So it looks I will have a couple minutes to write in between all the changes that are going on in the zone. My companion and I are staying for another change and there were only a few changes in the whole zone. We are excited for them because we now have a great group of elders and sisters. Last week I was able to do divisions with my district leader in his area. His name is Elder Boyack and he is going home in 2 days. So I was able to work with him in his last week of the mission. I learned a lot from him, we talked quite a bit about the mission and our thoughts toward it. He served an excellent two years and he actually reminds me a lot fo myself. But we did have a great experience while contacting in his area. We werent having much success but we came to a door and decided to knock it. A man came out and told us that he didnt have time to listen to us. We explained the importance of our message and he told us that his 20 year old nephew had just been shot in Cuernavaca the day before. The family was there in the house mourning and beginning to plan out the funeral and police investigations. We shared brief testimonies of the plan of salvation there at their doorstep and he decided to let us in to talk to the whole family. We were able to share a scripture about where their loved one is right now and talk a little of that marvelous plan that God has for us. The spirit was so strong and the family loved the message and how they felt during it. I sure do appreciate the knowledge we have that we lived before this life, that we have a specific purpose in this life, and that their is a better life waiting for us after death. Even though terrible things happen in todays world that dont seem fair, God is a just God and He has perfect purposes for the things that happen in these days. My companion and I also had a successful contact when I was looking for a shoe repair man to fix my scriptures with some strong glue. We went to a place near our house and started talking to the repair man and he did the job for free and asked us to come back to teach him. When we taught him he shared a lot of things that have happened in his past that were very unfair to him. At the end of the lesson, he prayed and began to cry and offered up such a sweet prayer. He wants to better his relationship with God and we are going to help him out. We also had the chance to go to one of the closed areas in our zone and teach a couple references of the members. The cool part about it was that we got there and the whole branch council was waiting for us and all of them came to the appointments with us. Each of them bore their simple but strong testimonies in those lessons and it was so powerful. I think that if every ward council did things like that, the church would grow so much faster in the whole world. We have one investigator progressing really well right now. Her name is Diana and she is 17. She lives with her boyfriend and they now have a date to be married. Diana, and her boyfriend, are going to get married in a little more than a month. But she is so ready and has come so far. As she has read the Book of Mormon, prayed, and come to church, she has developed such a strong faith in Jesus Christ and now she wants to follow his example by being baptized. We are really excited for her! Sunday was a very busy day for us as well. We both had the opportunity to speak in sacrament meeting, teach the gospel principles class and teach the elders quorom. That has happened a lot on the mission because a lot of the leadership here in Mexico is made up of recent converts that are still learning. So they often ask us to train them and help them out with the lessons. We do it so willingly and I am just so grateful for the things I lerarned about the priesthood in my wards before the mission that have certainly prepared me to help these men fulfill and magnify their callings. Elder Quinnelly talked about charity in sacrament meeting and I talked on the joy of rescuing. One thing I shared is the vision of the tree of life that Lehi saw. In that story in the Book of Mormon, Lehi sees many different groups of people. One group gets to the tree, tastes of the fruit, then gets embarrased because of the world and gets lost in forbidden paths. The other group gets to the tree and STAYS there to the end. It is written of this group that they heeded not the mockings of the world. In order for us to not pay attention to the mockings of the world, we need to be busy working!!!! If we do nothing, eventually we will heed to that great and spacious building and be lost. That is why service is such a huge part in enduring to the end. We must work everyday rescuing our brothers and sisters that have lost their way or who have not yet come to know of the sweet taste of the fruit of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We will find so much joy by doing so and I know that our happiness with those souls will be much greater than the sacrifice we put forth. Love you all and hope everyone has a great week!!
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