Advice For Pre Missionaries

Note from Kimi: I wrote to Randall and asked him what advice he would give to pre-missionaries and this is the e-mail he sent back.

Tell them that I wish I would have listened more in seminary and learned more of the Scripture Mastery scriptures. I wish that I had studied Preach My Gospel, that is a big one that will help them so much if they read through and study every page in Preach My Gospel. Also, I wish that I had read the Book of Mormon all the way through more times. So just tell them read every day and get through the Book of Mormon as many times as possible before their mission. Also, study and apply as they read in Preach My Gospel and also in the scriptures.

Elder Despain

Picture of me and a church in a different area.  It isn't the church that me and my companion go to, but it is big and cool so I took a picture. 7-12-10

The Zone playing football (soccer) in the rain! 7-19-10

26 Lunes, Julio 2010

Hey Family!

I hope you are all doing great! This week was good for me! We didn't have any baptisms, but it was still a good week. We got all the references for this area for the last 6 months from our leaders and were told to go and check them all out. There was about 22 references, which is a ton! It is super hard to find addresses here because the house numbers make no sense and I am pretty sure they just pick a random number when they move in and there are a ton of duplicate numbers on every street but we were about to find most of them. It made for a good week and we are about to get a lot of new investigators, which is great! This week we have two couples getting married so they can be baptized. The husband of one is already a member but is inactive, or was. So that means we should have at least 3 baptisms this week, which is great!

I got my hair cut today for the first time in Mexico. I was nervous about it, but I found a member who cuts hair so she did it for free and it looks pretty good. It is a lot better than I thought it would be, haha. This week, the month and a half of being in Mexico finally caught up to me, haha. I had diarrhea all week, haha. Not fun, but I was able to get through it and was lucky enough to not even have an accident, haha, which a lot of the Americans aren't that lucky, haha. They all say they got sick and I thought I wasn't going to, but I finally did. But it was just diarrhea, nothing more and only for a week, so that is pretty good. A lot of the Americans got it a lot, lot worse, haha.

Please tell Mac "Happy Birthday! and Felicidades!" Well I love you all and thank you for all you do for me! And for your prayers! Also, I got more letters last Monday night so that was great. Thank you Mom for the letters. I loved hearing about everything! Also, tell Bro McIntyre that I got his letters. Tell him thank you so much. They were really great and tell him I will try and write him back very soon!

About the Bishop thing, it was really a great experience and I really learned that when we are patient and ask our Heavenly Father for understanding and for patience, He answers and everything turns out good. This goes for a lot of things that we don't understand. It helps to pray for patience and understanding and He will help. The Lord is amazing and He hears and answers prayers! I love this church and I know it is true. I know that it has the power to change lives through the atonement of Christ! This gospel is amazing and when people live it, it is a true blessing. There is no greater happiness than that, that comes from living this gospel! I love you all and thank you all for all you do! I couldn't ask for a better family and I couldn't ask for better friends. You are all amazing. Stay strong and remember the Lord in all you do and He will bless you! Love you all.

Oh, I forgot to tell you all this, haha. This week I started teaching English, haha. It was weird but went really good and it gives us another opportunity to teach. What we do is we have classes for English and I teach English for half the time and then we have a lesson about the gospel for the other half. It is really great! But it is weird to teach English and it is weird to talk in English, haha, because I try to never talk in English, even with the American elders in my Zone. We just speak Spanish so it is weird when I am teaching, haha, but it's good.

It also rained every day all day this week. Oh, cool story... so the Lord answers prayers. We had Jennifer and Jacquelin and we asked if they were going to come to church this week. Their mom said no because it has rained all week and it would probably rain Sunday morning. She didn't want to go out and go all the way to the church in the rain. But me and my companion promised her it wouldn't rain on Sunday morning and then asked would she go and she said if it didn't rain, yes. So we prayed hard that it wouldn't rain. And the Lord answered our prayers and it didn't rain. They came to church and we got to confirm Jennifer and Jacquelin and then about an hour after church got out and all the members were home, including Jennifer and Jacquelin and their mom, it just started pouring and didn't stop the rest of the day, haha. It was great and I know the Lord answered our prayers and made it possible for them to be confirmed members and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost! Which is such an awesome gift and is amazing! I feel it daily and am led, guided and kept safe because of the promptings of the Holy Ghost. When we live worthy, we are blessed with this great gift and it is truly amazing! The Lord hears and answers us. All we must do is pray and have faith. Pray, believing and having faith that He will answer and He will answer! I love you all. You are amazing! Thank you for everything.

