Thanksgiving

Hey Mom,                               November 24, 2014

Our week this week was actually okay, we were able to have 8 investigators in church so thats good.  Not to much to say about this week other than my kid is doing a great job. He is a good guy and has alot of desire to be a good missionary.  He kind of gave me a jump start again about missionary so thats good.

     The people we are teaching seem to be doing good. There are a lot of things sometimes that keep people from progressing, such as working on sundays, word of wisdom, law of chastity, things like that. But the ones who do always end up happier. It reminds me of a good scripture in Mosiah. 

Mosiah 2:41 ¨And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it.¨

Its just a good reminder that those who keep the commandments will always be blessed, always. I know that as we keep the commandments, that God will bless us and keep us from harm.

     Bad news about the family that we have been teaching, things haven't been going so well for them but we will continue to pray and see what happens.

     This is my last Thanksgiving in my mission, which is weird to think. I hope that you guys have a great time together this Thanksgiving and maybe you can save me a turkey leg or something, I will probably have rice and chicken haha, the usual.

     Keep up the great work and I will talk to you later! I love you! Your the best! 

With mucho amor, 

Elder Noel

It's getting warm here!

Hey Mom,                                  November 17,2014

     Things are certainly starting to warm up here, I got burned on saturday pretty bad, everyone at church called me Rudolf instead of Papa Noel. haha

      We had five investigators in church this week so that was good. That family that I have been telling you guys about came so that was great. We are starting to work with the dad of the family as well so that they can get married and all get baptized, but its going to take a solid miracle, I know it can be done. 

     The training is going pretty good, I am actually learning a lot too, so that is a good thing.  My companion is teaching me and I am teaching him. We get along good and we don't really have any problems as far as pride or anything like that, so thats good, I just hope that we can continue it.  We actually invited 20 people to be baptized this week.  I make my ``son`` invite everyone to be baptized so that he can get a good feel for it. He does it like a champ.  Nine of the 20 said yes too, thats good.

     I know it can be hard sometimes to find time to read the scriptures and things like that, but I know that as we put God first, he takes care of the rest. 

I love you! I hope that you have a great week!
Elder Noel

I love zone conferences

some really good Elders!

Baptism and new companion

Hey Mom,                              November 10, 2014

     How are you! Things are going good, my new comp is from Peru and he is a really good guy.  His name is Elder Q and I am learning a lot from him! He was baptized with his fam when he was 11, his dad didn't get baptized untill three years later, he speaks a little english but not much, and he is doing pretty good, really excited to work.  We had a baptism on Tuesday! I will send you a pic! 
     My week was okay, it was a long week with cambios and everything but thats okay.  Also on Sunday we had stake conference and Elder Zeballos from the seventy.  He is a great guy, I got a picture with him. 

      Today I gotta help my comp settle in, so not too much exciting stuff going on.  I don't have much time left but make sure and tell everyone that if I didn't write them its because I didn't have a lot of time, I love you guys, your the best!

Elder Noel

A great day for a baptism

My new comp Elder Q and Elder Zeballos from the seventy

Building a house

Hey Mom,                                   November 3,2014

 This week was alright, we actually started off pretty well, but ended badly, there was a family whose house burned down about six months ago, and the house that they are living in now is temporary, they have stayed there too long, so they were going to get kicked out on the street, so friday we spent the whole day trying to finish building the house back up that got burned down so that they have some place to live, it needed to be done, he had no other help.

We had 4 investigators in church, and we actually have a baptism tomorrow, so it should be good, she is twenty five years old and her name is J. She is a really smart girl and she actually is already going to institute and things like that, the ward has done a good job of helping her out. She will be baptized tomorrow.  

There was also a death in the ward, really sad for the ward. The guy was nice and it was really unexpected. He was a good dad and they had lost their daughter just a year ago, now the mom has to work and provide for her family, but she is a great lady and a really strong person. She is actually the teacher of Gospel Principles, and the week before she had just taught Eternal Families, pretty cool.

The family with the two boys are doing good, they came to church again so that's good!

Cambios are this week and my comp is leaving, and guess what?  I'm going to be training again, I get my new comp on wednesday, there are only two new elders coming in so I will have a new kid.  I'm excited, it should be cool, I also know that he will be a latino.  I pick him up at 9:30 on wednesday, it should be good.  I learned alot the first time I trained, so hopefully I will learn alot more with the new guy.

I love you! Have a great week! 

Elder Noel

zone conference fun!

zone conference crazy!

