28 December 2015 - A Big Wind

Dear Friends and Family

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJW3QcWOshs

In other words, Happy New Year!!!

I have already completed one full year in Mexico, but on the 1st I will have completed a full calendar year. So that's a thing.

I am going to keep it short this week because it was Christmas. Also, I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.

The festivities began on the 23rd which was our missionary posada. Half the mission came to my old stake center and we partied as hard as missionaries can. I got to see my two most recent companions as well as three of the missionaries that were with my in the CCM. It was a great time. 

Here In Mexico, Christmas is mostly celebrated on Christmas eve. La Noche Buena is the big party time while La Navidad is a little more subdued. That was the case with us, but let me tell you, I have eaten sufficient Tamales to last me the rest of my mission. I think I have eaten at least three different versions of every single traditional Monterrey Christmas dish. It has been fun stuff.

But that was Christmas. Let me tell you about afterward. We (my comp and I) were one of 5 thousand people here in Mty that had their electricity go out last night and this morning. Why, you might ask. Wind. As we were eating last night the wind outside sounded like a banshee (or La Llorona, if you want to make it Mexican) and then in mid bite the lights just decided to go out and our music stopped. That was a fun time, but then we had to go home.....walking. 

The wind wouldn't be that bad if it wasn't for the unnecessary amount of dust that covers the streets of our little section of Mty. If I kept my eyes open for more than a second, I got dust in them. I came home chewing dirt and it felt like I had made my way through a sand blaster. Not the greatest experience. Luckily, OUR power didn't go out until about 4 in the morning.

So, that is that.

Sé que Cristo vive. Sé que este es su Obra y que podemos lograr grandes cosas con su ayuda. Sé que por medios pequeños y sencillos, grandes cosas pueden llevarse acabo. 

Los amo, Feliz Año Nuevo

Elder Lambert

21 December 2015 - .FELIZ NAVIDAD!!! and a Powerful Testimony

Dearest Friends and Family,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNs7I9yrohU

Don't get any ideas, I still have a year left.

But, with that in mind.....FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!

So, this year has been fabulous as far as Christmas goes. This is the first time in my whole life that I have been able to really truly enjoy the true meaning and purpose of this holiday, and it is all thanks to the work I am doing. There really is nothing I would rather be doing at this point, And I only regret that I only get one Christmas in the field.

We are going to have a Christmas party on Wednesday (pictures next week) and we are all super excited. It is going to be great. We are putting on a skit for half of the mission and the president and his wife and it seems like what we have come up with is pretty funny. It's a 12 days of Christmas thing.....but with missionary stuff.

I am especially happy with the day that we are doing the party, the 23rd of December. For those that don't know or remember, this is the birthday of the Prophet Joseph Smith.

I have spent the last year building a testimony of a few very special people. The first is the aforementioned man. Testifying almost every single day of the truthfulness of the restoration of the gospel has built in me an incredible admiration for a man I never even knew. Say all you want, misquote whatever statement you please, wave your banner till ya drop, I will testify to my grave (and beyond) that the charismatic, long-nosed man who walked, ran, laughed and (occasionally) wrestled with my Great Great Granddad was, and is, a prophet of God. I will not stop testifying that Joe Smith saw God the father and his only begotten and through him, we have regained all that we need to truly follow our savior.  But, that is not the most important testimony I have gained.

In this month especially, I have learned for myself the role that a man, born in a stable and raised in an obscure town in the middle east, has in my life. I have come to an understanding that this man changed the world for the better and that, without him, we would not be able to reach our greatest goals. I have come to the understanding in my very being that this man was the promised Shilo, Prophet, Messiah, Christ. I testify through this little computer monitor that Jesus of Nazareth lives and that he paid the price for our mistakes. I testify that through this sacrifice, we can come to know who God is and live in his presence once again.

I don't even need to bare testimony in Spanish this time. I think that is enough

Merry Christmas, Los amo,

Elder Lambert

14 December 2015 - Menudo and Futbol

Dear Friends and family,

The Christmas season is in full swing......and it's hotter n' heck outside....

But aside from that, it has been a fairly eventful week. Especially the weekend.

