Guaymas Oct. 18

aqui todas personas usan el modismo ¨bien suave¨. Significa como.. really cool, pero en ingles significa literalmente ¨really soft¨ jaja. Pero ellos usan bien suave con casi todas cosas. ¨bien suave este familia¨ ¨Bien suave la comida¨ ¨bien suave este semana¨ jaja its really funny. pero este semana estuvo biiieeeennn suuuaaavvveeee otra vez!! Mucho exito y muchas investigadores con fechas bautismales y ayer en la iglesia. Ok thats enough spanish. Most of it is probably wrong too. jaja but its coming along pretty nicely. Í can pretty much understand most of what people say in lessons and can respond to questions and teach full principles and everything!!! Its so awesome. The Lord has blessed me so much in this area plus in a bunch of other ways too!

All our investigators are all still really strong. Rosario, Angelica, and Carlos were´nt able to make it to church yesterday, but they promised this next Sunday they would go. We were able to also teach the husband of Angelica who is the son of Rosario. He was really disinterested at first but after we taught a little he was all into it and wants to get baptized too but he has to work practically every sunday so he can´t come to church.... But we´re praying for this family that they´ll be able to keep their testimonies and commitments and all get baptized soon. We´re hoping Rosario gets baptized on Sunday and Angelica and her son Carlos the following week, and then hopefully Carlos the son of Rosario and Angelica´s husband the week after that. So pray for these people. They´re having a lot of problems right now and need prayers to keep them going.

Nohemy is getting baptized on Saturday!!!! She is so strong. She had a bad addiction to coffee, she drank 10 cups a day but after we taught the palabra de sabaduria she´s cut down to one cup a day as of yesterday!!! so this week we´re going to get it down to zero!! But she came to all three hours of church yesterday, and our activity on Saturday!! She´s super strong and Saturday is going to be awesome! Her husband Franciso is pretty strong too but has to go to church one more time before he can get baptized. He has his doubts and everything but we´re hoping he´ll be baptized the following week. They also have a daughter too named Janet. We´ve taught her a little and she came to church yesterday. She missed sacrament but its ok. Two more weeks of church and she should get baptized the week after Franciso!!

We were only able to teach Arturo once this week and he wasn´t able to come to church yesterday but we´re going to meet with him more this week and he said he´ll be able to come to church this next sunday!! He´s pretty strong too and we´re hoping his baptism will be in two weeks!

This week we also found a new family. A lady named Martha and her kids who are all grown up. But we invited them to be baptized this week and they said yes. They came to church yesterday too!!! They showed up way late but its the actions of faith that count. We´re going to meet with them a bunch this week too and get them to sacrament on Sunday. So awesome!!!

Also yesterday at church Andres y Irene Ramirez came! We´re going to meet with them this week and hopefully be able to do something to get them to have a desire to be baptized. They´ve come to church 3 times now and are completely ready but something is holding them back. Pray for them too and us to be able to know how to help them.

We also have like 4 other potentials right now that all seem pretty solid. It´s insane how much success we are having right now. It´s almost overwhelming. jaja we barely have time to tract, but i like this way more. It´s so awesome!!!

This week has been really great! We´ve had a lot of problems with people in the ward and our investigators but we´re working things out and we´re going to turn this place around. The activity Saturday was so awesome! Each group like Relief Society, primary, family history, missionary work, etc had their own exhibit with pictures and crafts and everything and it was awesome. Our whole district came with their investigators and we had about 15 or more investigators between all of us. It was really cool and then after the tour of the exhibits we had some skits by the youth in the ward, our district sang, other people in the ward sang, and it was really awesome!

Saturday I´m going to start the english classes and we´re going to get even more success from that!!! So many incredible blessings that sometimes I don´t know why we have all this. jaja

Well I´m glad your week has been good. Thanks for the picture too! You should do that more often. Well to answer your million questions...

we actually got denied for the washing machine. but its ok because this morning we just took a bus to the house and are in the process of washing right now. We were able to have studies and everything and we actually are going to finish laundry quicker than we did with Enrique the guy we used to wash with. So it all works out.

