May 20, 2013

Hola todos, ¿que tal? THis week was crazy. Tuesday were the transfers. so i am now as a solo assistant in chalco, until the other one gets here from the other mission in a month. My comp is Elder Hernandez, he's from tamaulipas. He's still learning a lot of things, but a good guy. This weekend they called a new stake presidency in our ward. Elder Anderson came to re-organize the stake presidency, president came too. It was a pretty cool weekend. Learned a lot of things. Elder Anderson while talking asked a little ten year old to come up and answer some questions. The little kid answered them as well as the missionaries. Then Elder Anderson asked him how often they have family home evenings in his home. HE said every week, family prayer every day, etc. Elder Anderson then talked about antoher time he had asked a little boy the same questions, but who had said, I don't know, i don't know... AFter a while Elder Anderson asked him, and who taught you all of that? The little boy said, "my dad". The parents make suchy a big difference. And then he said, a good father is a father that hopes that his kids don't learn anything in church that he hasn't learned in his home first." And that we need to help them have the habit of being in church every week, even if they scream in the meetings, etc. he actually talked about an experience in a meeting where a mom was taking her screaming child out, and the guy says, "you don't need to take him out, he isn't bothering me." The mom then answered to the general authority, "he may not be bothering you, but you are obviously bothering him." I thought that was funny. But it really showed the importance of always teaching your kids at home and always bringing them to church on sunday. And today, Elder Hallstrom, and Elder Johnson came to the mission and talked to us all. It was sweet. He answered questions too. Definitely a very powerful weekend. Love you all, Elder West

May 6, 2013
Esta semana estuvo bien chido. Me gusta trabajar con Elder Tovar. El unico desefio será ayudarle a que no muera. Una semana le queda!!! We definitely had a great week. Alejandra got baptized!!! And her sister is getting baptize this week!!!!! The baptism was awesome. My comp played the guitar, I sang with the ward mission leader, the member/friend shared a small talk and everyone was crying, it was great. She (Alejandra) was so excited for her baptism. She has a sister who really wanted to get baptized too, single mother, and really great, but she had a problem with question 4 in the interview. she started crying and talking about the guilt she's been carrying, and after we explained the atonement, she said, "knowing what God has done for me, it makes me want to do everything i can to serve him and be obedient." It was awesome. it will be an awesome one to finish the mission with for my comp. And the Familia Alvarez (Gabriela, Gabriel, and Gabriela junior, but she prefers Alondra) is also getting baptized this week!!! It is going to be great finish for my comp. And i will be going to another ward to be in a trio with the other two assistants. One of the three, we still don't know which, will be opening the new mission (Chalco!!!) most likely it will be me, because i know the area, and the zones that will be in that mission really well, and the other two almost not at all. But we'll leave it to the Lord. I'm really excited for this week. Elder Tovar's last week, but we are really excited. Love you all, Elder West

 Whole mission with Elder Cook

 Peter's first day in Mexico

Peter with less-active tarantula

April29, 2013

Hola todos, esta semana estuvo chido. y no me juzguen por mi jerga chilango/mexicano. Mi compañero está tratando de dejar su jerga de aquí porque se van a burlar un buen de él en su casa cuando regrese... de hecho, se va en dos semanas. que extraño... Hey family and everyone, this week was really cool. We had a family we were about to drop, but we brought them to a tour of the church on tuesday where they met a ton of members, and got there just in time for the choir practice. Several awesome members went and sat by them, explained how to read the music a bit, helped them out, and we left them there with the members. The next day we taught them with a recent convert (vicky) and another member who was the friend who gave us the reference of vicky, and they got so excited, decided they can beat their smoking and other problems, and now have baptismal dates for this saturday. Members make the difference. I love members. It has been really cool to see the change in them. the 23 year old daughter is a single mother and has been really depressed for a long time. When we got there it looked pretty bad, but just living the gospel, reading daily, etc. she is now really happy. I haven't seen her without a huge smile in the last week, and we went by every day. In part for reading. We've been realizing more and more how important it is that investigators, members, and converts are reading the book of mormon every day. It applies to all of us! If we stop doing it, we start to los everything. Life becomes less full of good things without us noticing, we begin to have doubts, and that just makes us even less happy. My grandpa told me, "Believe your beliefs and doubt your doubts, because if you believe your doubts and doubt your beliefs, you don't have anything." I liked that. I also like Ether 12:4.  4 Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with ^asurety ^bhope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which ^chope cometh of ^dfaith, maketh an ^eanchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in ^fgood works, being led to ^gglorify God. Those that believe in God might with a surety hope for a better world. This is what makes us steadfast and abounding in good works, and this is what makes us happy even in the worst of times. I know that if we do the little things, if we are really reading the BoM every day, really praying to God to communicate with him, going to church, the temple, etc. We will be happy! Sadness and challenges will last only moments, and God will make them light. No matter how deep in we get, there is always a  way out, and it is a simple one. The gospel. Even in the moments where we seem like nothing, like we are alone, remember that "to God, you are everything," and he wants you to be happy. And if God wants it, all that lacks is our own effort to live his gospel Love you All, Elder West 

