Do I have an accent?

Breaking OUT of the chapel! (They locked us in!)

luchadores

The Lopez Family

The Metro...empty!

Silvia, Susana's mom

Wow, it was good talking to you all. You all sound so different; especially Brigg and Sheldon. Do I sound different, like with an accent or anything? I hope you all got home safe and well. It was definitely a memorable Christmas. On Saturday we had the ward party started with a little show, dinner, and then they cleared the floor for the dance! Man, me and E. Roylance were going crazy we wanted to dance so much, some of our converts came up and asked Roylance to dance and he said no puedo, so we just hung out. Man these people know how to dance really good here. Every one dances salsa, and all that other stuff, regatone, they even put a swing dance towards the end, that’s when we had to grab Elder Barrera and throw him around a bit. Before the party we taught and older man, Juventino, and challenged him to get baptized. And he did. It was pretty crazy he just fits in really good in the ward. He showed up to church a couple of weeks ago cuz some members invited him and he went for like three weeks but we could never teach him, just one time. But he accepted baptism and the commandments and had a wonderful baptismal service. I’m starting to feel my time is up in this area. Changes are in 2 weeks and I’m sure I’m going. It stinks cuz I’ve really grown to love the people here in this area.

Well, I’ve only got the book of Moroni to read to finish the Book of Mormon before the end of the year. (in a few days) I’ve enjoyed it so much. I’ve gotten to the point where I love the scriptures in Spanish. They seem just a bit simpler to me. For example I was reading in English in Doctrine and Covenants the other day and could not understand a scripture so I whipped out the Spanish ones and it made sense. I’ve also been marking a lot the BoM. One theme that has been made really clear to me is the role of God and the role of Satan. It talks so much of Satan in the Book of Mormon I never really realized it before, he, like Christ, has many names, one of my favorites is the author of all sin. Like it says in Helaman 6:30And behold, it is he who is the author of all sin. And behold, he doth carry on his works of darkness and secret murder, and doth hand down their plots, and their oaths, and their covenants, and their plans of awful wickedness, from generation to generation according as he can get hold upon the hearts of the children of men. All bad things come from him! When we are fighting with someone, when we aren’t doing something right or aren’t doing something we should its cuz Satan is sticking his little fingers in our lives! And then the part in bold, he does all this stuff according to how much he gets into our hearts. I don’t know if you all have heard of this story but it’s pretty famous here. A man was going across the desert with his camel when a sand storm was coming up. The man set up his tent and the storm hit, but he was safe in the tent. But the camel pleaded with him, “just let me stick in my nose, the sand hurts so and my nose is raw and I can’t breathe.” The man told him no but the camel insisted until he finally let him stick his nose in. after a bit he pleaded again but this time for the whole head, the man gave in and so it went on little by little until half the camel was in the tent. By this time it was really crowded in the tent and the camel tried to get all the way in and shoved the man out of the tent into the storm. Well something like that. But it’s the same satan just sticks in little by little until he has taken control of us. I really liked these verses from Ether when the people began to work in their secret combinations. Ether 8:15-26 but especially 25 and 26:

25 For it cometh to pass that whoso buildeth it up seeketh to overthrow the freedom of all lands, nations, and countries; and it bringeth to pass the destruction of all people, for it is built up by the devil, who is the father of all lies; even that same liar who beguiled our first parents, yea, even that same liar who hath caused man to commit murder from the beginning; who hath hardened the hearts of men that they have murdered the prophets, and stoned them, and cast them out from the beginning.

26 Wherefore, I, Moroni, am commanded to write these things that evil may be done away, and that the time may come that Satan may have no power upon the hearts of the children of men, but that they may be persuaded to do good continually, that they may come unto the fountain of all righteousness and be saved.

Well, be careful, he’s pretty dang smart, and relentless. We’ve got the advantage with the knowledge we have but all the knowledge in the world doesn’t help if we don’t put it to us. There are only two sides Gods and the devils. God wants us to have faith and fill our lives with light. Satan wants us fearful, out of hope, and grouchy. Doubt and fear are the opposites of faith, just like darkness is the absence of light, cold the absence of heat, fear and doubt are the absence of faith. If we do things for any motive other than faith, hope and love it is through doubt and fear, and we lack faith. If we are rebellious against our leaders and parents we lack faith. If we are disobedient, we lack faith. If we aren’t completing our callings and magnifying the priesthood, we lack faith. Now, we all have need to fortify and cultivate our faith and repent. Those two principles never cease to apply to us. How do we fortify our faith, first by hearing the word of God and secondly by acting upon it, that’s the only way. You can’t run down to Wal-Mart and by a pound of faith. It doesn’t work that way.

I love you all. I’m so glad you are being blessed. Take care and let your light shine… most of all be happy, cuz that’s why we are here.

-Elder Solomon

Who are we going to baptize?

Well, I was in divisions all week. It was nice to be with my District leaders and learn more about them and instruct a little bit. We had a surprise ZL council on Wednesday, which was a bit of a let down. I thought there was gonna be some new stuff but it was a bit boring. I was also pretty sick so I didn’t want to be there, but I’m better for it!

So, this week me and Roylance were saying, “ who are we going to baptize this week!?!? “ No one has been progressing, and we have been knocking a lot of doors lately. It’s just no one will go to church, which isn’t usually a problem here. But on Saturday, there was a baptism in the chapel. We invited a few people and one family went. This family, Ricardo, Veronica, Fanny, and two little kids, David and the other one I don’t remember his name. They went to church quite a few times and we taught them lesson one but the Landlord got angry and wouldn’t let us in so we tried putting appointments in the chapel but they never showed up. So we kind of gave up on them. But, they went to the baptism and we grabbed them and taught lesson 3 (the gospel of Jesus Christ) and challenged them to baptism. Knocked out a few doubts and they said yes! They asked, “ when”, and we said, “tomorrow”! We taught the rest really fast and the next day, Sunday, I was waiting for something to go wrong but... no! Everything was perfect and smooth. (Except for the food... the hermana was all excited for us to come over and made tacos of… well looked like dog guts all mashed up and cooked in a pot. We all got sick). The service was beautiful and the room was FULL of members which always gives a good environment. The Lord Lives ands loves his servants, that I’m sure of. Well, and everyone else too. My testimony was confirmed this week that God rewards hard work and he is the one in charge.