Love,
Elder Despain

 Picture of me and Candy, who we baptized, and her kids and also Moses and Juan Carlos who we baptized. 7-11-10

Picture of me and the city at night! 7-11-10

 

A picture of me and my whole district. The one on the far left is the Zone leader and then the one bending down in the front is my district leader/companion to the Zone leader. It is great to have them in my district. 7-12-10

The baptism of Jenifer and Jackilin 7-18-10

Another of the baptism and on the right is the bishop of our ward and on the far left is his wife. 7-18-10

Pictures of the city 7-18-10

July 19, 2010

Hey Family, 19 Lunes, Julio 2010

Kimi asked me to put the date on letters so I did! I hope that works out for you all, haha. This week was great! We had two baptisms Jennifer, 13, and Jacquelin, 8. It was great. Their mom has been inactive for a lot of years and so we taught her along with her daughters, baptized them and reactivated her. It was really great to see the happiness this gospel brings to the lives of those who live it! I got to baptize Jennifer, and it went really good! Also this week, we ate with this family and they had a little boy about Jayden's age and he reminded me so much of Jayden. It was so funny. His parents went in to wash dishes from our lunch and he sat and told me stories. I didn't really understand his story because it was pretty far out there, just like a Jayden's stories, haha. He probably didn't stop talking for like 30 minutes and then he only stopped because we had to leave and the funniest part is I only said like 2 words in the 30 minutes of talking, haha. It all started just because I asked if he liked Spider-man because he was wearing a Spider-man shirt, haha. It was really funny and just really made me think of all the kids, but really a lot about Jayden, haha.

This week I saw two rats that were big enough that I think they could easily eat a cat. We were walking next to where there was a lot of trash and they were running through the trash. They were so huge and ya it was kinda crazy because they could eat a cat, haha. This week was kinda different because we had the baptism all ready for Sunday and the girls had already had interviews and everything and then on Saturday the Bishop just randomly said he thought they shouldn't get baptized this week, which was weird. So anyways, we had to call our leaders, the zone leaders, and tell them this. They were very confused and so were we, but we were praying that it would just work out. Then just after we got off the phone with our zone leaders the Bishop called and said he thought about it more and he thought that Sunday would be okay now. It was very strange but also a very good experience. I know that when we rely on the Lord to help us make things happen smooth and right and have faith, that it will work out the way He wants it to. It always works out. We were praying very hard to understand why the Bishop thought this and to understand and respect his decision and as we did this the Lord helped us and blessed him to change his mind. It was a small thing but it was very big to me and I grew a lot and learned to trust the Lord more! I love this gospel so much. It is truly amazing. I am so grateful to be here doing this work. I love to see the happiness this gospel brings. Thank you so much all of you for all you do. Thank you for blessing me with such a great family. You all are so great and I couldn't ask for a better family and better parents! This church is true and will bless us with peace and happiness as we live the gospel and follow the prophet! I just want to tell you all that I know that the Book of Mormon is true! I can promise you all that as you read it daily you will be blessed and I can promise that your day will go better when you read in the Book of Mormon. You don't have to read a ton, just a few verses a day, and I can promise you will be blessed! It is the word of God and I know it to be true! Thank you for all you do. I love you all! and I miss you too! I am doing great and staying safe! Love you all!

Love,

Elder Despain

The baptism on Sunday of Moses and Juan Carlos.  I got to baptize Juan Carlos and my companion baptized Moses.  It was great.  This baptism was a lot better for me because I actually knew the words, haha. 7-11-10

This is the baptism of Candy. 7-9-10

 Just a picture of me and a beautiful view. 7-9-10

Great view at night from the top of Candy's house. 7-11-10

All the primary kids. 7-11-10

Love You!

Hey Family!

