How do you describe a long awaited (mom was waiting and counting every day!) homecoming? Elder Solomon said "the biggest sacrifice of his mission was coming home." How wonderful that he loved it that much! Welcome home Elder. Well done, thou good and faithful servant!
OK, well I thought about it a little more and it would be cool to have everyone there when I get home off the plane so invite them all! It’ll be fun! It was great talking to you all and realizing how different I talk. Cuz of the Spanish, I talk a lot faster and thanks to forgetting English the words get all crashed up in my mouth and I stutter and try to remember the word... what a mess. I’m sure you all will have a blast listening to me.
Ok well this week I’m gonna do it right. Go out with honor. I’m gonna work for that title of unprofitable servant. In Spanish they use the word “inutil” which means like useless, I like that translation too. Lately I learned an important lesson from the three Nephites. The ward here and a lot of people I know wanted to throw a farewell party for me and I was thinking, “whatever, that’s cool”. But then in the zone leader council we were reading about Christ’s ministry here in the America’s and I read the parts about the three Nephites. All the 12 disciples were incredibly spiritual and powerful men, in fact when Christ was with them in 3 Nephi 28, he asked them what they wanted of him. Nine said that they wished to serve him to the end of their days and then speedily come to Him in His kingdom. Another important lesson is that desire. They wanted to work till the end of their days. They knew they couldn’t take a relax here in this life. We shouldn’t think that because we’ve been serving the Lord that we can take a break. We have to keep working till the end of our days. Completing a mission doesn’t mean I can take the easy road for a year or so like a lot of Elders here think. Ok, but then he turned to the other 3 asked. And it’s interesting what they did. In verse 5 it says that they sorrowed and durst not speak the thing that they desired. Surely this request they had was not a bad thing. They were not asking for anything wrong or selfish. In fact their request was very unselfish and very sacred. They must have been really humble and faithful men. They loved the Lord and desired to be His true disciples and instruments in His hands. Christ read their thoughts and told them " more blessed are ye" hmm more blessed? Why more blessed? They stuck around to see the works of God here in the earth and are still performing in their very special mission. It seems to me that their request was more of an offer than a request. More of a sacrifice than an easy way out. Look at all the things they went through: thrown in furnaces, and with lions, buried in great pits, stoned and thrown in prison etc. Not easy stuff despite their changed state. They continue to this day. The work continues but one of the most important parts for me is this. In verse 25 Mormon says that he was about to write their names but was forbidden of the Lord. Now why would the Lord forbid that? He has a reason for everything He does so what is it? Maybe it’s easier this way. Why would Mormon write down their names? In the scriptures a lot they write names for geneology but this wasn’t the case, Mormon usually didn’t worry too much about geneology unless they were prophets or chief judges. Writing their names down would be in recognition of what they did and are doing. But the humbleness and nobleness of these men is much more. They don’t need that recognition. It’s the blank face, it’s the mantle, the calling and the message not the individual person. What is the most important part here? Their glory is the glory of God and His success in the Work. I wish I could explain better these thoughts and impressions the Spirit has given me on this subject. Anyway, let us all continue in this great work. I hope we can all become worthy of that great title of unprofitable servant by at least doing what He asks of us. Take care, love you all and will see you soon... in fact Saturday.
-ELDER SOLOMON
Hey everyone, still here, late but still here. We had a fun day, finally got permission to go to the famous “centro” and check it out. We went to a huge market of artisan stuff and I bought a lot. Got most of my souvenir shopping done. But it was exhausting. In Mexico shopping means battling over the price a lot. Some times they see that you are white and hike the price up. Some of them even got mad today when they realized I speak better Spanish than they and I told them they were just trying to rip me off. Who are the racist ones? But it was fun. After that we went in the big cathedral and saw a bunch of apostasy. It is a super gloomy feeling there, nothing like a chapel or less the temple. We had some fun encounters with drunks and people are starting to get a little crazy when they learn I’m from Arizona. They say, “Oh so your a racist”. I just say practice what you preach. All my white buddies are saying Arizona is gonna start world war 3. Sounds pretty crazy over there, I just hope they don’t cancel any flights!
This last week was hard. On Wednesday and Thursday we had to return to the house so I could take a quick nap and recover energy to keep going and on Thursday I got sick. In fact I threw up at about 11 at night. To my memory, that’s the first on my mission. A half hour later we got a call from a family in the ward to go to the hospital to give a blessing... there is a R[ecent} C[onvert] family in the church that the mom and the daughter got baptized about 9 months ago but the dad was a very intelligent man and fought with the missionaries over doctrine and never really accepted a lot of things. But he was sick, had a lot of serious ills that the doctors never could really take care of. His name was Abdon and when I knew him for the first time he was bed ridden. I only saw him standing once. We always visited with him and did little passbys. On Monday I was informed that he fell in a slight coma and that they had taken him to the Ticoman Hospital. He had become a dear friend but we couldn’t get time to go see him but visited his daughter in their house Thursday. So on Thursday night when they asked us to come to the hospital even though I was sick we went. He was pretty bad, not very responsive but not in a coma. We gave him a quick blessing and his breathing slowed and he seemed more calm. We left and returned to the house to sleep. They then informed us that he passed away at about 3 am. The next day was hard because we had ZL council. The GA[general authority] didn’t show up cuz he was sick too, but it was good anyway. The next day we had a small service for Abdon with some members and took him to his burial place. I learned many many things from Abdon. I will miss him even though I knew him so little time it seemed like. I’m glad we followed those spiritual impressions to visit with him. Today even though it was p-day we visited with his wife and daughter for a while, it was peaceful and rewarding for me. It’s a good thing they have the gospel. They both are ok and calm with a hope that he will accept the gospel on the other side. I told them that he won’t escape Elder Solomon cuz there´s one over there too, not just that... but a Sister Solomon [London]! The good thing was the last people he wanted to see on his deathbed was his family and the Elders.