Susana’s mom also got baptized this week, but Elder Flores and Elder Barrera were teaching her. I love Susana. Her countenance is brilliant! When she walked in to church yesterday Elder Roylance whispered to me, “she looks like a molly mormon”. I laughed cuz it is so true. What an incredible blessing it is to see the Lord’s converts progress especially when you had something to do with it.

Have fun in the snow. It’s like 60 here and I am freezing. The temperature finally dropped this week. Have a wonderful day (London’s gradutation to the next life day). Remember memories are like April flowers in the Decembers of our lives. And there is no field of flowers like the mission field. May the memory of London stir us all to get up and do something more than dream of our heavenly mansion above. Fill the world with light, that’s what she did isn’t it? Without knowing it she was following the Saviors example because that’s what He did isn’t it? I love you all; ill wait your phone call. Thanks for all your prayers and thoughts on my behalf.

-ELDER SOLOMON

The Virgin's Birthday

Today we complete 19 months! In the words of Elder Roylance “I can’t wait to go home!” This past week was a bit of a tough one. The “Virgin’s Birthday” was Saturday and so that means party and idol worshiping all week long. We had a super hard time getting any one to church cuz even the people that don’t believe in the Virgin wouldn’t pass up and opportunity for all night partying. It sounded like a war field with all the fireworks going off and the usual music loud as can be. They take their hick Banda music and crank it up, or the gay techno stuff. It’s like if your gonna keep me up all night at least put on some good stuff! So we had almost no one in the chapel which means very little chances for a baptism this week… except one old man who showed up to church and is friends with some members. We taught him lesson 1 right there in the chapel and told him. “Well baptism is the door to enter into Gods kingdom, would you be willing to follow His example getting baptized?” yup. So well see how it goes. Not much to report it was a boring week. I knocked a lot more doors than usual. I kind of don’t like doing it because I feel like I condemn them if they don’t accept. I give them so many chances with promises and testimony that they really know what they are rejecting. Oh well, that’s just part of the work.

I set a goal to read the BoM by the end of the year I’m halfway through 3 Nephi. If I stick to my 7 pages a day ill reach it. The weather here is hot. It’s not really Christmas weather.

Wow, I’m out of stuff to say. Love you all take care. Send them Christmas packages;) see you in a bit.

-ELDER SOLOMON

That's all I got

Hum, k what am I going to write about today? How about the work?

That’s all I got.

Well, with the arrival of another companionship to the area we gave them a handful of our investigators so this last week it was looking for news! We got to do a little knocking doors that I haven’t had time for and some other proselyte activities. We found a lot but not quite the “golden finds” we had been used to. But we keep at it. The new two are new kids with 3 and 5 months in the mission I feel really old compared to them with my almost 19 months. The craziness they have is pretty annoying.

Ok, well the big part of my week was a couple of pure revelations I received. We finally got the conference version of the Liahona and I started right away picking it apart. And right off the bat, Elder Scott. Awesome talk. Pretty tough on the whole pornography thing. They have to and we have to talking strong about that (the most damning influence on earth). Cuz its bad, here it is on every corner and in every home. But the first part of his talk is what helped me a lot. He talked about how to receive revelation and receive the most out of it. I found some steps. 1, create the environment 2, receive the impressions 3, write them down 4, revise the writing to see if all is correct 5, find personal application 6, pray to receive a confirmation of the received impressions 7, ask “is there more I need to know?” Well, I got to try it out. Lately we received the challenge to have every companionship baptize every week. An intimidating challenge to say the least. Well I had my resistances and didn’t want to think about it, but I humbled myself and decided to look for the Lord’s will. I sat down Saturday night to write up a plan and… boom the impressions started. Ideas, I wrote them down as fast as I could then remembered Elder Scotts talk and looked over it quickly and applied the steps. When I prayed a feeling of excitement came over me, then I asked “is there more?” and there was! I repeated the whole process refined the plans and asked again but this time I felt like the Lord saying “that’s enough for now” I am going to present the plan in the zone conference tomorrow. Well see how it goes!

Well, I’ve got stuff to do. Love you all so much. Study the words of the prophets. It’s incredible. If you do it, you will receive personal revelation you will find the exact answers in the exact moment that you need them, and the love of the Lord will reflect in your face. That much I promise you as a representative of Him.

-ELDER SOLOMON

I'm tired!

Wow, that looks like you guys had a great time at the cabin for Thanksgiving! I’ll tell you about my Thanksgiving in a sec. I don't recognize ANYONE!!!! In the picture where you are cleaning the highway I didn't recognize Porter, Cherish, Calvin.. and... what’s her name?!?! I forgot, Brian’s smallest kid....and everyone else. I am so out of it here. I can’t believe I only have 5 month left... its a sobering thought.

I’ve been trying to make time count cuz its running out but.. I don’t know, maybe I'm trying too hard. I work hard and am having a ton of fruits but my body isn't keeping up. I don’t know if I told you but we had to change houses, we found an ok one a little bit up a hill and planned on moving Saturday cuz the assistants were gonna bring the van to help us. But they never came so I called one sister who has a big van and she said she would help us but not till like 6 in the afternoon. I said ok and she didn't get to the house till 8:30! I asked one of the district leaders Elder Garcia and his comp to help us move we moved all the stuff fast in an hour and a half but we left it all outside while me and Elder Roylance cleaned the whole house from top to bottom. Then we started moving in the stuff. We got it all in and started organizing stuff. I got sick at about 12:30. After being in the bathroom for a while I literally collapsed on my bed and stayed there. Sunday I got the rest organized.

