only doing what we feel is right and what we feel is the best for us when in reality the Lord knows what is best for us. Put your faith in the Lord and be obedient and the Lord will help us in our times of need!

Honestly I admire Nephi so much in the Book of Mormon and his willingness to stand up to his brothers. His brothers tied him up, spit on him, beat him, and he kept pushing on. I admire him so much and his diligence and perserverance in doing what the Lord wanted him to do. When the Lord sent something for him to do he did it no matter what circumstance he was in. That is a leader and I love the scriptures where he literally stands up to his older brothers and calls them out for being the older ones but it seemed like Nephi was the older one. How grateful we have to be for our little brothers! I am so grateful for mine and the example he has to me in my life. I know sometimes I was a Laman and my brother was a Nephi telling me what to do when I was growing up de vez en cuando jajaja! Shoutout to my bro who is now 18 years old! That is crazy love you bro you are getting old jajajja! I hope that we can all try to be more of a Nephi in our lives than a Laman because there are many Laman that need our help. Let us be a light and un ejemplo in others lives. I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon and the example the prophets are to us! Hope all is well and that you have a good week!

Elder McCain

The fotos are of today and with Elder Butler

The Ward is Growing and New Comp

Hola

Wow I am not sure where to start this week it was a busy one. Well this week went really well for us. We were able to put 3 fechas this week and the lessons we had with them were so awesome. Two investigadores we have had a tough time teaching them and it has been super hard to find them because they are always working but this week we had the oportunidad to teach them. I wasn´t sure what to teach them because we hadn´t seen them in like 2 weeks and I wasn´t even sure if they really cared to listen or not anymore. After a morning of comp study and planning for the day Elder Thompson and I because I did divisiones decided to read 2 Nefi 31 with them. I love the power of the Book of Mormon honestly, this week we have started the 90 days and I hope that some of you guys were able to start as well. We read about the baptism and the importance of it and it was so awesome! At the end of the leccion we put a fecha with each of them and I felt the Spirit so strong as they acepted these fechas. I love the Book of Mormon so much and thre more time I have in my mission the more I am loving using it in my work. It truly is the clave de nuestro religion and contains the plenitud del Evangelio! I am so grateful that I know about this book and its power and that I can share it with those around me!

This week was Youth Conference in the Estaca Ixtapaluca and Wednesday morning we all went to the Estaca for an actividad with the jóvenes. What we did is that each misionero had a comp that was a youth and we went out and contacted for like 3 or 4 hours. I was with a kid named Carlos and we went out and worked for a little while. I honestly loved the actividad so much because we showed the youth how the mission is and it was such an awesome experiencia. Carlos and I found this guys sitting all alone in the front of his yard and we decided to start to talk to him. We talked to him about 30 min as he started to cry and talk to us that his wife had passed away and he was alone and wanted to know where she was at. We started to talk to him about el Plan de Salvacion and read some scriptures from the Book of Mormon. We gave him a book of Mormon and he asked us to come back because he wanted to learn more and know more about what we believe in. The funniest part was that I was talking the whole time because the joven I was with was super scared and didn`t want to talk. I talked the whole lesson with him and when I looked over to Carlos to bare his testimony he just looked back at me scared as could be and didn`t want to respond jajaj. It made me laugh because I remember going out with the missionaries before the mission and being scared as well jajaj. I was so grateful for the actividad even though I looked like a lobster after because I got burnt so bad jajaja! 

This week well Elder Diaz recieved his visa and we found out that he was going to go to the Republica Dominicana. De hecho he is leaving today and I received a new comp here in Volcanes. Honestly saying bye to Elder Diaz was tough especially because he is my first hijo en la mision and that we were starting to become such great friends. I am so grateful though for the oportunidad to meet Elder Diaz and to work with him for 3 weeks. I learned a lot from him and I am so grateful that he had the oportunidad to work with me for 3 weeks. My new compañero is Elder Flores, he is from Acapulco and is in my generacion. He came to the mission with me. I am looking forward to getting to know him better and working with him here in Volcanes. Yesterday in the capilla there was 85 people and that is the most that Volcanes has had in a long time. Even though we haven`t had much success like we would like to have with the investigadores we are having a lot of success in activating members that haven`t been to the church in a long time. I know that the Lord is watching over us and I love doing the work that we do as misioneros! I hope all is well!

