Week 36 - Much Better Week

So, this week went a lot better than the week before.

My comp is still, well, I want to say less than a jerk. Haha, but we found a bunch of less actives. Our ward mission leader actually went on visits with us, and we ended up having two people in church. We found a couple new investigators, hahaha I don’t know what it is but every Monday I wait till we go to internet so I can do email, but I never feel like writing anything hahaha.

Cool stories of this week: First Guillermo (Memo), is an inv. that I taught in Pantitlan. He is super cool. We’d teach the lessons and he’d actually understand what we were teaching. Haha, and I don’t know he was someone truly prepared to listen to the gospel who didn’t have a ton of problems that we have to try and solve, but he while we were teaching him volunteered to clean the church on Saturday nights was taking his book of mormon of his stressful trips, he’s a lawyer so he gets like flied out to different parts of Mexico speaks and returns the same exact day, but he’d pack his Book of Mormon and actually read it. He’s a super cool guy; he’s positive and happy and never gets down on anything. Well, he got baptized this Saturday so I returned to watch his baptism. It was a really cool experience.

Next Alejandra: on Friday I decided to spend a bunch of time in the same unidad, essentially it’s a giant apartment complex, looking for people. We found a bunch of less active families that we can visit now. Within this unidad, there are about 12 or more families. Wo there’s a lot of work to do and it’s simple cause theres a lot less walking. Anyway, we were looking for a less active named Lourdes or lulu. We found her building then dept. (apartment) and knocked on her door. Out came a woman and we asked if Lourdes was there, to which she replied no. That is her sister and blah, we talked about the sister for a while, then we contacted her and she accepted we went in and taught her the restoration and invited her to church. She accepted and everything, so on Sunday we pass by her house to take her to church we go to church and during Sunday school (this ward doesn’t have gospel principles class, I don’t know whats up with that) we taught her about the church and what we do, including about the sacrament and everything. Also our mission president came to our meeting to talk to our ward, so he was there we talked and she opened up a bit and told us the night before we knocked her door, she was praying to God asking for help and said that she was going to continue coming to church cause she knew that was an answer of God. BOOM!! Hahaha, it was really cool. God is preparing people I just need to find them.

Oh, a super bummer: Leonel the young man of 15 years who was going to get baptized, his mother didn’t sign the cedula, baptismal permission slip, hahah I have no idea what thats called in english. She like flipped out that he was going to get baptized and we haven’t been able to teach him for a week, cause his mother, and he said he was still going to go to church on Sunday, but he didn’t. That was sad.

Oh, Ramon, the guy who contacted us about three weeks ago and told us he wanted to come to our church. He had put a bunch of excuses and we hadn’t been able to teach him nor get him to come to church, well he came to church too! he also brought the book of mormon and principles of the gospel book, we haven’t taught him or given him anything but he’s reading those books on his own! super cool. the only problem is that he only has time on like Saturday evenings and Sundays. If he doesn’t make excuses… but he came and is reading the Book of Mormon on his own!

We also found a less active in that same unidad, complex. We knocked on his door and the smell of cigarette smoke that was oppressive and we entered and he had a bunch of porn by his television. Awesome. NOT! Supposedly the elders never taught him about the word of wisdom. Who knows but he’s been inactive for like 5 years so maybe he just forgot.

There are changes this Tuesday but not for me :( hahah oh well. haha theres a member thats 12 who went up to my mission president and asked him if he could leave the missionaries here until February…… please no! and also president asked me on Sunday, elder are you going to train this coming cycle…… well no, i replied. oh okay and then he changed the subject. uhh oh that means I’m on his list.

Have a great week, 

I love you.

Elder Blotter

Week 35 - 8 months in the mission

Holy cow I have eight months in the mish, in a couple weeks I'd be at the halfway mark - if I was a girl.

I honestly have no idea what I can write this week, haha.  Honestly, I don't feel like writing.  I love reading all the emails from everyone, but I don't know how to reply to everyone like a missionary. Hahaha I could give a summary of what happened during the week but that would bore even me. And then I could try to share all the spiritual things that happened but since I only have one inv. and a dead ward that would be a short letter.

The one ray of light in the week is our investigator, Leonel, who is a young man of 15 years.  He really wants the gospel.  It's so refreshing! We go and teach and he asks what his homework is, we give him a chapter to read in the book of mormon and he asks, "Only one?" When we go, he gives us a tight hug.  He lives with his mom and his little brother, who is insane, and his mom is really closed up, past feeling.  After Leo cleans the whole house and tends his little brother all day, his mom gets home and asks him why he's so disrespectful.  He feels like zero love in his house, and even less support, so when we come and tell him that god loves him and that his a really good kid and stuff he feels the love that's missing in his life.  We passed by unexpectedly on  Sunday, to teach the word of wisdom, really quick, and he shared with us his feelings about getting baptized.  He feels discouraged because his mom still hasn't given him permission.  I.d.k. I felt like it was a cool experience, that we could pass by in that moment to tell him to pray and read and that god will come through and to help him feel a little better.

Idk share more investigator stories, but we don't have anymore investigators, haha.

We visited our ward mission leader, who lives in the apartment above us (he owns the house), last night and ate a bunch of really good food.  After he asked us if we could share a message, because he wanted his sons to learn from the missionaries and see our example.  Before going to visit him we dropped our stuff off in our room, thinking they were just going to feed us and share mission stories or whatever.  I felt like I needed to bring my scriptures, and I did need them, haha.  So I shared a scripture that I read the other day and it like jumped off the page when it called out my attention.  It's D&C 59:3-4, and it talks about how if we're faithful we'll be crowned with glory but then it talks or mentions something I really liked.  It says something like "commandments not a few and revelations in their time."  Commandments not a few, I really liked because I'm so fed up with members not fulfilling their callings, missionaries disobeying rules, and saying God only wants to see our progress, I'm not perfect.  Ya, but if you aren't trying to be perfect by doing the things within your power, perfectly, you'll never reach the mark that Jesus has set for you.

