Monday, October 27, 2014

Protected.

One thing i want to write about is the time when we were leaving the internet cafe last week when we were done emailing. this guy came up to us and started talking. (clearly). and he is a dude around the age of 24 if i could guess. He just came up and started speaking really really good english to us. and we were both really surprised at how much english this man knew. That is when he started to explain to us about how his parents took him to the states when he was a child and he went to middle school over there and high school. But that is not any of the interesting stuff that he told us. he talked about high school football and how much he loved just ramming into people. and then he got to the whole fact as to why he is back down here in mexico. ( I can't really tell it like he told it cuz it would be kinda explicit) but i found out that he was really deep into gangs in california while in high school. and that it was this type of mexican gang that he belonged to and if it was a black man or a man of another type of race they had a problem with they just put a bullet through them. and once you do that you cant stay in the states any longer, you run to Mexico City and meet missionaries! and now if only you can imagine me looking at him and saying "oh. oh. wow. well. i can see you just gotta stand up for your mexican pride".  that was an abnormal thing for me to say. sometimes I wonder why I say things. many times words just come out that come straight from heaven i guess. With me telling him that ya just needed to stand up for that mexican pride i made it on his good list (even though i wasnt trying). and so he called over his buds and told him that i was his bud. to put it in simple american words. i am not sure why the lord wanted us to be friends but i did realize that now that we have "connected" with these guys we have lessened our chance of being robbed here because we just made friends with some of the run away killers and sketchiest guys that we have here in our area. the lord works in mysterious ways and protects us in the strangest cuz i NEVER would have said that in real life:D:D:D but yeah...we will see what fun come next week, right? with two weeks in a row of getting to know the most dangerous people in the area i would think it must be in the cards to help us make it home at night alive. i dont question the lord but "yikes" for some of the things that happen in mexico:D:D

Monday, October 20, 2014

Guns n Bibles.

This week went swell. I would have to say it went good because just some good ol stuff happened this last week. to start off we had a baptism, i gave away a Bible and im pretty sure one less active is part of selling illegal drugs. 

to start off i want to write about the baptism that we had this week. his name is Atzin and it was an amazing experience to be able to work with him and his dad. but his dad still is not able to be baptized because he is not married to his wife. but we have been working with Atzin for quite a while and he has really enjoyed all that we have taught him. the church still has not bought any gas so we baptized yet again in cold water :D:D i am not sure how we dont have gas to heat the water for the baptisms cuz dont we want the new members to have a "warm" welcome in the gospel?? 

the bible that i gave away this last week was to the Atzins dad. in his house he has a bible from the jehovah witnesses. i was trying to teach him that he really should get any other bible that he wanted except that one cuz they have made so many changes to that one. once he realized that they had changed so many things and he really did want to get one of the bibles that the church prints out. and so this last week we went to the temple so that we could get flu shots. and while we were there we went into the store so that we could buy some of the things we needed.  and i saw a bible and i thought that i should buy it for Atzins dad. but i doubted my thought! then right as we were about to leave i "felt like i should buy it for him again",  and i just thought... yeah what the heck. so i bought him the bible and we went on our way not thinking very much of buying it. and i was just thinking that i was going to give the bible to him like it was nothing and he was just going to thank me because he didnt have enough time to go and buy a bible. but that is not how it turned out to be. we went to his house and he opened the door and told us to come on in. and as i was passing through the door i told him that i had i gift for him. hah! that gave him a good laugh and when i gave him the bible he grabbed it with both hands and told me just how much this meant for him. he almost started to cry he was so pleased. i just gave the good ol man a hug  as i was as pleased as he was that i had listened to my prompting to buy him a bible. I told him that i was always there for him and that if he needed anything that he can call us and we will be right there to help him. so many times we dont know if it is our own thought or one given to us from heaven, obviously this one was one from heaven and not my own. this was probably the most spiritual thing that happened the entire week. no matter how small, follow!