As I am sure you all may know, they just dedicated one of the coolest looking temples in all the worlds yesterday in Tijuana. If you haven't seen what it looks like, look it up. It's super cool. Anyway, they dedicated it yesterday and it was fabulous. Elder Oaks had a tough time reading Spanish, but he pulled through. It was quite funny actually. President Uchtdorf is a natural, but still needed a translator. They both gave amazing talks about the importance and blessings that come from temple work. Future generations will be richly blessed by our example of diligent temple and Family History work today.

THEN something super cool (on the worldly side of things) happened at about 11:15 last night. There we were trying to get to sleep, when all of a sudden fireworks and shouts of joy erupted from outside...and didn't subside until about an hour and a half later.

Now, here in Mexico, there are only two things that can cause such a event as this: 1. Mexican and Catholic holidays and 2. Major Futbol games.

Menudo is a soup made of the lining of cow stomach. I ate some at Ramon's house of Friday

We went up to the roof to see the fireworks and hear the celebrations because we couldn't sleep.

For those that are not aware, here in Nuevo Leon, there are two major football teams. The first is Monterrey, The Rayados which are based out Monterrey City itself. The OTHER team are the UANL Tigres our of San Nicolas. Here, colegiate sports are not as big a deal as they are in the states, but many of the major universities DO have football teams that play on the national circuit. Long story short, in them middle of the night last night, Tigres became national champions!!! Woooooo!!!

In case you are wondering who I have come to support, I started my mission in San Nicolas and my trainer rooted for Tigres....So I am a tigre. I even have a (pirated) jersey and a beenie hat. SO, I am vaguely excited about this event.

So, here we have two examples of what makes the mission more than worth it. One, the incredible spiritual experiences that come from the being fully part of the work of the Lord and bringing people unto him. And two, the ability to integrate oneself into a new part of the world and take part of their culture and passions. I love it.

Sé que este es la obra del Señor y que no hay mayor felicidad que las cosas del Evangelio. Sé que Dios vive y nos ama. Sé que la obra de salvación es en nuestras manos.

Los amo, Feliz Navidad!!!

PS, if you have not seen or shared the new Christmas initiative from the Church "A Savior is Born" What are you doing with your life?

7 December 2015 - Whoso is found possessed

Dear Friends and Family,

This week has been a good one all things considered. Let me tell you why.

We had a baptism!!! Woooo!!

Ramón is awesome. His Girlfriend Eunice introduced him to the church about a year and a half ago, and ever since he has been slowly changing his heart to this grand gospel. He found US one day on the street and on Wednesday, he came down into the freezing cold font with me.

This is the missionary that really converted him:

Always remember friends. The influence we have on those around us is incredibly important. Essential even. Every member of the church is part of the work of salvation.

And, if that wasn't enough, we had stake conference this weekend. 

Normally, missionaries are not allowed to go to the first two sessions of stake conferences, but this time we were. All the Elders of the stake came to the priesthood leadership session and we were trained by Elder Villalobos of the area seventy. He is an AMAZING speaker and gave an amazing capacitation on missionary work and how it should work within each ward. He also spoke in each of the other sessions and gave amazing discourses.

One thing I want to share about his capacitation in the priesthood session comes in Moroni 7. For those that are familiar with the Book of Mormon, this is the Charity chapter of the Book. Mormon wrote an epistle to his children using much of the same inspired wording as Paul to the Corinthians and taught an important lesson about the pure love of Christ. He says: 

But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.

Pay special attention to the text. Whoso is found possessed of it. What does that mean. Does it mean that WE possess it? No. We can never hold on to the love of our savior. It is his. BUT, we CAN reflect it. We can recieve the capacity to be examples of that love and to feel it in our lives. THAT is what charity is.

THEN it was the Christmas devotional. If you didn't see it, I think it should be up on Youtube by now. Elder Bednar gave a fabulous explanation of the concept of Christ being the "light of the world" by using the example of his birth and how it was experience in Book of Mormon times. Amazing speech. Then, President Uchtdorf spoke about the joy that Christmas brings, especially when we focus ourselves on the savior and try to be more like him. 