April 22, 2013
So one lovely Sunday night we were in the offices reporting with the zone leaders and suddenly I felt like i was getting car sick or something. I looked up and the pictures were moving. I look over and my companion jumps up and yells earthquake. I guess it's probably amplified the feeling when you're on the top floor, but we all ran outside (don't judge our lack of protocall, we did go to the doorframe first...) All of the other buildings around us emptied. turns out we just were in a 6.25 magnitude earthquake on the richter scale, while in the middle of the 2nd or 3rd largest city in the world. And officially the first earthquake i've ever really felt. But don't worry. We're all good (or i guess we're all "well"). And Elder Quiñones is a bit traumatized. turns out it isn't quite as pleasant to be the guy in the bathroom when a 6.25 magnitude earthquake hits. The rest of us thought it was pretty funny. The epicenter wasn't too far either. so that was fun... this week has been crazy. Visiting other zones, training the new missionaries (which is actually really stressful because you have to do everything perfectly) but cool, and several miracles. We had the baptism of Jonathan, a guy who has been going to church in DF, but lives in Chalco and now is coming to church here. He was a former investigator from people a year ago. No effort is wasted. My companion completed 2 years in the mission this saturday. He officially has served 2 years. And he baptized that day. And the funny part was that he forgot to bring an extra shirt. 2 years of experience and still forgetting the shirt. We had some fun with that. There are going to be a lot of major changes in the mission these next few months. There are now going to be sisters that have leadership possisions to help other sisters, and we are getting everything ready for the new mission. And my companion and i have to get everything (calendar, trainings, meetings, etc) for the next months to the new mission president. I'm really enjoying the work. A lot more than ever, but enjoying it a lot. hope you all are well, Love Elder West             p.s. yo creo misioneros se vuelven más locos lo más que se acerca dos años... ejemplo:Elder Tovar. ¡les amo!


April 15, 2013
Hola todos, this week was crazy. Definitely a lot of trials. We were on splits the entire week, so i still feel like i haven't had more than just temporary companions for 4 weeks, but it does help people get going. This week we had a family of 4 that were awesome. They were another one of those contacts that i just felt like i had to say something, and they told us we were the answers to their prayers. It was awesome. But Satan was also working pretty hard this week. First off, someone sold them a falty gas tank, which blew up in their house. Luckily no one was hurt, but the fireman told them they had to be out of the house for 8 days... So we haven't been able to see them since. And it gets tougher because they are now staying with their super catholic family that is apparently telling them the usual lies and rumors about mormons. But we're still working on things. We also had an awesome familiy contact us in the street, but they couldn't come to church, and we can't really set an appointment because their dad/grandpa's heart is failing, and they are just waiting with him in the hospital. There are always trials when we try to do something good. Satan wants everything but that, but the good news is, God knows everything, and if we really just humble ourselves and follow him, he will lead us out andn over. The trick is the humbling part. I feel like pride is the biggest obstacle we have in life, and we put it there ourselves... But that's what service is for, right? the "weapon against pride". General Conference also really helps. Keep studying it, the prophet really is guided by God, really tells us what to do to be happy. Love you all. Cuidense, Elder West

