Serving in a Trio

This was an up and down week. Francisco was pretty disappointed because his mom didnt support his decision to be baptized and then she prohibited him from going to church. We dont know if he will be baptized this week but we talked with his mom yesterday and she said she would support him if he wants to get baptized. Also, Alba hadnt been answering our text messages so I called her and she doesnt want to listen anymore. I just told her that we are always here to help her and she started to cry and hung up. We tried visiting her but she wasnt home.

Elder Cavazos is doing great and we teach well together but we have room for a lot of improvement. We get along great and have a great time together. Yesterday we had a neat experience at church. We made a goal to baptize 8 people in December and we dont have more than 4 investigators and they have to go to church to get baptized. Yesterday, the husband of a member came to church and wants to learn. Also, a drunk walked in and wants to change his life. Others came also who we didnt know and with the people from yesterday we have exactly 8 potentials we can baptize in December. In the class of gospel principles we taught about the Holy Ghost and we invited about 7 kids from the primary to sing a song. One investigator who wanted nothing before began to cry and now he wants to learn and come to church.

Presidente Cardenas just called we are getting another new elder and now I will be training two missionaries.  It is hard to train one so I hope I will do OK.

A normal P-Day for us is we study in the morning, then we write to the family, go shopping, eat, cut hair or clean house, go pick up clothes (a family washes for us) and we finish at 6 and usually have a family night with a family or investigator.

Chiapa de Corzo is a little bit crazy right now because it is big time Catholic and this wednesday is Day of the Virgen so there are tons of people here with their virgen idols. We have a christmas activity this friday and one of the sisters is trying to get a Santa Claus costume and wants me to dress up haha.

We study every morning for 4 hours because we have an hour of training for my comp and then we are gone until 9. Then we plan for 30 minutes and have dinner at like 930. Then we do teaching records or journal or iron shirts or sleep because we are always absolutely exhausted.

Sorry if I didnt have any good info this week but I wrote to president first and its hard to write in english because I think in spanglish. I think I would be able to think in spanish if I knew more words.
I love you all.

Our Branch Presidente and his wife love Beef Jerky - thanks mom for sending it.

My New companion is great

This is where we meet for church (casa de oracion) right now

 Elder Cavazos de Monterrey Mexico;  One of the new 18 year missionaries.

Thank you Young Men and Young Women for my package.  I love you much!

I still think in english but I cant remember some words. Its mixed spanish and english thoughts right now haha.

I was glad to receive a companion from Mexico even if he is whiter than me. It is really hard to be a trainer. Presidente Cardenas talked with us for a little before presenting us to our companions to tell us that we have to be even more obedient now as trainers. Then friday we had a training with all the trainers and leaders of the mission. I got to see Elder Gamez because he is zone leader in Tuxtla now. At first I did not like Elder Gamez at all but I love him and he has truly helped me in my mission.

 

My companion is great. He teaches well and is well prepared. He is really excited to serve but only has three weeks in the mission but he really misses his family. He is 18 and just finished high school. I love serving with Elder Cavazos.

 

Most people here have TV with DVD but no computer. It is amazing how you can go to the smallest house and they have nothing but they have their TV haha. We show videos but we mostly just teach.

 

As far as training goes, it is a 12 week program and I have to teach him how the mission works basically. It is a lot of fun and I have to admit that I was honestly lost a few times this week.

 

A few experiences of this week, I had been thinking a lot about how we are going to find people to teach because it is really hard with just references. Presidente Cardenas promised us Friday if we ask every single person we talk to if they know someone that can benefit from this message then we will always have people to teach. After the conference, we talk a teenage girl named Jouli who accepted invitation to be baptized and after we left I remembered I forgot to ask if she knew anyone and I felt bad for not asking. The rest of the day I asked everyone we talked with and only received one reference so I didnt really understand. The next day saturday, a teenage girl called us and said she had a family who wants to listen to us. After that we asked a member if he knew anyone and he didnt but we visited our converts and they gave us a reference without us asking and another sister gave us a reference without us asking as well. I know we received these references because we are striving to do what President Cardenas told us to.

 

We are teaching a young man named Francisco right now. I love this guy. He has truly changed his life. He always comes to church in sweat pants and tshirt so yesterday I gave him pants, shirt and tie. He told us that he cant be baptized in two weeks. I asked why and he said his mom told him it is too fast and he doesnt know enough. I shared a scripture with him and he said he really wants to be baptized this day. After he prayed that he could be baptized 16 de December. I know he will be baptized in two weeks and I am so excited.

 

I am going to write to president now.  I love you all.


A New companion and new chapel

 The New Chapel they are building in Chiapa De Corzo

 So excited...pizza.  Boy was it nasty!

Great family baptism!

 

 

Thanks for the letters. I am going to try to write fast because we dont have much time so there might be a lot of errores.

 

First off, Elder Turpo has been transferred to Tapachula. I will be going to Tuxtla tomorrow to get my new companion. I will be training a new missionary.

 

We had a baptism this week. Danna nine years old. There were two other baptisms. Her sister Yeroma eight and another girl with 8.This baptism was really special because we helped activate the family and the dad received the priesthood last week so he could baptize. Then he asked that Elder Turpo and I confirm his daughters. The love the people have here for the missionaries has strengthened my love for the people.

 

We are really close to the family of our ward mission leader and a couple others. One daughter in this family just turned 8 and wants us to teach her. She then said she would choose who would baptize. Us or her brother (our ward mission leader). I told her better her brother but she told me that she wants me to baptize her. I feel bad for the brother and want to convince her otherwise but she told me if I am transferred to take her in my suitcase so i could baptize her haha.

