...most powerful thing you can have....

"I say to you that the strongest, most powerful thing you can have with which to convert people is a testimony." -

Harold B. Lee

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As I contemplate the Fall season and the fast approaching holiday of "Thanksgiving" for everyone at home...I remember a favorite quote -

 "Being Thankful Is A habit- The Best One You'll Ever Have."  

With that thought in mind I wanted to publicly list a few of our many blessings that President and I are grateful for as we serve here in the Mexico Pachuca Mission.

• So Grateful for Obedient Missionaries
• So Grateful for Each Amazing Stake President who serves in The Mexico Pachuca Mission 
• So Grateful for Dr. Daniel Carbajal who serves as a Father, Husband, Doctor, Bishop and as our Mission Doctor day and night as a resource to help me care for these missionaries
• So Grateful for The Overall Health and Safety of our Missionaries
• So Grateful for Two of our Missionaries who awoke in the night to escape a fire in their home
• So Grateful for Honest, Obedient, Hardworking and Kind Elders that serve as our Secretaries and for the patience and attention to detail they give in being stewards over the Lords money and taking care of the monetary needs of our missionaries.
• So Grateful for The Leadership of our Assistants, Zone Leaders, and District Leaders and Grateful for the Trust we have that they are watching over their sheep assigned in their care.
• So Grateful for The Missionaries who do their job to the best of their ability on a daily basis without problem, complaint, or fanfare. Who realize it is between them and the Lord as they hold themselves accountable for the admirable way in which they serve as a Representative of the Lord Jesus Christ.
• So Grateful for Our Family at home who are watching and caring for each other in our absence and who willingly took on additional responsibilities so that we could serve. 
• So Grateful for The Countless Prayers said in behalf of our mission by family, friends, and loved ones- as I testify they help strengthen the weak knees, the homesick hearts, and fortify the safety net that surrounds our missionaries.
• And I am So Grateful for a Worthy and Tender husband who tolerates my spit fits, wild hair ideas, and homesick moments (which are fewer and far between)- and who faithfully serves our Heavenly Father to the best of his abilities as he watches over, cares for and teaches the young ones in our care.

Feeling Blessed -as We Consider the Blessings

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So this first group of Elders came in (2-3 hour bus ride) to get a copy of their house contract to work out a minor detail with the home owner and pick up "pouch" for their area.... (Elder Beesley always gets the biggest boxes!- Hope the gummy bears are still in the box when he finally gets it...) The second group spent their P-Day moving into a different house and came to pick up the deposit for the home owner of their new pad... Moving isn't easy in Mexico as few members have the time, the vehicle, or means to assist the missionaries in this task. To these good people we are extremely grateful. And the third set of Elders came in from Tecamac 1 for special interviews with President and to say "hello". 

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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 15th 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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Are these two faces not the cutest?!

Halloween Time here in Mexico is a several day celebration of  "The Day of the Dead". I had a few little ones trick or treat for several nights in a row. I was waiting for our missionaries to show up as "Missionaries" with a pillow case to collect their candy. 

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Missionaries moved out of this little house this week into another home in a more central location to their area. Missionaries had lived here for 6 yrs and so we went to meet the home owner to find out what needed to be fixed or repaired. Elder Stucki and Elder Campuzano used the rake and trimmer that happened to be in the back of the mission mini van to spruce up the front yard. I love it! Leaving the residence as best we can... Thanks Elders for your help... and PS Dad Stucki.. Elder Stucki said he misses doing yard work! Write that down in the books for later reference...

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Tibbits from Presidents Weekly Letters

This week flew by! We had some great lessons this week with 6 different people accepting a baptismal date! We stopped to buy some pan last Monday on our way home from writing letters and getting our laundry, when the man working in the bakery asked us about what we did. we set up an appointment and ended up teaching him, his wife, and his friend. him and his wife both accepted and his friend as of right now just likes to listen. we found out that he was good friends with one of the less actives that we have. when we had our second cita with him his friend just happened to be there. he shared a strong testimony of the church. hopefully we will be able to help both of them draw closer to Christ. We also had an investigator that has been an investigator for a while accept a date, the only problem with her is that she needs to get married, she wants it, but i am not sure if her boyfriend does. I fasted for her this last Sunday because she is a great person and she knows this church is true, and she wants to get baptized. The others that accepted dates are all eager to learn more and progress as well. One thing that i think we could work on would be having more member present lessons, and use the members in the lesson and not just have them there (wich happens sometimes, not very often, but sometimes) and we need to work on getting more people to church. this last Sunday was kinda a bummer, we only had 39 people there, non of which were investigators. we had 8 who said that they would come but non of the them showed up. We had planned to go and pick up one of the families, and the member friend was supposed to pick up the family that works in the bakery but for some reason that didn't work. The family we were supposed to get had a sick baby so they decided not to go. Every Sunday i have felt like we could do more to get the families less actives and investigators to church. call them on Saturday night, shoot them a text as a reminder, visit them on the way to a different families house, call the member that is supposed to bring them, stuff like that. We have the resources of a phone, two hands, two feet, and a mouth, so we just need to use them more. I would also like to see us do a service project or two for the members of the branch or investigators. i think that would help a lot because it shows that we care.

All in all it was a great week, and there is always room to improve and keep getting better. I am excited to constantly be inproving and becoming a better missionary!

Is there any way I can help you and Sister Egbert?

Oh and we also had inter-cambios this week with Elder I and Elder C. 