We are going to marry some people tomorrow so hopefully we will have some baptisms this week. To end one funny story. We were waiting with Elder Vary and his comp to do an interview one morning (him and his whole district baptized by the way) and we were sitting on a curb by a chapel and we saw a huge pile of pigeons going crazy in a group, obviously fighting over some food. There were a lot. So what is the natural reaction of a boy? Me and Elder Tuft took off towards them and they all took off... spectacular. Then we see and hear some one running towards us yelling. A crazy lady was yelling, “How could you do that?! You guys come from the church and you are scaring God’s creation!!” ...Sorry my halo kinda slipped... by the way I hate when they pull out that church crap when it has nothing to do with anything. So we sat there while she yelled some more and I gave some smart alec responses and Tuft tried to explain us out. After we walked back to Elder Vary and Elder Guttierrez they were laughing and we had a good laugh about it for a while. We then decided not to scare birds cuz if you do the pigeon guard will get ya! Anyway 11 days left... can’t believe it. Ok pray hard, see you soon!
Love you all,
-ELDER SOLOMON
Wow, [we've got] quite the plans [for when I get home]. I was hoping to get home and reelax. haha no! I'm glad Jon [Arnett] is waiting for me; I was worried about not having friends but I'll have to make them all over again. It just keeps sinking in to me little by little that I'm really going home and that this is ending. I only have 2 pdays left!! I've even had a little hard time lately going to sleep, not cuz I'm not tired but cuz I've got a million things going through my heart and mind. This last week was as normal work, I've been trying hard to keep my head out of the water but as I keep telling people, 2 years of this is hard. I fall asleep in lessons and my eyelids are always heavy. I keep telling my comp that I haven’t always been this way, that I used to have a lot of energy. We haven’t had the success desired lately in the area and the zone. I have a district that hasn’t even baptized yet! Please pray for them its Elder Vary and District Arbollilo. Poor Elder Vary; it’s his first change as a district leader and he is trying so hard but is a bit frustrated.
This week will be exciting, we have Zone Leader council which, apart from being my last, will be accompanied by President De Hoyos. The 1st counselor of the Presidency of area Mexico. That’s gonna be intense, with a General Authority up close. There are only 20 Zls, the 2 assistentes and the mission president. We'll see how it goes. Hopefully he doesn’t chew us out too bad. I'm excited to hear some sweet doctrine though.
Other than that I'm out of news. I talked on Sunday and talked of charity and a little about humility. I analyzed the verse in Moroni 7:45. It was a sweet talk and the Bishop asked me to give it 5 minutes before sacrament meeting. Now I'm worried about the homecoming. I'm sure Brighton will leave me like a half hour and I can't talk in English anymore! We'll see how it goes. Ok well that’s all I got. Take care and have a nice week. Love ya!!
-ELDER SOLOMON
What are the plans when I get home and what are we talking about on that Sunday?
Ok. So Elder Lopez finally got his new comp. Its weird seeing newbie’s and thinking about all they have to figure out and go through. But the good thing is the zone is at 100 percent now and we will be going on all gears. I'm praying for a lot of success and my prayers have been heard lately. So when the change started we had very few investigators and the past 2 weeks we have been working pretty hard trying to get some new people. We found some but not the usual golden people I love working with so by the time Sunday came around and we had very few people in sacrament I was a bit out of it, trying to see who we could work on to get baptized at least this next week. I have been praying a lot and pleading for new "Chosen" people but they just weren’t coming around. I've also been praying to be able to work strong to the end and I've been receiving that blessing.
But Sunday, Armando (Brenda’s husband not the other one) and his brother in law Israel came and talked to me and asked what was the plan and the deal with Veronica, Brenda’s mom. She, Veronica, has been coming to church every Sunday since Armando and Brenda got baptized but lives really far away so I never really worked with her. Well, by divine intervention we ate with them. We got there at about 2 and ate with them, Armando, Brenda, Veronica, and Israel and Susana (Veronicas sister and Israel’s wife). So after eating and a cat nap in my chair we started sharing a message and it was all over the place. She asked why we didn’t talk about the virgin and we used that to start talking about what real faith is and went into repentance and baptism and the difference between Catholic baptism and the real baptism. That took us to the message of the restoration. The good thing was that she had been to church so many times she didn’t have a hard time understanding everything. At about 5:30 we were getting ready to wrap it up and Brenda pulled out this precious testimony of all that has happened to her since she got baptized; the prayers that have been answered, etc. It was way cool and then we started talking about some more stuff and Veronica said out of nowhere "I want to gat baptized". It caught me a bit off guard and I started thinking about when. I suggested next Sunday and then Armando and Brenda said the weren’t going to be there and some one suggested the possibility of that same day. After another 5 minutes of " negotiation" it was a done deal. My comp stayed with Armando to do the interview and I ran to the chapel with Israel to start filling the font. The Bishop was a bit bothered but didn’t say anything and we were able to get a few members there. We started at like 9 and I was a simple beautiful service. Elder Tuft and me even sang a special musical number "did you think to pray". He sings really well so it turned out nice. The look on Veronicas face was worth everything as she left. She had been asking for it and so had I.
