Week 91: Transfer new assignment!

Happy Tuesday to all of you!!! The truth is this past week has been super crazy!!! but all good!! Right now I am really glad I'm not sweating because here in the mountains you don't sweat too much!!!

I am right now in San Cristobal de las Casas Chiapas and yesterday was a really interesting day!!!

Let me tell you about our week. Elder Reyes and I worked our guts out! It was a great week. We worked super hard to plan to baptize every week in July so we worked and it was great we taught the gospel of Christ to a lot of people! We helped the parents of one family, their names are Herminio and Angela, to accept to be baptized. wow what a huge blessing they have received. 4 years of attending church!!! four years!! and well the missionaries have struggled and struggled to try and get them to accept and well they did finally on Saturday the spirit touched the hearts of these wonderful people and it was all by a simple scripture. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” (Romans 3:23) we have all fallen short and have all sinned and after we are baptized the sins are washed away but it doesn't mean we will be forever sin free. It means we need to work! and well to work we need to be  on the right path.. BOOM! It struck a part of their hearts and they said, “Elders, Yes we will be getting baptized in two weeks!” wow! and well that was about the whole week we have worked and we have found the needs of everyone and Elder Reyes and I were super duper excited to work and we were just ready, or you could say pumped!!! We were on fire and we knew it!!! Elder Reyes was learning really quickly, we didn't have many investigators but we had a goal to baptize all of the investigators we had.  They were all preparing and they were progressing and we were so happy and super excited we had reached the goal to baptize all of July we knew it and we couldn’t let down our own faith. But you know the lord works in mysterious ways.

Saturday President Cardenas did his last transfers til he is gone and Sunday in the afternoon as we were talking to a lady, who will be getting baptized, we just met her but I know she will get baptized… Anyway Elder Bassett (my DL) called me and said "Elder Monson you have transfers!" I thought what???!!! He continued "you will be going to San Cristobal, as Zone Leader" Wow Zone Leader? and I’m close to finishing… ok that will be fun, then i hear "and your companion Elder Reyes will be going to Laureles 2", Wait what?!  “Yes elder they closed your area" wait!! We are excited to work and what!?!?! Well the sisters in Vista Hermosa will be taking over our area and their area will be the whole ward. Wow I actually feel bad for them. But the worst part was packing I was leaving the next morning at 9 am and had to be in the OCC at 8 so it was a long night. Elder Reyes, who is now with a good friend of mine Elder Zambrano, so ya all is well for him. At least he got to go 20 minutes or so away while I got to sit on a bus for 9 hours!!!

Ya we left Tapachula at 9:15am and we got to Tuxtla at 4:10 in time to go to the bus next to ours and go another 1 and a half or more I have no idea I was sleeping haha and well I finally got here and it’s nice and cool here in the mountains. My Companion, Elder Coto, was there to give me a hug and to wake me up a bit and say, Welcome to San Cris. Wow its great to be here, so after we waited for another sister who's bus left without her and well she got here and it was straight to work doing the Zone numbers for the last week! and then well we slept and my feet felt cold it was nice i was in heaven not sweating all night. Then we woke up today and we rode another 2 hours to Ocosingo to interview a person who is getting baptized and drop off a summer missionary there to work with one of the district leaders. so ya its been a whole bunch of fun and well I just am glad I got my head screwed on straight, 13 hours of travel in 2 days is a lot and Friday we need to go back to Ocosingo and to Tuxtla tuesday!! ahh! but all is well

I just love this work and just love being a missionary!!! hope all is well sorry it has been a crazy week and well at least I'm nice and cool!!! love you all!!!

Elder Jaymes Monson

Week 90: Small and Simple things

Happy Fathers day to all you great fathers!!

