All 4 Lethaby's were Over the Wall This week!

February 13, 2017

HEEYY ESO NO ES ESPAÑOL! (Just because we were in Mexico at the same time does not mean we can speak the language!)

No te preocupes  :P

We had stake conference this week too! A member of the 70 came and he came and greeted J and M and gave them a shoutout from the pulpit. J moved out and still asks us every day when he can get baptized and now - I think it can be soon! In conference one thing that stuck out-  we should be adapting our lives to the  gospel, not the gospel to our lives. It is not "a priority", it is "THE priority". The  patriach in our ward is an example of this way of living the law of consecration. R was a reference from him, and this week he brought a friend who he met this week to conference, and told us his friend had already read the folleto (not even sure where he got it) and that he really liked the conference. We're gonna start teaching him tomorrow! I also found out about 80% of the ward is references from him (the Patriarch). So what does he do? He makes and sells brick for a living, and invited EVERY client to church. Almost all don't accept, but because he is consistant, the Teotlaltzingo ward exists.

Every one of us that has been baptized or gone through the temple has made a promise with God to live like that, so why don't we do it?! I learned this week who I want to be after the mission. Our ward (Tuscany) is so strong from the inside but isn't growing fast because we don't live like that. 

So awesome how Ben got home! Great guy.

Enjoy your time here in my country! It's super catholic! 

I'm gonna have 6 months this week. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT! I can't.

Love you, so does God, 

Elder Lethaby

February 20, 2017

Here we are in San Juan Totolac my new area with my new comp Elder N!

This week on Wednesday we had splits with the zone leader and I was working in their area with Elder N and then on Saturday President called me and said "Elder Lethaby, on Monday you're gonna have emergency changes and go be a zone leader with Elder N". So here I am, Elder S is now with his other dad to finish his training for 3 more weeks. I guess one of the other zone leaders got sick or something so the comp of Elder N got transferred with him and I got called as zone leader. Pretty crazy and I am gonna learn really, really fast (I hope). As a zone leader we call all of the district leaders to make sure they're on top of things, we have intercambios with the district leaders and we are basically the example for 20 missionaries. This Thursday in the zone conference we will give training and I will conduct the conference. On Wednesday we have intercambios (exchanges) with one of the district leaders who has like 20 months in the mission and was zone leader for 6 months already and his American son who doesn't speak Spanish, 2 extremes, both will be interesting. I'm very excited and nervous and hyped because we are gonna be working really hard here. It's one of the best areas in the mission. The members help a ton, we meet in the stake centre, the area is known for its bread and hills, and this area baptises a ton. Elder N is like 6 foot 4 and from Honduras and is a very, very good missionary. When I was a district leader he called me every night to check how my district was doing so I already know him pretty well and we get along well. Everyone thinks we are both American. Elder S is now with Elder C who got here with me and is also very good. Overall super hyped. I was pretty ready for a change - haha. Still don't know what's happening in this area cuz I just got here but I have heard good things. 

Will be trusting a lot in Heavenly Father to help me fulfil this responsibility because it's a big one, but I know he won't give me something I can't handle :)

Love you

Elder Lethaby

Questions Answered:

Favourite scripture this week?

Mosiah 18, read it and think about what our family ward and church should be like.

Forgot to tell you in other email-Elder Stones is also a district leader and finding it a lot of work. You have something in common! Do you stay in touch?

Ya I saw him at  our district leader training meeting this week, he is hyped! Great great guy, so humble. Elder Allen is too, and he's training an American.

Has anyone hurt you while on your mission? Physically or emotionally? How did you handle it?

Mmm not much honestly, one sister was pretty sarcastic with me this week, but I'm getting into not being easily offended.

Any new favourite foods?

Hahaha no we eat the same stuff but its all good, always tacos

Had churros for dessert last night-but no chocolate to dip it into. :(

I have only had churros once here :( 

Do you ever have tosdadas? Shane's new favourite!

Ya all the time haha me gustan tambien 

How does the atonement strengthen you to do things in your daily life that you couldn't do on your own? Remember the atonement isn't just about going from bad to good. It's also to help the good be better!

Honestly it's something I have been thinking a lot about, this week specifically I was praying for help to develop humility and you really get experiences to learn about humility if you ask for them, or whatever tribute.

Favourite thing you taught this week?

Teaching a lot more from the Book of Mormon even with the basics like Nephi 3:7, to teach about obedience and faith, I feel my testimony grow a lot when I focus on the Book of Mormon.

Favourite companion moment?

When we had splits in his area and then I got emergency transferred to the same area 4 days after. Great guy. So far we haven't had too many moments but I would say just now with my new bishop and his family teaching us all about deep doctrine for pday :)

"Son, plant the seed and I will follow you." ~a non-member dad

This week I was thinking a lot about service. In our testimony meeting this week almost every member who shared their testimony said "Se que estamos en la iglesia verdadera." or "I know we are in the true church." But it got me thinking a lot. Are we just physically in the true church on Sundays? Or are we actually an active part of it, helping us grow? I feel like there are a lot of people who go to church if they have time to take the sacrement, hear a few talks and then leave. I am convinced that even if you have all the saving ordinances and you go to the true church, that will not do you any good at the end if you haven´t developed the attitude of service. There are people who serve in the church, and people who get served, but in our gospel principles class this week I felt the need to explain this as we talked about the millennium. The work we are doing right now is preparing the way for the second coming, for a time when we will live in a state of Zion, but for me Zion means every single member is living their baptismal covenants and serving with all they have. I know that this is the true source of happiness, the attitude of service. Like Scott said in his letter, there are not many times when we have the authority and responsibility to be this bold. We teach people straight up that they have made a promise with God and they aren't keeping it. The baptismal covenant. I challenge everyone to think about what they are honestly sacrificing for the church; are you in the true church or are you a part of it? 