So I did get letters in the pouch this week!  I got the first ones from you mom so I am hoping I will get letters every week now through the pouch.  But please put the dates on the letters so I know when they are from.  It looks like they are taking about 3 weeks to get to me, haha.  But it was great to get letters and to hear about how everything is going!  Everything here is still going good!  This week we had 3 baptisms.  It was great!  We had one on Viernes (Friday) and 2 on Domingo (Sunday) after church.  Friday was Candy!  Sunday was Moses and Juan Carlos.  They were great.  I will send you pictures of them.  The work is going good here and we are working hard to get more investigators and get all of them closer to baptism.  It is so great to be able to see how much this gospel blesses those that we teach.  This gospel is truly amazing.  I love it so much and I am so thankful that I have had it in my life, my whole life.  I'm so happy that I have the opportunity to be here and bring these people that happiness that I have had my whole life!  So I told you about last Sunday and how it rained really hard and I sent you pictures of it.  Well, my shoes that I was wearing that day are still wet, haha.   It has been over a week, haha.  But my other shoes are really great and are super water proof and it has been fine just wearing those.  If any other missionaries that are going out ask about shoes, tell them to get Hush Puppies beause they are way better then my Eccos.  But this week has been crazy.  It has rained a ton more then normal.  It pretty much rained all day, every day this week. 

On Saturday, we were walking from a lunch appointment in Zopate and it is like a 10 minute walk, but it was pouring rain and the road was like a river.  So we were walking on this wall and on one side of the wall was the road that was like a river and the other side was a big really steep hill.  So we are walking on this wall so we don't have to walk in the river of water.  I was like 5 meters in front of my companion and I turned around to see if he was still keeping up.  When I turned around, I started leaning way too much to the side of the great big hill and I was like about to fall.  I was doing the waving arms thing, trying to get my weight back centered.  It was crazy.  I was like half bent backwards but I saved it, some how, and got my weight back centered.  It was crazy and it would have been horrible if I fell, haha.  My companion said he saw it and was like praying I would not fall, haha, but then after I saved it and was all good, we just busted up laughing.  It was great.  We got pretty wet that day too.  But ya, haha, funny story.  Probably isn't that funny to you all, but if you were there you would have laughed and thought it was crazy, haha. 

This week we were in charge of the noche de hogar (Kimi's note - actually translates to Family Home Evening) it was like a ward activity and the part we were in charge of was about Lehi's dream.  So we made like a tree and a great building and stuff out of cardboard and then we got like yarn for the road.  Then, we blind folded some of the kids and then there was one person trying to guide them to the road and to the tree and then the rest of us were all saying to go other places.  It was super funny and went really good!  Then on Sunday, we got to be part of the program and got to sing a bunch of songs.  But there were only like 6 of us singing and ya I am not the best singer, haha.  It's even harder in Spanish because I don't know the words perfect but it went really good.  I was glad that I could help out in the program. 

So there is this lady in our ward that comes to church every week and her 13 year old son is a member.  So we went and visited her to see why she hadn't been baptized and she said it was because she wasn't married to her husband, or person she is living with.  So then we set up an appointment to talk to her husband-person (Fredrico).  When we met with Fredrico and asked him if he would get married to her so she could be baptized, he said yes.  It was so great.  He is a really cool guy too, but has never had an interest in the church.  But he is fine with his wife and son getting baptized.  So next week they are getting married and then she (Elia) is getting baptized the day after they get married.  But the last time we were at their house and we were talking to her about the baptism after she getts married.  Then out of no where, Fredrico just asks, "What would we have to do to get married in your temple?"  This was an amazing question because he has never been interested in the church.  So we explain all about how you have to be a member and be baptized and then wait a year and all this.  And then he asks about the word of wisdom and so we talked all about that.  Then we asked if he would stop drinking and smoking and be baptized with his wife and he said yes!  It was amazing and so next week after they get married they are going to be baptized!  It is so great!  And hopefully we will have at least one baptism this week as well!  So it's so crazy, yesterday was 1 month in Mexico for me.  It is crazy and the time has gone by so quick.  Well, I am doing great and Mexico is amazing!  Thank you again for all your letters and emails!  I love you all so so so much!  I miss you all!  But I am glad I am here and have the opportunity to be a instrument in the Lord's hands.  This work is amazing and this gospel is amazing.  The church is true!  I love you all, thanks for everything!

