Feliz Navidad a Todos!

Hey hope everyone had a great Christmas! We had a super fun/crazy week. We had a christmas conference with the entire mission it was awesome! I got to see all of my hommies and peeps that i have been around it was a blast. We got to do some fun stuff too we did skits that were hilarious, ate, opened presents, cosas asi. We had a really good time. Calling home was really fun as well. It was great to see the family and how big the kids have gotten. It is super weird how much everyone has grown! But i am glad everything is going good. Christmas eve we had to go home early and we had a little bro date and opened presents and stuff it was really fun. Thanks everyone for all of the presents! It got some great and needed stuff so thank you all so much it was a great night. Christmas day we had a big ol lunch at a members, called home, visited some peeps, and caroled/gave out gifts. It was super super fun we loved it. We found some insanely humble people and I had a really humble moment. We sang to this guy and gave him some chocolate santas. As we were walking away he called me back and gave me a hug thanking me so much for the gift. He said that he always does things for others but he never receives anything. Just how genuinely thankful and happy that tiny little gift made him. Idk it just hit me hard and was a very great moment. Whats crazy is that i almost didnt give it to him. I was saving it for some kids and he was alone so i wanted to wait till we found some little kids. But i felt like i should so ya. It is so crazy we never know the consequences of our actions. I have rode my bike by so many people and not stopped to talk to them. Who knows how many of those needed me. I think there are so many opportunities we have to really impact the lives of others but that we pass them up. We are supposed to help others always. Obviously we cant do everything but we must learn to become those that serve always and take every little opportunity that we have to serve others. I am not perfect but have changed a ton in that regard and it has made me so happy and I have no idea the impact that it has made on the lives of others. Watch the mormon message "you never know." I am so thankful to be able to serve people 100% of my time. It is such a blessing that I wish never ended but is counting down. But this principle is to be lived for all eternity and i hope that we all can live it. I know that as we do we will be more fulfilled and happy, i feel that everyday. But i love you all so much and hope you have a great new years! Prospero ano y felizidad :)

Hey ya'lls

So its been an awesome week. I got transferred which was really sad. I love my zone, apartment, and ward but things are great here as well. I am back serving in Mission just in another area. It is great coming back and seeing all of the peeps. I have seen my recent converts from here and lots of hommies from the ward. They are all super excited for me to be back so we can get some good ball going again haha. Its funny how that is the first thing all the guys brought up. But ya its great. The zone now has 34 missionaries so its like a mega zone ha. They combined two so its really big and spread out. Its super fun tho and everyone is awesome. I love them all so so much and i am excited to get to know everyone more. My new comp is Elder Velez from Sandy Utah. He is a native so thats fun. O ya i am back in spanish now. I havent been in a spanish ward for 6 months now. It is really different! And i have been pounding tortillas :( they are just so dang good haha. But nothing too crazy happened this week i have just been trying to get on top of everything with the change. O ya I got to go take all of the dead people to the airport that was super fun! This transfer my sisters all died so it was great to send them off. I love them all a ton they are great and i am super happy that they all ended so well. Also today my first DL who died in May visited and took us out to breakfast (Ethan Christiansen). I love that kid so much he is such a hommie and it was super fun to see him. He gave me the update of all the mission bros too and its crazy hearing about everyone. They are all doing super good tho so that made me happy. I love the mission it is great :) I still have 1/4 of it left too so i still got lots of time ;) anyway ya things are great and we are still truckin along. Hope everyone has a great Christmas! We will just be going around singing and giving stuff to people. We did it last year and it was the best! But i love you all. Enjoy being together :) See ya

Man this week was absolutely incredible! It was the last of the transfer and so we really tried to focus and do what we needed to so we had no regrets. We did some weird and fun stuff with the DL's to get them ready to be ZL's. They are all awesome and we love them a ton. We also had our last zone meeting and ho-rah with the zone and we had a blast! It was super fun and we were really lucky to serve with them. They have improved so so much and its been fun to be a part of it. We had a few christmas things with the conference, ward party, and stake thingy that were all really fun as well. Just so many great things happened i loved it so much. The highlight tho was definitely the baptism that we had. This kid is incredible and definitely the most prepared person i have taught. He didnt need us at all he was so ready but it was such a blessing to be a part of his conversion into the church. His testimony is so solid and he really is converted. He is 16 too so he will be a missionary soon! I got great plans for this kid ha. But his baptism was such an amazing spiritual experience! He was so nervous but after as we were changing i could just see the joy radiating from him. It was great and i asked him how he felt. He really felt everything leave and he felt completely clean. I gave him a hug and that moment i was just filled with so much joy. The spirit was so strong in there I love that kid so much! After he bore his testimony and invited his family to all get baptized too it was awesome! They will be here like the day before my birthday. Anyway it was such a joyful and really humbling experience to see him and be a part of it. I am so thankful that the Lord allowed us to be there for him. I know that the happiest moments in my life have been when i see the Lord use me as a tool in his hands. There is nothing better. I truly Love my Savior and i am so greatful to get to serve him and others as well. I hope i dont get transfered cuz our ward is the best. I have so many buddies and i just love them all so much. The zone, my comp, roomies, etc... I just absolutely love them and serving has been the best. Anyway i hope all of you experiment upon my words and go serve. I know as you do you will be filled with the spirit of the Lord and it will be the greatest. I love you all a lot have a great week!

Well this week was awesome! We had some really fun things happen. I went on an exchange with some peeps and we got to go to eat with a family on the naval base up here that was super cool. Also thanksgiving was wonderful. We had a turkey bowl and i got to play football. It was super fun taking a bunch of old men to school ha. I hadnt played football in years i loved it. I am still sore tho from it ha. It is super pathetic how out of shape i have gotten out here ha. But eating was amazing too. Not to be racist but white people rock ha. So last year we had 6 meal appointments and each one just shoved food down your throat it was terrible! Up here we had like 5 but they just let us eat a little and were super understanding ha. We even got deviled eggs! It was a great day ha. Also we have the coolest kid we are teaching. He is getting baptized in a couple weeks but he is wonderful. He has been in seminary for 1.5 years and has read the entire D&C. He loves the gospel and learning more and he is just a boss. He just reached out to us this week it was an absolute miracle! But we talked with him after church and he wants to go work with us everyday and he has a brand new jeep ha. We also talked to him about the youth in our ward that arent as strong as him and he wants to help us out. This kid isnt even a member yet! It is amazing and we are going to have him baptize his whole family! We are super excited. But ya everything is going wonderful and we can listen to christmas music now! We have been bumping to my boy micheal buble all week. I love that man. Anyway ya thats a quick update. Life is great and i love this time of year :) I love you all too i hope you use this time to serve others. Have fun and just go do some weird crazy service. Nothing else brings more happiness! But i love you all have a great week :) muah

Hey peeps!