Sometimes the Lord lets us almost smack right into the wall before saving us. He has such incredible control on everything and really does hear our earnest prayers. He knows exactly what going on. Always. The person that puts his trust in Him will be truly free. I know the Lord was hearing my prayers and her prayers and probably Elder Tufts prayers and her whole family. He waits for the perfect moment to save us, just when he knows we can best learn. I am grateful for His help and to be in His service. There is no greater call and no greater glory than to be at His service. Pray. Trust. Be diligent and patient. That’s my advice. --
-ELDER SOLOMON
Hi there everyone. Had a good and super busy week. On Tuesday was the changes, got my new comp Elder Tuft from Utah and then we got to go to the temple for a sealing and then to the mission home to play soccer with all the ZLs. we slept there and had the Zl/DL Council getting home at like 6. The next day, Thursday we got to work and Friday we had Zone conference. So a lot of meetings and not too much time for working in the area. The good thing is that it’s all over and it’s just pure work now on out.
We really don’t have a lot of investigators right now. We are working with family members of recent converts but things are a bit sure they’ll pick up we just have to keep looking and working. I've been really trying to read a lot of the Book of Mormon cuz I have the goal of finishing again before the end of the mission. Sunday was a great day. Catching up from General Conference we had 8 confirmations in the ward and 6 ordinations to the Aaronic priesthood. Along with 2 baby blessings there were like 15 minutes for testimonies, which is fine by me. The less apostasy the better. What was even cooler was seeing a few recent converts get callings In the ward.
We are in a threesome right now. We have 2 elders in the zone waiting for new missionaries to come but they still haven’t gotten here! Sounds familiar... poor elder he is so anxious to get to get to work in his area but cant go alone. We sent him with a priest on Sunday so he could go to his ward and baptize someone. Lets hope they get here soon. Well I really don’t have too much news. Just truckin along. Hope all is well with you. Love you and take care.
-ELDER SOLOMON
I don’t want the end to come. This is a weird feeling. When people ask me who much time I have left I ask them, for how long did Jesus fast? And that’s it.
Transfers! And the last ones, Cardenas is taking off and I'm receiving another American!! Elder Tuft. I cant believe I have another white comp especially being a ZL its got to be the first one in the history of this mission. Elder Tuft is a really good guy and I'm excited to be with him, they changed the zone limits around so there will be new challenges and problems but we now have the stake Zarahemla, (an older chapel with an indoor wood court, there are only 2 in the mission) so that’ll be fun. This last week was crazy, 6 baptisms, the family Basilio was a reference from a recent convert and we taught the mom then the kid and invited the dad to church later and went. They are super special, especially the dad, Armando. He is one of the most faithfull people I know. I can’t really explain how I feel that way but when he talks and prays just leaves you (as a missionary) impressed. Walking out of the house we always just look at each other and shake our heads. He understands the doctrine so clearly and perfectly. Most people when they receive a baptismal challenge they look for some way out saying, "I need more time" or "I need to know more" but his reply was" I know I don’t know very much but this is something I want to do cuz we really need this and God will bless us" his wife Margarita had to have a special interview with the mission president so they all showed up to the chapel, while we talked to the kids President Fuentes talked with both of them. After a short time I was outside on the phone and the President came out and said ready to go. He then said, "Who taught them?" I said "well us president" he replied "you’ve done a good job elder, they are a solid family and the three kids will all go on missions, congratulations" that doesn’t happen that much. Cardenas and me were walking with our heads high on that day. I'm so grateful to be able to know them and be a part of their lives. I'm hoping to put on the calendar of 2011, "sealing of the family Basilio"
Conference, wow. I had the opportunity to go to every session this time. I don’t know if it’s just for being a missionary or being more mature but I love it! It hurts to see the "fair-weather members" just go to the morning session on Sunday. There were a lot of awesome themes through the whole conference. The first and foremost being the responsibilities and influences of the parents, not excusing sin or disobedience, not lowering standards even when everyone else is etc. I have pages full of notes. I wish I had one of those magic remotes that I could hit pause and rewind. If I every get my ipod fixed I'm downloading the whole thing right away. Elder Holland, wow lets stop cutting at the branches and get to the root. The difference between love and lust, that makes things a lot clearer. President Uchtdorf and the patience, well I didn’t feel near as bad as dad cuz that is pry my strongest attribute right now but I still realized of what I’ve got left, Elder Carlson and the obedience, Elder Oaks and the blessings, I could go on and on I love it. It seemed that they talked directly but exactly how it needs to be said. I realized how very far I have to go as an individual.
Ok, well that’s all I got for this week. Have a great week, strive to be better. I love you all
-ELDER SOLOMON
Don’t worry everybody I'm here, late but better late than never. Wonderful week last week. We had another baptism of a wonderful older lady named Oliva. She’s a sweet lady and did everything was asked her without fail or complaint. She got excited when we walked her to church. She liked the fact that two handsome young men in suits came to take her out for a while. The success continued in the zone with 10 baptisms. The assistants complimented me and said that Linda Vista is really getting better, in March we ended up number 2 out of the 10 zones losing by one baptism. The success is the Lords, I still don’t know what I'm doing nor ever really will I think. This time our patience, diligence and hope paid off, this week will be good too. We just need to find new investigators and desperately.
Today we played American ball and ended up playing tackle on dry grass so my knees are all scratched up. But everyone was afraid of me hahaha no one had really played before and so when I would go at them and stick my face in their gut and not try to rodeo them they would all go down pretty easy. I was good to relax and get some of that stress off. Changes will be in a week and I'm sure Cardenas will be going, he’s been a good comp, still has a lot to learn but sometimes doesn’t want to learn it, his loss... and I will receive my last comp or my killer as they call it here. I know the end is near but its hard to understand what’s worrying me is in these 7 weeks I've got to get 9 baptisms to get my goal. We have 6 for this week :) God lives and Loves us. He is aware of us and wants our happiness. It’s late and I need to go to bed, gotta start this week with a bang tomorrow.
Love you all so very much.