This week was a pretty alright week, not too bad but we sure do need new investigators so we will work super hard this week to find some new ones. We will figure it out some how.  Anyways these last few weeks it has been raining a lot! But not like wow that's a lot of rain it’s more like why is my companion dumping buckets of water on me? I was thinking the other day as we where in a Com b (its sort of like a bus but they are crazier and they smash everyone in and they drive quickly to get to your destination it’s quite interesting) anyways we were in this com b and well it was raining really hard and I was thinking about a lot of things and we reached a part where the driver couldn't see out the front windows and the side windows were flowing with water. it was very interesting, then the driver did something not many com b drivers do- he slowed down. Well of course he needed to but I was thinking if he hadn't slowed down what would have happened? We might have been hydro sliding or maybe on the side of the road, who knows but I'm glad he slowed down!

It reminds me of many times as my family would drive in the snow down sardine canyon or anytime it would be snowing we would slow down. It reminds me of one night in the winter I had just gotten off of work and the snow was coming down as I was in a little putt putt car that didn't have much traction and all I wanted was to be warm because the heater didn't really heat up haha and I wanted to be home. The streets were really slick and well I was stopped at a red light and I said a prayer in my heart and said father all I want is to get home safely. The light turned green and I felt an unseen force wake me up and tell me son take it one light at a time. Sure I got home in an hour instead of a half hour of 20 minutes but I got home safe and that is what matters!  As I pulled into the garage I said a quick prayer thanking my father in heaven for helping me get home.  As I came in the door my dad was sitting in the chair in the family room and he got up gave me a dad size hug and told me he was glad I got home safely then he told me, son tomorrow is Sunday ill be at the church, but if you don't mind would you clear off the driveway there will be lots of snow in it tomorrow so that you and your mom can get to church safely I just smiled and said sure.

I learned three very important things: one my dad can always trust in me, two God answers prayers and three the works of God are taken one step at a time. He says "For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." (Moses 1:39) but to receive his glory we need to go one step at a time. We need to be focused on his glory to get to his glory. The prophet Alma told us "And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls”. (Alma 37:7) Its by small things in our lives that bring to pass the eternal purposes of our father in heaven. Just think something as easy as saying our prayers, it’s a small and simple thing but it brings an eternity of blessings. Just talking to our father in heaven down on our knees brings blessings that we would never have imagined. Forgetting one day may lead to 2 or 3 times till we forget to pray. And well we can’t afford that. Its in our scripture study forgetting one day we can say well we can read tomorrow till tomorrow is up and well it leads to all of summer vacation and well we forget where we were and well we start again. Its a small thing but an element in our lives that's small and lasting.

The lord asks us to do these small things I talked about once last week about Emanuel. Its the Small things that matter. In our lives as we walk we will have a spiritual storm as I mentioned before and a stumbling block as well but the truth is the devil will find our weaknesses and he knows how to find them really well but we cant let the Small things turn into a really big things because they will. My mom always has told me how there is so much to do its amazing I have time to do it all. When we get that way in our spiritual lives we just need to do what the com b driver did and what I did- we need to slow down and take it one step at a time. We need to say a prayer and then continue forward. We need to pray and say father all I need to do is get home or read or anything. He will hear us and we will be blessed. Our spiritual roads will be slick and our little putt putt cars will need more heating and more traction but if we follow the spirit and trust in the lord he will do the rest. Slow and steady always won the race. "And out of small things proceedeth that which is great." (Doctrine and Covenants 64:33) now "behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors." (Alma 34:32) we aren't going to make it in one soccer game it will be like the world cup one game at a time. One trial at a time it just depends on us if we want to win we will do our best but if we don't then well start wanting to win and let god do the rest. By small and simple things the lord will give us the great and grand prize, which is immortality and eternal life. From small beginnings great things come to pass, Joseph Smith did something very small and simple he said a prayer and he received and answer and trough Joseph smith the lord established his Church once again. A small thing that has had a huge blessing. the church is true let us do the small things to bring us towards god and not let the pebbles in our roads to heaven make us trip. You can ask my companion Elder Reyes a pebble tripped him this week. "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth" (Romans 1:16) I love this work!!

Hope everyone has had a great week hope you all have a wonderful week ahead, and well happy fathers day to all the wonderful fathers especially my hero father! Thanks dad for everything! Love you all!!

Elder Jaymes Monson