Mexico Week 58: Apostle!

Hello everyone!

Well I have some great news!! On the 1st of July you guys already know that the mission will be splitting into two missions. We just got news today that Presidente Ralph N. Christensen will lead the Puebla North Mission and President Reeves in the Puebla South Mission. I would really love to be with Presidente Reeves but I feel that I will be in the North Mission with President Christensen. We still don't know who will be where. Because of this great thing that is happening on the 14th of April Elder David A. Bednar will be coming to talk to us!!! An Apostle!! Its going to be awesome! I cant wait. We have to prepare ourselves for this and repent so that we can learn from the Spirit.  Also some other good news is that Loma Florida is going to get a church building this year!! Which means they wont have a House of Prayer anymore!! I am so happy that the work of the Lord is growing here in Mexico.

Thank you for all writing me. I loved your letters :) Dad if you could send me your address again so that I can write you please? Mom and Brinkley I will be sending your letters this week. Thank you dad and Mom for giving me some money. That always helps so that I can eat dinner hahaha. It's just usually breakfast and lunch with the members.  I only have one package request mom....shoelaces. I have my last pair and they are about to break. My Rockport shoes broke again hahaha.  They are crappy shoes so we shouldn't buy those for Kasey when he goes on the Mission hahaha.

Well this week we worked hard. We taught a lot of lessons and we found 9 new investigators! We also invited the Fosado family to be Baptized on the 18th of March and they accepted! Things are going pretty good here. We need to help our investigators progress more towards Baptism and we must find new investigators, but I am very happy with the work right now in Loma Florida. I have almost 16 months in the mission and I feel like I am barely understanding how to do the work here, hahahaha. I pray that the Lord continues to bless us!! 

Thank you all for your love, support, and prayers :) I love you all and hope you have a great week!!

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 35: Baptism Commitments, Rabbit and Crickets!

Hey there family!

Well thank you again for all your letters! I really enjoy reading them all! Sounds like you are all making bank hahaha kids!! Make sure you are paying your tithing and the Lord will bless you with the wisdom of spending and saving your money wisely. I am glad you boys had fun on the campout, and Kolby thank you for sharing your thoughts on prayer. What you learned is exactly what we must do as we pray. We must ask what the Lord wants and not what we want. Wanna know how to do it? Something that I learned here personally on the mission is the importance of listening to the Spirit AS we pray. He will tell us what we must say and ask for. If we do that we can receive instant revelation and we will really feel that the Lord is answering our prayers. I invite all of you to do that as you pray. I promise it is hard the first couple times, but it's hard to listen to the Spirit in this world. Brinkley, thank you for sharing a part of Garrett´s talk. What he said is so true. It's something that I am slowly learning here in the mission...the importance to talk to everyone!! We will see blessings as we do it, and we will be able to bless others as well.

Well this week was a difficult week of work. Elder Escamilla and I were working really hard and we didn't have much success. We would pass by investigators homes and nobody would be there. We would then go and try to visit less active members and nobody! We taught hardly anybody this week. We have now a total of 5 Baptisms who are wanting to get Baptized but they need to get married. Stinkin Mexico hahahaha! We are just waiting until they can get married. We are trying to help with everything that we can but it is hard here because a Bishop can't marry someone here like in the US. They have to be married by the government even if they get sealed in the Temple.

This week we did have success with two new investigators that we found. Hna Alicia and Hna Monica. They are sweet ladies and accepted us into their home and they started talking really openly. Hna Alicia started talking about 2 paths in this life, good and bad. Well I took that as a way to start a lesson. I opened up the Book of Mormon to 3 Nephi 27:33 and we started to talk about Baptism. It was a great lesson. They really understood the importance of it and they both accepted Baptism. Now they have a problem with attending Church on Sunday because they sell stuff in the street and their best day of work is Sunday, so this week we are going to talk about that, commit them to go to Church every Sunday, and get a Baptism date going :) I am really excited!! They are just great loving ladies!

This week we also stared teaching alot to a lady named Hna Gina who talked to us in the street one day and said that she wanted to come to our Church. Well we invited her to Church, she came and we got a lesson with her. She is a member of the Hindu religion which is very weird and rare here. She has a ton of tatoos and earings but she loves to talk about the Bible. When we teach she takes notes!! Its awesome! As we teach she asks alot of questions which is great. The other lesson that we had just two days ago she told us that when she was like 4 or 5 she listened to the Missionaries because her dad let them in the house, but he rejected them after awhile. She said that when I was talking and bearing my testimony the first time, she said it reminded her of when she was a little girl and the things that she felt when the Missionaries were in her house. I thought that was sweet and it strengthened my testimony that the Lord really prepares people for us. That day she accepted Baptism but she needs to get married, so her Baptism date for her and her son Diego is the 12th of November. I really hope she gets married because I might be leaving this area on the 14th of November. Elder Escamilla and I are together for 2 changes/3 months. She is a sweet lady :)

Nothing else much happened this week. Yesterday Elder Escamilla Elder Lamb and Lopez and I went and ate with a lady in our ward who lives forever away and she gave us rabbit again. It was SOOOOOOOOOOO good! I really like rabbit meat. I also ate another bag of the crickets that they sell here. I love them...especially with salsa and lime :) This week we also reactivated another inactive member! I also lost another tie to my Bishop playing chess and losing hahaha. He loves ties and chess and so I have played him three times and lost 2 ties and won 1 hahah! I think I am going to stop playing him now lol. He also bought us tacos :) And he bought us some drink food thing called Esquite. What it is, is a soup with just corn and melted butter in a cup with mayonase chili powder and cheese. It's really good I loved it!!