We didn’t have that many lessons this week and I tried to take it more easy but.. we had 8 baptisms this week and... that’s a lot of work. The first one was Esmeralda, she is an incredible lady we met a few weeks ago. She is separated from her husband and her kids live with him. She always has an awesome smile and just as happy as can be, and loves the Elders. She got baptized with Susana Luna and her son Josué. Susana went to an open house a couple weeks ago and put on the reference card that she wanted a visit but we didn’t go for about a week and half. The whole time I knew we had to go see her. When we finally got there she explained how she has been looking for something in her life like this. We filled the need and she progressed, fast. Josue is slightly mentally handicapped and full of energy. They all got baptized on Saturday. On Sunday the Marcos Family got baptized or, as you know them, Juana and her dad. The whole week we were with them. I think we passed by with them every day almost. There were a lot of doubts and indecision. We took Garcia on Saturday and he interviewed everyone (it took forever) and they all felt better. Sunday morning we passed by for them all ready! Juana said she wasn’t gonna get baptized that day (I’m assuming it was that time of the month) we gave her the look like, "you really want to try this?" and she said, "well I think I can." hahaha it was wonderful. The water went out again and we had just barely enough. Good thing they are all short. Afterwards we went to the food appointment and at about 630 I was in my pajamas in bed until 8 when a lot of Elders came over to the house to get their changes. I got to say bye to Elder Acosta over phone. It was sad to know he’s gone. He was one of my best comps but, that’s what happens. The cool part is he gets home one day after his twin brother. Me and Elder Roylance got together again. Even though we are two white guys we’ve had such success together, so they left us together. We had 19 baptisms this transfer cycle or change as we call it, which is phenomenal. I’m so grateful for the success and joy we’ve had lately. We got to 36 baptisms in the zone this month which is awesome too, but I decided I’ve got to start focusing more on the zone and help out the rest more. The two elders that are coming with us are Elder Flores and Elder Barrera both relatively new. This should be fun living all together. Well. I’ve got more to write but I am literally falling asleep over the keyboard. Please pray that I’ll have physical strength, I need it cuz I can’t slow down. Not yet. I love you all and always pray that he will bless you. I’m glad that those prayers are being answered. The gospel is true and love is the motive.

---ELDER SOLOMON

Life as usual

Ok, well, I guess I’ll respond to your questions first. Me and Roylance are legitimate companions, not just hanging around. There are changes in a week but I think well stay together. I guess we´ll see! We’ve also got more news there. We are going to receive another companionship here in this ward. It’ll be cool but the thing is that we have to change houses, and that’ll be a problem. It won’t be a problem finding another one that fits us; the problem will be getting out of the one we are in. Elder Cruz signed a one-year contract there and we have only been there 3 months. Please help us with your prayers to open the heart of the owner so he will let us change. As I was sitting down to write when Elder John Reed called... of course we talk in English! It’s a bit of a pride thing that when possible, the white guys talk in English. It’s like conserving the traditions.

Oh hey Brighton, how is that job with Jerry? I think I want it. I am focused on the work. It’s like two different lives to tell you the truth. The majority is work, work, and work. But sometimes on Monday I let myself think in other stuff… until the meeting. Congrats to Sheldon and mom, head coach, that’s pretty cool. Brigg and Sheldon I’m sure are going to tear it up in wrestling. Is Workman still there or what’s the whole deal with them? and thanksgiving… I’m hoping to sneak out to Chili’s and see some American football with an American burger in my mouth, but knowing my work ethic lately there won’t be time… Well itsounds like you all are doing awesome, keep it up.

Another 20 lesson week, but this time with one baptism. Her name is Leticia. She is a bigger lady and it took 4 tries to get the gut under the water. The good thing is everyone was laughing, so apart from not being enough water and the lights going out halfway through the baptism, the spirit was there. She was happy, and the investigators were impressed. We just had to explain that this doesn’t usually happen ;) we found her a long time ago. Her mom and son are inactive members but a really nice family. Her mom is super strong willed and bossy as all get out. But Leticia always sides with us ;) we’ve got quite a few people lined up to get wet this week. First and foremost Esmeralda, one of my favorite people in México. She always gives us a little dinner after our lessons and is just ready to go! Juana and her family are good. They are still having a super hard time accepting that the virgin of Guadalupe is idolatry. But they will is just hard for tradition and this time of year is when they really celebrate her. The work is moving forward like never.

I’m not really thinking of much to say today. I’m enjoying life. Mom you are right I have grown up. A lot. I feel like I’ve waken up and I know the more I learn the more my eyes will be opened. I just finished Alma this week. My favorite by far lately has been Alma 60. There is so much good stuff there and the way to persuasion! I love this work. I love the Lord, there is no greater work except for the one we do in our own homes. I love you all and wish you a happy Thanksgiving! Have fun at the cabin.

-ELDER SOLOMON

Stupid Dog!

Goodbye Elder Cruz!

The Jew and his stupid dog

With the family Martinez at Chili's

My english class

With Hermana Martinez

The Zone

Wow, the boys look big! [mom sent pictures of the London's birthday party hike.] All growing up. Brighton looks basically the same. Goofball with his stupid hats. Brigg’s face looks all grown up and as always “se cree mucho”. I hardly recognized Sheldon and Dad… I love you. Roylance looked at the pictures and said “your Dad is a stud!” And as always mom never sends pictures of herself… Well sounds like the football program needs a real nice makeover. It’s sad to see such a tradition drizzle away, I’m sorry that it’s your generation that suffers it Brigg. But learn what you can and don’t worry about it anyway. Soon your Friday “night lights” turn into Sunday morning meetings and losing and winning could mean the salvation of other people (and your own)… that’s a bit worrying. The good thing is that if you do all in your power you will not lose. It doesn’t depend on the o-line.

Um, about the memory drive, mom. Last week I noticed something… I have a usb drive deal that I transfer all my pictures onto. Its 4 gigs so it’s big enough to hold it all. But the beloved virus ridden Mexican computers seemed to have erased all the pictures and flixs I have ever taken. The only ones I have is from when I got to this area (2 months ago) and the ones I’ve sent home… good thing I’ve learned so much about patience and hope cuz that’s a wall puncher if not. I’ve got a Costco in the zone so we go eat every now and then on Mondays. It’s a lot of food and cheap but if you want I’ll send it home. It’s all the same. Ha I’ve got a good story about that card.

