A little bit 'bout humility...[Sept. 29, 2014]

Hola...

Had another week that went by fairly quick. Unfortunately, I don't have very many photos this week, but hopefully I can make it up with stories.

Just yesterday I gave my first talk in this ward. My companion said that it is difficult to get members to let us help them. I just said, "Let me take care of it."

I talked with the bishop that happened to be in the church when we gave our first English class here (I'll talk about that in a minute). I asked him if I could give a talk that Sunday, and he graciously allowed me to.

I had my main topic be about humility and just sort of went from there. I shared a story about how when I was in my last area with élder Suárez, we were riding in a combi with some members going to church. There weren't enough seats to sit down, so we had to stand. One of the members asked me if she could carry my bag as we were going to the church. I said, "No thanks, I'm fine." My companion scolded me saying that this is not humility. When we are humble, we accept the help of others. I related this to, as missionaries, we are called to help the people that we serve, but we can't do this if they do not have sufficient humility to accept it. I finished by reading Alma 5:28 and explaining that if we don't have this humility, we are not ready to return to God. It is an essential Christlike attribute that we all need.

In the English class, we waited for almost half an hour for anyone to come. We previously had invited several people who promised they would come. I silently prayed to Heavenly Father that if no one else, just one person would come. About 10 minutes later, we had someone show up that apologized for being late.

Well, in other news, I saw the Mexican version of Jimmy (my brother-in-law) on the street, but I didn't get the chance to talk to him because we were running late.

Friday, we had a fireside with the mission president. Even though we had invited investigators to come, they flaked out. We got there, listened, ate cookies, and came back. As we came back, the sister missionaries were talking about how they got out here. Every one of them had finished college before they left. It made me think a little about priorities and how I had got out here myself. At any rate, I didn't leave at the most convenient time of my life, but I know with all of my heart that I left exactly when the Lord wanted me to. Not a moment sooner or later.


Well, have a great week!
élder Seymour.

I learned how to make a drink with
Guayaba (guava)

That would be 20 candles now?...[Sept. 22, 2014]

Happy birthday to me... sorry for the photo surge.

We had a pretty good week this week. One of our investigators, that more or less said she would never be able to come to church, actually came this week. I was super excited! Our ward hasn't had a convert baptism in almost an entire year, so it is great to see that we are starting to gain some traction in that aspect.

I finally got to go to the tianguis today and it is huge. It would take at least 10-15 minutes to walk from one end to another. I ended up buying a new pair of mexican looking shoes and some slippers that looked comfortable. Also got a nice looking tie for 30 pesos.

A group of our investigators work in a shop that is basically Mens Wearhouse. They found out it was my birthday and got me a tie.

It is nice to finally say that I am no longer a teenager, but that also means that I would have to claim myself as an adult...

This week I also went on interchanges with the zone leaders on the 16th... oddly enough, even though it was the Revolution and everything, almost no one was in the streets.

We had a zone conference on Wednesday where we learned more about the Atonement and how to teach more powerfully. I asked a question related to what glory is exactly and I still don't know... oh well.

Have a great week!
Elder Seymour.

Yup, I can catch flies now!

One of the coolest houses.

Tuna with peel.

Tuna without peel.

A gordita... flour tortillas
don't really exist here.

My companion
élder Compea.

Finally found my name...
on an empty bottle.

A less active member
has a pet crocodile.

The only bus I've ever rode in
that has a TV
They sometimes play the
music videos
 that go with the songs.

Mt. Popocatépetl.

Waste Management.

A prickly pear cactus
loaded with tuna.

Outside a member's house
in Tlahuapan.

Down one of the roads
in Tlahuapan.

Tlahuapan...[Sept. 15, 2014]

Some good news, I took about 10 different photos on my camera about cool things that I saw.
Some bad news, I don't have my SD card adapter and the slot on this computer doesn't work.


I went to one of my new favorite places on earth. It is called Tlahuapan (Tlah-wah-pahn). One might ask why it is one of my favorite places and I guess because it is a lot like my house. There are a lot more trees and a lot less cars. There is also an unlimited supply of tuna(the fruit not the fish) which has become one of my favorite things to eat.