1. I don´t really need memory cards. I have a bunch of space still on mine and i figure when it gets full I´ll put the pictures onto a disc for only 50 pesos and just delete the memory card. but who knows, i´ll figure something out when it gets full

2. No we don´t get to go to the temple as far as I know. Only when we have converts that go after a year (which we´re going to be able to do probably next month because of a convert Elder Uribe has!!) and other special occasions that I don´t know of. But we were able to see the temple and walk around it. It´s right next to the mission office. It´s really small! but pretty

3. No I don´t really need piano music. We don´t have time ever to play or practice, only on Sundays for primary. jaja but thanks though

4. I´m all set on supplies. I have everything I need and all is well

5. Yes my pants are super loose. I´ve lost so much weight and all my pants are pretty big on me now but its ok! They don´t look too bad

6. Video... hmm... I´ll try to send something, but I don´t think it´ll work. The computers here are super slow and it takes 10 min just to send pictures so a video would be really hard but i´ll see what i can do.

7. i´ve used bleach once. but here they actually have something better called jabon. Its this super magic bar that you scrub your shirts with and it takes out all the sweat and dirt. My shirts are all white now. they need jabon in the US!!!! jaja

8. Elder Uribe... well. jaja his first name is Christian. He´s from Mexico City. I don´t know the whole story but its only his mom, him, and his brother in his family. His dad left I think.. But they´re all converts to the church five years ago. His mom doesn´t have an email, but he emails his neighbor or aunt or something and she then prints it out for his mom. He said he should also be receving a package this next month too. From what he tells me his mom is a really good person. But he never talks about his family at all. I´ll have to ask him more questions or something.

9. ya escribí algo jaja

10. i don´t think i´m going to use the debit card at all here. have people been stealing from my account or what. i checked the balance the other day and i have like 30 something dollars. but i´m going to save that only for emergencies. i have about 80 extra dollars that i saved from utah for emergencies and other stuff too so i should be set for a while.

 

well i hope that answers your questions. I´ll send some more pictures. Oh and dad asked last week what i wanted for christmas. All i can really think of is pictures, food slash candy, and some more music like a cd or something of the new EFY stuff or other church music. But mostly pictures of everything at home. Snow, family, mountains, the house, activities, things like that.

Well thanks for email the picture. Have a good week and stay safe. Mexico is awesome and keep asking questions so I can tell you more stuff.

I´ve decided I want to move here when I´m older. To San Carlos. Once I´m retired and everything, move down here and teach piano or something. Everyone here wants to learn music and english. All the time people ask me to teach them jaja. But its so nice here. Welp... i love you guys! and I´ll see you next week.

Guaymas pics

 Guaymas Bay

 Guaymas district

 Guaymas house (notice the air conditioner)

Guaymas Ward Open House

Guaymas, Mexico October 11

 

This week has been so incredibly awesome. Andres y Irene have kind of fallen through though.... Tuesday night we had a noche de hogar with them and it went really well. They have testimonies and everything but for some reason just don´t want to get baptized. We read scriptures, told them of the Holy Ghost, everything we could think of. but they´re jsut not ready. But its ok! We´re going to keep visiting them. No more baptism pushing because thats annoying, but hopefully we can help them in other ways until they´re ready for the baptism. But that was the only disappointment of the week. The rest of it was incredible. On Mondays we just do wash, write emails, get groceries, and hurry back home to shower and prepare for district meeting. It´s at 6 every monday in the stake center en el centro. So we have to take the bus to get there and it takes a long time. So p days we never have time to do anything besides write, wash, and buy. BUT! we found out we´re getting a washer in our house!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They´re closing an area here and the Elder´s that lived there had a washer and since Elder Uribe is the district leader, we get the washer!!!!! It´ll save so much time for us and we´re super happy about that. But so that´s pretty much pday. Since we´re going to have a lot more time now we´re going to start doing activites with the district. Transfers were today and we´re getting 3 new missionaries so our district will now have 8! 2 hermanas, the zone leaders who are going to both be americans now, Elder Uribe and I, and then two other Mexican companions. So awesome. So we´re going to do activites now that we have time like play soccer or something!! I haven´t played since I´ve been here at all! So that´ll be fun.

