Elder Perrin - 30 April 2008

April 30, 2008

Well i'ts official. I hate p-DAYS. Actually, I hate them a lot. My mind just starts to wander off back to home and honestly I would rather just skip p-day, go do some tracting or something. You know what would be nice is if they just let us take about a half hour or so during the week to shop for some groceries and do the haircut, but just fit it into the normal day, then just have no p-day. That would be so much easier. But oh well I guess.

Well I'm printing off the email you sent mom, and I'm not going to read it now, but maybe later, like at night, I think that would help a little. I do, however, appreciate all the mail, despite my negative attitude not liking to think about home. I'm sorry if I appear negative you know, but I've always been the kind to fix sad thoughts with business, if that makes anysense.

So I did read like a paragraph of the letter and I just want to say how awesome it is that charles da masta is riding his bike with out the girly wheels. Charlie, I'm glad your finally becoming a grown up. Training wheels is the first step, and the next step is to learn how to not fart around girls. He-He! Just kidding buddy. Tell me how school is going for you ok? Or maybe you did and it's in the letter I havent read yet. Well I love ya Charlie. I think I love ya more than I love our silly dad. He does some crazy things sometimes. Am I right? Like what's the deal with all the polish sausage? Am I right? Hey, but we love him, he's the best right? Ya! I have to think so.

Well this week, actually this Saturday to be more precise, we're having a baptism.....! Ventura got his papers back from the First Presidency and they approved! Wow! The guy needs it! And wow! I've never seen somebody appreciate it like him. I don't even have a clue what he's saying when he's talking, but I can just tell. Wow! It's gonna be a good time.

We have a prime investigator coming to the baptism, named Valentina and I hope she comes. She kinda flaked out on church a couple times and has a hard time being consistent with appointments, but she reads!!! AAAH! Just come to church Valentina! It's so good! The spirit of discernment, which I'm told is magnified on a miss, tells me that we're going to butt heads with the husband, and probably is the cause of the flakiness. What to do eh? Well, she is awesome, we're about out of investigators though. We dropped like 3 people this week so it's been kinda sad, but were working on finding new ones.

So Zac went to prom eh? Sad I didn't hear it from him.

So, yeah. I forgot to tell Tam and Chels how much I love you two girly's. I s'aiufos love ya! Yeah, it's a spanish word in case you didn't know. Ha! Ha! And i'm sorry I haven't' written specifically to you both either, but Chels I pray for your finals everyday! mmmmk?! And Tami, I need to know detail on this place you work at that starts with a "V" and I'm not gonna spell it because, well I don't wanna, alright! You know that you joke about the name, don't deny! My goodness. I do to, It's hilarious, but a little um, well, you know. Anyway Tami, need a favor mmmk. I forgot a cd from home, this one I bought at the church store. On the case is a black guy and I don't remember his name, but the cd is in my room and all that. One of the songs on there is, " I can only imagine." You know what i'm talking about? I neeeeeeeeed it! Please help me find it. Please. I beg you! Check in all the boxes. Ask Chels if she knows what I'm talking about. I bought it like two days before I left, and I forgot the stupid thing. It is probably in the CD Player Tam so please, I need it. Please..... I love you!!!! Ok. Tam, one other thing, um... in the letter your going to write to me this week, telling me about your life stories, um... can you send the recipe for German pancakes? That would rock! So easy to make, so tastey, so delicious, so yellow and not good for the body because of all the syrup I use, but I know you know it, so when you write my letter, just include the recipe. Is that cool? Thanks Tam. Your the best.

Well, I love you all. Mom can you make sure Alicia gets these emails, I told her to talk to ya but well, I dunno. Well I love ya all and hope ya have a good week.

Elder Fox - 28 April 2008

Hellooo America!

We did some serious cleaning this week on the cave (our house) it was what i would call a little bit out of missionary spirit. Yes i did send that picture last week to show you how dirty it was before we cleaned it. I learned how to play a hymn on the piano last pday since we had a bunch of time to do nothing. Ive never had the patience with the piano and my mother can attest to that but i guess i have found nothing better to do on Pdays now. We rode past a little league ball park and i saw a bunch of kids practicing as a team. All of them were about 10 years old and it brought back some awesome memories of playing baseball with Matt Tingey. Of course i had to stop and watch them practice with the little bit of spare time that we did have. I want so bad to go out and practice with them and teach them in my missionary clothes and all but just couldn't bring myself to do it ha ha. Friday was Day of the Kids. They have a holiday for EVERYTHING I swear! Day of the teachers, day of workers, day of food, day of the dead, day of the paved roads, day of the shade, OK half of those i just made up but they really do have a ton! The Bishop planned a huge party for the ward and we all out when he invited an entertainer for the kids with music, costumes, games and all. It was kinda fun to watch them. The weekend cooled down a whole bunch which was good because i have been tired of the Blazing hot sun, but also bad since we have ran out of Gas to run our boiler so i have to shower in freezing cold water.