April 8, 2013

Holah todos, i forgot to mention the semana santa (Holy Week, the week before easter). Everyone goes crazy. They reenact everything about the last week of Christ's ministry, and add a lot of other things. For example, saturday is called saturday of Glory, and it means everyone needs to get wet. In pools or simply because everyone jst throws buckets of water on anyone who isn't soaked already. Luckily we managed to escape... There are a ton of traditions. And EVERYONE is with on vacation visiting family near by, or just "on vacation" and ignore the world. And we had transfers.... Most of the mission had transfers, and everything was pretty crazy. Most crazy of all: I am the new assistant to the President. I have never felt so humbled or inadequate in my life, but I'm not  going to lie, General conference helped a ton. The pressure definitely goes up, now responsable for a mission instead of a zone, and it didn't go so hot this week for the mission. But I am really excited to be around president more, to learn a ton, and to help a new president open a new mission!!! It is almost gaurenteed that i will be the assitant in the new mission, Mexico City Chalco! I am so excited. It is going to be a ton of work, i am just seeing the tip of the ice berg. And P-day no longer exists. But I am really excited. I really love how we can always get answers to our questions, any question, in general conference. It rocks. I am also pretty excited to be able to go get the new missionaries from the airport, mtc, and the new mtc they are opening here, that was the church's school. It is going to be a ton of work, which we're already seeing a bit, we don't have much time to sleep or eat, but I guess God just helps us out. So far so good. Also going to have less time to email, and it will be early monday mornings. My companion is Elder Tovar, he's 24, from Bogota Columbia, and he teaches really well. Happy Birthday Lucy!!! Les amo, Elder West

April 1, 2013
hola todos, this week was crazy. again. my companion was in our area a total of 8 hours this week. I was with Elder Vasquez from monday to thursday. Elder Pleites and Scott from thursday to friday, and Elder Tovar (the asistant to the president) from friday to sunday afternoon. It was crazy. My companion only knows one of our investigators that we are currently teaching, and doesn't even know her very well. This week Lizeth got baptized! I taught her with four different missionaries, and she asked us to change her baptismal date from next saturday to this last saturday. President said to do it, and she got baptized on Saturday (and no, my companion was not present in her baptism or confirmation...)! She is going to go to the temple with the ward this week and is really excited. During her baptism we had to wait a bit because the water had become too hot (never had that problem before), not helped by the sun, so we had to sing hymns while we poured in cold water. During this time a little boy was hanging on the soccer goal outside, fell and cut his head, was bleeding a ton, and all of the adults were just watching him and saying"he is going to die!" that was a fun one... luckily Elder Whitehead and i actually did something (both of us were lifeguards, so at least we know a tiny bit). The kids shirt was pretty soaked in blood, and we got his head bandaged up and managed to stop the bleeding. The only thing that really scared us was blood loss, there was a ton (we gave him a gatorade, all we could find), and also that he might go into shock, made worse by everyone telling him he was going to die. But in the end we got him to the hospital. During this whole time Elder Tovar just played a guitar and sang hymns. Finally we were able to have the baptism, and Lizeth was really happy. Her whole family and extended family came. And elder Tovar came to church with me, and officially knows our investigators better than my comp. We had an awesome contact. Elder Vasquez and i were walking when we passed a lady buying fruits and vegetables in the street, we kept walking... After a street and a half, i just turned around and started walking back. Luckily Elder Vasquez already knows i`m crazy, so he just followed. I told him we have to contact that lady. We did. It was awesome. We taught her nad her family saturday night, the mom said she had been praying God would send her someone, the daughter who is married has been feeling an emptiness and thinks we can fill it, and the husband really loves what we teach. The other son is 5. It was awesome. THey came to church and are really excited. On top of all of this we have transfers this week. Made even more fun by the fact they keep changin them on us. The new assistants of the Mexico Chalco mission, the new one they are going to open, are coming to our ward, and taking my area.... Last night they called me to give us the transfers, and said first, Elder Medina has transfers. Then they said, i messed up. Elder WEst has transfers and needs to bring his suitcases (meaning i would be leaving the zone), and then today called again to tell me that my comp and i both have transfers and neither should bring their suitcases (meaning we are staying in the zone). I am confused out of my mind. THis whole new mission thing has taken all predictability out of the transfers. I'll let you know what happens next week. Love you all. Elder Wes