Elder I is a fantastic missionary that works hard and teaches with the spirit, i felt lucky to get to the chance to work with him!

Thanks again for all of your support, your wonderful letters and trainings, they are great!!!!!

Elder C

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hola presidente egbert!!!
siempre es una alegria escribirle....
pues esta semana me fue excelente... ahora es cuando estoy empezando a poner en practica mis proyectos y planes para la obra (mi area) con los miembros e investigadores y menos activos... whoa! para hacer que se bautisen,retenerlos y activarlos!!! mis estudios han mejorado y ahora puedo sentir mas el espiritu santo siempre conmigo, estoy aprendiendo mucho de mi compañero y del evangelio de jesucristo para ponerlo en practica y compartirlo... estoy fortalesiendo mucho mas mi testimonio, estoy mejorando en mi actitud,mi enseñanda y muchas cosas mas hacia mi compañero y las personas de mi area y mis otros compañeros los misioneros... hoy tuve una experiencia muy genial.. hibamos en la combi hacia una pizzeria con algunos elderes y junto ami se sento una señora que es testigo de jehova y nos pregunto a todos:¿ ustedes predican el evangelio? y yo rapidamente le respondi: ¡¡¡ no!!! nosotros enseñamos a las personas a encontrar la verdad¡¡ y ella se sorprendi y me dijo: como¡ y yo le respondi: les enseñamos el evangelio restaurado de jesucristo y su plenitud y ellos por ellos mismos con ayuda de nuestro padre celestial encuentran la verdad. por eso estamos qui 2 años de nuestras hermosas vidas dedicandoselo a dios y jesucristo... y ella se quedo callada y meditando y le regale un folleto del evangelio restaurado. eso fue genial porque se que estoy en la verdad y eso me llena de gozo y animos para seguir en la mision y predicar el evangelio....

presidente estoy muy feliz y tambien por las grandes bendiciones que mi familia esta recibiendo.. whoa! quiero estar aqui por siempre... ayudar,enseñar,cambiar,acercarme mas adios y ser como jesucristo es... eso me llena mucho de gozo...

saludos a su familia presidente y le manda saludos mi mama,mi hermana y mi familia en general...

con amor: elder p

(Translation below)

Hello President Egbert 

Its always a privilege to write you. Well this was an excellent week.. Now is when I have started to put into practice my projects and plans for the work in our area with the members, investigators, and less actives. WOW! So that they get baptized, so we retain them, and activate them. My studies have improved and now I can feel more strongly the Holy Ghost always. I am learning a lots from my companion and about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and how to put it into practice and to share it. I am strengthening my testimony a lot and improving in my attitude, my teaching, and many other things toward my companion, the people of my area and other missionaries. Today I had a great experience. We were riding in a combi to a pizza place (P-Day) with some other missionaries and a woman sat next to me of another faith. She asked everyone “Do you preach the gospel?” And I quickly responded "NO”! "We teach people to find the truth" and surprised she said to me “how?” I responded,“We teach the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ in its fullness and they by themselves with the help of our Heavenly Father find the truth. For this reason we are here for two years of our beautiful lives dedicating ourselves to God and Jesus Christ.” She sat there quietly thinking about it. I gave her a pamphlet of the restoration. This was so awesome because I know/feel that I have the truth and it feels me with joy and excites me to continue my mission and to teach the gospel.

President I am very happy for the many blessings my family is receiving. WOW! I want to stay here forever…help, teach, change, and draw closer to GOD. And become like Jesus Christ. This fills me with great joy.

Greetings to your family and I send you greeting from my mom, sister and all my family.

With Love-  Elder P

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 District Meeting with Elder Trent Smith...

Elder Smith (Fourth Elder from the Left) is a triplet with his other two brothers serving in missions here in the country of Mexico. We are so grateful to have him here in Pachuca.

The Elders did a great job today with practicing. Elder Sanders is progressing nicely on his language and President commented what great teachers Hermana Rojas, Hermana Escobar, and Hermana Peralta were in this practice scenario with the two Elders. We sure appreciate these sisters being a companionship of 3. It really is harder having 3 instead of two in a companionship and they did it beautifully. Thank you.

Oh this looks like a serious group of Missionaries!

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Some days are just better than others... and Elder Dover was having one of those harder days because:

• Some one stole his USB drive... 
• He took his suit to a "Mexican" dry cleaners and when he went to pick it up today they didn't have it! What?! Oh.. its missing?!! Ugh!!!
• Then Elder Dove commented that next Wednesday might not come soon enough (When this cycle flies home)- Elder Campuzano (middle) the VISA secretary reminded him that his VISA  is still in limbo and they might not let him leave the country!
• After a pouty few minutes... and some good friends cheering up the moment... all were smiling and giggling over the happenings of the day....

A little service project... Who needs a ladder when you have a strong, trustworthy companion to lift you up?

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This was a service project with these three Elders entire ward council. After there was a little food, relaxation, and good conversation. The Elders love love love their bishop and have a great re-pore with the ward council. Who-ever said that service can't be fun and rewarding LIED!

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This next week will be busy with twenty missionaries coming in, twelve leaving for home, and the beginning of our zone conference tours. So we should have lots of pictures on next weeks blog. But with changes we have leaders leave. And thus it is Elder Doves turn to return to his anxious family and leave our side as Presidents assistant. With much prayer and fasting President has called Elder Ceballos to serve as his new assistant with Elder Loza. What would we do with out these fine young men?

       Elder Loza- Elder Dove                                                   Elder Loza and Elder Ceballos