April 29, 2013

 We had A lunch for Elder Espinosa's birthday. 

Do you love my ugly tie? I wear it with the clothes pins

 to do our laundry, haha.

I can't believe I ate the whole thing. Just kidding. 

Three other elders helped me.

Diana and Abdiel

Hola familia! 

This was a great week! We had a zona conference with President Treviño and his wife which was excellente. We are really blessed to have such a great mission president. He inspires us and motivates us so much and is really aware of our needs as a mission. 

So guess what? I dont know if you guys realized it but we get to skype on Mothers day! I cant believe that its already time to talk to you guys again, it literally feels like just yesterday that I talked to you guys at Christmas when I was in Cordoba. Crazy how fast the time is going. So I dont know what time would be good for you guys, I imagine in the afternoon on sunday, but let me know, whatever time works for me! Just dont make fun of my accent this time, haha. 

We had an amazing experience yesterday, something happened that I really didnt think would happen in my time here. I bet you guys remember Abdiel? He is a convert from when I was with Elder Mata. Hes 13 and hes just tearing it up. He goes to activities, passes the sacrament every week, and is going to go to EFY. How sweet is that? Well his mom (her name is Diana) used to be a Jehova´s Witness, she grew up in that church but for various reasons stopped going and kinda left the church. We get along great now, but when I first met her we kinda choked a bit because Abdiel wanted to get baptized and she didnt want to give him permission quite yet. But ever since Abdiel got 

baptized she has gone to church with her husband EVERY. SINGLE. WEEK. 

Like without fail. They already seem like they are members. But she is tough because she studied with the Jehovas witnesses and they are really into studying and knowledge and thinking every thing through really good. So she has been ready to get baptized since forever ago but every time we invite her she says that she needs more time.

    So we have been hearing some rumors from the members that she has really really been thinking about joining the church, so yesterday we went to visit them and they were there in their house with the relief society president. (they are really good friends with her and with lots of other members as well cuz they are in church every week) We got there and they were talking a little bit about how Diana wanted to get baptized but that she had a lot of doubts about some things in the church. She thought that Heavenly Father is Jehova and the relief socitety president was telling her that Jesus Christ is Jehova. So we shared a ton of scriptures with her about that and in the end she looked pretty convinced that Jesus Christ is Jehova, but had a lot of other doubts. So we were there like an hour just answering a bunch of her questions and explaining some things. At the end of everything she just started crying and told us about how every morning for the past 3 months she would wake up every morning and just be relieved that she was still alive, because she doesnt want to leave this live without being baptized but she has always wanted a lot of time to think about it. she told us that it has just been a constant wrestle within herself because she would decided that she was going to be a member and then change her mind and all that. She told us about the change that she has felt (and its a really incredible change that she has had) and how she feels like it is an answer from god that the gospel and the church are true. After she told us all of that. She told me that she was thinking about planning her baptism for the month of June, but then she told me that she knew there would be the posbibility of me leaving  in like two weeks and I have always told her that it would kill me if I cant be her to see her get baptized. So she said "well, lets plan the baptism for next week, shall we?" I couldnt even belive it, i was so happy!! It has been a long process for her but wow she is going to be an amazing member of the church! I will tell you guys more about it when we talk on mothers day, its a good story.

Well my times up but I love you guys and loved the pictures that mom sent me, there were pretty cool!! Be good and know that youre all in my prayers!!

Mucho amor, 

Elder Eastmond

Pictures April 23, 2013

How do you like this picture of the church? It says "the door to heaven" and has the mens bathroom right underneath? haha They didnt think that one through pretty good... 

It's hot in Veracruz

Hola Familia!! Como estan?

Its starting to heat up a whole lot here in Veracruz, too bad you guys are all suffering there in the cold, haha. This week we had a day that was crazy windy, somtimes we get these things called Nortes, (north winds) and they come in and it seems like a hurricane has hit. When it hit us we had planned everything in this colony where all the streets are made of dirt so at the end of the day we got back to the house with dirt and dust EVERYWHERE! in our ears and eyes and nose, haha I thought I was back in Cedar City for a second.

