Las Impresiones del Espíritu

Hey Guys

The week went by so fast, im not sure where the time went.  But we had a cool experience on Wednesday as we were fulfilling a responsibility from President Kusch.  He sent us all the way to Acapulco to pick up an elder there in order to do a special change.  We were a little confused why this missionary didnt travel in the usual bus or why we went to get him, but we did it anyway.  Acapulco is about 4 hours away so we spent 8 hours in the car going there and bringing him back to Cuernavaca.  Elder Azueta and I were both totally wiped out.  On the way back, we were acting a little goofy in the car because of our tiredness but it was fun as we laughed it up with this elder.  We found out later in the week that this elder had been changed because of some depression.  We found out that we had helped him out a little just by having a fun time on the ride home.  That elder hadnt laughed or smiled much the last few months and he was able to enjoy himself for the first time in a while.  I was then grateful that President had sent us to make that sacrifice to help an elder out.  Last week, we didnt really work in our area once again but we were able to have a family home evening with several recent converts from the ward.  We played the good ol game of Spoons with them and talked about the importance of prioritizing in our lives to do the things that are most important, that have eternal value.  They seemed impacted by the lesson and we hope to see them continue to progress in the Gospel.  I really enjoyed this past Sunday in the Palmas ward.  Fast and testimony meeting is always really powerful and this past week was no exception.  About half way through the meeting, I literally felt like the Spirit carried me up to the stand after hearing such powerful testimonies from the members and from my companion.  I testified to the members of the reality of Jesus Christ and His Gospel, the ONLY way to return home to our Heavenly Father and to live with our families again.  I was touched by something I saw as well in that meeting.  Almost every Sunday, a homeless lady comes to our ward.  She is not a member and has some psychological problems I think, but she always comes to church.  We often see her in the street running around without much of a purpose, but when she comes to church, she always has a huge smile on her face.  This past Sunday, she showed up to sacrament meeting.  After changing seats a few times, she went to the very front row to watch and hear the testimonies.  She had that big smile on her face.  Although she may not understand everything, her spirit desires to be there where the Holy Ghost dwells.  Later on Sunday, Elder Azueta and I were busy taking the statistics of the mission.  About two weeks earlier when I was in Chilpancingo, I found out that Barbie (the 4 year old daughter of Alma) was going to have her bday this past Sunday.  About a week ago, I felt impressed to send with the zone leaders of Chilpo the Book of Mormon for kids book I had so that they could give it to Barbie for her bday.  On Sunday, I called the zone leaders to get their statistics.  Elder Mendez told me he was with Barbie and that they had just delivered the book to her.  I had left a little note inside for her.  He decided to pass the phone to her so that I could wish her a happy birthday.  She is extremely shy but she did tell me thanks for wishing her a happy bday.  When I told her bye on the phone she quickly said with her high, quiet voice, "I love you lots Elder Stutz".  My eyes watered up and I felt like my heart had melted.  I felt so happy that this young girl now has the opportunity to grow up in the Gospel and feel the Spirit in her home.  I am so grateful that the Spirit can guide us in our actions.  I am grateful He helped me feel in my mind and heart that I needed to send that book to Barbie.  I am grateful that He made me feel that we needed to knock on Alma´s door back in June 2012.  If we will just have faith, be obedient, and work, the Spirit will be permitted to touch our hearts and illuminate our minds so that we will know what to do.  May we not hesitate when acting upon these impressions.  May we not second guess the feelings or impressions we receive.  If it is something good that we feel we must do, we better do it as soon as possible.  I know the Lord wishes to guide us in our daily lives because of His interest in our well-being.  That interest comes from His love for us.  I love all of you and wish you a great week! 

Elder Stutz         

Un Sentimiento Celestial

Hey Everyone!

