Our Newest Additions to The Mexico Pachuca Mission...
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As with every 6 week cycle- when missionaries head home and new ones come, "Change" is inevitable. Along with those changes new leaders are called and transfers of areas and companions can be a much anticipated blessing or a sad unexpected announcement. I so appreciated this comment from Elder Bickley on Monday when he was told he would be involved in transfers -
"Life is a garden.... so DIG it!"
So here is to "Life in the Garden" of Pachuca... and these faces are "diggin' it".
If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude.
Maya Angelou
Challenge from President:
"... that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God." Mosiah 2:17
This is a translated section of President Egbert's weekly letter to the missionaries on Sept 30th...
"I realize as missionaries we constantly focus on serving others, never-the-less I feel the need to challenge you to focus even more on serving other people. During the coming week I invite you as individuals and companionship's to seek out opportunities to serve others. Look for opportunities to serve each other, the families that you visit, the investigators, the less actives, and especially the families that feed you daily. Think constantly on the needs of others, and the opportunities that exist to help them and improve their lives Think of the examples of Christ like service that you have seen in your own lives, the lives of your parents, church leaders, or other missionaries. And strive to become more like them ... next week I ask each of you to share some of the experiences you have had, the feelings that you felt, and the changes that have occurred in your heart... I testify to you that true charity develops through the service that we give to others. You will come closer to your Savior Jesus Christ through charitable service than through any other way."
Presidente Egbert
So below are a few of the responses back to President in this weeks letters. If it inspires you to be better, be a little more aware of others needs and act upon it then I'll give our missionaries full credit for inspiring you...
This week has been very edifying. We have been looking for opportunities to serve our fellow men. And personally I have made breakfast for my companion every day and ironed his shirts most days. It feels very good to help others. As a zone we have provided service to those who needed it. Wednesday we focused in district class on "Service", Thursday we painted the house of an investigator, and Friday we helped with a ward Family night where we did the game. On Saturday we had a baptism of a 21 yr old with 7 of his friends, a ton of support from the ward along with less actives and investigators in attendance and on Sunday he was confirmed. It was a great week! "Elder C"
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Hola Pesidente!
Hows everything going for you? Everything is going well
here in our area. I'm looking forward to these transfers. This past week has
been a good one. We had a good amount of lessons and they were all really
powerful lessons. We had one experience where we passed by a mans house looking
for his daughter, because she is an old investigator of the previous Elders. We
ended up teaching this man the Plan of Salvation and it was really powerful.
His wife had recently passed away and he had a lot of questions about the
afterlife and why things like this happen in our lives. The spirit was present
and I think he felt it too. He didn't end up going to church but we'll get him
there next week. I had a good experience with fasting this week. We have a
family that we are teaching, and the previous elders had been teaching them for
some time. Its always been really hard to get them to come to church. I
decided to fast for them, so that they would come to the chapel. Turns out they
did. It was the first time in a long time for this family. It felt good,
because I have a weakness of fasting, but my testimony was strengthened through
this experience. We have been striving to give more service this week, and
it turned out pretty good. We washed dishes a few times, and helped a Brother
dig a ditch. It was good. Most of the time the Hermanas wouldn't let us do their
dishes. But I really tried to serve my companion more and it turned out to be a
good thing. Our relationship grew this week, and I think it is due to the focused service.Thanks for everything Presidente! Thanks for guiding us
with your revelation, and helping us to become better missionaries and members
of this church! "Elder J"
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Hello President
This week was pretty good, we had one of our two
investigators get baptized the other one smoked two days before, so we have set
some goals with him to work on that challenge and maybe he will be baptized the 19th of October. This week my companion and I really tried to focus on serving and we had some really cool
experiences. Our first experience was trying to help a sister get a pea out of
her sons nose, in the end he had to go to the emergency room because of how far he had
stuck it up there but we were able to help her calm him down. Our second experience
was helping a member prepare some party bags for her friends daughters third
birthday. It was fun and she was able to see that we are here to help all those that we
can. Between companions we have been really trying to find the little things that
just change a day, ironing shirts, shinning shoes, making breakfast ect. its
really helped me feel more in-tune with the spirit and follow his promptings. I cannot wait to continue doing this- thank you for the challenge and recommendation. "Elder M"
esta semana fue bien. estoy medio triste a tener cambios pero animado para ver que va a pasar. no tengo quejas de ningun tipo. esta semana hemos hecho lo que pidio, hemos enfocado mas en el servico. mi relato favorita es, caminabamos a una cita y vimos una hna quitado cajas de su coche. estababomos medio lejos cuando vimos que ella iba a tratar a cargar una caja bien grande. a esto punto empezamos a correr a ayudarla. llegamos en tiempo y tome la caja y la puse en su casa. ella estaba tan feliz que estuvimos alla a ayudarla era algo muy especial.
hasta manana
translation
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Hola President Egbert!
I hope you are doing well and Sister Egbert as well!
Things have been going good here for me and companion and this was another good
week! Last Monday I really enjoyed your letter its message about service.