and the last thing that i wanted to talk about would have to be the less active that i think is taking part in selling drugs. he is in a wheel chair and he always has two brohams that look like thugs behind him and one of them always calls me "homies" as we pass by. but i always have had this suspicion because i wondered how he got all of his money and paid the bills and stuff and he is always having people come up to him and talk to him about "the stuff that they will bring by later". which if you ask me is a little weird. and to top it off me and my comp were walking by him and his bodyguards and they were not in their normal spot. they were out side of a building and one of his brohams was in side and he looked at us and just as normal was WAY HAPPY to see us but this time when he waved to us he was waving with a gun. and i was just thinkin to myself.... what in the world is that man doin.... i am assuming it was nothing good (if you know what i mean) but... yeah. that was interesting to see the man that i think is already sketchy to have him wave a gun at you as you walk by. i have decided it is good to have friends low places too.....probably why he is too busy to come to church with us:D:D:D

talk to you next week, 

elder anderson

Monday, October 13, 2014

During the last couple of weeks we have been looking for new investigators. Because after this next week we are going to be runnin with nothin. But it's hard when contacts aren't a very good way to find new investigators and most of the members just tell us that they know absolutely no one because they "never leave their house" but yeah... That's where we be at right now.

But for this time around I only have one thing to write about... it's about the girl that got baptized this last Saturday.  I would just like to explain a few things about this girl. So for the last few weeks we have been teaching her and her family (her mother could not get baptized because she needs to get divorced and married)  and they have been loving every bit of the evangelio that they have heard. And when it came down to the last week and we were talking to this girl and asking her about how she felt about being baptized she told us that she didn't want to get baptized.... And that was really interesting to me and kinda shocked me. Because she has loved every moment and everything that she has  learned. So I began by asking her some questions to see if she knew some of the commandments that we had taught and she answered all of them perfectly. With that she finally got to the reason why she didn't want to get baptized. She ended up telling us that something horrible happened when she was a little girl and now she is absolutely terrified of ...........water! So when she told us that we assured her that my comp is a very strong man and that she does not have to fear. That her baptism will be done quickly. And with that and a bit more talking we saqued out another cita for her interview. And now jumping to the day of the baptism (we still don't have any gas for the pila bautismal and so we are still dunking people in ice cold water) it came time for her and my comp to do the ordinance, she kinda flipped out a bit. But we got her in the water and my comp said the prayer and he told me when he said amen the girl tensed up and didn't want to go under. But my comp just gave her a helping umph and she went under with ease. With that they left and the girl, a bit emotional, but quite happy  to have been baptized and having faced her deepest fear.  And some members came to this baptism!!! That was pretty cool. Because usually we have very little help from the members.  But... Maybe this is a start to a change that is going to happen. 

but it was a good week and there sure are a whole lot more weeks to come. 

Monday, October 6, 2014

This week some pretty good ol stuff happened. We did have the wonderful opportunity to help 3 people make some covenants. And some jolly joy at general conference. So I would first like to explain about the baptisms this week. The first two youngsters got baptized this last Tuesday and i do have to say that this baptism was probably one of the most funnest (is a word in English?) baptisms that I have ever be in attendance. Just because for this baptism we got the whole ward there and all the youth made like posters for the two that were getting baptized n... Yeah it was a blast. But with the actual ordinance was kinda interesting. The younger sister went in there and the cousin did the ordinance and she was out.  But when the older brother when in there so that he could be baptized it was a little bit more interesting if you ask me. Because right before every baptism I always promise the people that they just have to relax and everything will be alright. But when this youngster got in the water and his cousin did the prayer and started to put him underneath the water and he decided to throw his hand out of the water and then he cousin pulled him back out so he never went all the way under. And the next time he was almost under and he threw his leg up and out. So yet again we went back to the repetition. And for the next 3 times and the child just could not get his elbow underneath the water . But like they always teach us. Perseverance is the KEY! And so we got him underneath the water and he left a happy recién baptized  child of God. But... That is the experience that I wanted to share about this baptism.