We recieved exciting news this past week that 58 new missions will be opened in all the world and that 8 of those will be here in Mexico.  The Lord is accelerating His work and we have the privledge to be apart of it.  Today, President Kusch, Elder Azueta, and I enjoyed a nice little trip to visit a huge cave in our mission with enormous staglamites?  President needed a little break and we did too so he took us there to enjoy the beauty of the caverns.  Also, this past week we decided to do divisions with the zone leaders in Chilpancingo, Elder Mendez and Elder Pearson.  I felt great being back in the Heroico ward working in the hot sun.  We were able to visit several families that Elder Quinnelly and I had taught but that didnt progress too well.  We will see if one of them can progress toward baptism this comign month.  We were also able to visit Alma and her family to teach her dad, Ramon.  He is getting really close to baptism which is a pretty big miracle because when we were there he would listen but never wanted to pray, read, or go to church.  It felt great to be back and the whole day as we saw members and invesitgators, I just had the overwhelming feeling that what we had done, all the sacrifices and hard work, was all worth it.  The Lord had a plan for that area when we were there, and it continues to progress now.  This past week, we didnt work hardly at all in our area with the zone conferences and other responsibilities.  We were able to meet a beautiful family that is looking for the truth and I feel like they have been prepared.  We taught them the Restoration this past week and the Spirit was present.  The mom and her two daughters accepted baptismal date for the month of March.  We are trying to teach the dad as well because he is really nice but it is hard because he is a professor at a local college and is rarely home.  We were also able to help Omar get ready for his baptism which turned out great.  He was so happy after being baptized and confirmed on Sunday.  Our hope is that he continues in the Gospel, recieving the priesthood, a calling, and becomes a dedicated man to the Lord.  He has so much potential still to become a great influence for others!  Elder Azueta and I had the opportunity to attend the new missionary training meeting for the americans last week and we felt the Spirit so strong at one point.  When President asked us at the end if we wanted to add anything, Elder Azueta wanted to say some things that came to his mind.  The whole meeting was in english so he struggled expressing himself.  I put my hand on his shoulder and offered to help him by translating it.  We did so and the Spirit was felt as he instructed the new missionaries.  After his thought, Sister Kusch raised her hand and began to cry as she talked about how every companionship should be like ours, always wanting to help eachother and support eachother.  She praised the love felt in our companionship, fighting away tears, and it was a very beautiful experience.  I would like to end with a couple of thoughts I have been having the past few days.  I want to promise everyone that we can have a direct and real comunication with our Father in Heaven through prayer.  We can talk with Him, recieve direction from Him, and feel of His love.  This privledge of prayer is NOT limited to church membership, age, knowledge, or experience.  All of His children, or in other words, each and everyone of us has the right to talk with Him.  Also, there is one Christ-like attribute that has become highly important for me in these months of my mission: diligence.  I can honestly say that I love arriving home completely and absolutely exhausted every night.  I have decided that those feelings of complete exhaustion are heavenly feelings because they are evidence of willingness to serve and sacrifice.  I love being able to serve and sacrifice for others, especially for the Lord and His cause.  I hope everyone can be diligent in their efforts to serve and sacrifice this week so that those heavenly feelings of exhaustion can testify to us that we our striving to do our best and that we are willing to be better everyday.  Love you all!