So Cruz took off. He had a goodbye party on Saturday and Sunday afternoon we took him to the offices and stayed with him. He’s a really absent minded kid and packed his suitcase like I imagine Brighton would. Shove it all in and try to shut it. We woke up at 330 to take him to the airport. The secretaries and Elder Acosta went with us. When we got there he realized that he couldn’t find his wallet. He convinced them to give him his ticket. But without identification he couldn’t get past security. We looked frantically through his messy suitcase with shirts books and garments all over the place but nothing. It wasn’t in the van and the elder that was in the office said he couldn’t find it either. Then I found his Costco card that has his face on the back. Lucky guy it worked. They let him through and he is now with his family in Tampico. It sucked coming back to sinful Molinito. Here the center is going to burn so bad. I estimate there are about 25 bars within a square mile or less. And I live in the middle of it all without fear. Fetching sinners... ok off track. Cruz was an awesome missionary. He had an intense love for everyone but that didn’t prevent him from saying things how they are. I still struggle with that but he helped me so much. I was hard to see him leave but I was happy for the guy to get on with his life.

We had an awesome week meeting the nation wide goal of 20 lessons a week. And that was with 16 new investigators. We found some pretty incredible families. First, the family Marcos. It was a reference of a girl named Juana. We went looking for the address and ended up going way down into some canyon and while looking for the house number a guy, who was cleaning his little house they put the virgin of Guadalupe and all that stuff, he asked what number are you looking for. We told him and he said, who are you looking for. We told him Juana and he said “come on in!” it was Juana’s dad. We met her mom and two little sisters. One of her little sisters Dolores, 17, has a baby. We found out that she is still living with the guy, but the weird part is that they are married! That never happens here. So they started out asking one of the typical questions. “Why does God permit so much suffering and wickedness” we answered it and shared about the Restoration. When we asked for another appointment the shouted out, “Tomorrow!” So we visited them Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday. The only big bummer is that they didn’t go to church on Sunday cuz they went out of town. On Saturday we talked about the 10 commandments. Well, actually only the first two. They got pretty hung up on the whole virgin deal. Its hard pulling out those roots that run so deep. But we applied love, encouragement, and a lot of conversion process and they half way accepted it. They are an incredible family and I pray they will progress, to the temple.

Another family we found on Saturday. It was another reference and in fact a lady that had been to church a week ago but wouldn’t give us her address cuz she said her husband would get upset and throw us out. When we saw it was her we just asked to present ourselves at the door with him. He finally came out and it was great. “Hermano, como esta!!!??, que dice? Como le ha ido” we hugged him and in those first crucial, crucial 30 seconds we got the confidence enough to get in the home. They have three kids, and he told us right away that he doesn’t really believe in God for the things he’s seen in his life. We just acted like its ok, and started teaching about prayer. After explaining, I asked him what things he could thank God for in his life and he said nothing. So I asked him just to put an example for us, and so he did. After Elder Roylance prayed he started talking about families. After a bit he asked the sister to tell us what her family means to her, and then asked the brother. With moist eyes he described the love for his family and said “I know I don’t say it enough but I love them.” The kids all looked shocked and they also began to feel it. I’m pretty sure that’s the first time out loud he has told his kids that he loves them. His teenage girl also shared her feeling and she also had moist eyes. It was a wonderful short lesson but the thing was getting in the house and gaining confidence with them. We are having a wonderful time and seeing miracles. The body isn’t keeping up as good. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday I had killerheadaches but kept pushing.

One last story, about a month and a half ago a man arrived to the chapel during a weekday and we happened to be there. Everyone looked at him weird cuz he had a beard with out a mustache and one of those little Jewish hats. Cruz immediately said to me, “yes! I wanna baptize another Jew.” We talked to him and it turned out that his wife had just been diagnosed with influenza, the swine flu deal, and he was there looking for spiritual support. So we went into a room and talked a bit and I gave him a priesthood blessing. On Sunday he showed up to church and Cruz interrogated him cuz he said he was a member with the Aaronic priesthood. He even knew his member number! He turns out to be one of the most service giving persons here. He always is cleaning and helping- something only Elders do. Yes, he is weird. With the beard and yamaka (is that how you say it?) and every week he brings more stuff. Suitcasesfull of who knows what. And a couple of weeks ago a little black dog (he ties it up outside during sacrament). Well, he even received the Melchesideck priesthood on Saturday. But before heading off to the stake center he left all his stuff, including the dog in the bishop’s office. In Cruz’s goodbye party we were going to do a little program so me and Roylance opened the office to get hymn books and we scared the dog and it took off. Out the door and out the gate into the street! We took of after it. We ran until we couldn’t run anymore (not that far) and we lost it. I started feeling sick we lost the poor guy’s best friend in the middle of Mexico City!!! After looking for like 20 minutes we returned to the chapel feeling sick to the stomach. When he returned he just laughed and said” ha-ha don’t worry. He’s trained!” sure enough he returned and was there on Sunday. Entering every chance he could into sacrament until the brother finally tied it up… hahaha retards. Everyone had a good laugh about that one.

Well, I think I’ve talked enough. This is a long letter. Please say hi to everyone for me. I love them all. I heard Jenna Stradling is engaged. She was my last hope… it looks like I’ll be opening a new area in 6 months! Oh well. God has greater plans for me. He’s that boss we should pry let him be in charge and not look for advice. If we ask him what to do that means we are going to do it 100 %. Take care, you guys are incredible. Keep on pushing. Brighton make sure you are reading Preach My Gospel. Mostly chapters, 2, 3, 4, and 6. Study the doctrine and know how to explain it in a simple and understandable way. If you want practice teach a 7 year old ;) that’s always a cool experience.

I love you all so much.

-ELDER SOLOMON

PS. WHY DID THE GIRL FALL OFF THE SWING?

CUZ SHE DIDN’T HAVE ANY ARMS!!

Mission Tour

Baptism of Luci and Liborio

Elder Roylance, Estela, Miguel, Brenda, Cruz, Vania, Rosa, Bayron, and me!

Luci and Liborio's wedding.

It’s cold here too. It feels nice but my feet get cold at night.

[Elder] Cruz is in his last week here in the mission. He has turned into a pig! I’m always cleaning up after him. [Elder] Roylance too. He has been such a great help to me in these last few weeks and a great companion. It’s gonna be hard to see him go.