The devo got me thinking. The things I felt in that meeting, listening to the words of the first Presidency are....different. I have never felt the same thing while reading a novel or watching a movie or even associating with friends and family. These things have, at times, brought about very strong emotions (especially the latter), but nothing has brought about THIS type of emotion except the gospel. Christ and his gospel bring about true changes of heart. They bring about pure joy. Things that last and matter. NOT artificial fleeting pretty feelings. This devotional was one of those experiences that reminded me of that. I hope we all can remember that this season.

Sé que este evangelio es el unico fuente de felicidad duradero. Sé que Cristo vive y que El es el Hijo Unigenito de Dios. 

Los amo,

Elder Lambert

The members that we ate with had a guitar, accordion, and hats. Elder Johnson and I went full Norteño yesterday

My district leader and I made Carne Asada with Ramón after his baptismal interview 

30 November 2015 - Why I'm Terrified

Dear Friends and family,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyKMPXqKlFk

If you did not click the link before reading this, go back immediately and click it.

Those have been my feelings these past few days. Not exactly what it says in the song itself, just how I have been feeling. Wanna know why? Because it has started to get COLD!!! Yaaaay!

So, fun fact of the week: In exactly one year from today I will be on my way to Salt Lake International. I don't know if I said the same thing last week, but if I did, it was a lie.

SOME people became concerned with my comment that it was vaguely terrifying that I am going home in one year. Let me explain.

As a missionary, one changes what they consider to be normal. And that change brings about a different way of looking at things. I am excited to see my family and do the things that I used to do before I came on the mission, but the idea of having to adjust back to normal life is a strange thought. There is a certain "glory" that comes with being a missionary instead of just being around the missionaries. Everyone has called me Elder for the past year, so the thought of people calling me by my first name is kind of strange.

But don't worry about me, I still got a year to go.

All is well on my end. We are going to have a baptism this week and my kid is doing fine. Progress is slow but it is coming. I love my job.

Sé que este es la obra del Señor. Sé que podemos lograr la vida eterna si nos ezforsamos y confiamos en el espiritu santo. 

Los amo,

Elder Lambert

23 November 2015 - The Joy of Training a New Missionary

Dearest Friends and family,

This week has been fun stuff. Let me tell you about it.

So, we started the week out (I fortgot to tell you last Monday) with an impromptu zone activity where a few recent converts and investigators showed up. It was interesting.

THEN, I get a call on Wednesday from the general secretary of the mission telling me that I had to come to the offices to sign some visa papers. You know what that means? It means I am coming up on the half way mark!!!! For many missionaries (myself included) that thought is terrifying.

So, I went to the mission offices and signed some papers and have been praying ever since that I signed them well enough that the people don't think that they were forged and send be back to the states. I got to see some of my "Brothers" from the mission (the missionaries with whome I arrived) and we had a good ol time. 

For those who have never experienced the joy of training a new missionary, let me tell you how that works: First off, in our mission, we are not notified of the changes until the night before they happen, so I find out right before it happens that I have to head to the mission offices to pick up my "kid." The process of in field training takes 12 weeks, or two changes. After that, I will likely become a regular old senior companion. We are given an extra hour to study in the morning so that I can teach my kid how to be a missionary before we actually go out and DO missionary stuff. It's fun at times, and at others, it's extremely difficult. This is the first time I have been in charge of an area and what's more, my comp doesn't know the lessons. Things are interesting, to say the least.

Sé que el Señor Jesucristo vive. Sé que El nos ama y que El sufrió por cada uno de nosotros. Sé El nos apoya en nuestros momento dificiles.

Los Amo,

Elder Lambert

16 November 2015 - Elder Lambert the Trainer

Well....actually.....the change was NOT all I could ever hope for. Quite the opposite actually. I am training a new missionary. I will talk about that later.

Our cell phone receives text messages twice a day telling us random headlines. On Friday, I revieved a new text a few hours earlier than normal and wondered why. When I finally had time to check it, it told me that at least 60 people had died in a terrorist attack in France. I was floored. The normal text arrived later on and told me that the count had jumped to 120 and thant no Mexicans were injured or killed. Every day since we have recieved updates each night, but no real concrete info.

I was so darn sure we were gonna win.....boo

I hope you are working on "haz me andar en la luz de su amor." I don't want you having too much of a gringa accent.

