Villahermosa: Week 19 "Acayucan"

24 marzo 2014

Wow. What a week. 

So. The heat has come. It is so hot here. It got up to a hundred yesterday with the humidity. Ridiculous. 

Well I got changed on Tuesday morning. Headed to Acayucan on the 4 hour bus ride from Villahermosa. Got there and met my new companion, Elder King. He is pretty awesome. We get along great. He also has a passion for basketball. That was a big plus. 

So our area is struggling. big time. A little while back, there was some things said by the Bishop that a lot of people did not agree with and they stopped coming to church. A lot of people. And the missionaries before me and Elder King have not really tried to help out or do anything about the problem. So we are basically starting from scratch here. We do not really have any investigators and there are a lot of less actives. The ward just needs a boost. So this week we have been visiting like crazy. We have visited a lot of less actives and have taught them and we have invited them back to church. We have also been asking them if they have anyone in mind, like a neighbor or a friend, that we could teach. This method have been very successful so far. We have found a lot of new people to teach and almost doubled the church attendance. I can not help but see the Lords hand in this. We I saw the chapel almost full for the first time this ward has seen in a long time, I almost cried. Actually I might have a little bit.

Sorry I did not share a ton today but we do not have much time. I will send pictures from this week. I love you all! Un Buen!

Elder George

 

Saying goodbye to these goofs at the bus station.

Our friend that lives outside our house in Acayucan.

The view from the roof of our house. I am basically a professional photographer.

 

Villahermosa: Week 18 "Cambios"

17 marzo 2014

Well. What a week. 

I am skipping to Wednesday. We got a call from the Zone Leaders in the morning. They had just had a giant Stake Meeting. The people in the meeting were the Zone Leaders from the stake, all the Bishops, The Stake President, and the Mission President. The Zone Leaders told us that someone had brought up that the Elders in the Mercedes Ward did not leave their house until 1:00 everyday! What a lie! The only day that we did not leave our house until 1 since the time I have been here is when Elder Clarkson was deathly sick! It just made me a little disappointed. Because now a lot of people think bad of us and we probably will not get a lot of help from the ward anymore. I do not know. We will have to see.  Good news on Wednesday though. We got a new Investigator. His name is Leo. He reminds me of Sean. He is 12 years old and he is ready. The only problem is we have to talk with his mom who is never home. And we are helping someone get married the 19th of March. 

So Thursday we went to the temple. It was super awesome. I loved it, as usual. Found out that a young man in the ward wanted to come and work with us for a day. So we were all for it. 

So we picked up the Young Man to come and work with us Friday. His name is Temoc. Its a Mayan name. He was all dressed up and excited to work. He had his backpack and everything ready. We visited a couple families and he did really good! Then we had to go to a different area in Parilla because my companion had to give a baptismal interview. It went really well. Then we had to go to another area. The missionaries that we are living with had an investigator ready for an interview. We walked a lot. I admit. By the time we got back to Mercedes, Temoc was basically dead and he was like I never want to go back out with you two again. Haha. It was really funny. 

Saturday was an adventure. We went to the baptism of Joshua. It was really sweet. Then we had English class at the church. I teach the beginners while my companion teaches the more advanced. Then we went to a town in our area called Estanzuela. We had received the name of someone who was interested in the church. So we looked and looked and finally found his house in the middle of no where. He was not home. But his wife was so we put an appointment to go back. We found out he drives a Pochi as his work. haha. 

Sunday Fun Day!

We went to church and Leo showed up! We were so happy! After we went to eat lunch but we had both never been to this house. So we looked and while we were looking my companion got attacked by this huge dog. It was some sort of Lab. It came running out of a door and bit his leg in the thigh. But good thing he has like super pants because it did not break skin. Just left marks and a bruise. 

And then there's today. I got the news that I am leaving Mercedes tomorrow at 8:00 in the morning to go to Acayucan, Vera Cruz. A whole other state! Wow. And I am going to be right in the middle of the city to. What a change it is going to be. My companion is yet another gringo. I know that just from seeing his name. Elder King. haha

Well I have to go pack for the 4 or 5 hour trip. I hope everyone is doing great. You are all in my prayers. I want to leave you with a quote that I love from the Prophet Joseph Smith:

"No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God with go forth bodly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purpose of God shall be accomplished, and the great Jehovah shall say the work is done."

Elder George

This is my favorite little Mexican Family in the world. Familia Cruz Medina.

