Mexico Week 40: Reading the Book of Mormon

Happy Halloween!!

Well just so that you all know, yes Mexico celebrates Halloween hahaha, but instead of asking for candy they ask for money hahaha, so the people give little money and sometimes candy. The funny thing is that they do it with their parents hahaha!! Every little kid that asks me for money, I just tell them that in my country they ask for candy, you should do the same hahaha. It's probably mean but I really don't have millions to give out to the little kids hahaha. They hardly dress up! But it's a holiday here. I hope you all have a great Halloween this night!! Baseball here by the way is a popular sport so I heard that the Cardinals did win and I am happy that they did. I just want the Dbacks to go all the way again!

Thank you for all your emails! I enjoy reading everyone of them :) I am glad that you all had decent and good weeks!! Remember that you are all in my prayers and thoughts. In about 1 year we will all see each other again hahaha, how crazy is that!! Really my mission has been passing by so fast and I feel like this last year will just pass by faster! I am really loving it here and I really love the people here. They are really nice and the members are always willing to help anyone. I really love them here. They have given me clothes, money, blankets to keep warm, and food.

Well in this past week Elder Escamilla and I have been working hard. We found a sweet family of 4 who let us in their house to talk. Well we started talking about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon and they all loved it. There is a little boy of 10 years who in the lesson said "Mom we need to get Baptized again because the Catholic church doesn't have the Priesthood." Hahahahaha how cool is that!! That first lesson we all invited them to be Baptized and they accepted! This week this sweet boy has been reading the pamphlets and the Book of Mormon and is pushing his family to listen and read and progress. He really is a great example! This past week we have also found a couple more new investigators who have accepted Baptism and look like they are going to progress.

This past two weeks we have invited our recent converts to join us in reading the Book of Mormon before Christmas. In our visits this week they have all read a ton!! Hno Fidel and his son are in Alma 28 and read 20 chapters one day!!! Hna Cony and her family are in 3 Nephi after 2 weeks!!! They are beating us!! I asked Hna Cony "are you sure that you are not in 2 Nephi" she told me no but that she is reading in 3 Nephi. Well I asked her "so you read all of Alma?" and she responed "ohhh Alma is the best book so far in the Book of Mormon!" hahahaha!! I could not believe it! They are just strong and faithful members!! This past week we also have been working really hard reactivating members in the ward so that we can achieve our goal in splitting the ward soon. Well yesterday in Sacrament meeting there were members standing outside the room because there weren't any seats!! It was awesome!! Hahahaha the Bishop really feels that we can split the ward if we keep working hard and Baptizing.

Things are going great here in Castillotla and I am really loving Missionary work! I don't have much more to say. I have not tried anything new food wise. I have alot of pictures to send but I forgot my camera again so next week I will get them on :) I love you all and hope you have a great week everyone!! Stay safe!

Love,

Elder Brady Lester

Mexico Week 39: Working Hard & Baptisms of Euloterio and Rene

Hey everyone!!

Well I want to thank Mom and the kids for writing me, hahahaha and grandma too :) I felt a little sad when I opened up my email today because I usually have like 15 emails, but today only 4 hahaha. Kids I am glad that things are going great for you guys!! Sounds like you had fun last weekend with dad. Brinkley, your life seems really exciting and busy right now with school and work!! I am glad that you are busy hahaha....that way you don't get married before I get home, hahaha jk jk jk. I hear school is good and you are doing well. Keep it up!! And save your money!! That is how the Lord will bless you. I have learned something....5 dollar income 6 dollar expense...misery. 5 dollar income 4 dollar expense...eternal happiness. Keep that in mind everyone! I know that I wasn't the great example of that, hahaha and I will pay for my mistakes after the mission :(  Mom I heard from the kids that you had a great bday! They bought you a bike!! That's awesome!! I hope all your wishes come true :)

Well this past week things went really good. First off we had 2 more Baptisms on Saturday!! Hermano Euloterio, the husband of Hermana Cony, and Hna Rene, her daughter got Baptized!!! It was a great service!! The spirit was felt and they were even crying hahaha :) I promised them that in 1 year after my mission I am going to come back and go through the Temple with them to see them get Sealed as a family :) I really can't wait for that!! They are such a great family!

This past week Elder Escamilla and I had to drop alot of investigators that just were not progressing. We are trying to find new investigators in this week and we pray that we will be able to find more chosen people. This past week we actually found a new investigator named Gabriela. We decided to knock doors for an hour in a specific street in our area. Well we knocked her door and we started talking. She told us that she was Christan and that she knew a little bit about us. She said "you Mormons do weird things." Hahaha my comp and I laughed and we started to talk about some things but she didn't have much time, so we got an appointment with her. We went back for the appointment and we started talking...outside of her house hahaha about the Restoration. The whole time I felt uncomfortable and didn't know why. As we started talking about Joseph Smith and the BoM, she just looked at us weird and said that it was a crazy story hahaha. In that moment the Spirit told me to talk about the Plan of Salvation. I had no idea why, and I rejected it!! I kept talking about the BoM and the Spirit kept telling me to do it, so finally I just put down the BoM and said, "I feel like I need to tell you something." That is how I started talking about the Plan of Salvation. It was an ugly transition of things but it worked and it was because the Spirit was with us. My comp and I explained a little bit of the lesson. She completely changed and said that she wanted all of it to be true and that she might get Baptized if it's true, but she still has problems with the BoM and Joseph Smith. We challenged her to read and to pray. Today we have another appointment with her and I am excited to talk with her. I know that the Spirit helped us a ton in that lesson and really hope that we can continue to work with her and that she can accept all of this as the truth.

