Silvia and Angelica getting baptized :)

September 14, 2015

Hey Mamma,

So this week has been really good! This Saturday we had the baptisms of Silvia and her daughter Angelica. It has been awesome to see their progress since the day we started teaching them. Silvia was on the brink of committing suicide, but the Lord sent two missionaries to talk her out of it. They passed the reference to us and we were able to make her promises and representatives of the lord that have already come true. She has shown so much faith and has seen so many miracles. I`m glad that I was placed in this area and feel like the Lord sent me here specifically to help her.  :)

Thanks for all the photos Mommma!! Wow, I have some pretty sisters. If I get sent home for stabbing an elder here don't be surprised. He stole a photo of Emma and won’t give it back. He says he wants to marry her, even though he has a girl waiting for him. If he writes Emma’s email tell her to turn him down nicely and say that she is getting married please!!! :) Thank you :)

Wow that is exciting about Moroni.  When does he leave? And, I know right, the time is flying and I still feel soooo greeny ha :(

You guys went rafting with my friend without me:)??? He doesn't like my sister or something right?? Oh and Emma is a smart, sneaky lil girl. Haha that’s funny about her schedule and lunch with that boy.  :) 

I love you!

Thanks dad! :) 

I have been learning the importance of slowing down these last two months. I’ve learned that walking fast and teaching the lessons from a pamphlet isn't the best thing. Instead my companion and I (especially this change ) just hand them the pamphlet and ask lots of questions and listen. We find a need and then apply stories from our lives and the life of Jesus Christ. Also, I have learned that the most important thing to teach is the atonement because it is the center of the gospel. It is the gospel! Every one has a need of the atonement too! In every lesson we try to apply the atonement and testify. The thing I like most about being a missionary is that if you have your testimony, you have everything. You can’t be confounded by men when sharing it, and the power of the spirit will touch them and they just know.  :) 

I love you dad, I hope you guys have an awesome week!

September 7, 2015

Hey, so this week has been awesome! I haven't been keeping you guys updated with Silvia, but she is doing amazing now:) She has been going to church and reading everything that we leave her. She is so excited for her baptism this Saturday:) I was definitely sent to this area to help her and her kids. :) We got them moved into a new house and are working to help her get her tortilleria going. She has been seeing a lot of miracles. It feels so good to know that the promises I made to her our first lesson as a representative of Christ are coming about. She has done everything we have asked and has made sacrifices to show her faith and is seeing miracles:) She is in a house 100 times better too. It actually has a real roof and has running water and electricity and she pays a lot less! :) 

Oh, and Mario got away again and we are teaching him again!

I have been getting along great with my companion too! :) Our cook at night said she couldn't cook for us anymore, so were cooking all the time. Neither of us know how to cook to save our lives, but it’s fun trying at night haha.

August 30, 2015

Hey Momma,

Thanks for sharing your experience:) I have often wondered if I am good enough to be out here, because I don't always do things the way that all the other missionaries do them. Most of the missionaries here are from Utah and have everything memorized and sometimes I’m like, wow I really let down the Lord in mission preparation. But, I have learned also that the Lord is just going to use me for a different aspect of the work in the areas were I don't meet with the other missionaries. I have a good amount of stories that I can tell people that help explain topics.  :) 

Always remember the Lord loves you just the way you are:) If we are trying our best then he is orguoso de nosotoros.

I really love my Bishop because he reminds me so much of grandpa. Before he got baptized he was a drunk that always liked to "mujeriar" he says. Meaning he liked a lot of women. He does everything different than any other Bishop I’ve ever seen and I love it. It’s so funny when he gets up to speak in sacrament and he forgets someones name and he asks them in the middle of sacrament!  hahahaah. He talks to all of us and includes us, it is super weird, but it’s perfect.:) 

So mario escaped.. 4 days later he got in a fight and his brother carried him home and his mom chained him up again. pobresito... but there isn't anything we can do... just pray that he finds another rock to escape again.

Love you guys!

August 24, 2015

Hey momma, 

I don't have much time left but, this week I prayed constantly for the poor little dude. Then in the street the other day I found the kids mom and she came to me crying saying that her son escaped. I don't think I responded the way she wanted haha. I accidentally let out a little laugh and smile and was like what? how? She said that somehow he found a stone and broke the chain and ran away. Then the next day he came back and told her that he loved her and he was going to be a good kid and look for work.

It's kind of crazy and hard to believe that he really found a stone and did it the week after we found him... crazy! 

But, he is free now and yesterday he came to church with us!!!! :)

Hey dad;

The temple trip was awesome and I could understand everything said. It's all in vosotros so I cant speak it very well, but my understanding is great. It was a neat experience. I'm glad to hear that all is going good with your job and with the ladies. That's awesome Hayden is coming home:) And hey, you can't let the high run out yet you still got 9 years left! Our Bishop here is a convert of like 12 years, and has been Bishop for the lat 10 years.  Talk about perserevar hasta el fin... (endure to the end).. sadly he is one of the only members out of our 700 that is faithful and comes to church every week and has a strong testimony. The ward here is almost completely fallen. It's being held together by the Bishop, us, and the other missionaries in our ward. It's so hard because we never have anyone to help us and we aren't aloud to enter houses without a guy of 18 years or older. On top of that, all the men are always gone working. 

