Mexico Week 15: Puebla-La Ciudad de Angeles‏

Hey there everyone!!

It was so good to talk to everyone last night and was so good to hear all your voices!! Kolby, your voice is so so deep what happened?! Dad, sorry I think I talked to you in the usted form the one time we talked in Spanish. Hahaha, yes Mom you are right that I got a little emotional but it was all Grandma´s fault, she cried first and made me cry!! Thank you everyone for your comments and encouragement. I left you all with homework and expect you to complete it! All read in the BOM everyday, Dad in Spanish, and you kids and Mom study Chapter 2 of PMG and apply it to Gospel, school, and yes, work studies :) I have homework for Grandma :) I would like to invite you to attend Church every Sunday with the family :) Think you have time? I know it will bless your life :)

So I don't have much to write again because we talked a ton yesterday, haha but this week and for now on in the Mission, I am challenging myself to be more direct with our investigators especially with the commitments that we leave with them. I have been studying alot on the importance of them keeping their commitments. It's Eternal Life and if they don't read or pray, it's important to let them know that this is your Salvation and the only way to do it. I feel sometimes us Missionaries are too casual in all this. We need to help them because we have their Eternal Life in our hands and no one else. If they don't know the importance they won't do it so it's our responsibility to show them.

This week we will be focusing on three investigators that we have so they can accept and be Baptized in the change, the remaining three weeks that we have. We also are making a plan with the Branch and look forward to working with the members more. We need to find more people to teach because we almost have nobody, so we will also focus on that this week.

So today I am in Puebla again :) I love the city haha. We played soccer and I scored three goals haha!! We also ate at KFC and it was so good to put some familiar American food in my mouth :) I ate a ton for like nothing haha!!

Well I hope this week I will have stories for you guys. I will make some!! I have had like two weeks without stories!! I love and miss you all!! Stay safe and you are all in my prayers always!

Love,

Elder Lester

MTC Week 10: Nearing the End, but Not Wasting Any Time

Hey everyone!!

Wow....it's week Ten! This week has been slightly disappointing because everyone in our district received their travel plans to leave Monday and Tuesday of next week, except us Mexican elders :(  I really want to get out and start teaching!! I love the MTC and the Spirit, and opportunity to learn lots, but I really want to get to Mexico. Hopefully the consalant in Salt Lake will get ready to see us soon!! It's all up to him.

Anyways this week has been just like every week. Its hard to write about stuff because its all the same everyday haha. Elder Walker and I are doing great!!  Spanish is coming along great! Kasey...no I am not fluent, hahaha, but I am at a very low level of fluency I never thought I would be at now. Sweet!! We are not teaching as much but our studies are great and we aren't wasting anytime!!

Elder Cummock (the one Elder in my room who hasn't done all he's suppose to) and I finally talked and figured out our differences :) I am so glad that we did that before we leave. We are like best friends now! I love him so much! I can't wait for us to get to Mexico!!!

I Just want to say thank you real quick for all the goodies everyone sent me! I am so happy and grateful when I get letters and packages!! :)

I love you all and hope you have a great week!! I pray for you everyday and hope everything is going great!! I hope the blessings are flowing into your lives!!

Something I have been doing this week and what I would like each of you to do is study Chapter 6 of Preach My Gospel and study it in depth and see how you can improve those Christlike Attributes in your life. Take the test on the back of the chapter and then after you study take it again and see how you improved :)

How is it going with my last invitation? Has everyone talked with a friend or person and invited them to Come Unto Christ? :) I want to hear your experiences!! Let me know how its going?

Also I was wondering if you could all share your favorite scripture in your readings every week with me? Mine this week is 3 Nephi 5:13 :)

 Love and miss you all!!!

 Elder Brady Lester :)

MTC Week 9: Permiso, Blessing, Elder Holland and Member Missionaries

Hey Family!!