It was a good work week and a bad one. There was a mission tour this week. Elder Tenorio of the Seventy was with President Fuentes and Roylance had to play piano for all three days. So we had to go drop him off on Tuesday. We went to the tour on Thursday. Friday we took Luci and her husband Liborio to get married so they could get baptized. and all the chores that accompany that. So we had a lot of time in other things; only teaching 9 lessons the whole week. But we still had 7 baptisms. On Saturday the visitor’s center came out to our chapel. They have a little portable cv they drag around and set up. They were there from 10 till 3 having 157 people go through the tour and a massive stack of refrences. It was fun. All we had to do was direct the people inside the chapel and the sisters did the rest. I’m a bit overwhelmed by the work load we now have because we have so many references in our area to check. While we were there at 11 we had the baptism of Estela, Mighuel angel, Brenda, Rosa Rangel and Vania. Estela is the sister of Irma and Miguel and Brenda are her kids. Pedro, the dad is still working there, but wants to get on the right path. Alcoholism is hard to get over. Rosa is one of the most special people I’ve ever taught. She was a hard core Christian but was offended pretty bad and so she left there. My first week in this area she and her kids Vania and Bayron went to our English classes. They left their reference and we started visiting them. She always had a lot of questions and never seemed to believe us. But she read. She read every pamphlet and booklet we have and started the Book of Mormon. About 2 weeks ago she was in Alma 7. After a long thorough investigation she finally decided and knew what she should do. It was my pleasure to baptize her. Things went great on Saturday.

Not quite as well on Sunday. There is a custom here that family members just randomly show up at houses and that means all else is put on hold. So while Estela and them were leaving, some in laws showed up and they didn’t make it for their confirmation. Rosa and Vania showed up though. And we had the baptism of Luci and Liborio after the services, but I was running around in such an impatient rage. Sacrament meeting here is a joke. There is no reverence in the ward and one guy got mad at me for hushing his wild kid while [Elder] Roylance was struggling with another. I talked with the brother afterwards but parenting is under attack. The new excuse is “that’s just how he his, I can’t do anything about it.” Dang right! Smiling at him while he drives the Daytona 500 from one end of the tile wall to another isn’t going to do a thing… ohhhh… it’s ok… patience Elder! Luci and Liborio are awesome. Luci has kids in Yucatan that have entered the temple. It is just that she got caught up on the whole plural marriage deal. We fixed that good and she got married and ready. She basically told us. “here are my papers to get married, baptize me on Sundday and put an appointment in one year for my sealing” Liborio looks like a scary guy with the big ol mustache and is all muscly but he is a really simple, honest man. I gave them one of the new Bibles I had bought a while back and signed it. A lot of success, but the big worry is the low retention rate here. [Elder] Cruz calls this ward a bucket with holes in it… it’s a tough situation.

The tour was sweet. Elder Tenorio talked about a lot of things. Its all in my journal. I’ll try and send some thoughts later, I just cant get my thoughts organized right now. It’s Monday. The part I really remember right now is the part of Prayer. He showed a way to get more blessings and more specific blessings; plan it out, and tell the Lord just what is going to happen, what his part is and plea for him to do specific things. Like the servant of Abraham when he went looking for a wife for Isaac. Read that chapter and I’ll explain more later.

Love you all.

Love you all take care, you are in my prayers.

Elder Roylance has a little sister that is turning 11 on Friday, just like mine.

-ELDER SOLOMON

Baile de nachos

WELL, HEY THATS AWESOME ABOUT SHELDON. WAY TO GO BUD!! EACH YEAR AND EACH HOLIDAY YOU GUYS ARE MORE AND MORE PARTY POOPERS. BUT IT’S ALL GOOD. THE PEOPLE DOWN HERE ARE REALLY WEIRD. HALOWEEN IS SEEN AS SUCH AN EVIL DEVIL WORSHIPPING HOLIDAY. WE TRIED TO HAVE A HALOWEEN DANCE BUT… it was SHOT DOWN. SO CRUZ CHANGED IT TO THE “NACHO” (REDNECK) DANCE. AND THEY ALLOWED IT, (BUT DIDN’T SUPPORT IT AS ALWAYS). IT GOT RAINED OUT AND ONLY ABOUT 15 PEOPLE WENT ANYWAY..,

THE WEEK STARTED OUT AWESOME. WE WERE TEACHING A LOT BUT Thursday we had a plumbing problem in the house with all the pipes clogged up and the neighbors as well, so we were in the house for about 4 hours doing nothing. I had bought the Mexican version of Monopoly a few days before and so we played that. Then Friday it rained so much. We spent about 3 hours keeping dry and then had to get ready for the dance. Saturday we had to go all the way to the temple so Roylance could practice a special musical number. Wasted a lot of time there as well. I’m pretty sick of wasting time on things that have to be done but…

Things are going good.

We have 5 people with a baptismal date for this week and there might be more. The Lord is definitely blessing me a lot. I hope he is pouring the blessings upon you all as well. You deserve it. Something I learned this week. Perfection is an invitation and a command. It’s also reachable. Maybe not in all aspects right now, but we can be perfect in something. Look for something and be perfect in it.

I love you all so much. Sorry about the lame letter. I’m a bit frustrated with dumb stuff. It happens every now and then. Take care.

-ELDER SOLOMON

Don't go chasing your fears

Hilda's baptism

My zone

Baptism day of Irma and her daughter Irasema. Brenda is there as well.

A marijuana plant

At the Temple with Elder Cruz

Jussi's baptism

Pamela's baptism

Hey, so I don’t know about the package. The secretaries are in my zone so I’ll talk to them and tell them to just pay any taxes. I’ll figure it out right now. That’s pretty sweet about Sheldon winning the meet. Great job bud. Good luck in state, just live it up. Brigg, sorry bud if you’re losing that bad and Sheldon winning like that…. you have no right to say swimmers are gay. I think he looks pretty manly in that Speedo =)! Nice car, what jealousy… that’s quite the eventful weekend there at the cabin, don’t be stupid and do things the right way. Dad as you always said, “don’t do things half a--“… doing things redneck style is doing things that way.