Is everyone excited for Thanksgiving!? Hope so. We honestly dont really know what we are going to go do. Almost our entire ward is leaving town. Everyone is between 20-40 years old so they all go home for the holidays. There are only a few families staying but we are doing a turkey bowl and eating at those couple members houses so that will be fun. We will probably go around and carol too or something like that all day haha. It will be great! This last week was awesome tho we got to go to 3 day which is a 3 day meeting of the leadership. It is always amazing and we learned so much! Our pres is such a giant and is just a well seasoned man of god ha. One thing i liked is about completely losing yourself in serving others. I felt that i had lost myself and i have but i can go more. Instead of thinking i must change this to help others we must remove the thinking of myself part. It seems crazy but he promised that that little difference brings such big changes so i am so excited to see the difference. It was great to see all the bros too and hangout with them. We had lots of fun and working down in the valley was a nice change. I got to see a couple of my converts too which was so awesome! They are doing great :) i love them a ton. We also had an amazing zone meeting this last week. It was our best one i feel. The spirit was super strong and taught us what we must do and it was really fun too. We also had one of our most blessed days ever. I think it was the most miracles i had received in one day ha it was so fun! But ya the mission is a dream ha. It definitely can be hard but the lord loves and supports us so much. Its amazing how making the decision to not let your circumstances determine your mood or what you do. But if you just choose to be happy and have the best day the lord blesses you and you do. We are creators of circumstance not creatures of it. But ya that was my week. Hope you all had fun and make sure you pound on thanksgiving. There is nothing better than a thanksgiving food coma ha. Enjoy love you all!

Hey we are on our way to a 3 day training in McAllen right now so i just got a couple minutes. But we had an awesome week. The zone is on fire we have never seen things go so well. We had another baptism it was awesome. I love the family they are great and it was such a good experience for them. I loved it! I will send a pic next week. I lost my pics somehow from the one two weeks ago so im sad about that but ya. Anyway things are wonderful we are just working super hard and the Lord is doing his part blessing us like crazy. I love him so so so much :) But i hope you all have a great week sorry about the short one. Love you all!

Hey whats upppppp!

Man so great news...Finally had a baptism. It has been a 3 month drought and its been tough. Its the first one in our area in a year which is super crazy. We have on next week too :) But it was wonderful and the most spiritual one of my mission. The family is incredible and it was great to be able to help them out. I love baptism its wonderful :) but ya so that was super fun. Anyway i am already out of time but i love you all and hope you have a great week. Remember to always be an example to those around you and lift them up! Los vemos

Hey peeps whats up!?

Well we had a really really good week. For some reason it seemed really slow idk why but ya. It was hectic thats for sure. We had interviews with pres and it was great. We got to do some trainings with the AP's for the zone and it was really good. We also had our last zone meeting of the transfer and it was awesome. We have the absolute greatest zone ever i love it so so much. Its really sad that so much is about to change. I think like half of our zone will leave and i am hoping and praying that i stay here! We have 3 people who just went home its crazy and sad to see them leave. I dread that day haha. Halloween was super fun too. We had a ward party the day before that was so cool. It was massive and we just a huge success. Halloween we just worked and came home and planned for the rest of the night. Not the funnest but we took some breaks to enjoy ourselves. Cant believe it is already this late in the year. I hate how fast things go by. But ya it has been awesome. Things here in Corpus have changed so much for us. It is a completely different mission up here and it has struggled for years but we have changed entirely the way we work and we have been blessed for doing things the lords way. People tend to get complacent and routine a lot. I cant stand that. We must constantly be changing and improving the way we do things and what we do. But i feel like i have grown so much this last transfer. It is incredible to look back and see how you have changed. I cant wait for the new transfer! But ill let you all know what happens next week. Love you all!

P.S. I forgot to tell you all this but if you go to Google Maps and drop the little dude to street view and W 2nd St & W Jackson St Brownsville, Texas you will see a member, my comp, and I biking haha. When you are in street view go back to Palm St and look around the car as you work your way back. You will see us. Its super cool it happened like back in May. Look it up :) 

Happy Halloween :)

Dang It is crazy when you are re-doing holidays on your mission. It is insane how old i am getting out here i hate it. I loved feeling young on the mish. Getting old isnt fun going home is a crazy thought. I live with a kid going home and i hate thinking about it. I love just being oblivious to the real world with our little group of missionaries and our ward and thinking the only important thing in life is missionary work. Its a great feeling ha. But anyway we had such a great week! Elder Dube of the quorum of the 70 came to evaluate our mission. We had a special meeting with him as leaders on Tuesday and it was incredible! I learned so much about how to be a leader and  ya it was great. He is hilarious. Just this little african dude with a ton of energy and a funny laugh. I love him! Also he came to corpus to talk to our zone on Friday which was really good as well. I really appreciate leadership in this church. There are always people to help us and lift us up. The organization is gorgeous i love it. But we also had interviews with our president which was great and ya. This week was just a ton of meetings ha. Also this hurricane was nuts as well. Biggest ever recorded right? Everyone was freaking out they cancelled stake conference and church and everything and it was weak. We got lots of rain but it wasnt super super bad like everyone expected. It was nice to have a little cold front ha. But ya things are going very good up here. Lovin the mish meeting tons of super cool people and helping them convert. Its the dream! I love you all and hope you have a great halloween! Stay safe and enjoy youselves. Love yall :)

Hey sorry this will be a short one we need to go take care of some stuff. This week was great tho. We as a zone have started to figure things out better and everyone is improving a ton. I love seeing the missionaries here grow it is the best. It was super crazy for us cuz there was a missionary in the hospital during the week. We didnt get to work in our area for 3 days cuz we were trying to take care of everyone else so it was nuts but really fun. He is doing better and is out of the hospital but will have to go home and come back in a bit. MY quick thought is just how wonderful it is to help and bless the lives of other people. There is nothing that  brings more happiness than seeing Christ bless others through you. This week was full of wonderful experiences and I am so thankful to be in a position to help others. I know we all have people placed in our lives that need us. Family members, co-workers, HT and VT assignments, etc... As we get to know others and try to understand them and love them we can be used to help them. I know of the happiness this brings, you cant compare it to anything. I challenge everyone to get to know someone in their lives that they dont know very much and just be a friend. If you do i promise your love for them will grow and you will be able to help them in their lives at this time. I love you all and hope you have a great week. Sorry for the short email :) take care

