So yeah it´s been crazy, and I don´t think it´ll calm down just yet.
Les amo
Elder Durrant
Monday, January 12, 2015
E-mail 01/12/2015
Well I´m starting to feel the effects of being a zone leader. So yeah it
was a crazy week with stuff that I expected and stuff I didn´t expect.
Well first off we had to do our monthly plans for the zone and get
things ready for the meeting on Wednesday, and we visited some
investigators that we are getting ready to leave for a time. On
Wednesday we got to the offices at 7:30 am (we got up early) had
breakfast and then started the meeting, it was really good. We talked a
little about the plan de area Mexico 2015 that talks about being self
sufficient physically and spiritually. (I heard that the missionaries
that leave from Mexico will no longer receive help from the states, they
have to pay for it) the church in Mexico is growing fast, well except
for this part of Mexico. Pres. is concerned about the state of the
mission, I don´t think we are the lowest baptizing mission in Mexico
anymore, but we are definitely not close to the highest. Gladly there
has been baptisms every week so far this month in the zone. Hopefully
with time we can set a better example for the zone, right now we are
looking for new people, so hopefully things can start moving. We also
talked about efforts and desires and I thought about the law of
attraction, so I put a picture of a baptism on my desk to remind me of
my commitment to help people come closer to our Father in Heaven through
baptism. When we finished the meeting we had some lunch and then went
for the materials for the zone. We finally got back to the house about
5-6ish and left to go visit some people. Then on Thursday we had our
weekly planning, we received a call from Hermana Villarreal letting us
know that an Hermana in our zone went to the hospital the night before
and that we needed to go visit her to see what was going on and give her
a blessing. It was kind of a shocker because we didn´t know about it
until that morning, so my comp. had a talk with the district leader
about better communication. We spending a couple hours in the hospital
trying to figure things out and setting up an intercambio so her comp.
could go to the house and get stuff that they needed. Luckily the
sickness isn´t severe, but she had to stay a couple of nights there.
When we finished that, we went and helped some Elders move their house
because they have been having problems with the neighbors and he tried
to get into the house, then we ran to an appointment that wasn´t there.
On Friday we had the zone conference and I had two talks about 20 min
each, all went good with that, and then we got a few lessons in. Then
on Saturday we went to a baptism in the ward, because the person getting
baptized wanted my comp. to do the ordinance. On Sunday, it was so
funny because Elder Condie always tells me and Elder Gutierrez that we
will be giving a talk in church because he gave one his first week here,
but it has never happened and this week some of the speakers didn´t
arrive so they asked Elder Condie to give a talk and not us :) We then
had a meeting with the sumo consejero (High Councilor) over
missionary work in the stake and we went to go eat with the stake pres.
he feed us turkey with mashed potatoes :) So we didn´t get much time
this week to visit people, but luckily we do have a family we are
teaching in the house of members and they completed all their
commitments, but they didn´t go to church because she just gave birth on
Friday to a son.
Monday, January 5, 2015
E-mail 01-05-2015
Well I´m sure you´re all wondering how new years was for
me.......well, I went to bed. I guess I could have put an alarm right
before the hour, but I was more worried about sleep. A family invited
us over to eat, they gave us home made pizza, it was good. Then we had
to get to the house right at 9. because Pres. wanted us to call to make
sure everyone got to there house on time. This last week was our first
full week we have had since I have arrived here, so we had more time to
teach people, we are staying very busy. It gets tough to get everything
done at night, but it´s also nice because we both have phones and can
help things move along faster. This week will be interesting, because
we have a meeting with Pres. on Wednesday so the day before we have to
prepare information and plans. Then on Friday, we will be having our
zone meeting, so it will be crazy. At least we are in the same state as
the offices so we don´t have to travel so far. We are trying our best
to lead by example, that is how Christ did it. For me, it is tough to
follow someone that asks a lot and does little, but it isn´t always easy
to lead by example. You have to constantly think about how you can be
better and be able to take criticism. Well I´m still a work in
progress, but as we try our best to be better, the Lord is always
willing to forgive us.