This week I received my new companion. He is a 26 year old from Columbia, Elder Vigil. He's a cool guy and we get along really well, but he also is super racist. He has an American flag hanging upside down with a huge x on it. I guess Columbia hates us and only likes to sell us cocaine.. also he served in the army there and is super serious. Luckily, he likes me and told me that I'm his favorite American. :) I like him too because he doesn't mind working hard. We have been able to get a ton done this last week. I was suffering with my last companion because he just didn't want to work and gave up on the area. 

I'm getting to the point where I don't want to do anything but work hard. I have found that the harder I work the faster the days seam to slip by, also at the end of the day I feel good to know that I did all I could. 

I love you guys, 

Elder dabel

August 17, 2015

Hey Papa,

Don't worry, I write in my journal just about every day. I've already competed one and am half way through another haha.. I love being able to go back and read about the last 6 months when I start to get a little baggy of the mission. Before I just wanted to go home, but now I miss my old area, companion and converts haha. 

I also love the feeling I get every time I take the sacrament. I've found that I only get that feeling if I'm worthy to take the sacrament. Before the mission I could never feel the spirit that strong because I never really was 100 percent worthy of it.  I didn't do it with full intention, and I didn't even know what was I missing out on. I look forward to taking it every week now :) 

This week I also got to the temple :) I don't think I've ever had a more spiritual experience there. It's hard to explain the feeling you get there, but it's perfect. It makes you want to be perfect. I can see why we are encouraged to go to the temple as much as we can. It gives us the support and encouragement we need :) 

I love Alma 37 about the example of the liahona, and how it relates it to the words of Christ. If we give heed and diligence to it, then it will bring us to a lot better place. When Lehi and his family got lazy and stopped giving attention to the liahona they weren't on a straight course and they suffered all manner of afflictions. 

Endure to the end doesn't mean make it up the first few steps and then you're safe and can rest like the rabbit. You have to be diligent like the turtle, and take it a step at a time, but not stop or rest. 

The reason a testimony fails is because of laziness, lack of diligence, and pride. 

Hi Momma :)

Hahaha that's good that Uncle Josh took care of Weston for me, someone had to. I'm glad to hear that life is good up there:) I'll be praying for emma on the SAT test :) Why is Kayla going to crater? 

So this week has been full of stories. First off, we have a new investigator, Mario, that is 22 and chained to a pole in his house. His mom is a crazy freak and chained him to the wall post because she's afraid he's going to leave and do drugs, or get into a fight. He tells us every time that he just wants to leave and go find work, and he will never do drugs again and he's sorry. I feel for the pobresito (poor thing). He has to poop in a bucket and only gets fed sometimes. He has been chained to the wall since November without being able to leave more than 3 feet. I told his mom that if she didn't let her son go after 4 lessons then she would be condemned for taking away her sons agency. We have really been focusing on lesson 2, The Plan of Salvation.

Also, my companion has changes tomorrow so I'll be getting my new comp :P

Love and miss you guys!

August 10, 2015

So this week has been full good and bad. To start off with the good :) First we had a baptism!! Her name is Ana Pinto, right now we are also preparing her daughter to get baptized and her husband is trying to overcome an addiction to alcohol. Two weeks ago we received a reference to a lady and we went to go find her. Before we could find her, her daughter found us!! A little girl ran up to me when I was walking down the street and asked "Are you the ones we have been waiting for?" I said, "Ummm I don't think so, why?" She just said, "Oh okay... thank you", and ran off... Later that night I knocked on the door of our reference and the same little girl opened the door and yelled at her mom and said, "Mom! Mom!! They're here mom!" I was like what the heck... After talking to the mom we found out that she was about to commit suicide in the east mission when two missionaries found her and talked her out of it. They said that they could help her, and that they were going to send missionaries to her house. She said that she knew God had sent them to find her, and she knows that we are servants of Him. She was going to commit suicide because she is single and has two daughters and a granddaughter that she has to support. She only earns 20 quets a day making tortillas and was going to be kicked out of her house this month and loose her job. We shared Mormon 9 about miracles and asked her if she believed in miracles. She said yes, and we told her that if she did all the things we were going to invite her to do then the Lord would take care of her. She has done every single thing we have invited her to do. She sacrificed the last two weeks of work so she could be at church. This week she received notice from the owner of her little sheet metal house that she could have another month to live there and could make up the payments. Also, her tortilla boss said that she could continue working there also. Little miracles, but still miracles. I know she is going to receive more through her faith and diligence.