Life is good. God is good.

Pure miracles man. I kid you not. We had a ton of lessons again this week, but the difference is that we had a ton of members come with us in the lessons and that really does make all the difference. The area is changing so much every day, we have so many investigators and the area is so big that we literally don't have time to visit everybody, so we have to have divisions with members and I love it. I have never had so much success in my whole mission. The chapel was full on Sunday with investigators, less actives, and others that we and the members had visited throughout the week. The Lord has poured out His Spirit so much in this area and we are achieving miracles and goals that I haven't seen for the past 20 months. The last 4 months of my mission are gonna be the best ones, the refiners fire of 20 months of adversity has done its job and I'm finally ready to be an instrument in the hands of God. 

2 stories I want to share.

1 we have been teaching a girl and her brother for like 2 months and they have come to church for the whole time but haven't been baptized because their mom is catholic and doesn't like us.... ni modo. We have tried to teach the mom too but she is never home when she says shes gonna be there so its been hard. But on Saturday we got to their house and the mom was home, whenever we drop by and happen to find her she tells us that shes too busy and quickly leaves, but this time, as she was getting ready for work she called her kids, had us all sit down with her and she said, I want to hear too. What?! haha so we taught her a good lesson about the Gospel, she felt the Spirit, and she came to church with her kids yesterday. I couldn't believe it. Not only did she come to church but she stayed for the full 3 hours. Not only did she stay the full three hours but afterward she told me that we had to come and visit her again next week. She really is completely different. Miracle. 

2 The sister that I baptized the first time I was here Y. went inactive for problems with her family and with some member of the church. We went to visit her this week and taught her a lesson, she told us she knows the church is true and that she would come to church again. She came. And after church me and Bro C. went to visit her and her husband. Get this I went with one of my converts to visit and strengthen another one, and I'm not gonna lie Bro C. knows how to teach the gospel man, he taught a really good lesson, his testimony is super strong, I was gonna cry, the man God gave me to baptize a year and a half ago is a Spiritual giant. And not just that but the husband of Y. has changed a lot too, he is ready to come to church and the next time were gonna put a baptismal date. 

God has given me a unique experience in the mission, getting to see the progress of converts really is an amazing experience. 

Life is good. God is good. 

Missionary Work, Miracles and Sealing a family for eternity

Ha ha good week, I don't really know what to write about, when you hit 18 months you've hit the point where the routine of the mission is just the way you live, so the days, and weeks, and months, all kinda mix together. Every day we find new people, every day brings it's challenges and it's miracles, and every day you get better. 

This week has been another good one. Right now the focus of the whole mission is work with members - nothing brings more results but it is also the hardest form of missionary work. Here in Mexico all responsible male adults work from 7 in the morning until around 8 or 9 at night, all day, every day. So its a challenge to get time for them to help us out, but were movin' along.

We have a couple investigators that are progressing really well. C. is gonna get married and baptized this month, We had several families in church this week but the story of the week is with a lady named D. and her husband. He lost his job and she works part time, they have a lil' girl and a lot of money problems. They are both looking for work but Diana rejected a job offer because she would have to work on Sundays. That was a miracle in and of itself, but I caught her paying her tithing..... it was sooo cool! 

Family C. is gonna be sealed in October, and this week I'm gonna ask president for his permission to go with them this week. pray hard. 

That's about it.

Elder Roberts

“Tithing is the great equitable law, for no matter how rich or poor we are, all of us pay the same one-tenth of our increase annually (see D&C 119:4), and all of us receive blessings so great ‘that there shall not be room enough to receive [them]’ (Malachi 3:10).”

—Robert D. Hales

“Becoming Provident Providers Temporally and Spiritually,” Ensign, May 2009, 9

"The things that endure, the things that are real, the things that are important are those things represented in the temple of God."

—Ezra Taft Benson, "Chapter 13: Priceless Blessings of the House of the Lord"

The Sealing ordinance links families eternally

Sealing Room in the Temple

Working hard and the power of the restoration

Woo this week was AWESOME! haha I've never hit the ground running like I'm doing here. I have the experience, I have the confidence, what I lack right now is time, 4 months and yeah, that's the game, gotta win it! 

This week we taught a TON and found a TON of people, I have never taught so many lessons nor contacted so many people in my whole mission, haha I thought I was tired before but when I get home at night I feel like I'm gonna die, so we go to sleep and like magic the next morning I'm up and ready to go again! The Lord has given me a lot of strength and energy in this area and I'm taking advantage.

We are teaching a lady named C. and her daughter, they will both be baptized at the end of this month, we also are teaching about 5 other families that are hearing the message of the restoration of the gospel for the first time in their lives and they are changing. The restoration really does change the way people think about religion, about themselves, and about God, I love teaching the lesson of the Restoration because the Spirit is always present and it changes people in a really profound way, I don't really know how to explain it, but you can see that as they begin to understand how to church was organized by Christ, rejected, and restored they really do receive more of the Spirit and the atmosphere of their home changes. It's awesome!