Elder Stutz    

Si Guardáis los Mandamientos, Prosperaréis

Hey Everyone,

Sorry about sending this a day late, we were in Mexico City yesterday recieving two new americans for the mission.  We had fun this past week celebrating Sister Kusch´s birthday.  We went to the mission home to eat chocolate cake and ice cream to celebrate.  We gave her a picture frame of several pictures of the office elders and put at the top of the picture frame "Mis Hijos Mexicanos" (My Mexican Kids) because she always says that we are her kids here in Mexico.  We also played the game Chubby Bunny with giant marshmallows.  It was the first time that President and Sister Kusch had played so we all laughed quite a bit.  We had two zone conferences last week as well in Cuaulta and in Acapulco.  We actually spent valentines day traveling to Acapulco and saw a bunch of crazy stuff on the coast at night when we were arriving.  I felt like we were driving through the Las Vegas strip with all the clubs and parties.  As I reflected that night on my decision to serve a mission and set aside all personal things for two years, I realized that I have been able to focus on my relationship and friendship with my Savior.  I am so grateful for that because I have been able to come to know Him better.  We had a very funny experience in Acapulco after the zone conference.  A police officer walked into the church grounds and began to talk with me outside of the church as we were cleaning up.  He told me that we had broken a law by putting the trash out on the street during the daytime instead of "correctly" putting the trash out at night.  Elder Azueta came outside and the officer told us that we would need to pay a fine of $2750 pesos ($250 dollars) because of what we had done.  Elder Azueta and I knew it was fake because when he showed us the paper of possible fines, the one he chose was the most expensive by far on the list.  So we went along with it and told him we would pay the fine.  We asked him to give us the fine so that we could go to the city office and pay it.  It was then that he said, but the fine is really expensive right?  How about you guys just buy my boss and I a few sodas and snacks in the cornerstore and we will call it good and pretend like nothing happened here!  We explained that in our church we believe in honoring and obeying the law so we would be paying every peso of the fine.  I think he might of felt something and then said, Dont worry guys, we will be on our way.  So we almost got robbed by a police officer making up fake fines!!!  But my testimony of obeying the commandments of God was stregthened by this experience.  I thought of all the poor people that get tricked by those police officers that are just out to get money.  But, by wanting to obey a commnandment (honor and obey the law), we were able to be protected from being tricked or taken advantage of.  When we obey the commandments, we are protected physically and spiritually.  This past Sunday, Omar surprised us when he came to church and after feeling impressions from the Spirit, my companion and I asked the bishop to talk to him in his office to get him excited for his baptism and to help him feel more like a member of the ward.  When Omar left the bishop´s office, he had a new light in his face and told us he is getting baptized this saturday.  We are going to have the bishop baptize him.  We have seen Omar change so much and we know he has the faith neccessary to make this change in his life.  We are so excited for Saturday!  I just want to end by saying that this past week I have felt the Spirit on several occasions testify and tell me that I am meant to be here in Mexico during these specific years and months.  I know that I am doing the Lord´s work and I always want to strive to do it His way because it is the only way that works and it is the only way that people can be baptized with a real conversion in their heart.  The great thing about being a missionary for the true church of Jesus Christ is that we dont have to convince anyone, the Holy Ghost does it for us.  As we share the Gospel, we must always remember that truth.  No one of us is incapable of sharing the Gospel in a convincing way because we each are entitled to the companionship of the Holy Ghost.  When we open our mouths to share it, we can be confident that the Spirit will touch the hearts of those we talk to.  I am striving to make that same Spirit my best friend as I rely on His help and promptings every day and every hour.  Thanks to that focus, Elder Azueta and I have had very spiritual experiences that have stregthened us and those around us.  We ahve felt the Spirit work through us to bring about the will of the Lord here in this mission.  I love this work and wouldnt rather be doing anything else.  Love you all!

