Week 96: ITS JUST ANOTHER DAY FOR YOU, YOU AND ME IN PARADISE

This work will never stop!!!!! So don’t stop the party!!

There is a Phil Collins song that says, ITS JUST ANOTHER DAY FOR YOU, YOU AND ME IN PARADISE. And well its true! Here is paradise!!! I love San Cristobal and like I told you the miracles came this week as the week went from working all right to, holy cow can I work any harder? To wow I hardly wasted any energy I’m tired but we had an awesome day!!! So I know that god loves his missionaries and what a blessing it is to be in GOD’S ARMY!!  (So ya sorry if the letters ARE GETTING BIGGER ITS A PROBLEM with a computer that the keyboard doesn't quite want to work so oh well just believe that I tried haha.) But the miracles came AND WELL WE WORKED HARD AND YESTERDAY WE HAD 7 INVESTIGATORS IN SACRAMENT Meeting!  It was awesome! We really saw the Lords hand in the work and I am so glad that we can see lots of amazing things. Another thing was we had 2 baptisms Saturday and here in this area we haven't baptized SINCE February so we found that these two kids where waiting for us!! Wilber and Marlene were baptized Saturday and well they are the smiliest kids I know!! just two sunbeams in the lives of everyone. so ya

Well I was reading this week in the book of ALMA and I’m on track to finish the Book of Mormon the Sunday before I go home, it will be good I am going to do it. But this week I was reading a lot about my hero! I talked about him a couple weeks ago, he is an amazing man! Moroni is his name. I was reading about his example of preparation, he was a good scout, always was prepared. First thing he did to prepare for the battle was he was in a tough spot as a man wanted to be king so Moroni rent his coat and he wrote upon it as a reminder of what they were fighting for.  “And it came to pass that he rent his coat; and he took a piece thereof, and wrote upon it—In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children—and he fastened it upon the end of a pole.” (alma 46:12)

OK I TALKED ABOUT THAT a couple weeks ago but there is more to the story and to the preparation then just putting your coat ON A pole. This then happened

“Now it came to pass that while Amalickiah had thus been obtaining power by fraud and deceit, Moroni, on the other hand, had been preparing the minds of the people to be faithful unto the Lord their God.

Yea, he had been strengthening the armies of the Nephites, and erecting small forts, or places of resort; throwing up banks of earth round about to enclose his armies, and also building walls of stone to encircle them about, round about their cities and the borders of their lands; yea, all round about the land.

And in their weakest fortifications he did place the greater number of men; and thus he did fortify and strengthen the land which was possessed by the Nephites.

 And thus he was preparing to support their liberty, their lands, their wives, and their children, and their peace, and that they might live unto the Lord their God, and that they might maintain that which was called by their enemies the cause of Christians.”(Alma 48:7-10)

Ok so he put up some forts and "prepared for them, in a manner which never had been known among the children of Lehi. Now they were prepared for the Laminates, to battle after the manner of the instructions of Moroni." (alma 49:8) well thatS a quite interesting thing he prepared for the counter attack and he prepared in a form nobody Had EVER seen. " Yea, verily, verily I say unto you, if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men." (alma 48:17) and if we would be just like Moroni the jaws of hell would definitely be shaken forever. Its interesting to think that Moroni knew what it was doing. Because the cities where made STRONG AND he made the weak things become strong AND WHEN THE Laminates saw and came to attack what happened? "And it came to pass that the captains of the Lamanites brought up their armies before the place of entrance, and began to contend with the Nephites, to get into their place of security; but behold, they were driven back from time to time, insomuch that they were slain with an immense slaughter." (alma 49:21)

Can we apply what Moroni did in our lives? We sure can we need to just build ourselves spiritually and follow gods chosen Captain, the prophet, so that we can be lead and guided in these latter days. The truth is we can always be protected before anything happens we are notified and we are blessed. We have daily moments to follow and prepare with our armor set and ready to go every moment in the work!! Our Doctor told Elder Leon that we are the Pawns and we as missionaries are on the front lines defending truth and right.  What a blessing it is to be a missionary!!! I love this work!!!