 

As far as my talk goes, I will share that after a high councel member (who was president of a mission in Panama) approached me and told me he can see that I have a true testimony and meant what I said. Something like that but that made me feel really good.

 

The other pictures are of the chapel they are building and the nasty pizza we ordered.

 

We have been teaching a woman named Alba for several weeks. Her husband cheated on her and she has lots of problems. She worships images in the catholic church and didnt undertsand why we didnt. We explained about 5 times but she wouldnt accept it. We stopped teaching her and then she came to teach because she is a reference. We taught her again and she didnt want much so we planned to visit one more time. We shared a video about the family and after we planned to talk about that and invite her to church. I felt we should invite her to baptized but I immediately thought she would say no. I decided to do it anyway and she accepted the invitation to be baptized. She told us she feels closer to God now that she has been praying and listening to us.

 

I love you all.  I found out we might get to skype for christmas but I dont know.





First Month in Chiapa De Corzo

First off, I completely forgot it was Thanksgiving because they dont celebrate that here in Mexico. It is hard to even describe what I am thankful for as a missionary. First off, I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to represent my Savior Jesucristo. I know that this is truly a privilege in my life. Also, I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to serve here in Mexico. Spanish is super hard for me to learn. I think it is the first thing that had not come naturally easy for me to learn. However, I have learned so many lessons from the people here. They just give and give and its hard to accept but they are so happy to help us as missionaries. One sister in the branch does so much for us and she told us because her son was a missionary and her other son will be that she hopes people treat her sons as she treats us. I am thankful for the changes in the mission. We dont have many investigators right now because a lot of the members are learning to work and help us but it is so fun to see the happiness of the members as their friends or family members accept the gospel.
Most importantly, I am thankful for my savior and for a loving Heavenly Father. I dont remember when but one day I decided to kneel in prayer and dedicate MY LIFE not just my mission to God. Heavenly Father will always come first in my life unlike before. As for my future, I am here to serve my Heavenly Father. If that means I become a teacher in elementary school vs a doctor I will do it because God knows more than we do and he will only guide us. I say this as I have learned that we avoid the natural man when we submit to the will of God which is extremly hard but rewarding.
Yesterday, I gave my first talk here in Mexico. I talked about the Atonement and conversion and how we as members have to convert to the gospel to receive the blessings of the Atonement. A person converted is unshakable in the gospel. Conversion is a lifetime process but if we dont strive daily to convert ourselves more we wont become converted.
We have cambios again next week so we will see what happens but I think both Elder Turpo and I will still be here.

Elder Lythgoe and his companion, Elder Turpo (from Peru) in Chiapa de Corzo

First Transfer

Dear Family,
Thanks for the letters and pictures this week. My letter is going to be a little shorter today because there have been transfers. Elder Gamez is going to Tuxtla this afternoon to be trainer again for another gringo. I will be leaving tomorrow morning for Chiapa de Corzo just outside of Tuxtla. I dont know who my companion will be. It is really hard to leave because I am beginning to understand a talk and we have some really good investigators right now.

We werent able to talk with the parents of Jalil and he was scared to because he just wants to wait until he is 18. We are teaching a young man who is 15 years old and he will be baptized in a few weeks. He is so excited about the gospel. After our first visit he told us the next time that he had prayed about Joseph Smith and felt really happy about it so he knows it is true. He has told his whole family and friends and is not afraid to talk about his lessons with the missionaries which is great.
I am excited to go to my new area and get to work.

As far as spanish goes I understand during lessons and the other times I dont understand much. It has to be quiet and I have to focus 100% to understand.

Elder Gamez and I are feeling better but monday, tuesday, and wednesday were pretty tough and we werent able to work a lot.

Now that I can understand kind of I get to hear all the funny things said about me. I havent noticed until this week but people always explain stuff to Elder Gamez and then tell him to tell me and I just laughed when I understood this for the first time.
I love you.

 

The picture is of the young men and some others in Barrio Indeco

Love, Elder Lythgoe

A week of Lessons

This week was a week of trials. On wednesday we committed three women to baptism and it felt great. We had lessons planned for all three saturday. First one was cancelled because she moved out of her daughters house to another daughter out of our area. Second, she wanted to be baptized and only needed to talk to her husband and he said no because his family is a different religion and he was mad she had two young men in their home. Third, this sister was extremely emotional and laid her problems on the table big time and we told her to read the book of mormon and pray and she wanted to receive an answer and be baptized but the last couple times we tried to visit she told us that she was too busy or didnt answer the door. We went from having zero investigators to having three to having zero in three days.
We had a cool experience though. We went to the house of a member last sunday to ask for a reference. When we got there the daughter Alexia walked out put a chair in front of us and asked for a blessing because her dad isnt a member. We ate with this family two days later and the mom told us the experience her daughter had. She was sick sunday and when we arrived asked her mom who was there and her mom said los elderes. Good they are here to give me a blessing. Her mom said no they arent. Then Alexia said yes they are mom because I just prayed that God would send someone who could give me a blessing. God answers prayers.
Now that I can talk more and understand more its kind of scary because the mom of some girls was indirectly telling me to marry her daughter. She told me a i will marry a mexican return misionera which describes her daughter because her daughter wants to serve. I didnt know what to say but it was scarry.
I contacted a man in english yesterday and completely butchered some words in english. It was pretty embarrassng.. I love you all.

 

Genaro (the little short man) was our recent convert at almost 80.  He has so much faith.

 

Love,
Elder Lythgoe

Mi Apartado

Here are a few pictures of Elder Lythgoe's and Elder Gamez's apartado in Tapachula.  Not too bad considering.  Elder Lythgoe was informed that Tapachula is the richest city in the state of Chiapas.  And he said, "And it is really poor here."  He is filled with gratitude at all times.