Tuesday, January 20, 2015

19 Jan 2015 - Another Great Week

Querido Familia,
Este semana pasado fue muy bien. Solo en este semana pasado, Elder Garcia y yo hemos recibido nueve investigadores nuevos! Hay muchas otras iglesias aquí y algunos son muy extraño. Elder y yo estaremos caminando y oír gritar desde el interior de una iglesia. Parece que todo fin de semana es una vacación, porque hay mucha música fuerte y todo la gente en la calle bailando o cantando. Es cómico a ver pero un situación horrible para enseñando. La comida es todavía muy bien y tenemos un bautismo este semana, estoy entusiasmado! Su nombre es Juan Diego y nuestro 'ultimo con él hemos invitado su mama a unirse a nosotros, Su madre es ahora preparando a ser bautizado próximo mes!La mano del Señor es tan evidente si dejas y cuente sus bendiciones . Así que muchos milagros suceden cada día y que son fáciles de ver cuando reflexionas sobre tu día y recordar el éxito de cada desafío.

Church is so great, our Elder's quorum leader is fairly young but defiantly knows what he's saying! Sunday's our my favorite and least favorite day of the week. Favorite in the sense that we get to see our investigators in church and take the sacrament and reflect on our week, but its the worst time for teaching. Its not that people aren't home, they just don't want to listen. It's frustrating at times but every time I want to stop I remember who I represent 24/7. 

A ton happened this week! I wish I could remember every detail!
Oh yeah, had my first comp exchange and it happened almost exaclty as I thought it would. My trainer, who is a fluent Mexican, got traded with another Mexican, who happens to be the district leader. And I got his companion who is another white american who has only been out 6 weeks more than me. So the two of us decided that that day was either going to be horrible or glorious and oh, let me tell you, it was glorious! I'm pretty sure it was a test for us because we're both fairly new, but yeah we had a ton of contacts on the street and set up some lessons for later that week! We were his area, Elder Hilton, so because he was new he was lost  50 percent of the time and because it wasnt my area i was lost the whole time!
It ended up being one of the best days on my mission!

I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that it was restored through a prophet of God!
I love sharing my testimony with others and seeing the change in their lives!
Something that Elder Garcia and I always say to new investigators is not to believe in our words becuase we're not perfect but to believe in the words of Jesus Christ because he is and always has been!
This mission is already starting to fly, but it seems like everything that I'm asked to do or be as a missionary, isn't anything new, thanks mom and dad, i really feel like you guys prepared me for this new way of life. 
I hope all is well and that Luke eventually goes to school and gets an education.

Love you guys,
Your third Elder Padilla

12 Jan 2015 - What a week

Dear Family,
All is well in Mexico, including the air quality!
So yeah a ton has gone on and I'll try to fit it all in one email!
My comp, Elder Garcia, is so great and me and him are bonding so well!
He's from ciudad de Mexico, and he turns 20 próximo mes en febrero. 
He's trying to learn English and I'm trying to learn Spanish, we're perfect teachers for eachother!!!
Had my first official street contact yesterday on the bus on our way to church!!! His name is Louis and turns out he lives like 4 houses down from us!! Esta obra es loco pero, me encanta!! 
So yeah nuestro barrio is full of great members but it's sad because there's less than 100 members and none of ur investigators came, 0 for 4. But I know when we're exactly obedient, as missionaries, miracles are brought to pass.
Speaking of miracles, my language, as far as understanding things, is muy bien! 
I'm starting to understand a ton better and that's why yesterday (sunday) was my first ''official street contact'' porque i could understand todos de los palabras de él!!! Fue excellente!!!
But like I, tenemos como...12 investigadores y teaching them es guardando us busy.
Our apartamento is just us two. Its pretty chill! Except la ducha es muy chafa!
Tenemos que boil the water and then use that water to shower. Hhah and our beds....lets just say, if you sit up in the bed, ur already in the kitchen! 
Its sweet living on our own though! We both are pretty neat people so the house cleaning isn't a problem.
ha the other day we bought some weights just cuz. but we use them everyday so esta bien!
Cada día tenemos cena y desayuno solo entre nosotros, pero la comida(lunch) es usualmente con un miembro, pero no en P day, lunes. 
We don't really cook food unless pouring cereal into a bowl with milk counts as cooking. oh wait, we do makepeanut butter sandwhiches some times!!
The food down here is some of the best food i've ever had, sorry mom, still love you!
The weather down here is incredible, I love it!!!
Always sunny and always warm, pero los miembre dicen me, ''espera para verano''
The temperatures in the summer apparently are like 110+. hahah no bueno!
BUt yeah im jujst gald its warm down here!
The people on the streets are really friendly, alil too friendly at times! Pretty muh cada fin de semana, hay es cerveza y fiestas y los borrachos come up to us and try to preach to us hahahahaha!! we're like, uhhh Adios!!!