Love you all lots now let us follow Moroni and be prepared in any moment to fight against the devil we will win I know it!!!

Elder Jaymes Monson

Week 95: travel plans and hail?

Lets get Excited We are missionaries!!!

That’s what we said on Tuesday in our district leader meeting and well BOOM! The numbers are up and the missionaries are on fire!!! Wow now just we need to get going faster to keep up with our awesome Zone!!! Its just awesome to be here and to have a companion that is just excited to work and to get calls at night hearing about the miracles that are happening in the missionaries lives!!! Its awesome to be a missionary!!!

I just received some information to fill out to go home?! What! Well I guess its around the corner because this Saturday I complete 22 months as a missionary! It’s a hand full or two and my toes, wait I cant count that on my fingers and toes anymore!!! ahh!!! Oh well it goes fast but I'm working till the last day!! until Pres. George sends me on a jet and says “Well done!”  

I'm super excited to be a missionary. I love this work and Elder Leon and I will work hard and never say never because as it says in Moroni 7:29-30

“And because he hath done this, my beloved brethren, have miracles ceased? Behold I say unto you, Nay; neither have angels ceased to minister unto the children of men.  For behold, they are subject unto him, to minister according to the word of his command, showing themselves unto them of strong faith and a firm mind in every form of godliness.”

Have miracles ceased? NO way! We are miracles! WE SEE THEM EVERYDAY IN OUR OWN LIVES. I am a Miracle sent from the father to bless the lives of others. We talked about this this week in our meetings and wow, we saw the miracles and just the excitement to work. We asked the Missionaries if miracles have ceased they said no, then we asked then how will we make this miracles better and an everyday thing? We taught through the spirit as we explained that Faith,  and well how it needs to have an action and we asked if they were contacting 20 people in the street daily, they said no, well… We have a promise that we will baptize weekly if we only contact 20 people daily. Elder Johnson taught us this and we have sort of forgotten it. Then we came to the conclusion that we as a zone will contact 20 people daily and the miracles will come. The sisters in one area had nobody to baptize these next few weeks so they hit the road and went to work and well they baptized 2 this past week and well 2 more are coming this week.  We still haven't had our baptism this month but we are hoping and well planning one Saturday not just one 2 and well we are excited to keep working. Miracles happen everyday we just need to open our eyes and we will see.

A funny thing that happened this week is that it hailed. That’s not the funny part. We where eating lunch in downtown San Cris and we finished and started walking to our house to grab somethings we had forgotten then we see a lot of people running towards us. Which could mean one a dinosaur was coming, two they are training for a Marathon and we where in their way or three like everywhere here in Chiapas its starting to rain. Well it wasn't the first two it was the third and well it wasn't rain it was HAIL! Not just some little old hail that comes in little bits it was a wart causing hail. That’s why they were running! So well we thought we could be Manchu men and we are but don't worry we learned our lesson as we were going against the flow of people we felt this hail hitting our heads and we took cover but it didn't help we needed to get home and my companion needed to go to the bathroom because needing to go to the bathroom and water falling from the heavens doesn't really mix so we decided to run home.  Wow I don’t think I have ever ran faster and sweat the most in my life!! haah just kidding here in San Cris we don't sweat we freeze if we sweat haah but I got soaked and well that wasn’t all that great to tell you the truth because it was cold and by the time we got home the streets were filled to the top of the curb with water flowing down the road so ya not good. We then got home and while shivering we tried to start the weather heater haha and well it wasn't going too well but after getting it started we warmed up and well left the house all dry and all warm but here when the sun goes down, you feel the cold and well its not too fun!!! but ya all is well and they say it snows here in January I'm glad I wont be here then because well I only have a sweater or two and  what’s that going to do in a snow storm? who knows! haha but I am just super excited to work!!! I love it! and well we will see lots of miracles this week and then ill write them the next week and I just hope it doesn’t rain anymore I want to be warm and when you are soaked nothings warm haha!! Love you all!!! Have a great Week!!

