Changes in the Office

Hey guys!!!!

Well, i have little to no time at all to write you guys today. Which i know has been kind of a common theme lately, so sorry about that. just tons and tons of work to do here.

Well since i have last written you guys lots and lots has happened. But i only have time for a quick summary. So president called 2 new assistants here in the offices, and Elder Islas and Elder Udall went to other areas as zone leaders to finish their missions. So i'm not gonna lie i've been missing them a lot haha. But the new assistants are awesome as well. We have a fecha (baptismal date) for Leticia for april, the only thing holding her back is the coffee but she has been letting it go which is awesome. She really has changed so much since i met her! We also have been teaching Jose, who is a mechanic and has already been 3 times to church, his only problem is that he is not married so in order for him to get baptized he has to get married, but we are just barely meeting his girlfriend and 2 kids so hopefully we can get them to go to church as well. The family Aa that we have been teaching has kind of stopped progressing, so we stopped visiting them for a few weeks and yesterday morning we ran into the mom and she told us how much she missed us in their house, because whenever we were there she had always been able to feel a sense of peace and tranquilidad (tranquility)  (idk how to say that in english... haha) 

We've also found a TON of less active members this week and had some SUPER awesome experiences with one family in particular, BUT,  i do not have time to tell you about but i PROMISE to tell you guys all about it in the next letter. I love you guys!! Have a great week!!! :)

Elder Bird

You Didn't Write this Week

Hey mom and dad!!! Well, I didn't get a letter from you guys this week (we both sent ours too late in the day).. YET. haha, but i just thought i'd drop in and say hey! so... hey!! haha, what's new? how's your week back to school and work been? life here has been CRAZYYYY. i haven't had a real night's sleep since last sunday it feels like. with all the new missionaries getting here this transfer was out of controlll. SOO much work. and then there were 2 zone conferences this week so i've had to do all of the boxes of materials for that but we're having A TON of problems with the distribution center still. which is a pain. but it's okay:)

this last sunday was kinda cool, we got to go to President's house and me and Elder Udall taught them how to make smores! Haha, so we were there making smores and just hanging out with their family, which is really really cool to be able to get to know them. It makes me miss you guys a lot being with them, but it's fun. Their little boy David just got baptized last Saturday and we did a special musical number (which was kind of horrible because the sister missionaries are a little bit tone deaf) but it was a really cool service, David cried when he said the closing prayer and it just reminded me of when I got set apart and Caden shared the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants and started crying, it just kinda hit me really hard! I kinda had some flashbacks to that night getting set apart and it seems like it was just yesterday but at the same time it feels like it was SOOOO long ago. I read the paper with all the advice that everyone gave me at least 2 or 3 times a week. It really gives me a lot of motivation to seguir adelante (sorry mom, idk how to say that in english...) (keep working hard) haha. But anyways i love you tons and i hope you guys can find some time to write me. LOVE YOU!!!

con mucho amor,

Elder Bird

Fun Pictures

Do You Ever Feel the Weight of the World on Your Shoulders?

Which One Is Posing?

I made someone mad and they turned me into this :(

Busy, Busy, Busy

Hola mi querida familia!!

So first off i don't know if i just completely missed the memo but i had no idea Matt and MIchelle were moving to Texas. That's awesome!!! Also congratulations to Adam on his mission call!!! He's going to love the mission, Once you guys get his mission email please pass it to me so i can write him!! Well i hope you guys have had an awesome spring break this week, and tell Grant and Caden that I challenge them to a game of sting pong in 9 and a half months:)

Well sorry for not writing you guys last week, i didn't have much time. Well this week has been super busy because this monday are transfers. So we have been preparing everything for that which i didn't realize was so much work! And even more this time because no missionary goes home and there are FIFTEEN new missionaries getting here and 7 areas opening. And we have been having some serious problems with the distribution center and we just ended up buying the materials from the united states even though the shipping cost was a lot more because there is literally NOTHING in the mexican distribution center since i've been here in the offices. And we're not really sure what's up there... But we also had a problem with the company that we buy the housing materials from and they didn't send the correct number of materials we needed so we're going to be short some stuff for the new changes. Ahhhh, so it's been a little stressful to say the least this week. OH, and also the phone company here sent us the wrong area codes for 3 of the areas i asked for so i had to ask more and deal with getting all the numbers and new lines set up for the new areas. And then we've also had problems with the materials for office depot that we order for the offices and hermana rodriguez because they don't want to accept our internet orders anymore so i've had to talk with Mexico City to try and figure that problem out and it turns out that now we won't be able to do it online anymore which is kind of a pain. 

BUT.. this week hasn't been all stress! The president brought the 4 of us to his house on Sunday for his daughter's birthday and we ate cake and dinner at his house. So that was really fun! Also he has included the 4 of us (the assistents and me and Elder Barrera) in making the changes, and yesterday we went to his house and we said a prayer and there we finished deciding about the transfers about who was going to go where, which was a really cool experience i loved to be able to be a part of that. Also another cool thing we got to do was we got to go to the airport in Monterrey 2 weeks ago because there was a kid here from a branch in a small town in the mission who was set apart as a missionary by president and then we took him to the airport here in saltillo to go to the MTC in Mexico City, but there was too much fog so the plane had to land in monterrey so we got to go to the airport in monterrey to drop him off. Which was super cool! it was the same airport that i got to the mission in. And we bought Krispy Kreme's there too:) Also our investigator Leticia went to the church again last Sunday and has been progressing a ton. She was having a lot of problems due to some problems with gossiping in the ward, but we were able to have some really cool lessons with her in helping her understand that the CHURCH is perfect, that the gospel of Jesus Christ is perfect, And we've helped her turn her faith in Christ instead of in the people in the church, but it has not been easy that's for sure. Also last night i got permission to go see my converts from my first area!!! The familia Gonzalez Vazquez, and that was SOOOOOOOO cool! We ate dinner at their house and i got to see how they have been and their plans to get sealed in the temple in a few months. Also the hermano preached the gospel to his sister's family and they were all baptized last week. Which is soooo cool to see all the people our work is affecting. It was super super cool. I'll send some funny pictures in just a second.

