Hola 8-29-11

Hola familia!

   So this week was a pretty good week! In my area, we didn't have a ton of success but I got to go to the temple! Elia, that I baptized when I was with E. Higuera, went through the temple and I got to go. It was so, so, so, so awesome! I sent some pictures you should have already got them! It was just a really great experience and the spirit was super strong and it just makes everything I have been doing worth it! 

Also, in my district we ended up having 4 baptisms! But it was crazy. They all had their date for baptism but when we got to church on Sunday, 2 of the 4 that were supposed to get baptized that same afternoon didn't want to get baptized anymore! So I interviewed them both over again during the church services and then they ended up getting baptized when church ended. It was great! I also ended helping to baptize one of them because she was super nervous to enter into the water and was really scared of drowning. But ya, it went good! It was a true blessing from the Lord! They all were really cool experiences for me how they ended up getting baptized. First, like Thursday, I did an interview for one of them. I had already interviewed her the week before but I was just doing another one to keep her excited about her baptism and just get her more ready and excited. But the last week when I talked to her, she didn't want to get baptized because of her daughter, who is 11, didn't want to get baptized. Anyways, I felt like I should promise her that if she got baptized that her daughter would follow her example in less then 2 weeks! Well, this week, like Thursday, when I talked to her I interviewed her in her daughter's room. Usually when you do an interview, it just is you and the person. But in this case, we did the interview in her daughter's room, but her daughter was in there doing home work so she was listening to everything. Well, when I was talking to her and promising her lots of blessings and just getting her ready and excited for her baptism, out of no where the daughter turns around in her chair and said, "Mom, I want to get baptized as well!!!!" It was just a blessing from the Lord to have her accept and follow her mom's example. It was awesome. When she said that I just like started praying in my head and giving thanks because it truly was a miracle and it was just truly amazing! It is so wonderful the miracles I get to see as I'm serving the lord! But ya, all the baptisms just were really cool and I get to interview like each one of them a few times to get them excited and convinced to get baptized and it was just really amazing and lots of miracles! 

So today, we went to waterfalls. It was pretty cool, but the funnest part of the whole thing is when we had to go down this really steep hill and we were like trying to slide down on our feet but everyone was just falling and we got all muddy. It was great and super funny, haha. I'll send pictures! 

In my new district, because we had changes, one of the elders, E. Barajas, got a kid! (un hijo) He is American. He is from California and I am really remembering a lot about when I got here and now I can really, really see how much my Spanish has improved, haha. But he is a great elder and I have been enjoying getting to help him out and teach him and translate for him when he doesn't know what his companion is saying or when he doesn't know what others are saying, haha! We took him to eat tacos al pastor today, haha. It was cool! They call me a lot, haha, on the phone and I explain to him what his companion is trying to tell him. It's fun! 

Well, I don't have much more time! I hope you all are doing great and that all is well back at home! Dad, I hope that is going great for you. Let me know how you're doing. I will make sure to keep you especially in my prayers! I hope you have a great time and that you can always stay safe! I love you all and I miss you all, too. I hope you are all doing well and thanks for all you do for me! Mom, thanks a ton for buying those shirts. I know they will be a great help to this kid and that he will really be happy and it really is great we can help him because he is making a big decision. That must be hard without his family's support, but is what the Lord really wants from him! Thanks Mom, you're the best! I love you! Please try and send it as fast as possible because he leaves in Oct. and you know how great the mail is here, haha! I love you all!

Love,

Elder Despain

Temple Picture 8-13-11

Moroni with the gold plates in his hands. This is one of 3 temples in the world that are like that. One is in South America, one here in Mexico City and one in New York! Cool isn't it!

 Part of my district 8-16-11

A big torta I ate. It was so much meat, it wasn't even funny. 8-20-11

 

 Baptisms in my district 8-21-11

 

Yes, that man is wearing a dress but it's because there weren't any more overalls. So ya, he used that. He was a good sport about it!! He kinda looks like Pinocchio's dad doesn't he???  He is an awesome man!!!!  8-21-11

Irven!!!! Super cool kid! 8-21-11

Hola 8-22-11

Hola Familia!!!!!!!! 

  So, I'm really sorry that I didn't write last week. It was a crazy day and I was on like 2 minutes and I had to use/have that time just to write my president. So ya, I'm really sorry but I am writing this week :) haha!

