Mexico Week 86: AP Work and New Investigators

Hey Guys!!

Thanks for your letters!! It’s always great to read them and learn new things hahaha...like Brinkley having a boyfriend ;)  Sounds like everyone is doing great.  Sounds like everyone is working hard and making money hahaha! Awesome! I am glad Braxley is keeping up with the saxaphone.   

Things here are going pretty good.  We have some more work going on in our area now. Hahahaha, we have 2 investigators and actually they both want to get Baptized, we just need to keep working with them so that they are ready to make this Covenant. Their names are Juana and Linda. 

Well this week has been pretty busy.  We have been working hard trying to get some new stuff going on in the Mission like training meetings and stuff. We are really trying to work on planning here in the Mission. My comp and I will be working with the Zone Leaders the next couple of weeks to help them plan good and train their zones. This week we found out that in the whole Mission we only baptized 40.  Hahaha, we are the second smallest Mission in Mexico now and we don’t Baptize a lot.  That worries us a lot but we are working on it. It seems like this month we are going to Baptize quite a bit as a Mission but we still need to get better. 

This week we will have a lot of work to do. Tomorrow an Elder is going home for some stuff. We are getting an Elder back who went home for surgery.  On Wednesday we are going to lose another Elder who is going home for surgery too on his foot.  Hahaha, we have a lot of moving around and we need to organize it all and take some Elders to their new areas. We are also planning on dividing a zone that is really big. That means we will have 6 zones in our little Mission hahaha, and each zone will have their own Stake. A lot of good things are going on right now. 

Well there is not much else to report.  I am happy and loving life. Hahahaha, soon I will be home which will be exciting but I am getting nervous. I hope things will keep going good. I just need to trust in God and do what my heart tells me.  I hope everything is good back home.  Love you all and hope that you have a great week!!

Con Amor, 

Elder Lester 

Letter from President & Sister Christensen

Dear Parents of Elder Lester,

As you know, your son was called to serve in the Mexico Puebla Mission and during the time that he has been here, the Mission was divided. This may have raised some anxiety at the onset of this news for those Missionaries who had to leave President Reeves and all of the Missionaries they had grown to love in the South Mission. Your son was one of those, of course, who is now serving in the Puebla North Mission. My husband, Ralph Christensen, is the new Mission President.

Seven of our nine children have served Missions, so we know something of a parent’s desire to know about the Mission President and wife who will be caring for your son.  My apologies for being so slow to introduce ourselves to you.  It has been a very busy month since our arrival.  However, I would like to now take a minute to introduce ourselves to you.

President Christensen has most recently worked at the Church at President Hinckley’s invitation as Managing Director of Human Resources. Prior to that he worked as Senior Vice President of Human Resources at Hallmark Cards. All of our nine children are now married and we have been blessed to have 30 (soon to be 32) grandchildren. I loved and feel grateful to have had the blessing of being home to raise our family. I know the busyness of a house full of children involved in sports, music, and other extracurricular activities. We have both enjoyed service in the church and loved the influence of the gospel in our home. Prior to going to Salt Lake City, we had no family roots in Utah. We raised our family in Maine, Washington, D.C., Colorado, Boston, and Kansas City. We loved the opportunities and experiences of living in those areas.

My husband served his Mission many years ago in the California Sacramento Mission, Spanish speaking. He enjoyed working with many Mexican people during those two years and considers it a privilege to now be able to come to their homeland to serve. I never served a Mission and I do not speak the Spanish language, but I am determined to learn. We are anxiously engaged in this great work and look forward to working with your son as we press forward together. right along the side of your son. What a joy it has been, so far, to spend time with the Missionaries.  They are outstanding young men and women. Thank you for doing your part to raise such a fine son. 

If you feel that your son has had a hard time adjusting to the changes that have taken place, or if you have concerns of any kind, please do not hesitate to contact us.  Below is the information to contact the Mission Office.  Also, please note that the address for mailing packages and letters has remained the same.
  