This past week my comp and I also worked really hard reactivating families hahaha. We really want to split the ward and start up another ward and a branch. In this ward there are over 650 members but only about 180 go. Well after a hard working week of visiting less active families, yesterday 216 members showed up!! We were really happy! Things are going great for us and I have never felt so happy in my mission. I really pray that I stay here for a while longer and that the Lord keeps blessing us.

Thank you for all your support and I love you all!! Hope you all have a great week!!

Love,

Elder Brady Lester

Mexico Week 38: 11 Months and Baptisms of Reina and Karina

Hey there everyone!!

Well first off I want to wish a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my wonderful Mother!! I really hope you have a great special day today ma and I love you tons!! Thank you everyone for you letters and emails :) I always love Mondays to be able to read them and write :) Well this past week was just a great week and I have been having alot of fun and the Lord really is blessing me. This past week we had a zone conference and I learned alot! I really learned how to listen to the Spirit and help our investigators feel it as well. I also saw Elder Rojas hahahaha, and he looks the same poor dude. I really hope that he gets things done! I have pictures to upload but forgot my camera to upload them so we will just have to wait till next week :(

Well yesterday two more daughters of God entered into His presence as they were Baptized yesterday! Hermana Reina and Hna Karina both got Baptized!! It was a wonderful day. In the morning when I woke up yesterday I had this feeling that I should give my chance to Baptize Hna Reina to someone else hahaha. Crazy I thought and I just shrugged it off. But all morning it was bugging me. Well I got to the church and I saw a young man, Jasiel, who is in our ward and again the impression came to me. Well I talked to Hna Reina and told her my feelings and asked her if it was alright that this young man Baptized her. She hesitated because really wanted me to do it but she finally said yes, so Jasiel Baptized her and my comp Baptized Hna Karina. It was a wonderful service and the Spirit was so strong. I almost cried hahaha because I really love them. I really love my investigators. They are like best friends or family.  This upcoming Saturday the husband of Cony and her daughter are going to be Baptized too!! I am so happy that finally they are going to be a united family in the church. Hermano Euloterio is his name, and all he wants to do is be sealed in the Temple with his family. He has told us that that is his goal and nobody is going to stop him!! Right now we are just working with our other investigators and we want to see some weddings here soon!! 

I am really loving the work here and we are so busy. I need to finish this letter because we have appointments but the work is great. I love missionary work. I love being here in Mexico serving the people and children of God. I know that this is the true church. The Book of Mormon is true and nobody can tell me other wise. I have such a testimony of that book. President Reeves just challenged us to read it by Christmas so if you want to join me that would be awesome! I know that we can learn so much from that book :) It is a blessing that we have it. I gotta go but I love you all. I am thankful for your support and I pray that the Lord will always bless you as long as you are obedient :) 

Love, 

Elder Brady Lester 

Mexico Week 37: Straight up Missionary Work

Hey everyone!!


Well this past week we got alot done as a companionship! We have been working really hard and we are seeing alot of success. This past week we got 5 Baptism dates for 5 investigators. We have been working really hard to help our investigators feel the need to accept Baptism. This past week Hna Reina and her sister in law accepted Baptism and they are getting Baptized on the 16th of this month!! I can't wait for it! They have been progressing like crazy!! In the past week we had a very sweet experience with them. On Tuesday we taught both of them in a members house and the lesson was going very well as we were reading 2 Nephi 31 in the Book of Mormon. After, we talked for a bit and read, and the Spirit really hit me hard and told me to invite them to be Baptized on the 16th of October. Well I did it and Hermana Carina said of course, and she kinda shared her testimony of why and how she felt as she started to learn and know all of this. After, I invited Hermana Reina and she said no. We talked for a bit and after I invited her to pray with us in that moment to receive an answer. She was hesitant but my companion promised her that she would receive an answer to her prayer if she prayed right then with faith. She did it, and in the prayer the Spirit was so strong. She started crying and so did Hna Carina. I even started crying, and after her prayer we all sat in silence for awhile. After about a minute or two she said that this is all true and she later accepted Baptism on the 16th. It was a great miracle that God did that day. My comp and I were so happy!