-ELDER SOLOMON
Finally had a bit of success in the zone, we had 13 baptisms in the zone and 4 in our area. Patience pays off. And hope is knowing that the promises of the Lord come through. The only thing is that you only have a few hours to celebrate the victory cuz Monday night its back to the fight. The people we baptized are awesome, a young couple called Armando and Brenda and their cute two cute little girls. And Agustina with her 13 yr old boy bayron. We had a lot of sweet experiences this week. The spirit was felt and tears were shed. We were also helping the sister missionaries prepare a couple for baptism that had to get married so we spent a lot of time preparing it all and a lot of money in taxi, I'm pretty much out. But they got married Sunday in the afternoon and baptized 30 min later.
I've got a lot more to tell you all about but I had two huge smacks to the face today.
Number 1: I had been saving money Nana had been sending me and had about 120 dollars all protected on my desk. When I looked for them this morning they were nowhere to be found. My comp also had some money disappear a week ago and the only idea we have is that it was the plumber who was fixing our bathroom took a bonus off our desks. The hard part is that it was all protected good. It was a hard hit to take especially cuz that was a lot of savings I had and need it every now and then cuz the monthly money never reaches. I hope he really needs it and uses it for something good.
Number 2: I just connected my ipod to get some pictures off cuz we are gonna print some and it froze for a sec when I plugged it in. then it turned back on blank... with nothing. It says it has no memory so I'm hoping and praying that it just got blocked or something and that everything didn’t get erased. I had moved all my pics and videos on the ipod cuz i thought it would be safer there than on my memory stick and erased a lot off the memory. Oh boy...
Ok well, sorry for the depressive letter but I was all happy and enjoying life when I got blown away from somewhere I never expected. Thanks for your love and support. They say that the last 3 months of your mission everyone starts writing you again. That’s a lie I've got less than 2 left and I'm lucky if mom writes me.
The good thing is we are playing tackle football in the afternoon.
Take care
-ELDER SOLOMON
[In mom's defense - she did write him! That just goes to show how down he is]
Hey everyone, how’s it going? I'm doing good. Thanks for all your prayers. I'm feeling a ton better but now dealing with the heat. It’s pretty hot here, not like in Arizona but because of the elevation and the smog it makes it more intense. We definitely need a fan or something in the house. We had another 2 baptisms on Sunday a mom and son duo called Veronica and Jair. They are super sweet people and it was a beautiful service. A lot were crying. I was planning that Elder Cardenas would baptize them both but at the last sec Veronica wanted me so I threw on one of those big baptismal suits there in the chapel. The bad things were I was walking around commando until we could get back to the house to put on some dry garments.
We keep having a lot of success in the area but little in the zone, which is really killing me. I was expecting a lot more success and I really have no idea what to do... need to spend more time on the roof I guess. Today we went to Camarones and played basketball with some people there, I really don’t like it here, everyone plays really dirty and the rules are retarded, someday I'll tell you. It usual ends up me yelling at someone for slapping the crap out of my arm nowhere near the ball. Patience.
I've been trying to think of the FHE theme I could share with you today but I really can’t think of one. Someone else will have to come up with it. I've got nine weeks left and every day is one less. My whole life has been focused on getting on a mission and now that its ending... its hard to think in the "next life" I know it will all work out though. We had the opportunity to address a couple of priests in a multi stake youth conference and we talked of the preparation for a mission and the blessings received. Read D&C 31 it’s a good one. The blessing is great towards the faithful servants of the Lord. Boys prepare yourself well. There is nothing more important that you can do than get on a mission in this part of your life. Guard your chastity and virtue, that is one of Satan’s greatest tools for destroying youth. Nothing is more important than being pure and clean walking into the MTC. We shouldn’t send boys on a mission to fix things they need to go ready, cuz its hard correcting things here and precious time is wasted. Time that isn’t ours. If you have things to fix. Fix it on your time cuz this is the Lords time. It gives me chills thinking that there are still 3 in our family waiting for their turn. By the time all our mission cycles are over the family will be a bit bigger, mom will have daughters again, (lets hope) haha well the future is bright. God lives and I know it.
Be good and know I love you.
-ELDER SOLOMON
March 9, 2010
Ok, so its Tuesday night at about 10 and I finally got a chance to write, just had things get all stuck together and a lot to do. So this will be a short one cuz I am tired, but not sick anymore. I'm also running out of time! They gave me my flight plans today... May 17 I will be landing in Phoenix Sky Harbor. Wow, but we keep working.
The work keeps on going strong. We had 2 baptisms on Sunday of two teenagers who are super excited about the church and are pretty cool. From sun up to sun down its work work work! Last week we had 27 lessons and 11 new investigators, which is really good, but we are always looking for more. This place just does not run out of people. Today we had the good old zone leader council. It was good and I learned a lot from impressions of the spirit. I only have one of those left which is a relaxing thought cuz I've nearly got a year of those things... this last week was great and I learned a lot. Glad to hear you all are doing well, I always pray that God will bless you and it seems that he does.
Know I'm doing good, workin hard, I'm happy, and a bit anxious about getting home, its gonna be hard I think... the pres finishes one change after me and he was talking about his mission and mentioned how it really hasn’t been a sacrifice because he has received so much more than he should in change for what he has given. I feel the same. In the New Testament it says that if we forsake for a moment all these things, family, house, goods, cars, girlfriends, that God will recompense us with 100 times more and in this life too. Wow, I'm afraid that the blessings will cease in a certain way, that would be the real sacrifice. But it’s all good. It’ll all work out.
Ok well that’s it. I'm going to bed! Take care.