Some more pictures

3/25/2013

Hola todos. Otra vez, no hay tiempo. This week was rediculous. And i have no idea how to spell that.... but we did splits like 5 times this week, the zone did pretty well, pressure is building a lot with these transfers that are coming, i will probably stay in the mission chalco. We tought two awesome people this week, they came to church, and are really excited. and the mom really wants her son to listen. It was awesome. Love you all! Elder West

3/18//2013

Hola todos, esta semana fue lleno de esperanza, estrés, decepción, y otra vez esperanza. This week was crazy. First off, last week we had a sister in our zone with appendicitis, which was fun... her two comps had to sleep on benches in the hospital, and it wasn't exactly top quality... we ended up bringing them food because they hadn't eaten, and we brought them deserts and things. They definitely earned a lot of respect from me. Didn't complain once. The assistants came to our zone on tuesday to get the zone excited and to chastise a bit. We had a rough week. This week we had the baptism of Yazmin. She is the one that had the dream about the baptismal font and getting confirmed, which was awesome. ANd it was cold that day. Rainy and windy. The cool part was the volcanos have snow now... Snow in Mexico! just way higher up. So i went with Elder Whitehead on splits and we really were just lookiung for miracles. There was nothing in the zone and the assitants were already planching us a ton, and the only people with someone to baptize in the zone was my comp and I. I called a companionship in an area i had been in on splits a lot before they changed the district leader, and asked about a guy i knew. He's been going to church, and has a testimony, and obeys the commandments, so i asked them to baptize him this week. We now were up to two. Still bad enough the assistants would murder us. But i told a couple people not to baptize some people this week because they didn't think they were ready, and i failed two people in their interviews while i was with Elder Whitehead. We really are trying to keep only converted people the ones that get baptized. Which is why it was such a miracle when i went with Elder Whitehead. We ate with a family whose husband hadn't been baptized, and i decided i would invite him to be baptized. he obeys the commandments, goes to church, etc, so i said, "WE have your baptismal service prepared for today at 7pm (this was at 3pm) and I am here to do your interview." At first he said, I'm not ready, but after i told him about the interview questions he decided he was ready. He had a testimony of Joseph Smith and the book of Mormon too, so he just lacked the decision and desire to be baptized, but at the end of the interview he was really excited to be baptized, and three and a half hours later, he was baptized. His wife was so excited, she had been a member 3 years, and he had always just told the missionaries no, that he wasn't ready, etc. And he got confirmed this week and is apparently really excited. IT really was a complete miracle. The rest of the zone's baptisms fell, so we still felt like we were condemning ourselves a lot, we had 18 who could've been baptized. And only 3 weren't because of agency. THe rest were because of family health problems or deaths, and we are sure that isn't just because God doesn't want us to baptize. We started asking and found a lot of obedience problems, and are going to have to get better at that if we want to meet our goal of 20 this week, which would be beating the record. Elder Cook came to our mission on saturday!!! It was awesome. He answered very directly in his talk almost all of the questions i had brought. And apparently there are now 5 or 6 apostles assigning missionary calls now instead of 2. Go missionary work. And he talked about a lot of new people coming. Of putting the example, etc. Apostles talk with so much power, it was incredible. As he left, he "invoked" a lot of blessing on us, and it felt so strong. We left feeling like nothing could stop us. It was awesome. Apostles really are special witnesses of Christ. And he talked about when he recieved the call to be an apostle how he had just cried at first because he felt inadequate, but how he then realized his first responsibility was to testify of Christ,and he said, i knew i could do that. It was so powerful. Love you All. Elder West