But for the rest of the week. Tuesday morning we decided randomly to stop by this guy named Francisco who we just contacted my first week here. We didn´t want to go back because he said he worked every Sunday and wouldn´t ever be able to come to church, but we just decided to go see him randomly. So we went over he invited us into his yard. (He has the sweetest place ever! A little cement box for the beds and one for the bathroom, but they´re back in this jungle. He has banana trees, mangos, peaches, tons of stuff. There´s no actual house but we teach outside in this awesome jungle! so sweet!) but so his wife was there too and so we just started talking with them and decided to teach lesson 3. the gospel of Jesus Christ. When we taught baptism we invited them to be baptized and they both said yes!!! Francisco is getting his work schedule changed and he was able to come to church yesterday with his wife Nohemi. It was so awesome. We have them on date for the 23rd!!! they´re super awesome and super solid.

Then Wednesday we had zone conference. We took a shuttle to Hermosillo and had to wake up at 4. we showered and had to walk an hour to the station because there aren´t any buses that early in the morning. But it was ok because its about 2 hours by shuttle to Hermosillo so I got to sleep. I finally got legalized in Hermosillo and zone conference was awesome for all that i could understand. So much fun! oh by the way, we get our mail every month. the zone leaders have meetings there every month and bring back our stuff. I´ll let you know next month if I get the package. But ya virgin mary stickers, or just wrap and tape it well. That´s what everyone else does. And send it to the address I emailed you not the one you gave me. If you´re going to be sending any packages sometime soon I would like to have conference on CD. You can just download it from lds.org and burn it onto a CD. We´re not allowed to go on lds.org so it´d be awesome if you could do that in spanish and english so we can listen to them at night and in the morning. Also I left a red book I got from the MTC for learning spanish. There´s two of them and I need the bigger one. I brought a yellow one but apparently it teaches spanish from Spain, with different everything. Elder Uribe was reading it and it didn´t make sense to him jaja!! I brought it because I thought it was better but I actually need the large red one I left with you guys. So the next time you send something if you could throw the CD´s and and then book in I´d appreciate it. As far as Christmas lists go... I have no idea. I have everything I need. jaja what else could I use as a missionary? um..... I´ll think. But ya mostly I´d just say candy and stuff. We get very little money here and so we have to stick to bread, cereal, tuna, and ramen. jaja so sweets and other stuff would be sweet!!!

Ok back to the important stuff. So Thursday we had a pretty normal day, just taught and tried to find some people. Then Friday was pretty normal too except that night we went to the tianguis. They´re little tents people set up in one place and people just walk around and look at stuff. People sell everything!!! bootlegged dvd´s, tv´s, pots and pans, clothes, anything you´d ever need they have in the tianguis! It´s so awesome. But so we set up a table there of district and handed out pamphlets, pictures, cards, dvds, books of mormon, and it was awesome. we got so many references!!! i have pictures I´ll send

Then saturday was pretty normal too. We went to the end of our area to return a pot to one of the members that live out there. We talked to his son for a bit and he told us about this friend of his who lived by him who´s wife died a year ago. We decided to go over and see him. We talked a little about the plan of salvation and then the doctrine of Christ, invited him to be baptized and ya! Hes on date and he came to church yesterday. So sweet! Yesterday we had 6 people at Church. That guy named Arturo and his son Gonzalo, Franciso and Nohemi, and Rosario the other lady we put on date last week!!! and she brought her daughter in law!!. Last night we visited Rosario and her daughter in law and her son. Their names are Angelica and Carlos. We taught them and put them on date too!!!! As of now we have 6 people on date!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This week has been so amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Next saturday we´re having that activity and its going ot be awesome and get even more investigators. We´re set to baptize every week for a while. So awesome. The members are all in on this activity and we´re going to have an open house and a skit and music program and everything! We got the members all excited and we have like 8 people helping us right now. So sweet. After this activity we´re going to start doing weekly activities reading the book of mormon and I´m going to teach english!!! a lot of good things coming up!!!

Well i gotta my times up. Sorry I forgot to mention I saw mom in conference!!!! It was awesome and I was so happy. 

