Mexico Week 17: Zone Conference with Elder Rasband, Service, Hamburgers and a New Food...Goat Brains

Hey there everyone!!

Well this week was a great and a rough one. It started off bad and good hahaha. First the bad was that one of our investigators, Alejandra, wanted to get Baptized in Puebla where her cousin and friend lives so she got Baptized there by other missionaries which was sad not to see that Baptism haha but I still count it haha. Monday through Wednesday we spent in Puebla with Elder Johnson and Elder Monjaras. Monday was p-day and we just played soccer again haha.

Tuesday Elder Johnson and I worked together all day and we had a lot of success. We taught 3 lessons and found 4 new investigators. One door we contacted didn't answer for like 3 minutes so we knocked the apartment right next to it and then the other door that we were waiting at opened and the door that we at this time were just knocking (sorry my English is bad). So I contacted one and Elder Johnson the other, and it was weird testifying alone haha, but the lady that I contacted accepted our invitation and we taught her. It was cool haha. Later in the day we also contacted a naked guy who opened the door....very weird.

Wednesday was awesome!! Elder Rasband from the 70 came and he taught us about how the Twelve call missionaries. It was the same talk he gave in conference. Later he taught us that we must be balanced missionaries, and if we are here just to baptize we are here for too shallow and pathetic of a reason. We also must help the inactive return. That is a huge priority in missionary work! It was great and the influence of the Spirit was there. After we ate at a chinese buffet which made me sick hahaha. 

Thursday we returned to our area and we taught an investigator Jesus Santos and helped him cut pityas, the cactus fruit haha, and it was fun. That lesson was good too! He was making up so many excuses that an eternal life does not interest him. Well I pretty much told him, with straight up power and authority, that it's going to happen whether you like it or not. So you can choose to accept our message and ge Baptized and be happy forever or not, and not be happy. At the end of the lesson he accepted Baptism :) It was sweet!! 

 Elder Lester and Elder Lumbreras with Jesus Santos

Friday not much happend so my companion and I returned to our house a little early and made a fire and cooked hamburgers. It was a blast haha :)

Saturday was terrible. Three of our Baptisms that we lined up for next week fell through and we won't Baptize Alan, Fernanda, and Trinidad until next change. I cried it was so sad. 

I am still great though and can't wait to get changed!!! Hahaha I also can't wait for the new president to come :) 

New foods this week: 

Rice with banana

Goat brains :) 

Pig skin 

Banana sandwich 

Well I love and miss you all!! :) Stay safe!! I added more pictures!! Check them out!

Love,

Elder Lester 

Mexico Week 10: Amazing Conferences and American Food!

Hey there everyone!

Well this week has been a decent week except most of our investigators changed their mind about Baptisms on the 9th so we are going to work for the 17th, the last day of the change. Lorena might want to get Baptized at the end of this month. We did however find a women who is interested in our message and we have an appointment with her on Wedneday. This week though I believe will be very hard to teach lessons. This week our little village is celebrating their birthday all week haha. No one will be in their house so we will be contacting alot.

Btw....there is a ton of Fanta down here including apple flavored which is amazing!! I don't know where I will be changed but I really want to leave my area. I think three months in one area is enough, haha. I really want to stay in the same zone, but in the city. I think I might mention it in my letter to President today.

Sorry it's really hard to answer all your questions, but guess what...in one month you get to call me!!! So I will be able to answer all of them then, haha.

Well today was the best P-day ever! We are here in Puebla because we stayed the weekend with our zone leaders. Yes we do sleep well :) I didn't pack a pillow but I bought a tiny one here, haha. I am fine though :)

Something I would like in the package is razor heads, if you could. They don't sell the ones I like here. The fusion gillete ones...I think they are orange. Anyways today is Elder Rios' birthday! He is one of our zone leaders and he turned 23!! So we bought him some of his favorite ice cream and a jersey of his favorite soccer team. He was so happy!! He is a great Elder and leader. After we went and bought breakfast. I treated myself to donuts since you can't find those in my area, haha, like I can find anything but cows and goats. I hear there is a Krispy Kreme in one area so I hope I serve there, hahaha. After we went and played soccer. I used my brand new Mexico jersey I just bought and I think because of that I scored two goals, hahahaha which are my first goals in Mexico!! I am slowly getting better at soccer. After we ate HAMBURGERS!!!!!!!!!! So delicious!! Then we played pool, hahaha, so great P-day today!! 