I am glad all is well at home and that Dad has finally decided to like cats.

Everyone section:

Dearest Darlingest Friends and Family,

Big News! 

I'm training! The following are my feelings.

This is my "kid" Elder Castro, with our best friend!

He is from Sinaloa and....well...he's new at all this.

The challenges that I faced as a new missionary are very different than those of my new companion. That being said, he is progressing pretty quickly and I see good things in his future.

His first experience with the ward here was a treat. Yesterday all three wards that attend our building were put together because of an RF conference that is being held yesterday and today. Lets just say that the third hour was taken up by a bishop's counselor whining about how the members don't clean the chapel right.

Our investigator Ramon took us to dinner on Saturday after a baptismal service that the other Elders from our ward asked me to conduct.

That is all.

Sé que el Señor nos pone los medios para superar todos nuestros desafios. Sé que la unica manera para brindar paz verdadera es mediante la oracion de fe y vivir el evangelio.

Los amo,

Elder Lambert

9 November 2015 - A Tough Week

Dear Friends and Family,

It's change day! Wooooo!

I kind of hope that they leave me and Elder Berryhill together here in San Berna, but I know that pretty much anything could happen at this point. I would love to have one more change here to finish up the loose ends that we have left here in the area, but who knows what will happen.

This has been a pretty tough week at times. Things have not been progressing as we would have liked, but we kept going. This train of thought segue's into a thought on the letter that President McArthur sent the mission this week. It started out by saying that one can really tell the values a person has by seeing how much opposition he can take without getting discouraged enough to quit. This message has really hit home this week and I am grateful that, here on the mission AND in real life, we have opportunities to learn and grow through our trials.

Long story short, Lesson of the Week: Stand strong in your trials and remember that we, as human beings, are never given trouble more than we are able to get through, eventually. "...these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good."

Sé que el Señor nos ama, cada uno. Sé que hay un Dios en los cielos y que El tiene un cuerpo de carne y hueso. Sé que podemos superar todos los desafios de este vida con el ayuda que viene por medio de la expiación.

Los amo. Siguen con fe,

Elder Lambert

2 November 2015 - Beatles and Halloween

Dear Friends and family,

Happy (belated) Halloween!!!!

There are pictures pending, so I will be brief with my comments.

We started out the week with a service project at a less active member's house. He has a pretty serious injury, so we helped him put silicon on his roof so it wouldn't leak with the rain. 

We found a new investigator last week before church (He found us, rather) and we visited him on Thursday. He is really sharp and his girlfriend is a member (I think I wrote about him last week) but that is not all.....when we went to his house....guess what we found...

That's right folks. This dude's dad is a Beatle maniac. I was barely able to focus on the lesson. His dad was also in a Mexican rock band, so the other half of the walls are plastered with pictures of his band.

So, anyway...Halloween!

Here in Monterrey, we do celebrate Halloween in the same we it is celebrated in the states. We also celebrate Dia de los Muertos, but not as much as in other parts of the country. The thing is, though, the super duper anti catholic Christian community is also super duper anti Halloween. Because of the strangely prevalent witchery stuff around here, they think Halloween is of the devil.......We celebrated it anyway.

In the only way we could. We traded ties, and we traded badges.

And then....We went to the temple!!!!!

Elder Berryhill's convert took out her endowment on Saturday, so we got the opportunity to attend a normal person session at 530 at night. It was AWESOME!...That is all.

Sé que Dios vive y que su hijo Jesucristo se sacrificó para cada uno de nosotros. Sé que este es la Obra del Señor. Sé que no hay otro camino a la felicidad verdadera en este mundo.

Los amo,

Elder Lambert

PS, we also had a really awesome conference with Elder Piper from the area presidency. The power of the priesthood radiates from the general authorities. Truly.

26 October 2015 - So...we got wet this week

Dear Friends and Family,

So.....we got wet this week. 

The news on Wednesday made it a point to share that the Hurricane coming in towards Jalisco was going to be the "most dangerous on record" and that it would touch slightly here in Nuevo Leon. That was only somewhat true. The Hurricane turned back into a tropical storm when it hit land and the edge hit us in the middle of the night causing some heavy rain, but nothing else. It rained at least a little all dayThursday and felt it, but today it is as sunny as ever. 