Love you all,
-ELDER SOLOMON
What a change of scenery it is here in the casa. In the old one there were always a lot of traffic and people yelling selling gas, tamales and collecting garbage. Here we live on the third floor in a residential area. The hermana has a lot of birds and parrots so they are always chattering and its nice and calm. In fact we always leave the door wide open. I am so happy to be here in Ticoman. The ward is incredible and has grown a lot. In fact they don’t fit in the tiny chapel. There were a few people standing up outside. It’s also great for work. We had 26 lessons this last week and are hoping to have baptisms every week. It will be very possible. I'm also happy to be here in the zone. We’ve got some new missionaries. We are blessed to have two sister missionaries who are training right now and those two areas are leading the zone. Its amazing to see the difference from one sister who has the desire to be here and feels like its a blessing compared to an elder, Melquesidech priesthood holder, who almost has to be forced out of bed to do some basic missionary tasks... I wish I could inject that desire and will into some of the elders. Things would be different.
Wednesday was the leader council and it’s was a bad day... The night before I was up all Night with a temperature and in the morning I didn’t feel too much better but grateful for the sunrise. We left the house at 7 to get to the offices at 8:30. Thanks to construction, bumper to bumper traffic, and some stupid taxi driver who almost took us out of mission limits, we got there at 10. We walked in to scowls from the assistants but whatever. I felt bad cuz I was doing the head nod deal during the whole conference. Afterwards the president just said "animo elder" he’s never talked to me much anyway. But there is nothing some good old knocking doors and giving lessons can’t fix. I had a good week after that.
Saturday, my bday, was a weird day. Everyone wanted to do stuff and eat and party but all I wanted to do was see if we could get a baptism and make sure we had people in the church... It’s weird to think I'm now 21. I’m now in the third stage. Ok well my plan is just keep working and let the Lord do His deal. Sunday I realized that the instrument shouldn’t complain against its user, it just has to be humble and do what it’s supposed to and not get frustrated if there are no results. It should be upset with a fault of performance but not the results. The Lord provides that. I want to be that instrument, so that the Master can use me in the way and with the results that He wants¡ I just gotta give my best.
Well love you all, that’s about it for this week. I love you and am looking forward to see you all in such a short time. Take care
-ELDER SOLOMON
OK, so I told you how my comp took off to see his dad. It was pretty bad. He found him in a coma state and couldn't even recognize him. They then spent the next two days running errands and trying to figure out what to do. The dad is in a very expensive hospital where their small insurance isn't covering them. They wanted to move him but in the current state impossible. In a couple days they will check him out and try to move him somewhere that there is a specialist to start therapy. Apparently it was bad... they have seen much improvement since my comp gave him a priesthood blessing. Last night they said he was trying to move and wake up. I was just following around other companionships for three days and feeling useless. (We couldn't hardly do anything in our area) and Mendoza came back Thursday night. He is doing fine. He’s strong and not really shaken up. He’s more worried about what happens next and fixing the things he can and not so much about the things that can’t be fixed.
A number of things were learned here 1) don't drive fast, it ain't worth it. If your gonna be late somewhere, wake up earlier. 2) This one I realized on Saturday during a lesson with a young brilliant couple. They need to get married to be baptized and be able to progress in this life but want a nice cushion of one year... we read the wonderful chapter of Alma 34 together. After finishing reading we usually start analyzing and sharing key point in the chapter, usually about what we want to get our point across. My comp started talking about the verses 31-36. He then told his conversion story. Him, his mom and his siblings accepted the church when the missionaries came but his dad didn’t. Shortly after his dad made some bad decisions and his parents separated. When he came to the mission his dad didn’t want him to but finally accepted it and took him to the MTC. About a year ago, he (my comp, Elder Mendoza) had the opportunity to see his whole family cuz he baptized his little sister when she turned 8. At that time his dad expressed a bit of interest in learning more but just said "when you get back I think things will start changing" well that opportunity to "change things" has been drastically prolonged if not eliminated. If the dad had known he was going to get in such a dramatic accident perhaps he would have started that change a little earlier and not waited until as Amulek puts it "its too late" the good thing is he is still here with us and perhaps will have that second chance for change. But none of us knows if we have tomorrow to change the day of our preparation and salvation is today. Now I know we all need to change and we all need to improve, but with frequency my heart is pricked by those of my own family or those close to me that have strayed from the path, that are living in darkness, living on daily pleasures. There may be justification or excuses but if you do not fix what you are doing and who you are being today, perhaps you will NEVER have that opportunity. I pray that you receive this letter and this story and that you receive my exhortation to change now. Don’t think that there is no way, that is a lie from the devil, there always is a way. Do not procrastinate the day of your repentance, because it may not come. Please I plea with you examine your life, find those things that you need to leave behind, don’t justify your actions, don’t look for excuses, and have the courage to do it. Sure change can hurt. Just like a lifesaving surgery may leave a scar. But if you don’t do it today, you wont be able tomorrow. I speak with that courage because I know the need of doing the necessary today, I speak with the authority of a representative of Jesus Christ, and with that same authority I promise you the peace, comfort, forgiveness, and divine love you will receive as you try and do what He would have you do. God will prepare the way, He always has.
Changes have come and I am leaving Molinito and returning to the zone of Linda Vista where I was born. It’s kind of ironic that I will "die" very close to the area where I was "born." I will be with Elder Cardenas, who I already know pretty good. I’m still gonna be zone leader, going on more than 10 months in that position which sometimes can be quite stressful but rewarding at the same time. Its crazy to me how quick time is flying by, I only have 12 weeks left, in fact I believe they will be giving us our flight plans next week... I hope in this last stretch I can continue giving it my all and continue being "an instrument in His hands" which has been my desire since the beginning. It is incredible letting go of personal interests and selfishness and just letting Him do what needs to be done. Wow, things happen you never think could.
I think I’ve babbled enough; yesterday I got pretty sick and was suffering. I feel a lot better today but still have a slight temperature. Pray so that my weak body can last 3 more months pls.
