Changes, Death and a wedding- the circle of life in a week

It was an alright week. We have been teaching a guy named E. a lot and he is actually changing more and more every day. When we found him he was a punk without a purpose, alcohol, girls, parties, "believed in God"... but not really... We have had several really good lessons with him about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. In several of the lessons with him the Holy Ghost has helped me so much to teach, I leave our lessons learning new things - nothing is cooler on the mission than when you learn something new from your own lessons, when it happens it's a sure sign that it wasn't really you that was teaching, but the Real Teacher. After about a month of teaching him he came to a church activity with his little brother and they loved it, we learned about temples and eternal families and they told us they were for sure coming to church on sunday. We go by his house on sunday and he is standing outside his house, half and hour early, showered, shaved, in a polo shirt, and waiting for us. There is nothing better on the mission then moments like that, physical evidence that the gospel really does change people. He will be baptized in June and in the MTC by June 2016. Awe yeah.

One thing I have learned from this area is that the punks and cholos in the streets that call us names and make fun of us are actually some of the most receptive when we talk to them. This area is full of little thugs so we have to contact them or we are left without a whole lot of other options. At the start I just did it for the numbers, figuring that that was about all we would get out of it. Nope. These teenage kids between 14 to 20 have never really known a happy family nor really who is Jesus Christ and when we talk to them the Spirit really does help them to understand and to start to think about making some changes in their life. There is a neighborhood here that what I would call the ghetto of the ghetto and when we first showed up all we got were a bunch of stupid jokes or they would all just run into their houses and hide because they know that two white kids wandering around in the middle of Mexico aren't here to party....But little by little in this transfer we have actually talked to a lot of them and it is not just changing them but the attitude of the whole area. One kid said that he liked talking to us because afterward he "tiene ganas" he feels like doing something as opposed to just sitting around. We'll be seeing big changes soon.

On a sad note one of the great members of the ward Hno T. died this week. He went with us or with the other missionaries EVERY DAY, he showed up to the chapel on Sundays to clean it at 5 in the freaking morning ALONE, every week he would call the branch president to ask if there were specific assignments he needed to do that week and he always came through. He stopped going with us last week, so we called him and he told us he didn't feel good, he had a cold, so the other elders went by to give him a blessing on Saturday. He was always assigned to bring the bread of the sacrament and on his last Sunday on earth he shows up to church, he can barely walk, stumbles into the chapel and gives the bread to the priests so they can bless it. This poor man had walked like 2 miles, sicker than crap just so he could bring the bread instead of calling and asking someone else to do it. He was too sick to return home so some of the members took him to the hospital and after to his brothers house. And there he died. He didn't get the care he needed in time. He was only 54. God needed more people like him on the other side. He didn't have a wife, nor kids, nor parents, just his brother. For some people life really is hard, I thank God that He hasn't seen it necessary to put me through some of the trials that I have seen on my mission. 

Baptism Last week

But just so we don't end on a sad note a really funny thing happened this week as well. We went to a little podunk town in our area in the middle of nowhere to visit J. and his family (The drunk guy that came to church a long time ago and his family). When we get to the town it started to rain really hard so we hauled it to their house and knocked and got in quick....the house was FULL of people, packed, what the heck is going on.... turns out that I. (the return missionary that has gone AWOL, that miraculously showed up to church) was getting married.... I crashed a wedding on my mission. Haha it was uncomfortable for us for sure but I can't even imagine how I. felt. A super stressful day, raining super hard so all needed to be in the house, all of his family (mormon that don't approve of the lifestyle the he has chosen) was in the house giving his wife dirty looks, and all of his wife's family (die hard Catholics that can't understand why there is no alcohol at the wedding, "freaking mormons man..") were all jammed together, and to top it off, two soaking wet gringos show up just as a reminder of what he once was. I'm sure he thought he had died and gone to hell.... hahahaha The first, and yes my friends, the last wedding I will ever crash...