Our goal every month is 5 baptisms and confirmations so that we can go to the temple in Monterrey. This week we needed just 2 to complete it. We already had 2 baptisms planned since last week and they were pretty firm. But we still needed one more person because Ricardo, the little kid that we baptized last week, went out of town so we couldn't confirm him this week. We pretty much needed a miracle. My companion remembered of a lady named Maria that had wanted to be baptized 2 months ago but left town and hadn't returned so that they could baptize her. We decided to go knock on her door and see if she was home. Yes she was home and yes, she was the miracle of the week for us! She had had problems with smoking and had quit while away from home. We taught lesson 1 and 3 and she knew it was all true. In 5 days we had found her, taught her, baptized her, and confirmed her a member of the church. She pretty was ready when we got to her house, and was what we had been praying for all week. Along with her we baptized Alma, and Ampado (the mother and sister) of Alejandra who we baptized last week. We confirmed all 4 in sacrament meeting. Which means TEMPLE here i come! It feels awesome to have finally completed the monthly goal for the first time on the mission. What feels even more amazing is that this family has truly been converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ. They will be faithful members for this ward and a wonderful new help to the future missionaries! Alma, the mother, shared her deep feelings to me and my companion this week about how much we have changed the life of her and her family. How the feeling in her house has turned completely around, their lives are more happy, they understand their purpose in life and how important it is to be one as a family and just simply obey the councils of the prophets who lived, live, and will live, and lead and guide us in the future. She cried and explained that Elder Fox and Elder Mendoza are ANGELS who have been sent to us.

My testimony has grown so much from this family and i know i will never be the same missionary again because of their conversation. She already wants me to return after my mission and visit them.

We still are working on the Dad and son but its hard to find them because of their work hours. I LOVE THIS WORK! My joy is full and cant wait to start a fresh new week with more amazing experiences in the mission field. Don't be afraid to open your mouth and invite someone to come unto Christ.
Elder Fox

Elder Perrin - 21 April 2008

Well, I got the package last night and I just want to say thank you so much for it. I can't wait to see the pictures. I havent had a chance to look at them yet. Sorry. I will look at them though. As for my letters, I'm sorry they've been kinda short but I can't really think of anything to write about. And yea, I have been a little on the down side, not gonna say why, but not because of the car wreck. That's no big deal, I can still drive of course. The lady that hit me is trying to say it's my fault now, and I found this out last night. So now I have to talk to the insurance guys and I'm kind of annoyed by it all. Anyway, things are fine here and basically still the same. We dropped one of the families that weve been teaching because they won't come to church. It has to do with the whole social issue of the catholic church. They know the church is true, just don't wanna make the change. Sad actually, probably happens a lot. Nothing we could do but read them scriptures and say call us if you need anything and your always welcome to church. So, as far as the questions you sent me... We live inside the house of one of the memebers. We have one room and a bathroom and then we just use the kitchen when we need and use the washer and dryer when we need. We have a spot for our bikes in the garage too. I guess the church is trying to do this as much as possible to save some money. We have one ward and it's about five minutes away. It consists of about 30 or less active members that are there everytime, and about 4 or five families. One guy in the ward is a RM, and he likes to help out here and there. As far as the rest of the ward it's actualy near impossible to get them to help out, and it's not really thier fault either. The area is so big and we go to so many different towns, and they work a lot, so it's nearly impossible to coordinate a lesson with a member there. We have about 3 or so people we can count on. One of them is named Daniel. He's a recent convert to the church, and he's probably one of the most solid members too. He goes with us to teach Joel and basically anytime we're in his town he wil go with us. We have Patty who is really a fanatic about learning. She's a recent convert and she'll go with us if she is available. I'ts a challenge to get members to give us refferals but that's what were working on right now. We are trying to develop a plan to get the members more involved and it's really tough actually. On a normal day, lately, we go into businesses in the morning and try to spark conversations through the cards we leave behing on the counters, the little card stands. Then we just loook for people to talk to. We have appointments but most of the time they just aren't interested and so our backup plan is usually to tract the area we're in at the time or go to a nother appointment. We take our bikes whenever we can, usually only to Harvard, or Mchenry. The town we live in is called Woodstock. Crystal Lake is too big to ride bikes in. We ride our bikes maybe twice a week if the weather permits and stuff like that. Probably we will start riding them more. Anyway, it's awesome reading the letters you send. Tell Tam she needs to send me one today and tell me all about her life and stuff like that. I have'nt gotten one from her in a while. I don't know what else to say my mind goes blank when I get to the library for some reason. Thanks for everything you all do for me and have a good week in Utah.

