Companion

So i still dont have a companion haha. He gets here tomorrow and he is american. Thats all i know. Im super nervous because I dont understand 100 and dont speak 100% and now I have a comp who knows nothing but im excited because I know his humility and desire to share his testimony will invite the spirit. Last week I worked with a young man one day and the others with my district leader who is waiting his companion as well. Great experience to learn from Elder Martinez ( from colombia). Great missionary. He has the same time in the mission as me but knows a lot and I am super grateful for the experience.

Yesterday another brother worked with me so we could attend church in our area. We assisted for the first time in the new chapel. Truly amazing and really exciting. I am excited for the chance we will have to find new people through using the chapel.

We had a zone conference with a 70 the other day and his talk was alright but what his wife said was truly amazing. She talked about the importance of the Book of Mormon and if we want to stay active and help people stay active we have to read the Book of Mormon everyday. I know the book of mormon converts people because I have felt it and i am seeing it right now. We are teaching Jairo who really had a lot of problems and he told me yesterday that he was at the church because of me. Really I did nothing but the book of mormon worked in him. He has already finished 1 nefi and is read 2 nefi and I know that is what is changing him. I know ex missionaries and cualquier (whichever) member - i dont know - will never go inactive if they read the book of mormon every day and I have committed to do that the rest of my life.

They havent told us anything about the new emailing so who knows. Yesterday we started teaching someone and he accepted the invitation to be baptized. It was pretty funny because he asked me hermano I have a question. If my wife is catholic and doesnt want anything can i get baptized solo or it has to be with her. We explained a little more about baptism and he said if you tell me I can do it then I accept.

Yesterday at church we didnt have that many investigators but Jairo walked in about 45 minutes late with a big smile and waved to me and I just felt super happy to see him there. Jairo is 19 and he is super funny and I love the guy.

The other day with Elder Martinez we had quite the experience with their investigator. She said she read and prayed about the book of mormon and felt something she had never felt before and we helped her realize that was her answer. Then she told us the church was true and we invited her to baptism but she said she would join another church because they had given her a story of an ex mormon who found the truth and thats why. she still says the church is true but was confused with this. Elder Martinez asked her how many times we had said something bad about another church and she said never but it was amazing to me to see her not accept after the experience she had had.

Les amo muchisimo y sigo orando para que tengan oportunidades a compartir el evangelio. Espero que este practicando a hablar español en Mayo paps.

Love, Elder Lythgoe

Life as a missionary is Great!

Elder Lythgoe in Chiapa de Corzo where he has served for the past 5 months

Cool Story - Presidente Cardenas converted this man 20 years ago when he served as a missionary in Chiapa de Corzo.  The convert went inactive until about 1 1/2 years ago when Presidente showed up on his door step.  They had not seen each other for 20 years.  He has been active in our branch since then and he is preparing for the Temple to be sealed to his wife soon.

 

Updates on investigators
We have a family of 4 that are progressing and reading the Book of Mormon but havent accepted baptismal date yet. They have gone to church twice which is good.
Roberto y Nara have gone to church three times. The love going to church but are pretty hard to teach because they are 16 so they focus for about 5 minutes but we are going to invite them to baptism tonight.
Jorge Dominguez (14) has baptismal date for 30 de Marzo. His family are members inactive for about 7 years so he never got baptized. Went to church with his dad yesterday.
Jairo also has baptismal date for this day. He will get married in the morning and baptized in the afternoon. He is 19 and his wife (member inactive) is 20 so they are really immature and I had to help them talk through an issue but it turned out good.

 

Had a good and bad experience with Jorge the other day. We taught them and several times he started laughing and told me I didnt pronounce some words good. I just remember praying that he would feel the spirit and he accpeted the invitation to be baptized. That happened my first transfer one time and it ticked me off. I was super mad at the person and didnt want to talk but this time was just completely different. After another lesson he asked where I learned spanish because I talk funny.

