Pictures May 25, 2013

It's soooooo hot!

Hola Familia!!

It rained for the first time in a while this morning! It was coming down pretty hard but now its looking a little better outside. We are happy because its a little bit cooler today, this week the sun just killed us, it was sooooo hot!

I´m going to answer some of the questions from mom.

1. Are you still working with the new elders or are they long gone to their new areas?

The new elders are in their areas working hard, but we still ask them how they are and everything to check up on them.

2. Have you had any funny experiences this week?

We had a battle with a couple of kids yesterday....haha we went to an acitivity in the ward to teach one of our investigators, a ten year old boy named Angel. He was playing around with three boys and they were getting pretty rough. So we were trying to separate Angel from the other kids so we could teach him and we had to finally escape to another room and lock the door because the kids wanted to do karate on us. So we locked ourselves in the room and they were there pounding on the door the whole time to try to get in.

Also just spending more time with President and his wife is always a hoot. They are hilarious and I just love being around them, they are teaching me a ton and Im grateful for the time I get to spend with them. 

3. What's the grossest thing you've stepped on in your mission?

The grossest thing that íve stepped on?? haha good question... Lots and lots of dog poop (not that exciting...) and one time i ALMOST stepped on a dead dog that had its head chopped off by a train...but i saw it in time and we just took some pictures

4. What's the most unpleasant thing you've eaten?

Easy. It would be the mondongo (cow stomach) that I ate in the tuxtlas. Never again will I try cow stomach...

5. What was your favorite teaching moment with an investigator this week?

 We found a new investigator named Lilia who is really really prepared to listen to the discussions. She was a reference from a sister in the ward. We taught her the plan of salvation with the sister that gave us the reference and the spirit was soooo strong. Lilia is praying a lot to be able to get an answer from God, she has been searching for the true church for a long time and it was a very special lesson. She is going to come to church with us tommorrow!

I hope that dad is doing good this week, I will be praying alot and Im glad that it was nothing serious. We are going to have two baptisms tommorrow after church! We are going to baptize the kid that I told you about, Angel. His familiy is inactive but they have started coming to church again and he is super excited and already has a bunch of friends in the primary. We are also going to baptized Alondra. She is a single mom and is 24, she was a reference from a lady in the ward and has so much faith, you wouldn´t believe it. She got an answer super quick and has felt happy and excited ever since to get baptized. She has never been apart of any religion but knows that this is true so we are really excited for her!

Well, it has been a good week. Hot, but good. We are keeping busy and always apreciate your prayers for our investigators!! I love you all a ton and hope you are doing good!!!

Mucho amor, 

Elder Eastmond

Pictures: May 18, 2013

The scoop at the office

Que dice familia?

Wow this week has been really really different! We have been pretty busy with the transfers, the new missionaries, and with the investigators in the area. I´m going to start off by answering some questions from mom before I forget, haha. 

1. What are some of the things you've done this week in the office?

This week we have gone to the airport to greet the new missionaries and to send two missionaries home who finished their missions. We gave a bunch of capacitations to the new missionaries, took down all the key indicators from the missionaries (contacts, lessons taught, baptisms, etc.) asked for the baptism dates on thursday, and a bunch of other little errands that president has us do. We also got to eat serveral times in the mission house with president and his wife, it has been fun to get to know them a little more.

2. What time do you get to proselyte? Is it different each day depending on your duties or do you go out at the same time?

We usually are in the office all morning, and then we go eat lunch in the area at 2 and start working at 3:00. But sometimes we are busy with something and so we leave  the offices a little bit later. this week we left late alot because it was the first week of the change and we have to worry about the new missionaries and all of the changes that happen in the mission. On tuesdays we are always going to travel to a zone and visit the district/zone classes, and then we do divisions the whole day with missionaries who are struggling or need help with the area. 

3. Why is your P-day now on Saturday instead of Monday?

P-Day is on saturday because that is when alot of people get work off, so there isnt alot to do here in the offices. But on mondays, we have to talk to lots of people, businesses, and we get alot of calls and people who communicate with us so we switch the P-day to saturday so we are in the offices on monday.

4. What's the scariest thing you had to do this week?

I havent really had to do anything scary...giving the capacitations and everything is something that I love to do... I dunno, I think the hardest thing I have had to do is be patient because we dont have as much time to work in the area.

5. What's the most rewarding thing you've done this week? 

The most rewarding thing has been finding a couple of great investigators, and being able to get to know and help all of the new missionaries, that was really neat. Also, the two missionaries who went home, the day before we had a devotional with them and with president, just them and us in the mission house, and it was neat to hear the testimonies of two misionaries who finished their mission with honor. Oh, I almost forgot to mention that today in the morning we went to the temple because a recent convert that we all met from córdoba is going on a mission and so she went through the temple and wanted to say hi to us. So we showed us as she was getting out, but before we saw her I got to see George and hermana Raquel!!  remember them?? They are two converts from Córdoba and they had just gotten out of the temple when we got there. They look soooo happy and Hermana Raquel had done confirmations for the first time!! I cant describe the joy I felt to be able to see them so happy and that hermana Raquel had been able to go through the temple!! That was great!

