Whew!  What a crazy week!

Monday -  Elder Lovo and I left for the CCM at 3 or 4 in the morning to pick up the new missionaries!  I was so excited because I thought that I would never get to go back inside the CCM.  It was Awesome to see it again and see the new missionaries with the frightened look on their faces and remember how I was just in their shoes and to ponder on the great eternal scheme of things and the progression that one experiences in life.

After we got them, we took them back to the house and gave them breakfast and chatted for a little bit.  Then the President arrived to take the Sisters to his house and we gave the Elders the chance to sleep a little at our house.  

At noon, we had a training for them, where I talked about finances and the President talked about goals and obedience.

That afternoon, we had the transfers here in Tasqueña for the whole mission.  I received a new companion, Elder Chavez from Monterrey, Mexico.  Elder Lovo is going to Ermita as a Zone Leader.  I'm the new District Leader for the district here.  This week the three of us have stayed in a trio so that Elder Lovo could train Elder Chavez how to be a secretary.

That night all of the missionaries who were going home stayed in our house.

Tuesday- I gave a district meeting on the importance of each of us having goals.

Wednesday- We left for the airport with all the missionaries that were going home at 3:30am and stayed there until about noon.  It's an Awesome experience to spend time with the missionaries that are going home and learn from them.  I got super sick from something I ate, so I had to wait in line with the missionaries to help them check in their luggage, then I would run to the bathroom.  Then do it again.

Thursday - Our stake had a super fun activity.  A priest quorum from Salt Lake City had an activity to come down here to Mexico City for a week and have a little missionary experience.  So we went on divisions with the priests and their leaders!  It was super cool because they got a real authentic experience!  I went with one of the leaders (Bro. Ofar) that didn't speak a word of English.  The first house we went to, the wife just started yelling about how she hates her husband and all that he does and that he's a drunk and beats their children and swears and that she doesn't go to church because her husband is a member and he acts like he does.  (And the husband was standing right next to her during all of this).  Then we walked around the streets and visited some other members.  Then we went to the lunch at a member's house and they gave us one of the most authentic Mexican foods there is, Chicharon en salsa verde (fried pig skin that gets its moisture back in it through salsa).  This adult with me and the young man with the other elders tried a tiny bit and said that they couldn't do it.  It was fun to remember that I was the same way the first time I ate that but that now it's something normal for me.

Lizet is going to get baptized the 14th of May.

It's also been super crazy week in the offices.   It was the end of month.  Everyone's also been calling me about their rent, their money, their reimbursements.   And sometimes they argue and things get frustrating.  But I'm loving every second of it!!!

Have a Wonderful Week!!!!  I Love you all!!!!

Elder Jarrett

Fwd: Photos! :D

On Sunday the 17th, we did an Area Attack in the area of Educacion, so the whole zone went to one area to work for a few hours.  Here´s my group!  :D

Visit from President L. Whitney Clayton

Buenas tardes a todos (Good afternoon Everyone)!

I'm not really sure what new things there are to tell you about this week.  I feel like ever since I got put in the offices, the time is flying by incredibly fast!!!  The weeks feel like a day long!  Crazy!  

Well,  Saturday we got a visit from President L. Whitney Clayton (president of the quorum of the seventy) and he was also accompanied by Elder Arnulfo Valenzuela (from the first quorum of the seventy).  The conference went by way too quickly, but it was super good.  Something I loved is that Elder Clayton would teach us simple, small things that we need to do.  They're the simple things like kneeling at the end of the first lesson and inviting the head of the family to offer the prayer.  After teaching a principle, he would ask us "Have you been doing that in all of your lessons?"  We'd say "No".  He'd say, "So are there Sinners here?"  We'd all say "Yes".  Then he'd say "So what do you have to do?"  Then we'd say "Repent".  "So will you do it?"  "Yes".  Then he'd teach a new principle and repeat the same thing.  

He kept telling us that we were really good, but that we can be even better.  I was thinking that really that's what the gospel's all about in a nutshell.  We are surrounded by millions of people.  I imagine that each one of them is a really good person, but with the gospel, they can become even better (and they can also receive the eternal blessings that come with it).  Also it was a great reminder that the small, simple things are the easiest things to do, and also the easiest things to stop doing.  Perhaps for this they are the most important that we strive to keep doing them.  

Other than that visit, this week we've just been working in the offices and working in the area like normal.  This Monday are transfers.  But we all just got here to the offices, so nothing too big for us.  

Photo:  For the first time ever, our whole mission got to be together.  So we got a photo of the whole mission with Elder Valenzuela and President Clayton.  Here's a fun Where's Waldo (Elder Jarrett) game for ya.  :)

I Love You All!!!

Elder Jarrett

Fwd: Nosotros en las Oficinas

The four Secretaries!!!  

The four of us are also living in the same house now, because the other two had some problems with their old house, so they moved in with us two weeks ago!!!  We're all super tight!!!  

Hey!!!

Super short email for this week!!

The miracles continue to happen every day.  The investigators continue to progress towards baptism.  My love for this gospel and for our Savior and my testimony and knowledge of their existence and truthfulness continues to grow every single day!!!