Two cool things happened this week regarding missionary work. The first is the fact that we have an investigator that, having recieved a Book of Mormon two weeks ago has already read into Helaman. This man is a Uni grad and during his time there was one of the organizers of a communist movement. He has calmed down since then....and has started smoking. That is the challenge.

The second cool thing is that we had a young man stop us on Sunday to ask where the church was and when we started our services. I was afraid he wasn't going to show, but he did and we are going to teach him on Wed. His GF is a member and he wanted to know what the church is like. Seems like a cool cat.

Sé, sin duda, que el Señor nos ayuda en este obra. Sé que cada miembro en este Iglesia tiene un parte en este obra y que cada uno vale mas que entienden. Sé que Jesucristo vive y este es su Iglesia.

Los amo, 

Elder Lambert

19 October 2015 - What Elder Lambert thinks about serving a misson

Short week, huh? Temple time is always fun.

Not exactly one hundred percent sure what to write this week......

Oh, I got something!

So, there is this family, the Torres family, that consists of an 81 year old gentleman and his similarly experienced wife who have not come to church recently because of ailments and the husband's lack of site. Long story short, an active member was concerned about them and sent us to go see them. After some searching on the exact other side of our area, we found the house and visited them. They are a wonderful couple and very spiritual. They promised to do everything possible to come to church this week....and DID! When I saw them walk slowly down the hall towards the sacrament room, it was an amazing experience, almost like a baptism. Also, it reminded me of another experience that I had just before I even arrived in Mexico:

My giant travel group of over twenty new missionaries were in line to board the plane to get to Mexico City when some 19 some odd year old dude dressed in a neon blue sweatshirt and a green snapback awkwardly half yelled something to the effect of "Sorry you have to spend two years of your life...blah..blah...blah" losing his nerve and trailing off when pretty much the whole group turned to side-eye death stare him down. With these experiences that I have had, like the preceding, I can finally say, without losing my nerve, that I am genuinely sorry that HE doesn't GET to spend two years of his life doing what I am doing. I am doing the work of the Lord and there is nothing I would rather be doing. It's not because of some kind of artificial gratification or pretty feeling that I get. It is because I am dedicating every single day to one of the ONLY things that brings about true happiness in this life.

Sé, sin duda, que este es la obra del Señor. Sé que este es el camino a la felicidad y que el Señor Jesucristo es la luz de este mundo. Sé que no hay otro camino a la felicidad eterno.

Los amo, 

Elder Lambert

14 October 2015 - This Week Has Been Long

Dear Friends and Family,

This week has been.....long.

A week without a Monday P day is always tough, but it's all worth it in the end because....I got to go to the temple!! I still don't have the zone picture from this change, but I will include the photo from last change that Elder Scullin (one of my best mission buddies) finally sent us on Monday.

This week was especially fun because we found a very special new investigator. His name is Armando and he is my very first Artist investigator. That is not some kind of mission slang, he is a 60 year old musician and theater director...and he looks the part (pony tail, small goatee and everything) I wish I had a picture.

Beyond that, not a lot comes to mind right now

Sé que Jesucristo hizo su expiación para nosotros. Sé que por medio de este sacrificio, podemos ser limpios de nuestros pecados y vivir con nuestro padre celestial pàra siempre,y tambien que podemos recibir la paz verdadera en este vida.

Los amo,

Elder Lambert

5 October 2015 - A New Companion

5 October 2015

Dear Friends and Family,

This wonderful conference weekend was...wonderful. But first, let me tell you about the rest of the week.

Mainly, I got a new companion and I am still in San Bernabe and I am NOT training (whew). Everything went really well with changes.

My new companion is Elder Berryhill, an old pal of mine from my first zone. We met my second change in the field. But, the fun part is the story of how we became companions. As I said last week, there were 15 areas that were being whitewashed and 23 new missionaries coming in. This, of course, caused a lot of confusion for the president and assistants. Therefore, at least two areas got forgotten in the mix. Those two areas belonged to...Elders Lambert and Mendoza and Elders Berryhill and Allgaier. Elder Berryhill was in his last area for 7 and a half months and Elder Mendoza and I already had the maximum time together, but they were going to leave us the same....So we ended up switching companions directly. Mendoza is now with Elder Berryhill's old comp, and I am with him. It was a weird change.

