Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Last Week of Transfers AKA Week of Craziness

Hello Everyone...
Hope everyone had a great week...We had a wonderful week full of lots of Revelation...

In the offices in the last week of the transfer it is pretty hectic haha...The Assistants, the President and the Wife of the President all meet in the Presidents office for about 5 hours everyday for a whole week...We have a process to arrange the transfers...everything happens for a purpose and for a reason...It is just spiritual experience after spiritual experience..It is amazing the feelings I got to send missionaries to other parts of the mission...to open and close areas...and especially the strong feeling I got to send Sister Missionaries to a little town outside of Hermosillo where not one sister missionary has even gone before...One thing that I have learned this week..that I cant even really think about my personal preferences when choosing transfers...it is not my place...God knows exactly where to put every missionary so we work until ALL of the transfers of the will of God...It was a long process but everything is done and we are advising the mission of the Transfers...we had quite a few almost every companionship had transfers I believe there were 8 companionships that didnt...haha

We also had a little time in our area to find new people and teach them...While knocking doors for about 1 hour we finally noted that knocking doors would be tons better (and it is) when you are doing it with the help of God....We found a secluded place on the street and offered a prayer...In my prayer i said ...Father help us find a Family...I felt the Spirit strongly in that moment and throughout the rest of our Search... We were guided to a house and knocked on the fence...A lady came out the door and we started talking her husband (a huge army guys) walked up as well...They let us in without a single problem and set out chairs below the starlit sky and we had an excellant lesson...They were so interested in the Book of Mormon and were reading it before we had even left haha...It was a wonderful family...We are excited for them to go to church with us this week...

All in all a great week...just striving to do Gods will in every minute...
I sure love this Work
Love you all
Elder Child


                  Some wonderful lady gave us a huge slice of watermelon on a Very hot day...
 

 


                                            Us with President and the Transfer Board
 
 
                                                   Playing Basketball at 6 am on P Day...
 
 

Monday, May 23, 2016

Exchanges on the Opposite Side of the Mission...

Hello Everyone....
I hope you all had a great week this past week and enjoying some wonderful Spring/Summer weather...

We left Hermosillo Monday afternoon to head down to a city called Guaymas...which is at the Southern side of the Mission...It was kind of funny 2 weeks ago going to Penasco which is at the northern end and then this past week in Guaymas on the complete opposite side of the mission...We enjoyed Back to Back companion exchanges in this Tourist Town...we ended up doing exchanges with all 7 companionships in the 4 days we were there...

It was great..We are seeing these wonderful Elders progress in every aspect of the work...It is amazing the difference in the Spirit we are feeling as we are teaching with more clarity and simplicity then ever before...It is also fun to see how a single day of intense work and spiritual experiences can really boost the Faith and Motivation level of the Missionaries... We love just giving our all to help everyone of these Elders not just with their teaching abilities but with Spiritual needs...Every night and every morning I focused my studies on each one of the Elders...I gave them my All...And thanks to the Holy Ghost every Elder has felt the love that I have for each and everyone of them, and by this same Spirit Every Elder has been Motivated and has been Taught what everyone of them has needed... It was a great week...full of experiences...I sat down on the bus to come home and I crashed haha I slept like a  little baby for an hour and a half...We got to Hermosillo and had about 3 hours to work...so we got to keep working in our area haha...Luckily we got to go to the temple this morning :)))) And so I am ready for another week... Woot Woot!!

Sorry the letter is so short...Love you guys 
And Good Luck with Graduation everyone...
Love 
Elder Child
 
            First Exchanges in a little Town called Empalme...Elder Gonzalez y Elder Hernandez
 

 


                                          2nd Exchanges with Elder Shin and Elder Roldan
 
 


                                       3rd Exchanges with Elder Collaguazo y Elder Serrano
 
 
                                           Eating lunch with some members in San Carlos
 
 

Thursday, May 19, 2016

Returning to Penasco a Year Later...