Email: 1802399@ldschurch.org

Phone: 01-800-874-6783

Fax: +52 222-230-0431

Oficina Mision Mexico Puebla Norte
Av. 25 Sur #907
Col. La Paz
Puebla, Puebla, C.P. 72160
 
With warmest regards,
 
President and Sister Christensen
 

Mexico Week 76: Zone Leader Conference & More Rain

Hey Family!!

Thank you all for writing. I love your letters.  Really Kasey...you broke my heart with that Steve Nash news but I am happy that he is going to be going to a team where he can win a championship. It will be fun to watch him play in LA.  Sounds like you boys are having a great time up in Utah camping and stuff. Sounds like a plan maggie...I will have to try those enchiladas and your pozole dad ;) Hahaha.  Thank you Mom and Grandma for the money. Tomorrow I will be buying my leather scripture cases.  Tomorrow we have a leadership training meeting in Puebla. Hahaha, we are traveling alot.  I am not a fan of the Zone Leader thing...I miss being a Branch President, hahahaha. 

Well the work has been good here. We got to go to the new mission home on Friday for the Zone Leader conference.  It’s really nice. The new president lives in the nicest neighborhood in Puebla. It looks like an American neighborhood but more modern. There is a golf course and everything there.  We got to eat breakfast.  Sister Christensen made us eggs, juice, and pancakes with whip cream!! I have not had whip cream for 20 months hahahaha. We had a great conference. I learned ALOT about A LOT, hahahahaha. Everything I learned really I can see how to apply it in my life after the mission and that is what President Christensen said that he wants.  Just so that you know the president a little more: 

He served a mission in California Spanish speaking.

He was the Vice President of Hallmark Cards (he is rich).

He quit his job because the First Presidency asked him to work as the Head Director of Finances of the Church (he is even more rich).

He had monthly meetings with the Twelve and the First Presidency. 

That is just a little background info about my new Mission President. I guess that I will have to have alot of money to be a Mission President someday, hahahaha.  In the conference he told us that Elder Bednar´s favorite scripture is 2 Nephi 2:14. Hahahahaha, all of us Zone Leaders just looked at each other like...wow...he knows the favorite scripture of an Apostle, hahahaha. He is very spiritual but he says things how they really are. On Friday we did something that I never thought that we would do. We started making the "culture" of this new Mission. We started talking about the Purpose, Processes, and Actions. We talked about how we could make sure that our Actions or Practices in the Mission are aligned with the Processes and the Purpose and throw out the bad Actions and Practices that have nothing to do with our Purpose. It was very cool.  Hahaha, then I think that I received revelation for my personal life in that moment. That formula is a great one to be able to start and better businesses (just a comment since you all know that I like business). Hahaha it was a great conference. I really felt the spirit and learned alot. 

Here in our area we have been working our tails off.  It has been raining like crazy and literally the rain has been up to our shins. We keep working hahaha. The other day we were working in the rain and it was just coming down and some members saw us and asked why we weren’t home since it was raining so hard. My comp just laughed and said...the work goes on. It’s true what he said. The work goes on. God keeps working and doesn’t rest if it’s raining. 

Today we played like 2-3 hours of basketball at the church with a team of a brother in our ward. They are real good. I had a great time but I have just lost all of my condition hahaha. I would just run up and down the court dying. It was really the best basketball that I have played in the Mission. 

Well I gotta go! I love you all and hope that you have a great week! Kasey I hope that you enjoy EFY! Miss you all tons!! OH!! Hahaha before I go I have some good news for you all. My date changed for going home. I was supposed to go home the 28th of November but President Christensen wants me to be home for Thanksgiving, so I will be going home the 20th of November, so you will all have me home a week early hahahaha. Love ya!!

 Elder Lester

Mexico Week 74: Rain & Clothing

Hey Everyone,

Well things are going great here and I am just loving the Mission. Hahahaha, I have not been much in my area this past week since I have been in exchanges with all of the District Leaders in the Zone, and today I am in a place called San Martin where I will be working for the next two days. Things are going great. I will be honest, I miss being a Branch President or even a District Leader. Hahahaha, it’s very different being a Zone Leader and I am not sure what I think about it yet.