Elder Stutz         

Los Deseos Divinos e Inspirados

Hey Guys,

I feel like time is really flying right now in the mission because we just had another mission council with the zone leaders.  It has been a great experience seeing some many of these leaders grow and really learn to achieve their goals through righteous leadership.  Elder Azueta and I were able to speak directly to these leaders, challenging them to continue to set the example for their missionaries.  We also reminded them about when we experienced changes in the mission about six months ago.  When we had the changes, we were confident that they were inspired and that we would see a lot more success and baptisms in the mission once we got everything organized and ready.  Well, after a few months of hard work, we have gotten used to the changes and NOW is the time to baptize more and to be better missionaries.  We challenged them to "accomplish their desires" (Alma 57:8) as soon as possible in their zones.  The Spirit was strong and we are excited for the coming results in the mission.  We also had our first of five zone conferences for the month this past week.  We enjoyed training the missionaries about asking inspired questions in the lessons to help the investigators realize the testimonies they have developed as they have read the Book of Mormon, prayed, and attended church.  We are excited for two other zone conferences for this week in Cuautla and Acapulco.  We finally taught that young woman from the Caribbean.  It was the one of the hardest lessons of my mission.  The lesson was in three different languages (French, English, and Spanish) so it was a little harder to understand, especially for my companion.  The hardest part of the lesson was teachign to and trying to help someone who has a completely different culture and background than anyone else we have ever taught.  Her doubts were all different, her reactions were all different.  We didnt feel too good leaving the lesson but the good part was that several young sisters went to the lesson with us so she now has friends in the ward.  I think she will be able to progress but we will have to plan out the lessons well and rely wholly on the Spirit.  A miracle occurred in the ward right next to us this past week.  There is a family of three where the mom and son are members of about 5 years.  The son is currently on a mission and the dad has been investigating the church for 5 years.  This past week he finally made the decision to be baptized.  He asked President Kusch to baptize him.  The service was incredibly spiritual and this humble man was able to make the best decision of his life.  He is looking forward to being sealed with his family in a year once his son gets back.  We are hoping and praying for a similar miracle in our ward.  An elder just left from our ward this past week.  His parents are not members but his two sisters are.  His parents have always been pretty closed minded about it and havent wanted to learn from the missionaries in the past.  Well, wwith his departure and testimony, the hearts of his parents have been softened and we are now teaching them.  A miracle occurred in the second lesson when we asked the mom if she prayed about the Book of Mormon to know if this is the true church.  She began to cry and told us that she prayed while worrying a lot about her son after he left.  When she paryed and asked about the church, she felt an overwhelming peace come over her and knew she had recieved an answer.  We challenged her to be baptized and she accepted.  Our current obstacle is that she wants to wait till her son returns to do so.  So we are working with her so that she will develop those desires to be baptized so that when her son gets back, they can be sealed as a family.  As far as the other investigators go, everything has basically fell.  It is a mix of peoples agency and our lack of time due to our travels but we accept the trial and are ready to do our best this week and leave the rest at the feet of our Savior.  We received a great reboost of strength this Sunday when the bishop called us into his office, telling us he needed to give us something.  When we went in, we knew what it was.  When we had the conference with Elder Zivic, he challenged us to ask priesthood blessings from our bishops to receive extra strength and help the bishop feel more committed to helping us.  Well, with our busy schedule we totoally forgot about the challenge and our bishop beat us to it!  He gave us beautiful blessings that will help us continue forward.  My small thought today is about divine and inspired desires.  I simply know that our desires, if righteous, will always be fulfilled if we work to acheive them.  For example, the three nephites worked, worked, and worked, and when they were done, they asked the Savior for more work and that is why their desires were fulfilled to bring many souls to Christ (3 Nephi 28:29).  I am so grateful for the time that has been given to me to preach the Gospel 24/7.  Due to that charge the Savior has given to me, I invite all to experience the sweet redeeming love that Christ offers through His Gospel.  I promise you happiness and peace as you do so.  Love you all!!!

