The Closer...[Mar. 30, 2015]

Well, I recently got some familiar news. My companion is leaving the area... and me too. My District Leader called me on the phone and told me that they are going to start calling me "the closer" because this is the third time in a row that I have done that. This isn't to say that they won't send new missionaries to the area because President always does, it's just what we say here.

It is a little lame as well because we both just got here and learned the area and all the small pueblos very well, but now we have to go. I hope the other Elders can pick up where we left off.

Anyway, this week has been interesting. Tuesday and Thursday, we went to the pueblo that is the farthest away from el Seco that we can visit (it is called Palmarito) without knowing that we would both be leaving anyway. We met some members that haven't seen Missionaries in who knows how long, and it struck me how different it is for them to have Missionaries in their house.

As we were coming back from Palmarito on Thursday, we were passing through Quecholac, where they will soon put a group in looking for a house for the group. As we were walking down the street a kid on his bike yelled "Elderes" and stopped. He asked us to come to his house and meet up with his family. He also had an excitement that seemed strange to me in the moment. We got to his house and he talked with his mom loud enough that we could hear. He said, "Mom, the Missionaries are here." His mom responded and said, "There aren't any Missionaries here in Quetcholac. They weren't Missionaries." He then said, "No, they are outside right now." She was so surprised when she finally saw us. We talked with them for a bit and left a card with our number. In fact, this was the first time they had seen the Missionaries in over a year, and they never went to church in that time because they didn't know where the chapel was.

Sunday was quite interesting to me. To make a long story short because I don't have much time, we went to church and said goodbye to a lot of members and afterwards, as is custom, we went with the members to eat La Comida. They took us to a restaurant to eat and I just got to the point where I said I am not eating this. Honestly, here in the Mission I've learned that I am a lot more concerned about what my Heavenly Father thinks than what others think of me. So, I simply didn't eat and one of the members apologized as we left, so I consider that a success.

Anyways, have a great week and this week that comes, I will tell you where I am going and who I will be with.
élder Seymour.

I got electricuted...[Mar. 23, 2015]

Fun stuff.

Well we had a fun week. Tuesday, we had a Zone Conference with President Christensen and it went fairly well. My companion had the goal to finish his English book before the conference... even though he still had months of material left to finish, but somehow he did it.

 

I forgot to mention that Sunday we finally got a Ward Mission Leader, so now we can work with the Branch even better. 

 

We also started teaching a family that sells onix stuff like statues, chess sets, and lamps, etc. I honestly feel like they have a great deal of potential to progress.

The English class is also doing much better than I expected. We had 18 different students this time and almost all of them are not members. I feel like this could help the area a great deal and that we will be able to see a lot of success from this. Also, I love teaching English so it works for me as well.

Sunday was good because we finally had someone who came to church. The strange thing is that we didn't expect him to come at all. He is less active and desperately needs the gospel in his family now.

That night, I was going to turn off the light to go to sleep when my finger touched an exposed wire instead. It hurt quite a bit and for hours afterwards, I couldn't sleep, but at the end of it all, I am still fine.

Have a great week!

élder Seymour.

 

 

My companion getting a haircut.

My companion and I sewed my pants
while we were in the bus today.

A  fruit I got called Guanábana.
It tastes somewhere between a peach
and a lichi and I really like the flavor.

The typewriter I am now using to write letters.



A zombie whistle that I bought made of onix...
I  don't think it works because
none of my past companions
have come back to the mission.

 

 



The chess set I bought... also made of onix.
My companion and I played a game with it
 and I won.

We don't do anything...[Mar. 16, 2015]

Hullo,
It seems really strange to me that I am writing in English and hearing people talk in Spanish and still understanding everything.
One thing I learned... remembered... one of those, this week is that really we hardly do anything as missionaries. Looking back, all the success that I've had here in the Mission really is a miracle. The people I stress out about the most in the Mission progress the least and those who get baptized really do so without a great deal of effort -- weird paradox, no? We were talking with a member the other day that lives a bit far away with some other members, and she said that she was going less active until we visited with her. Now she goes to church every week. We literally didn't do much more than visit, plan lessons to teach... and that's about it. Really it is the Spirit that does all the work.
In other news, English class is going very well right now. We had about 12 students and only one of them was a member. We also found a new investigator through one of our other investigators that has to leave to Veracruz for work. It kinda balanced out, but he also asked us when he could be baptized because he knows it is important. The only problem is that he doesn't really care what church he does it in. I think there's still a lot of potential.
Have a great week!
élder Seymour.

