December 30, 2013

Family

Wow! sorry about that skype time. I guess I should have practiced more before my mission so that it wouldn’t be so awkward, but eh, oh well. I guess I will just practice in the mirror until mother’s day.

Oh and just so we are clear, yeah I lost weight, I am not as fat as I used to be and my secret is well the d (diarrhea) diet. Don’t ask me what the d means you already know.

I loved talking with you all, it was great. It felt like ten minutes but I am grateful for every second. Well this last week has been pretty sweet, we had turkey for Christmas Eve and well good food all week. No body really makes tamales here for Christmas only for Halloween, but they have some weird holidays coming up and I will be sure to take pictures of all the weird things that I do and eat.

This week well, I went to walmart and bought a big bag of candy and we handed it out and contacted people in the streets on the way to our appointments on the 24th and the 25^th. We met one guy that asked us for a pamphlet and candy so we gave him both, and are still trying to teach him but he is almost never home so it is kinda hard.

We placed 7 baptismal dates these last four days and it was so great! We have been working really hard and finding new people, it is amazing and I am excited for this opportunity to work in my area for another change(transfer) but I don’t know what is gonna happen the 19^th (of January 2014) I might be leaving.

Elder Pineda got really sick this week. It has been raining all week and he got a cold. The streets are just covered in mud. haha The other elders always complain about their area until they come to ours, then they tell us “sorry”, but I don’t know what they are talking about. I needed some brown shoes to go with my brown pants so I think it is a blessing and I don’t have to polish on Sundays I just need to walk in the street before church.

We had the opportunity to give blessings to a family who had been feeling really sick the last couple of days and it was so great to see their faces when we used the priesthood authority. Their faith is so strong. I think that is something that I never really paid attention to or maybe it is because Mexicans have stronger faith- one of the two. I have been really thinking about the authority that I have to promise blessings and I have seen it in some of our investigators that have had problems with health. One of our investigators this week named Clara, asked us how we healed her from her mental sickness when we hadn’t touched her or given her a blessing. We told her that we can make promises with her and if she keeps them she will be blessed by the lord. She asked us how we have this authority when we are so young and she has been to other preachers and they couldn’t heal her. Well the truth of it all is that only in this time, this short time, do I have the opportunity to make these promises and I know God will keep them through the faith of others. It is pretty crazy and pretty awesome.

Well Love you all and happy new year!

‘til next week.

Elder Monsivais

December 23, 2013

Merry Christmas!

Well this last week has not been to exciting but it was still a lot of fun with my companion. We have been working really hard this week with our investigator, whose name is Francisco and his wife Ana. They are pretty sweet. They went to church this last week and when we followed up with them, she told us that she has never felt so good in her life than when she was in the church with us. She told us that she went to church with the TJ's or the Jehovah Witnesses and that she felt more sick, but with us she felt healed. So we are pretty excited for her. Her daughter is hilarious she just turned five; it was her birthday this last week and she had a piñata and a little fiesta and we helped her with that. A member came with us and he took a picture and she said “I wanna take a picture “ and she took like a 100 on his phone. She was hilarious and then she took some with my camera too.

We also found an investigator this week, her name is Clara. She is pretty cool. Her and her brother contacted us in the street and we have been teaching them too. They are pretty sweet. One day this week though, she offered us coca cola but we were late for our next appointment because she really likes to ask questions, so we told her “no, sorry we have to go but the next time maybe” and she got a little angry; so we accepted and she also made us eat cookies. Well, at the next visit ,she asked us why we didn't accept her offering and she asked if it was because they look poor and she chewed us out a little. We apologized a lot and drank some more coca cola and she bought us each a bottle and a package of cookies.

This week we also painted a room in the house of the councilor to the stake presidency and he also came to play basketball with us this morning. He likes it a lot and there is also another member in our ward who plays a lot so it was a lot of fun.

We had a mission activity this last week and it went well, but the other elders showed up almost an hour late and they were in charge of it. We did our best in the mean time to stall the people because the elders said they were coming. Well, a few people left and finally when they elders showed up, we started. It went well, I think, but we are going to do it every week so hopefully it gets better every week.