Mom talking about having to get rid of bad feelings for others, I was reading Miracle of Forgiveness when it mentions that someone who can’t forgive someone else isn’t worthy to partake of the sacrament… he [Spencer W. Kimball] usually goes a bit far with some things but it’s true. Jesus taught, go fix things with your brother then come follow me. (something like that, that’s how the Catholics say it anyway… hahaha such apostasy here). In fact, I had quite the lesson here this week with that. We had a companionship here in the zone that just did not want to let stupid things go. They fought like crazy and no counsel or advice would be taken. One would run from the house and leave his comp alone and it was just bitter, no respect, no love, nothing good. I felt bad because all my attention was directed to them this week and I couldn’t put much attention on the rest of the elders. On Saturday, things got worse, after talking with them for about an hour after English classes they fought again and one of them disappeared. I called the assistants and asked them to stop ignoring the problem, so finally they decided to come and after looking for the elder for a while they found him. That elder would rather go home than be with his companion. Well, we knew that little piece of information beforehand, and in fact, in the zone leader council on Thursday that was a big theme that the president talked about. Laman and Lemuel were in the same situation, they would rather die than continue on in the desert and listening to their brother and father. What a hopeless situation! Giving up is never the answer and never resolves anything. Finally, the elder was convinced to stay and they just had special changes.

Something else I really enjoyed from the council. Running from our fears is going to find them. The president told a story; see if I can translate it good. There once was a man who had an intense fear of death. He couldn’t sleep for the fear of not waking up. He never got married nor had kids because someday he would have to die. Never worked cuz that would increase the risk of death. Basically, he lived a life controlled by this fear. One day a person from the town where he lived told him there would be an old wise person near the town and maybe the wise guy could help him with his problem so he went looking. After a few days he found the old man sitting and meditating. When he ended the fearful man got near him and asked him what he could do to get away from his fear. The old man looked at him and began to tell him a story. He said ‘once there was a man with a servant and he told the servant to go get some food and materials from the market he needed, so the servant left and in the market he found the death all black hooded with his sickle [grim reaper]. The servant became so frightened he dropped all he had bought and ran to his master. He pleaded the master to let him flee to Tarsa because he had seen the death [grim reaper] and was frightened. The master told him to talk his fastest horse and he would arrive before midnight at Tarsa. He left, and the master became angered and went to the market. He found the death [grim reaper] there in the same spot and asked him why he had frightened his servant. The death replied that he had not meant to scare him, in fact, he was surprised to see him there since he was supposed to pick up the servant at midnight in Tarsa.’ “I got it!” said the man who had such a fear of death. “Running from your fears is going to find them. Thank you so much for helping me.” He turned to go away but the old man spoke again. “You have learned but from today, there will be no more tomorrows.” He turned into the death [grim reaper] and there took the fearful man.

This little story tells a good point. I’ve found usually when I’m afraid of getting a bad companion it happens; when I think someone isn’t going to show up to church it’ll happen. If you think you’ll lose you are probably right. We must live our lives as the late Elder Wirthlin said, “come what may and love it.” If we let fear in our lives there is a good chance it may control our lives. Don’t run away from your fears. Look them straight on and ask yourself some questions. Is this something really worth fearing? If it happens will it help me? Can I get over this fear? Is the worry and pressure creating more problems than the actual problem? And a lot of self exam questions. Fight your fears. We are the only ones who put limits. Remember, Satan doesn’t want to scare anyone; his key indicators aren’t how many people killed by heart attack. He wants us to worship him. And worshipping anything except the One True God is worshiping him.

We had a wonderful week in the area. When we were here there was plenty of work. It’s really weird having a white companion, and weird being in a threesome. And we are squeezed into our tiny apartment. We had three baptisms this week. One on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Maria de Jesus, friend of Sister Guadalupe who finally after 6 weeks got baptized. Hilda, sister of a recent convert Eulalia, and Pamela, 9 year old daughter of Paula a less active who has come back to church. It was wonderful having baptisms three days in a row. My favorite was on Sunday, Pamela’s. Me and Penelope, a returned sister missionary, sang the primary song I like to look for rainbows while Elder Roylance played the piano. It was a so cool I love that song and it’s very pretty in Spanish.

Well, congratulate Erin for me. And everyone else. Holy cow… babies all over the place. I decided here I want 7 but we’ll see what the senior companion says when I get married ;)

Thanks for who you are. Don’t wreck the mustang please… walk to school it’ll do you good. Oh, ya, another bit of advice from President Fuentes. A while ago he said to take a cold shower every morning cuz it fortifies the defenses and wakes you up and some other stuff. I only tried it once and every time the gas runs out. But the new advice is a spoonful of pure, raw bee’s honey. It gives all the necessary vitamins and minerals plus energy that lasts all day. Just a spoonful and then eat whatever you want. Me and Roylance have been doing it and it sure helped on Saturday. Hahaha who knows but I like the flavor. I don’t like cold showers.

Love you all so much. Take care. Mom, just send the package to the offices. I’ll leave money with the secretaries and make sure it gets through.

-ELDER SOLOMON

Ps Brighton fill those papers out ya baby.

I think she liked me

A mustang!?!? I had to drive crap always (well the jeep was cool but I’m still mad). Spencer Denham was right, your parents only start buying cool stuff when you leave like pools, cool cars... enjoy it Brighton, cuz in a few months you’ll be climbing hills, sweating, and smelling poop and mariguana all day, and I’ll be wearing your clothes in your car dating your girls hahahahaha (evil laugh). Well, I gave in today as well. I found a suit store with 70% off and bought a pretty nice one for about 65 bucks (800 pesos) and some new hush puppies (35).

It’s change time again. Luckily I’m staying with Elder Cruz. He added a month to his mission so he’ll be leaving in four weeks, and they gave me another companion. I could not believe who it is… Elder Roylance, my best friend in the mission! We were in the MTC together and have been in the same zone a few times. There will be two white guys walking around Molinito... watch out! I’m ready to really open it up this change and see what I can do.

Irma presented us to her sister and family and we are teaching them. They are an awesome family but the dad gets pretty drunk a lot but he wants to change so it’ll be possible. The absolute best is teaching a whole family. The little 8 year old girl already wants to get baptized! We are teaching another person whose sister is a member and this past week for a huge temper tantrum she (the investigator) got that facial paralysis deal. They all saw it like a huge tragedy but I was fighting back the laughs so hard! She reminded me of Brigg when he got it. Especially when we made her laugh and only half of her face worked... I was laughing so hard... inside. She has a baptismal date for this Saturday so we hope all goes well.

