Elder Lethaby's Puebla North Mexico LDS Mission: Eat Cactus when in Mexico! And enjoy "snow"!

May 22nd

This week was nice because we worked more in our area! I don't remember if I told you but a few weeks ago we received a referral of a sister that has been to church lots of times, has been going to institute and that wanted to get baptized! She's gonna get baptized this week! She was sick the whole week and yesterday she couldn't go to church because of it, like didn't even go to university, so we thought we would have to change the date, but we went to visit her last night and she told us she prayed about it and feels that she shouldn't wait! Great example for her family. Only sad part is that I barely know her because it was all so fast hahah.

O, our X-drug addict has had a hard time with letting go of smoking :( but this week he stayed put the whole sacrement meeting, but he has to stop smoking completely this week if he is gonna get baptized on the day we have planned so please pray for him. Also his mom went to church again and she LOVED it even though she says she's super catholic and is never going to change :)

We also had our zone conference this week and it was one of the best I have been to! President asked the missionaries who are converts to share their stories, and it was very spiritual. The thing they said was that they don't remember anythig of what the missionaries taught them, they just remember how they felt. We have started focussing on giving our investigators experiences instead of just lessons. We have to do things differently! We have also been focussing a lot on the sacrament in our lessons, and even though the invitation to church and the invitation to the sacrament are almost the same, there is a very different spirit when we teach about the sacrament.

Scott Wolff does get it! The work is never over! I like your spiritual thought a lot mom, feel free to share it on my blog, and also I was reading in Matthew 10 this week when Jesus called his apostles and it goes along with that too. Spiritual thought:

It’s about being part of a royal army. "Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them; and after will I sent for many hunters, and they shall have them from your mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.” Jeremiah 16:16
President Monson said, "the priesthood represents a mighty army of righteousness – even a Royal army. We are led by a prophet of God. In supreme command is our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Our marching orders are clear. They are concise. Matthew describes our challenging these words from the Master: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” (Matthew 28:19)

I will keep Sam Palmer in my prayers, that boy has too much potential to let something like that slow him down, he is going to be a very good missionary.

Thanks for everything that you do for me! I love to tell people about the blessings of the gospel I have seen in my own family, and try to live in a way that represents the fruit of teaching our children the principles of the gospel. Keep serving with all your heart, might, mind and strength!

Love you all!

Elder Lethaby

May 29th

Hello!
This week was one of the best I have had in the mission honestly. I feel like the Lord is pleased with my progress in the work, and personally.

M got baptized! She was the golden referal that had already gone to church lots and was going to institute and wanted to get baptized before we started teaching her. 70 people were at her baptism so we had to have the service in the chapel, she has a lot of family that are members. Her uncle that is in the picture was in the font with her and started crying and took a while to baptize her because he was way too happy! After, she shared her testimony about just how good she felt, even if she didnt know everything, she knows it's true because she feels it. That's all we need. After the baptism, her uncle came to us and said, "Thank you Elders, you have no idea how long we have been waiting for this moment." We honestly didn't do much, what did it, was the faith, example, and prayers of her family. She was so prepared and I know that she will serve faithfully in this church for her whole life (and more). I also know that her family will soon follow.

We also started teaching a man whose girlfriend of like 15 years is a member, but he hasn't been able to get baptized becuase she can't (or hasn't) gotten a divorce from her previous marriage. He talks about how he wants to get sealed in the temple and do baptisms in the temple, and he knows his ancestors are getting impatient with him. We decided to talk to the stake mission leader who also happens to be a lawyer and we explained him the situation and he said he can get them divorced and married again in less than a month! After 15 years of waiting, another prayer is being answered.

We should never lose hope, or think that our prayers aren't working. Sometimes God needs to test our obedience and patience. I am so grateful for the opportunity to work as the hands of the Lord and for the moments I have had when I know that I have been an angel in the life of someone else. This is His work, we just get to help. But it is so cool to help!

Have a great week, thanks for all that you do for me!

Love you

Elder Lethaby

Questions Answered:

May 22nd

How goes the sister who had the dream about her grandpa? Getting taught?

Mmm havent talked to her because she's not from our area, but her daughter went to church this week (she is from our ward) and we have a FHE (Family Home Evening) with them both tonight so we will see :)

What lesson did you learn this week? Life lesson? Money lesson? Spiritual lesson? People skill lesson? Companion lesson?!

That we can really trust in prayer. We had a lesson with a family of only women because the dad was working and the brother that was gonna go with us canceled so we had to teach outside, but then it was gonna rain so we said a prayer and even though there was thunder and lightning all around us, the rain didn't start until the closing prayer :)

Is it getting hot again? Even in the evenings?

Today it was very hot! The house is always hot at night and cold in the morning. But overall yes it's getting hot

Is it weird that you don’t really get that many more daylight hours? It’s light until about 10:00pm right now here at home, and the sun is up before 5. LOVE IT!

No but I do tell people about that a lot and they don't believe it

Do you have any regrets on your mission so far, and how can you make sure it doesn’t happen again?

Not really because I have learned from them all, and I wouldn't be able to progress without mistakes.

May 29th

Did your referral sister get baptised?

YEEEEEE she got baptized real good!

How’s Oscar doing on his smoking? Buy him big packs of gum!

Mmm not too good :(

What hard life lesson did you learn this week?

I learned to be more punctual; a family we were going to teach left when we got there 10 minutes to the lesson and when we called them they said "well we were waiting for you at 8:00 like you told us you were going to come."

Name some service your companion did for you. Name a service you did for him.

My companion always does little things for us when I am showering or calling someone that I don't notice until after, like call the lunch appointment for the next day to give them their reading asignment or just get things organized. I have to repent because I can't think of how I served him this week, hoping that means it has become so normal that I don't remember and not that I don't serve him.

Any new foods you tried? New region sometimes means new foods (or spices).

We eat gorditas, nopales(cactus), and tlacoyos. Those are some very comon foods here. (Note from mom: See the pics I added from the internet)