 

We had stake conference yesterday and it was broadcasted with Elder Bednar and Elder Scott. Did you know Elder Scott speaks spanish? It was great. Elder Scott talked with such love it was incredible. I remembering praying for an answer to a question from the apostles and I felt it wasnt being answered when I realized that the messages were perfect for investigators that we had there. I realized that God was trying to help his sons and daughters who didnt have the blessings of the gospel when I already have them.

 

The picture is with a convert of president Cardenas when he was a missionary here in Chiapa de Corzo. Pretty cool story because he was inactive and one day about a year and a half ago president showed up for the first time in like 20 years at his house and the brother has gone to church since and will be getting sealed to his wife in about a month

 

Dad - Yesterday at stake conference a bishop in Tuxtla and his wife said hi to us and asked me where I was from. I said california and they asked if I know oxnard. His sister lives in Camarillo or Oxnard and is member.  Her maiden name would be Natareno (her brother is Gaudalupe). Someone who has a brother in barrio Palmas in Tuxtla Gutierrez. Not exactly sure if he is bishop but someone told me that after. Pretty small world

 

I love you. Espero que tengan feliz semana.


I Love Spanish

Yesterday we had a lot of investigators in the church which was great and this week we are going to focus on puting baptismal dates for the people. Something I really dont understand is how people know the Book of Mormon is true but dont commit to being baptized. That has been something difficult for me to learn - the agency of others.

I finally got it this week. Obedience really is the answer to anything. The answer I always used but never understood. I have always been obedient in the mission but sometimes the members would say something or another missionary and I would be afraid to ofend them and in doing so I ofended God and the spirit. I finally understand that really obedience is what we need to always have the spirit and follow God´s plan. I have learned things that are important about obedience throughout the mission but everything kind of hit me this week. I have been working like a loco because i feel like I have already lost some time in my mission.

We are teaching a family of 4 right now and we had such an awesome lesson the other day. The spirit was super strong and we invited them to be baptized and I thought it was for sure but they said no because they hadnt gone to church yet and dont know that much. However, I am really grateful for the example of other missionaries and members because they are listening to us for what they have seen in other members of the church.

Bartolo is hilarious. Yesterday he said before church that two jehovas witness tried to preach to him and he told them thank you but that he was going to the mormon church so he didnt want to waste their time. He could get baptized tomorrow if his ex-wife would only agree to divorce so he can get married.

Sometimes I feel super old here. Roberto who plays football. The girl who went to church with him is more interested and she asked us about what we did before the mission. And she mentioned parties and drinking and she is 16 and I thought of McKell and wanted to say what are you thinking you are a little girl before I realized that that stuff really happened and happens. Yesterday she showed up to church by herself because Roberto couldnt go which was pretty cool.

Can I go to church in oxnard when I get home? I love spanish. Sometimes if the person talks way fast I dont understand and I sound gringo because my voice comes from my throat and not the tongue and I cant really roll r´s but it is awesome to speak two languages. I am starting to understand the cuss words and they are super funny and sound really dumb just like the english words. I had to study that the other day because my comp tells me people who use bad language but I want to tell them to not say those things.

Les amo y que tengan bonita semana. Mucho éxito y animo con el plan misional de la familia. Dios realmente ha preparado personas y sé que por medio de sus esfuerzos podrán ver un bautismo antes de que regrese.

Love, Elder Lidgo o Lingo depende en lo que me dicen haha

Found Some investigators

We finally found a few investigators this week who want to get baptized and now we just need to get them to church which is something we really struggle with here. I found that I could give a little more and we just kept working and finally saw some success. On saturday we planned to visit a reference who wasn´t home so we tried visiting an inactive sister who wasn´t home as well. We then visited our third plan. An inactive family that usually isnt home. They were home and they have a son who isnt baptized. I usually dont say this but I told them that God sent us there to help them go back to church. The wife started crying and told us that her husband has a problem (im guessing he drinks) and we arrived at one of the only times he was thinking clearly to talk. They told us that they were baptized but never understood the lessons and want us to teach them so they can go back to church and the son was willing to listen. What a tender mercy and how amazing is God that we werent able to teach the other people but He knew what this family needed.

