Release Date and Travel Itinerary

We have received Elder Lester's Release Date Letter from the Mission President and his Travel Itinerary. I can't believe that I have this in my hands and our Missionary Boy will be home so soon.

 

Mexico Week 84: New Area, New Assignment, New Life

Hey Everybody!! 

Well this week has been a very interesting week. I am writing you all today because tomorrow we will not have time to even wash our clothes hahaha. As most of you know I am the new AP which is an Honor. I still don't know what are all my duties and stuff like that but I will be learning. I am actually in Puebla right now and am in the offices with the assistants and my companion. We are receiving some training from them and we are working on the transfers for the Mission. It’s a lot of work and we are trying to get a lot done. In the afternoon we will be going with President Christensen to our old area to have a training meeting with the Stake Presidency, Bishops, Ward Mission Leaders, and Missionaries. It’s going to be interesting going to all of these types of meetings with the President and his wife. When we get back we are going to have to go "Elder hunting" because there is an Elder who is doing some bad stuff with girls....I am so not ready for that hahahaha.

Tomorrow we will be receiving the new Missionaries who come from Mexico in the morning and I am going to be able to see President Reeves which will be weird hahaha. We have training meetings all day tomorrow with them. Tomorrow night we will be going to the airport to pick up the Americans that are coming and we will have to drop them off at the Mission home. On Tuesday we will be in training meetings with them all day as well, and then in the afternoon we will have the transfer meeting hahaha.

Things are beginning to look interesting and it’s going to be a different experience being an AP. Hahaha, only three missionaries here have ever had all the Mission assignments - Elder Gonzalez, Elder Bencomo, and me. I refer to Junior comp, Senior comp, Trainer, District Leader, Zone Leader, AP, and Branch President hahaha...and those two other Elders are legends so I have big shoes to fill hahahaha. The good thing about being an AP is I will get to know all the Missionaries and the whole Mission, travel a lot, learn a lot more from the President, and get my packages on time if anybody sends me some. hahaha! :)  

As of this week in our area...well there was not a lot to do. I had to go to the hospital for my knee but it’s getting better and now I can start working and stop resting my knee. The good thing is that I won’t have to have surgery or anything, but I am taking some medicine which is helping out. I will have to take it light on the soccer and basketball :(

Last night we had a huge ward activity and a ton of people came. It was a BBQ that we planned, my comp and I with the Ward Mission Leader, Luis Medel, and the Ward Missionaries. We planned to have a BBQ and an open house. We planned on having about 100 with 20 invites but it was a bigger success. We had almost 200 people and 80 invites and we had a great time. The food ran out so fast but everybody was asking me recipes for the shredded beef and BBQ sauce that I made :) It was delicious. We put in some spice into the sauce because it’s Mexico. We had mashed potatoes and corn on the cob with baked bread and butter. We did it just like in the USA. A lot of the invites wanted to listen to the Missionaries, so the new Missionaries who are going to be in Totolac Ward – Tlaxcala, are going to have a lot of work. I am going to miss that ward. It was my favorite area for sure in the Mission and I really hope to go back and visit. Hahaha, I hope to start my English school with Luis Medel actually...maybe it will work out.  

Well I don't have much more time to write...and I am sure my letters will be shorter some weeks than others because my P-days are going to be much different. If you can try to write me early Sunday or in the afternoon because I might have to write on some Sundays like today. I love you all and hope that you all have a great week! I want to wish a HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Brinkley! Love ya tons Sis!  

Con Amor,

Elder Lester

Mexico Week 81: Baptims of David Andres and Miranda

Hey Family!

Well it’s been raining a lot as of late!  We are getting wet, wet, and more wet!!  It’s hard to work in the rain but we are having success. It has been fun!  I really love my companion.  He is a great missionary.  I love being with the missionaries who teach me. He has taught me and he is a great friend. Today we are in Chignahuapan, hahahaha! We asked permission from the President and he said yes, hahahaha.  It has been fun visiting places and people that I knew here. I have heard that the branch fell hard a few weeks after I left. I feel sad for that. I hope things get better.  My comp and I will be going soon.  Elder Rojas is doing good here but he just is having a hard time with his comp. He is a great missionary Elder Rojas, I love him as well.

Thanks for all writing me hahaha.  Well I only got 3 months left but I plan to work hard and finish strong.  I have plans to keep working after the Mission as well. It has been great so far. The Zone that I am in is a Blessed Zone.  We have been working hard and really we have the best Missionaries in the Mission in our Zone.  I am happy for that.   