Um what else... hey what’s up with you guys thinking I’m a BSer?? I know I was a really different person before my mission but I really don’t even tell the half that goes on here. Obviously I’ve had good comps lately. (except Contreras, he got moved down to DL for being so lazy) but trust me, I’m giving it my all and I really feel good about what I’m doing. Not a conformist by any means. I cant tell you how many times I’ve gotten late to the house mad cuz we only had 3 lessons that day, anyway...

Oh, one more story, I had a self-esteem booster this week. We were walking down a street at about 4 pm on Friday and we walked by a big group of teenagers starting with the Cerveza, (here they sell to whoever has money, [no matter their age]). As we walked by all the girls whistled and the guys shouted stuff, but we just walked by as always, and about a half a block from there two of the guys ran up to us and started talking to us. They asked us what we do why we don’t drink and stuff like that. After like 5 minutes my comp(he is super blunt) said, “Ok, why did you really want to talk to us?” The one kid smiled and just said, “Oh she just wanted to talk to the guero (white guy)”. Sure enough a few more came up to us and we kept talking and one girl came up and started stepping softly on my foot and brushing my arm. The little greenie warning alarm went off and I stood on the other side of my comp. We left them there and kept on working but it was a little funny story for me!

Oh ya, Acosta the Argentino, is the new assistant so I’m sure well be getting along just fine. He was my comp for 3 months and we are good friends.

Stop partying too much... na, I lied keep on partying ;) love you all so much thank you for being the best family ever.

-ELDER SOLOMON

50th baptism!

You hope I’m a solid missionary? Hello,… where is the confidence? Count me down as one of the best.;) No but, I’m really giving it my all right now and trying hard. I had a land mark week this week personally in that I have now reached 50 baptisms in my mission. All of them special people with special stories.

The latest two: Irma and her daughter. I’ll tell you about in a second.

Another cool thing. Guess who plays piano in sacrament meeting? That’s right me! I only play right hand cuz I mess up a lot with right hand alone (never mind left hand too!) but its better than nothing.

The iPod don’t worry. Yes I have the old one kept away safe. I have what I need to get the job done. Go ahead and send me a book, I usually read about three at a time but… you know, it’s according to the mood. Sometimes I can’t stand seeing letters and sometimes I like it.

Well, I’ve got a nice story; remember the black Rockport shoes I set out on the mission with? Well about 6 months ago I had the soles rebuilt and this last week the new soles had worn down so much on the outside of the heel that when I walked it pushed the little nails [into my foot] more until… you guessed it. They got to the foot. I walked around a whole day with those dang things sticking in me and at night I took of my socks to find some holes in my heel and some tender skin. Good thing for calluses. So the shoes paid for that and they aren’t getting worn anymore!

We had a cool activity in the zone today. We decided to have the district meeting a bit earlier at 9 am and afterward we all played basketball, football and fried up some carne asada.

Ok, so Irma. The lady that got baptized this week. She is a really quiet lady. Small and dark, from Oaxaca. She has a little girl Irasema, 11, and a baby called Dulce. One day with my comp we were walking down a street and he said, “Hey we taught a lady here once but she saw stuff on the internet and didn’t want anything. Lets see if she’s home.” Well, he doesn’t have that good of a memory so he didn’t remember exactly which apartment it was or what her name was, but on the second try Irma came out and said that she had listened to the missionaries before. She let us in and it turned out that her husband had just died a couple weeks before. We taught her the plan of Salvation and were able to help her a lot that way, in fact I even blessed her house (the first I’ve ever done that). She continued receiving the lessons and surprised us by showing up to church that Sunday all on her own, and she even brought a family member. She accepted the baptismal date with ease and it was a beautiful service (Saturday). On Sunday she was confirmed and her daughter. Then before the talks, the Bishop asked if there were any baby blessings. I don’t know who told her too, but she just stood up and the Bishop blessed her little girl. Irma doesn’t talk a whole lot. The most I’ve ever heard her is when I filled out the new member form. But that little lady lets her acts speak a lot louder than her mouth. She is an incredible example of listening to the Lords voice and responding. She has been and will be blessed for her quiet faithful obedience.

We had the best week. We’ve all had changes in the zone this week. The change is eminent in the missionaries. Their love for the work has changed, they see it (me included) really as the work of the Lord and not just another daily job that a lot seem to see it as. The work is real but has to be seen with the spiritual eye.

Well, love you all portense bien. Take care of each other. Please send my regards to the Larsen family. My prayers will be with them. Do what you can and leave the rest to Him.

-ELDER SOLOMON

Fluent in Chilango

October 6, 2009

Ok well. I didn’t write yesterday because we changed P-day to today so we could go to the temple today. We had a good work day yesterday and I’m grateful for not slacking it that day like a lot of missionaries do. Is Calvin really 8??? I knew about Kayla (I’ve had constant contact with John Reed, good thing he’s getting lost in the mission as well;) the last I heard about Jalin was that she was getting married and that’s what she told me before I left. Someone tell her her good ol buddy hasn’t heard a thing a lot more than a year! I want to know more about missionaries who are out in the field that I never hear about. Justin Kelley, Dayton, Derek, Jon Arnett… I never hear about them I’m sure Rhonda lee keeps everyone within ears reach updated ;) here we replaced the rain with the heat again. It sucks; the heat just drains my energy and even more so climbing hills all day… I’ve been taking showers in the night for the heat and being all sweaty. Oh ya I got the dearelder package a long time ago but that’s the only one. Yes I am fluid but they talk in accents in all parts it’s really different in the North than here. I know how to talk Chilango.

The work has been good to us… in our area. We’ve had baptisms every week the past 3 weeks, the frustrating is that it’s only one every week. What a problem right?! We’ve got a good week lined up as well. The main headache in my life is the zone… the senior zone leader seems to be everyone’s enemy and they just don’t work! We have awesome areas here but all the elders have over a year and they trust that they know how to work and with finding one person they can baptize that month and they are good! But that is such apostasy and when they are told their attitude changes to “ok then I just don’t care, I’m going home soon anyway” what a frustration. A few have opened their eyes but we still need a lot of help.