Elder McCain

The fotos are of Carlos and I in the activity, when we went to Centro to renew the visas, with Montse y Arturo, and with Elder Flores

90 days to Read the Book of Mormon

Hola

This week was filled with lots of things. So this week Elder Diaz and I were having our estudio compañerismo and were talking in how we could get more success here in the ward. We came to the idea that we are going to teach clases de Inglés. This week I started teaching english classes and have made signs to get them spread out all over the area. This week we had like 5 or 6 in the classes but we are looking to help more people and to tal vez bring in more investigadores. We had one lady on Saturday after the clases ask us if we could pass by her house this week. We are going to see what the Lord has prepared for us ahí! This week I also did divisiones with Elder Warnick my Zone Leader and he come to my area and helped out here. It was actually a good day working with him, I learned a lot from him and hope to apply it in my work here in Volcanes. This week we also had Conferencia de Zone which I really enjoyed. I learned how we can better our work with the members and what we need to do to find more people to teach. Something that Elder Ballard has promised is that if the misioneros contact a 10 personas cada dia, we are going to have more éxito en nuestras areas.That is something that Elder Diaz and I are going to apply more in our areas and we will see the results. I am excited to start this week and see what the Lord has in store for us. This week we are going to have an actividad con muchas jovenes para contactar con ellos. I think this will be a good way to involve the jovenes en nuestras areas! 

So starting August 1st the mission will be starting the Book of Mormon. We are going to read the book of Mormon in 90 days. I attached a guide to this email if you guys would like to join along with us. Something that I can promise is that your testimony of the Gospel and the Book of Mormon will grow. I am personally super excited to start and would love for anyone that wants to to join along. For those that don´t have a Book of Mormon and would like to join along talk to the misioneros in your area! I promise that we don´t bite and tha you will see a change in your life if you read this book. This week we found an investigador that the misioneros have been teaching for a long time. I had always known about him and that the misioneros were teaching him but my whole time with Garcia I never felt that it was right to talk to him yet. One day this week we were walking by him and I felt a strong prompting to stop and talk to him. At first I thought about but then I wasn´t going to deny what the Spirit was telling me so we went and passed by. We started to talk to him and ask him if he knew us and got to know him better. We asked him about the Book of Mormon and if he had ever read it and he answers us with yes I have and I have read it twice and I keep reading it. This answer threw me off guard honestly and I felt the Spirit so strong. We took out a cita with him and this week with Elder Warnick we put a fecha bautismal with him! The fact that Carlos had read it that many times and knew of its power was so awesome to me. During this time we began to talk to Carlos´s friend as well about the Book of Mormon and he acepted the book and has been reading it! This past Martes I gave my Junta over using the Book of Mormon and that we should use it all the time. I had each companionship go through all their investigadores and pick at least a scripture of the Book of Mormon to share in the lessons with them. This week our numeros were great! The numbers had increased and I knew it was because of the power of the Book of Mormon. The Hnas and Elderes in my district have shared me stories about it and it is so awesome to see how well and important the Book of Mormon is in our lives and the lives of others. I invite all to read it starting August 1st and to finish it in 90 days with me and the rest of the misión Cuidad de México Sureste!

This week I am looking forward to and to see what the Lord has in store for us! This Saturday I am going to return to Polanco my last area and baptize one of the investigadores that Elder Santiago and I found while I was there. I can not wait and I was so excited to get the phone call and here that I was going to do the ordenanza. I will have pics this week for sure and I hope you all have a great week! 