Well, the church is true guys, the gospel changes lives and you can be a part of that. I love you all and i hope you have a great week! And i hope to hear from more of you next week:) 

con mucho amor,

Elder Bird

HOLA MI QUERIDA FAMILIA!!!

So i know i'm the worst for not writing you guys last week, but i will explain to you guys all of the bajillion and one things that have been going on here in the offices and things we've had to do these past 2 weeks! But first off, CONGRATULATIONS KENDALL ON GETTING INTO BYU!!!!!! I'm stoked to party it up at the Y together!!! And also congratulations to Daniel stinkin Peterson for getting married?!?! That's awesome! When did all of my friends start to grow up and stuff... hijole. But if you guys could get me his email to write him to congratulate him. Also, if you guys could wait just a few more months to go to San Diego, that would be very much appreciated! Haha, but if not... i guess i'll forgive you guys. Just send me pictures of the liger in the zoo and i'll be okay. 

Well, i'll try to remember all that has happened since 2 weeks ago since i wrote you guys... 

Well, i'll start off with the conference of Elder Christensen that we had 2 Saturdays ago. Well in the offices we had to do all of the planning for the conferencia and buy all of the bus tickets and prepare the lunches and talk with the zone leaders and get the church ready and everything! So it was a lot of work just preparing for it. And on top of that somehow finding time to prepare the musical number, that actually turned out really well inspite of being super nervous and with a throat infection! Haha, but so Friday night we didn't get any sleep at all because the whole night we had to be checking with the buses to make sure they were getting to their stops and leaving on time and that all the missionaries made their buses and all that fun stuff. And then me Elder Barrera, and the 2 assistants, had to get to the church at 5:30 in the morning to set everything up and get the sound ready and make sure the buses were getting there on time. So we were EXHAUSTED by the time the conference even started. But the conference itself was awesome!!! Elder Christensen is a big guy! I didn't realize it but he's a giant! Haha, but i'm going to share a few points he made that i really really liked.

- The first thing he talked about is how we are children of God, and that if we are worthy that we truly can be instruments in God's hands, and that God trusts in his children, even with their weaknesses, and that it's only through the atonement and love of God that we will be able to sanctify ourselves and become worthy enough.

-He also talked about how the mission shouldn't be the same thing every day, or the same routine, but that every day should be different, because we should be getting better EVERY day, and that the same thing will apply to after the mission too, that we should always be progressing, not moving backwards.

-Then he made a pretty cool analogy about the different types of missionaries, the first types are what he called the niños, those that don't know anything and everything is new, the 2nd type is teenager, those who THINK they know a lot and depend on their own abilities, and the 3rd type are the adults, those who still don't know that much but that they know who to depend on (God) And that we should strive to be the 3rd type of missionary.

-And then probably my most favorite point he made was that a lot, if not all, has to do with our attitude! He told a story when he was a mission president in Mexico City about an area that hadn't baptized for over 3 years, and so finally he decided to make a change and take out the Elders and put in Hermanas, and then within 3 months they had baptized over 20, so when he interviewed them to find out how they were having so much success, the hermana just said ´´President, who would be able to say no to this smile?'' He talked about that we should always portray the happiness that is the gospel and portray the light of Christ, and that this work is a work of love.

Other things that we have been busy with these past weeks are sick missionaries! We've had 2 Elders here with us that were in Monclova because of sickness. One of them had their gall bladder removed so he couldn't walk for about 2 weeks. And then another one has a horrible throat and stomach infection so he has been with us this week as well. So we have been having to take turns staying with them. But now they have recovered enough to be able to go back to their areas. So that's good! Also we've been doing all of the purchases for the materials of the new areas and checking with a bunch of different places to find the cheapest stuff and then today the whole morning we were receiving the stuff in the house, like all of the mattresses, the irons, the microwaves, and tables were turned in to us. Oh also we found a new house!!! Because now the area presidency doesn't want 4 missionaries living in the same house so we had to look for a new house and we found one that is really nice! And wayyyy closer to our area and the offices. Because the house we have right now is a 40 minute walk to the offices, and then another 30 minute walk in the opposite direction to our area. So this house will be better for us, but i'm kinda bummed we won't live with the assistants any more because it's super fun living with them! But, oh well. 

Well if everything works out this week we will have a baptism!!! Her name is Leticia and she is the mom of 2 recent converts. She went to the church again this last week and we have continued to work with her this week. It's also been cool because the Elder that had his gall bladder removed, is the one that started teaching her here about 4 months ago, so he's gone to a few lessons with us and he's helped us a lot with her! So that's been sweet, The other family that we are teaching right now has kind of stopped progressing for now, but we are going to see if they go to the church on Sunday but if not we are probably going to leave them for a while... :/ 

Well, I love you guys! I hope you guys have a great week. And i have a request! Could you guys send me a family picture? I want to put one up here in my desk:) Haha, i love you guys and i'll be back on in a little bit to respond to the other emails!!

con mucho amor,

Elder Bird