Well this upcoming week is General Conference! If you have not had they chance yet to read President Uchtdorf´s talk in the Ensign for the month of September, READ IT!! It's awesome and it will help you prepare for conference because like he says "its no ordinary blessing." I love you all and hope that all your prayers will be answered this weekend as we listen to a Prophets voice. I just want to bear my testimony that I know President Monson is a Prophet of God. He knows us and loves us just like our Father in Heaven. May we seek his word always. I love you all! Until next week!

Love,

Elder Brady Lester

Mexico Week 9: The Spirit and Singing!

¿Que tal todos?

Bueno, muchas felicidades a mi hermano Kasey. Holy cow I can't believe you are 15! You taller than me yet lol? Braxley, your letters make me laugh a ton, hahaha. And to give you my opinion...the Lakers will win again and you know why, number 24 is not human in the postseason, so I rest my case :) Brinkley, congrats with your prom invitation I hope things are going good with Trey. Tell him I say hello. As for your talk, good luck! Just remember Obedience is the first law in Heaven so that shows you how important it is. Kolby, how is everything? I love and miss all of you! Grandma, thank you so so much for your contribution. I know that the Lord has a great blessing for you soon in your life. As for BYU....I heard :( I also heard Duke lost too :( So both my teams are gone :( But hey baseball has started up!! :)  Go Dbacks!

Well this week was definately an interesting one. Things are better with my companion only because I am just really really being patient with him, hahahaha, although today and yesterday I was not. Tomorrow we have a zone conference at 8:30 in the morning and I told him we should stay with our leaders in Puebla tonight because we are here in Puebla today anyways. Well he said no because he wants to sleep in is own bed. Well today our leaders told us we need to stay here. I was right again haha so we are going to return to get changed and then come back here to spend the night hahaha. Ugh!!!!!!!!!!! We have changes in 2 weeks so hopefully we will be changed. If not...well it will be good for me, hahaha, and my patience. Did I spell that right? Lol! I am at a point where when I type and write in English I have to think about some words before I write them down because I am thinking the word in Spanish. The language is getting better. I have more confidence which allows me to speak more. I hope by Mother's Day...which is soon...I will be able to understand 100%, right now its about 85-90%.

Well this week we had divisions a couple days with some young men in our branch. It was good working with them. Anyways this week a man, 20 years old, found us and said that he likes how the mormons live and wants to learn more about our religion. Well we set up an appointment with him and taught Tuesday. He agreed to meet again and we gave a Book of Mormon. Thursday we taught him again, but me and Luis Daniel taught him since we were in divisions. I asked him how his reading was in the Book of Mormon and he explained very well the chapter we left him. Then I asked if he prayed and he did and described how he felt peacful and just happy. Well in that moment I testified how that is the Spirit testifying to him that this is true. Then I invited him to be Baptized on April 9th and he accepted!!! I was smiling so much that day, hahahaha. I cant wait for that day!

Lorena this week decided she wants to get Baptized the last week of April which is after this change. We asked her to think about the 16th or 17th of April since it's the last day of this transfer. I hope she says yes because I have been working with her since the begining with Elder Villalba and it would stink to miss her Baptism. Alan our other investigator will be Baptized on the 29th of May so I will miss that one too unless I stay in Huacalzingo once more haha.

Nothing else really happened this week, hahaha. We have been trying to find more people to teach because the others we have found have turned us away. Actually one family still is with us. Hermano Casto, his wife Josefina, and son Napolion. They are hard core Catholic and know the Bible really well. Well last night I was with Fernando a boy in our branch on divisions and we taught them the Book of Mormon and the Bible and how they work together. Well we read 3 Nephi 11 with him, and he asked how we know Nephi didnt just write that and Christ didn't come here to the Americas. Well I asked him how do you know that the Bible wasn't written by these men and there really is not a Christ. He answered that he didn't know. So I told him that this is our invitation, read, meditate, and pray to know if it is true. I then told him that we know the Bible is not complete because how many Apostles did Christ have...12...how many gospels does the Bible have...only 4. He understood that and then I felt like I should testify about families and then sing "Families can be Together Forever." The Spirit was so strong and I will tell you all that was purely through the Spirit, haha it was a good feeling.

This week I hope we get more people to teach haha! We are also looking to serve alot. Saturday we painted a members house blue haha and it was really good!! I have pictures that I will upload when I have time. Right now I have some uploading.

Oh this week I bought two soccer jerseys haha. One of the Puebla team and another from Argentina. I want to buy a Mexico and Chivas one when I have money hahaha.

Well for General Conference we just watch it in our stake center here in Puebla which means in Spanish hahaha. I hope I will understand everything hahaha.

Last week I got your package Mom......wow thank you so much. It's like I am walking on clouds, hahaha.

Oh two other quick stories. One lady thinks we are Apostles, and a drunk man hugged me this week and asked what our profession was because we dress nice. Well we told him and he got mad because he thought that we didn't believe Mexicans believe in Christ, hahahaha funny.

Well I got to go! Love and miss you all!!!

Love,

Elder Brady Lester