General Conference was amazing!! I got to watch it in English. I guess it is a rule that we have to watch it in our native tounge. So I got to take good notes but I can't wait until the Liahona comes out so I can study them even more. Between the first and second session on Saturday, Elder Johnson and I, he is in my generation and distict, went and bought DOMINOS PIZZA!!!!! My first pizza since the MTC!!! :) It was so good! But anyways Conference was amazing. My favorite talks in order 1) Elder Bednar and personal revelation (that talk was something I needed). 2) Elder Uchtdorfs talk in Priesthood which was amazing! 3) Elder Holland of course. 4) President Monson in Priesthood. I really enjoyed all the talks and learned so so much! I can't wait until the next one, haha, and by then I will have 11 months in the mission!! 

Oh, and our Zone Conference this past Tuesday was awesome! We all got to hear from President Rex and his wife which was awesome. We also learned alot about teaching skills and practiced, practiced and practiced some more. It left me with the spirit and I was so ready to work!!

Also this week I received my first case of diarreha...it's not bad but it's not fun either, hahaha. Once in a while I get a sick stomach but I hope all will end here soon. I keep drinking coke to kill whatever is there. I am beginning to like coke now, hahaha. 

Well not much else to say, hahaha. I just finished the Book of Mosiah in the Book of Mormon and I love that book!! I am excited to start Alma and receive more inspiration in my life. I love all you guys and your letters!! I can't wait to hear from you again! I can't wait to call you guys!!! Have a great week!!

Love,

Elder Brady Lester

Mexico Week 3: Baptism of Bertha and Feed My Sheep

Hey there everyone!

Thank you for all your emails and kind words. Hahaha, that is crazy about the bunnies and I hope that they are doing good. Hahahahahaha, Brinkley that was a great way to ask Trey to Morp!! I bet he loved it. Little boys, I love your updates and sweet words...keep them coming!!

So this past week has been a better week for me feeling wise. I still get homesick every once and a while but I enjoy your letters and the time I have to see American Missionaries. Today for P-day we had our Zone activity and it was a blast!! We hiked up this big hill and played American Flag Football....finally something besides soccer hahaha. Believe it or not, but I was the QB for my team and I dominated!! We don't keep score but you know me and my competitive side, so really I kept score in my head and we totally won haha. After that we had a stick pull tournament and I beat everyone!!! I guess I am the strongest in the zone hahaha. After we went back to the church and played soccer of course, and we ate some food. We got every kind of meat in the world and cooked it together and made tacos with flour tortillas. It was yummy but I am sure we will have to pay for it later.

So this past week has been kind of not so successful. We have like 7 or 8 investigators but only one progressing investigator. We can't get anyone to come to Church, it stinks. So pretty much all this week we just went around trying to get references, service, and trying to strengthen less actives and investigators. So there is not much to write about the week. Saturday we came here to Puebla and met all the Elders in our District and helped them with an activity that they had, and also had some Baptism interviews that my companion had to do since he is the District Leader. It was fun!! My companion and another in our District acted as investigators, and the members didn't know about it. We played Pictionary about stories in the Scriptures, and after my companion and the other Elder got dressed as Missionaries and told them how they felt as investigators...bad hahaha. The point was to help the members get involved in Missionary Work. It was good as we all taught and bore Testimony of the importance of members and their work and love for the investigators.

This coming Saturday we have an activity of our own. We were trying to plan something but nothing was coming. The other night I had a dream about what we should do. So we are going to do it!! In John 21, it's after Christ is Resurrected and His Apostles don't know what to do so they go back to fishing. Well Christ made them breakfast on the beach and then when they got to the beach, Christ asked Peter three times, do you love me? Peter says yes of course, and then Christ says, then Feed My Sheep. So we are going to act that out. I will be the narrator and my companion will be Jesus Christ. Then some youth as the Apostles. After we act it out we will take a picture of Christ to each member and ask them do you love me (Him)...then Feed My Sheep. Afterwards we are going to teach them the meaning of it and then have everyone go out and invite the inactive, less active, and non member friends to come, and then we are going to play games and eat food. I cant wait!! I think it is going to be a blast.

So yesterday I had my first Baptism. Elder Villalba performed the Ordinance and it was very special. Bertha is her name and she was so ready and the Spirit was so strong!! I also had to give a talk...so I talked about Humility. I hope they understood me hahaha.

Elder Villalba, Bertha, Elder Lester

Nothing else really happened this past week. But foods I ate:

Charizo--sausage

Chicken

Tortillas

Pork and mashed potatoes :)

Dried pork

Torta--it is like a mexican sandwich so so good

Tacos

To answer your question...I really love and enjoy American food hahaha, but yes the food is pretty good here. :) Well i gotta go!! I love you all and can't wait to hear from you again!!! No, I haven't gotten your package yet but I am sure I will soon. Love and miss you all!!

Love

Elder Brady Lester

Mexico Week 2: Investigators, Giving Blessings, Interesting Food, and Lunch with Mission President

Hey there everyone!!