Hahaha ok. So this next baptism that I would like to talk about is another joven. But the funny thing about this baptism would have to be that after the others earlier in the week that the church ran out of gas... Yes i know... Here in Mexico your gas runs out?!?! Yes why yes it does. So during general conference we filled up the baptismal font and the bishop bought 4 electric heaters that we put in the water. And those babies were there in the baptismal font for 3 hours and let me tell you when I stepped into the water all I thought was... Goodness gracious I'm sure glad it's not me that's going underneath the water:D and I turned behind and told her that it's not that cold and she kinda got angry at me when she stepped in. Haha that look on her face as she stepped in was priceless. But we finished up the ordinance  and it will an experience that she will probably never forget. And after we got out I told her it was probably as cold as the canal over in chimalhuacan. (But there are quite a few big differences between the two. Because in the baptismal font they don't throw dead people into.) but those were the baptismal stories that we got from this week.

And the next two stories that happened were probably the weirdest and one of the funniest things that have happened here down in the ghetto.

The first one is when me and my comp we were coming home from the priesthood session In the stake center and everything was awesome because general conference are the only times of the year that we get to rest Saturday Sunday and Monday and pretty much it is a fiesta and a half for the mish dish down here in the pish of the posh.  And so we were walking in the streets of Mexico and we were almost to our house and all of the sudden this girl about of like fifteen or sixteen like came up right in front of me and just started talking to us. Her and her buddies just started chattin with us and I noticed that one of her buds had a huge star cut into his head and I told him that it was a pretty freakin dope star that he had there and the girl right I front of me was like "I can cut a star into your hair if you want" and I was like... "Hmmm... Tempting... I'm good but thanks though haha " and then I told them that we had to run to our house cuz it was time for us to be in. And then she asked me " could you accompany me to my house right now?" And I told her "nah we really have to go right now" and she just kept insisting and I just finally told her that we were going to peace out. And yeah we peaced out of that situation and got home nice safe n snug. Hahah the funny stuff that happens in the streets of the ghetto at night.

 And then the absolute funniest thing that happened this last week would be during the Sunday session of general conference. And usually if you guys can imagine every general conference that all the Americans go into another room with another computer so that we can watch the conference in English and just enjoy a little bit of the good ol red white n blue. And we had the wonderful opportunity to watch the first 4 sessions in English and now it all came down to the last Sunday session. And so we arrived after the food and were preparing to watch yet another fantastic session of the conference and all of the sudden we find out that there will be no wifi.... WHAT!? No wifi? And as my brain calculated over what that meant it hit me... No general conference in English... That just couldn't be. And so we just kept trying and trying and trying to get the computer to connect to some other internet so that we could watch the conference in the wonderful language of English. And after all of our hard efforts we well... Had to accept defeat.. And so we walked back over to the room where the stake was watching the Spanish translation of conference. So as my comp, my DL , and I were sitting in the room listening to the speakers talk it occurred to us that... If we turn on the modem for the other side of the church we can watch the conference in ENGLISH! What a great idea that was. So we head back over to the other side of the church and find the modem. We found the little stinker on the curling And it was flashing red. And putting all of out brains together we decided so that every one could help out so that we could get this modem up and running as fast as possible that my comp would lift up my DL so that he could reset the modem and I would take the hard job of standing by and supervising. ( I know I know I like to take one for the team) and now this is when the story gets interesting because we were trying to get the modem on and right in that moment our stake president walks around the corner. And if you can only imagine the sight that he saw. That an elder up by the modem hitting it around a little bit with another big red headed elder holding him up and another elder standing by the side not advising them that of which they were doing was absolutely dumb and strange but he was there encouraging them on. And that is when he gave us THE LOOK and asked us what in the world we were doing. And we told him exactly what we were doing. " we are trying to turn on the modem so that we can watch the conference in English " (and you have to understand that our stake president is a very VERY serious man and he scares me quite a bit) and when we told him that he just continued to stare at us with disapproval and it just made me think. It's because he has never had the true joy experience to watch conference in English that is why he is not helping us right now to reset the modem. But.... With that he told us that there would not be internet over here for this last session of conference.... And with those piercing horrible words he destroyed our last chances to hear conference in English. And so.... We walked back into the other room and finished the last part of the session of conference in Spanish. It was good. But it's just not the same.