One of the members that lives there has my favorite house that I have been in since I got here. Another member that lives there has a house that I already went to in a dream before I got here (that was kinda cool, but weird). I have pictures, but I still can't send them until next week. :(


In other awesome news, I finally learned how to catch flies barehanded... super useful skill here. As far as I know, I am still the only one of his companions that ended up being able to do it. I have evidence in another photo... oh well.


One of our investigators told us of a dream that he had where he was with his mom on some sort of trail and we passed by him going on the trail up to the mountain. His mom asked him if he was going to go with us and he said no... I really hope this dream doesn't come true.


I also ate gorditas today. Basically there are tortillas stuffed with refried black beans with salsa and cheese on top.


Hope you all have an excellent week!
Élder Seymour.

New area, new companion, new world...[Sept. 8, 2014]

Hola todo,


Well... I am now living in San Martín Texmelucan with my companion Elder Compean. Interestingly enough, my trainer said that I would eventually go here... and here I am.


There are a lot of things different about this area. Perhaps most interesting is that it is much more like the U.S. here than in my last area. The religious distribution, that is, how many Catholics, Mormons, Baptists, Jehovahs Witnesses, etc. there are here, is very similar to the US as in there are much more Protestant Christians and not as many Catholics.


Waste Management here is a guy that has a cart pulled by a horse that people throw garbage in.


Our apartment is twice as big as my last one. Forgive me for not having pictures, I will get those out next week.


We are also very close to the Tianguis de San Martín. It is the biggest Tianguis in the world as far as I know, and they have a bunch of cheap stuff to buy. It basically is an enormous marketplace. There is a wrinkle though: it only has everything on Tuesdays and our P-day is on Monday.


My companion is also super awesome. Sometimes it is a little difficult because the work is a lot harder here than in my last area. You just have to keep going and do what you can along the way.


I hope you have a great week!
Élder Seymour.

Two investigators that
I left behind.
They are the parents of Mayra.

Mt. Popocatépetl.
We are a lot closer to it now.

La Mujer Dormida also a lot closer.

7 Months!!!

When in Rome...[Sept. 1, 2014]

Got some interesting news on Saturday.


It looks like I will be leaving my first area. It is a little difficult because I have been living here for 6 months. I also had my first converts here and everything. It´s a little difficult to leave, but I suppose that that is just the way things go sometimes.


We found 2 different apartments to live in, not that it matters much because I will just leave anyway. :( One of them is the nicest apartment I have ever seen here in the mission so far.


I can't quite seem to remember any weird foods that I ate this week, so I will have to include that in my next email, wherever that will be at.


We have an investigator that my old companion and I contacted. She gave her name at the México City temple 3 years ago. Élder Suarez and I saw it and said why not. We knocked on her door 4 different times before she answered it. We found out that her husband/boyfriend because they still aren't married is a member, but less active. We asked him to come to church and he came that Sunday and everyone since. He said that he was really just waiting for someone to invite him back. He also drives a bus as work, so he has helped us out a lot with driving investigators to church and firesides with the mission president. Basically he is an awesome guy.


However, with his wife/girlfriend it has been a constant uphill battle helping her to get to baptism. She has very little faith and doesn't want to get married (it should be noted that this almost never happens. If anyone doesn't want to get married, it is almost always the man), but she does want to get baptized. It got to the point where we talked with President Christensen (our mission president) and said, "we need your help with one of our investigators." He responded "are you sure that I will be able to help?" I said, "absolutely." We set up an appointment when he would be able to come, but when the day came, he couldn't do it.


Flash forward to last Friday. We had a fireside with the President and we invited our investigator and her husband/boyfriend. We were surprised when she said that she would go. The fireside was on the Gospel of Jesus Christ and when we are at these firesides, anyone can ask the President a question. When we got to the point when he started to talk about baptism and our investigator asked, "can I get baptized even if I don't believe everything?" They talked about it for about 20 minutes and my companion and I were super excited. It was the lesson with the President that we didn't get earlier. They also talked afterwards and President Christensen said that he wanted to have a lesson with the elders that teach her (us).


I hope you all have a great week! I will tell you next week where I end up getting sent to.
Élder Seymour.





A photo with a member.




The preparations for independance day
(15Seor 16... I am still confused as to which).




Down a road in our area.
Élder Mendoza is in the picture.




Now the school is of Toy Story,
which happens to be my companion's favorite movie.




Statue of Ignacio Zaragoza, I think.




The rest of the statues depicting the
5 de Mayo battle.