Thank you for all your words and support and love :) I really love hearing from you guys :) Brinkley thanks for your love :) Tell Sean to keep preparing for a mission!! He will be a great missionary. Kasey I love you and am grateful you are getting excited to serve. Start preparing now! Read and study PMG and the scriptures...especially the Book of Mormon. The Bible is great but it wont convert or help anyone. Kolby I love you and hope things continue to go well with school and sports. You too can start to prepare. Braxley you too!! haha! I hope your hang nail feels better :) I can imagine how that feels and I know that hurts. I am glad you are loving your books :) And remember, Kasey is a great brother and love him no matter what! Grandma, thank you for your email :) I will answer your questions in the email. I hope your heater is working now!! Stay warm :) Mom and Dad thank you both for your words and the scriptures and quotes you shared. It is really helping.

So let me first tell you a little about my area Huacaltzingo. So we are the only Missionaries in about a two hour radius. We are in the mountains. Actually most of the state of Puebla is. It is about a 7000 ft elevation. The weather is great! So far it has been interesting but nice. The mornings are gorgeous. It is about 60 in the mornings and will heat up to about 80 in the middle of the day. Some nights get cold. Last night was probably about 30, and what is even worse is there is no insulation in any house. It's just brick concrete haha. I stay pretty warm though.

So this week on Tuesday we talked with some members and tried to get some references. We don't knock doors or contact because throughout the day people are either working or trying to find work. They have a tough life out here. Anyways we ended up getting another investigator that day. Her name is Erica. She is the friend of a former investigator who we lost because her husband (who is a member) doesn't like the members of the branch. Kinda stinks. Anyways Erica is really receptive and has been keeping her commitments. It will be hard getting her to church though as it is with everyone. Investigators need to come to church 2 times in order to get Baptized. She is doing very well though :)

That night we went to Puebla and stayed the night with Elders Bencomo and Johnson. Elder Johnson is one of us new missionaries. The next morning we had to take this little van/bus thing for a 40 minute ride to the mission offices. They had like 15 people in it or more. They shove eveyone in there!! It was so uncomfortable!! Anyways we had training for us new missionaries and also for the leaders. My companion Elder Villalba is the District Leader. Anyways I didn't understand harldy any of the first part of the training because it was all in Spanish. But then us new missionaries went to have our own training. We just learned about the mission and things we learned in the MTC that we need to adjust here in Puebla. It was so nice to see Americans and speak English, especially with Elder Hammond. I miss that kid and Elder Walker and Cummock. We ended up leaving at 5:00 PM that day and got back around 7'ish.

We just ended up going to a members house that night and picked up a new investigator. His name is Daniel. He is 16 and is friends with these members. We taught him about the Sacrament and invited him to church on Sunday and also planned another lesson with him for Friday. Thursday we got up and went to Puebla again for our district meeting :) It was nice and Elder Villalba taught alot about the importance of prayer for investigators. We then role played.

Friday we visted Erica and taught her about the Restoration. We then visited Marta another investigator, her husband Abinadi is a member, and we taught her about the law of chastity. During both of these lessons these moms breast fed their kids...it was weird!!! Then we went and visted our other investigator Alan. His mom is an investigator but his dad is not and keeps postponing his Baptism. He is 11 and we taught him that this was a personl choice. Saturday...I don't remember what happened haha but I am sure we were with investigators and members that day. I do remember that night Elder Villalba played a dirty trick on me. He put a fake spider in my bed and I screamed. I hate spiders!! OH!! now I remember we got some new investigators that night with a member named Fernando. He is awesome!! His is 18 or 19 and really wants to serve a mission. I have been teaching him English and just got an English Book of Mormon for him :) I am sure he will love it. Sunday was just like a normal Sunday. We had church. I taught some members/youth to play the piano. Haha it was fun. After church we had a meal with a member and gave a sister a blessing. It was cool.

OH!! another thing I forgot to tell was sometime this past week we blessed a members home. It was very warming and felt so good.


Today is P-day. We are in Puebla right now. We played soccer with our zone and some other Mexicans. I suck at soccer, haahhaaha and the mexicans are way good, lol. After that Elder Villalba and I had lunch with President Rex and his wife at a really good restaurant. We had pork taco type things. So good!!

Food I had this week:

Spaghetti

Chicken with creamy pablano sauce

Fried ham with cheese inside

Chicken is some spicy broth

Tacos :)

Goat testicles with lentiles...I couldn't eat it.

Every meal is served with unlimited tortillas with rice or beans.

Anyways I have to go now! Thank you for everything and I love and miss you all all so much!!! I can't wait to hear from you next week!!

Love,

Elder Brady Lester :)