Whats up peeps :)

Hope everyone had a great week. Man it gets super repetitive i feel like i just emailed home ha. But this last week was incredible! We have seen a lot of hard times in our zone recently. The white rich people are just not the same as the poor hispanics and it is definitely a lot different type of work. So this last week we mad some plans for how to change it and we have just been going everywhere doing studies with people and doing exchanges with other missionaries to show them how to do stuff and it has just been nuts. It is super fun but very hectic. We also had a zone meeting last weekend and it was incredible! John 15 I think is my favorite chapter in the scriptures. It is so extremely powerful especially for missionaries and reading it preparing for the meeting was incredible. We shared it with the zone and it was incredible. Its funny as leaders we try to get all fancy and do crazy stuff to hype people up but there is nothing more inspiring then the words of Christ. By small and simple things will great things come to pass. But ya everything has changed and people are working harder and smarter than ever right now. I love it so much it makes me really happy to see and we are full of faith. There also has been a lot of individual things going on and we as leaders get to help and receive revelation for our missionaries. It is so fun to be in this position to help others all the time. I love it so much! There is no greater feeling than being a tool for the Lord to bless others. This week I feel like we were used a ton and for that reason it was incredible. Monday we went to this old aircraft carrier from the navy its one of the Luxingtons and it was super cool. We had a great time and a member hooked us up so it was free. It was super big too it took like 3 hours to see it all. But anyway it has been a great week. The Lord is blessing us so much and he has helped us and used us so much to help the other missionaries around us. There is no better feeling and i hope each day you look for opportunities to help and serve others. I promise that as you do you and the Lord will become so much closer and he will abide in you. Love you all and hope you have an awesome week! Take care

Well hello everyone!

Hope ya'll had a good week. Our was pretty nuts! So i got my new comp Elder Thompson from Alpine. He is a funny kid. He is very different and I love him for it he is awesome. Also this week was very hectic. We worked like 8 hours in our area cuz we were so bust flying around going to help other missionaries with things. It was definitely the most hectic week of my mission. It was super fun tho we got a lot done and saw a tone of miracles with the other missionaries so it was definitely worth it. Lets see what is noteworthy...We are in the process of completely re organizing our apartment! It is great i love it it just takes time which we dont have so we are stuck in the middle of it. We got to go out to the island which was really fun and gorgeous. We had stake coordination which is just the stake pres, mission pres, and us so that was awesome! We had a super good zone meeting as well. We are going through a tough spot as a zone but it helped them get out of it so hopefully they go work hard now. We also got some new super cool people to teach. They love us and one family is already cooking for us so thats a good sign. Things are going super good with the work. Also we got a big island kid who played high school ball so its fun to go at it with him. I get very prideful when it comes to sports but he hasnt beat me yet haha. But ya things are going good. I cant believe Grandma Lindsay passed away tho that is so crazy. I have lost two grandmas in two weeks. I know they are both very happy now and that it was good for them to pass. I love them and cant wait to see them again. I know it is just a short period of time till we will all be together forever. I love her a ton tho as well as Grandpa Lindsay. I have been so lucky to have their love and support in my life. But I hope everyone has a great week and please keep Grandpa Lindsay and the Ferrin family in your prayers. They are much needed. Take care!

Hey peoples what up :)

Well I had a super super good week for sure. Monday we went to the aquarium here it was cool. There was a dolphin show that was awesome! We had a really good zone meeting which helped everyone out a lot. We had a training where we used all the gross food in our fridge. We mixed it all in a bowl and made them search for things in it. It was nasty haha but super fun. And our fridge looks great! What else was note worthy...o ya psh how could i forget. The 4 of us in the apartment we each ate a scorpion pepper!!! It is the second hottest pepper in the world. The top is a carolina reeper and then the scorpion. It recked us super hard haha i ate like 3/4 of a gallon of ice cream cuz it just killed. I was the only one that didnt puke but my stomach killed. One of them almost had to go to the hospital it was crazy! Our president always says "dont do stupid things..." we have repented ha. The other thing that has been interesting is killing my comp. He flies home wednesday! But we had been going to the members saying by all week and talking about his plans for after the mish and all that. It is super weird to think about but he is now gone in mcallen and is chillin till he goes home. I get my new comp tomorrow so i am anxious for that. I am hoping this DL gets called up to be my comp he is a hilarious little dude from mexico but we shall see. Transfers are never fun but i am excited to see what happens. Anyway things are going great. This week will be crazy trying to run around and help all the new people out and we have a lot of potential baptisms so making sure those get taken care of and power cleaning our apartment and im sure a bunch of other things will pop up. We are always busy with something but i love it a ton i really do. I am great tho super happy and love the pura chamba. Anyway i hope everyone enjoyed their week and has fun this one as well. Love you all take care!

Hey how is everyone!!!

So our week was good. We finally had a full week here in Corpus it was crazy tho. We had a million things we had to do so we were constantly running around getting stuff done. It was super fun tho. This week was kind of a tougher one. We ran in to a ton of crazy problems with members and stuff it is very sad to see. Also the work slowed down for us and we didnt have a week like we normally do. Honestly tho for these reasons it was such a great week. I know all of us, no matter who we are and how strong we are have major trials in life. It happens to all of us. Everyone at home no matter where you are are stuggling with very hard things. I just want to let you know and testify to everyone that I know how much God and Christ love us. They are so perfectly aware of what is happening in our lives and they are there to help us every step of the way. It is the Plan of Happiness and that is exactly what it brings as we live the gospel. I know and have felt so much especially recently the strength and power of the atonement. I know Christ is helping me thru everything that happens in the mission and back home and I know he will do it for you as well. I know that that power comes as we submit to Gods will and do all the little things. Prayer, scripture study, church, magnifying callings, the commandments, family history, fasting, blessings, etc... There are a million tools we have to help us and as we do all these things we will be able to endure our trials with happiness and hope. I just want to let you know how much I love everyone back home and also here in the mission. I hope everyone can have the faith to do these things and be happy and strong in the gospel and their relationship with Christ. This week was great to feel and see that support from my Savior in me and in others as well. Life is a battle but we are meant to win and we will overcome it all if we stick close to Christ. I love you all and I leave you with my testimony that I know life is super hard at times. But I know how wonderful it always is with the help of the Saviors atonement. I challenge everyone to reflect on their lives and the hard things happening in their lives then watch Hollands talk last conference "Where justice, love and mercy meet." As well to read Mosiah 24. But the mission is the best. I am so so so happy and so many wonderful things are happening out here. We are doing a lot of fun crazy changes and we will be so blessed for it i know. But i love you all so much and i hope you have a wonderful week! Que Dios les bendiga :)

