EL TIEMPO HA LLEGADO! MEXICO 2K17 YEEEE

THE TIME HAS COME! MEXICO 2K17 YEEEE

This week was kinda cool cuz Elder Pino, a seventy, came to visit the mission. He spoke to 3 zones on Thursday, 3 zones on Friday, and the leadership council on Saturday. He said he was talking to President Monson and the 12 on Wednesday and asked what we need to change in Mexico to start baptising more. He said the only answer was "work with the members". President Hinkley said many years ago that if we do that, we can double the baptisms every year in the church. Right now the mission is baptising about half or a little more of the monthly goal of 100 baptisms every month, so we talked on Saturday about what we are gonna change to reach that goal. This week we have a meeting with our bishop to talk about a ward mission plan. We are going to try to have a FHE  (family home evening) EVERY night with members and investigators, and when our plans fall through we are going to go visit ALL the members. President Monson got the Canadian mission to baptise 5 times more every year in just 3 years through this process. 

I wanted to share a spiritual thought from this week that we have been teaching with the members. In Matthew 4 it talks about when Jesus fasted for 40 days, how Satan tempted him, and then after all of that angels finally came to visit him and comfort him. I invite you now to read that story again and look at the Joseph Smith translation in verse 11, it makes a huge difference to the story and helps us understand the nature of Christ a little bit more. We have to serve even when we are in the hardest moments.

1. Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
2. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
3. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
4. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
5. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,
6. And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
7. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
8. Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
9. And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
10. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
11. Then the devil leaveth him, and now Jesus knew that John was cast into prison, and he sent angels, and, behold, they came and ministered unto him (John)

This week was awesome, lots of people went to church again and I feel like the members trust us a lot. That's another thing that Elder Pino talked about, when we walk into a house, the members should feel like Captain Moroni is in their living room, we have to get to that point where the members and investigators just feel such a strong, spiritual presence when we are there. 

What else to say, but we are doing great and teaching really good families!
Love you all lots, lovin the mission,
Elder Lethaby

PS If you could send me a kendama that would be cool, kinda miss it.

Note from mom: Sent pics of the "new" Bowness High School and Elder Lethaby said, "Wow. Bowness is handsome."

Also sent pics of it being light at 10:30pm, and he said, "My companion doesn't believe it."

Elder Lethaby and Elder Stones together again after the MTC

Calgary Police 1/2 Marathon sweatshirt in Puebla!

 

One of the BEST weeks of my mission

June 5th, 2017

Cambios!

I am now in Amalucan ward, after almost a year, I finally left the Tlaxcala zone. Elder A is my new companion, he is from New Mexico (first American comp but still kinda Mexican because his parents are from Mexico), he is a convert of 5 years, the only member in his family still, used to be secretary in the mission, has 17 months in the mission, very obedient, very humble, hyped! Our area is in the city, which is a change but it looks pretty nice even though its very small. Should be good stuff here, I think we are gonna teach English.

It was pretty hard to say goodbye to Totolac though, especially after such a good week. The picture I sent is of the J and his family. They changed their lives (and keep changing their lives). This week we started teaching the two kids who are there in white shirts. The weren't living with him before, and just got there because they decided how they were living their lives wasn't working out to well.  They told us when they got there, they saw a light in their father that they hadn't seen before, and they both want to change. The one who has a son read up to 1 Nephi 15 in 3 days before we even got there, and 2 days later received a call from the mother of his son asking for his help and he will now see his son 2 times a week. The whole family went to church this week. J and his son D went to help clean the church on Saturday and got there at 7am, before us! He also shared his testimony on Sunday about how he can't wait for his son to go on a mission. 

This family showed me why we are here. I am so grateful to have known them, and will miss them a lot, but also will visit them. One of the sons asked me if I could ask permission to come back and baptise him in 2 weeks, but I don't think I can. 

You can tell it was a great ward for me because I gave away 6 ties hahaha. 

SO SO HAPPY to have had this experiecne and many others in Totolac, and I know I will have more like that here. 