As for conference, I quite enjoyed it. I was only able to watch the last session in English, but it was good nonetheless. I noticed a theme throughout the entire conference: the Sabbath Day. Almost every time any of our leaders talked to us about obedience, they always mentioned keeping the sabbath holy. Must be important, huh?

Sé que este es la Iglesia verdadera del Señor y que el La Dirige por sus siervos los Profetas. Sé que podemos beneficiar de todos las palabras de ellos.

Los Amo,

Elder Lambert

28 September 2015 - Mission Logistics

Dear friends and family,

So, another change has come and gone and we still don't know where we are going yet.

The mission is receiving 23 new missionaries and sending home 25 this change. 6 of those going home are zone leaders and a good portion of the rest are district leaders (and one of the assistants to the prez). In case you don't know what that implies, 7 district leaders will be called as zone leaders and probably a few as trainers. Therefore, the more experienced missionaries will be called as district leaders and trainers as well. Therefore, it is necessary that the mission close one area and change BOTH missionaries out of 15 different areas. It is looking pretty likely that both Elder Mendoza and I will be leaving this area ='( And also somewhat likely that one of us will be called as a trainer  (pray for me).

But anyway, now that you have all had your lesson on mission logistics let's get on to things that happened this week. Last P day, when we went out to work at 6, we discovered that one of our most hopeful investigators had a car accident and is in the hospital. We have been trying to get a hold of them all week, and changes are coming soon. We are considerably worried. 

It is experiences like these, I have found that make the mission what it is. We learn how to deal with opposition and to rely on the lord. Also, we learn to love people for their divine nature. Building the kingdom of God is a tough work, but we have the greatest power there is on our side.

Sé que este es la obra del Señor y que El la dirige. Sé que El nos ama y nos ha bendecido en cada momento.

Los Amo, 

Elder Lambert

21 September 2015 - Monterrey West Mission has a blog!

Dear friends and family,

It is the last week of the change. I am not terribly excited about that.

There is pretty much zero percent chance that Elder Mendoza and I will be together again this next change, and it isn't even a one hundred percent chance that I will be staying in this area. It also looks like there are 25 new missionaries coming in to the mission, so everyone is joking that I am going to end up training one of them.....I don't know how I feel about that.

Long story short, things are kind of stressful, but all is well for the most part. For instance, this next Thursday is our Zone Conference. Yaaaaay! It is literally on the last possible day, but its happening. I always enjoy zone conferences. The trainings from the president are always very spiritual. I am excited to see how this new prez does his thing. 

Speaking of that, the mission prez and his wife have a blog now. monterreywest.weebly.com

Sé que este es la obra del Señor. Sé que este Evangelio es el unico manera de ser completamente feliz en este vida y recibir la vida eterna.

Los amo,

Elder Lambert

13 September 2015 - An Excellent Experiment

This week has been an excellent experiment in following the promptings of the spirit.

For the past little while, Elder Mendoza and I have been working with a less active family. The family is really nice and are great friends, but they seem nearly incapable of getting over some kind of offence that happened in the Church a little less than a year ago. This family has a daughter that turned 8 this year and we have been doing everything in our power to get her and her older sibs to come to church so that she can get baptized. Finally, we put down a date for the baptism and then.....things started feeling wrong.

The girl had an interview with the Bishop and things started feeling more wrong.

She asked me to baptize her and things started feeling completely wrong.

Nevertheless, brilliant missionaries that we are, we spent an entire day and a half stressing ourselves to the bone trying to set up a good baptismal service (and with each invitation, things just felt more and more wrong). All of our work culminated in a phone call with the Bishop and the girl’s father in which the father stated that he wanted to work towards being worthy to baptize his daughter and setting up an interview. Then, all of a sudden, everything felt right again. Long story short, the baptism didn't happen and a few phone calls and two visits cleaned up the entire mess we had made. 

What did we learn: If you work against the will of the Lord, you will end up running yourself into a wall (be it immediately or in the eternities). Remember to listen to the spirit and DO what he tells you.