3/11/2013

Hola todos. Well this week was awesome and really tough at the same time. The ward mission leader from my last ward works as a taxi driver here (a fairly decent job actually) and I ran in to him this week. he told me about all of my converts. They are doing awesome. Active, callings, plus some less active families we activated are really doing well. The family that hadn't gone in twelve years is now teaching gospel principles and in teh relief society, others are ward missionaries, etc. It made we way happy to here they are active and excited. That was definitely great. It was a bit tough because pressure is building a lot. President wants this mission to be ready for the new one, and that means more than double the output (double the missions...) It's tough when we still don't have more missionaries (actually less because of the annual december to april visa delay problems due to vacations in teh government every december and new laws this year). But the thing is, we really can do it. We have come so close to having the 15 baptisms a week that we need, but then we have two weeks where we collapse again, and this happened to be the first of two of those... But The good news is God has blessed my comp and I and i think we are going to be able to spare the zone with a couple of miracles. A lady contacted us, has a lot of problems, and wants to change. She actually asked us how long she had to wait to get baptized and how long to get confirmed. It was sweet. Also saw the baptismal font in a dream. So no complaints here. God loves us. Overall it has been a good week, lots of work, but I wouldn't have it any other way (John5:17) I hope that scripture is the same in english as it is in spanish. We also had an awesome zone activity today. We got subway (we found one!) and played kickball. Felt a bit like kindergarten again, but it was great. And it was finally something we found that the sisters could do too. Con amor, Elder West. 

March 4, 2013

Hola todos, ésta semana nos fue bien. We had a crazy week again. Meetings with President on wednesday and friday killed a lot of time, but we learned a lot. It is probable i will be in the Chalco mission, the new one and it is official july first. Though by may we will know where we will be.There are going to be a lot of changes in the mission, i am really excited. Not a ton of time because we have to get a calendar and a report ready, but this week rocked. Yesterday we had the baptism of Montse, Eric, and Itzel, which was sweet. THey are awesome people that we contacted two and a half weeks ago, a super inspired contact, it feels great when God tells you directly who to talk to. ANd the baptismal service was done by less actives and recent converts (talks, prayers, testimonies, etc.). It was one of the best we've had, and the ward was really excited. The work is going well here, and there is a lot to do. Love you all! Elder West

February 25, 2013

¡Hola todos! 58 nuevas misiones... nunca en la historia del mundo ha existido mejor tiempo de ser misionero. So las week we received an anouncement that left us all in shock. Our mission will be dividing. The mission mexico city southeast will still exist, but even though it has been a mission for less than two years, it will already be dividing. We have no idea which mission we will be in. Presidente morales will be in the southeast mission still, but a new mission president will come to the mission Chalco. My zone is the zone Chalco, and now it will be the center of a new mission. We are guessing that my last three areas are part of the mexico chalco mission, but we aren't sure yet, we haven't been told what the boundaries will be. THough i do know the new mission offices are about ten minutes from where i live. But who knows where we will be. That was a really awesome announcement to get from president, and a really fun one to give to the zone. WE are all really excited. Who knows what will happen. If anyone finds out any exact dates of when, or what the boundaries will be, etc. I would love to hear. But for right now we just need to work harder than ever. We are opening a new mission!!! We also had two hectic weddings this weeks. I got here, found out someone who has been in church hasn't been able to get baptized even though she really wants to. Her kids are members, but she can't because she hasn't been able to get married because of problems with papers. That is when i got there. It really helps to know the mexican marriage system. I sent them to one place for certain papers, called a judge i know, he gave us a discount and didn't need the rest of what they normally ask, and finally they got married on friday! And Veronica got baptized on saturday! Her husband has a date, but is waiting to break a few word of wisdom problems. She had been going to church alone for 6 months and was so happy to be baptized, it was such an awesome thing. The other wedding was a bit less stressful, but Guillermo (Memo) got married to a member on saturday and that same night he got baptized. He was crying after and his parents came and they now want to learn more. It has been an awesome week. WE also had transfers, which worked out for us. Most of the problems we had left, and our zone is now going to be the best in the mission. Definitely has gone a lot better than january. We are really excited. Oh, and we had an interesting experience with some people trying to break into the sisters house (probably their neighbors who sell drugs), so we had to help them get out of there and find a new safer house, but now all is well, and we just need to work like never before. Missions Rock. Love you All, Elder West