Oh and it´s starting to get cold (very early, we might freeze LOL)Monday, December 29, 2014
E-mail 12/29/2014
Wow! what a week. First of all we had intercambios with
the assistants. I went with Elder Rice that was in the MTC with me, and
Elder Condie stayed with Elder Torgesen that was in the MTC with him,
and we also found out that we would be receiving Elder Gutiérrez. They
went to the bus station for him while I was in intercambios, it was nice
to go back to my first area, but now it has been divided into four
areas and we never went over that way.
It was nice to see you
all on Christmas. The member that let us use his computer was a
returned missionary that went to Fresno California, he is also the one I
mentioned that gave me a tie. They gave us some other Christmas gifts
as well, I´ll send some pics later. There are a lot of good members in
this ward, which is nice. We were not able to get a lot of work done
this week, we have been so busy and Pres. told us that we couldn´t go
visit investigators on Christmas, just RC and active members. We are
trying to get the area up and going, so it can be an example for the
rest. We are doing everything possible to be examples for the rest and
not tell the rest to do something we are not doing. Being a Zone leader
is keeping me very busy, hopefully we can get everything done this week.Elder Durrant
 |
| yes it´s real |
Monday, December 22, 2014
E-mail 12/22/2014
Well there went another week, it was so busy. I think Pres thought that I
was getting fat or something, because my area has nothing but hills, I
have not found a flat part yet. For the most part, my areas have been
flat, so now I am getting a good workout, but it`s nice here, and
there`s a nice view from here. (I`ll try to send pics sometime) and the
ward is fully functioning. We also had our Christmas party with Pres.,
there was food and dessert and we did a gift exchange. It was funny
because we did a drawing to see who would give to who and I got an
hermana and that same hermana also gave to me. I bought her a little
speaker that`s in the shape of a can of Pepsi, I was tempted to get her
one that was a brand of beer, but I decided that it wouldn't be such a
good idea. On the paper we wrote what we would like, some of the other
things that she wrote on there was a blouse, that was just a catastrophe
in the waiting, she also wrote a hand bag and so we went over to where
the purses are, but I didn`t feel it would be a good idea to walk out of
there with one of those, so I just went with the speaker. She gave me a
tie, but I forgot to take a pic to send to you. Oh and on Tuesday we
had our district meeting and my comp. bought a cake and then when we
practiced singing in the zone for Christmas they sang me happy birthday
in Spanish and in English. Then later that day we went over to a member
to see if we could use their skype on Christmas and it came out that it
was my birthday and they said that they had a gift for me, I didn`t
believe it at first. (I think it was actually for Navidad) so they gave
me and my comp. a tie. Then after the party we had with Pres. we found
out that a RC passed away in our area, so we went to the services right
after. Then the next day we had a Christmas party in the ward with food
and games, so we invited investigators to go. So we have been busy all
week long. Oh and church starts at 1pm.
So this next week in
Navidad, pres is letting us watch a movie in the morning, it`s not
necessary if you have to call the Family but I get to set things up, so I
have to go. So that`s why I won`t be able to call until about 4pm. the
whole zone wants to see Frozen. Well see you all in three days.