Anyway we had an awesome super stressful week. R got baptized! He is so powerful in his testimony even when he just says things like "I feel better now, I feel peace." His mom called us 4 times this week to give us other reasons why he couldn't be baptized and every time we dropped what we were doing and ran to their house to explain things to her and help her feel the spirit. It's hard because she has issues and really just loves her son a lot and in a way feels like she's losing him. His mom ended up signing his baptismal cedula (not sure what its called in english) and she was at his baptism. 

He is a priesthood holder now and he will magnify it, I am sure. I was stressed a lot that something would happen to stop this baptism. Satan was fighting so hard, but we prayed nonstop this week for him, and we had a really powerful lesson with his dad there for the second time and his dad got really emotional about how much he loves his kids and all he has sacrificed for them. I felt so good promising him as a representative of Jesus Christ that all that he has done for his son is about to be paid back 100 times over through the blessings Raul will bring his family. His dad said "Son, plant the seed and I will follow you."

This week was incredible, I know this family will be an eternal family.

Elder Lethaby

Questions answered:

How is your camera holding up?

Good, I'm gonna send pics hold up

Do you ever explore on P-days? Visit old churches? Iglesia del pueblo de San Andres Hueyacatitla if you like the colour red!

No but san andreas is in my area :) we should probably get over there but we don't have members or investigators

Can you see the volcano from where you are?

yes

What’s the weather like right now?

nice, 20ish everyday and no rain and in the morning and night like 10 degrees

Spiritual thought to share with your fans?

stay tuned for the big email

Are there indigenous peoples in your area? Shane said there were mountain people in his mission that only came down from the mountains - but rarely.

Honestly not too sure, probably but I haven't heard much about that

Favourite study this week? What did you learn?

Studying the 6 letters I got :) Mmmm but also lots of PMG (Preach My Gospel), page 8 is the assignment for my district meeting this week if you wanna read it. (Help people qualify for baptism and confirmation by teaching them true doctrine and inviting them to repent and change their lives through making and keeping commitments that build their faith in Jesus Christ. These commitments prepare people to make and keep sacred covenants.)

Satan hates baptism so much....

Ya haha it's hard to get people baptized, even in Mexico, there's a lot of people who want to but something always comes up at the last minute to stop it - Satan hates baptism so much. R passed his baptismal interview though yesterday so he might get baptized this week but now his moms saying they might go out of town so we will see. She has gone from wanting to be baptized herself, not wanting anything to do with the church, to giving her son permision to be baptized all in one week. This has been hard haha because he is so golden and I'm pretty sure will serve a mission if his health and parents let him. But if his parents say no we can't do much, but for now they are saying yes. Also J and M are thinking they're gonna split up now which is really sad but also kinda good so they will be living the law of chastity. We stopped by this week and J says he still wants to be baptized so if he moves out like he says he's going to, we might see another baptism! Thanks for praying for them. 

The changes in the mission rules are crazy! Super happy that the Lord trusts us to use His time in the best way possible, I think we will see a lot more success with these changes. Also with the key indicators it will help a lot. Our mission had 13 before and now we will only focus in baptism and confirmation, baptismal dates, new investigators and investigators in sacrement meeting. That really is all that matters, the rest of the numbers just show how we are getting people to that point but the Lord also trusts us to know how we can best find them, get them to church, and get them to make this promise with God of Baptism. The broadcast when they announced all of this was awesome, I loved how they talk about strengthening the church, not just numbers. I feel excited to start this change with that in mind, teach people not lessons. 

We had a good week overall with some more good stories that you can all wait to hear - sorry. 

LOVE BEING A NARRY

Elder Lethaby

Questions answered:

So what will you do differently in your daily schedule with the new change in “hours”? Agency will be a big part in this!!President still hasn't announced everything but we will study less and teach more! Plan in the morning, sleep more (probably not really because district leaders don't sleep), and have'more pday. 

Have you ever done any magic tricks for the kids? Your companions?

Never but I should probably get into it

How are you at budgeting? Getting better?

We are honestly really bad, we just spend it and it has always worked out kinda. 

Where does most of your money go towards? Would it go further if you ate less fast food? I saw the subway pic!!

Hahaha ya subway was dumb, we could buy twice as much food for half the price in another place but I wanted him to try it but he didn't even like it. That was a day when a member gave us money to buy food because her husband wasn't home.

Best thing you heard from the World Wide Missionary Broadcast that you have applied to your labours….Someone said that you know you are teaching by the spirit when you learn from your own words, I learned from my own words this week which was pretty cool, like sometimes you don't plan on testifying of something because you don't have that strong of a testimony of that thing and then you open your mouth and the spirit gives you a testimoiny of that thing. 

2nd best thing!

The environment of the teaching situation starts being created at 6:30 am

Favourite learning from the scriptures this week?

Alma 26 It will be given!

https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/alma/26?lang=eng

Favourite new thing you love about your companion?

Loves to make "Hot cáke" and loves to burn them every single time hahah