Hey family!

Well this week was another solid week! 

Donaciano has a date for this weekend!

Mexican culture: Lots of parties, a lot of passion. Lateness to church meetings.

Mexican Food: Let me tell you a Little bit about a thing called carnitas: Basically they take every single part of the pig and straight up fry it in oil or lard in a huge pot. Every part. Brains, skin, organs, everything. And then they dip the tortillas in oil before they give them to you.

Mexican People: I love Mexican kids. As Zack pass once said "there is no such thing as an ugly Mexican kid"

Well we had an interesting experience today. So our door lock finally broke (its been begging to break for a while now). So we had a fun hour with the neighbors:) We had to break in my slipping a neighbor kid between the Steel protection bars, and then jumping inside the house to take the whole entire door off. It was a good one:)

I am Reading a great talk right now called the blueprint to Christ's church. Its a great testimony builder:)

well I really really really have to go to the bathroom right now and ima bit distracted but I love you and here's a picture which is worth another 1000 words! Love you all!

Elder Paz

 Hey family and friends!

Well this week was busy and interesting...

So we had interviews with President this week, which were very eye-opening and I have not learned so much in a long long time. He helped me to enlarge my vision and give me a greater desire to achieve great things in the eyes of God. One of the things that we talked about was to allow time to solve our problems. Problems with anything. It could be school, work, friends, maybe your spouse, or just a frustrating moment of the day. One of things he said about that, and I add my testimony to his words, is that with time almost everything gets better. Sometimes we forget that temperance and patience are attributes of Christ, ones that we need to develop in this life. I feel that as we are diligent in doing our part, and patient in our afflictions, that we shall be tempered even as hot piece of mettle is tempered until a useful axe has been shaped and hardened. Through prayer and fasting, we allow God to shape us into what HE needs us to be. What a joy it is to understand the plan of our Heavenly Father for all of us! I invite all of us to meditate and ponder the problems that we might have, and then to think about what our part is in God´s great and marvelous plan for us as His sons and daughter, heirs to His Kingdom.

The Perez family was baptized was baptized this week! Everybody except Donaciano, the dad. Please pray for him so that he be prepared and ready son so that he can join his family in this eternal journey!

We had a more difficult week with investigators progressing and finding new people to teach...please pray for us to have that gift of discernment that we need to help God with this great work!

Well I love you all and hope that you are all progressing and having a ball of a time!!:)

Elder Paz

Hey family!

Well this week was another wonderful week. Low: the Perez family did not get baptized. High: they will be baptized this Saturday:)

So all of our investigators are doing just great. The biggest problem was that Guadalupe got really sick and had to go to the hospital. We are not really sure what happened but we will be visiting her pretty soon to see what happened. I feel like she could really use your prayers so that she can get well soon.

Manuel and Maria (the ones from New York) are doing fairly well. They did not go to church this week, we are still not too sure why, but we also be visiting them today.

So I do not remember if I had already told you about Carlos, but he also went to church this week! What he really needs is a firm desire to learn and know, because he really needs to receive an answer about the Church. He really does have quite a bit of potential he just needs that last little kick!

Also please pray for Elian, who is a friend of the Perez family, so that he can be baptized as well:)+

So I officially have a hammock. It is a little small, but is definitely one of the greatest things that someone has given me:)

I had a very spiritual experience this week where I realized the key to success in this Work: really all that God needs us to de is be constant and humble. If we are humble enough to allow God to work through us, and then we be constant in our part, applying everything that we have learned, then it will be impossible to not succeed. 

I love you all!

Elder Paz

 Hello family and friends!

Well this week was truly wonderful. We found an amazing family, the Perez family. They were in a Christian church, but for one reason or another they do not go there anymore. Anyways we contacted the dad in a bus, and then later we visited them and found out that they have 6 kids, ranging from just months to 18 years old. They are probably some of the humblest family I have ever met. They absolutely loved church this week and they pretty much are already members!!:) 

Also we should be having 2 baptisms this week! Erica and Nahum are their names. Erica is an eternal investigator for over a year, and Nahum a child of a family that we are reactivating. They are both so wonderful! Please pray that Erica can get moved out of her house and that Nahum can continue to learn so rapidly!