Love you all and you are in my prayers constantly.
-ELDER SOLOMON
P.S. CHANGE=REPENT
Ok, well it’s nearly 7:30 pm of a pretty crazy day; we had a zone activity starting at 9 am with our district meetings and then cooked up some burgers and played some football and soccer. That was pretty fun except my shins are hurting from these wanna be professionals here who go all out and hit me in the leg instead of the ball… We played tackle football on a tiny patch of grass just big enough for 4 on 4 with 4 downs. Good thing we are all out of shape and softies, No one got hurt, just some strawberries. Well, during this all at about 10 the mission president called me and wanted to talk to my comp. They talked for about 5 minutes and then my comp gave me the phone. The president told me that my comp’s dad had got in a serious accident and was hospitalized in Queretaro, a nearby state, and was in really bad condition and that I would need to support my comp a lot during this time. It was quite a shock. While we were playing he went with another elder to a nearby member’s house and called his mom. Apparently his dad has about a day to live and if he lives he will be in really bad shape. Tough stuff. As I was cleaning up the huge hamburger mess he told me he might go to the hospital, (in a different mission) to make a long story short I put him on a bus headed towards his house (about an hour from here) and I’m with another companionship. I dropped of the clothes with one sister so she can wash them and here I am!
Who knows what happens. He’s supposed to return tomorrow afternoon but well see.
This last week I had a few “personal revelations” to call them that way. They were more of the type of revelations the Brother of Jared received when he forgot to pray and the Lord chewed him out for 3 hours. It wasn’t so long and intense but the same kind of deal. Lately we have been a bit down, me and my comp, not having the spirit as I have enjoyed during the majority of my mission. I was pretty sure that it had something to do with me. (I’m starting to find out other stuff about the person I teach with, but they can’t be said here, its just he needs a one on one) but we were walking along and I realized that I have been doing things “my” way. The way I normally do things here in the mission, they've worked before, I realized that my prayers had become monotonous and I wasn’t really asking Him for help, nor for his advice since we had stopped planning to a certain degree. I realized we had to include the Lord much more than we had been doing and let the Holy Ghost be the senior companion as it should be. Well, we planned really well that night and did some repenting. But the next day I didn’t feel much better to tell the truth. Until the night we were walking again and I realized I had been heading downhill ever since New Years. I had my goal to read the Bom before the end of the year which I did but hadn’t started again, I figured I could dive in a little more with the Bible and stuff like that, but in that night I realized the importance of reading the Book of Mormon in my personal life and confirmed the fact that I have to always be praying and reading the Book of Mormon in order to be ok. These last few days that I have done it have been sweet and I feel much better.
Ok, well hopefully we can have a good week and recuperate a bit from the last 2 weeks that have been down in the dumps as far as numbers go. I’m excited and ready to roll. It may be my last week here in this area so I’ve got to give it all and leave it ready for the next one who comes.
I love you all, study and pray hard, and be good.
-ELDER SOLOMON
Howdy everyone. It’s windy today, and I finally have some stuff to write about. I'll start with the baptism. OK so this lady's name is Guadalupe, we’ve known her for some time, her son lives in the North mission and sent the reference for Guadalupe's other son Juan Carlos. Well she has wanted to get baptized for some time but wanted to get baptized with her son. Well, we got to their house one day and he declared, “ I'm not getting baptized”, so I just said, “Whatever”. In the lesson Guadalupe said, “I'm getting baptized on Sunday”, kind of like just letting us know. Hahaha! Anyway on Sunday I started filling the font, after about an hour I checked it and it looked like someone dumped a quarter ton of Swiss Miss in the font. It was brown. I emptied it and we got on the roof to look at the tanks and they were dirty too. Crap. We called the elders in another chapel about 20 minutes away and they started filling their font.
So we started inviting everyone again and trying to get members to go. But if they wont stay for an extra 30 minutes in their chapel there is no way they are going to a different chapel. So we finally got to the other chapel at about 1 pm just to find out that the font was about a quarter full... so they all waited outside and us and the 2 elders from that chapel took of our coats, opened the cistern outside and started passing bucketfuls through the window and dumping them into the font. After 15 minutes and a good wetdown, we filled it up with relatively clean but freezing water. So we started getting the room ready and the family walked in and a member from the local ward started throwing a hug fit over that we hadn’t planned it out, I wasn’t in the mood and started saying that you cant plan for dirty water and that if he had any problem that he should talk with the ward mission leader who he doesn’t support and some other stuff. Luckily my comp was in that ward a while back and took him outside and talked it through.
I got dressed and we were waiting for the hermana to get dressed and her daughter walked out and said that the dress we bought her didn’t fit... geez laweez. By luck I found one of those overall suit deals and it fit her. We started and when I walking in the water. Freezing. She even said, “Oh my, this is really cold”, so I did the ordinance, (she was one of those flippers who when they go under have no idea which way is up and start kicking and flailing, so you have to just calmly raise them up and hold on till they get it figured out, it was tough cuz she’s a big lady). But some thing amazing happened. When they shut the doors she said "its not cold anymore, I feel warm" it was true; I wasn’t cold anymore either. Later, after we got all changed I commented what had happened, I said "I don’t know if sins heat up water or if it was just the Saviors love we felt". It was a special spiritual experience for me. I also told one brother that I can go home now; I have filled up a baptismal font with buckets.
Other than that until Friday it was raining like crazy, many parts near here are still flooded, luckily here we are in the hills and it cant flood, but it was a depressing few days, but the sun came out as it always does and now I'm back to the short sleeve, its unpredictable here, and not just the weather.