Yes General Conference. The worst part was I missed the afternoon session and priesthood on Saturday cut I was working. The older I get the more I just love it and suck it up. Probably my favorite talk was the prophet’s talk on Sunday about the acts of kindness. I felt the Spirit really tenderly. Hearing things such as “my grandma was sick and I held her hand” incredible what acts of kindness really are, like he said we can all do something for somebody.” There were many themes I picked up in Conference but the main was Christ like Love and lifting up the fallen hands and strengthening the trembling knees. I believe that may be a remedy to face the economic problems. Forgetting ourselves and serving others, even in the simplest ways. What did you do for someone today? Awesome. I can’t wait to download the talks on the iPod and start the study don’t know if I told you but I’m going for another language, Portuguese. It’s so similar to Spanish that I figured it would be easy. The secretaries ordered me a book of Mormon and I’ve got other ideas. To keep the mind learning and moving…

What else… well I better get going it’s getting late and we’ve got to get to the District meeting. Take care I love you all so much.

-ELDER SOLOMON

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

Hey slackers!

Still not sure but I might need a new suit. Last night I had the opportunity to go back to the Cuautepec stake center. Fernando and Ricardo Diego got the Melquesidec priesthood and I ordained Ricardo. It was nerve wracking; I had never ordained the priesthood before. My hands were shaking like crazy. We ended at about 8:30 and it was absolutely pouring… we tried to look for a taxi to get home. The main street was a flowing river and even the big diesel busses weren’t passing. So we went back to the chapel and waited. It was getting late so we went back got on a bus just to go about a quarter mile to get on another that took us about a half mile and stopped. After a long time we got off and stopped. Crossing a little bridge the water was about four feet high… we had no idea what to do. We went to the sister missionaries’ house that was really close, but turns out they were stuck on the other side of the flood. We just sat there for a long time with no idea of what to do. We walked “upstream” up the hill where we started walking sometimes the water got up to almost the knees. Suit and everything. Then we got to the place where the busses that head to our area are and nothing… we ended up walking all the way over a freaking mountain being like 3 miles that we walked in the pouring rain. Got home at like 11 and stripped it all off. Put the fan on my clothes and they were all dry, (except my shoes) in the morning but who knows if they shrunk or something like that. At least we didn’t get sick. Or drown… we got caught in the rain a lot this week. I hope that old saying about working in the rain makes your future wife hotter…

Well after a short 6 weeks here in Santa Cecilia they are kicking me out already… I’m getting changed to an area called Molinito. Apparently it’s pretty similar to Cuautepec. Thousands of people, poorer and baptisms like crazy. Also really dangerous. I’m also getting moved up again to Zone leader senior comp with an elder who has little time left called Elder Cruz. Hope all goes well there, I’m nervous about the responsibility but am grateful Heavenly Father can trust in me.

Rain every afternoon, getting ready to stay for a long time and now I’m going oh well! Love you all. I’m growing progressing and enjoying the time that is quickly flying by. Love one another. Love can truly break any barrier. Don’t be afraid to stick up for the truth. This truly is the work of God, I know it. There is no other church on the earth designed to take us to the Celestial Kingdom and Exaltation. What other one can take you to the Terrestrial or Telestial, in fact you don’t need to do much to get to the last one. Our whole goal should be focused on exaltation. If not, well we’ve failed. London is there, will we reach her. Only depends on each and every one of us. Christ has done our part. Let us show Him our love.

Love you all, take care!

-ELDER SOLOMON

My Christmas Wish List

I knew it wasn’t my fault you weren’t getting letters! No , I don’t want a portable dvd player I’m a good missionary. It would be nice but with 10 peso pirate dvds on every corner its way too much of a temptation. I haven’t gotten any package yet. How long ago did you send it? I’ll see the secretaries today so I’ll ask them. Christmas list? I’m still in that stage of not really wanting much. Ibought the new LDS version of the Bible that finally came out in Spanish. I love it the Bible isn’t as much apostasy as before since we were using a Christian Bible, I actually read it and use it in my study! I’ve become "hungry" for learning new stuff. My last comp lent me the book "the Great Apostasy" by Talmage and I read it in about a week. and I’m reading "A Marvelous Work and a Wonder" by LeGrand Richards. I’ve already read the Miracle of Forgiveness and Jesus the Christ. I’ve got a big booklist of books i want... but... books are heavy. I’m already carrying around too much stuff. So for a Christmas list... a sweater, normal like a hoodie. Other things that are on my mind is... ok a long time I bought a 30G ipod from another missionary at a good price, but now its being lame sauce. It only works hooked into the speaker deal, so I want to take that to get fixed and... um... a new suit. a motorcycle, a toy train, an x-box with flat screen tv or a projector, legos, a vacation out of this city and a pony. deal? Oh and a girlfriend…I’m tired of being with a man all day ;)

See how close you can get.

No, look I don’t want to leave stuff here and I don’t want to pay a bunch to drag it home. Send me some baptisms and missionaries that want to work… that’s all I want.

Bad week, the zone pretty much did horribly. The whole mission is just in a huge nose dive... the culture of work has been overridden by an attitude of "the numbers don’t matter" and pure laziness. It’s such a frustration. Then I don’t want to talk bad about my leaders but every time the assistants call me its "you need to do this" and "you have to do this" if i haven’t been in the refiners fire for a long time I would be in the pits of depression right now. But tomorrow comes. We had a good leaders meeting last night searching for solutions. Today we are going to have a zone council like a roundtable to get to see what is going on from the point of view of everyone and look for solutions and what we can to. The key not is focusing on how the things can’t be done but finding a way that they can. Then we have Zone Conference on Wednesday.

It was a cloudy week, a bit depressing with low numbers in our area but we had 1 baptism and 2 confirmations with 11 investigators in sacrament meeting. Sunday always comes. its the day of refreshment, a day of delight for me. I love Sunday even though it still is work.

Oh ya, I’m now famous. I’m in the Liahona in Mexico. In the news part for an activity we did. I’ll try and steal a copy.

I love seeing your faces thanks for the pics. I love you all so much. Take care of each other. Be united.

-ELDER SOLOMON