Elder Jaymes Monson

Week 94: Temple trip

Well Hi all!!!

Its been a pretty crazy day!!! To tell you the truth my comp hasn't been feeling well so they sent him to Tapachula and well I’m just waiting till tonight at 9 o’clock for my companion Elder Leon. So ya it will definitely be a bit different because I know my area just a little bit but all is well and well I hope I can get some sleep tonight I haven’t slept very well in a few days ha ha but all is well in Zion!!!

Well this week I had the grand opportunity to go to the sealing of the family I baptized in Ixhuatan, Temo, Leonor, Dilan, Braulio, and Silvana and what an awesome opportunity it was! Wow I remember the first day visiting them and their excitement to hear the gospel. It was like they literally ate the word of god ha ha. But that’s a good thing really its an awesome thing because they have progressed a lot. At first Dilan and Braulio didn't want to hear from us they thought we were crazy ha ha, but it was just seeing their dad just go crazy for us to come. Then after a little bit of time they joined in and it made the whole family enter into the church and Elder Jenne and I were super happy and it was great.

Now let me take you through just a bit of what happened.  We traveled to Tuxtla Friday around 7:30 and we got to the offices around 9 and well there was nobody at the offices because president and his assistants had been traveling since Monday night to visit all the missionaries and the Secretaries where just running late so we waited and when president got there we helped them unpack the car and he said -Elders get in lets go home. we were like wait? what? ya get in you are going to sleep at our house tonight. Ok sounds good we said-.  We got there and he showed us to our room and he said -come on down lets eat some dinner I’m starving-. Ok that's fine I thought. We ate and talked and he said -ok tomorrow we will be leaving at 6 to get some interviews done- he gave us our new recommends and we went and slept.  We woke up and went to the temple in the morning he said- elders lets eat something. ok thanks president- and well we ate something quick and went to the temple to get everyone who needed an interview to have their interviews and I just about got tackled by my "brother" Jared and Dilan.  Then I gave a hug to Temo and Braulio and we made sure they passed their interviews and we got them all ready and all good we went through the temple with them and it was awesome!!!  What was even better was in the sealing room to see them all in white and just happy as all can be. At the end everyone in the room was crying and well it was awesome and the spirit was so strong there as they were sealed for time and all eternity. I was very happy to be there with them and it was an awesome thing to see it. I actually saw this day when we contacted them and I saw the whole family in white and well the whole thing was in my head as we first went to their house and all is well now.

 

Jared, Dilan, Elder Monson, Silvana, Leonor, Temo, Braulio, Pres. Alvarez

President George taught us last week about seeing the end from the beginning. I certainly saw it as words can’t describe the joy I felt Saturday morning and well to see these people come from not believing to having their eyes opened up and now seeing their future as a eternal family, and well what joy and love I have for them wow it was heart swelling and I know that their family is now an eternal family and now they can continue on in this life knowing that their family will not have an end. Its amazing I really cant describe it at all but its just a feeling that is overwhelming. Its amazing!!! I know my family is eternal as well. Its amazing to feel that love our father in heaven has for us and for my family!!!

I love this work!!! and well after taking pictures with them we went and talked to Pres. George and he was like -elders come on in and eat some food-. we ate some good tuna fish sandwiches. and well Pres. George said that both of them have very strong testimonies. It was great to hear that they are doing well.

Well that was my weekend and I will have a new comp and hope all will be good. Love you all!!

Elder Jaymes Monson

Mom's note:  What an amazing letter!  Tears came as I read this.  I could just feel how happy he was to see this sweet family enter the temple.  A very beautiful experience and I am so happy he was able to attend.  Thank you Pres. George for helping make this possible. 

On another note: Elder Monson has a new companion.  His name is Elder Leon.  We should know more next week.