So it is week #9 here at the MTC. Let me update you on some things about my Visa. So yesterday I got my Permiso :)  I will officially be going to Mexico and can Preach the Gospel there :)  So what they told us is that we won't get re-assigned. They will keep us here and hopefully next Wednesday, we will go down to Salt Lake and talk to the Mexican Consalant. Which means we could leave the 22nd 23rd or 24th!! The four missionaries going to Bolivia just got their travel plans and they leave the 24th at 4:00 am, haha. Hopefully we get ours soon!

So this week was one of the hardest weeks, but yet the most rewarding. I still have problems with the two elders in my room. I try hard to keep the peace and love them but it's so hard when they don't do anything they are supposed to do. It's hard to get along with them. But I still love them, and Elder Walker and I are trying to keep pushing on :)  I asked my District Leader Elder Bell to give me a blessing and it was an amazing experience. In the blessing he said that God has put angels not just around me, but with me, and as he said that I felt something on my back and it was so warm. It was amazing and it is still giving me strength to this day.

So this week is teaching week for Elder Walker and I. We are teaching around 20 times this week!!! It's insane but way cool!! And also very tiring. We are getting so much better Teaching with the Spirit and focusing on our investigators, not our Spanish, and when we do this our Spanish is great!

So Elder Walker and I had this cool experience talking to a fake investigator the other day. He came up and asked if we were the Mormons. We said yes, and he asked where we were going. We told him and he asked when we were going, and we told him we don't know because we don't have our Visas yet. Anyways, he is Mexican and said he was from Puebla, and he said that God didn't want us to get our Visas because he's protecting the people in Mexico from us. It turned into a legit lesson in the hall and we asked great questions and got him to open up. It was a cool REAL experience of teaching someone we don't know! We loved it!

Elder Holland came again on Tuesday!! Great powerful talk! He talked about the materials we have as Missionaries like Preach My Gospel. He said it is written for the conversion of Missionaries not investigators. We first need to get it into our hearts then we can help them Come unto Christ :) It got me thinking alot about Missionary work, especially with members. I have been thinking about how hard Missionary work is for Missionaries and members. Missionary work is hard because Salvation is not a cheap experience and it will never be. We are the Church of Jesus Christ. We are the truth. Why would we believe or think it will be easy for us when it was never easy for Him.


I want to encourage each of you to find friends and invite them to Come Unto Christ. You are what starts up Missionary Work. Find them and don't be ashamed to testify the truth to them. Help them through what we know is true. Love them and you will see how it can help them. When you do this, and it will be tough, I testify you will be shoulder to shoulder with the best missionaries and life this world has ever seen!! Christ commands us to feed His sheep so lets all do it!

I love you all and can't wait to hear from you :)

Love,

Elder Brady Lester

P.S.

Mom and Dad thank you for all the packages and goodies. It was very yummy :)

MTC Week 6: Love, Member Missionaries, and Joseph Smith

Hey!!

So it's been 5 1/2 weeks here at the MTC and everything is going great!! Thank you for all your letters and goodies. I did receive all your packages :) Anyways this week went by so fast!! It seems like each week just flys even faster! If I'm right I only have 23 days left until I should be in Mexico!! It's going to be here faster than I know it! I can't wait though!

So this week Elder Walker and I have been studying way way hard!! We have been teaching alot and continue to get better every time. We learn so much!! I really do love working with him and can't imagine working with anyone else for two years. We work really well together off our strengths and weakness's. This week we have worked on teaching members so we can help them be great missionaries. It is so important for members to find the people. Us Missionaries are called to teach and baptize... that's it really. Missionary work is a church wide thing that everyone helps with. I encourage each of you to help the Missionaries teach a friend that you can refer to them :)  It's a great time because it's Christmas :)

On our Tuesday devotional we had a member of the seventy come. Elder Shayne M. Bowen. He talked about the decisions right now in our lives and what we need to decide right now as a Missionary. Like decide right now to love everyone. He also talked about the birth of the Savior and testified of Him. It was beautiful :)

