Tuesday, January 19, 2016

18 Jan 2016 - Transfers... Not this time...



Dear Family,

Everything is going great!
We had transfers today and wouldn't you know it, I'm still in the same area. I've been here in Guamuchil for 6 months and I'll be here another month and a half to finish training Elder Alvarenga. So in 15 months I'll only have been in 2 different areas...sweet..

I'm actually a little pumped because my district in now all Elders, 100% Priesthood, woohoo!! 
We'll have to see how it goes though because of the 8 of us, 4 are going home this next transfer.

So Tirso is progressing better than the ''investigators'' on the district videos. Sometimes its hard to believe what he saying because its crazy how fast he's progressing.  We invited him to church and he went and now after the third week he stopped going to the Catholic church. We taught the Word of Wisdom and within a week he stopped smoking and threw out his coffee. We taught the Law of Chastity and after 5 days he left his ''partner'' and stood up for himself when one of his friends invited him to break the commandment.  We taught him the steps of prayer and he's been praying every night and morning and hes stopped saying the repetitive prayer that they do to the Virgen Guadalupe. We invited him to be baptized and asked '' What clothes will I need'' We gave him a picture of the Temple of Guadalajara and he put it in his room where he always sees it because that's his goal! He's so great!!  We're really excited for him and that our president left us both in this area to help him progress towards the temple!

This week has been pretty normal, but something funny that happened this week was when one of our investigators heard that we were going to have transfers and started to tell us things like, ''I love you guys'' and ''you guys are the best'' and ''I wish you were my kids......my kids never visit me..'' and ''please don't leave''. She wanted to cry but didn't , it was super weird but super funny. and then after the prayer, coming outta no where gave my companion a hug and he practically slapped her in the face!! hahahaha my poor companion...he's still learning hahaha. then after this it was super awkward because with me she shook my hand and her hand was really sweaty. 

Well I'm doing good and we're enjoying our time here, I'm really wishing for more time. 10 months is going to fly.
Love you guys!
Elder Padilla 


Out with the Home Teachers

Tirso is the one with the Stach

Bunk-bed mania.!

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

11 Jan 2016 - Wisdom Teeth and Miracles...

Dear Family, 

So today was super crazy, we totally left the house thinking that I was going to get my tooth pulled.
We got on a bus and headed to Los Mochis, its an area like 2 hours from my area and we get there and the center is like a mini New York City, pretty cool
And we call the doctor and he gives us his address and take a taxi to get to his house. Turns out his office is right below the apartment of the Elders that live there so he knows a ton about us and what we do.
So I get seated and he checks it and is just about to go to work when I realized ''Hey I forgot to tell him what the doctor from Virginia said about my jaw being thin and stuff'', so I tell him and he flips, hahahaha
Like ''WHAAAATTT...????'' haha
He took x-rays and told me ''wow thanks for telling me, I could've done some real damage.'' 
He showed me the x-rays and whats happening is that my wisdom tooth on my right side is already protruding through the skin but its sticking out diagonally, but the one on my left side stilll hasn¿t broken the skin, kinda weird.
So he asked me how much time I have left in the mission and I said like 10 months and he said, ''Oh don't worry, the pain can't be that bad, here's some ibuprofen.'' and now I'm back in Guamuchil. WOOhoo. haha
But I am super glad that I didn't get it taken out because it would've been a pain in the neck.

So we're teaching this guy named Tirso and he's been smoking his whole life and the other day we fearlessly taught the Word of Wisdom. We told him to finish reading the pamphlet and to pray about it and he told us ''Well I've never prayed to God to help me to quit smoking, maybe if I try it, something will happen, we'll have to see.'' So this was Thursday and we went back to visit on Saturday and he told us the craziest thing.

He told us that he'd read the pamphlet like 3 times and he started to read the Book of Mormon but he couldn't stop thinking about the pamphlet. And so went to sleep and he had a dream. In his dream he was in a big field and he was with his wife, (HIs wife died 8 years ago and has only dreamed about her one time since her death and it was a while ago), and a bunch of other families sitting at a long table all happy and stuff. And in the dream he takes out a cigar and lights it and all of a sudden all the people get up and head for the river that's like 30 yards from where he's at. And so he yells to his wife like '' Hey why'd you all get up and leave?'' and she responded ''The smoke of your cigar smells bad''
And so he says ''oh well'' and is about to smoke the cigar when he looks up and sees the temple of Guadalajara. So i guess when he got heart surgery 3 months ago, he went to Guadalajara and we he left the hospital the first thing he saw was the temple and it caught his attention. But yeah he saw the temple in his dream!!! And then he told us that after he saw the temple that we went to smoke the cigar but then he woke up, crazy right?