Pday cleaning and a fight

Hey Mom,                               October 27, 2014

 This week was okay, We were able to have 8 investigators in church so that was good.  

We didn't really do anything fun for pday today because the second to last p day of every cambio we have to do clean up in our house until one o'clock, so that basically ruins any "fun".

I found out that my comp will be leaving next week to go to another sector, the cool thing is that the last day of the cambio before he leaves we are going to have a baptism of a girl named J. She is awesome, she is 25 and a really inteligent person. She will be a good member. I will be in charge of the sector now, we will see what happens with that!   

I saw Elder W today in the office, it was a surprise, he was up here getting something checked medically, he is really a great guy and I look up to him a lot, a great missionary.

 That case Dad is working on sounds pretty crazy. I cant believe how much sin comes from pride. If people could just be more humble in this world things would be so much smoother.

 It is not easy to help others solve their problems. Sometimes we even know what the solution is and they just can't seem to accept it. Sometimes, actually a lot of the time I have no idea what the solution to their problem is. I just try and tell them that when we put God first, good things happen, thats all I can say sometimes.

Well about that family, they all came to church. It was awesome. They mom decided not to work and she came to church. They loved it. We will see what happens this week, but so far they are progressing. 

On monday of last week we witnessed a fight in the street, this big chilean was just pounding on this other guy, I think he owed him money or something, but I didn't know what to do, I just yelled "hey!" , and tried to get him to stop but he wasn't listening, it stopped and then everyone just went their separate ways.  I felt sorta sick after, I don't get how he could just beat up on that guy like that. 

Well our convert from about 4 weeks ago has sorta falling back into smoking, he missed church for like 3 weeks, so thats disappointing, but we are trying to help him again.

But hey mom I am doing okay, no worries, things are going okay, I have stress but I think its normal, sometimes stress is good, it helps us get up and going.  

Take care this week! I love you! 

Your son always,

      Elder Noel

Pday basketball

a peek into a missionaries apt

the working area

what a clean place

Hayden's kitchen

Pineapple juice and barbecue

Hey Mom,                                    October 20,2014                                                                                                                                 

  I cannot believe that I have completed a year in the mission, officially this wednesday. Your absolutely right when you say that this has been the longest, shortest and hardest year of my life.  The funny thing is that I wouldn't change it for anything.

Well nothing has really changed, I am still in Boca Sur and I still have the same comp. He is good and we are finally starting to get our groove down as comps I feel.  Cambios are in 2 weeks and I am pretty sure that I will be here for about three more months, which is good. I like it here, even though it is pretty gangsta.

This week some kid threw pineapple juice at us. Some gangster kid. It's okay though, he was with his friends just trying to be funny, I'm sure that if he was alone that he wouldn't have done it, it was good juice though, tasted good at least haha.

We actually started of the week pretty well, then it just went downhill from there. Its hard to put together a full solid week sometimes.  There is usually always something that keeps us from just from having a good solid week. But that happens sometimes. We will see what happens this week. Lately I have started to get focused on the numbers, which is a bad road to take, then I start to compare myself to others and to the other district leaders. It just leads to frustration and stress. I gotta stop that.  I need to just compare my success from within.  My area is doing okay, we need to find some new people but it is doing okay. We were able to have 4 people in church this week so that is always good, if we can keep getting people to church than that is a good thing.  I feel like the Lord really blesses us sometimes and I don't feel worthy of the blessings that he gives us.

This week we were given a reference by a ward member. We went and the family is great, it's a mom who lives with her two kids who are 14 and 12.  They are great kids espescially for all the other kids their age down here.   The mom works at the Ferreria or the farmers market, three times a week to be able to try and pay for the water, lighting, and rent. She has been behind on her payments and is afraid of losing her house. The two kids came to church with us this last week but the mom had to work in the ferreria.  I love this family.  I want them so bad to accept the gospel. I didn't really know what else to tell them other than that they have a Father in heaven who loves and knows them. That he has a plan prepared for them and that if they just rely and trust in him then everything will be okay.  I'm afraid that I will say or do something that will screw it up. But I just pray that I can help them to accept the gospel. I thought I had problems until I met this family. I left the house feeling very humbled and blessed.  I will keep you updated with them.  Service is probably one of the most important things in the gospel.  We think we have problems until we look around and see that people are a lot worse off than we are.  I am trying to put myself in other peoples' shoes to see how they feel.

 Today we had a zone activity, it was fun, we watched Saratov Approach and ate food, it was cool, the zone is actually doing a great job and we are leading the mission in many areas. 

 Take care,

 Elder Noel

P Day barbecue