I´m glad to hear everything is good with you guys and thanks Rachelle for you email. That´s so awesome!!! I´m really proud of you. Bah ya I gotta go. My times up. but i love you guys. have a good week.

Guaymas, Mexico October 4

So this week has been pretty crazy too. Not so crazy as the last one but still crazy... jaja On Wednesday we had exchanges and that was really cool. I went with one of the zone leaders and we did some serious work. Thursday we had a meeting all morning, and this weekend was conference. It was so good!!! We were able to watch all the sessions except Saturday afternoon. We had a lesson to go to but its ok! The talks were so good and I learned a ton of awesome things. So sweet!!! Thursday and Friday we picked up two new investigators we just found and put both of them on date. It was so awesome! First lesson they both accepted the baptismal interview. One is this older lady named Rosario, she´s having problems in her family and with her husband and was really interested in our message. President has asked us to start teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ first and put fechas (dates) the first lesson. So we did that, she felt the spirit, and accepted. We were hoping she´d come to conference this weekend but she wasn´t able to since she went out of town. But the other one is this mother named Nohelia who just got divorced and is living with her mom with her two kids. She was really interested too and again, gospel of Jesus Christ, invitation, and she accepted. It was super awesome!!! She wasn´t able to come to conference either but we´re hoping to get them to church Sunday. I´m starting to be able to teach and talk a lot. Spanish is really difficult but I feel little improvements every day. Learning a language is one of the biggest lessons in patience ever!!! But so Saturday we weren´t able to bring anyone to conference and Sunday morning Nohelia didn´t show up. But the afternoon session by a miracle the two people we were teaching before. Andres y Irene showed up!!! We had a baptism set up with him and everythin but it fell through. We were almost ready to drop them but they showed a little interest when we visited them this week and endede up showing up to conference. He´s been having health problems and his son is sick too. But he still came by bus to the stake center with his wife to watch conference. Afterwards we gave him a blessing and it was awesome! The afternoon session was perfect for them too. We´re hoping to baptize them this Saturday! The work is really picking up. We´re getting members to help us to put together a huge activity the 16th. We´re getting a lot of support and we´re hoping this picks up the members and some new investigadors too. jaja The first couple weeks of Mexico have been really hard but we´re starting to see success now and the Lord is really blessing us.

So this week has been great! More success, better health, a lot of good lessons learned and I´ve met a lot of cool people. We´ve set some good goals and everything just keeps on improving. The Lord knows exactly what we need and when we need it.

So on Tuesday we ate with this family for la comida. We have it every day at 2 with a different member family. But so Tuesday we had minudo. I don´t know how to spell it but basically its cow stomach with weird plants and stuff and lots of chile. It was the most interesting lunch ever but I loved it! jaja We actually get a lot of good food here. It´s amazing how diverse the city is though. You can walk 15 min from a house with 5 children, one room, no beds, and dirt floors, to a house with 3 stories, 3 cars, flat screen tv´s, and everything else. Guaymas is a really rich area but also a really poor area. It´s cool coming to downtown though because its completely modern with sushi restaurants, papa johns, Burger bars, Abercrombie and Fitch, malls, wal marts, everything! But I like it better in our area. The people are more humble and willing to listen to our message. We sweat a lot more and are a lot more dirty but I like it.

So what else? Life here is just crazy and it seems normal so I don´t know what else to say. The work is going better, Mexico is cooling down kinda, conference was awesome...!! jaja by the way we do get the Liahona and we´re hoping to have a member burn us some CD´s of the sessions to listen to in the morning. Tell Spencer thanks for the article. Missionary work is a lot of work, but it´s not just being faithful and obedient. We have to actually be organized and figure out ways to do things better. That´s hard for a lot of the people here but we´re working on it! Thanks for email and for the rest of the articles. Listen to conference over and over and over again! I loved what... um... I forgot his name but he said how the living prophet is more important than the dead prophet. The messages this weekend have so many applications and have helped me a ton already. Also if you have time study 2 Nephi 31. Almost every talk was focused around that. The straight and narrow, repentence, faith, following Christ. It´s probably one of my favorite scriptures.

Well thats it for this week. Love you guys. Elder Florence