So ya thats the scoop on the offices, haha. Good stuff. As far as the area goes, we have a couple of good investigators that we just found, we visited one in the morning today and she already got an answer that the church is true!! We are going to bring them all to church tomorrow. 

It was so good to see you all on sunday! I love you guys so much and Im greatful that my Heavenly Father sent me to such a special family!! Love you guys! Have a great weekend!!

Mucho amor, 

Elder Eastmond 

Pictures: May 13, 2013

Surprise!

This is Becky again--Tyler had a little time to write afterall...Yeah!!

So I didnt think that i would have any time to write you guys, but we got a little bit of time today to write something quick. 1st of all, it was soooo good to see you all. You all look great and happy and it was great to be able to talk to you all. I´m glad that everyone is busy doing great things between callings, work, school, missions, music, etc.

   The mission is a little bit different in the offices, haha. Last night we got done doing everything with the stats for the week at like 11:00, thats definetly the latest ive ever been to bed on the mission, haha. today we went early to pick up all of the new misionaries from Mexico at the airport, that was really fun. We got like 10 new missionaries, they are all super excited and it was fun to talk to them and to get to know them a little bit. We had a capacitation with them to teach them about how we do things here in the mission, and they also had their interviews with President Treviño. Tonight we are going to get a few new missionaries from the states and then tommorrow we are going to introduce all of the greenies to their trainers, it should be fun! It has been fun to spend time with the missionaries in the offices and with president, Im going to learn a lot of great stuff here!

the pictures are from Diana´s and Victoria´s baptism, one is a picture of our Gospel principles class after we finished and the last one is of us and our Ward mission leader. He was the best ward mision leader that Ive had on the mission, he´s was great and it was fun to work with him.

Glad to here that you´re all doing good!! So good to see you, I love you all soooo much and Im greatful for your prayers and your support! I will write you all on saturday!! 

Mucho amor, 

Elder Eastmond

New P-day: Saturdays

Hello friends and family!!! We got to Skype Tyler yesterday and it was sooooo good to see him. It was even better to HEAR him because he has an incredibly thick accent going on and we made fun of him the whole time. He'd be talking along and we'd start giggling and he would stop and say, "You're laughing at me again, aren't you."

Anyhoo, he is being transferred and his P-days will now be on Saturday instead of Monday. So I will try to post his letter and pictures when it comes in this weekend. Thank you for all the wonderful support you all give to Tyler. We appreciate you so much.

Love,

Becky

Pictures: May 6, 2013

Feliz dia de la madre

Hola familia!

So we had a great week, found a bunch of new people and had a lot of investigators in church. we are excited!!

So for mothers day, Elder Farnsworth is going to talk to his family at like 5 pm on sunday so Im thinking I will skype you guys like a little bit after 6 pm, sounds good? Last time that I will skype you guys before seeing you all home...kinda crazy huh, how fast the time goes. This is actually the last week of the change, I could stay but there is a big chance that I get changed to another area. I will let you guys know what happened this sunday when we talk!

We have three people that we are preparing to be baptized this week. Diana, (Im soooo excited for her baptism, its going to be amazing) we are going to do her interview tonight. We are also working with a lady named Sylvia. She has been to church three times and just loves it. We are also working with a lady named Victoria who had talked alot to the missionaries before and we found her record in the area book. We went to visit her and found out that she really likes the church alot but she had a ton of doubts about the book of mormon. So we spent a lesson just explaining really good about the book and helping her with her doubts. She understands a lot better now, we read 1 Nefi 13 with her (Im pretty sure its 13...haha) that talks about how people took lots of plain and precious teachings and doctrine out of the bible, so the book of mormon gives us again these teachings so we have the fulness of the gospel. We left her homework now to read and really pray hard so she can feel that the book is true. Pray for the three of them so that they can receive the help and answers they need to be able to get baptized!

Last week, all 4 of us talked in church, that was really cool! I hadnt really spoken in a big big ward yet in the mission so it was really cool to be able to talk to so many people. As a missionary its the coolest oportunity to have the entire ward in front of you and being able to teach them, get them excited, and express gratitude to them for their help and support. It turned out pretty good because we coordinated the talks between us and everything, and afterwards lots of the members told us that it was well done and that they had learned alot about missionary work. 

The pictures are from a zone activity we did today. It didnt turn out as good as we wanted, we went to a wax museum but turns out like half of it was close for maintenence so we just ended up going to burger king, haha but it was a good time. 

Well, I just want you all to know that I am so grateful for this time that the Lord has given me to be a misionary. I feel so different than from when I started and I am enjoying the whole process and the ups and downs of the mission. I really have realized that Veracruz in the perfect mission for me and I have gained such a strong testimony of the atonement and of the church of Jesus Christ. I love you all soooo much and look forward to seeing you guys on sunday. Remember, a little after 6 i´ll skype you!! 

Mucho amor, 

Elder Eastmond