Hey hey whats up peeps!
Sorry I am emailing so late we weren't able to use a computer before. But this last week was crazy. So we were gone in McAllen for meetings all day Tuesday-Thursday night. It was super fun chillin with all the bros and getting spiritually fed. Going to all these meetings is just awesome. But ya. We also did service at the national butterfly center here which I guess is a pretty big deal ha so that was cool. See if their are pics on facebook! While we were gone one of our investigators moms told us to lose her number and stop talking to her. She was doing incredible and cuz of that it just ended. It has been sad her support was super good and her testimony is incredibly strong. She wants to be baptized so bad but her mom wont let her. We are still praying for a miracle so please keep Justine in your prayers. Also, on our way home we got a call and one of our missionaries got hit by a car. So we ran to the hospital and luckily she is fine but ya that was a bit of a scare. 2nd time that has happened to me ha. We also had zone conference and it was incredible as always. Our president is just a spiritual monster I am so lucky to be here with him. But it was fun and it helped us all a lot. Anyway the week is going good so far. We have been having lots of fun and we are all trying to work super hard so hopefully we can keep it up and have lots of success like last month. I am going to end this one short but I just want to leave my testimony. I know that Christ loves us all so much and that he is still alive and helps us everyday. I know that as we come to him the happier we will be come. The closer we are the happier we are. It isn't a conditional happiness but a pure happiness that cant be taken away. I love him with all my heart. I am so thankful for the opportunity to serve and forget about myself. I love those that I serve and feeling that love that Christ has for others and being used to help him in his work is the best. I know life has all sorts of challenges and problems but as we have that relationship with our savior, choose to have a good attitude, and rely on him he will take care of us. I know that families can be eternal if we keep our covenants and that our friendships here are eternal. I love grandma ferrin so much and I am very thankful for her in my life. She is an incredible example to me and I know that god has their mansion prepared for them. I hope everyone is doing ok with her loss and I will keep you all in my prayers. I love you all so much!

Whats up a todos!

Como estan mis amigos!? Man things down here in Texas are great we had such a good week. I cannot explain how much I learned this week it was incredible. We had tons of crazy situations pop up this week so we had to go take care of things. But being with the new calling we dont take car of things directly. It is super wierd but it has been awesome being able to help others do things so they can learn and grow. This is going to help me so much as a father! But ya it was great. We saw a ton of miracles as a zone and we were able to help tons of people get baptized it was awesome. The faith of us all grew a ton. I love my Savior it is so cool how he provides always. I also learned a ton about myself and kinda cracked the code for the weakness God has given me that I will have to overcome my whole life. It is so cool how much you learn out here and it is super true...as you lose yourself you do find yourself. But ya our week was just a ton of stressing running around and doing things which is pretty normal but its great to see how the Lord uses you to bless the lives of others. Those moments are definitely my favorites. Ya idk what else to say. It was a great week for sure with lots of growth and learning but ya. Honestly I am just so thankful to be out here and how much Christ cares about me. Being able to be out here serve asi is the greatest experience ever. Being able to help Christ with his work and in blessing his sheep and being able to learn and grow in the process is just incredible. I am excited to come home and see everyone again but it is going to be a very hard day for sure. But I want to thank you all for your prayers and support in me being out here. I love you all so much and I hope you are being able to progress in the gospel and in your relationship with your savior. And make sure you are always obedient! Have a great week tho and this one should be crazy for me so my email should be good ha. I will be gone doing things till friday night so it will be an adventure. But take care! Que Dios les bendiga

Hey que dicen!

Como estan todos! Hopefully you all had great weeks. Mine was definitely one of my favorites of the mission. So Monday thru Thursday we had this meeting called 3 day. All of the leaders in the mission meet up and from 8-4 for 3 days we receive/give trainings. I cant begin to describe how incredible it was. The spirit was unreal and I learned so much. I cant wait to have like 4 more of them the rest of my mission I feel like I have been missing out for the whole 1st year. But ya it was wonderful. We talked a ton about having goals and planning and he did it on setting goals for your future spouse and then making plans to be worthy of her, finding her, etc... It was super trunky but we all loved it. Pres always talks about choosing an incredible spouse. It is definitely the most important decision we make. But It was great to see all my bros in the mission too. I got to work with one of my zls that I lived with for all 3 days it was super fun. We got back thursday night super late then ya. Things as a ZL is are crazy. We have so much that we have to do. Our zone is the weakest in the mission and we are here to change it. It has been a lot of work but it is super cool to see the Lord use you as tools in his hands to overcome things. That was something that was really stressed at the meeting. There are always problems in life and things we have to do. Everyone wants a way to overcome them but really it doesnt matter. Study it out in your mind and look for revelation from God. Then pick a way (make a plan) to overcome it and go. President always says "there are a million ways to climb a mountain. Just pick one." It doesnt matter what way it is what matters is that we execute it with diligence and as we put our faith in the Lord he will make up for what we cant do. I know that this principle is true. I have seen it a million times on my mission. We are so weak by ourselves but God loves us and as we trust in him he will overcome our weaknesses. I love you all so much. Sorry this is a short one. I just learned tons of incredible eternal principles this week...thats all haha. But have a great week and remember to rely on your Savior for everything. He already atoned for you so use that power and help he is waiting to give you. Have a great week!