Elder McCain

The fotos are of Elder Romero, la Conferencia, and the 90 days of reading the Book of Mormon (Ojala que todos lo hagan)

The Hardest Times Are The Ones That Make You Stronger

Hola

This week was honestly a tough one. It started off well just getting to know Elder Diaz more and getting to know my district. In my district there are 5 Hnas and 4 Elders, the district has had a tough time finding investigators that are progressing to baptism us inlcuded. This week we were going to have a baptism with Jimmy but we found out that he went back to his house in Colombia and was going to get baptized there. Yes it did hurt a little bit because we had already taught him all the lecciones and he only needed the entrevista. The thing is that I am still happy because he is going to be baptized but allá en Colombia with his family. It was hard to hear because I was so excited to baptize him but I know that he is happy because he has waited 10 years of his life to be baptized and know he can. When I went over the interview preguntas and finished reading them all he looked at me and gave me a big hug and just had a huge smile on his face. When he gave me a hug I felt and could imagine the Lord´s love for him and how excited he was for him and the feeling that the investigadores have when they enter into this camino. I just felt a sense of peace and happiness for Jimmy as I saw how excited he was. Times like those are why I am so glad to be a missionary! 

This week has been tough, we have had a lot of investigadores that have completely stopped listening to us this week and there were others that we are trying to get married and baptized but they don´t want to get married hasta Septiembre. This week I have felt some frustration and felt a little bad for Elder Diaz as he had to go through that kind of week especially his first week en la mision. He tells me this week I knew that the mission would be so hard but I didn´t think that it would be so hard. When he told me this I thought back to the first part of my mission and remember telling myself the same thing but it always come to my mind the scripture in Alma that has helped me throughout all my mission. It is in Alma 17:11, it says 

  11 And the Lord said unto them also: Go forth among the Lamanites, thy brethren, and establish my word; yet ye shall be ^apatient in long-suffering and afflictions, that ye may show forth good ^bexamples unto them in me, and I will make an instrument of thee in my hands unto the salvation of many souls. 

I shared this scripture with Elder Diaz because it is one that has helped me throughout my entire mision so far. There is a reason that the things happen in this life and it is all so that we can become stronger and learn more. The thing is though the challenges don´t make us stronger, they only make us stronger if we choose to face them and to overcome them. They give us la oportunidad to become stronger. Like it says in Eter 12:27, if we are humble unto the Lord then he will make our debilidades become fuertes. It is so hard but I know if that we are humble unto the Lord and push forward he will bless us and make us instrumentos en sus manos like it says en la escritura. This week Elder Diaz are looking forward to pushing on and seeing what the Lord has in store for us! I love my Savior and it is so awesome to become closer to him! 

This week we did hjave a cool experiencia with una Hna that we contacted in the calle. She acepted cita and we passed by on Saturday with her and we started to talk to her. It was like the first real leccion that Elder Diaz was going to teach and he was so nervous. I started the leccion and was asking her questions and getting to know her when she told us that she believes en Dios and JesuCristo but she is not a big fan of religion. She told us that she has had muchas religiones that have invited her to platicar and talk but she has always rejected them. She told us that when she saw us en la calle and when we started to talk to her that she felt la necesidad to listen to us and to acept a cita. She began to say there is a reason that you guys are here and I really hope that I find the help that I need to keep on. She began to talk about her life and how she has had tough times and she doesn´t really understand why there are so many desafios and wanted the help. We started teaching her El Plan de Salvacion and she warned us before if we said something that she didn´t believe that she was going to speak up. The whole time that we taught her she listened and had no concerns no questions or complaints. When we finished la leccion she looked at us and said that she felt something awesome while we were teaching and wants us to pass by and to keep teaching her. Even though it has been hard we have seen small blessings and that we need to just keep working to find la personas que el Señor tiene preparada para nosotros! Hope you guys have a good week! 

Elder McCain

La fotos are of Jimmy and Elder Diaz