Week of July 19, 2012
This week has been super long, and I am constantly nervous. I feel comfortable with spanish with white people but natives speak way differently. All their words just mush together, plus I only know church vocabulary and basic other stuff. I'm interested to see if I get a native speaking companion or an American. My teacher who went to Tuxtla had only one white companion and that was his trainer so we will see. We are flying with about 10 other elders to Mexico City but they are all serving in one of the Mexico City missions.
Thanks everyone for all the letters. I am sorry I am horrible at writing back. I have a huge list of people to write back to and I never seem to have time but I will try to do that before I leave for Mexico. I love you.
Week of July 12, 2012
The last week has been great but super busy. I'll start with
the bad news. I dont have my visa yet and the travel office said I will find
out by next wednesday. If I dont get it, I will be taken up to Salt Lake to the
consolate but they do that on their schedule so they have no idea how long I
could be here if I dont get my visa. I'd rather just get a reassignment if that
happens. Its frustrating though because all the Veracruz Mexico missionaries
went up to the consolate two days ago and got their visas and they have been
here the same amount of time as me. The travel office said Mexico is always up
in the air and visas are random almost. That was pretty frustrating because
everyone else will be getting their travel plans soon and Elder Kjar and I have
no clue if we will or not.
That was the only bad thing that happened in the last week
but I cant control that so whatever happens happens and I know it will be for a
reason. As zone leaders we have completely different jobs than if we were in
the field. We have meetings all Sunday. We have to do orientation for the new
elders on Wednesday nights and meet with them and the Branch Presidency on
Thursday night. Every night we have to check up on each district and report to
the Branch President. Basically, we babysit when missionaries dont know how to
handle a situation or have a problem with a companion. Last night the
orientation was crazy though. We have two new districts this week so Elder Kjar
and Elder Bunker went with one and I went on a split with my district leader
(Elder Winitana) to the other district. The new district I had the orientation
with had another Elder Lythgoe. Crazy right? We tried figuring out how we were
related and he recognized Grandpa's name and said his grandpa was Dale. His dad
is Todd Lythgoe so him and dad are cousins right? Which would make us second
cousins? Apparently, there is also an Elder Watt here in the MTC right now who
we are related to so the other Elder Lythgoe and I are going to try to find him
to get a picture because I'm sure grandpa would think that is great. His name
is Taylor Lythgoe. How weird is that to have such close names too? He said he
is from Vegas but his family just moved to San Diego before he left.
I think I have learned more the last week than I have my
entire life. I remember the first week here be so happy and excited and ever
since then I would have up and down days and it finally hit me. I was so happy
at the beginning because I was truly focused on serving the Lord and I didnt
know anything so I was constantly turning to the Savior for help. I realized
that since than I had been too worried about improving myself rather than
serving the Lord. And I know for a fact than we are focused on ourselves it
only leads to unhappiness. I have been feeling all my desires completely change
here on the mission. Doing what is right has always been important to me but I
have never had a stronger desire to watch every single little action I take so
I can always have the Holy Ghost with me. Before the mission, I kind of thought
missionaries were exempt from temptations from the devil. But I have felt more
pressure from Satan in the last seven weeks than ever before. Satan will do
anything to discourage us as missionaries and distract us from bringing souls
unto our Heavenly Father. Something else I have come to realize after watching an
MTC address by Elder Holland. As a missionary, I have to be willing to put in a
couple minutes in the Garden of Gethsemane and take my cross the first few
steps on the way to calvary. When I heard this, I pondered and imagined myself
kneeling and suffering in the Garden for maybe two minutes and my pains were
gone because I looked over and my older brother and Savior was kneeling next to
me saying "its ok. just give me all your sins and pains" and then he
bled for me. Then I imagined myself carrying my cross to calvary and after I
had made it probably three steps, my Savior put me and my cross on His back and
carried me the rest of the way and I know He has done the same for EVERYONE. I
cannot wait for the day when I get to worship at the feet of my Savior.
As I shared that experience with my district during a
district meeting, I realized something else. There are so many people in the
world cheering for and praying for the missionaries but I often fail to
remember my biggest fan, Jesus Christ. Better yet, Christ says "You run
your hardest for the first ten yards and then I'll help you score a
touchdown." There are a lot of things we have to do on our own and I know
I cant expect the Savior to do all my work for me, but I do know that if I just
turn to Him, He will help me.
I am loving the mission. Temple is still closed today and we
had to do laundry yesterday so I have all day to write letters today. I had a
lot to say this week so tell McKell I will email her next week or write her a
letter today. Thank you everyone for all the letters. I love you.