Hey :)

So i ended up getting moved. I did a one and done in Mission pretty sad. I definitely didnt see it coming. So I am now up here in downtown Corpus Christi in a super white english ward. It is super weird I feel like i am in Utah at church and I miss spanish a ton. Any remotely brown person I see i try to talk spanish with them. Hopefully I wont lose too much up here. I also got blind sided as a one and done as a district leader and got called as a new zone leader up here in Corpus. My new comp is Elder Colton Nielson from Utah. He goes home in 5 weeks (I am killing him). This is my first time with an oldie like this so it will be great. Just gotta keep him focused :) But ya i was super sad to lose my district. I absolutely loved them so much it was tough but i had the most epic time has a DL. It was a big district and we were super close and had a ton of success and miracles and we all grew a ton together and ya it couldnt have been any more perfect. I definitely have no complaints. ZL has been fun we have 20 in our zone which is pretty big. They are great tho the only thing i dont like is everyone is really spread out and miles is a struggle so we cant do a ton together. But ya things are going great and I am just jumping in going hard. This week I have met a lot of cool members and we have a couple really cool investigators too. I love getting to know new people its really fun.  We are off to a meeting right now till thursday afternoon. Its a big one that we have every three months i am super excited to go. But ya thats whats going on. Lot of change but i am having a great time as always. I am super excited to be able to help these people up here and as well having more sheep to take care of. It is a huge blessing to be used as a tool in the hands of the lord. I love it it is the greatest feeling ever. I love my Savior so much and serving him is the greatest opportunity. It has brought me so much happiness and I still have lots of time left even tho I know it will go fast. But I love you all and I know you can have this same joy as you serve others and share the gospel. Make sure you dont get too lost in the world and you stay focused on your purpose here in life. As you fulfill that God will pour out his spirit upon you and bless your life. Keep on truckin :)

Hey hey :)
 
Man I had a super good week this week! It was the last of the transfer so it was really sad but we had a great time. It was my first time as a district leader but it was incredible! We grew so so close together and we did everything together it was awesome. We grew a ton together and had lots of success. It couldn't have gone any better it honestly couldnt have. Hopefully we will get to stick together I will find out tonight. Transfers are tough! But ya nothing too crazy happened this week. We have a ton of people who are getting baptized this month so we have been working hard! Also we are trying to find the people who will be ready for next month. That's how it is we help the people get baptized and prepare and look for the people for next month. It is a ton of work but it is great I love it. On Saturday our ward did a service project for this lady we are teaching. Her yard was TERRIBLE I cant begin to describe what it was like tho. We had lots of peeps there tho and we knocked it out it was great. She was super happy! The guy we are baptizing this weekend was in charge of it and he is the greatest I wish you could neet him. He always has tons of energy and he shares the gospel more than anyone I have met. Literally with everyone. He always is like "watchout they will get ya. This stuff is no joke its powerful. You listen to them and you gon be getting wet." Haha he is a hick from Arkansas so that should help draw a picture. But ya I am absolutely just living the dream. I cant imagine anything better right now. But I hope all at home is good and everyone is happy. If your not its a decision so change it! Ha but I love you all and have a great week. Pray I don't get transferred! 

Hey whats up ya'lls!

 

So another good week in the bag and month for that matter. I now only have 10 months left... what the heck has happened. I cant believe all this the real world will be here in a bit. I really am not too excited for that. I have gotten super weird on my mission getting back will be tough ha. Looks like everyone is doing good tho. The twins are super tall now dang. They have grown a lot. But ya so this week was pretty smooth. We have been with our recent converts a lot. Its funny they don't get the missionary things so they always invite us to go see movies and stuff and want us to just hangout for hours with them. Its funny and they hate all of our rules but ya. The dad will be baptized 2 weeks after he quits smoking and he is super determined. Sunday was his first day off and he was chompin on Big Red like crazy and he was super on edge. He is hilarious tho he reminds me so much of Kaylen I love it. He is a mechanic and is from Arkansas so he is all hick. He is the coolest guy they are a great family. Their confirmation was super spiritual too and they had great experiences so that was cool. But ya everything down here is going great. I got no complaints im just livin it up while I still can. I hope the real world is treating everyone good too! Love you all and have a great week :) 

Whats up ya'lls!

Man I missed an incredible week! Shout out to tiffy and the baby I am super happy for you guys! You have a great little family and a lot of testosterone haha just a bunch of guys. Congrats tho sis I love ya! Also Cody my man congratulations on the wedding man! I am happy for you man I hope you have a great honeymoon, it sounds legit! Enjoy the married life. I learned something about that this week. So esposa means wife in Spanish and it also means handcuffs sooooo ya ha. I died when I heard that. And happy B day shout out to my mom and the kids I hope you guys had/have a wonderful day! I feel like there is someone else too so I apologize for forgetting. I cant check facebook ha. But sounds like everything is going super good tho for everyone  that makes me really happy. We had an absolute miracle this weekend. So we needed to have two more baptisms to hit our goal and we had no idea who could be it. Well we talked to some people who we had dropped awhile ago and found out that they wanted to keep learning. It was incredible how much they changed and the lord played it perfectly. At church they decided that they wanted to be baptized it was incredible! That is a terrible explanation of it but it was unreal and such a testimony builder. The Lord always keeps his promises no matter what. It looked impossible but he made it happen its all about faith. Anyway it was a crazy week but it was incredible. The dad who hated us now absolutely loves us and wants to take the step of baptism as well. Miracles are real! Anyway everything else is great too. It is a million degrees outside but we are loving every minute of it. The mish is the best no doubt about it :) but I love you all and hope you have a great week. Happy b day twins! xoxo

Hey ya'lls!
 
So ya another week down its crazy. Things are going good tho. Summer is finally here it is above 100 everyday it is awful being on bikes. This is how it should be till October tho so I better suck it up. I really do love it it is just not ideal, a car is much more practical ha. We had a miracle this week it was awesome. So these two girls were going to get baptized this weekend but one of them her mom told her she was crazy and all this and told her she cant do it. So the elders and I sent up to see her. We talked for awhile and ended up getting her support as well as a great meal :) it was awesome. The best part tho was watching the spirit soften her heart. I literally saw it happening as we talked it was incredible I love having God on our side ha. But ya it was a definite testimony builder. I interviewed her the next day and she said her mom and her talked and she told her things that she had never heard from her mom before. It was just great. They both got baptized and it was awesome. I also did my first baptismal interviews and they are the best! They are so spiritual and people really open up to you. I had 3 this week so ya it was a good week. But ya things are good just riding around and enjoying the heat :) I hope everyone is enjoying there summer I cant believe it is almost over! Live it up and enjoy it while you can. But I love you all and please keep Cielo Garcia in your prayers! Thanks love ya

Hey como estan?
 
