Finishing Strong

Hey guys!

So this week started off on a pretty bad note, last Pday when we came to write, i lent my companion my camera and cable so he could put his memory in my camera and send pictures to his family. So he took out my memory and set it by his camera. And after writing we had almost gotten to our appointment that we had planned when he realized he had left his camera and my memory card in the ciber. So we ran back to check if it was still there and unfortunately... it wasn't. They checked the cameras and they could see someone take the camera but it was too dark to be able to see clearly who it was. So there goes almost a years worth of pictures and videos. To say i was sad about that would be an understatement. My companion feels horrible about it but there's nothing we can do now. Ni modo... 

Before the week even started we had our agenda almost full of really great appointments set up with our investigators and a lot of them with a member present as well. So we were really excited! Unfortunately not everything went as planned and about half of the appointments ended up falling through, pretty frustrating but that's how things have been lately in our area! 

We found a new guy, Juan Antonio, who is the husband of a really active member here and he agreed to prepare himself to get baptized on the 12th of October, so hopefully we can make that happen. The only problem is that he works every day, including sundays sometimes so it's really hard to find him.

We also were invited by the stake president to a stake activity this past friday. It was a cultural event and then there was a volleyball tournament at the end. It was soooo fun! I'm horrible at volleyball but it was a ton of fun. Then there was a 5 on 5 basketball game between the missionaries and the stake dream team (they were super good), and we got destroyed. Haha, so there isn't too much basketball talent here in the zone. But either way it was a lot of fun.

So when people ask me if i miss home or if i'm ready to go home now that i have only a few months left, i usually just shrug my shoulders and tell them that no i'm not. But honestly, i feel like in a way i kind of am ready for what's next. I have loved every second of my mission, the good times and the bad, but i feel like i'm just kind of ready for what comes next. That and my body needs a rest, haha. I can definitely feel the 20 months now. But I know that i need to stay focused my last 3 months it's just kinda hard when all anyone ever talks about is how close i am to going home. Haha, but i'm excited. 

President told me today in his letter that i will probably finish my last change and a half as a trainer in another area here in the zone. And i'm super excited! As much as i like being a Zone Leader, it's kind of stressful having to worry about 16 other missionaries. Haha, and i'm ready to just be able to focus on an area with my companion. But we'll see what happens. Wherever the Lord needs me i'll go. But it looks as though i will finish my mission training! Woohoo! 

Well, i hope you guys have a great week. Miss you tons and love you all:)

con mucho amor,

Elder Bird

''And no one can assist in this work except he shall be humble and full of love, having faith, hope, and charity, being temperate in all things, whatsoever shall be entrusted to his care.''

BYU! BYU! BYU! 41-7 against Texas? that's awesome!!!!! That's way cool Dad got to go to the game as well. Also i'm glad i'm not the only one who went through some seriuos schedule balancing problems my first weeks at BYU (Kendall...). 

Well this week was very eventful but really great! On tuesday we had transfers so me and my companion had to be in the bus station basically the entire day waiting for the new elders to get here. There were a lot of changes in the zone and a lot of Elders i have been with before in my mission are here. Like Elder Lopez and Elder Martinez! So it's really cool to have them in the zone. On wednesday we had to leave to go to Saltillo for the leadership conference, and it's like an 8hour bus ride so we left at aruond 10 and got there at around 6. But we got there before the rest of the zone leaders so I was able to go visit one of my converts the Hermana Lety. But I would love for you guys to keep her in your prayers because about a week and a half ago she had something happen to her, they're not exactly sure what but she fainted and when she woke back up she couldn't remember almost anything. So she has forgotten almost everything from the past 10 years or so. So when i got there she didn't remember me at all, she didn't remember that I had baptized her, she couldn't remember how to pray,or any of the things that we had taught her. It was just a really sad thing to see. I've kept in touch with the missionaries there throughout the week and they say she is slowly starting to remember some things, but they can't figure out what is wrong or what exactly it was that happened to her. So your guys' prayers would be much appreciated.

So Thursday we had the leadership conference and it was really good! We brought back some really good ideas on how to help our zone. Our zone was actually the zone of the transfer last change as far as baptisms. Woohoo!! But we had a really great conference and then left Saltillo at around 4:30ish to come back here to Piedras. So we got here at around midnight and when we got home our neighbors were having a hugeeee party, so as soon as we got out of the taxi 2 drunk guys and their girlfriends ran over to us and started talking to us in ''english'' and were inviting us to the party. We told them no thanks but they kept insisting, it was actually pretty funny because one of them was just talking in broken english the whole time, the other one was saying ''please don't judge us'' the whole time, and the other one was behind them throwing up from all the beer she had drunk. Haha, needless to say there is never a dull moment here in Piedras. 