Well, other than that I don't think anything exciting happened. I did, however, receive a Christmas present from a family in the ward and they gave me a stuffed gorilla! It is pretty awesome.

Oh also I bought a backpack for myself. Thank you all who contributed because my other one broke haha. But thanks everyone for your help and for your prayers.

Kaytlyn, here are some names that I promised you. Francisco, Ana, Clara Lalo, Omar Santos, Miriam Flabio. Those are the names of our investigators with a baptismal date who need help. Thanks.

Love you all and can't wait to talk to you this Wednesday- some Mexican holiday -navidad (Christmas) or algo asi (something like that).

Elder Monsivais



This black dog belongs to our land lords but follows us everywhere even to the internet place haha and this is the daughter who just turned five.

December 16, 2013

Hey Family

Well this week has been pretty crazy.

Monday the transfers arrived and well, my companion left and two new elders arrived. That night I did divisions(splits) with the zone leader and stayed at his house while elders were arriving and leaving. That was a little crazy but a lot of fun.

Well I can not explain how happy I am with my new companion. It has been a lot of fun to work with him and we are working really hard and finding a lot of people in our area. It was a very interesting week because well Tuesday, I was in charge ‘cause he just got here and I had to make the plans for the day because I know the area. Well we contacted a lot, got a lot of references and contacted a lot.

Wednesday was more of the same but every day we managed to place a least one baptismal date or more with our investigators. It was a lot of fun to see how much success there is waiting in my area and I just needed to work harder and be more obedient to find it. So that was pretty much my week- teaching, contacting and receiving references,

Well then, we went one day to a member’s house to eat and she asked me if pozoli would be alright and I told her sure, pozoli is a form of menudo and it is pretty delicious. Well the last time that I ate this food it gave me a little bit of a stomach infection but I figured that since I already had that problem, that nothing would happen. Well, I was wrong. Haah. I don’t know what was wrong with it, but the next day I was sick, well using the bathroom a lot. I tell you this story not because I wanna scare mom but because right before I was going to eat the soup our district leader called me and asked us if we were alright, because he felt like something bad was happening and none of the other elders had problems and we didn’t either, but what he felt I am pretty sure, it was the pozoli! haha well we pretty much lost a day Saturday but we were still able to bring four investigators to church.

We have a family of three- fransico ana y britany and santos They all have baptismal dates and we are excited to work with them and they are pretty awesome too. We did show up a little late to sacrament, though we got there at about 12:30, because my companion did not want to do divisions because he doesn’t know the area and he was a little scared, but we still got there and our investigators some how still got to be there for the sacrament.

Well this week, I will admit, has been one of the best of my mission. We are working really hard and even though I had a sick day, which was a little sad and we only worked like 5 hours, We were still blessed by the lord and he helped us find lots of people and have a lot of success. I know that he has helped me a lot on my mission and will continue to help me every day and I know the same is true in the family. If we do our best I know that he will bless us and I want you all to know that I pray for you and I am excited to talk to you on Chirstmas, and yes mom I have lost weight especially in my face. It looks pretty scary but you would be surprised at the results of missionxalapa90x.

Love you all I hope you have a great week

Elder Monsivais

December 9, 2013

Familia (Family)

Well another week has gone by and it was a lot of fun I guess. The most exciting thing that happened this week- well I guess there were quite a few things.

Well last week we went out to the goma a little ranchito(Shantytown) called Nalua and well when we were coming back I thought why don’t we stop by the family that speaks English from Buenos Aires so we did and I invited them to an activity we had this last week called viaja a Hawaii (traveling-or going to Hawaii) and they said they would do all possible to go and then fed us a bunch of toast with jelly.... Well this family really hadn’t been progressing but with in the week before the activity I invited them to church and reminded them of the activity and they didn’t come to church. Then I invited them to the activity a couple more times in the week before and all of them showed up at the activity except for the dad and the oldest boy, because they were talking care of the shop. But they enjoyed the activity and invited me over to have enchiladas and burgers so I am gonna stop by this week and teach them some more and hopefully place a fecha (date)with all of the family.