Hope everyone had a solid week mine was incredible. I am loving being a district leader it is the best. My peeps are so cool all of them and we are really tight. This week we had an unreal amount of success they are working super hard and I have just been super happy because of it. That really has been the highlight of my week just how incredible everyone did. We have lots of good things happening but we need lots of miracles as well. Can you all pray for and put in the temple Cielo Garcia, Jerry Juanita and Miguel Redline, Leslie and Juliana, and Daniel Longoria. Thanks we need a miracle like last time. Honestly they really have been working and I know it will again! Thanks for all the help :) But ya not too much that happened this week. We had interviews with pres and that was incredible as always. I love having a man who receives super specific revelation for you and is there to help you. He is proud of me but I got lots to work on so that's good :) anyway ya sorry about that but ill send some pics. Enjoy and love you all!

Hey hey hey!

 

Well another transfer and I am out of brown town. I am now in Mission and I am in a bike area. My new comps name is elder birrell and he is from Nebraska. He is super cool I love him a ton and he is the funniest kid I have ever met ha. Him and this other kid elder canfield that I live with are ridiculous there is never a serious moment ha. Also I am a DL now and I got a district of 4 elders and 4 sister. My first time working with sisters but I lucked out they are super cool. It has been really fun to help them out and guide them. It is crazy there is only 1 elder older than me aand everone else is younger. I am getting so old out here ha. But ya it has been great I love it. Being on a bike is tuff its the largest bike area in the mission and everything is spread out. We ride many miles a day its annoying how much time we waste but ya. Hopefully I lose some weight :) We are in an English ward too which is alright. Spanish ward is super fun I love speaking Spanish so hopefully I will speak it with my white comp (ya right). But ya things are going great. Sorry I have no pictures we forgot the cord but there is this super cool guy in our ward, literally the coolest man I have ever met, and he lives in like a safari zoo. He has camels and zebras and a zipline over a little lake and the most amazing pool ever. It is my dream house man its incredible. We had a ward party there it was the best. But ya I am just living it up down here going with it trying to figure things out. We will see what happens ha. Love you all have a great week!

Alrighty well another week and transfer down. I am now going on to my 9th out of 16. Super crazy right. I just got called as a district leader and dont know where i am going but i am definitely out. I am so excited tho to just get caught up in helping these other missioneries and forgetting about myself. It is going to be a blast. I have no idea what i am doing but i am just going into it with a good attitude and we will see what happens ha. Also this week we had another baptism :) the lady we baptized last week it was her daughter. She felt the spirit at the baptism and has wonderful desires so we were able to help her take that step. She is wonderful i love that family so much. They just go forward on pure faith it is wonderful. Super sad that i am leaving right now but i am happy for them. We also had stake conference this weekend it was great! They talked so much about families and reading, praying, and doing family home evening. Those things are always so stressed by our leaders they are incredibly important. Also they talked about serving others. MAn that is something i have really grown with recently. This transfer i was able to forget myself to much more and forcus on blessing others all the time. IT is incredible how much more fulfilled i feel and how much happier i am. I have such a strong testimony that as we forget aboiut ourselves and focus on others than we will be blessed so much as well as the other people. ITs like becoming a district leader how to you focus on other elders and their areas and still have success in yours? Honestly it is impossible. But i know that as i do it God will bless my area, comp, and me so much more than i could have done by myself. I know that it is true and i cant wait to get lost even more in service. I love you all so much and i wish everyone could have this experience. But i know that as you give unselfish service to others even when we fell like we ourselves have so many needs, God will bless us and we will be able to overcome our needs even better. I invite you all to try living that principle and after the "trial of your faith" I promise you will see the little miracles in your lives. Have a great week and go help someone else!

Hey whats up :)
Alrighty I will just hop into the week. To start off we had a baptism!!! Man this one brought an incredible feeling. The family got baptized in January and she has been worked on ever since. But we had some miracles from the spirit and she has a ton of faith and went for it. It was wonderful I cannot wait to go to the temple with them! Our other families are doing ok. Well one is amazing and another not so much. So the Serrato family are doing wonderful. They keep all their commitments and talked to the bishop themselves about getting married. That doesn't happen here ha. So we will be doing that then baptizing them (hopefully I am here!). The Morones family has really been backpeddling. They do wonderful in the lessons they are super smart and things make sense but they just don't leave their house. They even read and pray everynight. But ya getting them to go somewhere is impossible. And they are legal too that isn't the problem. But we told them we are only having lessons in the church now if they want to keep going so we will see what happens. I am scared I don't want to lose them. We lso got a few more but those are our focuses. I hit my year mark this last week...nombre I am old. I hate being an old missionary I loved the feeling of being young. Looking back tho I have learned so much it is incredible and I cant stop I got a ton more to learn this next year then it is over. I should probably start actually working now....ha. This week tho we had a mini mission as a ward. It was super fun we brought most the youth out with us each day to work. They loved it and we had a good time. They want to do it everyday now ha. We also had a really fun fathers day activity this week it was good. Happy fathers day to you all I hope it was good and you got to relax for a day. But ya things are just peachy here. Its hurricane season so things are starting to get a bit crazy. We get random moments of insanely hard rain and things like that. Hopefully everything will be ok I just got 12 more months! I hope all is going well like they are here. Make sure your always happy (its a decision)! Love you all

Como estan?