The fireside we had on Sunday was very unique. An institute teacher came and acted out a man who knew Joseph Smith, and was there when he was killed. It was way way cool. In our District Meeting we also talked about Joseph Smith, and each Elder in our district taught something about him. It was cool as the DL as I prayed about the meeting over the week trying to find out what should we teach about. I felt that it was important that each Elder should have the chance to teach and bear testimony of his life. It was special and the spirit was so strong. You could sense that Joseph was in the room with us - it was amazing :) I love our district :)

Tonight we have a special devotional!! I think Elder Russell M. Nelson might be coming but I am not sure. That is just the word on the street, haha. I hope he does!! Tomorrow we have a long but eventful day here!! Everyone is hoping the prophet is going to come :)

So Elder Alston did leave on this past Tuesday, so he is enjoying Christmas in Portugal right now :) Lucky dog!!

Well, I am almost out of time so I will wrap things up!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

Amor (Love)

Elder Brady Lester :)

MTC Week 4: Love and Humility

Hey there!!

It's my third week here in the MTC and things are going great!! Thank you for the goodies and treats :)  And Grandma, if I find anyone who knows French I will let you know. Thank you each for all your letters. Kolby though, you gotta write me man!!! Only two lines each letter?? I'm glad everyone is having fun and loving the holidays so far :) Just want to let you know that I am sending a letter to Kasey today and inside it are some pictures which are Elder Walker and I's Christmas card :)  If you could hand some out to friends that would be awesome! There aren't alot but some :)

Anyways, this week has been a hard but rewarding week. On Monday Elder Justesen had all his appointments all day and Elder Walker and I stayed with him and drove all around Provo...which was weird...and we wanted to show him how much we loved him and cared for him. I explained more in the letter to Kasey, so when you get that you can read everything that happened. In the end he decided to STAY!!!!!! Elder Walker and I literally were crying for joy :)  This week has also been hard on Elder Walker and I. We haven't gotten along to well but we just had a nice talk and we are looking forward to stepping it up and getting to work and loving each other! :)  We also just got back from the Temple today where we did an endowment session. It was beautiful :)  I love going to the Temple and am going to miss it when I get to Mexico.

So things that I need to answer are in that letter I sent Kasey so you can read that :) But yes, I can pop popcorn here if you sent some...the floor has a microwave :)  But anyways, this week has been good. I have learned how to conjugate verbs in all the tenses and I am continuing to learn words. I have also memorized D&C 4 in Spanish and am working on the First Vision in Spanish :)  It's hard but it's coming along. I've learned alot in the scriptures this week as Elder Walker and I read from the BOM in spanish everyday. It's really helping us out!! In my personal study I read different things in the scriptures in English and one of my favorites this week was D&C 84:88 :)

In about a week and a half we will start teaching in Spanish...which is going to be way hard and insane but I am looking forward to it. I know that the Lord is really helping us here at the MTC. This work really is much bigger than us and we can't do it by ourselves. I have faith that if we roll up our socks and get to work that the Lord will help us and strengthen our faith. One of the most amazing things here at the MTC is the Spirit of Love. Amazingly, this love helps us do everything!! We have to love the Lord, the work, our companion, as a leader- love the district, and most importantly we have to love our investigators. Love is how we fulfill our purpose, to invite others to come unto Christ (Invitar a las personas a venir a Cristo). I have learned alot about charity and love while being here and it has helped me out a ton.

Something I need to work on this week is humility. I feel like I know a ton about the gospel and about principles and I find myself teaching just a lesson not a person. I need to work on using the spirit to help me teach simply and share my feelings about how I know things are true. I need to use the Doctrine of Conversion (study that this week if you want, Chapter 4 of Preach My Gospel). The best way I need to do this is to be humble and also learn from others.