Well I am very excited for Christmas. "This is going to be metal"

We are going to do a service project and probably eat dinner at a members house and spread a little Christmas spirit by contacting the whole town and finding a golden family:)

I read an incredible talk this morning called "Approaching the Throne of God with Confidence". It basically talks about how to make your Celestial Crown sure. One of my favorite things that it said was that we need to make repentance something we do every moment, not just when we want to. A lot of times I get down thinking about all the stuff that I have done, and in the place of repenting in that very moment, I wallow in my misery...how much pain would we all save if we would just repent in the very instant that we sin! Well it sure was an answer to my prayers, and I sure hope that it was one to yours as well:) 

I love you all so much!

Elder Paz

 Hey family!

Well this week was a TON better than these last couple of weeks!

We worked really hard to have investigators at church. I prayed, fasted, contacted, worked with a ton of members and just tried to have a lot of hope. So you can imagine my distress when we were at church partaking the sacrament and almost nobody had come. I remember being just about angry, thinking about all of the stuff that we had done, looking for a mistake that we had made, and really just right out frustrated, when about half way through Sacrament Meeting a part member family that we had taught the day before walked in. I am not joking when I say that I almost cried. I literally felt the water come to my eyes for the joy that I felt for seeing that family. I almost could not believe what I was seeing. I learned an important lesson about humility these last couple weeks. I learned that we can not do it alone. There is no way, and less in the Work of the Lord. If we know do not do our part, then it is absolutely impossible that He does His. 

So there is a youth in our ward that is called Jarom. Jarom is a young priest that truly has that fire. He is one of those people that calls us up and asks when he can come with us. We actually have contacted with him quite a bit, and he always participates, but you can only imagine my surprise when he told us that he had been contacting on his own in the taxis and other transports:) To people that he has never seen before, we just gave him some pass along cards:) He is so excited about the work, I love his excitement!!:)

Well I love you guys and I hope that you all have the excitement and will to expand the Kingdom of God!!:) Read D and C 65:6!!:)

Elder Paz

 Hey folks!

Well this was another more difficult week...we are not seeing a ton of progress in our area, however I have hope that things will be better:)

We worked hard this week and a little more success. we aren't seeming to find very many of the chosen...we could really really really use your prayers to help us find those that are prepared by God:) I know that they are out there but man are they hard to find! Also it would be great if you could pray for Luis, Anai, Donovan, and Erica...thanks!

So I experienced some slight constipation for a few days these last couple weeks...don`t worry, I'm all better now:)

Cut my finger this morning washing a knife...typical thing I would do:)

So these last 2 weeks have been birthday weeks for my companion and I. His birthday was the 28th so basically between the 2 of us we have eaten cake about 4 times, and there is more to come as well...

Our house got all of its Christmas decorations up this week! Our mission president and his wife gave us lights and stuff:)

Well that's about all that happened this week! I love you all and say hi to Abbs for me!

 Hey family!

Genaro got baptized and entered the kingdom of God this weekend! It was a super spiritual experience. All of his friends and family were there and they made it excellent. It really is a different experience when your family and friends are there. Especially when those friends are the ones that brought you there.

Well this week I think the biggest thing that I learned was about being constant with your focus and desire. So we had a pretty good week last week and this week was doing fairly well also. At about Thursday we had already met some of standards of excellence for the week, were about to have a baptism, and also had about 6 people already promise us that they were going to church. It was looking to be one of the best weeks in my whole misión. And that is when I got a Little relaxed, thinking that everything was going to fall into place. I did not think too much about everything until Sunday afternoon at church, as I waited, and waited, waited, and nobody came. not a single investigator came. It was one of the hardest moments of my mission, I felt like I had failed God this week, which is not a greatest feeling. I thought about all the stuff that maybe I should have done, but I didn´t. I truly lost my focus and desire for a couple of days this last week. It makes me remember how sometimes in this life we think that we are doing pretty good. Maybe our church calling isn´t too difficult, we don´t have too much work, we read a good 10 minutes of the scriptures, whatever it may be, there are always those moments when we think we can take a Little break, take it a Little easy for a Little while. I learned once again this week that you can not do that. When that happens, we lose. We can never let that happen, the Celestial Crown is way to high to stop climbing. Never forget why you are here and what you need to do complete your purpose!

Well I hope that you all have a fantastic week and that you work hard to build the Kingdom of God! Love you!

Elder Paz