Man this week was wonderful! Monday I got a little heat stroke or dehydrated idk it was crazy tho. I was workin these guys in ball and the courts outside then my body just shut down. Summer is here :) ha. We had Zone conference this week and so we got to hear from president. He is incredible I absolutely love that man. He talked a ton on faith and how faith is action. You can measure someones faith by the actions they have. For us our faith on finding and helping people take the step of baptism is directly connected to our obedience. If we follow all the rules we have more faith. Its a super important principle to learn especially in life. If we keep the commandments and serve others we have more faith that God will take care of us in life. So do all the little things and serve! This week we have really been focused on a family the Morones family and soon to be the mormones. They are great I love them so much but they need some help to take the step of baptism. So we are asking for help again we really need it. Please pray for them and put their names in every temple and if you would like a fast would be incredible. We will be doing one on sunday for them. We had a miracle this week too. There is a family that got baptized in January but the wife didn't. Well we have been focusing on baptism for her for awhile like every other missionary had and she has been super tough. Lots of tears have been shed. Well we recently had the opportunity to give her a blessing and she felt the spirit super strong and we also had a great plan of salvation lesson and she realized why baptism is so important. Then we did an object lesson and she could see that she was way behind her family and needed to catch up so they could be sealed. Well she is getting baptized this weekend! Man all the missionaries who have taught her were freaking out ha. We are all very excited and thankful for the spirit ha. We can do nothing without him. We also just started teaching another part member family and things look great to help them be baptized and work towards the temple as well. They are the Serrato family keep them in your prayers too please. But ya things are incredible here. I am super sad I am probably leaving here in a couple weeks. I really want to find and baptize an entire family, its the dream. But for now I am satisfied on helping complete families :) it is such a big blessing and ill be able to go to the temple with them cuz I will be home! Anyways ya everything is incredible. I hope everyone is happy and getting closer to the savior. Remember to do the little things and to always serve others, that's how we grow our happiness. Love you all tho! Byeeee

Man another week down! In like 10 days I hit my year mark...super scary that its halfway over. This next year I got a ton of work to do! This week was great but it had its ups and downs. First off we had some missionaries come and stay with us and they gave us flees. I didn't even know that was a thing I just thought dogs could get them. They haven't been very bad or anything but they have kids by the 8000 so we have been working on getting rid of them. I hate bugs ha. This week we had tons of activities as a ward. We had an FHE, mutual, and a movie Saturday. It was great that this one family that we found a couple weeks ago came to all of them and have a couple strong friends now! It is wonderful I love them so much and they have been doing great. We have had like a million investigators and it has been hard so this week we had to drop tons of them and really focus on the ones that have the best potential to be baptized this month. It is super hard and it takes a lot of faith but it had to be done. Also, lots of stuff has been going on in our ward and it is not in the great shape that is used to be. We talked to lots of members and it is sad the condition some people are in now. There is a ton of work to do! But we are working with the leaders to start the change in the other direction and in time this ward will be the best in the mission! We had a young couple in the ward get married last Saturday in the templo. It was so awesome to see their happiness! It was super trunky to go over and hangout at their new place together ha. But ya that was great to see. This week we have had a ton of members come by and drop off massive amounts of food! It has been awesome we don't know what is going on but someone must have said something. Anyway our house is overflowing with food ha. But it is great it really makes us feel wonderful. So challenge for this week. Pick a family in need and just go get them a bunch of stuff randomly. Or get a box of pizza and take it to the elders. Anything like that just do it. I know it will make them feel incredible and you as well! But ya everything is going great! There is tons and tons to do but we are excited. Love the mish it has been the greatest year and this one is only going to be better! Love you all and have a wonderful week

They got baptized!!!!

First off just got to thank everyone for all the prayers, fasting, temple pray roll, whatever you guys did cuz it worked. Man this week was so hard at first and we didn't think it was going to happen and then we saw such a miracle! We had a lesson with them and went super hard on baptism and everything changed. They all of a sudden we keeping appointments and preparing for us, walking to church for lessons and even dressing up, taking notes in lessons and asking great questions, they were even playing a weird game quizzing each other on the commandments when we were done. It was incredible the change they had. Every commandment we taught even the ones they broke they questioned it for 5 seconds then were super committed to live it. Even the dad who has been a punk the whole time has really softened up. But for sure all this happened from the help of all of you so thanks so much. Their lives have been blessed a ton by them. Man the baptism was super spiritual too! The talks were super powerful and the ordinance as well, they really felt it. I love the spirit we could do nothing without him ha. Now we really think the dad will want to get baptized. We will findout tonight but you could tell he really felt it. We also had another super spiritual experience giving a blessing to a PM family that cant commit to being baptized. But now she admits she knows its true it is just a matter of her wanting to live the gospel. Good thing we have the book of Mormon to help people change :) Everything else in the week was great as well. Our people getting baptized in june still look good. We found a super dope family that came to church as well. All is super good basically ill just sum it up like that. We had a great lesson with the ward sunday as well on missionary work. The ex stake pres came and did it with us and it was great. We are going to get the ward on fire soon I feel it. But ya things are incredible as always ha. Thanks for all your help. Now keep the Fuentes family, Morones family, Fermin, De La Garze family and Cerda family in your prayers. We need to baptize them this month. Thanks for the help!!! Love ya'll

Hey what up :)

Man this last week was a bit of a crazy one. So Monday we were waiting on transfers. We knew we wouldnt find out till super late so we just went and said by to everyone ha. It was crazy just running around and taking pictures and stuff. I hate doing that not knowing who is leaving but we didnt have a choice. We found out passed 10 monday night who was leaving and well.....i am still in brownsville! I am super excited i love it here. I think this will be my last one but it will be great to stay down here for one more. The people here are the best i love it! On tuesday i went to transfers and got to say bye to all my buddies. The group that went home had a ton of my favorite missionaries in it. I was super sad but excited for them. It was awesome to see everyone there. I also got my new comp. His name is Elder Garlitz and he served in Lima Peru for 8 months before he went home for some back problems. He was only home for a couple months (during march madness and the NBA playoffs ha). But ya so he already speaks decent spanish and has an idea of whats going on so its nice. We always talk about the differences of the two missions. It is very different. I definitely realized how lucky i am to be in this mission i love it and also we are super spoiled. The Lord knows me well :) It is going to be a great transfer tho. There are some things we will have to overcome but we will work it out and it will be great i am excited. We got 7 out of 8 new people in our district. Ya i am the only one that stayed. It is a completely different zone it is crazy but fun. My new DL is a kid that has followed me my whole mission. I love him a ton so i am super happy he is here. The focus this last week has definitely being figuring things out with my comp. Also, we have a PM family who has come to church 4 times in a row and we want to baptize their kids. The problem is it is impossible to find them and their parents dont have much urgency to baptize them. But it is the end of the month and we are so close to hit our goal we need a miracle right now! So if everyone could keep in their prayers Daniel and Evelyn Torrez that they can be baptized this sunday that would help out a ton. Submit their names in the temples too please. The more the better! This week that is all we are focused on it will be tough but they definitely need to be baptized now. Waiting is never a good idea. It just gives Satan more time to ruin everything. I know by experience... But ya lots of great stuff is happening. We are teaching a million and 1 people right now which makes it hard especially cuz we have the most members here as well. But there is a way so we will get it done! I hope everyones weeks went good tho. Remember to do the little things and include God in whats going on in your lives. I know he helps and blesses us as we do. I love you all and hope you have a great week! :)

