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