Elder Stutz

El Milagro del Ayuno

Hey Cuates!!
Lots of stuff to report on this week!  Ill start with last sunday because I think I forgot to mention it in my last email.  To get the ward more excited and to thank the Relief Society for always cooking delicious food for us, we decided to perform a special musical number in the Relief Society.  We sang Josephs Smiths Prayer with a mix of another hymn that has to do with missionary work to the tune of Come thou Font.  It turned out great and we saw a lot of sisters accept our invitation to write down the names of friends that came to their mind as we sung.  We are visiting those sisters in our area to find out who the Holy Ghost brought to their mind so that we can meet them and start to teach them.  Last week we also went to Iguala to do divisions with the zone leaders.  I went with an elder from Peru named Elder Romero.  He is a younger leader in the mission and has a lot of potential.  The Tamarindos area (my old area) is closed right now so the zone leaders occasionally work there.  Elder Romero and I had the opportunity to work there and I saw a lot of members and investigators again.  The best experience was meeting the new mission leader of the ward.  It is an ex missionary that elder Pearson and I helped get active again.  We visited him often and developed a great friendship.  I hadnt heard anything about him until Elder Romero told me that the ward mission leader was going to help us out and I saw him pull up on his motorcycle.  He had a lot more shine and happiness in his face and I know it is because he repented and has done all possible to live the Gospel again 100%.  He is planning to be married in the temple at the end of the calender year.  elder Romero and I were able to talk about a lot of stuff leadership-related and he told me that I helped him a lot to realize his potential and want to work harder to become the leader the Lord wants him to be.  I also experienced quite the surprise on my bday.  My companion and I had an appointment planned with an investigator in the home of a member.  When we arrived, they asked me to go in first and as I walked into the dark room, the lights turned on and about 20 people sang las mañanitas (happ birthday song in mexico) to me.  They had ballons, a sweet sign, cake, and a special gift from Elder Azueta.  He had ordered an Elder Stutz piñata to be made.  I was the first to take a smack at it and I knocked its head off pretty hard.  It was super funny and we all had a great time.  Elder Azueta also got me with the mexican tradition of pushing my face into the cake.  Several ward members were there and the office elders.  It was a cool surprise but the best part of the night was when our investigator introduced us to her friend who also is looking to change her life and wants to listen to our message.  Our investigator said, "Yep now there are two of us who want what you guys have in your church".  As we went home that night, I realized how much I have changed in the mission.  Instead of thinking about the piñata, the cake, or the celebration, I could not stop thinking of the miracle to be able to teach more people the Gospel and see their lives change for the better.  We continue to work with Omar so that he will be ready for his baptism this coming saturday.  His faith has grown a ton and we have had a couple really spiritual lessons with him lately.  We also had an amazing lesson with Myrna, the lady that has lost her husband and son in the last year.  We had planned to watch the movie "On our way home" which talks about the plan of salvation.  But at the last minute we felt we needed to talk about the restoration.  After teaching about the priesthood and Joseph Smith, we felt that we needed to focus on eternal families through the priesthood.  I felt impressed to take out my Gospel art book to show a picture of the temple.  When I showed the Salt Lake temple, Myrna interumpted us and said, "I have seen that temple before".  She explained a dream that she had when she saw and talked with her son outside of the Salt Lake temple.  She began to cry and we testified of the truthfulness of the Restoration and the blessing of become sealed as families to be able to live together again forever.  At the end of the lesson, when we asked her how she felt, she told us that when we teach her, she feels like the Savior himself is talking with her.  The Spirit could not have been felt stronger and we left that night feeling 100% inspired by the Lord.  I am so grateful that He always guides us as we try to do our best (which usually isnt even too much).  On Sunday, I decided to fast for the progressing investigators we have so that they would go to church and be able to be baptized this month.  I felt a little down as we waited in sacrament meeting and none of the investigators were showing up.  After many fervent prayers, Omar showed up.  After a few more minutes a woman walked into the chapel.  We recognized that she was a reference that we couldnt find all month.  She is a very dark-skinned young woman from a french speaking island in the Caribean.  She speaks french, a little bit of english, and she is just barely starting to study spanish.  So when I invited her to sit with us, it was a little hard to communicate well throughout the meeting haha.  She is really interested though because she has friends back in her country that are members and she wants to learn more.  We are excited to start to teach her this week.  Although we were disappointed that several investigators didnt show up, we were grateful for the miracles we did see.  The Lord usually doesnt answer our prayers and fasts how we expect that He will.  But He always answers.  Thanks to everyone for the bday wishes and the best gift you could give me is by sharing the Gospel or getting to know the Mormon church a little more by reading the Book of Mormon, visit the church, and pray everyday (or in other words, have a sincere conversation with God).  I promise you that if you do so, you will find happiness and peace that I have found and that others here in Mexico have found.  Love you all!
Elder Stutz