2/18/2013
Querido familia y amigos, this week i had an epiphany. I realilzed that i was starting to get frustrated really easily, starting to feel like i wasn't learning as much, etc. And i couldn't figure out why. I honestly wasn't feeling as much love for the people as i had, and even less for my companion, and having passed for that before, realized that it isn't a change in teh people. so i decided to try to figure out what the problem was with ME and not with them. I found a few. 1. Pride. it always gets in there before anything else and causes all problems. Pride is the root of all sin. I feel like i have seen that so much in the BoM and in life, but even then it creeps in sometimes if we aren't careful. Not even just pride in the sense of thinking we are fine, but i think i started to judge others and look down on them, even as i was looking down on myself. a pretty Bad way to go about things. I came to a conclusion. I was wanting mercy for myself and justice for everyone else. Things as simple as a comp losing some of my stuff, Jw's deciding not to get baptized at the last second because of one scripture they took out of context, people condeming us, lying to us, and even somthing as simple as someone eating really loud all made me just say, "whatever, God will be just". But i realized. I was constantly just begging for mercy for myself, definitely full of imperfections, but at the same time pointing the finger (in my head) and crying for justice for the rest. The moment i realized that i did something that Christ did so willingly, but that was honestly really hard for me. I started praying to God that he would forgive them, for they know not what they do. Forgive them for condeming us, they don't know the truth. Forgive them for not letting go of old beliefs, they have been taught all their lives, how can i judge them? Forgive them for eating loudly, they probably don't even realize. Forgive them for even taking my stuff, they were taught that way too unfortuantely. Forgive them for so many other things. It really completely changed my week, my perspective, and even made me feel different about myself. I feel better, happier, and with so much more love for the people and companion. It can be so hard to honestly ask and desire forgiveness for someone who just offended you in "x" manera, but it is so worth it in the end. At least i am no longer bearing the pain, even if they are. And if Christ can say, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do" even for people who were in the same act of killing him, i can at least say, "Father, forgive him" for he know not he eats loud. Love you all, Elder West 

P.s. Ximena got baptized this week! She is so awesome. Has been so excited! And we had an awesome contact. We had passed the person by five streets, but we finally decided we couldn't ignore it and went back. We taught her and her family on sunday and they are so awesome! WE are hoping to help them be baptized march third. Love you all!

  Peter with mission president.

2/11/2013

otra vez no hay tiempo, pero no me sorprende. así es la vida acá. Lo amo. So we don't have much time, I had a nice long appointment in immigration today because someone who had my visa forgot to turn in some papers and it expired, but the good news is they aren't going to deport me! This week we did a ton of open house tour things in the church with a lot of investigators and that has definitely been helping us a ton. We also had two baptisms... Sort of. They live in our area, but are going to move in two weeks to another ward close by, and we didn't feel good about baptizing in this ward if they are going there, so we just finished teaching them, they had their baptismal interviews, and the missionaries, who hadn't talked to them at all when they were going to church, met them finally in their baptism, two baptisms. I doubt anyone has worked less for a baptism... But they are incredible people. They weren't sure if they were ready yet, but after an awesome lesson with the plan of salvation we knelt down and prayed, and stayed kneeling after in silence with our eyes closed for a while, and when the husband stood up he was shaking and said he knew it was true. Dropped coffee, etc just because we said God told us to, and then we explained teh word of wisdom, but it was such an awesome experience. They are so excited to go to the temple in a year. The sad part with that was i just realized i won't be here, which makes me really sad. One of my best friends in the mission, Elder Stiborek, who works really hard, helps me out, and we just get along really well will be going home in a week, and it feels like he's just leaving us. It makes me want to take advantage of the little time i have even more. Also, i am no longer gaining weight! i think i actually lost some, there just isn't time to eat when we get back ever, so we just eat breakfast, at 2 with members, and that is it. preobably not too healthy... but such is life in Mexico. con amor Elder West