 

Villahermosa: Week 17 "Pues si pues‏"

10 marzo 2014

To all my family and friends,

This week was super good. We had a meeting with our zone on Tuesday. As a surprise, President Morales showed up. I love that man. He is so great. He shared some things and so did his wife. Then we got mail. The zone leaders are always like why does Elder George always get so much mail!? I got 7 letters. Mwahahahahah. It made my day. 6 from Sara. I enjoy reading her letters so much. I also got one from Alexa! Muchisimas Gracias! We visited a Investigator named Raquel. In her prayer she asked God to bless us with the strength of a Buffalo. I tried not to laugh.

 

I have started reading the book of Mormon in Spanish every day. 1 chapter or more. There is a promise by the prophets. If you read the Book of Mormon in the language you are learning, you will be able to speak the language fluently when you finish. I am taking that challenge up. I found out that I was going on changes with Elder Liljenquist from Parilla on Thursday. He is having trouble with his companion.

 

I arrived with Elder Clarkson to the house of Elder Lil and Elder Gomez on Thursday. Things were bad. They were yelling and shouting and throwing things. Elder Lil said they almost fought. Then Elder Gomez went back to his room. So Elder Lil told us, yeah he blames me for putting salt in his juice! We asked him if he did. He was like um........ yeah. We just started laughing. Put then we switched companions and we started working in Parilla. It was a really good day. Elder Lil was super happy.

 

We had an interesting encounter with the husband of a member on Friday. He has been inactive since he was 17 and he is like 45. But we were teaching their family and he walked in. He was WASTED. He started shouting in my companions ear. He wasn't trying to hurt him or anything. He was just asking if we were his friends and we said yes. So then he invited us to eat with him. He had some mondongo (which is cow stomach) in soup. It is so disgusting. So we whispered to the sister, just give us a little bit. So she did. We sat down to eat with him and he had his huge bowl of mondongo soup and we had our little bowls. Then he was like, why do you have so little!? Here, have some of mine! Then he proceeded to dump his whole bowl of soup into ours. My companion just said to eat it and do what he says so he does not get violent.So we ate the nasty mondongo and got out of there.

 

Saturday we got up and right away Elder Clarkson said he was not feeling good. So he slept in a little longer while I did my studies. Then we went to an English Class we teach at the church. He had to leave 4 times to use the bathroom. After the class he went and passed out on some chairs in the chapel. So I started teaching myself how to play the piano. Then I woke him up and told him we needed to leave to get to our lunch appointment. So we did and we got there he ate a little and he got really [nauseous]. Not sure if that's how you spell it. Oh well. But he could not walk home so the sister gave us a ride and I called the Bishop who is the mission doctor, to come over. He did and turns out he has an infection in his intestines. It could be worms. So the Bishop gave him something to flush them all out of his system. So he took his medicine and he went to bed. So I studied for the rest of the day. Sunday morning he felt better and he has been feeling better each day since. So that is good.

 

There is only a week until changes. Everyone thinks I am going to leave! But tonight I celebrate 4 months in Mexico! Yay for me. Maybe I will buy myself a pack of cookies.

 

Well I hope and pray that everything is good back home. 

Love everyone of you!

 

Elder George

Me and my mail!!

Me and my dinner......I was making that face because it almost jumped out of my hands.

Me and Elder Liljenquist

 

Villahermosa: Week 16

3 marzo 2014

Hey Fam and Friends

I do not have a lot of time this week but I will make the letter next week long and juicy. I promise. 

I just wanted to share an experience that I had that really touched my heart. 

We were with a recent convert family. I was talking to the son that had just gotten baptized. His name is Guillermo but everyone calls him Memo. He is so cute. So we were talking and he started to cry a little bit. I asked what was wrong and he told me that a friend of his at school offered him coffee and he drank it but he did not know it was coffee. He asked me if God would forgive him. We began to explain that after baptism, we still fall short. We still sin. But that is why we have the power to repent and partake of the sacrament. 

Also the other son named Miguel who is 11 years old told us a story that brought tears to my eyes. First off you should know that this family is super poor. They live in a house made of tin sheets. It is probably the size of our living room or maybe a little bigger. But he told us that he gets made fun of a lot at school for being poor. He told us of one occasion. A group of kids where making fun of him for not having a bathroom and were saying really bad things about their family. He says he feels really bad and worthless. But he says whenever that happens, he just goes to the bathroom and reads from his Book of Mormon. He said that it brings the spirit and the strength to move on and to feel better. He has already read it through and has started it again. He is 11 and has been a member for 3 months. He is an example to me and he does not even know it. The faith of that little kid is amazing. I will always remember that experience. 

 

I hope that everyone is going great and I love all of you a lot. 

 

Elder George

 

 

 So we visited a part of our area where there are no members and no investigators or anything. We just contacted people in the street. It reminds me of home except with palm trees.