14 Sep 2015 - re-dedication of the Temple in Mexico City

Dear Family, 

This week was so great! 

As a mission we were able to see the re-dedication of the temple in Mexico City and also the cultural session beforehand. It was transmitted to our various buildings so we were able to invite our investigators. Haha so you know how before you iron a shirt its all wrinkley, well ''to iron'' in Spanish,well here in my area, the people say planchar. And they people use it to say, for example, ''Oh he planched you'' to mean ''Oh he yelled at you or corrected your behavior''. Its like when the president has ''Special interviews'' with those missionaries that are doing  things that they shouldn't. So I tell you this because when our investigators went to the cultural meeting, they received the ''planch'' of a lifetime. hahaa because in the cultural meeting there was a part where it talked about the importance of attending the church and they felt really bad because in the past they were a little lazy about attending..hahha oh well.

Today I received my new companion, his name is Elder Reyes and he has one month more than me in the mission and he's from Puebla, Mexico. Hahaha he reminds me of Matt because you'll ask him for example, ''Can you bring me a fork please?'' and he'll look you right in the eyes and say ''no''. hahah but then he'll leave and return with the fork laughing and then he'll say in his English '' Elder Padilla, why are you crying?'' hahaha This guy..

We're super super psyched for this family that we're teaching right now. This Saturday we're going to baptize the father, Richard, and as a family they'll wait a year to prepare to enter the temple to be sealed. He's so spiritual, he just has a bit of trouble expressing himself.

Ha the people here are so nuts sometimes. The other day we went to the house of the sister whose husband died a few weeks ago. She's doing really well and also is preparing to enter the temple by the way, WHOO! But we entered the house to give some service and we receive a message. The message says'' Hey, I'd like to receive a Book of Mormon and visits to learn about how I can know God.'' We were like, ''NO WAY!!!!!'' so Elder Guardado calls him up and hahahahha my comp's face expressed everything hahaa. At first he was all happy and then he looked puzzled and then he looked sad hahaha

So this guy starts to talk and to my comp and tells him when we can visit and if it'd be possible if the ''handsome young man can visit'' haha oh man and then he tells my comp that he has problems and my comp says ''thats okay, we can help you '' and then he says ''I'm gay'' and then my comp says ''ok, when would you be free for us to visit'' and the he says ''can I be in my underwear when you guys visit?'' hahahaha my comp hung up and told me to erase the address he gave us hahahaha, we were sooooo bummed..

This week we were able to talk with a lot of new people and we found many that are ready to swim.

I'm loving mexico and can't believe Elder Smatt will be home in these next few months.

I love you all.

Elder Padilla

Ps. Ms. Cabello? I heard she really likes it when you talk when she's trying to talk. haha ;)

7 Sep 2015 - All Spanish all the time...

Querida Familia,

Hahaha se pasa con los elderes que andan por bici. Hay un Elder aqui que nos dijo que lo mismo pasó con él pero todos sabemos que él estaba mirando una muchacha y por eso chocó con un camión. haha

Me canse escribir en inlges. En verdad estoy olvidando muchas cosas de ingles. Y ahora español, no sé, es mas facil. Cada vez en cuando encontramos alguien que sabe un poco de ingles como ''Oh yes, very good'' o ''Hello, my friend'' pero hasta allí. Con mi compa, Elder Guardado, hablamos ingles en la casa pero es mas difícil que antes.  

Esta semana aprendí una lección de la vida. Había un desafio en nuestra zona que no estábamos encontrando tantos nuevos investigadores. Entonces hicimos un compromiso, como un distrito,  que ibamos a hablar con toda la gente en la calle que vimos e ibamos a contactar y compartir  algo con ellos. Tenía que marcar todos los compañerismos cada noche para dar suficiente seguimiento para que ellos pudieron trabajar con todo en respecto de este compromiso.  Y vi por la primera vez, el animo que nuestro presidente de misión y nuestro Padre Celestial tienen para la obra y para nosotros como misioneros y vimos como un distrito que podemos lograr muchas cosas cuando nos fijamos metas, pedimos la ayuda del Señor y trabajamos diligentemente a cumplir estas metas. En serio, esta semana pasada fue un otro nivel!! Y ahora todos tenemos investigadores progresando a bautismo. 

Algunas fotos de la semana.

 

p.s. Lucas, disfrute seminario. hahaha

Google Translate:

Dear family,

Hahaha he spent with elders who go by bike. There is an Elder here who told us the same thing happened to him but we all know he was watching a girl and so collided with a truck. haha

I get tired writing inlges. In truth I'm forgetting a lot of English. Spanish And now I do not know, it's easier. Every once in a while we find someone who knows a bit of English as '' Oh yes, very good '' or '' Hello, my friend, '' but there. With my companion, Elder Guardado, speak English at home but is more difficult than before.

This week I learned a life lesson. There was a challenge in our area we were not finding as many new investigators. Then we made a commitment, as a district, we were going to talk with all the people on the street we saw and we were going to contact and share something with them. I had to check all fellowships each night to give sufficient follow so they could work with all in respect of this commitment. And I saw for the first time, the encouragement that our mission president and Heavenly Father have for the work and for us as missionaries and we saw a district that can achieve many things when we set goals, we ask the Lord's help and work diligently to meet these goals. Seriously, this past week was another level !! And now we all have progressed to baptism investigators.

Some photos of the week.

 

P.S. Lucas, enjoy seminar. hahaha

31 Aug 2015 - A ton happened this week

Dear family,

First of all just want to say how proud I am of my only little brother who almost earned himself two tickets this past week. Luke you are the man. 