Service has always been something I've loved doing and I had some of the best
and memorable youth activities as service projects. There really aren't any
words to describe the feelings that come to see the gratitude and happiness of
someone that you have helped, and I guess you could say its an addicting
feeling. And this week we had the opportunity of being able to have a service
project with our district and paint the inside of a house for a member. They
were very grateful and it was wonderful to be able to provide that help for
them and I am looking forward to more opportunity's. Well President I hope you
and Sister Egbert have a great week and thank you so much for everything you
both do for all of us. "Elder J"
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Hola Presidente,
Thank you for everything! So you asked us this week to
look for more serving opportunities... And to study more about service. So one
day this week my study was focused completely on service. I studied Pme, the
bible dictionary, BoM, and a lot more books that I have. But mainly what
touched me the most was from a talk that I read from the last General
Conference. It was from the talk of David L. Beck, in his talk, he shares a
story. It is about a girl who starts High school and is bullied. And the mom
asks an aaronic priesthood holder to help her daughter. Well he is the starting
quarterback, and he and his friends, start to help her out. The bullying
eventually stops, and she has friends. This story really touched me for some
reason. It really made me realize that I need to do more service and help
people. There are a couple phrases that I really like that I want to share with
you. The first one I love because it promises us blessings when we serve
others. It says:
"That’s what happens when you lose yourself in
serving others—you find yourself. You change and grow in ways that would not be
possible otherwise. These young men have experienced the joy of ministering and
continue to seek opportunities to bless others."
I know that if I serve others, not only will I grow and
find myself, but I will want afterwards to continually seek opportunities to
serve others. I love it. I love that I am giving to years of my life to serve
others. This work is not about me or my family, its about helping others to
return to their Heavenly Father and have eternal life with their families.
The second:
"You don’t have to be a star athlete to minister to
others. You received the power, the authority, and the sacred duty to minister
the moment you were ordained to the priesthood. President James E. Faust
taught, “Priesthood is the authority delegated to man to minister in the name
of God.” The Aaronic Priesthood holds the keys of the ministering of
angels."
This simply states that no matter if you have a name tag
or not, that it is our responsibility to minister in the name of God. Even more
so when we have been set apart to be Representatives of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Today I was reading a talk by Elder Bednar and an experience he shared made me
realize that we represent Jesus Christ. Here he is talking about a man that
needed help with the Word of Wisdom. The stake president asked Elder Bednar to
come, and as he greeted this man, He said “I am an Apostle of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and He sent me to this stake this weekend to tell you that you can do
this. The Savior knows you can do this. As His servant, I know you can do this.
And as His representative, I promise you will have His help.”
This is what I want to do. I want to know that I
represent the Lord Jesus Christ and that I act in his name. I want to say this
the next time I meet someone. I want to help. I love these people. It is so
hard for me to see all the work that Satan has done here in Mexico. They are
such great people. They are so loving and humble. All they need is to know the
Savior, and how they can return to live with him.
This week I didn't have any big service projects, but I
have been edified by looking and trying to think of ways I can help the people
here better! I know that charity is a selfless act of love. I want the people
to know that I love them, and that I am a representative of Jesus Christ, and I
can help them. I love this work. I love these people, and I love my Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ.
Thank you for helping me to realize the importance to
serve the people. I am going to continue to do that forever. I love helping.
Thanks for all the love and time you have for us. It is
appreciated a ton!
"Elder B"
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This week has been great. I have been extremely blessed
to work with, and learn from my companions. They are
incredible examples to me of service, kindness, and genuine love for the
people. This week as we were walking (after an appointment fell through, and
the plan B wasn't home) a husband and wife waved us over to their home. They
asked us if we could help them move a refrigerator from their car into their
house. We did. We then began to talk with them, introducing who we are, what we
do, etc. We then performed more service by loading up large box's into their
truck. As we were leaving, my companion asked if they knew of anyone we
could visit. They thought for a second, and then started to walk. They walked
to the next door neighbors house, and walked right inside. She came out after
about 45 seconds and welcomed us in. We then proceeded to teach a marvelous
spiritually led discussion. I was amazed that even when our appointment fell
through, and on top of that, our Plan B wasn't there, we were where the Lord
needed us to be. It truly was a great experience. We gained 4 new investigators
through that simple act of service. "Elder S"
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The Perspective of Children.
Sister Egbert- Last Saturday we were asked to go to a primary/mission
activity in the church. We explained to the children what missionary life was
like and how it had blessed our lives. After, they all wrote us letters and
drew us pictures. This was one of the pictures they drew! We thought it was
hilarious because Elders Hirst and Rodriguez are stick figures and Elders
Arnett and Menendez are a little too big boned to be stick figures haha.
Notice the tie on Elder Arnett!
See you tomorrow at changes!
Thanks for all you do for us! We love you!
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They had fun taking these after district meeting. Thanks Elder Poulsen.
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Elder Lastra's district meeting. It was great... practice time is so crucial!
Elder Fox is "rockin' " the language.
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Interviews in Tulancingo
One of Presidents' favorite parts of the mission.
Elder Kearl and Elder Rodas................ Elder Pena and Elder Cardon
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Pictures above include- Elders who came in the office for language testing and college application help, Elder Heninger trying to catch dinner, Elder Poulsen modeling a jacket a convert made for him, and President Egbert with future missionaries he met at a stake conference.
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President Egbert's father told him as a young man regarding missionary service,
"Go my son...If for no other reason than the joy of coming home."
Pictures of Elder Shillig and Elder Poulsen's return home last weekend.
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