So this week was great, we were working with an investigador named Jesus, who Elder Mata had taught a couple of months ago but it still wasnt his moment and he was really busy with school and stuff. We talked to one of his friends named Abel who is a member of the church a couple weeks ago and he told us that he wasnt studying, and that he had been talking to him alto about the church. So we started teaching him and it has been amazing to watch the conversion process. Jesus is like 18 years old, he loves to play soccer and had gone to church quite a few times. He has had some real challanges with some of the commandments but his friend Abel has really helped him alot to be able to change and try to live a better life. So we invited him to be baptized and he said that he would like to but that he wasnt really sure because of the commandments that he would have to live. So we left him with a bunch of chapters in the Book of Mormon about repentance and when we saw him in church a week ago he talked to us and told us that he had read and that it had really struck deep what he had read.  He had also prayed and asked if he should get baptized and said that he felt an answer that he should. 

This week we finished teahcing him everything and he has really had a change of heart, he has completely left behind everything that he was doing before. He told us about some of the temptations that he had felt during the week and satan was really trying to make him fall before his baptism but he resisited everything and was reading the Book of mormon and praying all week long. His friend Abel baptized him on Saturday and he got confirmed on Sunday along with Rubi and Lizbeth, it was really really special to see the joy that he felt from being able to wash all of his sins away. It was also special for his friend Abel becuase he is going on a mission in a couple of months so it was cool for him to participate in everything. We hardly even did anything, haha. Abel and the Book of Mormon took care of it all.

On wednesday we have a zone conference with President Treviño, it should be good, we are all pretty excited. Hes a great teaching and we have heard that he is going to introduce some new things in the mision so we can be more succesful.

So I ate something during the week that didnt sit too well with me, I think they were some Barbacoa tacos that tasted amazing but my stomach didnt think too highly with them. We were in the house half of the day on Wednesday because my stomach was just tearing me apart, haha but I feel much better now. 

Well thats about all ive got folks, hope you are all doing well, I love you all mucho!!

Mucho amor,

Elder Eastmond

Pictures: April 15, 2013

Milagros (Miracles)

Hola Familia!

We had a fantastic week! Thank you all so much for your prayers because we found more new investigators that we have found in a long time!

We had the special oportunity to baptize two girls in the primary this sunday! Lizbeth and Rubi, they both have a grandparent who is a member and the moment came for them to join the church as well. We had sooooo much help from the Lord in the teaching process with them. They both had some doubts and worries that they were shy to tell us about and it was only after lots of prayers and some creative lesson plans that we could know their doubts. Lizbeth lives with her grandmother and she was reluctent to accept baptism and we couldnt figure out why, because she absolutely loves church and primary. We finally found out that she was scared that there was going to be lots of people in the baptism service and she would get scared, haha shes really shy. But we told her that we wouldnt invite that many people and she got super excited and accepted baptism.

The other girl, Rubi, lives with her family and her grandmother gave us the reference. We went to teach her and her family, (they are all there in the picture, none of them are members...yet ;) and they really accepted us. They are soooo friendly and always treat us so well when we get there, in fact we are going to eat with them on thursday. They are all a little bit more hesitant to join the church than Rubi but they are reading the Book of Mormon and praying to know that its true, and they all came to the baptism. So we taught Rubi this week and she was all excited about her baptism until saturday, she got kinda nervous and said that she didnt want to be baptized yet, that she wanted more time. So we talked a little bit with her and invited her to come to church with us and listen to the spirit in the church to decide if she should get baptized or not this sunday. So she came and told us afterwards that she wanted a little bit more time. So we told her that was fine and that we would pass by during the week with her to teach her more.

So after church we were filling up the font and getting all the numbers from the district leaders, we finished up and headed out to pass by for Lizbeth and her grandmother. As we were leaving, Rubi and all of her family showed up... We thought they had just come to watch Lizbeth´s baptism. At the same time, Elder Espinosa and Elder Gomez showed up (because Elder Gomez was going to baptize,) and so We did divisiones and I stayed with Elder Gomez in the chapel. As we got talking to Rubi and her family, we realized that they were there for RUBI´S baptism, not only to watch Lizbeth, haha. She had decided after church that she wanted to get baptized so we filled out her member form quickly and when Elder Espinosa got back we did her interview, and they both ended up getting baptized! It was amazing! they are both really excited and we are excited for them both. Rubi is going to be a huge example to her family and we are excited to see how they all progress!

To answer some of Dads quiestions:

1) Describe the investigator that you find yourself praying for the most –what are the struggling with and what are you trying to teach them to help them?

We have an investigator named Jesús who has lived a pretty rough life. He feels really guilty for alot of the stuff that he has done so we left him with chapter 40 in Alma, that talks about when Alma repented of his sins and felt joy through the atonement of Jesus Christ. He went to church and talked to us and said that he had read the chapter and prayed, and that he wanted to join the church! I love love love the Book of Mormon. Its the best teacher.