 So, ya, wow! That is really crazy that Dad is going to Taiwan!!!!!!! But really, really cool at the same time! It sounds like it will be an adventure but a good experience!  So I got to go to the temple 2 Saturdays ago and it was really amazing. I got to see some converts (well, they weren't my converts but I worked a lot with them to baptize the rest of their family because when I got there they had just got baptized.) but ya, it was an awesome experience to get to go to their sealing. It was amazing and I felt the spirit so, so strongly!!! I love the temple and I miss going a lot but it was really cool to be there as they got married!

Also, last week and this week we got people at church so that was awesome to have people to go to church because here it is hard to get our investigators to church. Also, not last week but the week before we had house inspections by the presidents wife...... That was a first in all of my mission, haha. Our house is pretty good so it wasn't too bad, but I feel bad for lots of the other elders because some of the houses in the mission are so nasty, haha. But we just didn't have tables or beds or like anywhere to put our stuff so it was unorganized. But she made sure we got what we needed so that was good. So now our house is organized, haha!!!

Also, I don't know Mom if you already sent the package you were going to send. But, I was wondering if you hadn't sent it yet, could you buy two size 19 shirts and send them to me. There is a kid in my ward (he is a big kid) that is going to go on his mission in Oct. but he is the only member in his family and doesn't have much money and his family isn't too supportive that he is going. But any ways, he only has like 4 shirts so I was wondering if you could send me like two so we could help him out a little! He is a great kid with a great desire to serve the Lord! We took him out to work with us on Saturday and ya, he was just a little worried about the shirts. So that would be awesome if you could send me like two size 19, well the around the neck is 19 idk if there is another size on shirts, but I hope with that you can find one that will work! Thanks mom!

Also, when I went to the temple I saw tons of members from my first area and they all were so cool to see, like they all remembered me. I didn't think they would but they did and it was great to see them!! We also had a baptism this week. It was Sunday!!! Fernando!!! I'm not going to lie, it was a real miracle. I think Heavenly Father just felt bad for us and so he just sent him to us, haha. We didn't really even teach him. He is the son of a member and he just wanted to get baptized. We didn't do anything but it just shows that if you work hard, God blesses you :)

Also, I just wanted to share some scriptures with all of you! 2 Nephi 2:11, Opposition in all things! D&C 122:7, Trials are experiences for our good! 8-9, Even the greatest man, Jesus, suffered so much here on earth in His life, we are not better than Him so we shouldn't expect not to have to suffer a little, but fear not because God is with us!!!!! 1Corinthians 10:13, No temptation or trail that we cant overcome, God gives us an escape! I love that scripture, I use it a lot!! D&C 121:1-3, why, how long???? A question we always ask when hard times come. 7, just a short amount of time. Some times we want out now but we must remember that God answers our prayers, but on His time, but it will just be a short amount of time. 8, if we endure well, we will be blessed!  Alma 32:6, afflictions sometimes are to humble us. Alma 64:41, and also sometime are to soften our hearts!!! I was studying the other day and I just really got a lot out of that so I thought I would share it with you all!!! I love you all!! Thanks for all you do for me and for always being so supportive of me!!! I love you all and I miss you all too!!!

Love,

Elder Despain

 A hot dog I made with ham hot dog, onions, tomatoes, and cheese and catchup(aka here Ketchup haha) and mustard 

Where I wash my clothes by hand, haha! It's a great little room, haha, and know it doesn't look like a torture chamber at all, hahaha,

Hola! 8-8-11

Hola familia!

  Well this week was a lot better! We are really starting to pick up this area! We have quite a few people we are teaching now and lots that are close to baptism. Our biggest hold up now has been that like no one is married here, haha, but ya! We are working with many to get them married so they can be baptised! I'm hoping that we will have some baptisms this week. This past week I was able to help out my district a lot and they were able to get quite a few baptisms! So I was reading the Ensign, the new one from Agosto! There is a story that is called small and simple things and in Spanish it is on pg. 8, in English I don't know, but it is an article about the church in korea so I thought dad would enjoy seeing and reading that. It's really short but cool! This week, like two days, I was in Cuajimalpa which is like 1 hour and 30 min from our area. I was there working and doing interviews for the other district leaders over there! For Elder Rowly and Elder Monjaras! It was fun to get to work with them and get to do a few interviews so that they could be able to baptize this week! Also, I think that this week I am going to be able to go to the Mexico temple and see two people get married in the temple! They are two members that lived in my first area and they had just got baptized like a couple months before I got there and I was able to teach the girl's mom and then baptize the guy's little sister and teach his mom so I got to know them really well and now they are going to get sealed in the temple and I am probably going to be able to go! I'm super excited! If I get to go it will be like really, really awesome! Well, not much more is new. We are just working hard to get everything going here still and I really feel like we are going to have a lot of success this week! I love you all and thank you all so much for all you do for me! I truly have the greatest family ever! Thanks for everything! I love you all and miss you all as well!

