Happy Thanksgiving

Hey guys!!!

Well first of all i would like to thank everyone for the packages and letters you guys sent to me, i just barely got them this week but they were super awesome! I enjoyed my Goldfish, Easy Mac, and all the letters and candy you guys sent me, you guys are the best:) Also i'm excited to see pictures of all the great thanksgiving food you guys are going to eat this week, unfortunately... I will not be celebrating it this year... :( But it's okay, i'll eat a Turkey sandwich and call it good.

Well this week has been another super busy one. I feel like i say this every week but this week really was. Haha, opening the area here hasn't been too easy, because we haven't had much of anything. But on Friday and Saturday we ended up contacting like crazy and found a ton of cool people! So after a week and a half of nothing we got overloaded with awesome people the last 2 days of the week, so that was definitely a blessing for us. Our area is HUGE and we have a mix of areas that are super, super poor and other parts that are super ´fresa´ as they´re called here. haha, or super rich. But it´s a cool area. We moved into our new house on Tuesday and it's really really nice! ill send pictures later. But the only problem is that we live on the edge of the area so we're not close to anything at all. Dad was asking about how we are doing it with 4 missionaries in the ward and we made a division in the area with the bishopric and me and Elder Porras are assigned to work in one part, and the Zone leaders in the other part. But more than anything it's just split up for the investigators and less active members, and we eat together all 4 of us everyday. Which is cool. The Zone leaders are crazy. 

What else happened this week.. We also had interviews with the president on Wednesday which was awesome! I love President Rodriguez, and i always leave feeling inspired and con más ganas de trabajar (more desire to work)... I don't remember how to say that normally in English... haha. i'm excited to talk to you guys in a few weeks so you can hear my broken english now! it's pretty funny, i don't know how it will be trying to have a conversation in english now, but i guess we'll see how it goes:) But i always love talking with President and then being able to see Elder Islas all the time. He's so cool! When we both finish our mission he is going to come visit us in Plano, just a heads up:)

Also yesterday me and Elder Porras were asked to speak in church, and i spoke on making weak things strong. And i focused my talk on one of my favorite scriptures! it's in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10. It's a super powerful scripture, you guys should look it up! But in the scripture it says something really interesting, Paul is talking and it says at the end ''...for when i am weak, then am I strong'' And it made me think a lot reading this scripture! But really God gives us weaknesses because he knows we have the potential to overcome them, but he also knows that the only way our weaknesses will be strengthened will be if we come to Him for His help. Because it's only through His grace that we are able to overcome our weaknesses, and being sufficiently humble enough to recognize that we aren't perfect. God lets us fall because he knows we have the ability to get up stronger. And God will always be there in the exact moment that we need it to be able to overcome whatever challenge we have. He´s waiting there with His hand extended ready to lift us up, we just have to be take His hand and use His help.

Well, in this time of Thanksgiving I would like to tell you guys thanks for everything. Thanks for all the support and love you give me, i wish you guys understood how much it helps me in hard times. Thanks for always being there for me and for always making me smile. you guys are crazy and i wouldn't trade you guys for anyone else, i love you guys SOOO much and i always have a prayer in my heart for you. I miss you and i hope you have a great week this week and remember to always have gratitude for the things that you have, because being here i've seen that really there are people with  A LOT less. 

Also, i don't remember if i already mentioned this or not but our bishop's 4 year old daughter has been having surgeries all week in Monterrey on her heart, and right now things aren't looking very good. So if you guys could keep her and her family in your prayers this week that would be great. 

LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!

Elder Pajarito 

Back in Saltillo

Hey guys!!!

Well first off... i would like to just say a few words related to the death in the family this week. it's truly a tragedy that she has passed away, she was always so good to me and to the family, and she never let us down. Sure she had a few problems here and there, but don't we all? Although her body will no longer be with us, her spirit will forever remain in our hearts. And i will never forget all of the memories we shared together. I love you Bessie, R.I.P. :(  (For those who may not know, Bessie was our 1998 Nissan Altima that we had to "put to sleep" last week -- she was a good car).

