He expects our......

A New Vision For The Work of Salvation

Wishing will not make it so. The Lord expects our thinking. He expects our action. He expects our labors. He expects our testimonies. He expects our devotion.

President Thomas S. Monson

Elder Russell and Elder Enriquez

"The Story Behind This Family"

As related by Elder Russell

"There is a family in the ward where the mother is an active member, the father is very Catholic, and the children are not baptized.  The father had not permitted his two children to be baptized for many years until yesterday. The story begins like this.....  we knew about this families specific situation, but we didn't really have any hope of changing the situation because we knew how the father felt about his religion and the challenge that he was almost never home.  We had planned the day before to visit some close neighbors of theirs and put the part member family as a backup.  The first visit fell through, so we passed by their home as a surprise to them.  The surprise flipped in our direction as the father happened to be home this weekend, which ended up presenting the opportunity for us to discuss the need for his children to be baptized. He told us that his children can do what they want, that it didn't matter to him anymore, but that he wanted to be at the baptism.  This presented a unique situation in that the baptism needed to happen the next day because he would be available.  This was OK, because the children had been active in the church for years even though they weren't baptized.  The next day they were baptized. It was amazing to see how God puts everything in place at the time that he wants.  The Lord sent us to that family at the perfect moment when the father was home and his heart was softened. Heavenly Father also provided the means so that we could make the necessary arrangements for the baptisms.

Another example showing he knows each of us, our needs and desires." 

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Holiday Packages  

Mexico Pachuca Mission

Elder ________________

Boulevard Miguel Hidalgo 4.5 Km

Col. Villas de Pachuca

C.P. 42083

Pachuca, Hidalgo Mexico

Please send through the United States Postal Service no later than November 1st if possible.

If I may be so bold: Please consider something little for their companion in case they don't get anything from home.

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(Above left) As if learning the Spanish language isn't enough- Elder Stewart ordered a book on French. You GO Elder Stewart! Everyone in the office kept asking me if I ordered the book- are you kidding? I can barely say "Hola"!

(Above right) Elder Barber showed up to the mission office looking dapper in his vest. He looks trim and fit..... it's that Mexican diet plan... 

(Bottom) President BBQing "la comida" for Elder Poulsen and Elder Dove. 

It was the last lunch with our assistants before Elder Poulsen headed for home. I has been a little emotional all week...

The boys gobbled up lunch like it was their last meal. 

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District Meeting 

President's assistant Elder Poulsen attended this district meeting on Wednesday. 

He complimented Elder Duran on his excellent and well prepared training.

The camera for the pictures below takes 10 frames in a row.... I picked the best two...they got crazier and crazier the more the camera flashed... 

Look at those smiles...

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Departing Missionaries Sept 28th 2013

"Goodbyes are not forever. Goodbyes are not the end.

 They simply mean I'll miss you... until we meet again."

We sadly said goodbye to eleven magnificent missionaries.
Many served as Zone Leaders and Trainers and so again we felt a large leadership gap ...
President kept his emotions intact pretty good all Friday afternoon/night as he interviewed them and we had lunch and dinner at the house. Then when we met them Saturday morning at 3:30 am to see them off in six taxis to the bus station, for the bus to the Mexico City airport- we did pretty good... but about 4 hours later President came into the kitchen sobbing. I think it finally hit him that they were really headed home...oh- how we have grown to love and admire them each individually. 
This is a text I got on my phone Thursday night from the dearest Elder...
"All my bags are packed...I'm ready to go...Cause I'm leavin' on a jet plane -don't know when I'll be back again..."  
That's all it took and I was tearing up like a cry baby... 
...this is hard on the heart.

Elder Shillig (Rural Retreat, Virginia), Elder McCormick ( Hope Mils, North Carolina),
Elder Serrato (Tarimbaro, Michocacan Mexico), Elder Perez (San Miguel de Allede, Guanajuato Mexico), Elder Garcia (Cali, Colombia), Elder Bowles (Manti, Utah),
  Elder Hernandez (Guadalajara, Jalisco Mexico), Elder Peterson (Mesa, Arizona),
Elder Kofford (Las Vegas, Nevada), Elder Clawson (Taylorsville, Utah),
and Elder Poulsen (Ely, Nevada)

Below Elder Poulsen (left, going home), Elder Loza and Elder Dove (Currently assistants to the President) and Elder Shillig (right, going home). All have served as assistants to President Egbert.