Les amo
Elder Durrant
Monday, December 15, 2014
E-mail 12/15/2014
NOOOO! and here I thought I was safe, it finally happened,
I got transferred to Morelos, as a Zone leader. My new
companion is Elder Condie; he is from Idaho (that's where my
fourth companion was from) and he has one less transfer then
me. Well President told me to expect to leave, but I did not
expect this, so I told the Sister that was preparing a cake
for me, that I might not be there on Tuesday, so she made the
cake on Saturday. Then on Sunday, we sang in sacrament
meeting again and then we went to a music event for
Christmas. We each had an assignment. Me and my companion
got to help the old people get into the event with wheel
chairs. There were some missionaries that sang in the event
and they sang The First Noel but in five different languages,
it was awesome. There was a lot of non members that went, and
then we helped the old people get back out, and it took a
little while to get some taxi`s, but we did it. As we were
heading back they told us the transfers, and that I was going
to be a zone leader and Elder Arnold was going to stay a fifth
transfer and train. So my first day so far as Zone leader,
started of at the bus station at 7:30 am and then we ended up
having to wait for a missionary that was coming from the
farthest zone away,. so we didn`t leave till 3-3:30, and we
are still busy, but we will see what this week brings. Sorry
it`s kind of a short message today, but we will be having a
Christmas party with President this week.
Les amo |
| Birthday cake |
Monday, December 8, 2014
E-mail 12/08/2014
Well this week has been full. First we had intercambios and choir
practice in the zone for Christmas, they want us to sing in the ward
this next week as-well, so we had to go and practice that too (I must
have a nice voice, because everyone keeps asking us to sing
)
Then someone asked us to help with their English. On Thursday we went
and did a service, we helped mix up stuff that they put on the houses
and then painted them. It`s a big project they are doing to clean up
the place. There was a lot of people helping, but come to find out,
they were getting paid to do it. Now everyone asked us if we were still
working in the days that followed :( We then were supposed to have
interviews with our President on Friday, but it got canceled, so we had
Zone meeting. On Saturday they called us up with a surprise, we were
going to have our interviews at 5. Later they called us up and told us
that he would be coming in an hour. He took longer with other people,
so we went to go eat, they called up to say that we would be having them
on Sunday, so we didn`t get much done that day, running back and forth.
We did get them on Sunday, and we also went to a baptism for the other
ward Saturday night. So we had a busy week, oh and the Christmas
devotional. They gave us cards for ¨He is the gift¨ so we are trying to
spread the word.
)
Then someone asked us to help with their English. On Thursday we went
and did a service, we helped mix up stuff that they put on the houses
and then painted them. It`s a big project they are doing to clean up
the place. There was a lot of people helping, but come to find out,
they were getting paid to do it. Now everyone asked us if we were still
working in the days that followed :( We then were supposed to have
interviews with our President on Friday, but it got canceled, so we had
Zone meeting. On Saturday they called us up with a surprise, we were
going to have our interviews at 5. Later they called us up and told us
that he would be coming in an hour. He took longer with other people,
so we went to go eat, they called up to say that we would be having them
on Sunday, so we didn`t get much done that day, running back and forth.
We did get them on Sunday, and we also went to a baptism for the other
ward Saturday night. So we had a busy week, oh and the Christmas
devotional. They gave us cards for ¨He is the gift¨ so we are trying to
spread the word.
Today I had a competition with another Elder to see
who could eat a liter of ice cream faster, I won. I`m not sure how it
started, at first we saw that we could get it for 20 pesos, which is
about $1.60ish, so we wanted to see who could eat the whole thing, and
then it turned into a race. I did it in 14 min.
Les amo
Elder Durrant
Monday, December 1, 2014
E-mail 12/01/2014
Wow what a week! We had an intercambio, zone conference, and
Thanksgiving. Well the zone conference was why awesome, except that at
the beginning they let us know that we would be getting a shot for la
influenza. I don´t know if you remember, but last year I told you that
one of the hermanas in my district almost went home (well she did go
home later) she got really sick from this. The rest of the conference
was really good, he talked about planning for the week, and so the next
day, when we had weekly planning, we normally do it for three hours, but
this time we decided to put a little bit more effort into it so we were
planning for about five hours. We had to take a quick break about half
way, because after sitting for so long you get distracted. But when we
finished we went to go with a family that invited us to have a
Thanksgiving meal with them. It was so funny because the sister
missionaries that are in this ward didn´t know how to use a whip cream
dispenser. I´ll send some pics.
Les amo
Elder Durrant
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