On Saturday Elder Lopez and I Baptized 2! Hahahaha, David Andres and Miranda. It was awesome!  We pretty much stayed all day in the Church building because it was Stake conference as well. We Baptized David at 1:00 pm and Miranda at 8:00 pm. It was a great service and a ton of people came!!

We have been working hard and this week we will have another Baptism, Jaime Santacruz is his name. He is like 30 and he is a great investigator! We plan to have at least 2 on the 25th of August. The work has been flourishing in our area.  We are really happy and I love working.  We have been working well with the members as well. We have had alot of success with them. The Family Minor came back from vacation finally so we are planning to work hard with them so that we can get them to go to Church and also have a Baptism date. The Mission has been going great so far. I only hope that we will have success for the rest of my time here.

Well I gotta go. We have to get back to our area and it’s about 2 hours away. I love you all.  I want to wish a HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Braxley. I hope you are doing great Brax, I love ya!  I also want to send a late HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Brennan.  I hope you are doing just as well.  Sounds like work, school, and Church are doing great!!  I hope that you all have a great week!!  Love you all!!

Love,

Elder Brady Lester

 

Mexico Week 79: For the Temple is a House of God

Hola Familia!! 

Thank you for writing me :) I always love to read your letters. That stinks about your leg Kasey. Hope that it heals up soon!  Sounds like everything has just been going great.  I am doing great!!  My new comp is Awesome!  His name is Elder Lopez and is from Ecuador. He is a great worker and sooooo cool hahahahaha. I hope that everything goes great in this change. I feel like we will have alot of success. That is awesome that the boys are going to get some merit badges this weekend! I hope that they have a great time. I hope that you are all ready for school and stuff hahaha.  

Well I will just get to the point of my email...and why I put down that subject for the email. On Saturday, a family that I Baptized in Haulcaltzingo went to the Mexico City Temple and got Sealed.  The sister, Lorena got her Endowment. It was great news!!! Even better news is that my comp and I got to go!!!! Hahahahahahha it was so sweet! We got permission to go to Mexcio City and go to the Temple to see my converts get married and Sealed to each other and their little baby boy. It was such an experience. I wanted to send pics but of course there is not a place to put in my memory card so I can’t :(  I don’t like the internet here hahaha. It was so awesome!! The Spirit was so strong and I felt like I recharged myself spiritually!  It was the best day of the Mission.  I could not help but cry as I saw Hermana Lorena and Hermano Pedro get Sealed and especially to their little son. I was so happy.  

 Baptism of Lorena & Pedro in Haulcaltzingo

 México City México Temple

 After we left the Temple...around 5ish we went to eat tortas. After we ate we went in a bus to the station and I counted my money and we did not have enough to get home. We were a little worried but I said a prayer in my heart as well as my companion and we felt so sure that we were going to get home. We got to the bus station and we checked our mission credit cards...nothing. I checked my card from home....nothing hahaha. We started walking...more worried and we heard a man yell behind us "Mormones" hahahahahaha. We turned around and it was a brother from here in Tlaxcala in our stake and we know him. He asked us about why we were in Mexico and we told him that we went to the Temple. He was walking with a bag carrier and told us to contact him hahaha, and as we contacted him the brother left to buy his ticket, but our prayers were answered and he bought us tickets as well!!  We got back to Puebla and he bought us pizza as well and him and his wife drove us all the way home. My comp and I were so surprised and we gave so much thanks in our prayers to Heavenly Father. It was amazing.

I don’t know how in the world we found a brother in the biggest city in the world, from the smallest state in Mexico, from our stake who knew us and who has money.  All I can say is that God loves us and watches out for us. I know that He answers every prayer. I am so grateful to Him. 

Our investigators are doing great.  The Familia Minor is just doing great. They still have not gone to Church but they have the desire to be Baptized and pray and read to know. We have been visiting alot of people and doing alot of teaching. We are having alot of progress and we hope to Baptize soon again. Everything has been going just great. This week we have to go to Puebla for the Zone Leader Council. That is going to be sweet like always. I am excited for the work.

It’s going to be hard to go home but I know that God will help me to be able to keep working in His work as long as I am faithful. This is a Church of workers not a museum of Saints who just go on Sundays.  We have alot of work to do...in our wards, stakes, and in the Temple to be able to help God finish His work and glory. The most important work we do is with our families.  I am dedicated to love and cherish my future family so that God can work miracles through us. 

I hope you all have a great week!! I love and miss you tons!! 