Hahaha, well on a brighter note, CONGRATULATIONS KEVIN AND CORTNEY!!!!!!!! I´m so excited for you guys!! And even more excited because it will be born only a little bit before i´m coming home, but that's so awesome! You guys are going to be awesome parents. Also, way to go Kendall on the ACT!!! That's awesome! Now it´s pretty much a guarantee that we will be partying it up in Provo soon:) 

Wow, i feel like i have so much to tell you guys. I have no idea where to start. Well i'll start off by telling you guys how my last week in Monclova went, well.. it was awesome!!!! We had our 4 baptisms of the Familia L M and it was an incredible service. At the end of it O (the 11 year old) got up in front of everybody to give his testimony and to thank everyone for everything for what they had done for his family and how happy he was to finally be able to say that he is a member of the church, it left everyone in tears. It was super super powerful and really incredible to be able to baptize them the last Sunday i was there. I will send you guys pictures in a little bit, well i am back here in Saltillo again which is awesome! i love being back in saltillo, my area is Corona 2, and our area is basically the whole centro, so it's huge!! And really confusing, but we're getting to know the area a little better. Well on Tuesday in the mission offices we got our kids and had our little training thing again.   My new kid is Elder Porras! He's from Hidalgo. He's super super serious and quiet, which is a little weird for me after being with Elder Jacinto who was always talking and joking around. But he seems cool! And he really has a desire to serve, he just has gotta break out of his shell a little bit, which is what i've been trying to help him to do. But it was really cool also to go to the mission offices because i saw Elder Islas! my dad! i hadn't seen him since we were companions and like i think i told you guys he's the new assistant so it was REALLY great to see him and talk to him again. Well this week has been super crazy because none of us really know how to have 4 Elders in one area, so we've been working on making the division in the area and finding a house for us (because as of right now we are all living in the same house with only 2 mattresses...) and meeting all the members. But we finally were able to find a really really nice house with the Relief Society President  so we will probably be moving everything in there either tonight or tomorrow. Also like i told you guys i am now a District Leader! Which has been really really awesome honestly, I have found myself not only worrying for me and my companion but also the Elders in my district. There's 8 missionaries in our district and we had our first meeting on Wednesday, and it was really cool! Elder Knight (who was in my district the first 4 changes of my mission) is in it with his son, and then the zone leaders, me and my son, and 2 other Elders who you guys wouldn't know even if i told you. haha, but it's cool because Elder Islas had already taught me how to ask for the numbers and everything so I've loved doing that and being able to talk to my district every night and try to help them with their problems. i love what Dad told me in his letter about being a servant, and being primarily their friend and servant and later their leader is what i've been trying to do. And it's been great so far! I'm excited for the opportunity the Lord has given me to be a leader. so i'm going to echarle ganas! Haha, you guys can ask dad what that means.

But I'm loving the mission guys, something awesome happens every single day and i absolutely love it. I also realize that in a month that i will be able to talk to you guys! So get excited!:) i love you guys!!!! And i hope you have a great week! Always remember to put the Lord first in all that you do, and trust that He will never lead you astray. les amo!:)

con mucho amor,

Elder Bird

P.S Also, funny side note. Literally no one in the mission calls me Elder Bird, EVERYONE calls me Elder Pájaro. Haha, even the president! haha, it's funny.  

Saying Goodbye in Montclavo

Hermanos I Lived with in Montclavo

My Son and My Dad -- A family Picture

Baptism of Family LM

I'm Getting Another Kid

Well I have no time at all because i  just got a call from the assistants that I have a transfer! It's seriously super unexpected, but they called me and said they were very content and impressed with the work we did this change and so they're going to put me to train again but with another kid! And i have to be in the central at 4:30 to go to Saltillo again so i have 4 hours to pack everything and get ready and say all my goodbyes. I'm super excited but it's so crazy at the same time! And i'm SUPER sad to be leaving this area! But i'm excited to see what else the Lord has in store for me. I love you guys and i won't have any time to get on to write you guys later but i miss you all and i'll let you guys know where i end up hopefully later this week! Love you all!!

Love, 

Elder Bird

Quick follow up . . . 