2) What did you teach to the missionaries the last time you had a zone training?

I talked about how we can reach our potencial as missionaries, how we are children of God and God is perfect, so we have a ton of potencial. We invited all of the missionaries to work hard to constantly improve instead of being content with where they are at.

3) How often do you have Zone conferences where Pres Trevino teaches and what it one of the most important things you have learned from him?

We have a zone conference like every couple of months, we love listening to him, he is amazing. I have learned alot about obedience, how it is the base to be able to be a successful misionary. He has taught us that we should be obedient because we love the Lord and want to keep the commandments and the mission rules, instead of being obedient because someone tells us to, and that has been something that has really changed my mission.

Well, my times up, but I hope you are all doing good, thank you for the prayers and emails, I love you all sooooo much!!!

Mucho amor,

Elder Eastmond

Pictures: April 8, 2013

Obra misional

Hola familia!

We had a great week!! We enjoyed so much the General Conference that we had, it was all about missionary work and it was really fun to be able to hear all of the talks as a missionary. We only saw the first half of the first and second session on saturday because they were having internet problems, we watched the priesthood session in English, (its sooo much better to hear their actual voices, haha) and we got to see all of the talks on sunday in spanish. We had a good amount of investigators come to watch, and almost all of the recent converts went to watch, that was something really special to see. Sunday was fun becuase we got there and we were sitting in a row with five seats. We sat down and then a couple of minutes later cassandra got there and sat down by us and then alejandro and then later Maria de los angeles, so we were there with a whole row of converts and it was special to see them all be able to listen to the prophet and the apostles. 

In between sessions on saturday, we went and ate pizza, a sister gave us money, and on sunday we went to a sisters house and ate chicken. It was a fun weekend. I absolutely love Elder Nelsons talk about catching the wave, and Elder holland and President Monson in priesthood session was good too. Heck, they were all good, its really hard to pick just one. We missed the announcements saturday morning but Dad told me that they are going to build a temple in Cedar City???? is it true?? That is going to be sooo cool!! We will definietly have to go and visit!

We have been able to find some good investigators this week, thank you all for your prayers on their behalf. We are teaching a little girl named Lizbeth who lives with her grandmother who is a member inactive, they came to BOTH sessions of Conference on sunday and are really excited. They are really special and Lizbeth likes to sing himns alot so we always sing a couple when we go to teach her. We also contacted another girl named Rubi on sunday who has been to a couple of church acitivities and really likes the church. We couldnt pass by for her on Sunday becuase we got really busy with some other stuff so we called some converts to help us out and they passed by and brought Rubi, her aunt and two of her cousins! We gave them a little tour of the church afterwards and they really liked it, we are going to teach them during the week.

So we have been living in the house with Elder Espinosa and Elder Gomez, the two misionaries who are going to be here in the area. They have a house but they didnt have their beds and desks yet so they were with us this week. It was kinda crazy in the little house that we have but it was fun. There stuff got here and they are going to move into their house today. Elder Farnsworth is from Arizona, he has been a member his whole life. Hes really cool, we get along well and we have alot of great ideas to help the ward keep growing!!

I love you guys and its good to hear that you are all doing well!!! 

Mucho amor,

Elder Eastmond

Pictures: April 1, 2013

Cambios

Hola mi querida familia, como estan?

We had changes this week, its always fun and interesting to see where everybody goes. Elder Ortiz got called to be an assistent! Hes a great missionary and he will do a good job in the offices. Elder Perez is going to Tuxtepec with a diferent companion, and Im staying here. My new companion will be Elder Farnsworth, Im really excited because he was in my district in the MTC and we get along really good. Hes a hard worker and we are gonna have a fun time together. He will be only my 3rd american companion in all my mission, haha. Elder Ortiz left yesterday and so Elder Perez and I worked alone together yesterday, and I already felt kinda weird only being with one other missionary. Elder Perez will feel really weird because he has been in a threesome his entire misikon, even when he was in Guatemala. 

Another thing that will be affected by the transfers will be the area here in Magisterio. Two more missionaries are going to come to work here with us, we arent dividing the area or anything we are just going to share it, because there are alot of members and the ward is so big. We looked for a house for the misionaries this week and found a good place to live, we went in the morning today to clean it up a little. Im really excited becuase one of the missionaries coming to the ward is Elder Espinosa! He was my first companion in Cordoba so it will be fun to have him in the ward, he is going to train a new missionary. 