2/4/2013

Ni sé que decir... This week was quite a week. First off, the benemerito, a church high school here that is the high school equivalent of BYU is now going to be closed to open another MTC!!! The members are all pretty sad to be honest. It was an awesome school, good education, good friends, etc. I know a lot of members and converts that went there, are going there, or were hoping to go there, but at the same time. We are all very excited. Go Missionaries!!! My companion keeps saying it means Christ is coming soon. We had an all day meeting with president this week and learned so much! A lot about where we are failing, how we can improve, what we are doing well, and more doctrine. He was a seventy and really knows Doctrine and Covenants by memory. He tells us that more than anything that was what converted him first. The Lord definitely tried our faith in January, but we are going to do a lot better this month. WE have more baptismal dates for this week than we had the past month. Unfortunately not a lot planned for future weeks. The best part is that the missionaries are more excited, happy, etc. We are working a ton to try to help them all out. THis week we are going to go on splits for 48 hours with two district leaders to help them apply the new stuff, learn from them, and get them excited so that they can help out their districts. A lot going on. We found a less active family that the ward didn´t know existed, brought them to church, and their daughter and grandpa is going to get baptized! The work is going well. A ton of work, but it is worth every bit. Love you all! Elder WEst

p.s. i forgot about the superbowl until someone asked me yesterday in the night who one. Being the american i am supposed to know... Didn't even know it had happened. Never has in the world (and in the mexico city), but not of the world applied so well. 

Forgot to mention. A family was having some serious marital problems this week and called us. Two unmarried 20 year olds to come and help. The dad was about to just rent another place to sleep. I thought it was so weird that they thought the two kids could help, but the cool part was seeing that it actually worked. Today we visited them and things are going a lot better. Thanks mostly to my dad´s talk on humility from ward conference. Maybe we don't know a lot, but we know plenty of people and profets who do. ANd the spirit helps a lot too. Love you all!

1/28/2013

Esta fue la primera vez en mi misión que me han planchado por trabajar demasiado duro... Que raro... This week was a very interesting one. First of the assistents called us to go on splits with them. Also, our area changed a bit so that the members in the ward would be more evenly spread between the two companionships. Our housing contract also expired, so we took the opportunity to change houses to the center of our new area. We are now finding a ton of new investigators from the members, which rocks. WE have one who is the unmarried husband of a member that we found this week. He has come to church a lot, but couldn't get married until he gets into the military school because apparently it gets a lot harder. We taught them the restoration and after the prayer we stayed on our knees for almost ten minutes in silence. He just started crying and said he knows the gospel is true, that the book of mormon is true, and he wants to get baptized. He is going to sign the military contract and enter the school on friday, and saturday we are going to try to get them married for his baptism on sunday. We also had a cool experience with someone who got baptized a year ago and hasn't been confirmed. After his baptism his wife went to oaxaca to look for her kids, but while there her ex husband murdered her in a really gruesome way, and he hasn't come back to church or wanted to here from us since, but this week we taught him the plan of salvation, and he started crying and told us he wants to come back. We taught the plan in two parts, and after he started crying. They were two really powerful lessons. Afterword he gave me a huge hug, and asked us to come back as soon as we can. Overall it was a good week. There has been a lot of pressure because the zone hasn't come close to its goal, and because we haven't either, but overall teh work is going well. Love you all. Missions rock. and are hard. But they rock. Love Elder West

1/21/13

Otro año ha pasado. himno numero 142. One year in the mission! It's official. Didn't do much to celebrate it other than call the other missionaries in the zone to congratulate them. Not much time, we are using every second we can. I feel like time goes faster every month, and now i just need to work a lot harder and faster. We haven't had the best month as a zone or companionship, so we'll see what happens, but i guess we have to learn how to work as hard as we can in the good and the bad. I'm very excited for February. We taught an awesome guy this week who had cancer several times, surgeries, and chemotherapy, and after sharing a story about one of my previous companions (who is currently in the hospital, pray for him), the guy said, yes, this is what i want, when we asked him to be baptized. It was a really powerful lesson. We'll see if his super catholic wife who won't listen to us is willing to get married. Love you all. Elder West

My comp and I at the temple.