Awesome letter! I would love to give you a good letter reply but i don´t really have any time. I´m here in the offices and we´re waiting to get our new kids. My new area is in Saltillo again! And i´ll be sharing an area with the zone leaders which will be cool, and... i´m district leader now!!! wooh! I´m pretty nervous because they said i have a big district, but i feel like i´m ready and i´m super excited to be back in Saltillo! So we´ll see how it goes. Love you! Hope you have a great week! Say hi to everyone for me.

"And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do."

Hey guys!!!! Well i didn't get any pictures of your halloween costumes but it sounds like you guys had a pretty fun week with lots and lots of stuff to do! Everyone told me last week that no one really does anything for halloween here so i wasn't expecting much but there were a lot of people walking through the streets! So it was fun to see all the kids walking through the streets, only that here instead of saying trick or treat they just ask for 'halloween'. Haha, so that was kinda weird. And then the 1st and 2nd was dia de los muertos, so there were a lot of people in the streets doing some ritual or something it looked like, but i forgot to bring my camera, otherwise i would have recorded it. Then on Saturday night a family in our ward had a birthday party for their little daughter and they invited us to come and it was a lot of fun! A lot of the members of the ward went and a few of our investigators too, so it was a good time:) Then today for a zone activity we went to this place called Magic Bowl and played pool and ping pong and bowled (obviously). And I scored 200!!!! I took a picture of it so i'll send that to you guys, but  everyone was impressed. :) Also we've been kinda stressing out this week because the bishop asked us to organize EVERYTHING for a noche mexicana de talento that we're going to have the 15th. And we literally know nothing about that kind of stuff, so we're going to be needing a lot of help from the members this week to get it all ready for the next week.

Well we had to move the baptism to this week instead of yesterday because there was some scheduling conflicts but it's all good! So the 4 kids are going to get baptized this sunday! So we're super super excited for that. Right now we've just been reviewing everything with them and helping them stay excited for their baptism so it's been pretty laid back with them. But the most powerful experiences this week have come with a few less active families in the ward. We have found an hermano in the ward who loves doing visits with us so we usually go with him one or 2 nights a week to visit less active members, and on halloween we were with him visiting a few families when another less active member found us on the street and told us he had left his house with the intention of finding the missionaries because he wanted us to give his 3 year old daughter a blessing because she's really sick. So we went to their house and gave the blessing, and the spirit was super super strong. And they later expressed to us how they have missed having the spirit in their home and haven't been able to go to church because their daughter has been super sick. So we invited them on Sunday and we left it at that. Then on Sunday when they didn't show up, the thought occurred to us to bring them the sacrament. So we talked to the bishop and he said we could do it, so we brought a couple of the little cups and a piece of bread to their house. We were able to have a mini sacrament meeting with them in their house and the spirit was soooo strong. They both ended up in tears because it has been such a long time since they have had the sacrament and have been able to feel the spirit. It was really just a really great experience, and it never would have happened if the spirit hadn't given us the impression to bring them the sacrament. As far as investigators, we have the LM family still and they are who is going to get baptized this Sunday. And we also had a really really spiritual lesson with another investigator yesterday who is struggling with depression and finding hope and a purpose in life. So we were able to teach about plan of salvation and help him understand more the plan God has for us. It was actually pretty cool that we found him because we went to go buy a campechana one night and he was the one cooking them, and we started talking to his friend and she knows a youth in the stake who is about to go on a mission so we started talking to her about the church and then she told us that her friend J was battling with depression and drugs and that she was really worried about him, so that's when we were able to start to talk with him. 

I feel like this week i have really learned a lot about working by the spirit, and following it's promptings. Like it says in 1 Nephi 4:6, that we should always follow the guide of the spirit, even if we don't know what to do. Because I know it's no coincidence that people are placed in our paths as missionaries, and even not as a missionary, because everything happens for a reason and only God has the perfect knowledge of when things should happen. I really have been able to feel the spirit a lot this past week and it's given me a lot of motivation to go out and find all of the people God has prepared for us to find!

Well, I love you guys! And i hope you all have a great week:)

con mucho amor,

Elder Bird