Week 93: Meeting with new Mission Pres.

Well this week was absolutely a long week!! Haha it was good but we hardly worked we were in so many places and its been fun and long and its a great thing -we have a great zone or else we would be working hard for no good reason haha but all is well in Zion as they say. we just are glad Zion is where we are haha. but it was awesome to travel Monday night to tuxtla to have a wonderful meeting with Pres. George our new Mission President. it was an awesome thing to see pres and sister George and their love they have for us. He says he is in over his head right now but he is very glad he can rely on us as his leaders. so ya and well Thursday we were with him all day as we had interviews and a welcome to the mission conference. it was awesome and well what a great man he is, it just makes you glad heavenly father can trust in simple men that can change the lives of everyone. so ya a great man and we look forward to working more with him. so ya.

Happy Fourth of July, late I know but i don't have computer privileges everyday!! haha I just wanted to say that I just about forgot what the fourth meant, sorry I'm here surrounded by people who aren't Americans haha. its a bit different not seeing the signs or preparing for the day, or going on a hike or boating early in the morning to stay up late and watch fireworks. here i just said happy fourth to the American travelers and ya that's about it. but thanks to the home of the free and the land of the brave we know that truths of the gospel. its interesting that a Book of Mormon hero, named Moroni knew this land would be free in  his time. he knew it and taught it as he wrote the title of liberty.

 "And it came to pass that he rent his coat; and he took a piece thereof, and wrote upon it—In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children—and he fastened it upon the end of a pole.

 And he fastened on his head-plate, and his breastplate, and his shields, and girded on his armor about his loins; and he took the pole, which had on the end thereof his rent coat, (and he called it the title of liberty) and he bowed himself to the earth, and he prayed mightily unto his God for the blessings of liberty to rest upon his brethren, so long as there should a band of Christians remain to possess the land" (Alma 46:12-13)

 "And he went forth among the people, waving the rent part of his garment in the air, that all might see the writing which he had written upon the rent part, and crying with a loud voice, saying:

 Behold, whosoever will maintain this title upon the land, let them come forth in the strength of the Lord, and enter into a covenant that they will maintain their rights, and their religion, that the Lord God may bless them."(Alma 46:19-20)

Wow what a great man a true hero. He knew what freedom was about and well he showed it and taught it as he said, "In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children" that's what freedom is about. its the freedom to choose to have peace to live our lives with the ones we love, its freedom to worship god. And this land was blessed by the prayer of Moroni, the founding fathers who came to the Americas where Christians looking for freedom. God knew through Moroni  they would come and posses this land. god knew it and well so did Moroni as he praised mightily and well after showing this title to the people what did they do? "the people came running together with their armor girded about their loins, rending their garments in token, or as a covenant, that they would not forsake the Lord their God; or, in other words, if they should transgress the commandments of God, or fall into transgression, and be ashamed to take upon them the name of Christ, the Lord should rend them even as they had rent their garments." (Alma 46:21)  and they "they cast their garments at the feet of Moroni, saying: We covenant with our God" (Alma 46:22) those founding fathers did the same as they wrote the Declaration of Independence to proclaim their freedom from England. Isn't that interesting? as the Nephites declares Independence and their freedom and well they "hoisted upon every tower which was in all the land, which was possessed by the Nephites; and thus Moroni planted the standard of liberty among the Nephites." (Alma 46:36) they put their standard and so did the founding fathers.  “And that law of the land which is constitutional, supporting that principle of freedom in maintaining rights and privileges, belongs to all mankind, and is justifiable before me."(D&C 98:5) " And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."(John 8:32) Knowing the truths will certainly make you free. because we live in a free land a young boy could have the question and could restore the truths upon the earth once again. So let freedom ring and let this be a day of a reckoning. because I'm proud to be an American and id gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today because there ain’t no doubt I love that land God Bless the USA. and may god bless each and every one of us! I'm so glad to be out here!!! let freedom ring!!!

Love you all!!

Elder Jaymes Monson