Alan and Cassandra got confirmed this week. Alan bought a tie and a white shirt to wear to church this past week and they were super excited to get confirmed. Their mom came to church again for their confirmation and says that she has been reading all of the pamphlets that we have left them. We are going to visit her today to invite her to be baptized. I think that she wants to, but she is living with her boyfriend and they arent married, so we will have to find a solucion to that. we are hoping to have a wedding this week, haha we will se what happens. 

We have been looking for new ways to get references from the members. (you have to get pretty creative sometimes) but we have been visiting them and singing himns, and while we sing we ask them to write down names on a piece of paper. It has worked pretty good, but then again, with my voice that sounds like josh groban we can get anyone to give us references...haha mom quit laughing. We would really appreciate some special prayers this week that we can find people who are looking and searching for the gospel. We are working hard to find new investigators and will apreciate all of your prayers!! Thanks!

This saturday was fun because the stake did an activity with the youth where a lot of the youth went to other wards to work with the missionaries. So I left to work with two young men and two others went with Elder Ortiz and Elder Perez. We visited a ton of people and it was really fun, the youth were just about dead when we got done with them haha I know that when we get set apart as misionaries, the spirit gives us alot of extra strength and energy to be able to work really hard without getting too tired. There are actually alot of promises in Doctirne and covenants that talks about that, Im really grateful for that. 

I loved all of the pictures from the easter egg hunt. The basement looks amazing!! John and devin look pretty good too, haha!

I hope you all enjoyed easter. Im grateful for all that Christ did for us, its something that we will never be able to understand fully in this life but I feel that little by little I understand a little bit more every day about my savior and I know that i will never be the same person because of what im experiencing and doing here in my mission.

I love you all so much and hope you have an amazing week! The pictures are from an acitivity that we did with the ward on friday, we had a family home evening organized by the new converts, it was great!! 

Mucho amor, 

Elder Eastmond

Pictures March 25, 2013

More ward missionaries

Que hubo familia!!

Another great week come and gone! We were pretty busy this week, we had a ton of baptism interviews to do, the zone is working soooo hard and we are seeing lot of sucess and miracles here in Reforma. Our new companion is named Elder Perez. He is from Guatemala and was there for 3 months working as a misionary waiting for his visa, and it got here two weeks before the change, so we are going to be with him for one more week. Hes really cool, hes kinda quiet (actually, pretty much all of the new misionaries are like that, haha) but when he does talk he always says somthing funny. He already loves the area and we all get along good, and he says that he is going to miss us and miss the area when he has to leave. His whole family are members, he was born in the covenant. Its hard to teach in a trio sometimes but we do practices in the morning and now we have a pretty good system down. He didnt have a very good trainer in Guatemala, his trainer wasnt very obedient and didnt ever study or pracitce wiht elder Perez, so we are trying to help him alot with what we can in this short time period. 

So big news!! We think that they are going to send sisters her in the ward. Not to replace us but to share the area. Its happening with all of the big wards right now and the asistents just told us that we have to look for a new house today for the missionaries who get here in a week. Right now there are about 210 people coming to church every week, and with more misionaries in the area the ward is going to grow even more! were really excited!

We had a couple of baptisms this week, it was fun for Elder Perez to get here and right off the bat have a couple of baptisms. On thursday we baptized Jorge. He is a young man who lives with his aunt and his cousins, (all are memebers) and has talked with the misionaries a ton, but has never wanted to join the church. When we went to teach him, for some reason he decided that it was time and decided to be baptized. It was great, in his baptism his family was all soooo happy that he had finally joined the chruch, and he got confirmed on sunday. Showed up with his white shirt and tie like he had been a member his whole life!

On sunday after church we had two more baptism, two siblings named Alan (14 yrs old) and Cassandra (17 yrs). They were references from an ex misionary in another stake, who is going to school with their mom. We absolutely LOVE them!! They are as fun as can be and everytime we go to see them they just have us laughing and laughing. Usually we have members in the ward baptized but they told us that they wanted us to baptized them. They are so fun and from the start have been so willing to make changes in their lives and join the church. Their mom was just happy as could be and we are going to work a little bit more with her this week so she can follow the example of her kids. She supports her kids getting baptized 100 percent just that we havent been able to teach her as much becasue she works alot!

We are loving life here, we just get back to the house as tired as can be every night but its a good feeling! Glad to here that everything at home is going good!! I love you guys and hope that you have a great week!

Mucho amor, 

Elder Eastmond