That’s about all I got this week, we are gonna go bowling right now, see if I've still got it, happy valentines day to you all, may the Lord bless you. 143
-ELDER SOLOMON
London’s Run sounds like fun. As Elder Wirthlin says, learn to laugh. Sorry you had to do all that work and go through all that stress and still be criticized. It’s hard when someone judges something that they have no idea about isn’t it. But you do, everyone has been shooting daggers at me lately for the whole Haiti earthquake. The US always is the bad guy here, never mind the millions sent to the country, all they see here is the few children traffickers and that "the US is taking over Haiti cuz they wanna rule the world". Whatever. I just say, “Sorry if I offended you in any way for being in your presence. Can you forgive me?” That shuts them up.
Today we played volleyball with the ward in the morning and it started raining and it was coming down! But we kept playing and it was fun. Now I’m sitting here with my socks trying to let them dry.
The work moves on. We had another baptism this week. His name is Martin. His wife got baptized a couple of months ago but never wanted anything until he played soccer for a while with the Bishop and other brothers and recognized that were not really all that weird after all. So he got baptized in a very special service. Every one was crying. After that, to celebrate we went with him and the ward team to get our butts whipped 5-2 at a nearby field, but it was fun to run on some turf under the lights and even with a real referee.
The zone did awesome too. 7 of the 9 companionships baptized resulting in 9 baptisms over all which is a high point in my service as a zone leader, The Lord has been blessing me a lot in that calling as the zone has really begun to prosper. It used to be that I baptized for the zone but now we’ve repented.
What else can I talk about? Oh ya, it’s the first day of February, the month that has my birthday, (I turn 21 on the 27th for all you who have forgotten). I will be able to legally drink in the states. Here age doesn’t matter. All that does is your 20 pesos... And the 14th of this month is a very special day, not because its Valentines, it’s cuz I complete 21 months in the mission! Meaning there are only 3 left. But whose counting anyway! I’m happy where I’m at. I’m working and that makes a missionary happy. I couldn’t ask for more.
I can’t think of any sweet experience story tell from this week so I’ll just leave it like this. Love you all have a great week and study hard!
-ELDER SOLOMON
Hey there, London England? Well, there is some important stuff to do there for Brighton. There aren’t any coincidences. Know that the call is from the Lord. Wow, I’m excited for ya!!! You’re are about to embark on the greatest adventure of your life so far and to a certain degree will determine much of who you will be for the rest of your life. Now this time is hard; prepare well, get in the temple as soon as they let you and protect yourself well from all evil influences. In a way you are on hold but not inactive, still participate in activities, church stuff etc. and most importantly with your family because that will become (in 4 months) a huge hole. It was incredible for me to have an incredible memory of a week long trip to Hawaii to lean on. Think about what you wan to do in that week we have together, I suggest a temple tour to Utah and California, that’s what I would like more than anything, imagine, Manti, St. George, Logan, Salt Lake, LA, San Diego. Wow!
Ok, so the work moves on and wont stop!! Things are good here in Molinito, we are looking at a few baptisms, this next week and still recovering from some crazy experiences last week, one of them being me leaving the keys in the house. I called the landlord at 9pm and he said that he could only come in the morning so we spent the night at some members house, and me having to do a special interview on Sunday (everyone who gets baptized has to receive a baptismal interview). And if a person has commited a crime, had an abortion, or a homosexual relationship they have to get a special interview, usually done by the Mission President. Well, he was about 3 hours away, and we couldn’t find a Bishop so he said “Well, you do it Elder”. Thanks! It was definitely a learning experience for me and some Bishop training! It was incredible and I learned a lot about repentance. She had made a lot of bad decisions in her life and was feeling super bad about it all. I wanted to console her but was held back from doing so and led to the scripture in Corinthians. I don’t remember how it goes in English, but talks about Godly sorrow which works for salvation. I explained that she has to feel those feelings for repentance to really work, but its nothing to be ashamed about. Found it, 1 Cor. 7:9-11:
9 Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing.
10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
11 For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.
It took her a while to believe it and soak it in, I read it three times and sat in silence for a while, after a few things I offered a prayer on our knees. When she got baptized, the tearstained face left with a smile, I’m so thankful for being able to be a part of that and that awesome experience.
Last thing I want to comment on and is this scripture: Alma 38:5.
5 And now my son, Shiblon, I would that ye should remember, that as much as ye shall put your trust in God even so much ye shall be delivered out of your trials, and your troubles, and your afflictions, and ye shall be lifted up at the last day.
I’ve had this one on my mind ever since I studied it some months ago. Here I see a direct proportion between trust in ´God and deliverance or freedom. Its incredible, the more we out our trust in God the more free we really are (talking about temporal and spiritual matters). Alma had to have pondered much on his father’s experience. I imagine he was boy when they lived in the city of Helam and were prisoners of the Lamanites. He must have witnessed how the heavy loads became lighter and they could deal with all they were going trough and eventually they were delivered and arrived at Zarahemla. He had to have pondered on that and the experiences he had as a missionary in Ammoniah when he and Amulek were trapped in the jail and after so much suffering they went through they were delivered through the power of God. He also was very familiar with experiences of his companions, the sons of Mosiah, on their 14 year mission to the Lamanites. Also, when his life was spared in battle when he cried out to the Lord “ preserve my life so that I may still be an instrument in thy hands”, which he was. Anyway he knew this principle very well, I am learning it and am very sure will learn it more first hand as the trials of college life and the rest are right around the corner for me. Those who trust in the Lord love him and follow him are the true “freemen”. Satan would have us think that the way of the Lord is restrictive but it just isn’t that way. Going through a hard time? Trust in the Lord, do your best and you will be delivered sooner or later just remember this equation.