So we were only able to be in our area Friday, Saturday, and Sunday this past week and we had some awesome lessons! We got Carlos´mom to come to church and she really liked it, that family is super cool and i know they are going to get baptized before i leave this area. We are also preparing an 8 year old in the ward to get baptized as well, his name is Rodrigo, and he is the coolest kid ever! Everytime we get to their house he attacks us with light sabers so we have a light saber battle before every lesson. Haha, and yesterday he got up to bear his testimony in sacrament meeting and said that he wants to be a missionary because he wants to be like us. So cool, no? But i'll send some pictures of him at the end of the email.

Haha we also pulled a litte prank on the relief society president yesterday... it wasn't mean don't worry. But yesterday we ran into her husband waiting in his van outside of a member's house. So he told us to get in the back of the van and when his wife got there we were going to scare her. Haha, so we waited about 5 minutes until she got into the car and then he started to drive off, and she didn't realize we were back there. After about a minute we finally both yelled ''HERMANA'' at the same time and her reaction was priceless! Haha, i got it on video so i'll have to show you guys when i get back. But she thought it was pretty funny:)  

So being Zone Leader has had it's ups and downs, it's a lot more stressful than i thought it would be but mostly because our missionaries just aren't that obedient, so we have had lots of problems with them. They're all good missionaries and have had a lot of success in their mission but they have just stopped being obedient. We have had to confescate a couple iphones from missionaries in the zone and President is always calling us to remind us to constantly be checking the obedience of the missionaries. I feel like sometimes i'm a babysitter more than a msisionary. Okay, not really but things did get pretty bad last transfer. So i really am learning a lot as Zone Leader, but i feel like i would really like to finish my mission training. So i think i'm going to ask president to put me as a trainer for next transfer. But of course wherever the Lord needs me i will go. 

Something i have been studying all week is about humility, and i've said it before (i think) but really humility is the key to everything. In the scriptures it often talks about humility leading to the realization of our dependance on God and our complete submission to His will.  If we are Humble we will understand that His ways are better than our ways and obedience to his commandments will be second nature. It also describes someone who is humble as someone being teachable and willing to recognize their own defects in order to become more like Christ. If we are humble we will be able to recognize our own weakness and through that be able to see the good in other people and we will be able to develop love for others. I came upon a scripture this last week that i had read before but it kind of had new meaning to me this time that i read it. It comes in D&C 12:8, it's awesome. 

Well guys, know that i love you all and that i will finish these last 3 months strong! I hope you all have a great week and hope to hear from y'all next Monday:)

con mucho amor,

Elder Pajarito

Battling with Rodrigo

The Award

The Scared Relief Society President

Looking Sharp for Church

Otro Cambio en Piedras Negras

Well this week is the week of changes, and there are a lot of changes in the zone. Me and my companion are staying the same and about half of the zone is going to be new, and a new area is opening up so we will have 16 elders instead of 14. And Elder Lopez (my old companion) is going to come up to our zone and train for his last change! It's going to be awesome! We also had to change up the districts because of the new area so we now will have our meetings in a different church, and we had to make a lot of changes to the way the districts were set up which was kind of a pain but we got it all figured out now. I'm pretty excited to stay here another change and hopefully we will start being able to see the results from all of our work! It's kind of been a little frustrating, i feel like i'm working as hard as i ever have in my mission but we haven't been seeing very many results, but i'm sure it's just a trial of our faith and we gotta keep on at it and we'll get the results. We had some really cool lessons this week with the Familia Rocha, who is the family of Carlos, a kid who just got baptized in the ward. We were expecting all 4 of them to come to church yesterday but they couldn't come, and then Juanita and her husband both got sick so they couldn't go, and our other investigator Josefina slept in too late so she didn't go to church. So we were kinda bummed because we were hoping for 8 or 9 investigators in church and no one showed up! But it's okay, we just gotta be patient! 

We also had some problems with the missionaries in our zone this week, about 6 of them were caught walking around at about midnight. So we had a meeting with the stake president about it, and fortunately the only thing they had been doing was eating dinner and the food just took too long to get there, but it was just not a good situation at all and we had to deal with that all weekend which was not fun at all... but así es.

Umm.. other news... i'm officially going to be at BYU in winter semester!!!!:) They accepted my deferral change request, and so now i'm officially enrolled for winter semester. It was actually the mission president who gave me the idea in the first place and he is very encouraging for me to make it back for school on time. Now I just have to get the ecclesiastical endorsement from President and then register for classes and housing and stuff! i still don't know what my new official release date will be, but the most likely is probably either the 17th or 24th of December. Which is less than 4 stinkin months away!! So basically i have 2 transfers and then a couple weeks left. Which is soooo weird. But yeah as soon as i know more details on my release date i will let you guys know:)

Well i ran out of time but i will send you guys all the pictures from the temple that i didn't send last week, hope yall have a great week!! Love you!:)

con mucho amor,

Elder Pajarito