The sister Lucero that we invited to baptism this week is awesome. First off, I had a really neat experience the first time we met her. An image popped in my mind of me baptizing her and she was so happy and then I could really see her being touched by the spirit as I shared my testimony. This week we talked about the restoration and she told us (i met have already told you) that she was going to be baptized in a christian church but couldnt go to her baptism. Then we showed up and she felt God was guiding her to the right path. She told the pastor of the other church that she was listening to us because God sent her the true church basically haha. She loved the experience of Joseph Smith and already thinks its true.

Personal Conversion

I am excited to hear about the family mission plan and I will continue praying for family missionary opportunities. My first piece of advice is dont get discouraged if the people dont change or accept the gospel. There is an amazing family here who hasnt lived here that long so they dont know that many people but they give us references. About 2 months ago the hermana Mirta gave us a reference and we taught them once and they kept cancelling on us. Finally, the friend told the hermana Mirta she didnt want to listen to us or go to church. The hermana seemed pretty discouraged when she told us this. However last week she gave us another reference and we went to visit them but they didnt really want to listen. When we talked with the hermana yesterday she asked us what she could teach her friend. We told her to help her friend feel the spirit and she told us that this week she will do that and schedule an appointment for us. I was impressed with her desire to share the gospel.

Next, dont be afraid to testify. To say "I know" is direct and bold but dont be afraid to say it. As people we have the tendency to want to please the people with our words but the most powerful words we have are our testimony.

My last piece of advice would be personal conversion as a family. The first name that should be on the list should be our own. As missionaries we invited others to come unto Christ. Really we are inviting people to come to our level. If we have not come unto Christ, the people cant either. Coming unto Christ is a process of the life but as missionaries we have to strive every day to come unto Him. This conversion leads to more desires to share the gospel. I thought about this a lot in a lesson yesterday when someone told us we were wrong and we could only testify when really we could have pulled out the bible and proved him wrong. If we are not converted these things can discourage us and that is when Satan attacks. Become converted and dont get discouraged.

Something I love about the mission is seeing when people feel the spirit. This week we taught a middle aged woman and as we began teaching I felt I should share an experience with her. I could see that she was feeling the spirit as her face lit up and she put attention into what we were saying. She also accepted the invitation to be baptized.  The hermana ursula says hi to all of you. She is the spirits lady. She was baptized about 10 years ago and went inactive. She was impressed that Elder Turpo and I took the time to help her in this experience and she has been going to church for three months now and hasnt had this problem again. Mom you never need to worry about me if I am here in Chiapa de Corzo with the hermana ursula.

I love you. Realmente sé que Dios nos ama y nos dio Su mejor, Su hijo. Sin ninguna duda, El Libro de Mormon es la palabra de Dios y si lee, va a saber que fue escrito por profetas de Dios. Les amo.

Chiapa de Corzo Parachicos - Look it up

I just want to start by saying that I have waiting my whole life to see the niners go to the superbowl and now that they make it I am here in Mexico. It honestly doesnt bother me but I thought that was pretty funny. We had a pretty good week.

We are starting to find investigators. We really thought what we could do to find people. The missionaries in the ward of Elder Cavazos in Monterrey made a box for references that they put in the chapel. We decided to do the same. We went around to all the classes yesterday to explain the box and the reference cards. We received several references inmediately and almost everyone is going to look up the direction to put the reference next week. I really like what you said dad about finding a smarter way because before we asked members to introduce us to people but les da pena (look that up because I dont know how to say it in english). Everyone knows someone but it is hard to share the gospel but everyone was excited to do their part by just writing the name and direction of the person.
This week we are going to visit every active member and give them a copy of the talk by Elder Nelson about the missionaries to give to a neighbor or friend because everyone here wants to know why a gringo is walking around with a white shirt and tie but the people are too afraid to ask us what we do. Sometimes they do and then they are interested to listen to a lesson or read a pamphlet.