going to be a dad

Hey Ya'll

Well this week was absolutely incredible! To start off on Tuesday I got a call and I finally am going to be a dad! I am going to be training a new missionary y am so excited. I was worried that it was never going to happen but the day is finally here. I get himtomorrow!!! Still don't know if I am leaving or staying but one of us is getting shipped out. But Wednesday afternoon I went to McAllen and we went to go work somewhere over there for the night. Well they put me and my papi Elder Latu together and they had us work in my greenie area! We both were freaking out when they said it and the whole drive there we couldn't shut up about it. It was the greatest night ever. We had such a blast and we got to go hangout with our converts and favorite members. It was awesome seeing there faces answering the door. They all freaked out and lots of them were squeaking haha it was great. It was surreal to be there with them. We had to do a little correcting cuz some were getting lazy but for the most part we just chilled with em. I don't have my camera so I will send pics a different day with em. But we didn't get much sleep that night we had 3 dudes together on the same couch ha. But then we had a meeting all day with pres and the leaders and it was incredible. The trainings were unreal and I learned a ton. It was great to catch presidents vision on how we need to be as leaders. And it was so great to see all my bros there that are going home this week. I am going to miss them a ton! But ya that was definitely the highlight of my week. Everything else has been pretty normal. Just waiting on transfers like always. We never find out till super late it sucks but ill let you all know what happens next week. But I love you all so much and I hope life is great going great. If it is not quickly make the decision to be happy and work to become closer to Christ and it will happen. I promise! But ya make sure your doing the little things. Have a great week!

Let the countdown begin...I call in a week!

Nombre that's crazy it doesn't feel like that long since I last saw you guys. Its great tho I am super stoked! This week was incredible for us everything is going super super well. The weather this week was a lot better. Just in the 80's so it was great. We used our bikes a little more than usual ha. I am turning into a spoiled missionery being in car areas. I love it but we have transfers in a couple weeks so we will see what happens. This week I got to go on an exchange for two days with an elder that goes home in two weeks and has been an AP for about 6 months. Basically the best missionary there is so it was an awesome opportunity to learn from him. He is super dope we had a blast and I did learn a lot so that his good. I got to see the ocean for a bit with him too ha. But ya then we had a massive zone party with breakfast and stuff it was super fun. It was cool we really saw a miracle. Our focus was finding new people and we set a goal of 68 new investigators in two days. As a zone we only hit like 34 the entire week before. Honestly I thought the goal was kinda ridiculous. But we really focused on repenting and trusting in the lord and well we found exactly 68 people in those two days. It was unreal! God definitely blessed us with that miracle to help build our faith in him and it worked. Our area has been doing incredible too. We had tons of people at church this week and they will all be getting baptized this month. Hopefully I stick around to see them. But the Lord has just been blessing us with super prepared people that want to act left and right. Actually today at the library a lady who hasn't gone to church in 6 years walked up to us and wanted to know when and what time she goes and wanted us to go teach her husband. That never happens down here ha. Just miracles everywhere it is great. I love being a missionery so much. Being able to help people everyday and see them change. See the spirit touch their heart. It is incredible I am so happy im out here. I am really excited to call home tho it will be great to speak to ya'll. I hope you have a great week and ill see ya in a bit ;) hasta luego

Hey Hey

Man so this last week was just great! That change they made was crazy but now we are starting to see the fruits of it. Our ward is massive and there is definitely way too much for us to do on our own. But the members absolutely love us and trust us so much. They ask us to help out with everything. Service, visits, etc... it is great. We really feel connected and close to them, way more than before. Also, we have tons of investigators! We have too many people than we can teach so we have to just focus on the most prepared ones which is hard to do but it is a great problem to have. We definitely are being blessed for our efforts. We have some really great complete families that would be so awesome to baptize. For some reason guys are always so much harder. It seems like we can always baptize families without the dad but getting the dad too is insanely difficult. Maybe we need to sick some sisters on them. I wonder if sisters have the opposite problem ha? But ya guys are stubborn. Anyway nothing super crazy this week happened. Things are just going really well. We go to members and eat like crazy! That is something noteworthy I guess is how much we get fed and how absolutely incredible it is. Like I am going to have to have my wife come down here for a week and learn how to cook. By far some of the best food I have ever had. But there is a price ha. I guess something fun we contacted a lady and she wasn't too interested so we were going to leave but offered to cut her yard. She didn't believe we would but she was surprised the next day when she came home. Anyway now we are teaching her family haha. That was definitely a cool experience gotta love service. But ya we are loving our members and our investigators are so great and as a companionship everything is going great. We need to keep working hard, stay humble, and get better and more efficient. But we are definitely receiving tons of blessings since the change. I hope all is good tho sorry this was very unspecific and completely positive but ya. Ill try to sprain my ankle again to make things interesting. Ha have a great week ya'll!

What up!

Hey so we had such an incredible week it was awesome! Tuesday we had interviews with pres and it was so great. I got to see a lot of my buddies that I haven't seen forever. We also had some super super good trainings from the leaders. It was really fun. My interview was great. He was trying to go fast but it still was awesome. I love having someone so spiritually in tune that just knows how we are doing and what we need. I love it I wish we got to meet with him more often. But there were also some big changes to our stake. Now there are missionaries in only English and missionaries in only Spanish. There is only one stake left in the US that hasn't changed to that yet but I am sure they will soon. I am actually super excited to just stick to one ward going to two causes some problems. But they gave us an entire Spanish ward! We are the only missionaries there and it is crazy. They were shocked they have always just been used to having a lot. We have about 40 active families now. We are going o get fed like crazy!!! But I am super excited there are some good workers in the ward so we are going to get them pumped about missionary work. The other day in ward council they were fighting for us it was funny. We felt special :) but ya lots and lots of work. We also had a baptism this week. We baptized a kid named Brandon and there were also three 8 year olds so that was fun as well. They were all super happy afterward. Baptism is the best! That is about all the highlights. This week was really fun tho lots of good stuff happened. Lots of changes but once we figure it out it is going to be incredible! Pero si les amo muchisimo y espero que tengan una buena semana. Hagan algo diferente y divertido! Chow