Love,

Elder Despain

aka Wedo to all the people here haha
wedo=(means white person)
(Note From Kimi - it is actually guero - the slang for white person which sounds like "wedo" to the untrained English ear according to the internet)

Me and my companion in the rain, haha, waiting for the combi (taxi/van) 7-4-10

I took the metro for the first time this week.  This is the metro.  This is early in the morning so there are no people.  We were on our way to the mission conference with the new president, but on the way back this was packed with people and it was crazy. 6-29-10

Rain, rain and more rain!

Hey Everyone!

No, I didn't feel the earthquake here.  I didn't even know there was one, haha.  Although I have heard about Monterrey, Mexico and I saw some pictures of what all the rain did.   That is so crazy. If you haven't seen it you should look it up, it is kinda crazy.  Things here are great!  I got letters for the first time this week, but they were just letters from like the day I left the MTC.  I got one from Christi.  Tell her thank you so much.  I loved it and it was great to hear about everything going on.  Tell her I love her and I miss her and her family very much!  I love all of you too, haha.  Then I got 2 from Kylee, so ya I didn't get any others.  I'm sure they are on the way, but I don't know how long they will take, haha.  But don't worry, I know that you love me!  So last night was so crazy.  It rained so hard.  My companion and I were teaching a family in Polo Solo Cir. and that is like a 25 minute walk from our house.  It was like pouring, so the family gave us an umbrella and we started on our way.  The umbrella was like useless.  We were still getting so wet so we just closed it and sprinted down this huge hill that was like a river at this point.  We then stood at the bottom of the hill to wait for a combi (taxi/van) because we didn't want to walk the whole 25 minutes in pouring rain.  We finally got a combi then we took that to a place that is about 3 minutes from our house. Then we walked home, but I was so, so, so wet there was nothing on me that was dry.  I had to wring my clothes out when I got home and I probably can't wear those shoes for about 2 weeks because they are so wet.  I'm guessing they will take a long time to dry, just like everything else.  I am going to send a picture of me and my companion.  It was when we were waiting for the combi, haha.  It was awesome!  We were so wet.  It was kinda crazy yesterday. We took 3 kids to church with us 12, 9, 6, haha.  Church was way crazy with kids, haha.  We are baptizing the 9 year old on Sunday but their mom had to work so we took them to church, haha.  Yesterday, I bore my testimony in Sacramemt meeting because it was the first Sunday of the month.  It went great but it was my first time in front of a whole ward in Spanish, haha.  It went good!  So I don't know if I told you this but because of the law in Arizona, everyone here hates Arizona so I have been saying I'm from Utah to all the people I meet in like the street but I tell the members I am from Arizona.  We got our new mission president this week and he is awesome.  I had an interview with him and he told me that I had to tell everyone I am from Utah even the members, haha.  It's not totally a lie because I lived there for 3 months, haha.  I just think it's funny I have to tell everyone that, haha.  This week we visited a less active member and she is very, very poor.  She offered us food and we said no because we could tell that they had nothing.  She wouldn't take no for an answer so we ate.  I felt so bad because she didn't eat and I don't think she had enough to eat.  I'm positive that the Lord will bless her for her willingness to sacrifice, but I felt so bad.  I mean like her house, I thought was going to fall over it was so sad.  My companion and I are hoping to help her fix her house up as like a ward project or something.  But ya, that was very sad and I have never felt so bad for eating in my life.  The baptism for last week didn't work.  Daniel backed out the day of the baptism because he doesn't feel prepared.  I know he is but we have to respect that and I am hoping he will feel ready to take that step to baptism very soon.  This week we have 4 baptisms lined up and I really hope they work out!  Like I said before, we got our new president he is really great.  I am very excited about having him.  He is going to be a great president.  He told me in my interview about a new program that they are starting up for training missionaries in the field.  It sounds really great and I am super excited.  He said that with this new program it means he won't be behind a desk all the time.  It means he will be able to get out in the field and teach with us, which is so awesome.  I am so excited to go out and teach with him!  It's going to be great!  Well, I hope you are all doing good.  I love you all and miss you all!  The church is true!  The Lord is blessing me a ton and He is keeping me safe!  I love this work and I love the opportunity I have to bring happiness to the lives of these people!  I love you all!

Love,

Elder Despain