The other day we were thinking who we could help baptize this coming week and i thought of Alba who committed to be baptized before but didnt want to. We went to visit her and she was super depressed and sad and happy we came to visit. We taught something and invited her to church. She told us she knows she is bad but doesnt want to go because her whole family is catholic. I asked her what she thought of what we teach and she said she knows it has been helping her because we are the only ones who have helped her in her problems. She said maybe someday in the future and she doesnt really care right now. That hurt pretty bad to hear that. To see someone feel the spirit and like the message and reject it, is not fun.

Also, when we went to visit her we planned to invited a young man preparing for the mission to teach with us because he lives close. I forgot about this and as were were in colectivo the thought came to go invite him. We were running late so we got out of the van and i felt again to invite him so we went. When we arrived I asked if he was home and he came walking out wrapped in a blanket and told us God sent us there because he needed a blessing. I know God loves His children because he has used me to answer prayers several times in the mission.

Right now in Chiapa de Corzo there is a fair and other traditions so everyone is drunk or drinking all the time. Look up in google Chiapa de Corzo parachicos if you want to see what the people do. It is PACKED with people and impossible to walk but it is almost over.

One of the members had masks for the Parachicos and she let us try them on.

I love you all and hope all is well.

Challenging Week

This was a good but challenging week. We had another baptism which was a great experience because this girl was my first lesson in Chiapa de Corzo and she was finally baptized. Her mom has been inactive for years and is going to church again. The other day we went to teach her and shared the story of Abraham and Isaac about obedience. We then asked if she was ready for her baptism saturday and she said she wanted to be baptized but not yet. I then asked her if she thought it was important to obey the commandments and she said yes. Then I asked if she thought it was better to wait or do it right now and she said right now and that she would be baptized saturday. I know that the Holy Ghost gave me these words to help Nadia want to be baptized.

In other news, I will be staying here in Chiapa de Corzo with Elder Cavazos and Elder Muñoz will be leaving us. I am glad to just be in two again but I have learned so much from him.

Other than the baptism it was a pretty rough week. The man that talked with us and went to church went to Mexico City and no one knows when he will get back. We had to stop teaching others because they werent progressing and others werent home this week. However, I know that we will find new people to teach and that God has people who are ready to accept this gospel.

I learned a lot about obedience this week. I have been obedient in the mission but I can´t say with exactitud (is that a word in english?). There have always been little things that I could improve but I never felt the need. One day this week we were going to get to the house late so we ran but didnt make it. I felt horrible that night and then there was another mistake this week which I dont remember but I remember that I felt horrible again. And then it finally hit me. Why am I rationalizing 99.9% obedience when God asks 100%?

Also, I learned a lot about charity this week. I can serve these people for two years and love them but if I dont develop charity I will be nothing. The mission is much more than a commandment that we need to obey, it is more than a way of helping people. It is preparation for life and eternal life. It is helping me develop the christlike attributes that I need to live with God. I have always liked to joke around and tease people and even with my companions and it hit me this week. Did Christ do that with Peter and John? I believe He had fun with them but he didnt have to tease them to laugh and have fun. Basically, the mission is destroying the natural man in me. I dont understand why it has taken me so long to learn certain things but I am glad I am learning them now.

Quiero decirles mi testimonio de algo bien importante pero en español porque es más fácil. No sé como voy a hablar sobre la iglesia en inglés otra vez. Sé que la obediencia trae bendiciones y conduce la felicidad. Si amamos a Dios y Jesucristo, vamos a obedecer a los mandamientos. Es tan sencillo. Dios quiere que seamos obedientes, entonces podemos escoger a ser obediente o Dios va a humillarnos para que aprendamos la obediencia. Escoja a ser obediente porque no queremos que Dios nos regañe.
Les amo muchísimo.