A ton happened this week. On Tuesday we got a call while we were studying in the morning that one of the recent converts that my comp baptized with his last companion was hit by a semi on his motorcycle. Elder Guardado spoke at him funeral and it was really sad, but to cheer us up the Bishop took us out to eat some pizza. 

The wife was super sad but it's times like these when we realize how blessed we are to have the knowledge that we have of the Plan of Salvation. 

The sisters in the ward had a baptism and it was so great. All the missionaries in the two wards that congregate in the Guamuchil building gathered to sing a special musical number at the baptism.

It went really well.

This past week, the elders in our ward found a woman that lives in our area that is super interested and they gave us her address and number. We went, We saw, We conquered. haha no, but she and her 13 hundred children like to listen and we're going to ask them to be baptized this Wednesday, fingers crossed. 

I'm really loving my mission and I'm learning how to be a better leader.

I love you guys so much,

Elder Padilla. 

  

24 Aug 2015 - On Bike for one day

Dear Family,

This week was super great, we had intercambios with the leaders of the zone and it was super great. I got to ride a bike so I was super psyched but then I had forgotten how long it had been since the last I'd ridden a bike and my back side was very hurt. I walked funny the next day but I'm better now. The bishop here just got back from his vacation to Utah, his wife has family there and he's an English teacher here in Guamuchil. One of the recent converts that the elders before us baptized, recently got a job at a Chinese restaurant and she works on Sunday now. Its not very helpful because we're teaching her husband but he went to church this past Sunday with his son and daughter. 

Not have much time with the computer but I'll speak with you guys soon.

Many love!

Elder Padilla

16 Aug 2015 - Satan's valley

Dear Family,

How are you guys? Luke, word on the street is you're taller than Robert Parry. Nice. 

So my comp is super funny. Turns out that he's seen just about every episode of Regular Show, so when we're walking in the street we're always quoting from episodes we've seen. haha oh yeah and when we found that family of 7 we were walking home and Elder Guardado said, ''hey man, guess what?'' and I said ''what?'' he said, '' we're gonna slam dunk 7 at the same time'' and then we both said OOOOHHHHHHHH. (like mordikai and rigby) hahaha

But yeah this week tambien was super nuts because we found another family that wants to go for a swim. This Thursday we'll set the date but my comp and I are super psyched because the joven tiene 15 años y estaba preguntando los requisitos para ir a un misión.

Ah man, I feel like a mailman. So there's a colony in our area named beautiful valley. It should be called, ''We let our dogs loose and then they bite missionaries in the leg because of no good reason.'' 

I was super bummed. We were looking for an address and out of no where this dog bolts out from under the car and barks once and then goes in for my calf. It was super weird because normally they bark a few times to warn you that ''hey I live here and would you please get off my property'', but it barked once and said '' well, goodbye Elder Padilla.'' 

Every time we head for this colony now , we call it Satan's valley. haha. 

Well, this week was super great and I hope for more.

Hope all is well in Virginia.

Luke, stay short.

Mom, stay sweet.

Dad, stay bishop. 

Mexico rocks.

Love you guys a ton.

Elder Padilla

Dog Bite

P-Day

10 Aug 2015 - Crazy week...

Dearest Family,

This was the craziest week!

Maybe it wasn´t crazy but it was a really great week. 

Yesterday was one of those, ''trial of your faith, type of days. 

We'd walked a ton and appointment after appointment got canceled and no one showed up to church. I'm still learning the area but I could tell that my comp was running out of ideas. 

We went to the house of the counselor of the stake president and he drove us to some of his neighbors that he thought would be interested but, still nothing.

So it was 8:45ish and our house is a good 30min walk away, so we started to head back when we saw one of our investigators sitting outside her house with her friend. So we walk up and asked if we can share a mensaje. They said yes, we walked in the house and inside was another 5 or 6 people sitting down, talking to one another.

So we entered and the room gets super quiet. We put our bags down and begin to talk about baptism. the spirit was so strong and all 7 of them accepted to be baptized. It was so awesome!!

I think one of the hardest things is learning to trust in the Lord. You can read and study all day long, but if you don't practice in the field the things you learn in your studies there's no value in the studies. And its sad because in our studies the Lord reveals to us Exactly what pure investigators need to hear, we just need to have the faith and confidence in the Lord that He'll be there testifying of our words.

I really enjoy teaching people and its now becoming something that I want to do instead of looking at it as something i have to do. 

My area has a ton of potential and I think that this week we just barely cracked the surface!

Love you guys!

Elder Padilla 

4 Aug 2015 - Too much bus... Guamúchil

Hey family,

Sorry for not writing, I as in a bus for 6 hours yesterday because we had transfers. I got shipped to the lowest area in the mission, Guamúchil!!! 

I´m district leader down here and my comp is so great!! The people here have a lot of money and I saw like 10 challengers, 10 mustangs and a few chargers. My companion, Elder Guardado said that its pretty normal to see Ferrari's here. Our house is on the second floor of this mansion type house and its pretty cool. We have a baptism today at 11am so we're pretty psyched. 

I heard that the members here really love to work with the missionaries so I'm pretty pumped for that.

haha so we were in the baptismal font yesterday cleaning with the secretary of the ward when he got a call from one of the counselors of the bishop saying that neither one of the counselors will be there in the ward this Sunday because they'll be gone for vacciones and the bishop is in Utah visiting family. sweet. 

All is good and I'm loving the mission!!! 

Sé que vive mi Señor.

Elder Padilla