Miracles exist!! He told us that this was a sign from God and that he's willing to learn more and get baptized, His baptismal date is for the 6th of February WOOHOO!

Love you guys!!
Elder Padilla

Zone Conference

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

4 Jan 2016- Lotsa Stuff....

Dear Family,

Glad to hear you guys made it back home in one piece, and in time for church. 
My ward is also attending at 1 in the afternoon and you're not going to believe it but moving the hour back and even less members showed up, kinda weird. You'd think that more would've showed up. 
Here in Mexico when they do the sacrament they lock the doors that enter into the chapel and so its always super funny when someone arrives late and they start knocking and knocking and then pounding on the door, as if they didn't know why we weren't letting them in. hahaha 

I feel like they thought when they put the lock on the door ''Oh, now the members will be more reverent so that people aren't entering and leaving during the sacrament'' but in reality its super irreverent with the people pounding on the door haha oh well.

The weather forecast for my area for this week is looking a little chilly, 70-75 . The people here are preparing for the ice age its hilarious. hahaha they're dying here in the 70's, can't imagine what would happen if it snowed.

And no, nobody told me that Jessie is pregnant............''Surprise''.................thanks.

So we're teaching this guy whose named Tirso. He's 65 years old and he lives in a mansion. I kid you not, everything is marble: the entry way, the staircase, the kitchen, the dog....haha the dog no but you get my point. But yeah he gave us a tour of his home and I'm pretty sure I saw this house on ''MTV Cribs''. 
Anyways, we've been teaching him for like a week and a half and he went to church the first time yesterday and it just so happened to be the fast and testimony meeting. I was a little nervous, not gonna lie, because we all know the ''story-tellers'' of the ward....also the ''sin-confessors'' and I was hoping that they weren't going to get up.....but they all did...

You know the faces people make sometimes when some goes to hit them and they flinch...its like the face that a person makes after eating something really sour... So the 2 counselor of the stake president is in our ward and just watching him listening to the testimonies of some of our members made me crack up because he made these faces like 30 times... But we finished and ended the meeting on a good note.

Tirso told us that he had to go but that he had felt something that he's never felt before and that a little flame had sparked in him because of the many testimonies given of this being the ''only and true church'' and of the Book of Mormon. I was seriously so shocked...like when Spongebob found out that it was Ms. Puff that was trying to steal his car. (If you don't understand the quote Luke will help). But from this experience I realized that every testimony is special and its for that reason that everyone has a turn because you never know if your testimony will be the testimony that touches the heart of someone else.

So we gifted him a Book of Mormon and he promised us that he'd read it. 

The difficulty with the people who live in my area is not so much the convincing them that we have the truth, its the convincing them that we're the only ones with the truth, the whole truth. They think that all churches are of God and that every religion is good, you just pick the one that best suits you. We've really be nailing down and emphasizing on the Great Apostasy because if the people understand that the sacerdocio was taken from the earth with the death of Jesus Christ and his apostles, then they'll be able to understand that the only church with the truth would be ours. 

The people that get me are the ones that know that what they believe isn't true, but they do it because other people do it.....hahaha. Tirso was telling us that he went to Meesa the other day (I forgot how they say it in the united states, but its the catholic church where you can walk in and leave whenever you want) and he told us that the people were selling baby virgin Mary dolls and candles in the church and that it was like the time in the Bible when Jesus threw out the merchants that were selling and trading in the temple..hahaha he called it a ''Cochinero'' and a ''Porqueria''  hahahaha. 

He tells us all the time of the bad things that happen in his church but these ''traditions'' have been rooted so deep that its hard for him to let go. 

I'm really enjoying my mission and being a trainer and all and I don't feel like I've changed who I am but defiantly the way I look at other people and that's what I love about the mission, somethings going to change for the better, its inevitable.
I really like the New Area Plan of 2016. Here in Mexico its really focused on the sacrifices that we need to make to be self-sufficient (fast offerings, tithing, keeping the Sabbath day holy.) 

I love you guys and miss you tons and its crazy to think that I'll be coming home THIS year. WOOHOO!
Elder Padilla the third.

28 Dec 2015 - Happy New Year



Dear Family,

Last week was so great and it was awesome to see you guys again!!

Thanks for all the family pictures, everyone looks a little bigger, or hairier in Marc's case.