I'm working hard, I'm doing good, pray that I can work this hard for 4 more months, haha.

How much I have grown

I really have been given a huge opportunity in returning to Bosque.  We have a lot of investigators that actually want to progress, they come to church, they read their Book of Mormon, they pray, oh man I love it here. Haha Madero was deader than a door nail and it was taking me with him, so glad to be here again. 

By far the coolest thing about being here again is seeing my converts, S. got married in the temple in June and goes to institute and all that good stuff, Her mom also got baptized after I left and is progressing really well. Y. was assigned to teach a class in church, got scared and hasn't come back to church since hahahaha so we gotta work with her a lil more...

But by far the coolest thing was to see Family C. El hermano is president of the elders quorum and yesterday he was assigning and testifying and doing all kinds of stuff in priesthood class. His wife is the president of the primary and the two youngest daughters just got back from EFY. They are all attending a temple prep class and will be sealed in September. I really can't tell you how grateful I am to God for sending me here again, I get a unique experience to see the progress of converts I had a year ago and get to see how much they have grown, and really how much I have too. We have a lot of member support and I'm feeling 100% the last 4 months of my mission are gonna be the best. 

Wooh. 

Back to the beginning

I had transfers and you are not going to believe where I got sent. Bosque 1 Gomez Palacio. I might finish my mission where I started it.... no lo puedo creer (i can't believe it).... 

Family C. is going to be sealed in September and S. got married in the temple about a month ago.... I can't wait to see them again. 

I really don't know what else to write, I feel really weird. 

Missionary Moment: The Fruits of Our Labors

https://www.lds.org/church/news/missionary-moment-the-fruits-of-our-labors?lang=eng&query=fruits+of+missionary+work

Do anything to receive the blessings of the gospel

This week was actually a really good one we had lots of really good lessons and I'm feeling good! We did a lot of contacting this week (like we do every week haha) and we found a couple of good investigators. We found a family of four that seemed really interested in our message and we will be going back to visit them this week, so I'll letcha know.

We taught F. (the policeman that I wrote about last week) and his wife again this week and had a couple of members come with us. We taught them about the Restoration, the Spirit was strong and they accepted a Book of Mormon and they will be coming to church next week (didn't come to church this week because the wife is in a University and had to take her final exam) and we will be seeing them again. After the lesson the members that came with us left the lesson really happy and told us that they felt the Spirit really strong, they will be coming with us again! Oh yeah!

The week ended with us teaching an investigator named I. We found him about 2 months ago and wasn't really all that interested, told us he went to a different church, he was never home other than on Thursdays, so we could only visit him once a week, and yeah not really all that interested. We went over to his house yesterday to talk to him and see if he had read the Book of Mormon we had given him, he hadn't but he was very different. He is having a lot of problems in his family right now and told us that he needs Gods help, I don't really remember everything we said, but it was one of the most powerful lessons I have had as a missionary. We talked about the Book of Mormon, about the need of the restoration, and about the importance of the family. We prayed with him and he cried and told us he would do anything to have the blessings we talked about, so boom, he told us we could visit him every other day, he will be coming to church, and accepted a baptismal date in August. It was awesome. 

I'm doing good.

Elder Roberts

The Spirit helps us endure hard things

Nobody came to church again this week, woooh... hahah naw it's alright, after 19 months if they don't show up it's not gonna ruin my life. 19 months, so old...so old....

It was actually a really good week, we taught some good lessons and we also gave a priesthood blessing to a little girl that is very sick. She has epilepsy or something, she has seizures and is always twitching and her body is so exhausted by the attacks that she can't walk by herself. It was hard, it is hard, to see little kids that have to suffer like this, I can only imagine how hard it is for their Heavenly Father to have to see them suffer in a life of trials and probation.

 We taught a lesson to her mom (inactive member) and aunt (investigator) and she just sat there in the lesson, her face very sad, and tired, and serious. Shes is 6 and has had to mature fast to be able to deal with her problems. We had a very spiritual lesson about the plan of salvation and then gave the little girl a blessing. It was probably the most spiritual and special priesthood blessing I have given on my mission. The spirit was super strong afterward, the mom was crying and everybody else was very solemn and reverent.

Nothing compares with the Spirit. I love the Spirit. It doesn't matter where you are, or what trials you have in life, if you have the Spirit you will be at peace and will be happy. One of my heroes Elder Packer died this week and if there was one thing that he always spoke about it was the power, the importance, and the mercy of the Spirit.

 We also met a really cool family this week. We taught them about the importance of the family and they both started to tell us how much they want and need God in their lives because they are going through a lot of problems as a family. The husband is a policeman, and policemen in Mexico have to deal with the worst of the worst, so it's hard for him to have a family life and the professional life that he has to deal with every day. It was a really good lesson and afterward they fed us, first lesson and BOOM food, golden investigators.