 

Love,

Elder Despain

 My Area 7-28-11

 

The view out my kitchen window this morning. We were like in the clouds. 8-1-11

Hola!!!!!!!!! 8-1-11

Hola familia!

  Well this week went a lot better, haha, but it's still not very easy here, haha! I love it here in my area, but it's still very slow for us. We are still contacting and knocking doors almost all day. But now we do have a few people with baptism dates and we are starting to get this area up and going again! This area was really dead when we got here but it's picking up for us! It's taking alot of work but it is getting there! The picture I'm sending is out our kitchen window this morrning and we were like pretty much in a cloud, haha! Oh, our bishop said he was living in Arizona for a while before he got married and he said he lived with Gary Flake. So I figured he is propbably related to us but I don't know if you know him or not dad, but you should let me know because the bishop here lived with him, Bishop Esparza, so you should ask him if he knows him! So this week was really cool. We didn't know any members, so on Monday we had to wash all our cloths by hand. It's not the first time I have done it but every time it reminds me of how grateful I am for technology and that we have washers, haha. Because it's not to fun to do by hand and it takes a lot time! Haha! So it's rainning here a ton, like every day at like around 5-5:30, it just pours, haha.  I use like two jackets and an umbrella and I'm still getting wet, haha. It's making my shoes wear out a lot faster, but they are still doing all right! I'm hoping they will make it through these last 8 months! So this week we were still doing a lot of exploring because we don't know all of our area yet! Haha, we went to this pueblo like 2 hours away and then we got so lost trying to find a reference we got, haha. But it was good because when we get lost it makes it easier to contact people because you ask them first how to get where you're going and then contact them to see if they want to listen to us, so it works out good, haha. But there are some really far away pueblos in our area and we still haven't even visited all of them, haha, but we are getting there! I love it here. Even though it is a challenge here, it is helping me grow a lot! I'm loving the ward and the members. They are all really strong and really active. I mean, of course, there are still tons of inactives but the members that go are very, very strong! I admire them a lot because they make a big sacrifice to go to church every week because many have to travel very far to get to church. But, I think that sacrifice has made them into the strong members that they are! In my district meeting this week, i taught about sacrifice and about the story of Abraham and what a sacrifice he had to make to go and sacrifice his son. As we know, he ended up not having to do it. But, just all the desire he had to be obedient and show that he was willing to do whatever the Lord asked of him! I compared that to us as missionaries how the Lord askes us to make sacrifices and some times we don't understand why but what we need to do is to be like Abraham and do whatever the Lord commands us to do and if we do that, the Lord will always provide for us! In the mission, we must make sacrifices to receive blessings! Some times that is working harder than we think our body can take, some times that is fasting and giving up food or many other things that some times we must sacrifice. But, what I have come to find out is that these sacrifices are just us showing our faith so that the Lord can bless us. I know and I have seen the miracles that come from these sacrifices. I know that the Lord loves us and wants His work to go forth but we must first show Him that we are willing to give up everything for Him! I love this work and I know that it is the work of the Lord! I'm glad that I get to sacrifice things because I get to see the blessings in the lives of those we teach and as they accept the gospel, I get to see miracles take place in their lives! I am so glad that I have this great opportunity to serve the Lord! I know that what I do is not much compared to the sacrifice that others have made to help this work go forth or like the sacrifice that our Savior made for each one of us, but I am grateful for the small part I get to do for the Lord! I love you all so much and I thank you all for all that you have done for me to get me here to this point in my life! Thanks for all you have done for me! I hope that all is well back at home! Just know that I'm doing great and that the Lord is watching over me! I love you all and I miss you all, too! Thanks for all you do!

Love,

Elder Despain