The activity was a lot of fun. It was about the plan of salvation and we decorated a three rooms like the three realms of glory and had treats and it was a bunch of fun and we had quite of few investigators there so we, well I am hoping for a busy week this week. Well this last week we also had the Christmas conference which was a lot of fun. All of the missionaries from the north were there and we did some skits and president and his wife talked. It all was really good except my zone didn’t have a skit because the zone leaders told us that president said we could dress up as girls so one elder dressed up as a girl and we played the whole skit but the day before the conference the zone leaders were told that they could not do that and we didn’t have time to plan something else, so we didn’t do anything.

I finally got moms packages and the pictures that Maria sent with them. Thank you so much and the peanut butter m&ms were so delicious and me and my comps, unfortunately mostly my comps, already ate two bags. I love the pictures and the wash clothes, thank you so much and mom I may or may not have opened the other package that I think you told me not to and it is a music book right? haha.

We went to the Christmas devotional last night. It was required of all missionaries and it was a lot of fun. I got to see some of the other missionaries and I met the family of the 2nd counselor of the stake presidency and they are freaking hilarious. They have a bunch of little girls and this one little girl had so much attitude and the wife gave me a reference of a couple who are teachers, but are having problems in their marriage, so I hope to visit them today if my companions feel like it.

Also the other night was nino perdido(the lost child*) they celebrate it only in Tuxpan and it is when Christ was lost in Jerusalem, even though he wasn’t really lost, he was in the temple doing the work of the father and they put out candles in front of their houses and they make little cars and pull them through the street looking for the lost child Jesus. It is pretty cool and we were proselyting at this time, so we got to see a lot of it.

Well transfers came today and well I am not going anywhere haha, but my companion is, so tomorrow sometime I will receive my new companion and we will get to work. It was interesting being in a trio, but I am really excited to be back in the duo.

It has been freezing here lately. I had to ask my mom of the mission for another blanket and I sleep with shorts sweats and two sweaters it is ridiculous. Well I learned something cool this week, Tuxpan has its own tv drama that was shot here in the city. Also the lives of Mexicans are just like the tv dramas, they are based on real stories I think, because well my companion always has drama and the members of the ward sometimes have drama but I feel like I am in a Spanish soap opera, its pretty funny sometimes.

Well other than that my comp wanted to sing a musical number in church so we got some of the young single adults to help us and he wanted to lead the music so he was giving everyone advice how to sing better and that they should drink milk or eat chocolate before the next day Sunday when we would sing. Well lets just say it was very very interesting ha.

Well I think that is all from the drama city of Tuxpan. Love you all and hope your Christmas seasons stays white.

Elder Monsivais

* Day of the Lost Child

December 7 is the Day of the Lost Child (el día del niño perdido), a religious tradition whose origins can be traced to the presence of the first evangelists of the New Indies. Participants light a candle in remembrance.

The tradition is based on the biblical episode from the Gospel of Luke called Finding in the Temple, where Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem unbeknownst to his parents. When they discovered him missing, they searched for three days and found him at the Temple.

December 2, 2013

November 25, 2013

Hey family,

Thanks for your letters, I really appreciate them and mom I still have not received your package.  It might have gotten lost in the mail somewhere, but who knows.

This week was great - it sure did fly by. We are in a trio now with Elder Perez because his father, or trainer, went for the milk and never came back. Well, something like that.

It has been a pretty calm week not much passed. We did divisions and well I was sorta like senior companion for a day because Elder Perez is a little shy in lessons. He is pretty funny outside of church and the lessons- he laughs and talks really loud and then in lessons he is very calm, quiet and when he talks I have to strain to hear him. Haha.  So he was happy to have me lead the discussions which was alright.

We didn’t have a whole lot of success this week but we are going to contact a lot this next week so that we can have a bunch of investigators at church. We had a couple Noche de hogars (FHE’s) and they went well. They were with in-actives and members and well none of the in-actives returned to church that Sunday so I don’t know what we need to do to help them. We did however find an in-active member and she wanted to return to the church, so we helped her out and she went to church. Then we found out later that she went inactive because of something that happened with the missionaries so we have to be a little careful with her.