I'm glad Luke is legally skipping school! Who needs public education? And boy I'm jealous that you got to see President Eyering in the flesh!! I bet that was so great!!! Take the perks of being a bishop's wife by the reins mom, I bet they only come around every blue moon. And dad......I'm praying for ya! hahaha!!

Lately I've been trying to figure out ways to work with the members because its slowly coming to me as a missionary that we literally can't progess His work without them, we can't do it on our own! This week has been an eye opener y durante la semana I felt like we were making lots of progress, but the prgress really shows at 11 am on Domingo. We're working hard and living right!!! I hope we can plant that seed and find others who need the good word!!!
Love you guys! until next time.
Elder Padilla

Why don't we have 3L bottles in the US?

My first in-field haircut, not too happy with it.
 I look like , according to Elder Garcia, Hoostin Beiber!



First day at church

A family we had comida with and it was one of the hermanas' birthday, they sing happy birthday different than in the US, like a different tune and everything


The bugs here...no bueno. and that's a smaller one.


6 Jan 2015 - First time from Mission

Just checking in for the first time in the field.
I left the mission home about 2 hours ago and now in an internet cafe with my comp, Elder Garcia!
He's so great!
He's like the Mexican version of me and I can tell that this is going to a great compañerismo!!!
Obregón es muy bonita y los personas son muy amigables!!!
The weather is perfect and I can't wait to start teaching others!!
I set una meta con Elder Garcia que este primera semana bautizaremos 20 personas!
mis dedos son crusadas!

The mission president, Presidente Munive, is so great and very friendly!

Now that i'm out on a mission, it's really been beat into me how important it is that the members help the missionaries with the process of conversion. So Mom, Dad, Luke. I challenge you guys to pray and try to find one person this week that you can refer to the missionaries, because we can't do it on our own. Let the missionaries know on sunday and I know that when we pray for specific things, with sincerity and a righteous deseo, God will bless us with opportunities to act! 
ok, no tengo mucho tiempo pero les amo!!!
Elder Padilla

5 Jan 2015 - Today's the day

Hey, hey!
Today is the day!
The MTC is letting us email the day we get sent to the field and my time has come!
So crazy how fast days went by here but I'm so psyched to get out there, 
oh and whoever said Mexico doesn't get cold, sits on a throne of lies.

I honestly can't wait to get outta here, this place is starting to feel like a prison!
And I can't wait to get to the airport and eat some good ol' McDonald's.
The flight takes off at 5:25p.m.
I know I've been so blessed in my life and I can see the Hand of the Lord in my life.
This week has been incredible and I don't trade these memories and experiences I've made for the world.
Love you all!
Elder Padilla

Our farewell pictures. If you're wondering why my neck is scrunched up is because the collar on the shirt was super loose......I mean, I'm huge so that's why.


another pic from the temple

This is me with the legendary Elder Yela, Arguably my favorite Latino! he converted three years ago and he's so great!


We tried. 

Fire in the sky.


This is my  teacher, hes so crazy

The GQ photoshoot. Me and the roommates. 

The newly called zone leaders. The one on my left is from Toronto! 

The coolest guy ever right here, he's from Brazil. He's into american rock bands like AC/DC hahahha so cool


These guys crack me up and the one on my right reminds me of John Walker.