So now... onward to the next event...our focus changes to our arriving missionaries in the morning. We have 9 natives coming in the morning(Monday) and then we drive to Mexico City and pick up 3 Elders coming from the Provo MTC. We will share all those pictures in next weeks blog.
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So yesterday and today (Sunday) we zipped up to Molango again to check on and support the "Branch" and "Group" in that area. Elder McCormick who has been serving with Elder Heninger was one of our eleven that went home. Elder Caballero was transferred early before scheduled changes to be Elder Heninger's new companion. Because this area is so far away we couldn't have our missionaries out of the area from Friday through Tuesday. Elder Caballero has been serving as a Zone Leader in Mezquital but will do a tremendous job in this new assignment. President picked Elder Caballero because of his work ethic, trustworthy character and his ability to be a phenomenal trainer to Elder Heninger; who by the way is doing amazing with his language. Saturday night they had an incredible family home evening with branch members - I was so impressed. Then in today's meetings (5th Sunday combined RS and Priesthood) no one had been assigned to teach; but never fear- Elder Caballero taught a meaningful 50 min lesson on the atonement. "ALWAYS PREPARED"- if we could all be so lucky to follow his example.
Both Elders are trying to practice their limited piano playing skills any chance they get at the "House of Prayer" (church building). Its amazing how well the members do singing acapella every Sunday.
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Sharing corner...

• So this week I tried to make homemade rolls like Grandma Mae used to make. The first batch was little bit concerning (that's being positive)... one Elder commented "Did you pray before you tried to make them?" Of course I hadn't. So the next day I tried round two... prayed before... and they turned out so much better!
• In last weeks Sacrament meeting, my companion and I gave talks. I talked about miracles and they can take place in our lives. I really testified of that because many weeks ago we didn't have investigators in Sacrament Meeting, and this week we had five investigators at church. Something that I felt was a miracle coupled with hard work. A couple that we found is such a great story.. I would like to share.  A week ago my companion and I were in a suburb in our area, we had just left the combi (transport van) and were beginning to walk, but in that moment I looked back and I saw a woman. I felt a desire to go talk with her, but instead I ignored the prompting. We turned left on the corner and when we were walking I turned back looking to see if I could see where the woman had gone. We finally arrived at the place of our appointment and they were not there.  So then we returned down our previous path trying to locate this woman I had seen but we were unsuccessful. We began to knock doors and we found a young man that wanted to talk with us, but requested at another time. We then were going to another site in our area, but I felt bad about leaving. So we returned and found a man that the missionaries had taught in 2005 and he had  previously read the BofM up to the book of Alma. We were invited back to teach him and his family. We returned another day and we are now teaching them, and they attended sacrament meeting last Sunday. I really know that there are many people that the lord has prepared to receive the gospel right now. We only have to find them and teach them by the spirit.

• I do have a parable for your wife though if she wants to share it... This is an experience I had this week as I was at a lesson with my companion and my focus got distracted for a small amount of time...
  I saw a centipede, a very small one, and a spider. But the centipede was still much bigger than the spider. As I was watching, the spider trapped the centipede (which was on the floor and the spider was in his web under the desk) by shooting strings of web at his legs. The more webs he shot the closer he got to the centipede. Now the spider thought he was still in control and was going to have dinner for the next few days. Never-the-less he got a little too close and the centipede shot around in lightening speed and bit and killed the spider instantly. Now as I witnessed this whole event I began to relate this with us being the spider and Satan being the Centipede and the strings of web being things we forgot to do or did wrong. For example we forget to pray or read our scriptures, that is the first string and you now have Satan's attention. so this leads you to start being disobedient and doing other things that you know are not right. More strings to the centipede. Now you aren't reading or praying but you are going to church so you think you are in control. Unknowingly you are continually becoming farther and farther away from safety, Heavenly Father, and getting closer and closer to Satan and his power. But what we don't realize is that spiritually we are very weak; and then a larger and more serious sin comes in our way and you don't have the strength to say no. This is when Satan may reach out and fatally bite us causing our death spiritually. All because that one string of web (wrong doing) that was initially spit at us and started our whole entrapment. I have since contemplated how we need to remember that Satan has a lot of power and we never want to catch his attention from being spiritually weak and by making poor choices. We need to continually be obedient and focus on the fruits (fly's) that come into our home closer to our Heavenly Father.