The next day we went and talked to the husband of Hna Coni - Euloterio. He was very different as we started to talk that evening. We started talking and he said that he had a dream that he wanted to share after he read the Book of Mormon and prayed. He started describing a place, a beautiful building with palm trees and water and flowers, and said that it was a gorgeous place. In his dream he wanted to go but someone told him that he had to get Baptized so he was not able to go. Well we started talking about the Temple and what goes on there. I had a picture of the Arizona Temple in my pocket and I showed it to him and he said that that was the place in his dream. He started saying that that is his goal, to go to the Temple so he accepted Baptism and just said that he would do anything to be sealed with his family in the Temple. That day him and one of his daughter accepted Baptism for the 22nd of October. We are working hard with his other daughter but she is tough because she is older. We are praying that she will accept.


This past week my comp and I led the disctrict in everything! We are having so much success!! Eight investigators showed up yesterday to church and it was just a wonderful day. I testified about Mothers. I believe that the calling of Mother is the most important calling in this world, more important than the Prophet. They have the responsibility of raising the children of God. That's not a small task. Without women the Plan of Salvation does not work. After I gave my testimony, I swear every single sister thanked me, hahaha. It was just a great day yesterday!


Well I gotta go now but love you all and hope you all have a great week. You are in my prayers!


Elder Lester

Mexico Week 36: The Spirit and Happy in the Mission

Hey there everyone!

Well this week was just a great week! I am just happy here in the mission. Things are going great with Elder Escamilla and I. We are really working hard. In the last week we lead the mission in lessons taught to investigators! Things are going great and it looks like soon we will be Baptizing again. I feel like in my first change with him we pretty much opened the area again because Rojas and I got nothing done, but now that we are in the second change together, we feel like we are going to see the fruits of our labors. Things are smoothly going along. We finally have the support of the Bishop. and the leaders of the ward. I have always said that if we have a Ward Mission Leader and Ward Missionaries in this ward, we could Baptize every week, so hopefully the Bishop will get on that hahaha. I feel like finally it's an answer to a prayer that I have been praying for, for the past 4 months in this area. I always ask my Father in Heaven that one day the leaders will help us and He answered me!!

Well in this past week things got a little tougher with Hna Monica and Alicia. They want to get Baptized so bad but they won't not work on Sundays. They make most of their money Sundays because they sell things in the street, and people go out and buy on Saturday's and Sunday's here, so it's hard for them to drop it. I really don't want to Baptize just to Baptize. My goal is that they go to the Temple, and they need to go to Church to be able to go to the Temple. The last lesson we had with them we talked about Faith and putting the things of God first so that He can bless us, and they really liked it and said that they would commit to come to Church so we are working with them. Something that I have learned here in the mission is that as Missionaries we need to help them develop their Faith in Christ so that they are drawn to Baptism by the Spirit. There are alot of Missionaries who just drag them to Baptism. The thing is they don't stay active. I want my converts to be active!

In Missionary work finding by the Spirit is just as important as teaching by the Spirit. If we don't find somebody by the Spirit we don't have anyone to teach who is willing to make Convenants with the Lord. Elder Escamilla and I last week really focused on finding in our comp studies, and what we could do to find more people to teach but not just people...prepared people who are ready to listen to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This past week we found 4 new investigators which is not alot, but all 4 we found through the Spirit and they are all ready to make Convenants with God. They all accepted Baptism and we just need to teach them. We have found 3 great sisters, Hna Reina, Carina, and Erica who have all accepted Baptism right after the first lesson. They all said in their lessons, I want to get Baptized right now hahaha. They still need to learn a bit more, but it was awesome to hear that after teaching them. We also started talking with Hna Coni´s husband. We started getting impressions that he is ready to listen and we went with it. He accepted and wants to follow Christ so that he has a better marriage with Coni :) I am grateful to be worthy to work through the Spirit as we are obedient and study each day. We are learning tons.

Well General Conference was awesome!! I have to say that my 3 favorite talks in order were, Elder Holland, Elder Packer, and Elder Christofferson. I really learned a ton and felt the spirit. I learned from Holland the importance of just being worthy Priesthood holders. It is true what he said. No missionary can teach the Law of Chastity and testify of it, and the blessings of it, if he doesn't live it himself, or repent for any action that he has commited. With Christofferson I really learned about the blessings of repenting. It's hard sometimes but the blessings are amazing! I have learned alot about the Sacrament in the mission. We take it for granted all the time. If we take it worthily and understanding why we can receive the full blessings. I learned alot about the importance of listening and acting on the Promptings of the Spirit from the talk of Packer. It is so true. If we don't listen to it, and make a little mistake, it could change the course of our lives. It's a commandment that we seek, listen, and follow. I watched all that in Spanish, hahaha which was cool. I understood everything and thought it would be a bit tougher because the Apostles always talk so perfectly and use big words, but the Spirit really helped me understand as it always does everyday.

Thank you for all your love and support! I hope you all have the best week!

Love,
Elder Brady Lester

Fall Package

Here is Brady's Fall Package for October and November

 

  

These Ties and Bows were sent for gift for a family that Brady was close to Castillotla - 2 Ties and 3 Hair Bows.

 

 

 All packaged up and ready to go!