Love Elder Perrin

Elder Fox - 21 April 2008

Alrighty, I'm not going to lie. I don't like typing a novel every week. I'll do my best to tell you about my awesome week with the patience that I do have write now. (ha!ha!)Last Monday we played Basketball as a district and I'm sad to say that I have lost all of my skills that I gained in the MTC from playing everyday. This week was really hot outside... it got up to 105 degrees 2 of the days. Pretty difficult to work in and I'm not too excited because its just starting and they say that in the heat of the summer it gets up to 115 here in Monclova.

I hope them trees don't die so that they can give me some kind of shade.

The highlight of the week was with an investigator named Alejandra and her family. I have never seen someone so excited to learn about the gospel before. Since lesson 1 last week Alejandra has progressed like
crazy! She read up until 2 Nephi in the Book of Mormon, memorized the Relief Society Theme, and asked where she could buy a hymn boo? I think we will just give her one as a gift in the near future. She was incredibly excited to be baptized this SundAY. She is a larger lady and when we told her that we didnt have baptismal clothing that fit her she told us not to worry about it and went and bought her own. On Friday night they invited us to dinner to celebrate her baptism. The lord truly has prepared this person to hear the gospel message! Her life has completely changed around in 2 weeks. She told us that most likely this week should would finish the Book of Mormon! Oh and don't worry! she hasn't even been confirmed yet and has already paid her tithing. She is Awesome!! She showed us a lot of gratitude this past week for what we have done for her and the happiness that we have brought into her life has also changed ME. Sunday is called the Day of Rest.... haha...uh... Not for us missionaries!! Its the most stressful day of the week for sure! Because all of the work that you do during the week is so that you can have a successful Sunday with investigators in church, baptisms, and confirmations. We had it all this week!!! Including a 12 hour notice on Saturday night from the bishop that we would be speaking on Sunday morning during sacrament meeting. Man! Talk about stress. We only had one car to take all of our investigators to church so we had to make a few trips. Brenda (baptism last week) wasn't ready when we got to her house to pick her up for her confirmation, so we had to wait a little and I was sure that we weren't going to make it to church on time to confirm her. When we arrived at the chapel they had just got done passing the sacrament and in the same moment that the bishop stood up to announce the program, I walked in the door with Brenda and signaled to the bishop from the back of the chapel that we would be confirming her. MAN talk about timing!! The bishop was a little confused but announced it. Without even finding a seat, me and Elder Mendoza walked up to the stand and confirmed her a member of the church. I performed the ordinance which was the first time in my life and was an awesome experience! I gave a 15 minute talk on Examples to Others as members of the church. My Spanish has gotten 20 times better since I've been here in Monclova. I feel blessed. We had 2 Baptisms after church: Ricardo (10 years old) and Alejandra.What an amazing day and it all worked out! The power of prayer works and is truly the key to missionary work for me right now. I have feltguided by the spirit in many situations this week and have understood the importance of being worthy of the spirit. I love this work! And I'm grateful I still have 14 months to soak it all up! Love ya all!!

Elder Fox

Elder Perrin - 16 April 2008

Hey! How's it going? Don't worry about the 400 bucks. That was for my bike and all the crap that came with it; lock, helmet, etc. I bought it in Crystal Lake. Thanks for the package I'll let you know when I get it. I'm pretty excited actually. Zach was supposed to send me one a long time a go maybe you could yell at him for me.

The Car Accident

The story with the car is that I was pulling into a parking stall just heading strait into it and some lady two stalls down was backing up. Basically, she was parrallel to me as I was coming in. Then she turned the car so now she was coming at me exactly perpendicular. She didn't look behind her so all I could do was position the car at the door so that she didn't hit one of my wheels or something. So that's the story with that.

Investigator Mr. Ventura

The story about Ventura is that he is waiting on his papers to come back from the first presidency because he's killed, like 3 people and has a lot of kids from a lot of people. He's probably around 55 years old or so I would guess but don't know for sure. I havn't asked. He's been waitng on the papers for about a month and I don't really know when he'll get them back. Basically, he might get declined and I will mostly likely be the one to tell him that he can't get baptized if that happens. He comes to church every week, completely a different person. Just wants to be forgiven. We see him every week and sometimes we can tell he's a little impatient because President has been working on if for a long time. So hopefully, the First Presidency will approve the baptism or else, basically, I will have to tell him the celestial kingdom is not for you. I don't know how it all works. I guess. But thats the story.

Tell charlie that I love him so much for me please and tell him that I say to be nice and make lots of friends at school.