December 30, 2012

Another week has come and gone.  I hope everyone had a great Christmas and that your New Year's is great as well.  The work of the Lord is continuing forward.  It is a real battle right now to help my companion progress and be obedient and to also save the branch from being closed but it's going!  The Lord blesses us in our obedience.  We were blessed to have two baptisms on Saturday.  One of the kids is 17 and has been going to church for over a year but never decided to get baptized until right now and then the other was a kid of a sister that just got baptized.  It has been really great in the area and the people are really super loving and want to learn more.  I know that the Lord has a great plan for these people and for all of us in this new year!  We just have to take advantage of the time the Lord has given us now!

December 24, 2012

Well it has been a super interesting week in the work of the Lord.  I have really had to trust in the Lord in this new area.  He has given me the strength to be able to continue working and even stand up against sin.  He really has given me the power to stand up for what is right and I feel the difference in my life.  He gave me the strength to do something I never could have before to stand up in front of a group of missionaries that were doing some things they weren't supposed to do.  God really loves us and it is in the hard times of our lives that we find strength if we look in the right spot.  God loves and strengthens us always.  I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and that you feel the love and strength of Christ in your life.

December 17, 2012

What a week!  This area is going to be a good experience.  It's a little town and everyone knows everyone.  They are all super poor and there are maybe 10 paved roads in the whole town - it is great!  There are a ton of hills as well.  It is super beautiful here.  As for this week it was a great one!  We have been working super hard and trying to make the changes necessary.  We have to make a lot of changes and help the members.  This area they are thinking about closing it and shutting down the branch.  The branch is a small branch of 20 to 30 active members.  We have a lot of work to do  - me and my companion - if things don't go well the mission will be saying goodbye to this area.  The pressure is on!  It is great though I have seen a lot of miracles just in the time that I have been here.  We decided to fast on Saturday - me and my companion and really it built my testimony of fasting.  We were fasting really to receive a lot of help and direction in the area and it happened.  We were fasting to have a baptism and a lot of things and I asked the Lord in my prayers to give me the opportunity to talk in Sacrament too.  The Lord has answered our prayers.  Next week we will be having a baptism, an investigator that has been going to church for over a year has finally accepted to be baptized.  The work is going great.  Keep praying a lot for us - we need all the divine help we can bet!

December 10, 2012

Well transfers happened.  Sadly but excitingly I am out of Comayagua.  I miss the area and the people but the new area is great.  I am in an area called Campamento.  It is a tiny branch of the church and is a little pueblo.  My companion is Elder Portillo and he is from San Pedro Sula.  It has been an interesting week with mixed feelings.  I wasn't super excited for the transfers but now I know it will be good and I know that God has put me here for a reason.  It will be super interesting to see the area when I leave that is for sure.  I came to the area and there are maybe 5 investigators and a lot of wasted time in the past.  Now we are making changes and we are starting to knock doors and look for investigators.  They have been super focused in the branch that they have let the investigators go pretty much but that is alright we have to start somewhere.  I was a little frustrated at first to see it but then I know now that God put me here for a reason and we are going to see many miracles here.  I have been really humbled with the transfer and it just makes me realize how well God knows each and everyone of us and puts us in situations to learn and to grow.  Just in these couple of days that I have been here we have made so many changes and I am helping my companion a lot to learn.  One thing I have learned so far in my mission is that I am nothing, I am nothing but the dust of the earth but if I keep my self obedient and trust in the Lord and always try to strengthen my faith I can do miracles.  I really am nothing but the Lord has made me strong and is helping me complete my purpose.  I was studying today and just happened to have the best study of my whole entire mission.  God really answered my prayers and my study was awesome!!!  I was reading the talk by President Monson from conference in the Priesthood session and it was just an answer to my prayers.  I also was reading a scripture in 2 Timothy 1:7-8 . . . I Loved IT!  God has entrusted me with power and love and not with fear.  He has done that with all of us.  He has given us power to do all things.  I know that if we trust in him we can do miracles.  The work isn't easy but it sure is worth it.  Keep reading the Book of Mormon and wait for the miracles in your lives.  I know you will be hearing about miracles here soon!