Hello Everyone...
I hope your week was wonderful...We had an amazing week this week running around doing companion exchanges with all of the missionaries...
Sunday I also had a chance to Skype the Fam...Everyone looks so great and sound so good even though my little brothers voices are a little deeper haha..On Sunday night we were invited to the Presidents house for a Special Mothers Day Dinner...just the 4 assistants the President and the Wife of the President...It was a very nice casual dinner where we ate Sister Robinsons favorite dinner (Fried Tacos).haha and President had cooked it all...we walked into the house and President had his apron on working quickly in the kitchen and the Sister was relaxing...Brought back so many memories of when we cooked the dinner for our Mom on Mothers Day haha...We had our normal meetings Monday morning and our companions left to Nogales that day to start exchanges there and one of my Companions and I stayed back to teach some really important lessons Monday night...then we left Tuesday afternoon to arrive in Penasco to start more exchanges haha...We arrived late Tuesday night and then I left alone to go to a town north of Penasco that is called Sonoyta (border with Lukeville Arizona)...We had the best exchanges out of the whole transfer...The missionaries are really progressing personally and progressing in the branch there...

I then headed back to Penasco on Thursday to have some exchanges with the Zone Leaders...I got off the bus and I was walking with the Zone Leaders heading to the church to grab another bike for me and we got stopped 2 by members and investigators that recognized me it was wonderful to just run into the wonderful members...But as I explained to my family on Mothers Day that these exchanges are not just to visit old friends from old areas...So we spent the whole day teaching new investigators and new converts that I hadnt even known...It was so great to see that area still growing and progressing, while there we went to the First Branchs Branch Counsel...where I saw pretty much the same leaders as I did about a year ago...haha But I felt like they looked at me differently...Every decision that was made in the Counsel..they always gave me time to comment saying Elder Child how can we do this better...or what could we do in this situation...I always gave them my 2 cents (weird how I always had something to say haha I am turning into my Mother) and the Counsel always took the comments well...It was a great experience to be able to see the growth of the branch...exactly 1 year ago we were in a Branch Counsel and we put the goal to have an average attendance of 200 people in Sacrament Meeting...(We were at 130 people) They gave an update that for these last 2 trimesters they have had an average of 240 people attending Church) They now have the goal of getting to the 300 mark...haha As I have said..this Branch is progressing fast...We might split the branch but that is a work in progress haha...

While in Penasco on Thursday at about 7 o clock at night we got a phone call from some Elders here in Hermosillo that were having some difficulties..They, not knowing that we were 7 hours away, asked if we could help them in their Studies the next day to give them some help...we told them that we would be there...so we finished up with our Exchanges for the day (luckily we had gotten to all of the Elders in the Zone) headed to the Zone leaders house packed our stuff, while one Zone Leader made us a dinner of beans and tortillas....ate some dinner then headed out to the bus station at 12:30 A.M. Friday or half hour after midnight and then Headed back to Hermosillo...It was quite the experience traveling at night...It was very interesting why God puts us where and when...I found myself sitting next to a young man that I recognized as a member from the other Branch in Penasco...and we started talking...about his life and future plans..I remember very clearly that a year ago when I met him for the first time he was super excited to go on a Mission...now he was not very excited to serve...So I spent a good hour and a half talking to him and reading scriptures with him. He was reexcited to serve...and he told me that we would start filling out his papers in this week...after that conversation I slept like a baby..only being interupted by other Babies that would start crying on the way...We got to the bus station in Hermosillo at 7 in the morning, I quickly brushed my teeth, washed my face, and fixed my hair in the bathroom, took a taxi over to the Elders house and we started studying at 8...It was pretty hectic but we could really help those Elders out...we hope they will keep being happy and excited to be a part of this great work...

Here is my week in 3 paragraphs haha...I did a lot of traveling and running around but I throughout this week I felt that God was putting me in every situation for a specific reason...So it was a great tiring week...but thanks to the Temple Session at 7 o clock this morning we are pumped and ready to go this next week....

Love you All 
Elder Child
 
                                     The long road to Sonoyta..(kind of weird traveling alone)
 
 
                                                              Exchanges in Sonoyta
 
 
                                   My Comp and I on the 12:30 AM Bus Ride To Hermosillo
 
 
                                             Mothers Day...A little Blurry but all smiles...
 
 

Monday, May 9, 2016

Immediate Revelation in the Right Places...