Love, 

Elder Lester

 

Mexico Week 75: July, Peña Nieto, President Christensen‏

Hey there family!

Well things have been very delightful in the Mission. I notice how old I am now because it hurts just to walk uphill everyday to our house. I am not excited to be 21, hahaha. As you all know Peña Nieto will be the new president of Mexico in January. Hahaha, I am happy that he won, I would have voted for him. I helped out some when I was in Chignahuapan, hahaha so good thing that it was worth it.

Today I am in Puebla, the center. The sweet thing about being a Zone Leader is I get to go anywhere I want in the whole mission, hahahahahaha. My comp and I have just been visiting some places and looking at some things. I am looking at gifts that I would like to buy for the family as well just before I go home. We also ate burritos today :) They were delicious, just like home hahaha.  It’s been a great P-day so far.

There was also a march going on with all the people who didn’t want Peña to win but hahaha he won so it doesn’t matter. Peña will fight against all the drug lords except for one, Chappo, who is the famous one. He is the number 1 on the wanted list in Mexico and the US but they won’t do anything to him unless he goes to the US or Mexico. He lives in Europe I think. Peña won’t fight him, but the good thing is that he will kill all the other ones. Things have been interesting though, hahaha.  

Well I don’t know that family Mom, but I will keep my eye out for them. Hahaha, were they visiting over there in Arizona?  That’s sweet!

Ouch! I am sorry for Brink.  I guess I was lucky when they took mine out. Braces, that will be nice :) Well Kolby, that is going to be great that now you are going to high school! You are getting big hahaha.  Hahaha, sounds like the family reunion of Maggie was fun with lots of food! I need to try your pozole dad and see how good it really is or if you just talk it up. Hahahaha, well it will be the 4th of July in 2 days. I think I will celebrate by teaching 3 lessons with a member and 2 others, and buy a nice cold Coke after, hahahahaha.

Well we have been working real hard.  I love Elder Nuncio.  He is so awesome!  He is really a good friend. We have been working hard and now we are seeing blessings. We are happy because we are going to have at least 3 Baptisms this month and hopefully 2 more, but if not, the other 2 will be in August. We have been working really hard with Elvia, Andres, and Andres, hahaha. They are great investigators and they are ready for Baptism. Andres who is an adult, has been waiting for 10 years to be Baptized! Andres is a 13 year old boy and has been waiting for over a year to be Baptized, and Elvia has been listening to the Missionaries for 7 months, hahahahahaha. We are trying to harvest the seeds that have been planted! The field is white for sure! :)

Well as you all know Peña Nieto is not the only new president in Mexico. There is another who has been called by a Prophet and not the people. We had a great Zone Conference Saturday with him in Puebla.  President Christensen is from Utah and talks way good in Spanish!! His wife talks pretty good.  She is learning real quick like Sister Reeves.  In the conference we learned alot from the President about Charity and Obedience. He totally taught us a life lesson about obedience. Usually they say to us in the Mission that we need to be obedient because we are Servants of the Lord. That is true but he also taught us that we need to have a goal first. For example, Return with Honor. That would be the goal, and to achieve it, we need to be obedient. So I learned that we should place goals first and not be obedient just to be obedient. Pretty sweet haha.

This week on Friday my comp and I will be coming again to Puebla for the Zone Leader Conference so I will let you all know how that goes. I am excited. Things are going to be great with him and I am excited to have about 5 months to work with him. It’s going to be a blessing.

Well that’s about it for now. I just want to let you know that I will not be able to send pics home. I am getting very inpatient with Picasa which does not work very well for me. If there is something else we can do, awesome, but I will keep all my pics on the camera for now. I hope that you all have a great week. I love you all and pray for you each day. Love ya!!

Love,

Elder Brady 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

Mission Week 11: Mexico Bound!

Elder Lester called today to inform us that he would be departing the MTC tomorrow, January 28th, and flying to Mexico!

He met with the Consolate this week and recieved his Visa! Yay! His Mission call had him originally scheduled to go to Mexico on January 24th, so four days late isn't too bad at all, considering he might have had a temporary reassignment, which he was fine with, so he could have some more practice using Spanish. But now he will be in Mexico by 8:15 PM tomorrow night! He's so thrilled!

Elders Cummock, Lester, Walker and Hammond

He and his companion, Elder Walker, along with their roommates, Elder Cummock and Hammond, and seven other Elders going to Mexico are all traveling together. What a blessing for Puebla Mexico!