Got a picture with Sister Harris' niece! 

President Pratt! aka Grandpa Padilla, Doing our going away presentation! 


Everyone who leaves today. try to find me.

Me on the third floor of our apartment complex. without the flash, I promise I'm not in front of a green screen



Monday, January 5, 2015

1 Jan 2015- Happy New Year

Feliz Año Nuevo!!!
Este semana pasada fue so great!!!
I got my flight plans ir a Obregón en Martes y estoy muy feliz y listo!
This week was full of goodbyes and hellos!
Goodbye to our zone leaders y uno de los districtos en nuestro zone salir a Estados Unidos!
I miss them but I only have 4 días más until I leave!
As the older district we, as a class, got to teach the newer guys or the ''más verdes'' and it was so cool because sometimes you don't get to see the fruits of your labors but after I taught Elder Gibson he told me that he wanted to be as fluent as I am by week 6, and that really hit me and made me think about all the progress I've made while aquí en el CCM!

Our district took group pictures for the ''goodbye ceremony'' that the president does for leaving missionaries every Sunday and while we were waiting I was dancing, appropriately, to some music I could hear outside the walls of the CCM and Hermana Jones, one of the mission president counselor's wife came up to me and said '' Well, I hope you can pray as well as you can dance'' and I got volunteered to say the pray at the devotional on Sunday! Yes! 
But yeah, today Elder Afualo and I had to pack and weigh our bags for the flight and both of his bags weighed 52ish pounds, hahahahaha! 

Yes I received the picture from Dad and that's soooo cool!! That tie has been to Mexico and back and I guess wanted more? He's a brave one.
The family looks great and Luke is wearing my shirts I see. ahhhh yesss the old, '' Wait til he leaves on his mission then wear his clothes trick, not bad.''
Thanks for Matt's email, i guess I'll just use google translate until the Spanish comes along......then I'll use it again to translate the Spanish to Brazilian.
So during one of our devotionals with the new soon to be CCM President, he spoke about the power of prayer and specifically the power of specific prayer.
He told a story about when he was being called to be a general authority but he wasn't married yet, and he needed to get married and how he had a specific window of time to get married or else, I guess!! hahaha
So he prayed that he would find someone that wanted to marry him and turns out a new family moved to the ward and so to make a long story short, ''I made my move''
hahahaha and he wrote her a 30 some odd paper about why she should marry him and I guess it worked!!!! Some women like romance and some women like reading. 
But anyways the moral of the story was not to be commanded in all things but that when we need, not want, but need things in our lives and we give God our game plan He will ''consecrate thy performance''
So i tried it out the next day at breakfast. They gave us french toast but they'd ran out of syrup and so I prayed that by the time I had finished my peanut butter sandwich, they would restock their syrup.
didn't happen.
But today for breakfast we had pancakes and wouldn't ya know it, there was syrup upon the land once again. Balance restored and I thought of the scripture that says ''for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith.'' 
I appreciate the scriptures more and more now, now that I've been able to apply them to my life now and then.
Now that it's a new Year I've started to reflect on 2014 and realize how far I've come from then. Seems like only yesterday ha, and the more and more I think about it the less I think of ''how much I've grown'' to ''how much the Lord has blessed me with opportunities to grow through the experiences I've had!''
Its so great to be serving in this time and I know that I'm here on the Lord's time and I'm going to try as hard as I can to make Him proud of how I've spent it.
It helps me to know that i have a loving Heavenly Father who gives me a family like you guys to set me on the right path for my life and to guide me in my years of learning. Thanks Mom and Dad, love you guys!
I know my Redeemer lives and I know that families can be together forever. I know Joseph Smith saw God the Eternal Father and Jesus Christ and I know through him all of the everlasting gospel was restored upon the Earth! 
In an Elder Holland general conference talk he spoke about missionary work and he said, ''missionaries are not called to fail. they are called to succeed.'' and I know that God sends the Holy Ghost to bring authority and light to our words!!!
I love this work and the way my life has changed because of it!
I love you guys!
Until Next time. your favorite Mexican.
Elder Padilla.