I finally fixed my memory card!! So I can now send pictures again. Things are going good here in the new area. We have brought new people to church the two Sundays I have been here but no one has accepted a baptismal date yet. It will be coming soon though. We have some really good people that we are teaching but here in the city part of the mission the people are a little slower in making the choice to do it.

It was kinda rainy and cold the past couple days so it made it a little more difficult to find new people but today is short sleeve weather so it's looking like it's going to be a good week of work.

We had our Zone Conference on Wednesday. Normally the Zone Leaders present 2 topics and the Assistants do 1 topic but this time President wanted to try something new and we presented all 3 topics. It was draining having to stand in front of everyone and talk for hours but I say that we did pretty good.

Just so you guys know I will be going to the temple next week so I wont be writing again until next Wednesday. It will be nice to go to the temple again. I always look forward to it but at the same time I don't look forward to getting up at 4 in the morning to do it--ha ha.

It's good to see that dad is going back to the good ol´ facial hair look--ha ha--it's just a dad trademark look. I think he is doing it a make a statement of 'don't call me to the bishopric'.

The pictures are kinda old but I put some of New Years, making brownies (thanks Kaleena.... and Couper I guess), my last zone, and some other random pics.

I love you all and have an awesome week.

Elder K

 

San Nicolas

Well it's been another crazy week in the mission. I got changed to a new area called San Nicolas. It is super close to were I was but it's nice to have a bit of change. My new companion is from Argentina, Elder Chevoievsky... yes, I spelled it right--haha--good luck saying his name. It's been getting pretty hot here. They say it's going to get cold some day but I am starting to think that its just a lie that everyone tells themselves hoping that one day it won't be hot.

We also had Zone Leader council this week to plan everything for the zone conferences. We have ours on the 25th. I hope it turns out good with not much time put into it. It blows me away how fast time is flying by at times.

We have found some pretty cool people in the time that I have been in this area. We brought two people to church on Sunday but they weren't so sure about being baptized yet. We are hoping that with a little bit more help this week that they will be 100% for baptism this Sunday.

Well that's about it for this week. I love you all and thanks for everything.

Elder K

P.S. Still haven't figured out the picture problem, sorry.

Cool!

My convert got the Melchizedek priesthood and is now the Young Mens president and his wife is now Young Womens president. He only has 2 months as a member!

Elder Oaks

So the week was pretty good. We have transfers tomorrow. Still don't know if I am staying or going so who knows. Yes, I got the note from Bro. Gomez...three times, haha! I guess everyone wanted to make sure I got it. I have been close to his family a few times. Right now I'm not really close but my last area in Saltillo was close to some of his family. I might have even meet some of them because the name rings a bell. Also the town where his dad was born is my first area in Mexico. I have also visited Piedras Negras. I will have to keep an eye out the next time I go to one of those areas.

Things went pretty well this week. To put things simply, this is one of the hardest areas that I have had but we are working hard. I am trying to think of what new things I can do this week to pick the zone up a little bit. We had Stake Conference yesterday. It was a broadcast to all of northern Mexico. Elder Dallin H. Oaks spoke and asked three questions and then told us we should always be asking these questions to ourselves to improve. These are my translations from Spanish:

1. What does the Lord expect of me?
2. What have I done/am I doing to live up to these expectations?
3. What can I change to more fully live up to these expectations?

It was a good conference and the questions made me look at what I am doing a little differently.

 

Really not to much more to report this week. I am still trying to figure out why it won't let me send pictures. Hopefully they come soon. I love you all.

Elder K

New Year's Pictures

Bummer

Well it was a bit of a bummer week. The good news is that we are teaching more lessons now that the holidays have passed and we are finding more new people, but the people that we thought were going to get baptized got sucked into some wierd ritual stuff and told us that they will come looking for us when they feel like they should get baptized... bummer. I am hoping that the efforts of this last week pay off in the week that we are starting and that we have a whole ton of people, but we sure have our work cut out for us.

We have transfers next Monday. I am pretty sure I will be staying here another transfer, but in the mission you never know whats going to happen.

Everything is going good here. I am loving the weather and even more when I hear about how cold it is there. I love you all. Have a good week.

Elder K

 

PS I am trying to send pictures still but I think somthing happened to my card reader.

Happy New Year!

We are hoping for two baptisms this Sunday that's coming. We spent New Year's Eve (until 1030) with a family of members with a piñata and all that jazz. I was going to send a bunch of pictures this week but we are having some problems with the memory card. I am hoping that they all didn't get erased.

I had one of the coolest things that has happened to me in the mission happen this last week. I had the chance to interview a Jewish man named Bit-el. He is 100% Jewish with the cloths and everything. He lives 100% of the law of Moses and knows 8 languages and a whole ton of doctrine. I was a little nervous going into the interview. We were talking for almost two hours about how Christ is our Savior to the 12 tribes to the law of consecration--almost anything you can think of. Talk about revelation. There are so many things that I said that I know God gave me the answer. It was nuts and so cool I can't even put it all in words. He accepted to get baptized.

The day after his interview his parents took a flight from Russia just to come chew him out. They took is money, job, house, everything. They disowned him as a son and he is no longer allowed in the Jewish community, but he was baptized yesterday. He knew that this would happen but he go baptized anyway. He said he knew it was right so he had to do it. There are still a lot of things that he has to change because he is so use to the law of Moses but he is willing. It has been a real testimony builder to me.

I am with you 100%, mom. It doesn't matter what others think and do. We stay focused on what God wants us to do and we do it.

I love you all and I hope you all had a Happy New Year.
Elder K