This is the work of Jesus Christ, I am striving every day to do exactly what he would do. I know that if I live like this, I can start to expect miracles in my life. 

Love you all so much!

Elder Lethaby

PS your packages got here, 2 big ones with lots of Canadian stuff, and thanks a lot for that! My companions enjoyed them a lot even though it made packing much harder yesterday. 

June 12th, 2017

One of the best weeks of my mission.

I was honestly pretty nervous to come here because I have heard it is a very very hard area. The first few days this week I understood why I had heard that. We walked all day looking for people to teach, getting rained on, and teaching like 1 or 2 lessons every day. Even the members all work during the day so we couldn't even go meet many of them until the night. We decided very quickly that we have to do things differently because the work here CAN work, but not in the way we had been working, and the way my companion had been working with Elder P for the last 3 months. We decided to make a covenant with the Lord, we started offering service, we organised an English Class, and the miracles started coming!

It's very different in this new area, last Sunday they cut our area which was already very small in half. We still have the half with almost all the members, but we can now walk from one end of our area to the other in about 20 minutes. A big part of it is just a TON of apartments. We have gotten into playing frisbe in the morning but there is also a giant outdoor obstacle course in our area so we can go there too if we wake up a bit early.

We were walking and a couple called us over. The man is a member who has been less active for many years, and his girlfriend isn't a member, but he told us right away that he wants to marry her in the temple in 1 year and he wants our help. They got to church early on Sunday, she loved it and says she wants to go again! He also told us he never wanted to stop going but for things that were happening in his family he couldn't. Still don't know them very well, but that was a huge tender mercy! 

We also have a sister who we are teaching who wants to get baptised, and this week her whole family went for the first time! Her youngest daughter turns 8 today! Her other daughter is 13 and this week when someone asked her what religion she is, she said she's a Mormon! We felt the spirit so strong when we taught them about temples, and that they can be together forever and see their other brother (who died a year ago) again one day. The Lord has blessed us so much so far! We had more people come to church this week than I have had in like 6 months. 

Jesus Christ Lives! I feel his mercy, support and love every day. I know every step, every idea that we have, every success we have in His work is thanks to HIM! So happy to be here, comp is a great guy too!

Love you all.

Elder Lethaby

P.S. The bishop is 33 years old, listens to heavy metal music, plays in a rock band, and is one of the most inspiring men I have met up to this point in my mission. I think he inspired us to do things differently. Super passionate and concerned about the work. WE HAVE TO SERVE IF WE WANT THE CHURCH TO GROW!!!!

Questions Answered:

What do you do with your passport?
It's in the offices of the mission.

Do you have some kind of ID you need to carry in Mexico?
My green card, my Canadian licence and my missionary licence.

Did you know it’s Canada’s 150 Birthday this year? That’s the logo on the shirt I sent. And why all the Canada stuff!! July 1st is the day!
Thought so! Hahaha everyone thought it was pretty funny all the Canadian stuff. HBD!

Did you get permission to go back to baptise J’s son? I also doubt you could, but sometimes you just have to ask! Or get him to!
Mmm didn''t even ask honestly haha but I will get on that, I'm pretty far away now though and we have a meeting the day of his baptism so I don't think I can.

So how excited are you for those girl's mission calls? Amy’s has also submitted…playing the waiting game.
VERY! One very close to me and the other very fitting for Emma, she loves the temple! Very excited that Ana is gonna serve there, super close to my mission I think! Also Emma. Their missions suit them. It was about time Ana went to Mexico if she's gonna keep saying she's Mexican!

Still ZL?
Yes still zone leader.

Any tender mercies this week?
Yes, lots, I will talk about them in the big email.

What is the ward like?
They just changed the boundaries twice in like a month, so the boundaries are now TINY! The members are still getting to know each other, but individually are very strong, especially the leaders. The bishop is very young and creative (33 years old).

When exactly are transfer days for you?
Mondays, every 6 weeks.