Hola Everyone....
This week has been quite edifying...We had a few major leadership meetings this week....Almost 30 missionaries were in everyone of our meetings...And all of the Elders from outside of Hermosillo stay with us in our house the night before the meetings (The advantage of having 20 beds in your house) 

So last Monday night we were preparing our Training Discussions, and it was pretty hard to figure out what we had to talk about the next day due to all of the Elders in our house and the lack of reverence, The Visiting elders were happy to see the others and playing ping pong (The disadvantage of having a ping pong table haha) So as we tried to seccion ourselves in the house we came up with a few points we wanted to teach..It lasted quite a long time...When we got done with that...I was exhausted so I headed to bed...The morning of our meetings I woke up about 5:30 to turn on our gas water heater and to prepare my certain Training parts...I went outside took in some good ol fresh air (just as Dad does) and went inside to my desk knelt down asking for assistence in my preparation and sitting down in my chair I felt the peace come to my heart and mind...(It also helped that everyone else was asleep still) Almost immediately I felt and knew what I needed to say and do...I wrote down my notes in about 15 minutes and I was done haha..Just shows the importance of a reverent home where the spirit can reside and so that you can recieve revelation...It totally beat the 3 hours of preparation that we did the night before in a very loud environment...
In my trainings I could feel strongly the Spirit as He guided me and gave me the correct words at the correct moment...

This was one experience I could have this week...This upcoming week we will be headed to do exchanges with other Zones outside of Hermosillo...So it will be a week of Back to Back Exchanges...
Love you guys and see you tomorrow Fam...
Elder Child

P.S. Happy Mothers Day to everyone!!!....

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Running on 0% Energy and 100% Spirit

Hello Everyone!
 Hope you guys have had a great week...We have had another great week... It is very interesting my Role here in the Mission I am learning everyday how to become a better missionary and a better leader...It is hard because we have to put in a lot of time to helping missionaries, preparing meetings, and doing the administrative parts of Leadership in the Mission...Putting in this extra time is necessary but it does tire you out haha...We spend a lot of the mornings in the offices working then we go to lunch with a member, after that we are usually free to work in our own area contacting and teaching...so by the end of the day we are pretty dang tired...We keep on doing companion exchanges here in Hermosillo and in every part of the mission... We are seeing a great movement in the work...The missionaries are excited and everyone seems to be finding and teaching lots of people...We continue this week with 3 meetings...1 with all of the Zone Leaders and Sister Leaders, another with just sister leaders and a third with all of the District Leaders of the Mission...so all of us will be pretty busy with that this week...haha

Last night I had a wonderful opportunity...Sandra is a Convert that I was able to baptize in my last ward...her husband, almost a year and a half ago, died and since then she had felt the need to come closer to God...She was baptized 3 months ago and she called President asking if I could be the proxy for her husbands baptism in the temple...the President gave me permission and I was able to be a proxy in that baptism last night...While I was there I saw a familiar face...It was Eduardo from my last area as well...(it must have been ward temple night haha) Eduardo was able to bring a few names of his family members to be a proxy for them...After every Baptism he had a huge smile on his face...it was just as big as the smile he had when he himself was baptized almost 2 months ago...It was a great night for 2 great converts...They felt and I know that the Baptisms that we performed last night were completely valid unto God for these people...and that these people even though they didnt get that chance to accept the Gospel here on this world...they have or are having or will have the great opportunity in the Spirit World to accept this wonderful plan...

Another time this week we were talking with a young couple that have not been sealed yet...We had planned the lesson the day earlier that we were going to teach about the Sealing Ordinance...so we arrived at the appointment and introduced the topic and the Sister related a story that had happened a few days earlier...The Brother was sick with something of the stomach the doctors warned that it might be Advanced Appendicitis and that it might have been too late to do anything...Sister later told us that after hearing the doctor tell her this the first thing that she thought of was that She and her husband had not been sealed...The thought scared her a lot...which got her super excited to meet with the Bishop this Sunday to talk about what they need to do as a couple to be able to get to the temple and recieve this great ordinance...Temples are so great...I love them...I was thinking today while sitting in the Celestial Room that wouldnt it be great if we could just live in the temple...Or even greater if we could still live in our own homes and feel as if we were living in the temple, And then I pondered how we could make our homes feel like that...I will leave that with you guys to ponder this week...
Love you all
Elder Child
 
                                            Temple Trip with Sandra and Eduardo
 

 


                                                           Hair Cutting on P Day