That stinks that the Heat won the championship. I was routing for the Thunder, haha!
 
Well it’s raining again over here in the Mission. I am lucky to have one of those areas where the streets look live rivers, hahaha. My other pair of shoes are just thrashed and so I think I am going to be working alot more in my "Sunday" ones to finish off the Mission. While we are talking about clothes I will just let you all know how my clothing is hahaha. Like I said, I am pretty much down to one pair of shoes. I have one good belt, hahaha. I am also loving my garments, hahaha. They are grey and with holes, and sometimes it’s hard to get those stains out from behind, hahaha, it’s awesome. I think that my shirts are yellowish now. They seem white but when I am with other Missionaries who have less time in the Mission their shirts are way white, hahaha.  My pants are just different colors. My grey ones look like some ugly brown and my blue ones look like they are turning colors like if I was washing with bleach.  My socks are just...well let’s just say bad.  Thank you for the socks Mom!  Hahaha I think that is the best present a Missionary could get....and hot fries hahaha.  My blue suit is just a sad mess. I think that I am going to leave it behind when it’s time for me to go home, hahaha.  I really won’t use it after.  My ties....wow my ties. Let’s just say I need to learn how to eat better, hahahaha.  I am just looking back at all the money that we spent and it’s just going all down the drain, hahaha.  I love it.  The good thing is that I still have one good suit, that I will have to tailor again to my size. My hush puppies are still good.  And I have one good belt and a pair of good jeans that I bought here because I got paint all over my other ones, hahaha.
 
Just to let you know Mom, I think that it would be better to save up the money to come as a family here next year instead of coming for me in November.  The Church does pay for the ticket so don’t worry about that.  They will probably buy my ticket soon. I think I am going to ask the President if they could fly me out of Mexico City instead of Puebla so that I could go to the Temple before I go home.
 
Things are just great!  I really love my companion and we are getting alot done.  We are trying to help the Zone be more obedient because we have had problems in that, so we are trying to be the best examples.  We are teaching a bit but we need to find new investigators because we are dropping some and are we are hoping to Baptize soon.  We put the goal to go eat seafood if we Baptize, hahaha.  It’s rare to eat that here. I am going to work hard so that I can buy myself some shrimp.

The other day I ordered some leather scripture cases from a brother in Castillotla.  He is going to make them and I am going to pay and get them in like a week or two when I go to Puebla. We are getting ready for our Zone Conference this Friday. The new President is going to be here so it’s going to be exciting.
 
Well I hope that all continues to go well back at home. I feel sorry for Brink and her wisdom teeth. Hope that you feel better soon. You are all in my prayers I and love you all tons!

 

Love,
Elder Brady Lester

Mexico Week 69: Baptisms - Happy and Blessed

Hey there everyone!

Wow, I now have 18 months and the time keeps flying. Thank you for your letters. I love you all so very much! I am sorry to hear that Brother Wardrop passed away. I love him so much and I always remember his loving wife that would always give us kisses and shake our hands like a Missionary. How is she doing?

Well there is not much to say. We Baptized this week!! Hahaha it was way cool :) We did it in a river/waterfall. I have pictures but because I don't have much time today. I will send them next week. I have about 160 pics to send. They did get Confirmed too and it was a lovely service. This week we plan to have 2 more Baptisms. I am so happy and feel so blessed because it's been over a year that the branch has had alot of Baptisms like this. 

 Elder Lester Baptized the little boy

 

I love this place and it's going to be hard to leave. I also was told by the President that I will be in the North Mission. I was sad and cried pretty much all day because I love President Reeves with all my heart and it's going to be hard not to be with him, but I know that President Christensen is going to be a great President as well, and I am excited to get ready to work with him.

I gotta go but I love you all. I love that everything is going great back at home :)

Have a great week I love you all!!

Elder Lester