We had some fish the other day and some shrimp the next day I haven’t had this much fish food since I left the states. I was pretty freaking excited, because I have been waiting for quite some time now.

We talked with the relief society pres. She is pretty awesome. We call her a Mama Galleta because she is pretty much our best friend and always helps us out with whatever we need. Well, she said that she is going to cook me some really good food, including mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving, so we are going to try to invite some investigators to her house this Thursday so that we can have a noche de hogar (FHE) and I can eat till I can’t walk anymore! I am pretty excited! It will almost be like Thanksgiving and home haha.

We have a pretty exciting week ahead of us. We will be traveling a lot and going to a ranch to visit a member and his family. He is a former tennis player and he said he was pro for awhile. He is from France, and lives in a random ranch town an hour from our home, so its kinda random but he is really cool.

Congrats Jake on your calling, that is awesome that you get a chance like that to serve in a position that you can help so many people. What an opportunity. I will remember you in my prayers.

I hope that everything is going well at home and congrats mom on finally fulfilling your dreams.  I hope that you loved every minute of Illinois.

Well family this week wasn’t too exciting but I hope that you are doing well. I pray for you everyday and hope the best 

With love

Elder Monsivais

Hey dad a lady came up to me the other week and I forgot to send this information her name is Hermila Monsivaishema2009atlive.com.mx I think she says she had family in monterey and that her dads name was manuel or something like that I dont know you should ask her and get some more info I think she might live here in tuxpan somewhere but she didnt have time to talk much she was late for a bus well thanks and if you could also send me some more info about the family we have in montery and names of the family because also my old stake prez served there and was asking me about it today thanks love you 

November 11, 2013

Family family family.

Well this week has been very interesting. I don’t think that I have missed English so much in my life, but I think the Lord knew that because, yeah, we found a family that just moved here from North Carolina a year ago. What is up.

We went to the goma (middle of nowhere) to find an inactive family turns out that they don’t live there anymore or they don’t want anything. It’s really hard to tell with some people. but when we were in the goma we helped a random family with their groceries and as we talked, they asked about our church and we are going to go visit them again soon.  They are pretty cool, but they pointed out a little store and said yeah everyone there knows English you can go to talk to them. Usually when people say that the people know almost nothing of English and it is very disappointing, but when we were leaving the goma I told my companion hey let’s just stop and see. THEY KNOW English! We talked to them for awhile and set up a return appointment. They are really cool and they like our message. They have the a lot of the same beliefs and principles of the church so we hope something comes of this family.  They have cars but they live forever away so it is gonna be hard, but we are excited.

Well Last week what else happened. We went back and visited old investigators Rigo and Flor but it doesn’t look like they want to get married still, so we are not sure what to do. We have met new people and are finding new families but we don’t have many progressing investigators. We are hoping that we have two or at least one baptism this next week but we will have to wait and see.

My area is really cool, we just got a new mall, so me and my companion were pretty stoked ( I guess- well not really it is really expensive so Walmart is still better). Mom you should send me a Sams card, haha, ‘cause they have sams here. Oh and Costco, they have a Costco in some of the areas.

Well this week nothing really exciting happened. I ate a lot of food- a lot of food. We have a lot of cookie mommas.  That is what they call them ‘cause they give you alot of food, so that is nice. Haha. The food here, a lot of it, is like what we have had in our house. Haha. Not much different, but then again, I don’t really have a refined pallet, which is probably good, ‘cause they don’t really..... well, the food is great, I really love it and I always eat a lot and when I am done eating I eat more.  It’s really hard to find a time to fast here because everyone wants to feed you, which hey I am not complaining.

I bought a bottle of water from a random store the other day ‘cause I was starving. Well, I didn’t think about it and downed more than half of it. Well it tasted really weird.  Turns out it was from the tap so I am hoping that I don’t get sick, but hey, hopefully I will be fine.

We went to the beach today to play soccer and football in the sand. That was a lot of fun and it was a great cloudy day and a Monday so nobody was there.  A perfect and only time for missionaries.

