Final thoughts...

We can't believe it, but we're going to pick up Tyler today. We just want to thank all of you for loving and supporting him during his mission and throughout his life. We're so proud of the young man that he is and how hard he has worked to help people find this gospel. It has been a joy to watch his testimony and his love for the people of Mexico grow. 

He will be speaking in Sacrament Meeting on December 29th at 2:50 pm (we have Sacrament Meeting last). 

Love,

Becky and Mark

Pictures: Dec. 9, 2013

Last Letter

I cannot believe it. I´m so excited to see you all on thursday!!!! You might have to dethaw me in the microwave before I can give you all a hug!  I have tried so hard to not think too much about it so I would be focused, (it´s not over till it´s over) but I kinda gave in this week and I know it´s time. I´m so pumped, haha I can´t even tell you guys, I just get a smile on my face thinking about it. 

We had a great last week! Rosa got baptized!!! I can´t express what a blessing it is to be able to baptized her the last week of my mission. She has been excited all week long, she never really had any big challenges or obstacles that came out of nowhere to knock her of course. The service was really neat because the Elders who are in the ward with us had 3 baptisms, so we did all of them together after church, and the majority of the members stayed to watch. But I have to tell you about what happended in Rosa´s baptism, haha. She´s obviously really old (73) so I felt like we might have some problems with the actual baptism. Older people tend to panic a little more when you go to dunk them, haha. So first of all the water was freezing cold, so when she got it I was worried that she was going to have a heart attack right there in the water. When she got in, I said the prayer, and when I said amen she didn´t plug her nose. So I told her to plug it and she did, but then when I baptized her I think she got kinda scared and she took her hand off her nose and took a big breath right as she was going underwater. I pulled her out and she was coughing and everything, she had taken in alot of water, and to make things worse her legs came out from under her and she started to slip. As I tried to catch her, my feet also started to slip out from under me and I almost fell, but luckily I got my footing and caught her, and just kinda helped her relax and start to take deep breaths and everything. Wow. Afterwards she asked us all "did that scare you guys??" haha I laughed and told her that I would think she would be the one to be scared, she just laughed and said "Oh no I´m fine! But you all looked really scared!" haha it was funny. One that I will always remember. 

I have alot of mixed feelings about finishing the mission. like 90% of me is excited, grateful, happy, but the other little bit is a little bit nervous and I know that I will miss alot of things about being a missionary, more than anything the amazing people here in Veracruz. It will be a change but I know that the next chapter is going to start and that there is a time and a place for everything. What a blessing and a sacred oportunity it has been to serve a mission. I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ live, and that they have a perfect plan for each one of us. I have no doubt that we belong to the true church, and that we have everything we need to be happy in this life and to obtain the exaltation in the next life. I love the scriptures, I know that the Book of Mormon is the most perfect and inspired book, and I am so very greatful for prayer. I know that Heavenly Father hears us and wants to bless us so much, all we need to do is obey his will and share the gospel with those who dont have it. I love this gospel so much and I will never be the same after everything I have seen and experienced in these two years. Thank you for all of your support. You guys have no idea how much your letters and prayers have strengthened me and helped lift me up when I have been down. I cant wait to see you all and thank you all in person for being the best family I could possibly have! Hasta el jueves familia!! Les amo muchísimo!!!

Mucho amor, 

Elder Eastmond

One more letter!!

He's almost home and we can hardly stand it. I am counting letters we have left because when I count days it goes too slow. Everyone should come home in December (although he's gonna freeze)!!

Becky

Pictures

Casi, casi

Hola fam!

It´s getting so close! I can hardly believe it!!! It´s feels so weird to know that this is my last full week working in the field. I cant really explain how I feel, there are alot of emotions, but I cant describe how excited I am to see you all again! It´s going to be a really fun christmas this year!!

I´m kinda nervous for the weather, hahaha not gonna lie! It was really hot today and I was enjoying it so much, we went and played Volleyball with the two zones here and everyone had a really good time. Afterwards we went to the place that has the classic memelas that are so big and delicious. I feel like when I get home I´m going to just dry out like a little prune and then freeze over, haha it´s going to be a hard adjustment from the beautiful weather here. 