Also, it was a great privilege, as all your Mexican missionaries will tell you, to see the rededication of the Mexico City temple yesterday. We were not able to bring anyone to church, but it was great to get to see our recent convert Abel do the Hosana Shout. I just love temples.

Sé que el Espiritu nos puede guiar por todo la vida si lo escuchamos. Sé que somos todos hijos de Dios. Sé que los templos realmente son la casa del Señor.

Los amo, Elder Lambert

6 September 2015 - Naked Fish Man Gets a Book of Mormon

 Dearest family and friends,

This week has been Fun stuff.

We got to planning session on Thursday and discovered that the numbers showed that we had barely done anything all week (it sure didn't feel like it, but you know how that goes). We hadn't been able to visit our recent convert, nor had we been able to contact any of the references that we had received. Thusly we didn't have anyone new to teach. We were super worried. SO........we prayed about it. And the next day, when we went out with a member to teach, we found two new families to teach and were finally able to talk to our recent convert. Saturday was equally productive. Sometimes you just have to wait for the Lord to lead people to their own doorsteps.

Fun fact about Misión Monterrey Oeste: Our new president (according to my current ward's Bishop) has decided that all new converts should be placed in the genealogy class WITH one of their missionaries present to help them out. For those of you that know me and my family, you will know that our favorite form of church service is Temple and Family History work. And the best part: Our bishop asked if the missionaries could attend the temple with their converts to help them do baptisms! Woooooo! 

Sé que el Señor nos ama y quiere responder a nuestros oraciones. Sé que los familias pueden ser eternas. Sé que La Iglesia es el reino de Dios aqui en la Tierra. 

Los amo, 

Elder Lambert

Elder Lambert says this about photos:

Meet....Naked Fish Man!

He is the statue that we see every day when we pass by the magic desert between our two areas. We gave him a Book of Mormon.

This one is with me in it.

30 August 2015 - Missionaries are kind of like aliens

Dear Family and Friends,

So......It's only been a few days. I am not 100% sure what to write about. 

Like seriously....I am at a loss....

Ok, I figured something out: This week we made it a goal to get 8 lessons with a member present. Back in Utah, I imagine that almost all lessons are with a member present, but here...they are a little more rare. But, they are absolutely essential. 

The missionaries are kind of like aliens. They come from a different part of the world, wear a shirt n' tie, and black badge and just expect people to listen to them talk about Jesus. But, when they bring along a real living breathing person in to talk to them about Jesus, it seems a lot more....normal. That aside, the addition of a member's testimony and insight are incredibly powerful in a regular missionary lesson. Therefore, to all my member friends, go work with the missionaries, it'll be a great experience. And to my non member friends, I dunno, go to tell your friends to bring the missionaries over. It'll be great, I promise.

Sé que este es la Iglesia verdadera de Jesucristo y que tenemos la revelación para vivir en este mundo mejor que es posible normalmente. Sé que tenemos la oportunidad de vivir con nuestras familias y Padre Celestial para siempre, si acemptamos y vivimos el Evangelio.

Los amo,

Elder Lambert

26 August 2015 - 1/3 Done

Dear Friends and Family,

So, I am one third done with my service (which scares me), and time is officially irrelevant. First off, my Walmart watch finally broke, and then I completely forgot if I had the opportunity to tell you all that I am staying here in San Bernabe for another change with Elder Mendoza! YAAAAAY!!!!

Anyway, on to the important part: we went to the temple today!!!!! Yes, that is why the email is late, don't worry. 

As always, it was an amazing experience that I greatly treasured. The mission president and his wife attended as well, which made it all the better. Having been deprived of my temple visit this last change, I enjoyed it all the more. We don't get many opportunities to attend during the mission, so each time is a blessing for us. It is always a great experience and I am grateful that I have the ability to live in a place where I am no more than 45 minutes from at least four different houses of the Lord.

Sé que los templos son la casa del Señor. Sé que las ordenanzas que hacemos ahí son sagradas y importantes por la salvación. Es un gran bendición para nosotros tener la oportunidad de hacer obras vicarios para nuestros antepasados que ya han fallecido.

Los amo,

Elder Lambert