The mission is so exciting right now with the Christmas spirit and everyone is so happy. It's also really crazy to see and talk to all the people who have no idea why we celebrate Christmas. My area is full of people who follow the traditions of their parents and don't really have a knowledge of why they do what they do. 

Lately I've really been studying the life of Christ in the Bible and been trying to increase not only my testimony but my knowledge of Him and His mission. Many people don't even know that Jesus established His church when He came and that that was part of His earthly ministry. 

I'm grateful for our prophet Thomas S. Monson who helps us to understand the revelation given to the prophets of old so that today in our days we might be guided and directed.

That's awesome that Matt was able to stand in the circle for the baby blessing, I bet that was pretty sweet.
And not gonna lie, I had to look up what Settlers of Catan was....kids these days with their calculators..

So jumping topics...
I can totally feel my wisdom tooth growing in, the one in the right, lower side. It's not uncomfortable or anything like that but I can see it now. I guess we'll have to see what happens. I'm gonna pray that I can wait to get home to take it out because there's an elder in my district that got a wisdom tooth taken out and the doctor practically broke his jaw...but now thinking about it, it'd be like 2 birds and 1 stone for me ;) haha just kidding. 

Our landlord says hi and Merry Christmas.

Love you guys a ton.

Elder Padilla


The latinos are my zone leaders and the other elder is in my district. 
The Christmas activity 

21 Dec 2015 - Setup Christmas Skype


Wait so you guys are gonna be in utah when we talk?

Well, we're gonna do the hook up on Thursday the 24th at 12:30pm our time. 
Not sure what time it'll be for you guys but we only got 45 mins so I hope all turns out well.

15 Dec 2015 - Funny Companion...

Hey family,

Well I don't have a ton of time and I wasn't able to write yesterday because I had to return to Guaymus to finish my paper work of my visa, but yeah all good now.

I'll send a picture of me and my new comp. He's pretty funny and when he gets mad he yells in English haha.

Well I gotta go but I love you guys and no I still haven't received any packages, but we'll have the mission christmas party the 31st and I feel like it'll be there where I receive it.

Love you guys!!!

Elder Padilla

I just realized but he looks like Loki from Thor! haha

8 Dec 2015 - Trainer Again

Dear Family, 

I'm super happy right now,
I'm a trainer again and I am super happy because he is of the country El Salvador, like my other son. now I have two son del Salvador.

These weeks have been flying and I'm still in Guamuchil. My new companion is named Elder Alvarenga. He's like squidward and flat stanley put together. I don't have pictures but the next week I'll send them. 
He's super obedient and I know we're gonna have the opportunity to give Heavenly Father a gift this Christmas that He won't forget, One of His children to return to HIs presence, how special.

I am very grateful for you guys and I got a little home sick the other day but I feel better now. Don't worry ;)

I miss you guys a bunch and I'm enjoying my time in the vineyard.

I love you guys 
Elder Padilla


Pictures from when we went to Guaymus.



30 Nov 2015 - Super Crazy Week

Hey family, 

This week was super crazy!!!

The family we've been teaching got baptized this past Saturday!!! 
They had their interviews on Wednesday, The dad lost his job on Monday and we found a job for him on Thursday, they got married on Friday, they got baptized Saturday and they were confirmed on Sunday!!!!

It was the craziest week of my mission, but I'm not gonna lie, I really enjoyed it and when Saturday finally arrived it was really awesome to see them all in white!!
On Thursday we also had a ward talent show! We were the star act haha and its going to look a little familiar. (;


Everyone who has a facebook has to post this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_TEOyhy7Bg


Discover Why.



24 Nov 2015 - Happy Thanksgiving - One Year Mark

Dear Family, 

Sorry I wasn't able to write yesterday. It was so nuts. Yesterday I went to renew my visa in a place called Guaymus. Guaymus is in the Hermosillo mission and so we had to leave our mission boundaries just to get there. My area is the lowest part in the mission and Hermosillo is above our mission, so I'm sure you can only imagine how many hours I was in the bus. But if you can't imagine, I'll tell you...It was 16 hours. 8 up and 8 to get back.

This week we're so pumped to baptize a family that we've been teaching for a bit now. They know almost everyone in the ward and have been to church a few times!! The mission is so great and I can't believe that I've already hit my year mark. Its so fast and its funny because when you want it to go by fast, it never does. But now that I'm getting used to everything I want the time to go slower.

I almost forgot that Thanksgiving exists. They don't have anything in the stores here. After Halloween they jumped straight to Christmas, haha

I miss you all!
Love, Elder Padilla.

Gotta see "Pops"

Mission Hermosillo!