Don't worry I didn't share this with the family, I shared the scripture and a little bit about how we need to work, but it was much softer.  The scripture talks about revelations in their time, sometimes as missionaries, or members, we wonder why I'm not hearing the constant voice of the spirit putting the words directly in my mouth or telling me to keep walking down this street and knock on this door, blah blah blah.  God never said he's going to tell us everything, every person we need to contact or everything we need to share, but if we are studying praying trying to be the best we can by following his example, my words that I'm using while waiting for the spirit to take over are the words he wants me to say, that when we pray about the book of mormon to know if its true, god doesn't answer us the first time we ask, maybe not the second or the third or the tenth, but he will answer. the revelations in their time. not before and not after, or job is to be doing the right thing at the right time so when that time comes we are ready to hear.

I've ranted enough, I wouldn't mind this area or the change too bad, but my comp is a hard comp.  He's the first one, I'd say, that wasn't my friend.  He's like rude and instead of correcting my Spanish when I say something wrong he just laughs, haha.  It's joyful to be around him.  Just a thought to be kind to one another the people that you don't think about or you only pass by, be kind.

And to close, like a missionary I know this church is true, I know that Joseph smith was a prophet of god and that  Thomas s monson is his successor and the mouth piece of Jesus christ on the earth. I know that the scripture contain gods word for us and without profound study of the scriptures we are wasting that god given opportunity to learn.

I love you all individually,

Elder Blotter

Week 34 - Special Changes

I’m like a bit discouraged, not really, but a little. As you know I had special changes, and that means after visiting a family we were teaching on Sunday, who told us that they wanted to get baptized the next Saturday, we got a phone call from president. My comp answered and then passed me the phone. President tells me that he was calling to ask if I’d be willing to go to Paraiso Stake, to the Guelatao ward. Of course I said if thats what you need me to do president thats what I’ll do. He said thanks and said he’d be coming to do the change the next day in the afternoon. So we went back to the house and I packed and cleaned my clothes and got ready to leave. I said by to the family with whom we were living and the inv. there. I wanted to cry but the inv., named Memo Guillermo, told me that all change is good and everything happens for a reason, which made me feel better. Hahaha he’s a 28 year old lawyer who we were teaching. I’m going to return to baptize him in like 2 weeks.

But, back to the story, I left the next day. We woke up, did some stuff and played soccer for a zone activity. I got back to the house and president shows up with the elder I was being changed with. The president’s wife lets the members dog escape so Elder Luna and I chased it down for like three blocks, haha. I changed the stuff and said goodbye to Pantitlan. I said by to Walmart, to a kitchen, to a dryer, to a bunch of super cool people, only to arrive to a disgustingly dirty house in Guelatao, which was in the same zone that I had just left, Paraiso. It took all day to clean and we threw away 5 black garbage bags of trash and filled like 2 full of clothes.

For three weeks I had been in Estado de Mexico, and again I’m in D.F. where the streets don’t make sense and they use a direction system that is truly dumb with a comp thats semi fried.

Yay. Oh and I got to welcome a ward that had zero investigators. Zero. And a bishop that doesn’t want to help the missionaries or be the bishop. The special changes were because one elder was escaping in the night to go hook up with an inv. that was going on for like a month. He went home, and they changed his comp for good measure.

So pretty much the situation is ideal, Hahahaha. Oh ya, I forgot to mention that I got raised from jr. to senior comp, with a comp who has 16 months and who isn’t perfectly obedient, to put it kindly. This week was just a struggle to visit members and get to know them. We only had 2 lessons with people who aren’t members. Only two! We visited 30 members this week, hahaha.

There are 3 cool things that happened:

• First: we get a referral for this 15 year old who wants the gospel and our message, I just hope we can teach his mother too.
• Second: while walking in the street some guy called out to us, I/We went back to talk to him and he said while giving us his business card I want to go to your church, call me so we can talk. ¡OKAY!
• Third: we got the opportunity to return to my old area Saturday night to baptize a family of three, Tazo, Anel and Owen. I baptized all three and it was a super special baptism and a super special feeling of the spirit. I love that I got to feel and share that with them. That experience made this week bearable, haha.

So that’s my life! How y’all doing?

Love you guys, thanks for your prayers,

Elder Blotter

And the pic is of a monument called the coyote the coyote of Nezahualcoyotl the city were I was. 

Week 33 - No Letter From Josh, but Bonus Letter From Mission Pres's Wife

Hello Sister Blotter,

    You may not hear from your son today. He was going to try and find an internet spot but we kept him pretty busy!

    We had to make an emergency transfer today. We sent an Elder home and had to transfer his companion to a new spot. We then moved Elder Blotter and Elder Lara to the apartment that was vacated.

    Elder Blotter became a Senior Companion today. He is in a new area, with a new companion. What we did is called “white washing” an area. It makes it hard on the new companionship because neither of them have knowledge of the area. But in this case, it was the only choice – the area seventy even requested it.
   
    To add even more – Elder Blotter left a perfectly straight, beautiful little apartment. When we arrived at the new home, it needed work. We handed them money for cleaning supplies and told them to put on their gym clothes. It wasn’t terribly dirty, but not especially welcoming – especially after leaving the old place!

    So that’s my story! He is a wonderful missionary and we so appreciated his willingness to be moved and clean up an apartment – and a sticky situation!

    I’ve attached a few pictures to enjoy. The old suitcase (third missionary I am told) is hanging in there – but we will hope you don’t have a fourth missionary! It may not make it that long!

Take care,
Susan Stutznegger