In the past 3 weeks I have really seen myself grow, but my greatest treasure is to see each and everyone in my district grow. That is why I love being a DL. I love seeing how everyone grows in unity, love, and spirit. It's amazing!! I really do love each one of them. I can't wait to hear from them in the field. As much as I want to be in Mexico now, it's going to be hard to leave these wonderful Elders.

So anyways tell me more about home?! How's Ryan...I hope he is ok. Give him my best and let him know I am praying for him and want to see him back out here :)  Did you get my sd-card? I love all your letters and can't wait to get more. I save all of them in my desk drawer :) Tell Jacob Handy to write me!! Hahaha. Anyways love you all!! :)

Amor (love),

Elder Brady Lester

   

P.S. I love you Mom :) You are the best!

MTC Week 3: Obedience, Spanish, and the Spirit

Hey there fam!!

It's been another great week in the MTC :) I have enjoyed all your letters and goodies! So I got my first letters from Elder Helvig and Corrinn which was exciting to see!! :) I can't wait to write them back later today! Also I will be sending my memory card in the mail this week so look for that :)

Anyways, the week has been tough but great! Once again Elder Walker and I are doing great and working hard! We have taught at least 3 lessons everyday and try and contact and testify to people in spanish. It's way cool! We learn something new everytime :) It was a tough week as a DL though. I have a boy in my district, Elder Justensen, who has been way homesick and has alot of anxiety. He's been to urgent care twice and he is having a tough time. He really wants to go home. President Lloyd and I and the whole district have been helping him out a ton! He has a fabulous companion though and I know the Lord put them together for this reason. Unfortunately his companion leaves Dec 15th to the Peru MTC and same with another companionship, but Elder Justensen has to stay here cuz it's better for him.  I hope he gets put with Walker and I cuz I know we can encourage, love, and help him. It's also been a hard week for obedience in my district, so I felt impressed to teach a lesson on obedience. I had my lessons prepared for Faith but I felt like teaching something else. I was nervous, but once I got up there I was very bold, and just started talking and the Spirit was there. The scripture I used was John 14:21. I asked them to keep it in their minds as I was giving the lesson and at the end, I asked if we don't keep His commandments is it fair to say that we don't love Him? I think it really hit everyone and our obedience issue is gone!!

I have been able to learn so much so fast here! Elder Walker and I teach each other so much and each time we teach lessons we learn a tremendous amount. This week though we really focused on teaching a person, not a lesson, and using the spirit. We were able to focus on our purpose and let people know what they needed to hear, and then we really focused on baptism. It was amazing and I can't wait to get to Mexico to share my testimony for reals!

With spanish its been tough, but I am getting through it. I have memorized a ton of new vocab and now can conjugate in the present, past, imperfect, and future tenses. Now it's just learning vocab and a bit more grammer! I hope our whole district can pick up the language well!!

Yesterday in class, Hermano Cleek taught each of us how to polish our shoes. Haha it was awesome!! Now I have shiny black shoes to show off to the cute sisters, lol jk ;) Also today Elder Walker and I bought Spanish scripture cases for the other set of scriptures they gave us. They are way cool and you'll see them in a picture :)

Anyways, things are fabulous!! I am really having a blast even though its hard work! The spirit here is amazing and it helps us learn so much so fast. The things we learn are not just for those we go seek and find, but they are for our whole lives! I am just trying to focus, work hard, and soak up the spirit! I've been really learning how to be a better person by fullfilling my purpose. The Lord shapes each of His missionaries into strong, focused, diligent, obedient, loving men of God. It shows as each Elder diligently wants to learn and can't wait to help those in Mexico, Bolivia, Arizona, or wherever they are going. Its awesome!!

Anyways, I love hearing from you every week and can't wait to hear from you again! Please share what's going on and how everything is! I want to leave you with a challenge to read D&C 121 and Alma 32, and apply what's in there in your lives. I know that it will bless you. I know that you are being blessed and that the Lord loves each one of us :)

Thanks! I love you all!