Hey kids! Well this week was wonderful:)

I am just really excited for this week:) we had new people in church this week! Griselda, Israel. They are awesome! They need to receive an answer quick style!!! 

Also Chucho is progressing! HE came to church this week and his date should hold for the 28th! He really needs to have a lot of faith to get out of the family problems that he is having...but he has a ton of desire and we are really excited to get to teach him!

Also we found a new family this week. They are the Escamilla Perez family. They are wonderful. They have gone to church for years but have not gotten baptized because they need to get married. Pray for the dad to have his heart softened and his desire lifted!

As a mission we are reading the Book of Mormon and I read a really cool scripture in 2 Nephi 4 this week, I think verse 28. Basically it teaches us that if do not want to let Satan win, then its as simple as not giving him room to do so. If we are always involved in a good cause, a good thought, a good desire, then it will literally be impossible to sin. If we can control ourselves so that we are always doing good, then Satan will be conquered! I think that all of us can examine our own lives and look for more ways to serve the Lord, and if we do that, it will be that much harder to allow Satan to have room in our lives! Just don`t let him in!

I love you all!

Elder Paz

 Hello people!

Well this week was amazing and just alright at the same time...

It was harder because we didn´t see very much progress in the work. The new family and Chucho did not come to church...however I still have hope for them:) We are just going to have to see what happens:)

I think that the highlight of my week was when we had council of Leaders this week and at one point I had the great opportunity to talk to my mission President just one on one. He taught me a great lesson about fighting against Satan. I am going to explain what I learned: In this life there are a ton o challenges. And well some of them can be challenges that we will have for our whole lives. It could be anything. Now with all of those challenges, we are bound to fail several times in trying to overcome them. Some challenges are so hard for us that we will fail several, several times in them before we can overcome it. Every time we fail, our first reaction will probably be sadness. That´s fine, that´s natural. But what we can not let happen is lose our hope. It does not matter how many times we fail at something, the Atonement of Christ id  infinite. Satan wants us to think that we can not overcome our challenges, and every time we fail, he tries to give us that feeling that we will never win. That is contrary to the teachings of Christ. We can always win, we may lose a battle, but that means absolutely nothing for the war. We must always have the hope in Christ, and never let our determination falter. Every time we fail, we must analyze what has caused the failure, and then change it. That is what being perfect means. Always changing for the better, always progressing, and always becoming more perfect. When we give up and stop progressing, that is when we need to be worried. However if we are always changing and progressing, and becoming perfect in Christ, then we will be fulfilling the will of God. That is the point of this life!

Well I ate some delectable cow stomach this week. Then the next day some chopped up Habaneros. Not a good combination. Enough said.

I love you all so much!!

Elder Paz

 Hello friends!

Well this week was absolutely fantastic! 

So we met a new family this week, The Grimaldo family. They are incredible. They are passing through quite a few challenges right now, mostly economic problems. It is a family of 4. The dad got fired from his job a while ago and they are having a hard time getting up off their feet. There oldest son had to drop out of high school because they could not afford to have him in school, and the father had to find another job in a liquor store I think. Not the greatest occupation, but at least they are not dying. The whole family went to church this week, and really liked it:) They currently have a baptismal date for the 28th of this month. They are really special, and just need lots of prayers so that they can receive their answer and enter into this covenant with the Lord. What a joy this work is:)

So Chucho also came to church this week, and is super excited about his baptism, which is also for the 28th. He is also very special to me and truly has a great desire to be a good kid and walk in the footsteps of the Savior. There are not very many 12-year-old's like that in this world these days. He just needs to stay on the path! Lots of bad influences surround him and he needs to always use his agency wisely!

Mew and my companion are having an absolute blast and I am loving it out here!

So like I said we went to Teotihuacan this last week. It was amazing! I went  a year ago when I was in Zumpango, but let me tell you it is a whole different story when you go with a BoM guide. It is connected to the temple! It strengthened my temple a ton to see how everything was connected and real world evidence of the Nephites! The guide told us that the pyramids were part of the city of Ammonihah. It is so clear! Christ came to the Americas! I hope that all of you can come one day to see the great evidence of the temples of God here in Mexico!

Well I think that the most touching story of the week would have to be that of the Perez family. This week in ward council someone commented that they had seen them walking back from the chapel to get back home. That walk is about 20 minutes by bike, going pretty fast, and they have kids ranging from 8 months to 18 years, 6 of them. What a great dedication they have to the Kingdom of God. They do not even have 2 months as members. And I, being a member of the Church all my life, used to complain about going to church in our nice air conditioned van. It amazes me how much of an example this family is to me! What great sacrifices they make to express their faith to our Lord and Savior!

Well I love you all and hope that you and I can all dedicate ourselves completely to this great work! Always be a testimony of Jesus Christ in all that you do!

Elder Paz

 Hey family!

Well this week was a little harder...nobody came to church. However this time I do not think that I will let it get me down. This week will be different, I just need to use more mental tenacity. 

The great part of this week was that Elian got baptized:) Everything went well and the service was great:) Now we just need to help his mom out:)

So I am getting along just great with my companion. His name is elder Peña, he is from Oaxaca, Mexico. It looks like we are going to have a blast and I am super excited to learn from him:) 

Today we are going to go to Teotihuacan again, but this time with the Book of Mormon guide, I'm pretty excited to learn some cool stuff:)

I'll come back later I think but I have got to go!!

Love you all!

Elder Paz

 Well folks this week has been fairly exciting...

First of all...Donaciano got baptized this weekend!!!!! Now they can be sealed in the temple in a year and start their way to become an eternal family! Baptismal services of a family are way better that of an individual. I love this work and ministry!

Alsom Elian (family friend of the Perez family) will be baptized this weekend! As of Sunday we obtained all of the permissions that we needed, and now all we need to do is pray for everything to go well! Elian is an awesome 10 year old who asks us about every 5 minutes when he can get baptized:) He knows a ton and just wants to be enter into the fold of Christ! How wonderful it is to be able to teach such wonderful people and then see them enter into the Kingdom of God!

So this week is changes, I'm staying, companion is going. Its bitter sweet, but I am excited to be able to be here again:) I will be completing about a year in this zone after this cycle, between here and Zumpango, how cool is that!

So a guess who got to church this week.. Manuel and Maria!! So now they have a date for the 14th of march. They are great, and I was pretty worried because I thought that we were going to have to leave them, but by working with ward members it looks like they are going good! They just need lots of faith...pray for them!

Also Chucho, nephew of the Perez family came to church this week! He is also awesome, and also has a baptism date for the 14th. He just needs to stay on the track and stay away from bad influences...he is fantastic but please pray for him!

Well I love you all and hope that each and every one of you is sharing the gospel with someone right now and bringing many souls to Christ. If you are not, well then do it!

Elder Paz

 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