Tomorrow we get a visit from Elder L. Whitney Clayton to our mission and we have a 4 hour conference with him!!!  It will be Awesome!!!  They say that Elder Oaks is also in the mission and that he's staying with President Mecham tonight, so maybe he'll come tomorrow too!!!  I´m so Excited!!!

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

Elder Jarrett

Fwd: Fotos 2

Fwd: Fotos

Birthday lunch of my companion on Monday!

The Gift of Tongues and the Gift of Hands?

Hey!!!

The Gift of Tongues and the Gift of Hands?

I don't remember if I ever mentioned to you guys much about our investigator named Lizet.  She is an 11-year-old girl that comes from a family of less-active members.  I've only ever met her dad two times, but she's always with her grandparents.  Something interesting about her grandparents and many of her aunts, uncles, and cousins is that they can't talk or hear so they communicate with sign language.  We've always asked a Sister that knows sign language to accompany us to the lessons and translate for them (that was fun because when I first arrived with Elder Davies, he couldn't talk much Spanish, so he would tell me something in English, I would then tell it to the Sister in Spanish and she would say it to them in Sign Language :D  ).

Lizet has put a baptismal date several times before but they always fall because for some reason or another, she hasn't been able to keep coming to church.  For example, about a month ago, she had a baptismal date, but then she got really sick for like a week and had to miss church and couldn't meet with us and thus, couldn't get baptized.  So finally about two weeks ago, we got back in contact with her and started visiting her and we challenged her to pick a new baptismal date. 

Sunday afternoon I was on interchanges with Elder Harrison (The Assistant, lives in the same house as us and we do interchanges together a lot) and we passed by to visit her.  We didn't have the translating Sister there with us, so when they answered the door and I tried to motion towards the house and communicate that we wanted to visit Lizet.  Then Elder Harrison just starting signing a bunch of things to her.  I asked him how he learned Sign Language and he told me that he once taught a family like them.  So we taught the lesson and he was able to translate everything.  That inspired me to learn more than just the Hello, How are you?,  Good, Thank You, and Can we do a Prayer that I had known how to say.  Right after that lesson, I asked Elder Harrison to teach me, and I learned and memorized the whole alphabet and many other useful signs.  And it just stuck!   I feel like I was able to learn it all really quickly, as if I had already known it before.  Then I realized that  I was being blessed in my efforts of learning Sign Language.  I realized then that the Gift of Tongues was extending even further so that I am able to share the gospel with this family!  I am so grateful for the talents, abilities, gifts, and knowledge that the Lord blesses us with as missionaries so that we might become even greater instruments in His hands.  

Lizet told us that she has prayed and talked with her grandparents and her parents and that she feels that she should be baptized the 23 of April (in two weeks)!  I'm so Excited for her!

Investigators

Alejandro -  He is still progressing a lot.  He's the 22 year old that we found recently. He continues to come to church, to learn more about the gospel and leave behind his old way of life, and to build friendships with other members.   He has told us that he wants to get baptized and he's thinking about the 23rd or 30th of this month!!!  He has been one of the finest examples of a Golden Investigator that I have seen, never missing a week of church since we started visiting him and always willing to visit us very frequently.

Reyna - We've been visiting her since I got here in Coyoacan.  She got really close to baptism, then she decided that she wants to read more of the Book of Mormon before she gets baptized.  Then she kind of lost contact with us and quit going to church.  But just recently we found her again.  And we decided to start inviting her husband to listen to us too.  She always told us that her husband doesn't like religion and wouldn't want to hear from us and all that. But we invited him to hear us anyway.  And together, they came to General Conference on Sunday!  I'm so happy because I feel like now, the both of them can inspire and motivate the other and that they can progress together!

The Offices

The Offices are good, just very different.  It's still missionary work, but a different kind of work that someone's got to do.  It's been hard to adjust to not being able to teach so much.  We get to work about 4 hours a day in our area.  But I love what Brother McKenna sent me

"In all that we do, I really believe what the Lord said: "Wherefore, verily I say unto you that all things unto me are spiritual" (D&C 29:34).  We live in a temporal world where we deal with things like money and balancing ledgers, etc., but everything we do can be made into a spiritual work that leads us and others to Christ.  And you are definitely doing that in all the spiritual and temporal duties you are fulfilling as a missionary."

That helped me out a lot.  And I feel like it's very true!  Although I might not be out there teaching, I'm helping the cause of missionary work through helping the other missionaries to have what they need (rent for a house and utilites, money for food and transportation, medical care, etc) so that the mission can keep working properly and everything can run smoothly.  

General Conference

General Conference was Amazing (as always)!!!  I especially loved the Priesthood Session, but all of the sessions were Awesome.  We went to the Stake Center in Tasqueña to watch the sessions.  I watched all of the sessions in English except for the Sunday morning one, because we had several investigators and members that came to watch it.  The church is true and the leaders of the Church really are men chosen by God to lead it!

Have a Wonderful Week!!! I Love You All!!!

Elder Jarrett

Fwd: ELDER NOGUERA