Strange Dreams...[Mar. 8, 2015]

Hola,
This past week feels like it has been a lot of walking and a lot of traveling, but there have also been a lot of great moments.
We found a few new investigators while contacting. The first one starts out with an interesting story. One night I was praying for more excitement and purpose to find some new investigators and that I would feel hope as I was doing it. As I was sleeping, I had a strange dream where we met with a woman to teach her about the gospel and she accepted the invitation to be baptized. When I woke up I was just like "we have to find her." After two days of contacting every woman that I could, we found her with her husband. We talked with them a bit and they said that we could teach them. We set up and appointment and went on our way. We went to the appointment, but only their children were there. We talked with them a bit and set up another appointment and went on our way. We got to the other appointment and talked a bit with the father who was the only one there. It went fairly well and I am super excited to see what happens.
Another family we found as we were looking for someone else. We knocked on their door and they told us that most of their children are members, but that they aren't. They are an older couple, but really open to listening to us which is refreshing. We taught part of the plan of salvation to the man and he told us he read part of the pamphlet and we were surprised when we found out that he actually did and remembered most of what he read. The only problem is that he is sometimes gone for several weeks at a time for his work, but I feel if he reads the Book of Mormon, he will progress a lot.
I don't know if you heard about the mountain climbers they found after 50 years recently in the Pico de Orizaba... it's really close to my area.
Anyways, have a good one!Thanks for all your prayers. Things keep getting better all the time.


Have a great week!
élder Seymour.



¡¡¡¡¡¡¡13 months!!!!!!
that last month went by so fast.

Some sort of chapel in Acatzingo.
It was closed.

Another picture of the chapel.

Some chocolate that I bought last week.
It goes well with hot milk.

Typewriters and Typhoid...[Mar. 2, 2015]

I should clear something up from the start. I didn't get typhoid this week, but I did get sick.

It honestly has been one of the most packed weeks I have had here in the Mission. Tuesday, we got dumped by one family of investigators that the past missionaries in this area said had the most potential. It really isn't that bad when we consider that we just need to look for others...only a little disappointing.

Wednesday, we had Divisiones and I went to Tlachichuca which borders a different mission. I bought a bag of chocolate that was about a half kilo that I haven't been able to eat much because of something that I will explain in a minute. We also had Branch Counsel that I didn't go to because I was in the other area.

Thursday, after leaving from La Comida, I felt a strong headache as we were going to an appointment and I just prayed that I could make it through the appointment and that afterwards I didn't care what would happen. How I would regret those words...

Leaving from the lesson that we had, my headache came back and with it came a bit of a bad feeling in my stomach. I told my companion about my stomach and that I could manage it for the time being. It slowly got worse as we were walking to another appointment until I told my companion we should go home.

We decided to rest for a bit at a Member´s house before continuing to our own house, and I just felt really sick. After being there for a bit, I felt like I was about to throw up. So I went to the bathroom, and to not be too graphic, some stuff happened. My companion said in this moment that he wasn't sure if it was real or not before.

We went back to the apartment and being sick and all, my companion gave me some Pepto Bismol because that is the Mission policy now. It didn't sit too well with my stomach. Afterwards, my companion talked with the mission doctor, whose ward I used to be in, and prescribed some medicine for me. I am not sure if I made her mad in the past or something, but she prescribed some pills and injections for an area of my body that hasn't had injections applied before. The injection felt like boiling hot water and I immediately went to the bathroom to do some "certain things."

After this I was laying in my bed feeling about as horrible as I ever have in my entire Mission. I remember wondering if Heavenly Father really noticed what I was feeling in this moment. Precisely in this moment, I felt the sweetest feeling of peace I have ever felt in my entire life. It was as if Heavenly Father was right there with me hugging me and telling me it was all going to be okay. Before this moment, I haven't really felt anything like that before. I know that God always cares about what we are going through.

Friday, I was in the house almost the whole day because I felt so bad... not much happened there.

Saturday, We had to go visit Acatzingo and Quecholac again because it is one of our duties here in this area. It went pretty well despite the fact that I still wasn't 100%. I actually really enjoy Quecholac. For a smallish village, there are a lot of nice stores.

Sunday (I almost put Domingo), was quite normal in every way possible, except for the fact that it was Fast Sunday.

Today we had a district activity and I also bought a typewriter here pretty cheap ($150...that's in pesos). Get ready for hand typed letters in the future.

Have a superb week and know that Heavenly Father always loves you!
élder Seymour.