Well other than that, we had a baptism this Sunday!!! She is pretty cool 16 yrs old a daughter of a less active and she has a pretty strong testimony and loves to read so she had already been prepared. She always read what we had to give her. She asked me to sing a song in English at her baptism, so naturally I didn’t do it ‘cause that’s weird.

This week I gave a talk on charity in church. I didn’t know until Saturday night that we were giving talks so it went alright but my Spanish is still a struggle at times. I need to figure (out) some better way of learning.

Well, other than that happy birthday to all of those birthdays that passed and are coming. Oh and happy cumplimes(monthly mission birthday) to me. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you for all your prayers and I am a little disappointed that Maria still hasn’t told me about her boyfriend.

I love you all and hope that you are doing well. 

Se caen bien(Joshua says they use this down in Tuxpan and that is means ‘see ya later’)

Elder Monsivais

October 28, 2013

 Familia,

Well it finally happened, we had a wedding!!!! Not very exciting, but we married an older couple so that we could baptize them and their grand daughter and we did.  We had three baptisms this Sunday it was awesome. They feel great and are excited to be members of the church.  Also the grand daughter had a boyfriend so we baptized him too.  Well, we taught him two lessons but he was in the other part of our ward so the other missionaries got to finish the work, which was awesome. My companion let me baptize the older couple, which was a little bit of a challenge, but was the most amazing thing in the world.  We are excited for them and we have seen the gospel change their lives.  There is a joy in the life of the older man that, when we started teaching him, wasn’t there before. We are really really excited for them.

Well this last Monday, or maybe it was Tuesday, there was a huge storm and flooded this area right next to our house.  It rained all day.  The water in the center of the city was up to the waist; it was a pretty crazy day.

Wednesday we had our wedding and that was very not very exciting, haha, but it was great.  They are excited. 

Then after that, Thursday, we contacted this inactive who has a daughter that was never baptized so we are teaching her.  She is amazing.  She loves the church and went yesterday and saw the baptisms too.  It was awesome.  She even told one of the members that she is going to be baptized the 10 of November, which is the date we set for her so we are pretty sure it is solid.  She even prayed about the book of mormon and she loves to read it, we are psyched for her.

Friday nothing really exciting.  We had exchanges with our district leader Elder Huaman, who is on the boat with me in one of the pictures, it was pretty fun.  He is a weird guy from Peru but way funny and a great teacher.   He is very fast and straight forward when he teaches but he gets the job done and the spirit is always there. 

Saturday we had a family home evening with the inactive family we met earlier this week.  They are awesome.  They didn’t invite the family we wanted them to invite because they were not home,  but they invited three non members and their family so it worked out just as well! haha  It was a lot of fun and they are an amazing family.

Sunday was great, of course, and I am getting a lot better at Spanish which is really a great blessing cause now I can talk to members,  even if I make a lot of mistakes they are starting to like me I think.

Today is really hot.  We played some soccer, I played the piano a little, and we got our changes in our district.  Only one elder is leaving, one of the white ones, so I am a little disappointed cause now I only have one white person to talk to, but that is pretty much it.

The work is going.  We have a lot more to do but I think that this week should be a good one for us but who (knows).

Man, I know karma is real Elder Rojas is the biggest bugger I have ever met in my life. I guess that’s what I get though.

Thank you all for your emails and your prayers, I appreciate them all. I pray for you and hope the best for you all.  Oh and happy birthday Jen and thanks Jake for mentioning it in your email. I mean...I remembered all on my own! Haha, and happy day of the dead.

Elder Monsivais 

October 21, 2013 Questions/Answers

1.    What was the best thing that happened this past week?

This week we had a stake conference with Elder Valenzuela and had some baptisms, but not our companionship. The same Elder Valenzuela that spoke also spoke in general conference and served in the area just north of our mission in Cerro Azul. 

2.    How is your personal scripture study and prayers? 

Personal scripture study and prayer is my life now haha. I love to read and I am trying to finish the bom(Book of Mormon) in spanish and so far I am in 2 nefi, so we will see how that goes. Prayers are a stress relief haha. It’s like I talk to the lord about it and it all goes away. Prayer is very, very important to me.
 