This week we got to baptized Andrea! I sent the picture in the other email, there were quite a few members that went and there was a sweet spirit in the baptismal service. Before Andrea left the room with Elder Conklin to be baptized, she just started crying because she was so happy. She has been going to church for like 4 months now but she finally made the decision to join the church, it has been a blessing to get to know her and a privlege to see her get baptized.   

We tried to work more with norma´s parents but they just aren´t quite ready to support Norma yet. They want her to get baptized but they aren´t doing much to help her. We invited them again to church and norma´s mom said that she would go, but she ended up working instead. We are going to try and get the members more involved so that the parents can return before she gets baptized.

The best thing that happened this week is that we put a baptismal date this week with an investigator named Rosa, shes 80 years old, her daughter and grandaughter are members and she has been going to church for a while but hasn´t wanted to join the church yet. But we had a great lesson with her the other day and we are getting her ready for  her baptism this sunday! She has been really fun to teach, she has felt really good in church and is determined to make a change in her life so that she can follow Christ. Pray for her so that she can overcome whatever challenge that might come her way!!

This week we are going to the temple and we have the christmas conference. We are excited and I´m glad I get to go before I leave!

Well, I´m out of time, but I love you all so much and cant wait to see you in two weeks! 

Mucho amor,

Elder Eastmond

"I will check really good..."

Hey familia! 

Sniff, sniff... what´s that...it smells like turkey. Haha are you all excited for thanksgiving? We actually already celebrated it here. There is a senior couple serving here in the tuxtlas, The Holman´s and they were kind enough to prepare for the two zones here a huge thanskgiving dinner last thursday. We ate turkey, mashed potatoes, ham, pie, brownies, stuffing, (and they had to throw in some tortillas and refried beans, haha) and wow it was soooo good. I ate alot of mashed potatoes. We had a fun time and it was fun to have a classic dinner with all that stuff. We are greatful that hte holmans did all that for us. 

So we weren`t able to baptized Norma this week. Everything was going well, her parents were excited and she was learning alot, she passed her interview on saturday and her parents signed her cedula and were going to go to church. Then we went on sunday morning to make sure that they were getting ready for church and everything, and when we got there the dad said that he needed to talk to us. Long story short, he was putting alot of excuses about work and said that Norma didn`t feel ready (even though we asked her right there and she told us straight up that she was excited for the baptism. So we asked her dad if there was something wrong or if he had doubts about her getting baptized, but he said no. So they said they would be there at church but they never showed up, we went to the house afterwards and the parents were working in their store downtown and norma was there with her cousin. We asked her if her dad had said anything the night before about her baptism and she said that he said she wasnt ready yet and that she didnt know enough about God to be baptized...Its ok though we took it as a sign that we need to work even closer with the parents so that they can be ready to support Norma and go to church with her when she finally does get baptized.

This week we have a baptism of an hermana named Andrea who has been going to church for like 4 months but hadnt wanted to get baptized yet. This saturday is her birthday and she wants to be baptized on her birthday, haha so we are really excited about that. She is basically a member already just without the baptism part, haha shes really neat. 

Elder Egbert and Elder Lopez came to the Tuxtlas to do divisions with us on friday. We learned a ton from them and elder Lopez gave us some really good ideas to help the zone and we are going to apply them all this weeks and she how everything works out. 

Thanks for your prayers! We found a couple of new investigators who came to church, they are really good and we are going to visit them all this week. One of them is a lady named Gabriela who was listening to the missionaries before and almost got baptized, she couldn´t but we are going to help her join the church, her son is already a less active member and he came yesterday!

So really quick, I will get home December 12th. It sounds so weird saying that... Haha I go from veracruz to houston, from houston to denver, and from denver to salt lake, I´m scheduled to get there at like 5:00 in the afternoon, I will check really good and let you guys know more details next week! I´m going to miss the mission a lot...but at the same time I can´t even say how excited I am to see all of you! I love you so much and hope you have a happy thanksgiving!

Mucho amor, 

Elder Eastmond