December 3, 2012

What a week!  It was pretty crazy!  We had a plan to baptize two of the Bishops nieces but it didn't happen.  Their grandma died this week and so we didn't have contact with them from Thursday until Sunday!  Sadly Claris and Genesis weren't baptized.  It was a little sad and we were a little down for a day but all is well.  We invited them to be baptized for this Saturday and they accepted!  It looks like this month will be a great one for this area!  We have transfers this week and I am pretty sure I am heading out of Comayagua and who knows where I am going.  I will go and do what the Lord commands.  Yesterday we had the chance to go to the First Presidency Devotional and I loved it a lot.  I loved their words that we just need to accept the things that people are giving!  It's so true we expect to give back something bigger and more expensive!  It shouldn't be like that it should be focused in the Savior!  We should all try and give the greatest gift that we all have and that being the Gospel!  There is nothing better than someone can receive the gospel.  I am looking forward to the greatest Christmas of my life to keep working and giving the people what they really need!  The Gospel!  There is no greater gift of happiness that you can get!  I invite all of you this Christmas that you can give a Book of Mormon to someone that you know!  You all know someone that needs it!  Find them!  Give it!  Remember "True love is a reflection of the Savior's love" (Thomas S Monson) - it is true!

November 26, 2012

It was a super great week!  The work is awesome.  Yesterday Paty got baptized at 7:30 in the morning!  It was an awesome experience after months of teaching her she finally got baptized and it was the most amazing baptism I have had in my mission as of right now.  After she was baptized and changed and came back out we gave her the chance to share her feelings and testimony and when she got up to start talking she just started crying and crying.  When she regained control she started to tell us what happened.  She told us when she came up out of the water she looked where everyone was sitting and in the front row she saw her parents sitting in the front row.  The crazy thing is her parents died years ago.  It was one of the most amazing experiences I have had.  I was just full of the spirit.  It was just a testimony to me that really there are angels working here among us preparing the hearts of the people to be baptized and to come unto Christ!  This work really is the best!  Gods hand is in the work and his angles are supporting us.  I know the angels are always around us and now I have a confirmation of that.  I hope you are having experiences with angels in your lives as well.

November 19, 2012

Well it was a great week! The work of the Lord is seriously the greatest thing in the world!  Danis was baptized Saturday and it was a super awesome experience - I got to baptize him.  I love just knowing that we have baptisms because that means we are completing our purpose.  The work is great!  Things are looking great right now!  With Danis baptism Saturday and with the plans of putting 4 or 5 more baptism dates this week!  Things are looking great!  Sunday Paty is going to be baptized!  Wahoo!  After about 2 months of teaching her she will be baptized!  It is amazing to see the changes she has made in her life from a sad and quiet woman to now she is super happy and she always talks with us now!  It is a miracle to see how the gospel changes the life of someone!  She really is the best!  I love seeing the changes that she has made it really is so exciting!  It was awesome - I had a huge testimony boost that this is the church of God and that the spirit is real this week!  We were visiting with Paty and we were just talking and she just started telling us that since she started reading the Book of Mormon she has always had questions and so she has been asking the sister that she lives with for answers but she told us that every time she asks a question the next time we come we talk about whatever her question was!  It was a huge boost and to know that we are really following the spirit and doing the things that god expects of us.  This work is real!  The fight against Satan is real every day and the great thing is we know the outcome of the war!  Satan loses!  Sucks to be him and great to be us because we have the knowledge we have!  I know this gospel is true without doubt and I know that without doubt when we pray and ask for help from God he will respond through the spirit!  I hope you are all praying to have experiences with sharing the gospel.  You can measure your conversion to the church by how much you share the gospel!  Get converted or what are you doing in the church.