3.  Do your iPods work and are you already sick of the music on them? 

haha well I don’t really know what’s on them, so I could use a list, but no they are great I just wish I knew what all is on them.
 
4. What have you been learning in life and in the gospel? 

I am starting to realize how important the gospel is to me and how hard life can be. Elder Valenzuela said this the other day, a mission will give you around 20 years of experience in a normal life, in just two years, so needless to say, yeah I am learning a lot every day

5.  Did you have a favorite conference talk? 

Favorite conference talk I really liked Elder Holland.  The mission is hard and my ‘father’ or ‘trainers last son’ went home with a stress and depression problem, so I know that it is an issue and I need to help others if I can. Also Elder Edward, the black guy, he was great, ‘never look back just look forward’ (haha, the whole time I was thinking of the monkey from lion king haha) and Elder Uchtdorf  ‘doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith’ and ‘it isn’t how long you stay up but how many times you get back up’. wow. haha

6. What is one funny/crazy story from this past week?

Well this last week haha, oh boy I went to Xalapa and I got my visa and everything is good. I get back and we had three investigators to baptize this last Sunday and conference. Grandparents and their grand daughter. Turns out they are not married haha they are like 70 so we got everything ready this last week and we are getting them married this Wednesday and then baptizing them Sunday.  My first three, so hopefully everything goes well haha.  They are some of the coolest people I have met. Also we met this awesome in-active family the other night.  We are trying to bring more members back to the church and it has been amazing.  This family literally told us their house is our house and they are truly thankful that we found them.  They are pretty awesome too. we had some good laughs.
By the way if you could send the family news letters to my email and any other things you want me to see because I am only allowed this website because it’s a rule of the mission but I think it is for the best, but I do want to hear about the family. thanks  

October 21, 2013

Well this week was very interesting I am finally legal as of this Monday so that is good I don't need to hide from the cops. Well actually they never did anything anyway. 

I got back from Xalapa late Tuesday night to find that my companion taught the law of chastity to our old couple who we thought would have no problem with it. Well they are not married. Haha. So this week we were running around finding all of the papers that we needed and everything so we can get them married this Wednesday. Well it looks like its gonna happen. 

Then we have been contacting a lot of members this week mostly the inactives. And getting references and that has been awesome. We met a sister last night who was very nice we taught her the importance of commandments like going to church reading and praying and we are going back to have a noche de hogar to try to help her and her family. It was awesome.

Then we went to another family that we had talked to their dad earlier and he didn't really seem like he wanted  to talk to us so we were worried but we went anyway and it was literally one of the coolest things. We started by just talking, introducing ourselves, laughing and we asked him to tell us a little about him his wife his two daughters and he did. Then he told us that their house is our house and the door is always open to us and then told us to leave. Haha only cause my companion is a fan of the wrong futbol team. Haha. But after that we had a great lesson with the family. It was awesome. A great family.

Well all of it went well this week we had conference with Elder Valenzuela and it was awesome and he told us that a mission is very important and that we will get 20 years of experience from it. They talked a lot about the importance of missionary work to the members. It was awesome. Then he talked about how important the youth are. It was an awesome conference. We had some baptisms last week but not me and Elder Rojas. But we had four investigators at church! 

Well this week has been very interesting we had an Elder disappear. Well actually he left. It was pretty sad. He told his companion he was going to shower after they had companionship prayer because he was hot. So his companion said ok and then fell asleep. Well, the Elder packed up his stuff and left at about 2 in the morning. It was a little tough but we prayed for him and we hope that he is doing good. He is at his house now. That was probably the craziest thing that happened this week.

This morning we played some basketball. Yeah, I don't wanna brag but they were impressed. Haha. One elder asked me where I learned all that and then called me Elder Jordan. Haha. I feel great playing against Mexicans!
Haha, don't worry there were some white guys too. 

Thank you all for your emails this week I am going to try  to reply to lots of them right now but no worries all is going great in Mexico. I love you all and I am grateful for all that you do for me.

Elder Monsivais.

p.s. the other pictures is of my companions pants he has been getting a little chubby lately haha