Trust in the Lord = Freedom
I love you all. Have a great week,
-ELDER SOLOMON
Hello everyone. Well, the first week of the change is over. Always the hardest one. The first couple of days are always hard with a new companion, especially when you’ve been with a good friend for a long time. I think the hardest part was going from living in a house of 4 elders back to 2. But its good I’ve got my new comp to open up a bit and things are going good. We had a good bit of success this week finding a lot of new investigators and taking a lot to the chapel. We had 2 baptisms on Sunday too. They both wanted the Bishop to baptize them, which is awesome for us! That means that they have relationships in the ward. But the Bishop couldn’t [baptize them] until about 5:30 pm, so after the food we went to the church and started filling up the baptismal font at 3:15. It usually takes about 3 hours to fill up the font so we were pushing it. We started filling it and we checked it at about 3:45. It was up to the second step but the water was green! ... so I emptied it super fast and started throwing in hot and cold water to fill it up faster. After another 15 minutes I realized it was still green. I thought to myself "good thing I’m not the one baptizing today!," and kept it going. We kept the doors shut. Even the picture which we usually take in front of the font we took outside. No one said anything. It was cold, green, and not full all the way, but everything went smoothly and I didn’t hear that anyone noticed. How they couldn’t I have no idea, but oh well! It’s the spiritually clean thing that counts right? At least it didn’t smell bad at all.
I’m thinking it may have some thing to do with the weather. It has really turned Snowflake-Taylor style here with some intense high winds. A lot of trees fell down, dragging down power lines, and causing a lot of power outages. Since Saturday, it’s been nice and I’ve been able to leave to work without a sweater. My trick is the double sock theory. I found that if my feet are warm the rest of me is too. Good thing I got so many stinking socks for Christmas!
With the two baptisms yesterday I reached my personal goal for baptisms I set so many months ago. I’m not going to tell you how many that is cuz it’s not really that important. Many of them are incredible people and I am just amazed at how the Lord has blessed me and used me as His instrument in this time of my life. I still have plenty of time left and have a lot to give to the people here and the missionaries I am trying to help as well. Thank you so much for the incredible support group you all have been. It’s overwhelming to think how many are praying for me specifically. I am grateful for so much.
Well, [it] sounds like things are going good there at home. I laughed about dad’s “AJ” story. I wish I could have been there to support you. I’m sure we’ll have plenty of fun there standing on the top bench of the bleachers; the Lord has "loosened my tongue" in a lot of ways! I now know how to talk... and in two languages!
Everybody be good, if Brighton gets his call this week he is staying in the states. After this week he is going Spanish speaking outside the states. That’s my guess. To the southern states or Mexico... put me in on the betting :)
Love you all so much. Take care keep praying, keep fulfilling priesthood responsibilities, repent of what you have to, and do your best.
-ELDER SOLOMON
The newspaper headlines on Sunday read "9 killed by the cold." It ain’t a lie. We’ve had a cold front come through here and its tough. I’ve been in much colder weather, but not lately. It’s been in the low 50s during the day. I leave [home in the morning] with a sweater and a coat. In fact, this last week classes were canceled for "the cold" but they are back in today. The worst part is my feet. They just don’t warm up. On the other side, I love that cold wind on my face! It makes me feel like I’m up at the cabin or something.
Well, changes are here. All last week I was pretty sure I was going. I’ve got 3 changes here and 2 with Elder Roylance. We were doing our brackets" like march madness trying to figure out what all the changes were gonna be. My guess was W was gonna go to Linda Vista where I was born (started the mission). In fact a lot of others [were born there] too. The ZL over there even called and talked to me for a while.
We had a baptism on Saturday. It was a family we found knocking doors and they are sweet, they have their problems like all do but are good people. The family Esquivel, the mom, Hortencia, and her kids, Armando 23, Sandra 22, and Daisy 20. It was funny while we were filling the font all the windows and doors fogged up on that side of the chapel. It was really cold and rainy outside but nice and toasty on the inside from the hot water. [It was] a hectic baptism but it did happen and they were also confirmed on Sunday. The Bishop asked us to speak in sacrament meeting, (as always I was last, that always happens) and in my talk I talked about love and taking care of recent converts (since I’ve got 33 here...) and I mentioned that I might be leaving. Well, everyone took that as a farewell, some sisters cried, blah blah blah. I was feeling a bit sad to leave and Roylance was super happy to stay. Well, then came the night and we waited until 10:30 for the assistant to call me. You guessed it, the irony of God kicked in and I’m staying and Roylance is leaving! And they are taking the other two [Elders] out of our ward... the only one who thought he was going is the only one staying... Well, it was a hard night. Roylance was crying I think, I don’t know. I told the changes to my DLs and threw the covers over my head not talking to anyone even though quite a few called me. But couldn’t sleep until 1:30... Well, I woke up earlier than usual for a p-day, took a shower and got ready and went up on the roof. (All the houses here have flat roofs where they hang their clothes up to dry and have the gas and water tanks, etc.) Up there it is a beautiful view and [I] worked things out and even came up with some new plans for the zone this change. I’m still not excited about facing the whole ward and the stupid obvious question, "weren’t you leaving?" Even though I’m there, they will still ask, ----. But its ok. There is a lot of work and there will be success this change for sure. My new companions name is Elder Mendoza. He’s from our generation but I really don’t know anything bout him. We’ll make the best of it.
Well, I missed your letter from this week I guess. John Reed told me news that Aaron Dees is engaged for May 14, the day I complete 2 years and I come home the 17th! Someone tell him to postpone one week pls. It’ll be gay he'll just wanna be with his wife the whole time and not want to hang out with the guys... gay. O.K., I’m out. Go Cards! They are still in the playoffs. keep on moving so the cold doesn’t get to you.
Love you all, send a prayer or two my way for the new change, I’ll need them.
-ELDER SOLOMON
